Tag: News

• For my 13th birthday, my mom gave me a handmade recipe book with entries from friends and family.
• The recipe book features handwritten recipes, notes, and photos that I still cherish today.
• Once my kids are older, I plan to make a similar book for each of them to enjoy.

For my 13th birthday, my mom compiled a recipe book, filled with recipes and notes from family and friends.

While I didn't immediately jump up to make all of the recipes, and there are still some that I haven't touched (I doubt I'll ever make a salmon loaf), the recipe book has become my go-to for meal planning and baking.

Julia Child's cookbook rests prominently on my shelf, and while I daydream of making clafloutis, I'm much more likely to make my mom's spice cookies or my grandma's apple crisp from my homemade book.

Notes and photos make the recipes more personal

Some friends and family included little notes on the recipes themselves, like noting if a recipe was a holiday favorite, listing modifications, or mentioning if a specific family member always requested a certain food.

These additions have become even more cherished over the years, as some of these family members are no longer with us. Seeing their handwriting and recipes evokes memories of breaking bread together, cooking together, and even receiving handwritten cards from them.

My mom also included some of the letters she received over the years, along with the recipes, photos, and stickers. There are even a few recipes where she photocopied the originals from generations past. I never knew my paternal grandparents, and having their handwritten recipes helps forge a small connection to them.

The recipes created bonding moments

Some of the recipes, such as my dad's chili or holiday cookies, were ones I had helped make over the years.

Others, like my aunt's mother's tortillas, were not. My aunt often talked about not liking to cook, but she coached me through making the recipe, which included instructions such as "one small bowl of flour." Thankfully, she had an idea of how much this was!

She often told stories of how her mother would make the tortillas fresh for my cousin as an after-school snack, and how he'd roll them up into a buttered tortilla "burrito." These are the types of stories and connections that help make great food.

Some of the recipes reflect my great-great-grandparents' country of origin, Hungary, or my aunt's grandparents' homeland in Mexico. Others are recipes that have become holiday "must-haves," such as birthday cake, Thanksgiving tamales, and Christmas cookies, as well as recipes to warm us in the colder weather.

The book was a way to bond with loved ones, near and far

Living in a military community, we have friends and family spread across the miles, so having these recipes helped me feel closer to those who were far away.

For my birthday party, my mom requested that everyone bring a recipe as part of my gift. This provided unique scrapbook-style additions, with recipes written in loopy cursive by tweens using colorful gel pens.

My mom copied the recipes for my party guests, and one of them told me she still has all the recipes. She, like me, hasn't made all of them, but kept them because it felt special. It was something different, but fun.

I hope to someday make similar recipe books for my children

Having these recipes easily accessible is amazing, as I don't have to hunt through multiple recipe books or files to find them. Once in a blue moon, over the years, I've found family recipes missing from the book and added them in.

I've also added some new favorites over the years, such as sourdough crackers and the ooey gooey butter bars we had at a friend's wedding.

The binding is starting to show some wear, just like a beloved teddy bear wearing at the seams. I hope to someday create similar books for my children — a blend of my family's and my husband's family's recipes, as well as recipes I've discovered, and new recipes that I'll request from our friends. Food and handmade items are both precious gifts of love, and combining the two has given me a priceless heirloom.

• Matika Wilbur photographed members of every federally recognized Native American tribe.
• She named the series Project 562 for the number of recognized tribes at the time.
• She published a book of her photos titled "Project 562: Changing the Way We See Native America."

Photographer Matika Wilbur was on assignment in South America when her grandmother appeared to her in a dream and told her to go capture her own people.

Wilbur, who is Native American, listened.

She embarked on a yearslong project photographing members of every federally recognized Native tribe in North America. In 2023, she published her collection of photos in a book titled "Project 562: Changing the Way We See Native America."

Wilbur spoke with Business Insider about her project, her photos, and the importance of agency in Native American representation.

Take a look at Wilbur's powerful portraits.

Photographer Matika Wilbur went on a mission to photograph members of every federally recognized Native tribe in North America.

Wilbur herself is Swinomish and Tulalip.

She drove hundreds of thousands of miles and photographed members of different Native American tribes for Project 562.

When Wilbur began her project in 2012, there were 562 federally recognized Native American tribes. Now, there are 574. 

The project grew from a photo series to a documentary to a full-blown archive of Native people, their communities, and their stories.

"We're always redrafting the language to describe this project," Wilbur told Business Insider.

Wilbur photographed her subjects on black-and-white film using a method called the Zone System.

The Zone System creates more dynamic range in the images.

She's drawn to peer portraiture with simple landscape backdrops.

"I figured that that was sort of irresponsible when I started this project, to travel all over the country and not show the landscape," Wilbur said.

She let her subjects choose where and how they'd like to be photographed, giving them agency over how they'd be represented.

"Sometimes I'll be in the Grand Canyon and I'd rather take somebody's picture at Havasupai Falls because it's magnificent and there's this incredible blue-green water coming out of the ground … and they want to be photographed on their front porch because they love where they live," she said. "I'll do what they want to do because people should be represented in a way that is important to them, especially in Indian Country."

"We've been photographed so many times by non-Indians and we've had our stories told so many times by people outside our community, and they get the story wrong," Wilbur said.

In the above portrait, Wilbur photographed three members of the Tulalip tribe: Darkfeather, Bibiana, and Eckos Ancheta.

"We aim to correct that narrative through honest individual agency and storytelling," she said.

Dine' (Navajo Nation) member Jaclyn Roessel posed for one of Wilbur's portraits.

