• "Yellowstone" prequel series "1923" returns to screens for season two on February 23.
• It's been around two years since audiences were first introduced to the earlier generation of Duttons.
• If you don't have time to rewatch season one, here's a recap of what's happened so far.

After a roughly two-year wait, "1923" is finally set to return to screens.

Season two of the Paramount Network drama, which stars Hollywood legends Helen Mirren and Harrison Ford, premieres on Sunday, February 23.

The series, created and written by Taylor Sheridan, is an origin story about an earlier generation of Duttons and their struggle to hold onto the land that makes up the "Yellowstone" ranch.

But as audiences who tuned into season one saw, there was more to "1923" than just the story of the Duttons.

In case you need a refresher on what happened, Business Insider has you covered. Here's a rundown of what went down in season one of "1923."

• I moved from Chicago to San Diego to be with my long-distance boyfriend, who's now my husband.
• Although my friends were jealous I was moving to a sunny "paradise," San Diego wasn't for me.
• I found the weather to be boring, and I didn't like how hard it was to get around without a car.

After living in Chicago for six years, I had a fulfilling career, great friends, and was involved in several organizations.

I would've happily stayed there forever, but my then-boyfriend (now husband) was in the Navy. We'd been in a long-distance relationship for seven years, and we wanted to be together.

In July 2023, I moved to where he was currently located: San Diego.

When I told my Midwest friends and colleagues about my move to California, some of their eyes would grow wide with envy.

Many of them — some who'd never been to San Diego — would tell me how lucky I was to move to a sunny "paradise" with so many beaches.

I would smile and nod, but I was actually very reluctant to move. Eventually, I learned firsthand why the sunny city wasn't the right home for me.

San Diego's sunny weather bored me

Although many of my Midwest friends envied the idea of year-round beach weather — especially during frigid winters — I wasn't a fan of it.

Having grown up in California, I actually took perverse delight in the adversity of Chicago's cold and snowy winters. I was amazed at how the city carried on, no matter the weather conditions.

I loved having white Christmases like in the movies I watched as a kid. I reveled in Chicago's changing seasons, dining outdoors in the spring and summer, bundling up in the winter, and watching the leaves change in the fall.

Meanwhile, San Diego's weather is almost always sunny and in the 60s. Eventually, I even removed the weather app from my phone's home screen because I felt there was no point in checking it anymore.

Although the sunshine was nice when I wanted to visit the beach or one of the area's great hiking trails, I grew bored by the lack of seasonal change and even missed the difficulties Midwestern winters can bring.

I missed needing to wear the sweaters my nana had knit to keep me warm in Chicago — and being able to comfortably visit the beach on Christmas just felt wrong to me.

I struggled to adjust to living in a car-centric city

Before moving, I'd visited my partner many times, so I knew just how car-centric San Diego is. However, I didn't have (or need) a car in Chicago and had no desire to purchase or own one.

Since San Diego is also a sunny beach town, I assumed cycling to get around would be popular, convenient, and easy enough. I soon discovered that was not the case.

Unfortunately, many of the city's neighborhoods and downtown areas didn't feel well connected for biking. I struggled to find bike lanes, and my map apps often directed me to cycle on roads that were basically highways.

Eventually, I began trying to run or walk to places instead, but that, too, proved challenging as I often encountered missing sidewalks or busy roads.

On the bright side, I was pleasantly surprised by San Diego's public transportation. To be fair, coming from Chicago — a big city with extensive bus and train options — I had very low expectations.

Although it was nice to be able to take public transit, it sometimes took me an hour or more and several connections to travel throughout San Diego.

Eventually, I accepted that San Diego and I just don't have compatible priorities when it comes to getting around. Living here reminded me how much I prefer walkable cities to car-centric ones.

Sometimes it was even hard to enjoy the beaches

Many of my Midwestern friends were jealous of just how many beautiful local beaches I'd have access to in San Diego.

Unfortunately, these beaches also drew in many tourists and visitors — and I didn't always know if I'd be able to fully enjoy them.

I moved to California just before the Fourth of July 2023, and I still remember my run around Mission Bay the day after the holiday weekend that brought me to tears.

Our nearby beaches were covered in abandoned pool floaties, broken camping chairs, and food bags that couldn't fit in overflowing trashcans. Rummaging seagulls further dispersed the garbage as I gagged on the stench of stale beer.

