• Tesla said that the Dutch regulator RDW had "committed to granting" FSD approval "in February 2026."
• In a response, RDW said that the agency had set goals with Tesla for February — but that it's not yet clear if Tesla will meet them.
• RDW's rebuffing of Tesla's enthusiasm is just another hurdle in Tesla's winding road to EU approval for its FSD self-driving tech.

Tesla may have gotten the balloons and streamers out a bit too early.

Launching its supervised full self-driving software, or FSD, across international borders has proved challenging for Tesla. While North American drivers have had access to FSD since 2022, the company has only released some features in China, its second-largest market.

Tesla owners in the EU appeared to be set to get some good news on that front, according to Tesla — but a Dutch regulator then chimed in to say not so fast.

On Saturday, Tesla posted on X that it had been pushing to roll out FSD in Europe for over a year. The "main path to success," it said, was partnering with the Dutch approval authority RDW.

"Currently, RDW has committed to granting Netherlands National approval in February 2026," Tesla wrote in its X post.

Two days later, RDW shot back its own "response to Tesla's appeal." In the blog post originally written in Dutch, the regulatory agency had drawn up a schedule for Tesla to meet requirements by February 2026, but that the approval wasn't a done deal. Bloomberg was the first to report RDW's response.

"RDW and Tesla know what efforts need to be made to make a decision on this in February," the Dutch regulatory agency wrote, according to a Google translation. "Whether the schedule will be met remains to be seen in the coming period."

As the chokepoint for European FSD expansion, Tesla employees have been impatient with RDW's extensive testing and slowness. "Keep in mind that this is mission critical for our leadership," a Tesla employee wrote in an email to the RDW last November, viewed by Business Insider. Musk has previously lamented the EU's self-driving regulation, calling it a "layer cake of bureaucracy."

Tesla has faced steep competition in the European market, as Chinese competitors like BYD race for market share. European Tesla sales were down an estimated 48.5% year over year in October, according to data from the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association.

In Tesla's X post, the company also called on its fans to push the regulatory agency.

"Please contact them via link below to express your excitement & thank them for making this happen as soon as possible," Tesla wrote.

RDW didn't appear to be a fan of the move, asking readers "not to contact us about this," according to the translation of its response.

"It takes up unnecessary time for our customer service," the translated post read. "Moreover, this will have no influence on whether or not the planning is met."

• ESPN Unlimited and Fox One have generated millions of sign-ups since their launches.
• But few customers have picked a bundle with those two for 20% off, a new report shows.
• Disney has driven its subscribers to streaming bundles, but Fox hasn't done the same.

ESPN and Fox's subscription streamers are off to strong starts on their own, but not together.

Disney and Fox each made their most valuable content available outside the pay-TV bundle for the first time on August 21, with the launches of ESPN Unlimited and Fox One, respectively.

ESPN's streamer logged 3 million streaming sign-ups across its plans from launch through the end of October, including 1.7 million for its $30 a month Unlimited service, while Fox reeled in 2.3 million in that span, according to a new report from data firm Antenna. ESPN Unlimited's figures are in line with analysts' estimates for 1.5 million to 2 million subscribers by year's end.

However, few customers have signed up for the $40 a month bundle with ESPN Unlimited and Fox One, Antenna estimates. That bundle costs $10 less than the two services combined.

Antenna found 99% of Fox One's 2.3 million subscribers were paying for the stand-alone service as of October. That suggests only 23,000 or so signed up for Fox's bundle with ESPN or its $25 bundle with Fox Nation, its streamer featuring conservative-friendly scripted and documentary shows.

Likewise, less than 1% of ESPN's 3 million new streaming subscribers were on the Fox One bundle. Those customers are still open to deals, though. In fact, Antenna estimates that about two-thirds of new ESPN customers have chosen streaming bundles with Disney+ and Hulu through October. Disney CEO Bob Iger said that number is around 80% on a mid-November earnings call.

Spokespeople for ESPN and Fox declined to comment on Antenna's figures.

Disney's other bundles are working

The simplest explanation for the ESPN-Fox bundle's slow start is that many sports fans had already found other ways to watch their teams. This bundle didn't launch until October 2 — six weeks after their individual launches and more than a month into the NFL and college football seasons.

Fox One CEO Pete Distad said at his streamer's launch event in August that the ESPN-Fox bundle wasn't launching sooner because each company was prioritizing its own streamer, "making sure that both of our products launched successfully, and then getting it to work." (ESPN and Fox previously tried to start a sports streamer called Venu with Warner Bros. Discovery.)