Wilbur asked people questions about themselves and their lives as she took their pictures.

Their conversations touched on family, love, heartbreak, moments that shaped them, and their hopes for the future.

She also asked about their Native American identities.

"I find that people have really interesting things to say when you ask them what it means to be whatever their tribe is, and then when you ask them what it means to be an 'Indian,'" she said. "I'm fascinated by that."

Sometimes her subjects wore traditional Native clothing, while others wore everyday outfits.

Ailee Fregoso of the Cheyenne River Sioux tribe showed off her colorful fringed shawl.

Wilbur published her work in a book called "Project 562: Changing the Way We See Native America."

The book, published in 2023, became a New York Times bestseller.

What began as a photo series has become an archive rich with history, culture, language, and resilience.

Wilbur also cohosts the podcast All My Relations, in which she and Adrienne Keene — a professor who is also Native American — discuss their relationships to land, ancestors, and other Native peoples.

Wilbur values the connections she's made throughout the creative process.

"I didn't know that strangers can become family relatively quickly," she said. "It's such a whirlwind of a journey."

Editor's note: This story was originally published in 2016. It was updated in 2025.

• Pumpkin pie is a staple on Thanksgiving.
• But if you're looking for something different, here are other desserts you can make.
• Baked apples with vanilla ice cream and chocolate cream pie are both crowd-pleasing options.

If you're not a fan of pumpkin pie or want to switch things up this Thanksgiving, there are other easy, crowd-pleasing desserts you can make instead.

Pumpkin pie has been a Thanksgiving staple since the holiday's early days in the 17th century, when pilgrims and early American settlers frequently used pumpkins in many of their recipes.

However, fewer than a quarter of Thanksgiving tables are expected to feature pumpkin pie this year, per 2025 WalletHub data.

As such, you don't need to stick to tradition to please your guests. If you're looking for options that don't require an oven, you can make slow-cooker cobbler or chocolate cream pie. Adding premium ingredients, such as macadamia nuts, pecans, or walnuts, can also elevate a classic brownie recipe to bakery-quality status.

Here are 10 easy Thanksgiving desserts that aren't pumpkin pie.

If you still have pie on your mind, you can make an easy chocolate cream pie.

Chocolate cream pie is generally easier to make than pumpkin or apple pie, since many versions, like this recipe by Simply Recipes, don't even require you to bake it. Instead, you just chill the dessert for a few hours in the fridge, which is perfect when you're trying to keep the oven free for other Thanksgiving dishes.

You could also make an apple pie.

If you do want to spend a little time making your dessert, but don't want to make pumpkin pie, apple pie is an excellent option. In fact, around 12% of Thanksgiving tables are going to opt for this dessert, per 2025 WalletHub data.

There are plenty of recipes out there, from more intricate lattice pies to easier versions that use pre-made pie crust.

Business Insider's Paige Bennett tried three celebrity-chef recipes for apple pie and found Ree Drummond's recipe to be the most delicious, while Gordon Ramsay's was the easiest to make.

Apple crisp is another easy and festive dessert.

If you're looking for a dessert that doesn't take up a lot of time in the kitchen, apple crisp pairs perfectly with ice cream. Plus, some versions, like this one by All Recipes, require only an hour to make.

Slow-cooker cobbler is ideal if you need to free up oven space.

Taste of Home's slow-cooker berry cobbler uses frozen berries and cinnamon. Despite being a slow-cooker recipe, it also only takes about two hours to cook, with just 15 minutes of prep time.

Bread pudding is an often-forgotten dessert.

Bread pudding is a nostalgic dessert for many, although it usually doesn't get the recognition it deserves around the holidays. This delicious, stick-to-your-bones dessert is perfect for Thanksgiving and uses festive ingredients like raisins and cinnamon. 

Chocolate-chip pumpkin bread is a delicious option that will keep for days after the holiday.

While chocolate-chip pumpkin bread, like this contest-winning recipe by Taste of Home, can be made practically any time throughout the fall season, it's also an easy Thanksgiving dessert that can be paired with ice cream or coffee or served on its own.

It's also easy to transport if you're traveling for Thanksgiving or want to send some slices home with your guests.

Pumpkin chocolate-chip cookies are also great to send home with your guests.

Adding pumpkin to chocolate-chip cookies takes them to the next level. There are plenty of recipes available, but Delish's recipe for pumpkin chocolate-chip cookies uses pumpkin purée, pumpkin spice, and semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Coffee cake is another easy-to-make sweet treat that you'll be just as thankful for the morning after.

Coffee cake pairs well with after-dinner coffee or tea, is easy to transport, and will keep until the morning after Thanksgiving for a delicious breakfast. While it might not seem as decadent as pumpkin pie, celebrity chef Ina Garten's version packs a ton of fall flavor with ingredients like cinnamon and sour cream.

Adding nuts like macadamia nuts, pecans, or walnuts can elevate a standard brownie recipe.

Brownies might seem like a cop-out when it comes to a Thanksgiving dessert, but there are ways to elevate this otherwise simple recipe. Try adding nuts to take brownies to the next level, or pair them with ice cream for homemade brownie sundaes. 

For example, Kris Jenner's brownies, which Business Insider's Paige Bennett called "chewy and fudgy," feature walnuts.

Baked apples with vanilla ice cream is another easy dessert.

Baked apple slices with cinnamon are easy to make and give all the delicious flavors of other apple desserts, without the stress of making and rolling out pie crust. You can pair baked apple slices with vanilla ice cream for a delicious take on Thanksgiving dessert, or serve them on their own.

