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The sun is liquifying Madrid. Again. June 2025 shattered temperature records, with Spain recording its hottest June since weather records began in 1961. The month averaged 74.5°F, with a peak temperature of 114.8°F in El Granado, Huelva, while the Spanish capital experienced temperatures as high as 102°F. Now another heat wave is coming that will easily beat 40C, which I believe is equivalent to lava in Fahrenheit.I shouldn’t have been surprised to discovered that, of course, there’s an app for that: One that makes summer urban wandering a bit less dangerous by telling you which streets have more shade in a city at any given time. Usually, reasonable people would stay at home, but Spaniards being Spaniards, the Call of the Terrace is too strong to resist. Our nature is weak even in the face of a deluge of deadly photons from our home star. We are like water buffalos herding towards the water knowing that death by crocodile awaits. It doesnt matter: Caasthe deliciously cold foamy tap beer served in very small glasses that you must drink before you dietapas, and messing around with friends in a shady terrace is all that counts.People walk in the shade as they attend a tour of the Royal Palace during a heatwave in Madrid, on July 2, 2025. [Photo: Thomas Coex/AFP/Getty Images]Thats why yesterday a friend shared a tweet that said Google Maps is taking too long to include the option of how to get there but por la sombra. Thats an idiom that literally means through the shade and figuratively means to be careful and protect yourself, which you really need to do here during the summer (more than a thousand deaths attributed to heat waves in the last two months, the government says). I thought the idea of a navigation app to show you routes through streets with the most shade was a clever idea. After all, Ive been playing that game with my son walking these past few weeks, back and forth to the summer camp bus, triangulating in our heads the optimal street walking sequence to avoid this ultraviolet tsunami.That’s when another friend chimed in with a solution: “I have become addicted to this website. Photography directors use to see if a location is in the sun or in the shade. It’s a Google Maps of shade.” He then pasted a link to something called Shademap.[Screenshot: Shademap]It was cool: A 3D map that could put you anywhere in the world to visually show the buildings’ shadows on the street at any time and any day, for free. For a bit of money you can also see the shade projected by terrain and actual trees captured with aerial LiDAR, the laser sensor that creates three-dimensional maps of the world. The Shademap interface has a search bar on the top to find a location, which you can adjust using the same mouse conventions of Google Maps. A bar on the bottom allows you to easily select the date and time, which you can animate just by scrubbing a timeline. Seeing the shadows change throughout the day is surprisingly fun. You should try it.Sunlight is everythingShademap exists because life and every significant decision related to the design of our environment comes down to the sun. Homeowners planning a house extension may need to know how their addition will affect their neighbor’s garden or their own. Real estate buyers want to understand whether that cool Manhattan duplex with a glass rooftop will become a radioactive death chamber by July. Landscape designers must predict which plants will thrive and which will wither on a certain spot based on seasonal sun exposure. Architects use it to position windows that maximize winter warmth while minimizing summer heat. Urban planners rely on shadow analysis to design parks and public infrastructure that people can enjoy.Solar power installers calculate optimal placement sites and angles in a house or a factory to maximize energy capture. The latter is especially important as the world moves away from fossil fuels: Knowing the solar energy potential for any location is what allows engineers to design massive solar farms. And theres the film and leisure aspect that I already mentioned. Shademap is the kind of tool that makes you realize how much of our world depends on understanding a single, predictable celestial body that we regular peeps largely ignore until it’s trying to kill us.[Screenshot: Shadowmap.org]In my quest to find a dedicated shaded terrace locator, I also found an alternative to Shademap called Shadowmap, a professional tool which a more polished interface that offers a lot more features than Shademap. Its divided in three tiers. You can use it for free, too, which provides basic functionality including sun path visualization, current-day time changes, and worldwide 3D buildings and terrain. [Screenshot: Shadowmap]Shadowmap Explorer ($2.50/month) adds full camera freedom and first-person view, making it ideal for photographers, film crews, and event planners, or dedicated hikers (the antithesis of the Spanish terrace buffalo). Shadowmap Home ($8.33/month) includes all Explorer features plus high-quality 3D buildings, satellite maps, enhanced rendering options, and global weather/UV forecastsdesigned for homeowners, gardeners, and property seekers who want to really look at how a new home will get illuminated throughout the year. For professionals, there’s Shadowmap Studio ($58/month annually), which includes everything plus the ability to upload custom 3D models of your own projects, interactive solar analytics, project sharing capabilities, and Google’s high-resolution satellite imagery. This tier is specifically designed for architects, urban planners, real estate professionals, and solar energy specialists who need advanced modeling capabilities.[Screenshot: Shadowmap]Which, OK, whatever, cool I guess. The question remains, “Where can I have a caa and eat half a dozen gildas without melting into the sidewalk?” Thats the tier Im missing, Shadowmap, Shademap, Google, and whomever in hell is reading this. Make it a phone app, too, so I can search directly for terraces in the shade near me RIGHT NOW!! It will kill it in Spainand the rest of the worldI tell you.(But only Spain gets the jamón ibérico and boquerones lubricated with vermouth.)