Less-than-ideal timing and limited promotion may have initially capped the ESPN-Fox bundle's ceiling, but media industry analyst Alan Wolk isn't writing it off yet.

"The hardcore fans signed up for both already," Wolk said. He added that canceling ESPN and Fox One individually and subscribing to the bundle to save $10 a month may be a "hassle" that people don't get to immediately. Or, people would rather bundle ESPN with Disney+ and Hulu than with Fox One.

It's "no surprise that Disney's focus would be on bundling the new ESPN app with Disney+/Hulu rather than Fox One," Disney analyst Joe Bonner of Argus Research said. However, he said, "It's still early days" for ESPN Unlimited and Fox One, so it's too soon for sweeping conclusions.

Disney has had success pushing its customers toward its streaming bundles. These bundles can reduce churn, or monthly cancellations. Disney's churn has been relatively low, outside the Jimmy Kimmel controversy that led to a spate of cancellations.

Conversely, Fox's customers don't seem interested in paying for bundles. That could be an issue if college football fans quit after the season ends. While its stand-alone streamer is off to a promising start, the end of football season will be a big test.

• I love Ina Garten, so I baked my way through four of her cookie recipes to see how they stacked up.
• The giant crinkled chocolate chip cookies were delicious, but a bit tedious to make.
• I thought the salty oatmeal chocolate-chunk cookies were crispy, flavorful, and perfectly chewy.

When it comes to cooking and baking, there's rarely an Ina Garten recipe I don't like.

Her recipes are reliable, and there's something for everyone to enjoy. So, I decided to bake my way through four of her cookie recipes to see how they compare.

For a mix of classic, chocolate, and fruity flavors, I went with her giant crinkled chocolate chip cookies, raspberry jam thumbprints, white-chocolate chunk cookies, and salty oatmeal chocolate-chunk cookies.

Here's how they stacked up, from worst to best.

Garten's giant crinkled chocolate chip cookies are made with vanilla, bittersweet chocolate, and sea salt.

To make 12 of Garten's giant crinkled chocolate chip cookies, I gathered:

• Two sticks of unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 ½ cups of granulated sugar
• ¼ cup of light-brown sugar, lightly packed
• One extra-large egg, at room temperature
• 1 ½ teaspoons of pure vanilla extract
• 2 cups of all-purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon of baking soda
• 1 teaspoon of kosher salt
• 8 ounces of bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• Sea salt for sprinkling

The dough was simple enough to make.

Making the dough was a pretty straightforward process. I mixed everything in an electric mixer, folded in the chocolate chunks, and let it chill for 30 minutes. Then, I was ready to bake.

The process to make these cookies was a bit tedious.

Although these have the word "giant" in the name of the recipe, I didn't expect the cookies to be as massive as they were. Each one used a whopping ⅓ cup of dough, and they spread a lot, so I needed to cook them in batches.

After baking for 10 minutes, the instructions said to pull the tray out and bang it on the counter. This was repeated every three minutes until the cookies were done baking to create the crinkle effect. However, this method became a little tedious after baking multiple trays.

For a smoother process, I also recommend baking on parchment paper. I didn't do this with the first batch, and even with cooking spray, mine stuck to the tray pretty badly since they had thinned out so much.

The giant crinkled cookies were good, but not the best I've tasted.

These cookies were good, but I wanted to like them more. They came out thin, buttery, and crispy, but were not the best chocolate chip cookies I've ever had.

However, I do prefer a more chewy cookie, so it's all up to personal preference. They look rather impressive, but these are the kind of treat I would need to fully commit time and dedication to making. For that reason, they landed in fourth place.

Garten's raspberry jam thumbprints call for vanilla, coconut, and your choice of jam.

To make 32 of Garten's raspberry jam thumbprint cookies, I grabbed:

• Three sticks of unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
• 3 ½ cups of all-purpose flour
• ¼ teaspoon of kosher salt
• One egg beaten with 1 tablespoon of water, for egg wash
• 7 ounces of sweetened flaked coconut
• Raspberry or apricot jam

I made the dough with the help of an electric mixer.

I started by making the dough in an electric mixer, using the butter, sugar, vanilla, flour, and salt.

Then, I dumped it out onto a clean surface and kneaded it lightly to incorporate some of the looser bits. The texture reminded me of a shortbread cookie.