• I cooked jasmine rice in an Instant Pot, on the stovetop, in the microwave, and in the oven.
• Rice I made with a stove and a pressure cooker turned out great, but it got gummy in the microwave.
• The oven-cooked rice turned out to be my favorite — it was a fluffy and flavorful delight.

I love rice and have been cooking it regularly for all of my adult life.

It's a perfect staple to serve alongside salmon or steak, stir-fry with veggies and tofu, or mix into soups and stews.

Many swear by making it with a rice cooker, but I don't have one, and I was curious to see which other appliance in my home could produce the best results.

So, I tried cooking rice four different ways: in an Instant Pot, on the stovetop, in the microwave, and in the oven.

For each method, I prepared a cup of jasmine rice with an equal blend of vegetable broth and water, along with a small amount of olive oil.

Here's how these different ways of cooking rice stacked up in terms of ease, timing, and, of course, taste and texture.

Pressure-cooked rice is hands-off.

First, I measured out a cup of rice, which I then rinsed well under tepid water. Next, I added ½ cup of broth, ½ cup of water, and a bit of olive oil to a lightly sprayed Instant Pot pressure cooker.

Then, I secured the lid and pressed the "rice" button. And that's it — that's the beauty of this device. It's so easy to use.

After a brief period of pressurization, the rice cooked for all of 12 minutes, then the appliance beeped, indicating it was rice time.

This still feels like a reliable way to quickly cook the grain.

My pressure-cooked rice was plenty flavorful and had a soft, though not quite fluffy texture. All of the grains of rice were cooked through.

The process was so easy, and I have no big complaints about the taste or texture of the rice. This has been my go-to method for cooking rice for several years.

The stovetop rice required a bit more effort.

The stovetop was my go-to way of cooking rice before I got an Instant Pot.

For this method, I measured and rinsed a single cup of rice, then added it to a medium-sized saucepan with a cup of water, a cup of broth, and 1 teaspoon of oil.

I placed the pan on the stove over a medium-high heat. As soon as the rice came to a boil, I reduced the heat to a low simmer and covered the saucepan with a lid.

I kept an eye on the rice, turning up the heat slightly when the simmer dropped to just a few bubbles every few seconds, then easing the heat back off again once the bulk of the liquid seemed to have been absorbed or cooked off.

Once I could see little pockets of air between the rice grains, which typically takes between 15 and 20 minutes, I cut the heat and let the rice sit, covered, for another five minutes.

Then, I fluffed the rice with a fork and took some bites.

I actually liked this better than the pressure-cooker rice.

This was, to my surprise, better than the pressure-cooked rice.

Before this experiment, the two had been more or less interchangeable to me. Now that I had eaten each rice side by side, I could definitely tell the difference in the taste and texture.

The stovetop rice was truly plump with a nice flavor, and there wasn't even much of it caked to the bottom of the pan. This method took a little longer than the pressure cooker, but the resulting rice was slightly tastier and fluffier.

This is a great way to cook rice as long as you have the proper grain-to-liquid measurements and keep a close eye on your pot. With this method, it can be easy to accidentally overcook rice.

I wasn't excited about trying to make rice in the microwave.

Before cooking rice in a microwave, I cross-referenced at least a half-dozen recipes I found online, so I'm confident my approach was decent. But the outcome? I can hardly describe it as such.

I rinsed the rice, combined it with 1 ¾ cups of my water-broth blend, and added the olive oil to a microwave-safe glass container.

Next, I partially secured the container's lid — not too tightly, as I didn't want it to explode — and popped the rice in the microwave on full power for five minutes.

Then, I microwaved it for another 15 minutes on half power and let it rest for an additional five minutes before retrieving it.

I won't be using this appliance for rice again.

I had low expectations, but I was still disappointed.

The microwaved rice was clumpy and dried out, except for the largest gobs, which were gummy and unevenly cooked.

Only a generous dose of a sauce and further cooking in a frying pan could have made this rice tasty. I took three or four bites and then composted the rest.

The oven was the dark horse of the taste test.

The thing about oven-cooked rice is that you need to start with boiling water — or a water/broth blend, in my case. So, you'll probably also need a stovetop or electric kettle.

Once I preheated my oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit, I rinsed the rice and brought a cup of water and a cup of broth up to a full boil on my stovetop.

Next, I greased a 2-quart glass baking dish and added the rice and oil to it. Then, I carefully poured 1 ¾ cups of my boiling liquid over the rice.

Finally, I quickly covered the dish with aluminum foil and popped it into my heated oven. I pulled the baking dish out after 25 minutes and let it sit, still covered, for five minutes.

I'm amazed by how good the oven rice was.

I pulled back the foil to reveal the best rice I have ever made.

It was evenly cooked, and each grain was fluffy and full of flavor. The oven-cooked rice had taken on the taste of the broth and had a faint, yet pleasant, roasted flavor.

Plus, other than having to boil liquids, this cooking method was fairly hands-off. I was able to pop my dish in the oven and work on other tasks.

I may have found a new favorite appliance for cooking rice.

I had my wife do a blind taste test of all four versions of the rice, which I'd carefully timed to be ready at the same time. She agreed that the oven-cooked rice was the best on all fronts.

I had never thought to cook rice in the oven, but I'll consider doing it every time going forward, provided I have enough time on my hands.

This experiment also had me second-guessing my switch from stovetop to Instant Pot, but the convenience of the latter is still so hard to beat.

When I'm in a rush, the pressure cooker will still be my go-to for preparing rice, but on more relaxed days, into the oven it goes.