Hundreds of people had come into my new home, partied all night, left their trash, and now the beach had a serious hangover.

Unfortunately, this incident in 2023 wasn't the first (or last) time locals and volunteers were left to clean up messes partygoers left behind during holiday weekends.

It never got easier to watch my home being treated so poorly.

After a year in California, I was excited to leave

I lived in San Diego for almost exactly one year before we relocated to the Washington, DC, area.

I couldn't have been more excited about the prospect of living in a walkable city with changing seasons and ample public-transportation options once more.

Although I understand why many love San Diego, it just wasn't for me — and I've been happy spending my days in DC exploring museums instead of lounging on the beach.

If you want to catch all the MLB action this Spring, we have you covered with a TV and streaming guide for all Boston Red Sox games this season.

Tottenham looks to push up the table while Ipswich Town fights for Premier League survival as the two clubs meet at Portman Road on Saturday.

After watching her puppies find their homes, Joy spent five years waiting for her own forever family—and she finally found them in January 2025.

Donald Trump's administration issued an executive order mandating an end to government-funded DEI efforts.

The duo are barely seen apart, always playing or napping together.

• After 20 years of spills, kids, and pets, most of the carpeting in our house needed to be replaced.
• Even though we hired professionals, the process required a lot of time, effort, and planning.
• We learned to purge while packing and get creative with storage solutions.

My family has lived in the same house for 20 years. It was a new build when we first moved in, but now it's endured five children, one grandkid, and a puppy.

As you can imagine, the carpet in our home got pretty gross over time, and it was well past time for us to replace over half of it.

Based on what we learned throughout the long and grueling renovation process, it may be another 20 years before we do it again.

Here are a few things I wish I'd known in advance.

• My dad was raised in North Ireland, and since I was pregnant, I wanted my child to know his heritage.
• When my child was born, my grandmother was 90 years old.
• We couldn't afford the trip but took it anyway because I needed him to meet my family.

From the moment I found out I was pregnant, I had an urge in me to make sure that my child would know about his Irish identity.

I began to ask my father, who was born and raised in the North of Ireland, to repeat old stories he had shared with us as children around the dinner table. I was also born in Ireland, and when I was 3, we moved from Belfast to Boston. My accent quickly faded and the ties to my former homeland were strengthened by regular visits to see family and hearing all of their stories.

I remember sitting on the edge of my seat as he retold stories. Hearing about my father, his five siblings, his Irish father, and his Italian mother getting on with life during a time of war was instantly special.

I wanted my child to know his family.

We couldn't afford the trip

When my son came into the world, it was nearly time for my grandmother's 90th birthday. I immediately knew I wanted to get him over to Belfast as soon as it was safe. But, because of medical expenses from disabilities that I gained post-childbirth and the cost of raising a child, I knew we could not afford this trip.

I had recently given my notice to my full-time job. I continued the side gig of writing and editing I had started years ago and scrambled to try to make enough each month to make our savings dwindle at a slower pace. My husband was finishing grad school, which we paid for out of pocket, and worked an administrative job where he was underpaid for his busy days.

But in May, I saw the flights were going down in price, in time for a potential trip before prices went up again for the summer. I wanted my son to meet his great-grandmother and insisted we go. We received some money when my husband graduated, pulled the rest from savings, and bought the tickets.

It was the right decision

From the start, there were so many signs that we made the right choice. At the gate, my husband got the email that he was hired for his first job out of graduate school. Then, my 7-month-old had the flight of our dreams. He entered the plane smiling and laughing, charmed our seat neighbors, and promptly fell asleep for the rest of the flight. But the best part was staying with my grandmother for a week and a half.

Though he was in his stranger-danger phrase, the baby instantly gave my grandmother a smile and reached his arms out for her to hold him. She sang him songs in Italian, told us old stories of her childhood and my father's, and insisted he always be fed at the kitchen table while we all ate together as a family.

The smallest parts of the trip stayed with my son, who is now a toddler. She taught him how to do the grasping Italian wave and give forehead kisses, which she called playing "zucca." When he sees her on Facetime, he still immediately beams at the sound of her voice.

One day, as I walked him down the river path with my aunt and partner I felt the familiar glowing feeling that I was home, that I belonged here. Judging from my baby's eyes sparkling with joy as he watched his aunt talk, I could tell he felt it, too.

