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On Monday, the head of U.S. disaster agency FEMA stunned staffers when he mentioned in a briefing that hed not been aware of any such thing as hurricane season. Not exactly an ideal grasp of weather phenomena for the person in charge of Americas emergency management. Although a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security later claimed the comment was intended as a joke, it didn’t exactly rouse more confidence in his abilities. I dont know, after all, has lately become a go-to line among leaders all throughout the federal governmentespecially the president himself. The most egregious I dont know in recent memory was almost certainly Trumps response when a reporter asked him if the president needs to uphold the U.S. Constitution, something he swore an oath to do, but thats just the tip of the uninformed iceberg. Ignorance may be bliss but in President Donald Trumps second term, its just standard operating procedure. Nearly five months in, its starting to look like the I Dont Know administration. WELKER: Your secretary of state says everyone who's here, citizens and non-citizens, deserve due process. Do you agree?TRUMP: I don't know. I'm not a lawyer. I don't know.WELKER: Don't you need to uphold the Constitution?TRUMP: I don't know pic.twitter.com/xRwDh8sm0X— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 4, 2025 Every shade in the I dont know rainbow For leaders in every field, I dont know can be a get-out-of-jail-free card for difficult questions, be they from board members, reporters, or staff at an all-hands meeting. I dont know can be the meat in a sandwich where the bread slices are, thats a great question, and Ill look into that. It only tends to work as an acceptable deflection, however, if used sparingly. Thats certainly not the case with the current president. Some of Trumps I dont knowswhich will be labeled IDKs going forward, for brevityseem utterly genuine. It stands to reason that the president might have merely been candid, rather than obtuse, in an Oval Office meeting back in April when he said he did not know what ‘the Congo’ is. More often than not, however, those IDKs smack of tactics. Looking closely at the presidents recent speeches, press conferences, and interviews, he appears to have three main modes for using IDK as a strategic evasion: the Ostrich, the Complicator, and the Minimizer. As the title suggests, the Ostrich is Trumps way of metaphorically burying his head in the sand. He employs it seemingly to avoid admitting an inconvenient fact, either to maintain plausible deniability or deflect blame. The Ostrich is perfect for neither confirming nor denying the details of Signalgate right as that explosive story first broke, explaining why the new surgeon general is a wellness influencer and not a practicing physician, or why Trump pardoned a violent January 6 rioter who assaulted a police officer. The Complicator is the IDK Trump trots out in an apparent effort to inject ambiguity into settled issues, or at least those with an obvious correct answer. Is the separation of church and state a good thing or a bad thing? Trump does not know. Do DOGEs massive cuts or the elimination of the US Agency of International Development require a vote in Congress? Whos to say. (Certainly not Trump.) Did Trump benefit at all from sky-high sales of the memecoin that literally bears his name? Consider asking someone else who may know of such things. Finally, The Minimizer is the IDK Trump seems to reach for when casting a moment or person as so insignificant as to not be worth talking about. It cant be a big deal if Trump doesnt even know about itperhaps it never even happened! This one is reserved for not acknowledging things like Mitch McConnells battle with polio or a Kennedy Center audience booing JD Vance. It can be hard to tell sometimes whether Trump is using strategic evasion or if he truly doesnt know something. Either way, when it comes to issues as important as the arrest and detention of a Tufts University student, seemingly over her writing of a pro-Palestine op-ed in a student newspaper, the leader of the free world not knowing about it is a problem. The evolution of Trumps IDKs Trumps history with IDK runs all the way back to the early days of his political career. In a February 2016 interview, Jake Tapper asked the then-candidate if he wanted to disavow a recent endorsement from former KKK leader David Duke, who told listeners on his radio show that week that voting for anyone besides Trump is really a treason to your heritage. What should have been a no-brainer disavowal, however, ended up becoming an Ostrich moment. “I don’t know anything about David Duke,” Trump claimed. The non-disavowal quickly became a persistent news item, helped in no small part by unearthed footage of Trump previously denouncing Duke in the year 2000. (Trump went on to disavow Duke again, and blame a supposedly shoddy earpiece during the Tapper interview for his not doing so sooner.) During his first term as president, Trump seemed to use IDKs as a folksy performance of not being the average ivory tower egghead