Click to check out the other appliances we've put head-to-head so far.

• Destinations around the world are feeling the pinch of overtourism.
• Fodor's travel guide's annual "No List" highlights destinations to rethink visiting in 2026.
• Destinations like Antarctica, the Canary Islands, and Montmartre are facing tourism pressures.

The travel bucket list, or a catalog of places you must go, has long been a thing, but with the rise in global tourism — and subsequent strains of overtourism — there's increasing talk about where not to go.

International tourist arrivals increased 5% globally in the first half of 2025 compared to the same time period a year prior, surpassing pre-pandemic levels, according to the United Nations World Tourism Organization.

Fodor's, a long-standing travel guide company, compiles an annual list of places that travelers should reconsider visiting due to the potential negative impacts of rising tourism.

The recently released "No List," which outlines eight places that travelers should rethink visiting in 2026, includes a far-flung continent, a United States national park, and some popular city destinations.

Fodor's says the list is not a call for a total boycott but instead meant to "highlight destinations where tourism is placing unsustainable pressures on the land and local communities." Conversely, Fodor's also compiles an annual "Go List," with the latest edition highlighting 26 of the best places to visit next year.

Here are the eight destinations that made the "No List" for 2026.

Antarctica

While Antarctica, one of the most remote places on the planet, isn't overrun with tourists in the same sense that Venice is, the continent may be welcoming more visitors than it can responsibly accommodate, according to Fodor's.

The number of tourists visiting Antarctica increased tenfold between 1992 and 2020, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The group says travel to Antarctica has a high carbon footprint and can damage sites visited by travelers as well as disturb wildlife.

The IUCN and other conservation groups have called for additional measures to protect Antarctica's wildlife and ecosystem as tourism increases.

The Canary Islands

Spain's Canary Islands draw millions of tourists every year, prompting local concerns about crowding and traffic, rising housing costs, and environmental impacts.

There have been multiple protests against overtourism on the Canary Islands in recent years, with thousands of people taking to the streets with signs that read things like "Canaries have a limit."

Glacier National Park

Glacier National Park in Montana was one of the most visited national parks in 2024, with more than 3.2 million visitors.

In 2020, the park instituted a timed reservation system during the busy summer months to handle the increase in visitors, but concerns remain around increased traffic and congestion, higher risks of wildlife disturbance, and a rise in carbon emissions and threats to air quality.

Isola Sacra

Isola Sacra, located southwest of Rome, is a historic coastal community in Italy home to some ancient Roman ruins.

Italian officials have approved a plan for a new port that will allow large cruise ships to dock in the town. The plan has been controversial among locals of Isola Sacra, with community groups protesting the development, citing potential harm to local ecosystems.

Local authorities have said the port will bring employment to the community and that the plan includes measures to protect the environment.

The Jungfrau Region in Switzerland

The Jungfrau Region in Switzerland is a major attraction for visitors to the Alps, with its alpine lakes and dramatic peaks.

But the region is struggling to manage its tourism boom while protecting the natural environment and quality of life for the area's locals, according to Fodor's.

Mexico City

Mexico City has been a booming tourism destination in recent years, leading to concerns about rising housing costs and cultural loss in the city center.

Demonstrators gathered in Mexico City in August to protest tourism, gentrification, rent hikes, and the rise in short-term rentals.

Mombasa

Kenya has seen a notable rise in tourism since the pandemic, with cruise ships bringing an influx of visitors to cities like Mombasa.

The historic Kenyan city is already experiencing the impacts of rising tourism, with some cultural sites overrun by visitors, leading to congested roads, overcrowding, and littered beaches, Fodor's said.

Mohamed Osman, minister for Tourism, Culture, and Trade in Mombasa County, told Fodor's that measures are currently being developed to address concerns with overtourism.

Montmartre

Montmartre, a picturesque Paris neighborhood popular with visitors, has experienced overtourism impacts like rising prices and the displacement of locals.

Residents have protested against the "Disneyfication" of Montmartre, as the French newspaper Le Monde reported, citing a decline in stores catering to locals and lines of tourists trying to capitalize on a good photo op.

• We live about 1,000 miles from my in-laws and don't see them often.
• My two kids, 6 and 8, still have close relationships with their grandparents.
• They talk regularly over FaceTime and make the most of the visits we do have.

Most mornings, my 6-year-old is the first one awake; we chat while I get coffee, and I ask if he wants to call his Meme — my mother-in-law, and his grandmother. This is one of the only times of the day he can catch her, so if he's up early enough, he almost always takes the opportunity.

He eats his oatmeal and FaceTimes her until she arrives at work or is needed by an employee. Then it's time for him to call Pops, who arrives at work slightly later in the morning. More often than not, he's on his commute and chats during his drive.

My 8-year-old prefers to sleep in and is continually grumpy that he doesn't get the same talking time with breakfast.

They do the same after school or in the evenings, depending on schedules. They love to take their grandparents around the house or out in the yard while they play. No doubt they are dizzy with the poor camera work. The boys share about their day, including what they had for lunch or what they played during recess. They show what they've been working on in the backyard.

They don't live close by, so these phone calls are important

If Meme and Pops can't answer or pick up, I hear about it. We don't see them in person often, and this time is precious. Although we are in the same time zone, we are in north-central Kansas, and they are in southern Mississippi — about 1,000 miles away. Driving takes 16 hours; by plane, it's four and a half.