More steps were involved in making these.

After wrapping the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerating it for 30 minutes, I began forming the cookies.

I shaped each ball, dipped it in egg wash, and rolled it in shredded coconut. Then, I pressed a thumbprint into the dough, filled it with jam, and baked.

The extra work to make the raspberry jam thumbprints was well worth it.

These cookies came out delicious. The coconut got nice and toasty, and the raspberry jam was the perfect sweet flavor to balance out the buttery, crumbly shortbread.

I used raspberry jam for this batch, but I could see myself making them again and experimenting with different flavors, like apricot, strawberry, and even cherry. Overall, these were a solid third-place choice.

Garten's chocolate white-chocolate chunk cookies require mostly pantry staples.

To make 40 of Garten's chocolate white-chocolate chunk cookies, I gathered:

• ½ pound of unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup of light-brown sugar, packed
• 1 cup of granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons of pure vanilla extract
• Two extra-large eggs, at room temperature
• ⅔ cup of unsweetened cocoa
• 2 cups of flour
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1 teaspoon of kosher salt
• 1 ½ pounds of white chocolate, chopped

The dough came together quickly.

The dough for these cookies — which was made with butter, both sugars, vanilla, eggs, cocoa, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and white chocolate — came together easily in the mixer in under 10 minutes.

These cookies baked for exactly 15 minutes.

In her recipe, Garten emphasizes the importance of a precise 15-minute bake time. The recipe states that the cookies may seem underdone when they come out, but that's what helps perfect the chewy texture.

I let them cool for a few minutes to firm up before moving them to a separate plate.

I loved the combination of the chocolate cookie and white-chocolate chunks.

I'm not usually one to reach for a chocolate cookie, but this recipe changed that. These came out soft, rich, and chewy, with a brownie-like fudginess.

The combination of rich chocolate dough and chunks of white chocolate was so good that I would reach for these cookies over and over again. So, they came in second place.

Garten's salty oatmeal chocolate-chunk cookies are made with cranberries instead of raisins.

To make 30 of Garten's salty oatmeal chocolate chunk cookies, I grabbed:

• Two sticks of unsalted butter, at room temperature
• ¾ cup of light-brown sugar, lightly packed
• ¾ cup of granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons of pure vanilla extract
• Two extra-large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 ¾ cups of all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1 teaspoon of kosher salt
• 1 ¼ cups of old-fashioned oats
• ¾ pound of bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• ¾ cup of dried cranberries
• Sea salt for sprinkling

I appreciated how easy it was to make these cookies.

The recipe for these cookies was straightforward to follow.

I creamed the butter and sugars and added the dry ingredients. Then, I folded in the dried cranberries and chocolate chunks and baked for 10 minutes.

I appreciated that there were no complicated steps and the dough didn't need to be refrigerated.

The salty oatmeal chocolate-chunk cookies were chewy inside, but had perfectly crisp edges.

These cookies were insanely delicious, with a simple yet balanced flavor. The oatmeal cookie was buttery, the chocolate chunks were melty, and I ended up favoring the dried cranberries over the traditional oatmeal-raisin combination.

The salt was definitely noticeable, but it worked well. If I made them again, I'd add cinnamon. It feels like the only thing missing here, but otherwise, they're perfect as is.

Overall, these cookies were chewy, crispy, flavorful, and the kind I could eat all of in one sitting. For that reason, they were easily the best recipe I tried.

• Dick's Sporting Goods said it plans to close several underperforming Foot Locker locations.
• Chairman Ed Stack said the move is part of an effort to "clean out the garage."
• Foot Locker has nearly 2,600 stores around the world across multiple brands.

Dick's Sporting Goods is getting an early start on spring cleaning.

The retailer said Tuesday it intends to close an unspecified number of Foot Locker locations after completing its acquisition of the company in September.

"Our first priority is clear. We need to clean out the garage of underperforming assets," executive chairman Ed Stack told investors during Dick's third-quarter earnings call. "This means clearing out unproductive inventory, closing underperforming stores, and rightsizing assets that don't align with our go-forward vision for the Foot Locker business."

Stack said that while the business shows significant promise, Foot Locker's prior leadership did not respond appropriately to market changes, including Nike's decision to shift a greater portion of its business to direct-to-consumer sales. The sportswear giant has since changed that approach, however, and is working to rebuild its relationships with retailers, including Dick's and Foot Locker.

