Good Colorado Sunday morning, friends. I’m a gatherer, not a hunter. I’ll eat anything grown in my yard — or yours — and have zero qualms about consuming foraged berries or mushrooms or bread made from a culture that sat in a jar on the counter for weeks. I used to casually hang around my…
Exploring transformative decisions, researchers at the Max Planck Institute develop a framework that captures the real-life complexity of major life changes, from emigration to career shifts, emphasizing the psychological and strategic aspects of such decisions.
A groundbreaking study unveils a new framework for understanding life-changing decisions, integrating real-world scenarios with psychological research.
Certain decisions in life are so impactful that they can profoundly shape a person’s future. Choices like emigrating, quitting a job, ending a long-term relationship, or reporting a sexual assault are transformative. They influence personal identity and life paths in ways that are often unpredictable and sometimes irreversible. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development have introduced a new framework in a conceptual paper that aims to better understand and analyze these life-changing decisions.
Transformative Life Decisions
Picture leaving a stable career to chase a new path, moving across the world for a fresh start, or making the heartbreaking decision to end a marriage. These aren’t everyday choices — they’re transformative decisions that shape who we are and who we might become. For some, such decisions could involve revealing a long-held secret, undergoing a life-changing medical treatment, or fleeing a war-torn homeland. Each choice holds the power to alter the course of a person’s life, leading to outcomes and emotions that are often unpredictable.
These life-defining moments are the subject of a new paper published in American Psychologist by researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development. The study introduces a groundbreaking framework for understanding and analyzing these transformative life decisions.
Rethinking Decision-Making Models
“Understanding life’s biggest decisions requires going beyond the oversimplified models often used in the behavioral sciences,” says first author Shahar Hechtlinger. She is part of a group at the Center for Adaptive Rationality at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development that studies simple heuristics people can use to make good decisions.
“In research on judgment and decision-making, we often rely on highly simplified, stylized tasks. However, these controlled scenarios are in stark contrast to the consequential decisions that people face in real life across cultures and contexts,” Hechtlinger says.
Therefore, she argues for a shift in perspective: instead of reducing transformative life choices to fit models designed for unrealistic problems where the decision-maker has all the relevant information at their fingertips, researchers should examine their real-world characteristics.
Methodologically, this framework adapts a long tradition of mainly lab-based judgment and decision-making research to a text-based approach, thereby setting the stage for empirical work that analyzes real-world decisions using natural language processing. By analyzing diverse textual data—including personal narratives, books, online forums, and news articles—the team identified five key dimensions of transformative decisions.
Analyzing the Dimensions of Transformation
Transformative life decisions can have distinct profiles of these dimensions, with some being more relevant than others. One dimension is conflicting cues, where competing and often incommensurable values make comparison difficult. For instance, emigration may offer safety, but at the cost of leaving loved ones behind. Another dimension is the change of self, as transformative decisions can reshape people’s values and personal identity in both desired and undesired ways, such as becoming a parent or leaving a long-term relationship.
A third dimension is uncertain experiential value, where how a person would experience the anticipated consequence of a transformative decision is unclear. Leaving a long-term career, for instance, can spark doubts about whether the change will lead to fulfillment or regret. Irreversibility is another key feature, as many decisions, such as divorce or migration, are difficult or impossible to reverse. Risk, too, is ever-present, as these choices carry the possibility of significant physical, emotional, social, or financial loss alongside the potential for rewards.
Practical Strategies for Complex Decisions
The researchers proposed simple and psychologically plausible decision strategies to address these dimensions. When values and cues are conflicting and incommensurable, the tallying heuristic, for example, simplifies comparisons by counting positive and negative reasons for each option without weighing their importance.
To deal with anticipated changes of self, the ideal self-realization strategy aligns choices with one’s vision of an ideal self. That allows individuals to make decisions that are consistent with who they want to be. To reduce uncertain experiential value, people can learn from others’ experiences, thereby gaining insight into possible outcomes by observing those who have faced similar choices. For decisions that are difficult to reverse, the testing-the-waters strategy allows people to take small, reversible steps before making a full commitment.
Finally, strategies such as hedge clipping, which involve taking incremental actions while carefully minimizing exposure to harm, can effectively reduce risks. For example, securing housing before emigrating ensures a safety net is in place, making the transition smoother and less precarious.
Enhancing Ecological Rationality
The framework makes a significant theoretical contribution to the study of ecological rationality, which examines how decision-making strategies succeed when adapted to the environments in which they are used. Transformative life decisions, with their inherent uncertainty and potential for reshaping personal identity, challenge traditional models of rationality that often rely on oversimplified assumptions.