These regular calls allow my kids to have close relationships with their grandparents. A few times a year, the boys also get gifts in the mail — a box of goodies my in-laws have purchased over the last few months. Occasionally, I'll also get a Venmo from Meme, saying to take the boys for ice cream or let them pick a treat. There is a dual excitement of first spending the money and then getting to tell her and Pops about it afterward.

Meanwhile, my husband and I both call them fairly frequently as well. He's an avid FaceTime user, while I prefer to chat on the phone while I fold laundry or do dishes. I send pictures almost daily, giving updates of what the boys have been up to that day. Last week, I sent pictures of our son's artwork and journal entries for school, a headband my youngest son made, and photos from "Dude's Day," when my husband and our boys dressed up to go out for lunch.

We don't see them in person often but we make the most of it when we do

Planning our visits is a constant juggling of budgets and schedules. Due to limited PTO and money, we aren't able to visit often. We've flown previously but prefer the freedom of driving because we can stop and eat along the way, and it's easier to take all our luggage; however, driving does take more time, so we have to factor that in when considering a trip.

This summer, we met up in Branson, Missouri, which is about halfway between our respective homes. It was great for everyone — plenty of family time, and larger digs, as we split the cost. Plus, we had Meme and Pops as built-in babysitters. And yes, the boys got super spoiled the entire time — they said it was the best trip ever, over and over again.

This Christmas, we'll make the 16-hour drive to their home. It's the first time we'll be making the trip in two years, and my kids (and husband) have been counting down for six months. There's a running list of where we will go, restaurants to visit, and dishes that need to be tried. There have also been a few in-depth conversations about how Santa will know how to find them.

Last year, they flew to us for the week of Christmas. We picked them up in Kansas City, where we spent a few nights exploring before heading to our house.

We never get to spend enough time in person, but at these stages in our lives, it's what we are able to make work. Thankfully, with technology, we can communicate regularly, even when we can't be together in person.

• My mother and I weren't close when I was a kid because I thought she was too strict.
• Now she's 90, and I've learned to forgive and accept her.
• With this new phase of our relationship, I'm cherishing the small moments together.

I grew up in Guyana, where cultural norms set the tone for my mother's parenting and led to plenty of friction in my teen and young adult years — friction that needed time and perspective to soften.

Back then, the rule was simple: children were to be seen and not heard. That didn't sit well with me. I came out of the womb a free spirit who prized autonomy and wanted an empowered voice. Clashes were inevitable. My orientation was incompatible with what I saw as heavy-handed, authoritarian parenting.

Fortunately, reason and time eased my anger. What I couldn't see then was that Mom was doing her best to parent from the only framework she knew — from her own lived experience.

Now that Mom is 90, my days with her feel like borrowed time I don't dare take for granted. I find myself more aware, wanting to slow time down, eager to savor and absorb everything.

I've found grace in forgiveness

As I matured and became exposed to travel, literature, and new ways of seeing people and their choices, I began to understand how cultural conditioning and limited education had shaped Mom. She had simply imitated what had been modeled for her.

My own education and exposure helped me look past my early judgments and see how profoundly environment shapes behavior. Mom had lived within strictly paternalistic rhythms, armed with only a fifth-grade education.

That realization softened me. What used to be disappointment became a gentler understanding. I saw that in her place, I might have made the same choices. This thought alone lifted something heavy. It gave me space to replace resentment with compassion and finally see my mother fully without holding the examples she repeated against her.

I now hold onto our rituals

Mom lives with me now, and we've developed rituals that are deeply satisfying and sustaining.

We have a nightly date to watch "Jeopardy." We also make time to share warm plates of delicious curry and rice or my famed mac and cheese. I also enjoy revisiting old recipes that prompt me to call on Mom for guidance.

It seems I taste the history in every bite, as I remember all the meals she once stretched to feed us when there was little to go around.

We also connect over music now. Our long drives through winding country roads — with Bob Marley or Marc Anthony's "Si Te Vas" playing — are gifts I get to unwrap twice: once in the moment and again later, as a memory.

A few months ago, my mom and I saw singer Lauren Daigle in concert — an experience Mom still talks about with delight. I won't soon forget it either.

I'm holding onto these last moments with my mother

I often wake up to the sound of my mother praying out loud. It's the sweetest alarm clock I could ever ask for. I cherish these moments, knowing there will come a day when I'd give anything to hear such a sound.

So I'm savoring it all greedily: the shared moments, the music, the quiet companionship, the chance to rub lotion on her feet or massage arthritic shoulders when the pain is overwhelming, the gratitude for my ability to outgrow old resentments and take a more expansive and empathetic view of our lives.

After everything we've gone through, it feels like a wondrous miracle to simply love my mother and be loved by her — freely and without reservations.

• Since OpenAI shook Google awake, the search giant has made a big turnaround.
• Google has spent three years reshaping itself and leaning into its advantages over rivals.
• Existential questions about the future of the web linger, however.

It made for an irresistible narrative.

The large, slow incumbent — in this case, Google — was caught flat-footed by a more nimble upstart by the name of OpenAI. It was the type of story Silicon Valley built its legend on.

In Sundar Pichai's first letter to shareholders in 2016 after becoming CEO, he said Google would shift to an "AI-first world." Yet, in late 2022, a relatively unknown company suddenly pulled the rug from under Google's feet. ChatGPT was an overnight sensation, and Google, which had long seen itself as the leader in AI, appeared to be lagging behind.

In the years since, the search giant has acted fast to turn things around. It quickly reshaped key parts of its business internally and made an aggressive push to inject generative AI into its core products.