politician. He wouldnt simply admit when he didnt know something, he would cast it as groundbreaking information for Real Americas. The telltale term in such instances wasnt IDK, but rather nobody knew. When Trump proved unable to quickly replace Obamacare, he famously lamented, nobody knew health care could be so complicated. He used this construction so often, Now This made a supercut about it. As for those in Trumps cabinet and in Congress during his first term, the IDKs mostly came in response to reporters asking for reactions to Trumps provocative tweets. The ‘I dont know’ administration The difference between Trumps first term and his current one is that both Trump and his colleagues seem to be a lot more comfortable dropping IDKs, considering how often they do it. Another change, though, is the brazenness with which they offer them. The Secretary of Health didnt know whether the COVID-19 vaccine saved millions of lives or not. The Secretary of Education didnt know about a new policy of vetting social media accounts for foreign students. The Secretary of Labor didnt know her department had eliminated a whole agency, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, one that happened to be investigating self-styled DOGEfather Elon Musk. And neither the Secretary of State nor the Speaker of the House apparently knew about the presidents private dinner for investors in his cryptocurrency during the week of the dinner. Members of Team Trump even cling to their supposed lack of information as they are offered enlightenment in real time. Anyone paying close attention to politics in 2025 will have likely seen by now the surreal spectacle of a grown adult denying the necessary knowledge to determine whether, say, January 6 rioters behaved violently, while being shown a video about it. The worst offender of the bunch is probably Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem. Questioned about a doctored image Trump shared in an effort to link mistakenly deported immigrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia with the violent gang MS-13, Noem vehemently refused to admit the image had obviously been photoshopped. I dont have any knowledge as to that photo youre pointing to, she claimed, refusing to look at the blown-up image in question. When the congressman interrogating her asked an assistant to bring the poster image within five feet of Noems face, she declined to look at it, and thus continued to know nothing about it. Its getting easier to believe, though, that Trump and his administration may not know a lot of things. Who knows what they wont know tomorrow.
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E-Commerce
Everywhere you look these days, there it issome manner of breathlessly hyped new AI service thats, like, totally gonna change your life forever. (Like, totally. For realsies.) Or so they say. In reality, of course, most of this stuff is far more fallible, limited in utility, and inadvisable to use outside of super-specific scenarios than most tech companies (and self-declared AI gurus) would lead you to believe. But AI, in its current form, isnt entirely useless. Far from it, in fact: This type of tech can be quite helpful in the right sort of scenario and, critically, if you think about it in the right waynot as an end-all instant answer machine but as a starting point for certain types of specific tasks or info-seeking. And as we wade our way through a year thats absolutely overflowing with overwrought AI ballyhoo, Ive got just the tool for you to sift through that sea and seek out some surprising shiny pearls amid all the overwhelming noise. Be the first to find all sorts of little-known tech treasures with my free Cool Tools newsletter from The Intelligence. One useful new discovery in your inbox every Wednesday! Deep research, done right So, youve probably heard all about ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and the likes, right? Theyre all generative AI chatbots, which means they use a snazzy-sounding word prediction engine to analyze language patterns and answer your questions, among other more ambitious tasks. One of their biggest recent advancements is the ability to perform what everyones calling deep researcha fancy way of saying theyll dive deep into a topic for you and create a detailed report of info, almost like a custom-made dossier, based on knowledge from all over the web. Again, I cant emphasize enough: The info here isnt infallible. These systems canand doget stuff wrong and sometimes even flat-out make up nonsense out of thin air. But, as a starting pointespecially when they include links to their sources so you can confirm info on your own and use it as an entryway to research as opposed to the final productit really can save you time and give you a great way to get into a complex topic. And the tool I want to show to you today makes that feature far more powerful, useful, and also affordable than its ever been before. Itll take you 20 seconds to try out for yourself. Its called, amusingly, Ithy. (Try saying that 10 times fast!) And all it does, in a nutshell, is bring together the deep research