Later that year, we took out my 401(k). It was painful but necessary. But no matter how much hardship has occurred since we made the trip, all I can do is watch our finances for the next safest time to take the plunge and go back.

• Walmart issued a conservative outlook for the year ahead in its latest earnings report.
• However, the company shared three key numbers that highlight how the company is growing.
• The retail giant has transformed itself over the years amid competition from rivals like Amazon and Target.

If you think you know Walmart, think again.

While investors weren't too thrilled when Walmart reported a conservative outlook during its fourth-quarter earnings this week, the company shared three key numbers that underscore just how much the company has grown in recent years.

Here's how the retail giant is transforming itself to take on rivals like Amazon and Target.

$681 billion in annual sales

That's the total sales last year — more than any other company in the world, including Amazon.

Perhaps more interestingly, Walmart's full-year revenue has grown by more than $121 billion over the last four years and is greater than the $107.5 billion Target has made in revenue over the past year.

In other words, Walmart has effectively grown by more than one whole Target since the pandemic, which is no small feat, nor is it sitting still when it comes to finding new sources of revenue.

There are signs, however, that Walmart could lose its crown. Amazon, for the first time, notched a stronger fourth quarter revenue and is projected to take the lead in sales this year as it leans harder into AI and web services, CNBC reported.

30% of Walmart's online shoppers pay to not wait

The company said nearly a third of e-commerce shoppers pay a fee to get delivery within a one- or three-hour window on items like groceries and pharmacy prescriptions.

Last year, that number was zero, since it was only introduced in March.

Walmart's ability to achieve this ultrafast same-day service is driven largely by its fleet of more than 4,600 US stores, which are within a short drive of 93% of US households.

"If I could change anything about how we're perceived today, it would be that more people know about our breadth of assortment online and are increasing delivery speed," CEO Doug McMillon said on the earnings call Thursday.

4 million developer hours

Walmart said its AI-enabled coding assistants and completion tools saved developers approximately 4 million hours last year.

Again, that number was nearly zero a year ago.

It's just one among several ways the 63-year-old retailer is morphing into a formidable 21st-century technology company, with an expanding e-commerce marketplace, growing advertising business, and an increasingly automated supply chain.

"As we become more productive and reduce the amount of time we work on routine tasks that gives us time to develop tools that help us grow the business and move faster," McMillon said.

With Amazon nipping at its heels, the Walmart of 2025 is fast becoming much more than your grandad's Superstore.

The 11-month-old puppy was originally found in a grocery store parking lot.

Six Israeli hostages were released by Hamas on Saturday as part of the Gaza ceasefire deal.

Why it matters: All living hostages who were part of the first phase of the ceasefire deal have been now been released.

---

• The bodies of four dead hostages are expected to be returned to Israel on Thursday to conclude the release of all 33 hostages part of the deal's first phase.

Driving the news: Four of the hostages who were released on Saturday were kidnapped on October 7 and held in captivity for 505 days: Tal Shoham, Omer Wenkert, Eliya Cohen amd Omer Shem-Tov.

• Two of the released hostages have been held by Hamas for more than a decade: Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed.
• Israel released 600 Palestinian prisoners on Saturday. Among them were 445 Palestinians who have been detained by the IDF in Gaza since October 8 and roughly 100 prisoners who were serving life sentences for murdering Israelis.

What's next: The 42-day ceasefire of the first phase of the Gaza deal will end next Saturday. According to the agreement, the ceasefire will continue as long as negotiations over the second phase of the deal are taking place.

• White House Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff held talks earlier this week with Israeli minister Ron Dermer, who is leading the negotiations on the second phase from the Israeli side, and with Qatari Prime Ministory Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, who is the key mediator with Hamas.
• But there are no signs yet that the parties are close to an agreement on the second phase of the deal or to extend the current phase.

Zoom in: Hamas said on Saturday it is ready to release all remaining hostages together if an agreement is reached on the second phase of the deal.

• Hamas said in a statement it demands such an agreement leads to the end of the war, full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and the release of all remaining Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.
• Israel, on the other hand, demands that any such agreement will lead to the end of Hamas' control of Gaza and the departure of its leaders to exile.
• "It is hard to square that circle," Witkoff said at a conference in Miami on Thursday.
• President Trump suggested on Friday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has no qualms about resuming the war in Gaza at the end of the first phase in a week,

What they are saying: Witkoff stressed he hopes the good will from phase one of the Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal "will go into phase two".