Its latest AI model, Gemini 3, launched this month to dazzling reviews. Crucially, Gemini 3 launched within Search — Google's most prized business — on day one, a strong signal that after three years the company had gotten its ducks in a row.

However, there are big questions that Google is still grappling with as it rebuilds its image in the age of AI. OpenAI's first-mover advantage meant that ChatGPT has become the "Kleenex" of AI — the name that everyone associates with it — and it will be tough for Google to change that.

There are also more existential questions. Chiefly, how can Google preserve a healthy web ecosystem once AI has eaten the internet? To keep pace with rivals, Google is reimagining search not as a directory, but a conversation that removes the hassle of scrolling and clicking. What that means for the future of the internet is a lingering question. Still, Google's business may not only survive its self-disruption, but thrive.

"It has the users, and as long as it continues to rush out new products, no one can match its distribution tentacles," a former Google executive said. "They will come out as winners no matter the scenario."

Google told Business Insider in a statement, "We've been through platform shifts before, and every time it's been an expansionary moment for Google and for Search. We move quickly, innovate, and create new opportunities for our products, partners, and users — and that's what we're doing with AI."

Gemini rising

Did Google see it coming? That depends on who you ask.

When OpenAI's ChatGPT rolled out, Googlers experienced a mix of frustration and relief. Some employees had worked on similar projects that had never made it outside Google's walls, and seeing a much smaller competitor take the glory was frustrating. Others saw it as the starting pistol in the AI race and the green light for Google to finally unleash its own AI on the world.

Google has never lacked brains or technology. Employees at DeepMind, an AI research lab within Google's parent company, had been toying with large language models by the time ChatGPT appeared, but leaders worried that releasing a chatbot prone to bias or errors would spark backlash.

"It was not intended as a public thing yet," a former DeepMind employee who worked on Google's own LLM technology said. "We saw shortcomings and saw it start to be interesting, but it was unclear how to get it to be completely useful."

What surprised some leaders inside the company — and where Google ultimately miscalculated, insiders say — was that users largely didn't seem to care about ChatGPT's shortcomings.

Inside DeepMind, teams scrambled to launch their answer to ChatGPT, a chatbot named Sparrow, which would have had more safety guardrails than ChatGPT, according to people who worked on it. That project soon died once Google merged DeepMind with its internal AI lab Brain, and the company then put all its focus on Gemini.

At the same time, Google made an internal push to infuse generative AI into all its most crucial products, including Search, YouTube, and Android. It launched multiple iterations of the Gemini chatbot, the latest of which is Gemini 3.

Searching for Google's future

Over the past three years, Google has made disrupting itself look fairly easy. The company just reported its first $100 billion quarter. Its cloud business, which has long been second-fiddle to Amazon's and Microsoft's, is whirring into overdrive. Its specialized AI chips, for years an internal and slow-moving effort, are suddenly seeing blockbuster demand from companies vying for more computing power.

Current and former employees say Google's greatest advantage is that it owns the full technology stack needed to meet the AI boom. It offers numerous products, including Gemini, Search, and Maps, which are already used by billions of people. It has a fleet of researchers building frontier AI models. And it has a cloud infrastructure that is not just powering all these internal efforts, but that its biggest competitors are paying to use.

Search, however, remains Google's core business and the boat it spent decades trying not to rock. When cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin started Google, it had no clear business model beyond building a world-beating search engine, but the founders were eventually swayed into putting ads into search results. It became one of the most scalable businesses ever imagined in the digital era, and to this day, it continues to provide the largest chunk of Google's revenue.

Now, Google must figure out whether AI Overviews — its generated summaries that give users instant answers to their questions — and the more dramatic reimagining of search in AI Mode have as much juice when it comes to search advertising.

Google can't afford to stand still. Industry analysts at EMARKETER, Business Insider's sister company, predict Google's share of the search ads market will drop below 50% for the first time next year (a revision to their earlier prediction that it would happen in 2025). By the end of 2026, EMARKETER predicts Google will have a 48.9% share.

EMARKETER senior forecast analyst Oscar Orozco said that the sustained high performance of Google's search business suggests advertiser caution around AI Overviews has been "overblown" by the market.

"However, this does remain a long-term threat for their search business, and we believe as LLMs monetize their search capabilities, Google will continue to lose share, albeit at a slower rate than we had expected at this same time last year," he said.

Google is reshaping the web as we know it

Google, at least publicly, doesn't appear to be worried.

In a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal, Google Search boss Liz Reid said that while changes to search resulted in reduced traffic to some websites, the overall number of search queries was increasing because Google made it easier for people to get to answers, either through AI Overviews or tools like Lens.

"The increase in searches sort of compensates for the impact on ads clicks such that we end up roughly at the same point," Reid said. She also made a point that chatbots can't replace products users are looking to buy, hinting at a top priority for Google: transactional searches that are more likely to produce ad revenue for the platform.

Even that is changing for Google. The search funnel — the time between someone beginning to research a product to hitting "buy" — is shrinking, as generative AI gets people to what they want sooner.

Google has begun to show the world how it's adapting to protect its core moneymaker. However, it's unclear what the generative AI boom means for the long-term health of the web, and how it will impact websites that supply information as opposed to products.

Google says that its new AI search features can help users find more relevant content, and that queries continue to grow year-over-year. Yet many publishers already see search traffic declining, and there are growing anxieties that even if overall searches go up with AI summaries, they will not translate into website clicks.

A recent Pew Research study based on the search history of 900 users concluded that when an AI Overview appeared, users clicked a traditional link 8% of the time, compared to 15% when an AI summary didn't appear. Google said the research was flawed and not representative of overall search traffic.