Category:
E-Commerce
Its almost impossible to imagine an entertainment landscape without Disney. Since the 1928 release of Steamboat Willie, starring Mickey Mouse and voiced by creator Walt Disney, the company has been at the forefront of family-friendly entertainment. One of the many accomplishments by Walt Disney was the 1955 opening of his flagship amusement park, Disneyland, a place where families could spend magical time together. Today (Thursday, July 17, 2025) marks the 70th anniversary of the beginnings of the happiest place on earth. Let’s take a look at the numbers then and now and examine business lessons hard-earned from the disastrous opening day. When was Disneylands actual opening day? Officially, Disneyland celebrates July 17 as its opening date. Technically this was an invitation-only gala with around 15,000 people expected (sources vary on the exact number) to attend. Many at home watched the festivities because it was broadcast by ABC, the network that helped finance the park. The following day, July 18, the park was open to the general public for the first time. People began lining up at 2 a.m. According to a New York Times headline, 15,000 people managed to queue up before the 10 a.m. opening. It only took 10 weeks for a million visitors to experience the park. Just five years after opening, the park boasted 5 million visitors a year. How many lands were in Disneyland then and now? Disneyland cost $17 million to create. The eighth wonder of the world opened with five themed lands and 35 attractions, as noted by CNBC, spanning 60 guest-accessible acres. A single entrance that led to Main Street USA transported visitors, preparing them for whimsical moments ahead. Fantasy, Adventure, Tomorrow, and Frontier lands contained attractions such as Mr. Toads Wild Ride, Autopia, Mark Twain Riverboat, and the Jungle Cruiseall of which are still open today. Today, Disneylands expanded 98 acres are the home of 82 things to do, according to its rides and entertainment map on the official website. Four additional lands have multiplied the magic: New Orleans Square debuted in 1966 Bear Country (now Bayou Country) in 1972 Mickeys Toontown in 1993 Star Wars: Galaxys Edge in 2019 The whole resort spans 550 acres, including an additional park, Disney’s California Adventure, Downtown Disney, an outdoor shopping and dining center, and multiple hotels. How much did it cost to get into Disneyland when it opened? Admission to the park worked differently in 1955. Visitors had to purchase a general ticket, which was $1 for adults and 50 cents for children. Attractions required additional tickets, which ranged in cost from 10 cents to 35 cents. According to a 1955 Associated Press article, if you wanted to do it all in 1955, it would cost $8.70 for an adult and $5.15 for a child. Admission in 2025 depends on the date, how many parks you want to visit, and if you want any additional add ons to skip ahead in the line. A one-day, one-park ticket ranges from $104 to $206 for adults, and $98 to $196 for kids. Children under the age of 3 are free. Purchasing a Lightning Lane Multi Pass adds an additional $32.00 per ticket, per day and does not work on all attractions. And then there are the parking costs. What went wrong on opening day? July 17, 1955, was anything but perfect. The park simply wasnt ready, but Walt Disney decided to open anyway. Workers scrambled until the last possible second to finish what they could. Thousands more people were admitted than planned for because of forged tickets. The hot temperatures caused freshly paved asphalt to melt, as noted by Smithsonian magazine. There were not enough working drinking fountains because of a plumbers’ strike. Walt Disney was forced to choose between making them operational or the bathrooms. He went with the toilets. Food ran out. Rides broke down. A small fire broke out near Sleeping Beautys castle. Too many people rode the Mark Twain River boat, causing it to get stuck in the mud and take on water. Despite all that, Disneyland succeeded. How did Disneyland reshape the amusement park industry? Disneyland was able to overcome its disastrous opening day because of Walt Disney’s commitment to his overall vision and willingness to adapt. His secret weapon was his brother Roy O. Disney, whose business acumen led to strategic corporate sponsorships. Before Disneyland, amusement parks were dingy and catered mainly to children. Walt dreamed of a park like no other, one that was clean and was designed for young and old alike. He wanted to bring out the inner child in every visitor. Walt considered Disneyland to be a perpetually blank canvas. Disneyland will never be completed. It will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world,” he mused on opening day. “It is something that will never be finished.” Walt was the creative mind and Roy was the practical one. Roy was instrumental in getting ABC to help fund Walts dream. Even before opening, the magic of Disneyland came into everyones homes via television thanks to the broadcast network (which the Walt Disney Company now owns). This genius marketing move created an enormous amount of hype. The live broadcast on opening day, while also far from perfect, generated even more buzz. Beyond ABC, other corporate sponsors supported individual attractions, a tradition still going strong today. Richfield Oil bolstered Autopia until 1970. Honda holds that title these days. Walt Disney’s ability to ush through difficulties and stay true to his vision, combined with his brother Roys business skills, created an undeniable empire and changed the direction of the amusement park sector, known today as part of the broader Experience Economy. In 2025, U.S. amusement parks were expected to generate $35.5 billion, according to analysis from IBISWorld. Globally, theme parks attracted 244.6 million visitors in 2023, according to a report from AECOM. Competition between Disney and its rivals is constantly heating up. In the Orlando area, where Disney launched a sprawling theme park industry in the 1970s, it competes for visitors with Comcast’s Universal, which recently opened its latest salvo: Epic Universe. Disneyland is proof you that dont have to get it perfect on the first dayyou just have to continuously improve. As Disneyland turns 70, its theme park legacy is undeniable. With 12 parks around the world and plans for number 13 recently announced, Walts gamble certainly paid off.