• He added that phase two is more difficult, "but if we work hard there is a chance for success".
• "We are making a lot of progress in the conversations and hopefully it would lead to good results," he added.

• I joined a Facebook group in 2009 for fans of "The Wheel of Time" fantasy series.
• In the group, I met Tyla, a woman from South Africa with whom I had a lot in common.
• Over the years, we chatted online, learning we had a strange amount in common, so we married.

This January, I stared outside, and there was still a part of me that didn't quite understand that I was seeing lush green grass instead of snowdrifts up to my chest. If, a few years ago, you had told me that I would be married and living in a wholly different hemisphere from where I grew up, I wouldn't have believed you. I would have believed you even less if you told me that it happened almost entirely by chance.

It all started by reading a book series, "The Wheel of Time," a fantasy opus where remarkable coincidences follow the three main characters for the series' 14-book run. I was a massive fan, and back in 2009, I joined a Facebook fan group dedicated to the series. In the late 2000s, Facebook groups also had discussion forums, and that's where I first met Tayla.

At one point, we were the only two people keeping one of these discussion threads alive, so I figured, why not add her as a friend? It would certainly be easier than continuing to take up space on a public forum. I hadn't added anyone else from the group as a friend, but she seemed cool.

Surprisingly, she became so much more than an online friend.

Tyla and I learned we had a lot in common

She was South African, and I was Canadian, living worlds apart, with these books being the only thing we seemingly had in common.

But our first coincidence came shortly after we began talking online. We had both been recently dumped, both by our first respective relationships. OK, fair enough. We were both teenagers, so no biggie, right?

But then it started getting weird. At the time, I lived in Ottawa, the capital of Canada. Strangely enough, Tayla actually had some family living in Ottawa. Unbeknownst to me, when I was driving across town to get to work, half of her extended family was on the route.

Of all the places in the world where her family could move to, where South Africans are likely to end up, I figured Ottawa was very low on the list. I had never even met a South African before, and now I knew one whose uncle and grandmother were a five-minute drive away.

That's where the coincidences started, but they certainly didn't end there. For the next few years, we chatted most weekends, but one weekend in 2011, we both appeared on the other end of Skype with our cheeks puffy and our eyes lidded. Turns out, we had both had our wisdom teeth removed on the same day and hadn't mentioned it to the other.

Over our years of online friendship, the coincidences started piling up, so much so that we didn't even get surprised anymore. We figured out quite quickly that we had finally met our match for "Lord of the Rings" trivia. One time, our respective aunts both had surgeries within a week of each other. Another time, I discovered that her best friend, the one who convinced her to read "The Wheel of Time," was born on the same day as me.

Our mutual love of travel, musicals, and animals eventually all signaled something larger.

It felt like we belonged together

Admittedly, for someone who had read "The Wheel of Time" saga and knew the significance of coincidence in the series that started our friendship, it took me a long time to realize that these coincidences pointed to one thing: We were perfect for each other.

We might have been born 8,000 miles and a hemisphere apart, but fate was pointing us toward each other.

We got married in 2017 in South Africa, where we live now, and we quoted "The Wheel of Time" in our wedding ceremony.

But the odd twists of fate and synchronicities haven't stopped in the years we've now been together. A couple of years ago, we visited Scotland, realizing on the trip that both of our grandfathers had roots in Scottish towns just two hours from each other. One of those towns also happened to be the hometown of The Proclaimers, whose song, "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)," Tayla walked down the aisle to on our wedding day years before.

Every couple of years, I re-read "The Wheel of Time," and I'm again struck by the sheer luck of it all. The random chance that I would find my future wife through a series of totally unrelated coincidences never fails to stagger me when I think about it. A few coincidences led me to trust my instincts, leave Canada, move 8,000 miles away, and find the love of my life.

• TV companies are helping feed YouTube's growth in long-form viewing.
• Some are distributing full-length episodes and even making originals for the frenemy platform.
• Companies like the UK's Channel 4 and Fremantle are finding new audiences and revenue there.