Foot Locker ended the quarter with nearly 2,600 stores globally across several brands. The company closed 15 locations during the period.

Roughly 1,600 Foot Locker stores are in North America, and the company said Tuesday that former Nike executive Ann Freeman would head up the North American division. Former Aldi CEO Matthew Barnes is in charge of the international segment.

Stack also said the company has started an 11-store test to explore changes to Foot Locker's product assortment and in-store experience.

The company plans to share more details about which stores it plans to close in its fourth-quarter earnings report, Stack said.

• Estonia has an agreement with the US to get six more High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) units.
• It's growing its arsenal after receiving six earlier this year.
• Estonia said it needs more deep strike abilities, and Ukraine is proving the need.

A NATO ally sharing a border with Russia is doubling down on its buying of the US-made High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) that has been a key part of Ukraine's fightback against Russia.

Estonia's defense ministry told Business Insider that it has an agreement with the US to acquire six additional HIMARS units. It's waiting on exact delivery dates from the US side.

"It is important for Estonia to have the ability to influence the enemy deep within its territory," the ministry said. To this end, it is necessary to increase Estonia's deep-strike capability with additional rocket launchers."

Estonian Minister of Defense Hanno Pevkur originally told Breaking Defense that his country wants to buy six additional HIMARS, potentially more, and has been in contact with the maker, Lockheed Martin, but the company needs Pentagon approval for the sale.

The country is pursuing a deeper investment in the system after already receiving six HIMARS in April. The ministry said the earlier acquisitions were just the start of "developing our deep-strike capability."

Pevkur told Business Insider in March that Estonia considers HIMARS to be essential to its deep strike capability, having seen the impact this weapon has had in Ukraine.

The multiple rocket launcher arrived in Ukraine in June 2022, marking the first major Western weapon supplied to Kyiv after months of debate over whether sending such systems was worth the risk. There were concerns initially that supplying big-ticket weapons would be escalatory and might end up in Russian hands if the country fell.

Its arrival was a turning point and a big success for Ukraine. HIMARS were eventually followed by a string of other high-profile weapons like US-made Patriot air defense systems and F-16 fighter jets.

With the introduction of the HIMARS and Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems (GMLRS), Ukraine suddenly took away Russia's artillery advantage and showed it was able to hit Russian targets like ammunition depots and command and control centers that were previously out of reach. It also used them to hit Russian troops and aircraft.

Electronic warfare and jamming, along with the arrival of other advanced long-range strike systems, have reduced HIMARS' effectiveness and taken it out of the spotlight, aside from some tactical ballistic missile strikes. It has also suffered shortages of ammunition, limiting effectiveness.

The versatile weapon is still in use, though, and Ukraine is expecting to receive more. In October, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy identified HIMARS as a priority for his military.

NATO allies sharing a border with Russia want HIMARS

Estonia is among a number of European countries concerned about Russian aggression, and Pevkur said that Ukraine has demonstrated that deep strikes are necessary in a fight.

He said that Ukraine has shown that being capable of striking far behind the front lines, with Ukraine hitting Russian positions, weaponry, and stockpiles, and even oil facilities deep into Russia with long-range drones and missiles.

He said that deep-strike capabilities are an area where NATO allies "need to invest" and "need to have a lot more than what we have today." Pevkur emphasized that it's vital for NATO members to "learn from the challenges that Ukrainians have" — to understand what works and what doesn't for Ukraine and to see what Russia is doing so that their militaries are as prepared as possible.

He added that having HIMARS also sends a "deterrence message" to Russia.

Other Baltic countries, Latvia and Lithuania, which are also NATO members that border Russia, have also invested in HIMARS as well as a host of other defenses as they eye Russia warily.

Latvia has an agreement with the US for six systems, expected by 2027, and Lithuania is buying eight, with the first deliveries due this year.

The Baltic nations have been among the loudest voices within NATO calling for greater alliance spending and support of Ukraine. Their defense budgets are among the highest in NATO as a proportion of their GDP, and the money so far has gone toward border defenses, air defenses, armored vehicles, and drones.

Pevkur told Business Insider that it was important for the West that countries on NATO's eastern edge, like the Baltic states, are well defended to deter Russia and to be able to stop it if needed. "The eastern flank is the front door of NATO, so we need to keep it closed," he said.