Lily Ray, vice president of SEO research firm Amsive, said that a shift to an AI-first Google would make it harder for publishers and content creators who build much of the web to make money. If people stop publishing, where will Google get the information it needs to construct its AI Overviews?

"I'm not sure how they plan to solve that; their current excuses are not cutting it," she said.

One idea she suggested is that Google and other AI companies that build large language models pay commissions to the sites they train on or reference, as an incentive for them to keep creating.

She's not alone in feeling something needs to shift.

"The business model of the web can't survive unless there's some change," Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince said in an interview with the Council on Foreign Relations earlier this year. Prince, whose business acts as a gateway between websites and the internet, has called AI answerbots an "existential threat" to the internet.

"If content creators can't derive value from what they're doing, then they're not going to create original content," Prince said.

• The largest hedge funds are competing to attract and retain top talent and outperform their peers.
• Business Insider has spoken with elite hedge funds to get a peek into their recruiting processes.
• From internships to high-paying tech jobs, here's what we know about their hiring practices.

The battle for talent in the hedge fund world is fiercer than ever — and it cuts across all levels and positions.

With six-figure starting salaries, intense work environments, and the chance to work alongside some of the industry's top investors, these roles are among the most competitive in finance.

Internships can pay over $5,000 a week. Salaries for entry-level analysts and software engineers are often in the six-figure range. Portfolio managers with winning strategies can take home tens of millions.

Business Insider has interviewed recruiters and investors at top hedge fund managers like Citadel, Millennium, and Point72 about how they attract and evaluate talent, and what advice they'd give to anyone hoping to break in.

Here's everything we know about getting a job at a large hedge fund.

Internships

Years ago, the opaque and secretive world of hedge funds might not have been an obvious career choice for most college graduates on their path to Wall Street. However, these investing behemoths are now investing in getting young, diverse wunderkinder, especially mathletes, familiar with their brands as early as high school.

Internships are another talent pipeline for some of the biggest multi-strategy hedge funds, which employ armies of traders and engineers. Programs can be uber-competitive and harder to get into than many top Ivy League schools.

Citadel's summer internship program, for example, has become increasingly competitive. This year, the hedge fund accepted around 300 interns to spend 11 weeks at Griffin's hedge fund or his market maker, working with stock-pickers, quants, engineers, and more. The firm told BI that there were more than 108,000 applicants for the programs, with an acceptance rate of roughly 0.4%.

• Here's how to land a spot at Citadel's summer internship
• Citadel's associate program is a separate internship that puts rising college seniors on track to land a full-time investing role at the $66 billion fund.

$25 billion hedge fund Balyasny runs a contest that serves as an early application pool for the firm's internship program.

• Two Balyasny summer interns told us how they landed full-time roles.

We also spoke to Point72 and D.E. Shaw about what they looked for in interns and how to stand out for a potential job offer down the line.

• Point72's summer internship is a precursor to the hedge fund's Academy, a 10-month training program for college graduates and early-career professionals looking to become investment analysts.
• A D.E. Shaw internship could land a dream gig at the secretive hedge fund.

Analyst and investment training programs

In the past, hedge funds acquired investment talent from investment banks. Increasingly, however, the industry's top players are recruiting college students through intensive training programs that can lead to jobs straight out of college.

Creating a pipeline of portfolio managers has been an increasingly popular strategy for hedge funds locked in an increasingly expensive battle for top talent.

• How to get accepted into Point72's ultra-elite analyst training program, whose acceptance rate is less than 1%
• Inside Point72's PM incubator LaunchPoint, where Steve Cohen is known to grill up-and-comers who think they're ready for the big time
• Inside Balyasny's Anthem training program, where aspiring portfolio managers are handed hundreds of millions of dollars to prove they can cut it
• Behind the training programs at Balyasny, which is looking to get ahead in the war for investment talent

Tech jobs and training programs

Hedge funds have long been competing with the finance industry and top tech companies for top technologists. Engineers and algorithm developers are key to helping researchers, data scientists, and traders develop cutting-edge investment strategies and platforms. Quant shop D.E. Shaw also has a unique approach to finding talent.

• Inside Citadel's exclusive engineering program that's helped the hedge fund snap up talent from Google and Goldman Sachs
• Here's how to get a tech job at Millennium, from the programming language to know to the interview questions to prep for

Inside Man Group's popular training program for non-tech employees that teaches them skills to automate tasks and reduce errors in their work

A rundown of some of the gatekeepers to know

The "business development" role is one of the most important at hedge funds, as it specializes in scouting and evaluating investment hires. Knowing these in-house talent scouts and external recruiters is crucial.

• The rise of the hedge-fund talent whisperers
• The talent brokers of quant trading: The headhunters at the forefront of Wall Street's systematic-trading and data-science hiring frenzy
• Try our searchable database of more than 350 Wall Street headhunters to find your dream job in private equity, investment banking, or hedge funds

Advice and insight on working at top firms

Here's a look at how some firms find and vet new employees, what skills and qualities they're looking for …

• Why quant giant D.E. Shaw seeks out academics, doctors, and veterans to work at the hedge fund
• Citadel portfolio manager explains how he rose in the ranks of the hedge fund and what he looks for in a new hire
• Inside the 5-hour psychological interview that can make or break your career at Citadel, Blackstone, and other finance titans

• Inside the spycraft hedge funds use to vet multimillion-dollar traders, which is edging into murky legal territory

• This post originally appeared in the BI Today newsletter.
• You can sign up for Business Insider's daily newsletter here.