Many TV companies have stopped trying to fight YouTube and are embracing its rise instead.

TV has become the top place people watch YouTube in the US, beating out mobile and desktop. And increasingly, Hollywood is providing shows for viewers to watch there.

"Long-form content is now crushing on YouTube," media industry analyst Evan Shapiro told Business Insider. "Mainstream media companies are leaning into it by programming YouTube with their existing libraries of long-form TV."

This content ranges from full-length episodes and movies to original shows made for the platform.

Companies in the reality TV and game show space have been particularly active.

British broadcaster ITV recently struck a deal with YouTube to post hundreds of hours of popular shows like "Love Island" and "I'm a Celebrity" on the platform.

The production company Fremantle, known for long-running and popular formats like "The Price is Right" and "Too Hot to Handle," has been expanding its YouTube presence over the past several years and now has 1,500 channels on YouTube and 32 billion views across YouTube and Facebook combined. Unscripted production giant Banijay has 75,000 hours of full-length shows such as "Big Brother" and "Master Chef" on YouTube. And in the past year, the UK's Channel 4 has increased its sharing of full-length episodes of lifestyle shows and documentaries on YouTube.

The moves by media companies have gone beyond lifestyle content.

Warner Bros. Discovery this month began putting "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver" episodes on YouTube the day after they air on HBO and Max. Previously, viewers had to wait four days to catch new episodes on YouTube. WBD has also been making older, full-length movies available on YouTube for a few years and recently moved them to its own channel from YouTube's hub of free movies and TV shows to improve their visibility.

In another sign of YouTube's undeniable reach, some companies are even starting to make original shows for the platform.

Paramount Global's Nickelodeon just made its first animated series for YouTube, "Kid Cowboy," and said there would be more to come.

Fremantle has decided to start making originals for YouTube as well. It has two original shows in production, including a comedy video podcast, "High in the Sky," where the hosts riff on conspiracy theories, and several more in the pipeline.

"About 18 months ago, we decided we needed to future-proof ourselves," said Brian Lovett, head of content strategy for Fremantle's original productions. "Cable, broadcast, streaming, are a huge part of our business, and we do that really well. But what else can we do?"

YouTube has become harder to ignore

As YouTube has cemented itself as a destination on TV screens, it's changed the conversation around the platform in Hollywood. YouTube isn't just seen as a place for short, user-generated clips anymore.

The streaming data analysis company Digital i found that videos lasting 30 minutes or more accounted for 73% of total viewing on the platform in the US in October 2024, up 8% from a year earlier.

YouTube isn't the only game in town when it comes to free streaming TV. Publishers are also distributing full-length movies and TV on other free video platforms like The Roku Channel and Fox's Tubi. Some have even experimented with TikTok, which now allows videos up to 60 minutes long. But industry insiders generally say YouTube is the biggest opportunity because companies can easily upload videos there, control their publishing strategy, and reach a vast audience.

YouTube's appeal varies somewhat from publisher to publisher.

Kids media companies like Nickelodeon recognize YouTube is increasingly the platform of choice for their core audiences.

In the case of "Last Week Tonight," a person familiar with the decision said the call to move up the YouTube drops was made to satisfy Oliver. They added that delaying the YouTube release hadn't helped the show's viewership on WBD's own channels anyway. This person asked for anonymity because they weren't publicly authorized to discuss the strategy; their identity is known to BI.

For companies like Fremantle and WBD, with huge catalogs of older shows and movies, YouTube can unearth pockets of viewers for even the most niche shows.

"These are 10-year-old shows that were hugely popular," Lovett said. "Being able to air them on a [free, on-demand streaming] channel gave them a whole new revenue stream. This is pretty much passive income."

YouTube can also help a show find an audience it missed on TV.

Channel 4 put "Huge Homes with Hugh Dennis," where the comedian takes viewers inside big houses, on YouTube after it flopped elsewhere. The audience went bonkers for it on YouTube, and then viewership on streaming ticked up.

YouTube can offer new ad revenue and viewers but can be tricky to navigate

Republishing full-length content successfully on YouTube isn't always quick or easy.

Shows are often tangled up in a knot of local and overseas rights, preventing producers from dropping them straight on YouTube. It also can take a while to figure out how to package up old shows so they land with viewers.