• My husband and I built an off-grid cabin 10 years ago, and haven't looked back since.
• We've learned a lot through years of experience, but we made some mistakes when we first moved here.
• We should've calculated our electricity usage ahead of time and invested in a quality stove.

In the 10 years we've lived off the grid in West Virginia, my husband and I have had our fair share of ups and downs.

We've had impromptu evenings by candlelight after accidentally running down our batteries, but we've also watched stunning mountain sunrises. We've let a hot water heater get too cold and bust, and also been able to save money for travel and retirement.

Although I wouldn't change anything about our life, there are a few things I wish I had known about off-grid living before we moved to a rural area and created a home power system.

Off-grid life can be isolating.

Everyone's off-grid experience will look different, but our situation offers an abundance of alone time.

We live in a rural area far into the woods on a rough dirt driveway. I work remotely, so it's easy for me to go days on end seeing no one but my husband.

As someone who enjoys solitude, this is often ideal for me. I enjoy writing on my back porch with no sounds but the breeze and birds, but it can also get lonely — especially in winter, when we're spending less time on activities like hiking with friends.

Because I don't have a job that forces me out of the house, I've had to seek out new hobbies and communities that do, like a book club, writer's group, and community clean-up team. Attending these events and club meetings always makes me feel better.

I wish we'd thought to calculate our energy needs ahead of time.

When we first moved off the grid, right after graduating from college, we bought the nicest solar components we could afford and hoped for the best.

If we were doing it again now, I would do a better job calculating our energy usage and needs to avoid coming up short.

During our first winter, we often had to rely on a backup generator to run our water pump, and there were evenings we had to shut down our whole power system to conserve energy. Splurging on a better set of batteries would've gone a long way.

Now, we know that electric bills can be used to calculate your average daily energy consumption in kilowatt-hours (kWh).

With that number, and a bit of other information — like the size of your solar panels — you can figure out how many panels and batteries you'll need to maintain your lifestyle.

We learned we'd have to make some small changes to preserve electricity.

Running on a small solar power system with limited battery capacity means that our electricity is somewhat dependent on the weather.

In the summer, it feels like we have infinite power, but we have a lot less over the winter, when it can be cloudy for days on end.

When you're accustomed to a traditional home, it's difficult to remember that almost every little thing we do takes a bit of power. Flicking on a light switch, taking a shower, and running our WiFi all pull from our batteries.

To meet all our needs with our current system, we've had to make some small power-conserving lifestyle shifts, like hanging our wet clothes on a rack instead of putting them in a dryer.

Our hot water also comes from an instant-on propane hot water heater rather than an electric heater. So, instead of just paying our power bill, we have to remember to monitor and refill our tanks, or we run out of hot water.

These small swaps have all become our new normal, but it took a while for us to adjust.

A better wood stove would've been a worthwhile investment.

Our cabin's first wood stove was a simple Facebook Marketplace find that fit easily into our budget.

That stove got us through many winters, but on the coldest nights, we often got out of bed multiple times to feed it. If we left the house to go out for dinner with friends, the fire would be completely out by the time we got back.

When we finally upgraded, I discovered that there's a whole range of features that could've been making our lives easier all along.

Our new stove has a larger firebox and a secondary burn system. The latter feature means our stove can burn smoke and gases produced by the initial fire to produce more heat with less wood. It can easily hold a fire all night, so there are no more midnight wake-up calls to keep the house warm.

With a larger firebox, we can fit bigger pieces of wood — and, thus, spend less time cutting pieces down.

We didn't realize we'd end up receiving a lot of weird looks.

People seem to have one of two assumptions when they find out that we live off-grid. They think we're barefoot hippies who never shower or doomsday preppers with thousands of pounds of food in a hidden bunker.

So, when the off-grid conversation comes up, I like to assure people that we have (and use) a shower, and that we're fairly well-adjusted and not overly concerned about the end of the world.

That's the biggest lesson I've learned about off-grid living: that people's assumptions, including my own, are often wrong.

Off-grid living is what you make of it. You can convert a suburban house to off-grid energy or, like us, build a cabin in the remote wilderness.

Either way, it's going to be different from what you first imagined.

• Ukrainian forces carried out a large attack on Novorossiysk, a key city for Russian oil exports.
• Russia reacted to the attack by launching missiles at its own buildings, a Ukrainian security source said.
• The attack on Tuesday marked Ukraine's latest targeting of the Russian energy sector.

Russia fired surface-to-air missiles into its own residential buildings while responding to a large Ukrainian attack against an oil terminal on the Black Sea, a security source told Business Insider on Tuesday.