tools from a slew of different AI enginesincluding ChatGPT and Googles Gemini along with Perplexity, Meta AI, and moreinto a single streamlined prompt. That means you can use em all together to create a single super-report on any subject imaginable. It couldnt be much easier to make happen, either: First, open up Ithy in any browser, on any device youre using. Type your question or the subject youre thinking about into its box and tap or click the arrow icon within that same line to get going. Select either Fast, if you dont feel like waiting, or Deep, if youve got time and want this thing to go especially in-depth. (Even the Fast path is pretty darn deep, if you ask me.) And, well, thats about it. Just type in a prompt, and Ithy will pull in data from Gemini, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and beyond. Ithy will think for a bit, then serve up an impressively detailed dossier on whatever it is you requestedwith info coming from a mix of all those AI engines, combined and seamlessly blended together. It takes a matter of moments for Ithy to compile info from all the associated AI engines for you. And I mean seriously detailed, toowith all sorts of sections, graphics, FAQs, and external links for original sources so you can do your own reading and see exactly where it got its info. Ithys reports are impressively detailed, with data provided by all the different AI sources seamlessly blended togetherand thoroughly cited. Heres a link to the sample report shown here, if you want to look even more closely. Now, for the especially cool part: Ithy lets you do all of this free of chargeup to a point. The site gives you five report-creating credits to start, even if you dont sign in. Once you create an account (for free), youll get 10 credits per month and can optionally then bump up to an unlimited Pro planwhich includes access to the typically pricey pro levels of Gemini and OpenAIfor seven bucks a month, if you go for the annual setup. But even if you dont go that route, 10 in-depth reports per month from all the webs eading AI engines together is a pretty powerful perk to have at your fingertips, without so much as dropping a dime. Ithy is entirely web-basedno downloads or installations required. Its free for up to 5 reports total or 10 reports per month, if you create an accountand optionally available in $7-per-month (paid annually) or $20-per-month (paid monthly) plan for its fully featured, limit-free Pro version. Like most AI engines, Ithy does use questions submitted to its site as training to further improve its AI systems. The questions are also being shared with the associated third-party AI sites, of course. So youll want to think carefully about what you ask and avoid sending anything especially sensitive or personal (but really, its designed to answer questions and provide info, so hopefully you wouldnt be submitting your banking info and Social Security number, anyway!). Ready for more productivity-boosting goodness? Check out my free Cool Tools newsletter for an instant introduction to an incredible audio app that’ll tune up your daysand a new off-the-beaten-path gem every Wednesday!
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E-Commerce
When Arturo Polichuk got his first college internship in September 2020, he was introduced to corporate life via virtual onboarding and fully remote work, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. I never got to go to the office, other than to pick up my computer and then to drop it, Polichuk said of his nine-month business planning internship at Nike. While Gen Zers like Polichuk might have gained many of the same experiences as other entry-level employees, return-to-office mandates are proving that Gen Z missed out on one big lesson: navigating office attire. Gen Z, the generation born after 1996, may comprise a quarter of the global workforce by 2025. Flooded with obscure dress codes like business casual, which Vogue says is dead, or TikTok office attire trends like office siren, which promote sexier iterations of office wear, Gen Z is entering the workforce confused. To make navigating office attire easier, Fast Company asked Gen Z professionals in various industries what they wear to the office, and how they figured it out. Are dress codes still a thing? Yes and no. Kyndal Midkiff, a recent law school graduate and associate attorney at a Florida law firm, explained that at work she opts for business casualthink closed-toed shoes, modest skirts, slacks, and button-up shirts with no tie. In court, Midkiff is required to follow guidelines, including modest clothing and wearing a dress jacket. Midkiff says she learned about dress codes at law school. At school we had seminars about what’s appropriate, what’s not. That was helpful for figuring out what the attire is, she says. For others, like Polichuk and Max Baevsky, who both work in consulting, no guidelines were explicitly given. Instead, they were encouraged to follow business casual while in the office, and to wear suits while holding client meetings. Nick Arreguy, who works in tech sales in New York City, says a dress code is included in his