Channel 4 tested for months to hone its strategy. The company bleeped swear words to avoid YouTube's age restrictions and worked to nail titles, thumbnails, and keywords so the platform's algorithm would surface the videos. And it had to curate its vast amount of material for a YouTube audience. It figured out that "blue light" emergency services docs about police and ambulance rescues played well with viewers, for example.

In publishing to YouTube, media companies also have to reckon with the potential loss of licensing or audience revenue. That's why viewers tend to see older shows on YouTube that are of less value to other platforms.

"I would be surprised if any legacy media business was not nervous about this or had any existential crisis," said Matt Risley, managing director of 4Studio at Channel 4. "We discussed it at length."

Despite that, many media companies, including Channel 4, feel they're getting meaningful ad revenue from YouTube and reaching new audiences.

Risley said that, as a premium publisher, the broadcaster is allowed to sell its own ads on YouTube. He said Channel 4 makes up to five times the ad rate that it would get if YouTube sold the ads programmatically, and that publishing across YouTube and other social channels combined is now an eight-figure business for the company.

"This is a way to create a much longer tail for our content," said Matt Creasey, EVP of sales, acquisitions, and coproductions for Banijay Rights. "And advertisers are moving to YouTube as well."

Other companies take a different tack

Disney has made some of its shows available on YouTube, like "Bluey," which was the top pre-schooler channel on the platform in 2024, per Digital i.

But don't expect media giants like Disney or NBCUniversal, which have spent billions to build their own streaming services, to shovel huge swaths of their full-length catalogs on YouTube anytime soon.

And Netflix and Amazon, with deep pockets and big audiences, have taken a different approach to YouTube than some traditional TV rivals. These companies are now licensing or making shows with popular YouTubers for their own platforms.

That said, some media execs say they only see the interplay between YouTube and paid streaming services increasing as the industry matures.

"The audience and power of YouTube is undeniable," Lovett said.

After all, distributing content to different audiences has been a mainstay of media for years. Some Hollywood companies have recently got back into the licensing game in a big way as they hunt for cash, after hoarding their content to power their own streamers. Valuable shows like HBO's "Sex and the City" and Disney's "Grey's Anatomy" are back on Netflix, for example.

Could they one day make their way to YouTube?

• My parents travel around the world in an RV while I'm in New York City, so we're often far apart.
• Trader Joe's keeps us connected because my mom and I often recommend products to each other.
• As a Japanese family, we love to connect over Trader Joe's offerings.

Seeking adventure runs in my blood. My father met my mother after he asked his friend if he knew a girl who scuba dives and rides motorcycles. My parents have been diving and riding together for more than 30 years now.

This also meant that as soon as I left my childhood home in California, my parents sold it, bought an RV, and have been on the road. Every time I call them, I'm not sure where they are. Every Thanksgiving, I have to call them and figure out where they would be. One year, they were in Utah, another in Florida.

I, on the other hand, settled down in New York City, which means I'm often thousands of miles away from my parents.

Unexpectedly, Trader Joe's has been invaluable in keeping my Japanese family connected.

Trader Joe's: Our surprising family anchor

My mother and I love Trader Joe's. I remember tagging along as a kid, always asking to get a bucket of the alliterative masterpiece that is the "Crispy Crunchy Chocolate Chip Cookies."

Perhaps it's the familiar handwritten chalkboard signs or the clanging of the bells calling for employees across the store, but today, every time I step into a Trader Joe's, I feel like I'm shopping with my mother.

Every time I grab a pack of Japanese fried rice or the amazing Kimbap (I excitedly told my mom a few months ago over the phone that my local store increased the customer limit from two to four), I'm reminded that my mother recommended those items to me.

Whenever I look for a new apartment in New York, I keep a separate Google Maps tab open on my browser that shows all the Trader Joe's locations nearby. When I moved into a new apartment a few years ago, the first question my mother asked me was whether a Trader Joe's was close.

Whenever my mother and father arrive in a new town, I ask my mother whether there's a Trader Joe's. Last time, somewhere in Wyoming, she responded, "That's the thing, it's beautiful here but no Trader Joe's. But don't worry, I stocked up on the Japanese fried rice, and it's in the freezer, so we're good."

When I visit, I've even offered to bring with me what I can from my local Trader Joe's when they're somewhere without easy access to one.