“Ecological rationality emphasizes the importance of a fit between decision strategies, environments, and individuals,” explains Ralph Hertwig, co-author and director of the Center for Adaptive Rationality. “Our work extends this theory by integrating subjective dimensions, such as changes in personal identity and values, into the decision-making process.”
By considering the interplay between decision-making strategies, external constraints, and an individual’s evolving identity, the study enriches ecological rationality with insights into the psychological and experiential aspects of decision-making.
Implications for Policy and Practice
The article also highlights its potential applications not only for individuals, but also for policymakers, coaches and therapists, and organizations that provide support during life transitions. Having an idea of how people deal with transformative life decisions may, for instance, help policymakers design programs and policies that accommodate the complexities of fundamental decisions such as migration or long-term caregiving by addressing key dimensions like risk and irreversibility.
Future Directions in Decision-Making Research
In addition to reshaping how transformative life decisions are understood, this framework paves the way for future studies. The researchers are currently conducting a large-scale empirical project to test their framework and explore decision-making across multiple life domains, including relationships, migration, family, and work. Future research will also examine the role of factors such as mental health, personality traits, and risk-taking behavior in shaping transformative life decisions.
Key Points:
Transformative life decisions can reshape identity and life paths in often irreversible ways.
The article identifies five dimensions that define transformative life decisions: conflicting cues, changes in self-identity, uncertain experiential value, irreversibility, and risk.
The article suggests practical strategies for navigating transformative life decisions, such as tallying, ideal self-realization, and learning from others’ experiences.
The article proposes a framework that captures the real-world complexity of decision-making and goes beyond oversimplified models. It integrates subjective aspects with ecological rationality.
Reference: “The psychology of life’s most important decisions” by S. Hechtlinger, C. Schulze, C. Leuker and R. Hertwig, 2024, American Psychologist.DOI: 10.1037/amp0001439
Images of the aurora borealis showing the structured continuum emission. Credit: Faculty of Science research team
Researchers have uncovered the nature of a mysterious whitish, grey patch that often appears alongside the aurora borealis.
This patch, termed a structured continuum emission, adds a layer of complexity to our understanding of the northern lights. It was identified using advanced camera technology that captures true-color images of celestial phenomena, revealing it to be a heat source intricately linked with the aurora itself.
Mysterious Sky Phenomenon
A mysterious whitish-grey patch that occasionally appears near the northern lights has been explained for the first time by researchers at the University of Calgary.
Published on December 30 in the journal Nature Communications, the study investigates what researchers call a “structured continuum emission” linked to the aurora borealis.
“You’d see this dynamic green aurora, you’d see some of the red aurora in the background and, all of a sudden, you’d see this structured – almost like a patch – grey-toned or white toned-emission connected to the aurora,” explains Dr. Emma Spanswick, PhD, lead author on the paper and an associate professor with the Department of Physics and Astronomy in the Faculty of Science.
Scientific Inquiry and Discovery
“So, the first response of any scientist is, ‘Well, what is that?’”
While this pale patch has been mentioned in scientific literature before, Spanswick notes that it has never been explained — until now.
Spanswick says the white patch has been referenced in scientific papers before, but it has never been explained.
Her team’s paper concludes it’s “most certainly a heat source” and says it suggests that the aurora borealis are more complex than previously thought.
Technological Advances in Observational Astronomy
Spanswick says the discovery was made possible because an advancement in camera technology allows both amateur photographers and scientists to see true color images of the night sky.
“Everyone has noticed the advancement in digital photography. Your cellphone can now take pictures of the aurora,” she says. “That has flowed to the commercial sensor market now.
“Those types of sensors can now be found in more commercial, more robust sensors that we would use in science.”
Linking New Phenomena with Known Events
The team’s research came after there was a renewed interest in continuum emission with the discovery and observations of the long, glowing ribbon of purple light known as STEVE – or Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement.
“There are similarities between what we’re seeing now and STEVE,” explains Spanswick. “STEVE manifests itself as this mauve or grey-toned structure.
“To be honest, the elevation of the spectrum between the two is very similar but this, because of its association with dynamic aurora, it’s almost embedded in the aurora. It’s harder to pick out if you were to look at it, whereas STEVE is separate from the aurora – a big band crossing the sky.”
Educational Impact and Student Involvement
The latest research is also significant because it includes three UCalgary students, including undergraduate Josh Houghton who was initially hired as an intern on the project.