A source in the Security Service of Ukraine said that Kyiv attacked the port city of Novorossiysk, Russia's second-largest oil export center and a hub for its Black Sea Fleet, in the latest strike targeting the country's energy sector.

During the attack, Russian air defenses in Novorossiysk were active and struck civilian infrastructure, the SBU source said. They were only authorized to speak anonymously to discuss sensitive military developments.

Footage circulating on social media showed surface-to-air missiles launched from what was identified as a Russian Pantsir system striking residential buildings in Novorossiysk, the SBU source added.

It's unclear if there were any injuries or deaths during the incident. Russia's defense ministry and its US embassy did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

Friendly fire incidents like this aren't necessarily unusual. Russia has reportedly accidentally bombed its own territory dozens of times throughout the war.

The SBU source said that long-range drones struck several military and logistics targets in Novorossiysk, including oil terminal infrastructure, and the locations of S-300/S-400 air defense systems. A landing ship was also damaged near the naval base, according to preliminary battle damage assessments.

Other units beyond the SBU, Ukraine's internal security agency, took part in the attack on Novorossiysk, including the country's GUR military intelligence agency, Special Operations Forces, and the Unmanned Systems Forces.

In translated remarks shared with Business Insider, the SBU source said that the security agency "continues to methodically reduce Russia's petrodollar revenues, with which it finances the war against Ukraine, as well as to weaken the enemy's air defense systems that protect key military and infrastructure facilities of the enemy."

Ukraine has been stepping up its attacks on Russian energy facilities since August, hitting a number of sites across the country with dozens of strikes, including against Novorossiysk. Kyiv has targeted the port city repeatedly throughout the war.

Russia's energy sector is a critical source of revenue for the country, helping fuel its war efforts in Ukraine. Kyiv's new campaign against oil and gas facilities reflects its efforts to put pressure on Moscow — which relies heavily on exports — and try to choke its main source of income.

The Novorossiysk attack came as the Ukrainian military said it also struck an aircraft repair facility on Tuesday in Taganrog, a city in Russia's southwestern Rostov region. The site is used to repair Moscow's airborne early warning aircraft and its strategic bombers.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials said that Russia attacked the country with more than 480 missiles and drones overnight. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday morning that at least six people were killed and 13 more were injured in the Kyiv area.

• I'm an American Costco fan who's visited warehouses abroad in places like Australia and Mexico.
• The food-court menus at international locations vary greatly and often have regional favorites.
• Many international Costco locations sell local specialties, but I've also seen American products.

I like shopping at Costco — and I also enjoy traveling.

So, I love going to Costco whenever I'm in a different country and can find a location nearby.

It might seem strange to visit a chain that's famous for selling items in bulk while on vacation, but this can actually be a great way to gain insight into local culture and cuisine.

Though the retailer is based in the US, it has dozens of stores spread across other countries, from Sweden to Japan. Fortunately, I've been able to use my American Costco membership card at warehouses abroad for no extra cost.

Here are some of the biggest surprises I've encountered while shopping at Costco locations across the US, South Korea, Australia, the United Kingdom, and Mexico.

Costco's food-court offerings vary from country to country.

Trying different food-court items at Costco may be my favorite vacation activity. The offerings are always affordable, and I never know what local specialty or twist on a classic I might find behind the counter.

When I was at Costco in England, I found heaping scoops of gelato piled high into giant waffle cones and enormous loaded jacket potatoes topped with things like tuna, cheese, and beans.

Costco in Australia offered steak pies and mango boba smoothies at its food court, and the one in South Korea had soups on the menu.

However, I can always find a hot dog … though they aren't all the same.

At every Costco I've visited so far, I've seen a hot dog on the food court's menu. Sometimes, the dogs and toppings differ.

In Mexico, I found self-service stations where I could add jalapeño and onion to my hot dog. The Australian hot dog on offer is all-pork, unlike the all-beef option in North America and just about everywhere else.

The value of America's famous $1.50 soda-and-hot-dog combo also varies abroad — especially if you factor in the exchange rate.

The rate varies, but the combo costs £1.50 in England, which is about $1.96. In Mexico, the combo costs 35 pesos, about $1.91. It was a good deal when I was in Australia, and the 1.99 Australian-dollar price converted to about $1.29.

I can use my American Costco membership abroad, but some locations require an extra step.