Welcome back to our Sunday edition, where we round up some of our top stories and take you inside our newsroom. People often talk about the Great Wealth Transfer, where trillions of dollars will be passed down from Baby Boomers to the next generation. Our elders are also giving us a whole lot of junk.

On the agenda today:

• From homebuilding to trucking, these parts of America's economy are already in deep trouble.
• This small-town sheriff's feats inspired Hollywood movies and made him a legend. What if it was all a lie?
• Bill Ackman's pickup line is awkward — but he's onto something.
• Microsoft is going to "rethink" the company's business for the AI era, internal memo shows.

But first: Can I have your attention?

If this was forwarded to you, sign up here. Download Business Insider's app here.

This week's dispatch

More than a résumé

In today's tight job market, the traditional résumé-and-cover-letter playbook for finding work just won't cut it anymore.

We've written a lot about the "Great Freeze" — companies and employees staying put with few large-scale layoffs, but also little hiring. Employers' reluctance to add staff means job seekers have to get creative in their job search.

In the past week, Business Insider wrote about two people and the lengths they went to secure their dream opportunities.

My colleague Tess Martinelli interviewed a guy who, in his second-to-last semester of college, sent his future boss 50 cents through Venmo along with a link to his résumé. Not the most conventional way to get noticed, but it worked.

"I felt regret the moment I sent the message, but it ultimately launched my film career," said Darshan Patel, a 28-year-old film and marketing professional in Brooklyn, New York. "It taught me that you have to do something unique to get attention in this job market."

The second example is Felix Wallis, a 23-year-old research engineer for an AI startup. Right after graduating from college, he bypassed traditional applications and focused on one startup whose product he had used and liked.

He coded a fix for its interface and posted it publicly in the company's Facebook group. That got him noticed and ultimately led to a summer internship.

"You can't fake interest or passion — and proving you have them is, in my experience, the best way to get hired," Wallis told my colleague Joshua Nelken-Zitser.

For job seekers, the takeaway here isn't simply to do something weird to get a job. Instead, both people showed genuine and deliberate interest in their roles. They were bold enough to do something memorable to stand out from the pack.

Did you get hired using a unique hack, strategy, or tactic? Business Insider wants to hear from people who've cracked the job market with a bold or unconventional approach. Please fill out this quick form.

Are we already in a recession?

The US economy seems OK on the surface. GDP growth has been north of 3% for the last two quarters, and conditions in the labor market appear to be gradually cooling. A broad view of the economy can overlook the significant developments unfolding beneath the surface.

Major employers in industries like homebuilding and restaurants are looking shaky, offering ominous signs about the direction of the overall economy, Neil Dutta, head of economics at Renaissance Macro Research, writes for BI.

The seven deadly signs for the US economy.

A bullet, a legend, and a lie

In the early morning of August 12, 1967, in Adamsville, Tennessee, Sheriff Buford Pusser said his wife, Pauline Pusser, was fatally shot while on a police call with him. Buford, who had a bullet wound on his jaw, said the assailants peeled off.

Buford's survival became an instant fascination. Books and songs were written, and the "Walking Tall" movie franchise gave him the Hollywood hero treatment. But questions swirled if someone else killed Pauline. When her body was exhumed in February 2024, one question remained: Could it have all been a lie?

Shattering a legend.

May I meet you?

When Bill Ackman tweeted his dating advice — using the opener, "May I meet you?" — he was both mocked and praised. While the line itself is awkward, the implicit advice about confidence is worth heeding.

BI's Katie Notopoulos studied pickup artists and compared their approaches to Ackman's. She thinks the pros would agree: Have the courage to start a conversation.

Experts in rizz.

Microsoft scraps its playbook

There's a new AI advisor in town at Microsoft. CEO Satya Nadella has tapped Rolf Harms to "rethink the economics of AI," according to a memo obtained by BI's Ashley Stewart.

Harms is the author of a 2010 white paper that forced a cultural reckoning on Microsoft's cloud computing. Nadella said in his memo that the company needs an AI reset, just as it did with cloud.

Thinking about rethinking.

This week's quote:

"You should've seen the memes that are on the internet. Have you guys seen some of them? We're basically holding the planet together — and it's not untrue."

— Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang on the chip giant being in a no-win situation amid AI bubble chatter in an all-hands meeting Business Insider listened to.

How military name tapes are made

The AAFES Name Tape Plant in Fort Knox manufactures nearly every name tag worn by service members across the US Armed Forces. With only 17 employees, the plant produces up to 3,000 name tapes each day, and as many as 60,000 a month.

More of this week's top reads:

• A "2008 global financial crisis" hoodie that costs $180 is sold out.
• Blackstone's HR chief opens up about the evening that tragedy struck the firm's headquarters.
• Navy secretary says it's hard to get workers to want to build warships if they get paid what they might make at Buc-ee's or Amazon.
• Jeffrey Epstein's accountant of 22 years raised alarm bells at JPMorgan. Now Congress wants answers.
• Exclusive: Sam Altman's eye-scanning Orb startup told workers not to care about anything outside work.
• Rich people have trillions of dollars they want to give to hedge funds.
• Meta just solved this annoying problem with Slack after we complained about it.

The BI Today team: Steve Russolillo, chief news editor, in New York. Dan DeFrancesco, deputy editor and anchor, in New York. Akin Oyedele, deputy editor, in New York. Grace Lett, editor, in New York. Amanda Yen, associate editor, in New York.