“I was still learning things at the time,” he says. “I had just started my internship, and I very quickly got involved. It’s just very, very cool.”
Spanswick says Houghton did a lot of the analysis on the research, which led to his participation in the Nature paper as an undergraduate student.
“He’s had one heck of an internship experience,” she says.
Houghton will continue the research as part of his undergrad honours thesis, before taking on his master’s degree at UCalgary next year.
Reference: “Association of structured continuum emission with dynamic aurora” by E. Spanswick, J. Liang, J. Houghton, D. Chaddock, E. Donovan, B. Gallardo-Lacourt, C. Keenan, J. Rosehart, Y. Nishimura, D. Hampton and M. Gillies, 30 December 2024, Nature Communications.DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-55081-5
The research was made possible by the Transition Region Explorer (TREx), which is a UCalgary project jointly funded by the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, the Government of Alberta and the Canadian Space Agency.
The TREx RGB and Spectograph instruments are operated and maintained by Space Environment Canada with the support of the Canadian Space Agency through its Geospace Observatory (GO) Canada initiative.
Well Go USA
The “Ip Man” movies represent some of the most fun you can have with the martial arts genre. The franchise is loosely based on the life of the actual Ip Man (or Yip Man), a Chinese martial arts grandmaster who specialized in the art of Wing Chun, and whose most famous student was Bruce Lee, the star of the incredible martial arts action film “Enter the Dragon.” The main movies in the property are directed by Wilson Yip and star Donnie Yen as the titular character. Yen played Ip Man for more than a decade in-between giving us one of the best “Star Wars” characters ever in Chirrut Îmwe from “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” as well as one of the best fights in the “John Wick” films.
So far as martial arts cinema goes, it rarely gets better than the “Ip Man” movies, which manage to actually create tension despite the audience knowing full well that Ip Man is never going to fully lose any particular fight. In addition to its phenomenal action scenes and stunts, it’s also a franchise known for being refreshingly character-driven, in addition to having some interesting depictions of the Second Sino-Japanese War and British colonialism in Hong Kong. They are not just fight-scenes wrapped by a plot, but movies with actual stories to tell that feature great action scenes to boot.
With a fifth “Ip Man” movie reportedly on the way, it’s never a bad time to check out the property. Whether it’s been a minute since you’ve seen these films or you’ve never had the pleasure of watching “Ip Man” obliterate 10 dudes in a fight and wonder where to start, here’s your guide to the best watching order for the “Ip Man” franchise.
The best order to watch the Ip Man movies
Pegasus Motion Pictures
The correct order to watch the “Ip Man” movies is to simply go by the order of release. Though the movies have a pretty straight-forward naming convention, there is the exception of a spin-off movie that takes place in the timeline of the movies, making it important to just go by release date, like so:
“Ip Man” (2008)
“Ip Man 2” (2010)
“Ip Man 3” (2015)
“Master Z: Ip Man Legacy” (2018)
“Ip Man 4: The Finale” (2019)
This order also follows the thematic throughline of the franchise, with each film focusing on a different theme. The first film is about Ip Man trying to survive in the face of oppression, while the second is about adapting to a new reality and trying to make a living. Likewise, the spin-off movie and the fourth film are about legacy. As for the third movie in the franchise, it’s really all about Ip Man fighting Mike Tyson while a young Bruce Lee watches.
Going by this order allows you to experience a full story with a beginning, middle, and end. Or, at least that’s the way it was until 2023. That’s because it was announced that a new “Ip Man” movie, titled “Ip Man 5” is in development by Mandarin Motion Pictures, with Donnie Yen involved at least insofar as sharing the teaser poster on Instagram at that time. How and if Yen will actually reprise his role is a very interesting question given the finality of the character’s story in the very aptly titled “Ip Man 4: The Finale.”
Still, it’s hard not to get excited at the prospect of more “Ip Man.” These movies are nationalistic propaganda at its finest, and a chance for China to prove its superiority to the world via the most ludicrous and over-the-top martial arts showdowns.
Lionsgate
Barry Levinson is not a name one would usually associate with the horror genre. The Academy Award-winning director — best known for “Rain Man,” “Wag the Dog,” and “Diner” — has mostly leaned toward satirical comedies or tense drama-thrillers throughout his career. While prepping for a documentary about the pollution plaguing the Chesapeake Bay in 2012, Levinson decided to forego the project in favor of a found-footage eco-horror that would mix fact with fiction to disturbing effect. This endeavor was “The Bay,” a mockumentary-style exploration of a contagion premise that feels almost prescient within the context of our post-pandemic world. Despite being the director’s sole foray into horror, Levinson re-invigorates the found-footage subgenre by injecting it with one of the most primal fears accompanying a pandemic: the callous cruelty of wilful inaction.