We keep in touch by recommending Trader Joe's products to each other

My mother recently sent me a photo of the brand's Butternut Squash Soup, Thai Yellow Curry Sauce, and a can of coconut milk. She texted, "Apparently, if you mix these up and throw in some veggies and some meat, it's really good."

Our relationship with national news is also shaped by Trader Joe's, too. The bird flu is causing egg prices to hit a record high. At my nearest grocery store, a dozen eggs were $10, nearly a dollar per egg. Meanwhile, my mother sent me a photo the other day from Trader Joe's showing that they've implemented a limit of one egg product per customer while keeping the egg prices at a much more reasonable $3.49 per dozen. She said, "Trader Joe's is so admirable! Check out this price."

Additionally, when I travel 5,000 miles away to Japan, Trader Joe's still manages to bring our family together. I found out that their "Daily Facial Sunscreen" works really well on my skin, not leaving a white cast. I bought a few and brought them over to Japan to give to my grandma, who loves skincare.

My grandmother loved it so much she told my mother about it. My mother then sent me a message asking where I got the sunscreen, and she got excited when she learned I bought it from our favorite store.

I'm glad we have something to bond over when we're so far apart

I doubt that Trader Joe's designed its products or its shopping experience to foster a sense of connection between members of a Japanese family scattered around the US.

But that's exactly what they've done.

Now, please excuse me. My mother just messaged me about Trader Jo's sea salt from Portugal, which comes "in a really cute container." She says she loves how it looks on her countertop, and 3000 miles away, I'd love to find out whether it looks good on mine.

• The CEOs of Google DeepMind and Anthropic spoke about feeling the weight of responsibilities in a recent interview.
• The executives advocated for the creation of regulatory bodies to oversee AI projects.
• Both AI leaders agree that people should better grasp and prepare for the risks posed by advanced AI.

When asked if he ever worried about "ending up like Robert Oppenheimer," Google DeepMind's CEO Demis Hassabis said that he loses sleep over the idea.

"I worry about those kinds of scenarios all the time. That's why I don't sleep very much," Hassabis said in an interview alongside Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei with The Economist editor in chief Zanny Minton Beddoes.

"I mean, there's a huge amount of responsibility on the people — probably too much — on the people leading this technology," he added.

Hassabis and Amodei agreed that advanced AI could present destructive potential whenever it becomes viable.

"Almost every decision that I make feels like it's kind of balanced on the edge of a knife — like, you know, if we don't build fast enough, then the authoritarian countries could win," Amodei said. "If we build too fast, then the kinds of risks that Demis is talking about and that we've written about a lot, you know, could prevail."

"Either way, I'll feel that it was my fault that, you know, that we didn't make exactly the right decision," the Anthropic CEO added.

Hassabis said that while AI appears "overhyped" in the short term, he worries that the mid-to-long-term consequences remain underappreciated. He promotes a balanced perspective — to recognize the "incredible opportunities" afforded by AI, particularly in the realms of science and medicine, while becoming more keenly aware of the accompanying risks.

"The two big risks that I talk about are bad actors repurposing this general purpose technology for harmful ends — how do we enable the good actors and restrict access to the bad actors?" Hassabis said. "And then, secondly, is the risk from AGI, or agentic systems themselves, getting out of control, or not having the right values or the right goals. And both of those things are critical to get right, and I think the whole world needs to focus on that."

Both Amodei and Hassabis advocated for a governing body to regulate AI projects, with Hassabis pointing to the International Atomic Energy Agency as one potential model.

"Ideally it would be something like the UN, but given the geopolitical complexities, that doesn't seem very possible," Hassabis said. "So, you know, I worry about all the time, and we just try to do at least, on our side, everything we can in the vicinity and influence that we have."

Hassabis views international cooperation as vital.

"My hope is, you know, I've talked a lot in the past about a kind of a CERN for AGI type setup, where basically an international research collaboration on the last sort of few steps that we need to take towards building the first AGIs," Hassabis said.

Both leaders urged a better understanding of the sheer force for change they expect AI to be — and for societies to begin planning accordingly.

"We're on the eve of something that has great challenges, right? It's going to greatly upend the balance of power," Amodei said. "If someone dropped a new country into the world — 10 million people smarter than any human alive today — you know, you'd ask the question, 'What is their intent? What are they actually going to do in the world, particularly if they're able to act autonomously?'"