In most countries I've visited, I've been able to easily scan my American Costco card to get access to the store.

So, I was surprised when the outdoor Costco food-court kiosk I visited in Mexico rejected my membership card.

Eventually, I learned that I needed to request a temporary membership card from the membership counter. It didn't cost me extra, but it was a bit of a hassle.

Once that was settled, I was able to use that printed card to order at the food court, gain entry to the store, and purchase groceries.

All that to say, be prepared to stop at the membership desk first in some countries — even if that gooey chocolate-chunk cookie is calling your name.

Each country has unique products and samples.

Costco works with a variety of suppliers, and its stores are typically stocked with the local market and regional shoppers in mind.

For example, I found Kirkland Signature mini cochinita bakes at a Mexican location, and kangaroo dog treats in an Australian one.

While shopping at Costco in South Korea, I was offered a sample-sized "Jäger bomb," which was Jägermeister mixed with a South Korean energy drink. It was just past 10 a.m., but I indulged anyway.

Still, I've found some American products and brands abroad.

It's always fun to see which American products are distributed to Costco locations worldwide.

In England, I was pleased to find ranch dressing imported from Johnny's Fine Foods, a brand based in Tacoma, Washington. I also spotted massive tubs of Red Vines, one of my favorite American candies that I usually can't find abroad.

Sometimes, products differ slightly. In Australia, I thought I'd found the American classic Kellogg's Rice Krispies — but they were actually a nearly identical-looking cereal packaged as Kellogg's Rice Bubbles.

Costco still feels immensely popular abroad.

Costco is one of the most popular retailers in the US, and it certainly feels like a hit in other countries.

Although I've braved many long lines on weekends at Costco back home, I was still unprepared for the crowded stores during my international visits.

Even midafternoon on a weekday in Mexico, long checkout lines weaved all the way to the back of the store.

Eventually, I took the advice from locals and stayed in line, slowly moving alone while my partner retrieved items to add to our cart. All in all, we waited 40 minutes to check out.

Some of the crowds may be attributed to the fact that there are relatively few Costco locations in some countries abroad. There are hundreds in the US, but fewer than 50 in Mexico, Australia, and South Korea.

For me, visiting Costco while overseas will always be a fun and surprising experience.

Truly, there's nothing like shopping at Costco on vacation.

I love that my membership card gives me access to large aisles of massively sized goods all over the world, and I still have many locations on my bucket list.

And with the retailer continuing to expand internationally, I know there will always be opportunities to try new warehouses around the globe.

• Sydney Wiseman is cofounder of Playhouse MD.
• She designed Fingerlings, small toys that sold millions of units.
• Now she's partnered with her sister, a pediatrician, to make fun medical tools.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Sydney Wiseman, cofounder of Playhouse MD. It has been edited for length and clarity.

Everyone in my immediate family is a doctor, except me. My brother, sister, and dad are physicians, and my mom was a vet. Luckily, my parents could tell from an early age that med school wasn't for me, and they were supportive. They say they could tell from the rapt way I watched commercials that I was made for something else: toys.

My mom's two brothers own a toy business, so the idea of inventing and producing toys wasn't so unusual in our family. My uncles would show me everything they were working on, like robotic Power Ranger gloves. I was more of a Polly Pocket girl myself, but I was absolutely enthralled with the magic of toys.

A picture inspired my toy-of-the-year design

Once I was old enough, I joined my uncles' company, WowWee. They mostly focused on robotic toys — we used to joke that they could literally make pigs fly. But I thought a lot of kids didn't want a flying pig: they just wanted a cute, cuddly pig.

In 2015, I saw a picture on Instagram of a tiny monkey clinging to people's fingers. My family and friends were used to me saying "That's a toy!" whenever I had an idea. When I saw that monkey, I knew it was a toy, for sure.

I created Fingerlings, a plush toy that clings to kids' fingers, just like that little money did. Fingerlings respond to kids with movement and noises, so there was an immediate emotional connection. The toys sold tens of millions of units and became Toy of the Year in 2017.

Fingerlings gave me status, but not money

Despite the success of Fingerlings, the toy didn't significantly impact my finances, largely due to the ownership structure. That highlighted for me the need to take ownership of the things I create.

However, Fingerlings gave me credibility in the toy industry. There aren't many young female toy makers. But suddenly, everyone knew me as the toy girl. I had standing, credibility, and experience in the industry. There was no monetary value to that, but it became incredibly important for my next venture.