company’s employee handbook. The policy is not specific, stating that dress code is casual, and that employees are expected to use their judgment in choice of clothing. With uncertainty, he decided to dress overly formal the first day, as did Polichuk and Baevsky. It’s like an overcompensation,” Arreguy says. “I remember showing up on my first day working in tech, wearing dress pants and a collared shirt buttoned all the way up. And I realized that that’s not the reality anymore, he adds, referencing a shift toward more relaxed attire following the pandemic. The reality is, however, that there is a uniform and there is a standard to which people dress. It’s not based on a level of formality. It’s based on a level of identifying with a given group, Arreguy says. In practice, the young professionals learned what to wear not from written guidelines, but by mirroring what those around them wore, slowly building up their go-to attire. What does Gen Z wear to work? Finding a uniform, as Arreguy puts it, focuses on finding wardrobe staples that fit into the particular workplace culture. For instance, there’s the infamous finance bro vest, which is popular among men in the financial industry. Baevsky says that while more senior analysts tend to wear more formal attire like a full suit, younger consultants err on the side of comfort, with a particular popular style. That sneaky Lululemon pant. While Lululemon ABC pants look like regular slacks, they come in various fabric options including cotton blends and sweat-wicking synthetic blends, and in various styles like relaxed or skinny. Think of them as the meeting point between “gym comfort” and a 9-to-5. Baesvky adds: You sneak in the comfort while also giving the illusion of formality. I think I’ve definitely seen that with younger consultants. Polichuk is an avid user of the Lululemon slacks, relying on them during work trips. The first thing that I pack are my work pants from Lululemon, he says. Midkiff is a believer in the capsule wardrobe, owning similar styles of pants and shirts in various colors to make dressing easier. I actually just bought the same pair of pants in four different colors, she says. Once you find something good, you better buy it in every color before it’s gone. Additionally, all professionals said they try to find garments that can be used inside and outside of work. Arreguy shares that he regularly wears Wrangler pants and a button-up shirt. While at work, he keeps the sleeves down and tucks in the shirt, but in his free time, he rolls up the sleeves for a more relaxed look. Retaining self-expression in the workplace While there is an intention to blend into the workforce, Gen Z also values self-expression. McKinsey Quarterly says this young generation places a greater value than other generations on setting themselves apart as unique individuals. Because of the nature of how long we were in remote work, there’s almost this romanticization of office wear, where people have this glamorized ideal of what it is, Arreguy says. But there’s a lot more infusing of your own style into what you’re wearing at work. Whether it be through jewelry and accessories, makeup and nails, or simply opting for bolder colors, young professionals are not leaving individuality out of the equation. Arreguy brings in Western flair to his attire by adding boots, an ode to his upbringing in Odessa, Texas. I joke with my friends that, you know, the farther from Texas you get, the more Texas you become, he says. Polichuk has observed that his younger peers use shoes to make their outfits unique. They try to bring different sneakers every time,” he says. “It’s part of their brand and part of who they are, and I think that’s what [distinguishes] themwithout losing the formal part of the consulting business. Midkiff opts for silhouettes she wears outside of work, saying, I really like a high-waisted trouser pant. I’ve always been a bell-bottom girl, even with my jeans. I love the flair. So I try to stick to those because, one, they’re comfortable, and two, I like the way they look. Baevsky plays around with color and proportions, building out his funky wool sweater collection, which he wears at work and in daily life. I also like to experiment with pants sometimes, like a wider pant or a funky plaid pant, and balance it off with something maybe mor muted, he says. The playfulness is also inspiring older generations, notes Gregory Patterson, celebrity hairstylist and styling expert for Sally Beauty. He has been helping his 16-year-old niece to apply for jobs. While he’s been at Sally Beauty, the brand has worked toward destigmatizing colored hair in the workforce. There are magical micro moments where you can express yourself, whether it’s a little glitter eye, or you put a couple brooches on to express yourself. It’s for you, Patterson says. I would suggest that Gen Z push the pedal to the floor. You all are rewriting the playbook. The playbook ended with COVID, and we have a new opportunity to define beauty and to create culture.
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E-Commerce
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