Anthropic and Google DeepMind did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.

"I also agree with Demis that this idea of, you know, governance structures outside ourselves — I think these kinds of decisions are too big for any one person," Amodei said.

• I met Joyce four years ago, when she was 80 and I was 25.
• We've become incredibly close, and our age difference is a positive in our relationship.
• We love hearing each other's perspectives and giving each other advice.

I had always been close with both of my grandmothers, maternal and paternal. However, during my sophomore year of college, my paternal grandmother stopped knowing who I was. Alzheimer's had taken hold, and though she's still alive, I've had to grieve what our relationship used to be. Not too much time later, just after I graduated from college, my maternal grandmother died suddenly, leaving me reeling from a different kind of grief, one that arrived without warning.

In the midst of feeling untethered after graduating, I decided to move in with my grandfather. We were both navigating uncharted territory: he was adjusting to life without the partner he'd had since he was 19, and I was stepping into the uncertainty of postgrad life, searching for direction in a career I had yet to define.

It was during this time that I met Joyce, and we became fast friends. Daily phone calls, gossip about the men in our lives, and a shared love for food and cooking quickly bonded us. Every Saturday, we met for dinner at the same restaurant, at the same table, a ritual as comforting as it was consistent. On the surface, it seemed like any ordinary friendship. But Joyce wasn't just a friend; she was my grandmother's closest friend. When our relationship began, she was 80, and I was 25.

Our age gap is a positive in our friendship

I no longer had my grandmothers in my life the way I wished I did, but, in Joyce, I found the wisdom of someone who has lived decades longer than me. She's taught me to care less about what others think while simultaneously teaching me about traditional Southern culture and home decor, and because she used to work in the wedding stationery industry, she's given me a wealth of knowledge about paper goods and etiquette.

I love hearing about what's trending in her world, from table-setting Facebook groups to the brand Johnny Was; I already love dissecting the trends of my age group, but I find it much more fascinating to learn about hers. I'm also so interested to hear her thoughts on my generation.

She has never made me feel inferior due to my age. But she's also taught me lessons only someone married for 60 years could know the answers to. When I first started dating my now-fiancé, I thought I was in love, but how does one really know? Of course, there's the excitement and the rush, but what constitutes a soul mate?

One afternoon, I couldn't shake the question. I needed to know the answer and if he was really "the one." I called Joyce and asked her. After all, she had been married for decades; she ought to know.

"It feels like there's never enough time in the day when you're with them, even when you're together for 24 hours," she said, and from then on, that sentence has stuck with me.

When I moved in with my fiancé, she gave me a folder of her favorite recipes, printed, annotated, and filled with her personal notes on how to make them better. To this day, it remains one of the most thoughtful gifts I've ever received.

We learn from each other

Intergenerational friendships have a way of teaching you about yourself. There's a unique kind of introspection that happens when you hear about someone else's upbringing, the experiences that shaped them, and how they've handled life's challenges. Joyce grew up in the South during the depths of segregation; she has a photo with Elvis Presley, her home ec classes fascinate me, and she married at 21. Her life, when she was my age, was drastically different, and yet, we've found this very special common ground in our connection.

One day, I asked Joyce if she thought I'd taught her anything. I wasn't expecting much, but instead, she immediately said, "Chloe. You're smart."

I laughed, assuming she was kidding, but she shook her head. "You've taught me a great deal about how to deal with people."

When I asked her what that meant, she mentioned me moving in with my grandfather. "You do things out of love for your family. People should be more like you, look around them, and see what's important. It's family."

Our friendship, unconventional as it may seem, has been one of the most impacting relationships. She's so much a part of my life that I've asked her to sign my ketubah at my wedding, a moment that will symbolize just how much she means to me.

Joyce has shown me that love and companionship don't have to fit neatly into boxes. Or be just between peers. Sometimes, they come in the form of an 84-year-old woman who gossips with you at dinner, who gifts you recipes to build a home, and who reminds you, with simple but profound words, that friendship can feel like family.

A ruling on Friday is likely to increase tensions between the Trump administration and the judiciary.

Young men and young women are growing further apart romantically, and fewer of them worry about being alone these days.

James Ian has been traveling for 35 years and spent 14 years backpacking solo around the world, he told Newsweek.