My sister's experience inspired my next idea

My sister is a pediatrician and mom. She started wearing a Fingerling on her stethoscope. One day, she was treating a child with a broken femur, and she needed to put a mask on the boy. He was hysterical, so she got a neonatal mask and told the patient to put that mask on the Fingerling while she put one on him. It worked — he instantly calmed.

When she called to tell me about that, I knew we had stumbled upon something. Kids are so sensitive, and too often, scary medical procedures happen to them. Play has been incorporated into every aspect of kids' lives, except in healthcare. I thought we could use toys to make medical care a little less scary for kids.

My sister and I cofounded Playhouse MD, which makes medical tools that have the appeal of toys. We make a thermometer that's a giraffe, a nasal aspirator that's a cute narwhal, and medicine droppers that are shaped like butterflies, for example.

I have a new respect for my uncles

This year, Playhouse MD raised $5 million in seed funding. We've started a partnership with McKesson, the largest medical device distributor. The interest has been tremendous, and that's at least in part due to the success I had with Fingerlings.

I was emotionally invested in Fingerlings, but now that I'm running a company, I'm even more committed to it. I need to steer this ship because other people are depending on me. It gives me a newfound respect for my uncles and everything they put into running their business.

• Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei is known for leading through long-form Slack essays that fuel debate.
• Engineer Sholto Douglas told "TBPN" they hold essay debates that shape the firm's strategy.
• Analysts told Business Insider a written-first style boosts transparency but risks slowing decisions.

Ever thought about leading your team with long essays on Slack?

At Anthropic, CEO Dario Amodei "frequently" uses this communication tactic to spark extensive written debates that shape Anthropic's culture and strategy, according to Sholto Douglas, a Member of the Technical Staff at the AI firm.

"Dario has a really, really cool communication style," Douglas told "TBPN" on Monday. "He quite frequently puts out these very, very well-reasoned essays. And then throughout Slack, we'll have giant essay-length debates with people about Anthropic."

The essays, Douglas said, don't just guide Anthropic's current decision-making — they also serve as a living record of the company's evolution.

"The essays are really nice because you can go back and read all the past ones, and it tells the history of Anthropic," he said. "In many respects, it will be one of the better things, a decade from now, to chart the history of AGI. We'll be reading this compendium of essays."

Amodei's habit of turning strategic discussions into written debates means Anthropic employees can see the reasoning behind major calls — and even challenge them directly.

"Whenever we're debating different things, he will lay out the pros and cons and how he's thinking about them, and you know why this one's a tension or why that one's a moral struggle," Douglas said. "People will write back big essays on why they think we should do X or Y, and he'll respond. It's quite a joy."

While "very recent," he added that this written-first approach gives Anthropic "a coherent sense of direction across the entire company," because "many people — or really the entire company — have a good model of how he's thinking."

The essay-driven culture, Douglas suggested, has become part of Anthropic's identity — a slower, more reflective counterpoint to Silicon Valley's often chaotic meeting culture.

A risky but bold model of leadership communication

Leadership analysts told Business Insider that Amodei's written-first approach offers rare transparency but risks slowing decision-making.

André Spicer, professor of organizational behavior at City, St George's, University of London, said that "leadership by essay has some upsides — it forces more careful deliberative thinking on the part of the leader and follower."

But, he warned, it can "act as a distraction from action" and "create a wider culture of analysis paralysis."

Written exchanges, he added, might "ignore practical realities," yet they encourage broader thinking.

Cary Cooper, a professor of organizational psychology and health at the University of Manchester's Business School, viewed the practice as potentially distancing.

"This seems to be a less confrontational approach by the CEO rather than a face-to-face dialogue," he said.

While it might reduce friction, he warned it could be seen internally as "an 'avoidance approach' rather than a dialogue."

Cooper said CEOs should still show their leadership through in-person town halls and live-streamed discussions.

By contrast, Grace Lordan, founding director of the Inclusion Initiative and associate professor at the London School of Economics, saw promise in the method.

She said it shows "a commitment to intellectual rigor and traceability," while promoting transparency and giving staff "a clear record" of leadership decisions.

Still, she said, "writing takes more time upfront" and can "risk excluding people who communicate better verbally than in text."

The best leaders, she added, combine "written pre-work for clarity and preparation" with "focused live meetings to pressure-test assumptions" and "concise written follow-ups" that document decisions and next steps.

Anthropic didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.