Category:
E-Commerce
The Trump administration revoked federal funding for California’s high-speed rail project on Wednesday, intensifying uncertainty about how the state will make good on its long-delayed promise of building a bullet train to shuttle riders between San Francisco and Los Angeles.The U.S. Transportation Department announced it was pulling back $4 billion in funding for the project, weeks after signaling it would do so. Overall, a little less than a quarter of the project’s funding has come from the federal government. The rest has come from the state, mainly through a voter-approved bond and money from its cap-and-trade program.President Donald Trump and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy both have slammed the project as a “train to nowhere.”“The Railroad we were promised still does not exist, and never will,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “This project was Severely Overpriced, Overregulated, and NEVER DELIVERED.”The loss marks the latest blow to California by the Trump administration, which has blocked a first-in-the-nation rule to phase out the sale of new gas-powered cars, launched investigations into university admission policies and threatened to pull funding over transgender girls being allowed to compete in girls sports.It also comes as rail project leaders are seeking private investment to help pay for its estimated price tag of more than $100 billion.Voters first approved the project in 2008 and it was supposed to be operating this decade. But cost estimates have consistently grown and its timeline pushed back.State officials are now focused on building a 119-mile (192-kilometer) stretch connecting the Central Valley cities of Bakersfield and Merced that is set to be operating by 2033. The California High Speed Rail Authority is slated to release a report this summer to state lawmakers with an updated funding plan and timeline for the project.Authority officials wrote in a letter earlier this month that the Trump administration made up its mind about revoking funding before thoroughly reviewing the project. They noted that more than 50 structures have already been built, including underpasses, viaducts and bridges to separate the rail line from roadways for safety.“Canceling these grants without cause isn’t just wrong it’s illegal,” authority CEO Ian Choudri said in a statement Wednesday. “These are legally binding agreements, and the Authority has met every obligation, as confirmed by repeated federal reviews, as recently as February 2025.”The authority has asked potential private investors to express their interest by the end of the month.Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom said the state will keep “all options on the table” to fight the revocation of federal funds.“Trump wants to hand China the future and abandon the Central Valley. We won’t let him,” he said in a statement.The state has “no viable plan” to complete even the Central Valley segment, said Drew Feeley, acting administrator of the transportation department’s Federal Railroad Administration, in a report released last month. He called the project a “story of broken promises” and a waste of taxpayer dollars.California Democrats also have criticized project spending. Democratic Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan said at a budget hearing earlier this year that her constituents “overwhelmingly believe” high-speed rail spending “has been irresponsible.”Newsom plans to extend the state’s cap-and-trade program, a key funding source for the project which is set to expire at the end of 2030, through 2045.The program sets a declining limit on the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions large emitters can release. Those polluters can buy allowances from the state needed to pollute, and about 45% of that money goes into what’s known as the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, according to the Independent Emissions Market Advisory Committee, a group of experts that reviews the program.The fund helps pay for climate and transportation projects, including high-speed rail.The bullet train project receives 25% of the money from the fund, which ends up being a little less or a little more than $1 billion annually, depending on the year. Newsom in May proposed guaranteeing $1 billion a year for the project from the fund, but lawmakers have not agreed to that. Austin is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Austin on X: @sophieadanna Sophie Austin, Associated Press/Report for America
Category:
E-Commerce
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