The noise is the first thing that guests notice when they enter the arena during the Minnesota State High School Hockey Tournament. It’s not the kind of applause you get at a regular school function. It is more audible. Unprocessed. Parents are leaning over the railings with plastic cowbells and foam fingers as thousands of teenagers dressed in school colors pound the glass. It briefly has the feel of an NHL playoff night rather than high school athletics. Minnesota enjoys referring to itself as the “State of Hockey.” That phrase sounds like marketing sometimes. However, as you watch students stream…
Author: errica
The T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas is illuminated like a gigantic lantern in the desert late on a Saturday night. The parking lots are illuminated by taxi lights. Outside the entrances, fans in Oliveira jerseys and Holloway shirts form a line, some giggling, some silently discussing the possible outcome of the main event. Under bright white lights, the Octagon waits inside. The atmosphere as a whole gives the impression that something inevitable is approaching. On paper, scheduling a UFC event frequently seems straightforward. In actuality, though, fight night develops like a protracted rhythm that culminates in a single moment. Early…
There is a certain slowness to the evenings in Star City, West Virginia. After dark, the streets are silent. Small lawns are illuminated by porch lights. Neighbors probably didn’t anticipate anything more dramatic than teenagers laughing late at night somewhere down the block in the summer of 2012. That subdued cadence contributed to the profoundly unnerving atmosphere surrounding Skylar Neese’s disappearance. Skylar, a sixteen-year-old student at University High School, was well-known among her peers for being vivacious and obstinate, as teenagers frequently are. She saved money by working part-time at a nearby fast-food restaurant and discussing her future goals, which…
The riders are not the first thing that people notice about Strade Bianche. It’s the dust. Like smoke from an old battlefield, pale clouds drifted behind the peloton, rising from the winding roads of Tuscany. It appears almost cinematic on television, but there’s a different vibe—something untamed and a little chaotic—when you stand next to the course and watch cyclists tear across the gravel. The Strade Bianche race is surprisingly young. When compared to cycling events that have been around for a century, such as Paris-Roubaix or Milan-San Remo, its debut in 2007 makes it practically a baby. However, there’s…
Around the world, the oil market starts to move in the early morning hours before most people have finished their first cup of coffee in quiet home offices and trading floors. Charts of crude futures contracts that are rapidly rising and falling illuminate screens. At first glance, the numbers appear abstract. However, from Texas to the Persian Gulf, a network of refineries, pipelines, tankers, and geopolitical tensions underlie every price shift. Promises about tomorrow’s barrels are what oil futures are essentially. Today, a buyer and seller decide on an oil price that will be exchanged months later. That explanation makes…
The cold isn’t the first thing tourists notice when they visit the Arctic. It’s the silence. The tracks of animals moving silently through a landscape that has shaped their instincts for thousands of years are the only sound to break the blank page of snow that covers the tundra. However, the landscape has been changing more quickly lately than the creatures that inhabit it might like. Wildlife throughout the far north is adapting to a world that no longer acts in the same manner. In areas where sea ice was once thought to be permanent, it sometimes fails to return…
The Charles River flows silently past the MIT campus on a chilly winter’s morning in Cambridge, the water beneath the bridges slow and dark. The temperature of the oceans thousands of miles away from Massachusetts is being studied by scientists seated in front of glowing monitors inside the glassy research buildings in the area. The data coming in from drifting ocean sensors and satellites tells an oddly unsettling tale. Recent studies have shown that the world’s oceans are hotter now than they have ever been. The rise is substantial. The oceans took in about 23 zettajoules more heat between 2024…
Crypto traders are still up late in many cities, including Singapore, Dubai, and New York. Dark apartments have glowing screens. Coffee cups are stacked next to keyboards. The same chart, BTC/USD, is displayed on the majority of those screens. Recently, the price of Bitcoin has been fluctuating between $67,000 and $69,000, which feels oddly calm for an asset known for its violent swings. However, beneath that calm exterior, tension is rising. Traders are aware of it. The market might just be taking a deep breath. Bitcoin has been battling a small range between about $60,000 and $74,000 for months. Every…
The glass towers surrounding Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan frequently have an odd, peaceful glow in the late afternoon. Coffee cups pile up, analysts gaze at spreadsheets, and discussions veer between doubt and optimism. The HPS Corporate Lending Fund has been a recurring topic in those discussions in recent days. Despite the fund’s size (roughly $26 billion), its prominence cannot be explained by its size alone. What appears to be going on around it is more like a tiny glimpse into a larger financial narrative. The HPS Corporate Lending Fund is a private credit company that is commonly referred to…
The trading desks at BlackRock’s Park Avenue offices were quieter than normal on a recent afternoon in Manhattan. Of course, screens continued to glow with numbers and charts. However, the tone seemed a little different—wary, perhaps even a little uneasy. It didn’t take long to figure out why. The biggest asset manager in the world, BlackRock, recently told investors that there would be a cap on withdrawals from one of its flagship private credit funds. The move adhered to the fund’s standard structure in theory. Nevertheless, Wall Street took notice because the requests had unexpectedly increased in size beyond what…