It is worth noting that Levinson incorporated the scientific research for the abandoned Chesapeake documentary into the film’s narrative framework, and crafted an aura of credibility by shooting a chunk of the footage with commonly-used digital cameras. In an interview with Mother Jones, Levinson explained how he had to take an unconventional filmmaking approach to do justice to the inner workings of the found-footage genre:
“We made this film for $2 million, shot it in 18 days with a small crew using a lot of first-time actors, and used 21 different types of video cameras, including iPhones and cheap underwater video gear, to make it seem credible. This made for more complicated editing. Everything had to be plotted out and done in one shot.”
The mixture of reality-based fact and inspired fiction helped create something truly frightening, prompting a delicate suspension of disbelief that is perhaps one of the greatest strengths of “The Bay.” Although not perfect, this overlooked horror entry must be scrutinized for its uncompromising vision, along with its brutality and gruesomeness which bring uncomfortable quasi-real undertones to the surface.
Barry Levinson’s The Bay poses apathy as the true source of terror
Lionsgate
In Levinson’s 2012 film, journalism intern Donna (Kether Donohue) is assigned to cover a Fourth of July celebration in Claridge, a quaint little town in Maryland that thrives on its water supply. Trouble brews when a local chicken farm is found dumping toxins that end up polluting the Chesapeake Bay, and this snowballs into the townsfolk falling ill and exhibiting concerning physical symptoms. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is contacted once the situation spirals out of control, but a mix of apathy and inaction makes matters much, much worse. Droves of dead fish wash up on the shore, infected folks start dropping dead after writhing in unimaginable pain, and dead birds start hitting the bloodied streets. Donna and her cameraperson witness these events firsthand, torn between documenting the horrors of a real-time catastrophe and sheer helplessness when faced with the bizarre symptoms among the infected.
Not everything that unfolds on the screen feels novel or unique, but Levinson is able to use some well-tread tropes to ramp up tension in a situation that comes with no silver lining. Donna’s footage, which is later confiscated by the government and subsequently leaked by a third party, is interspersed with frantic Skype calls, cellphone videos, and digital vlogs that capture the visceral nature of an unchecked epidemic. The bodily horrors of pus-filled rashes, violent vomiting, and exploding entrails add to the heightened narrative, with a couple of mutated creatures thrown in for good measure. No one knows what to do, and those in a position to do something, like the town mayor Stockman (Frank Deal), seem more mortified by the prospect of Claridge losing tourists.
What I appreciate about “The Bay” is that it situates ecological horror at the forefront, and exposes our callousness towards the environment even when our transgressions corrupt the sanctity of life. There is more to this story than the revulsion it elicits, as we are forced to contend with the evidence left behind by the countless mini-vlogs and distressed digital calls that dissect the nature of the mutating outbreak. The shameful display of insensitive apathy accompanying this catastrophe — both during and after — is not pretty, and Levinson deliberately ends “The Bay” on this bitter, discomfiting note.
University of Pennsylvania climate scientist Michael Mann
After a protracted legal battle, that lasted over eight years, a court in Washington D.C. has ordered University of Pennsylvania climate scientist Michael Mann to pay National Review over half a million dollars in attorney fees and costs.
The ruling marks a significant victory for National Review, which was sued by Mann for defamation and infliction of emotional distress over two blog posts published in 2012 that criticized his work and involvement in a political dispute.
READ: California Dems Paved The Way For Los Angeles To Be Consumed By ‘The Big One’
Mann’s lawsuit, which the court ultimately deemed meritless, dragged on for years, forcing National Review to expend considerable resources in its defense. During the discovery process, it was revealed that Mann’s intention was to use the lawsuit to “ruin National Review.”
While National Review ultimately prevailed, the legal battle took a toll. “Between 2012 and 2019…we were forced to spend a considerable amount of time and money defending ourselves against his malicious, meritless suit,” the publication stated.
Last week’s court order requires Mann to pay National Review $530,820.21 within 30 days, providing some financial restitution for the publication.
READ: LA County Residents Blast Dem Leadership As Wildfires Compound Litany Of Failed Policies
Although the award is less than the $1 million sought by National Review, it represents a significant victory for free speech and a rebuke of Mann’s attempts to silence criticism through litigation.
National Review expressed disappointment that the legal system did not act more swiftly to dismiss the frivolous lawsuit, but celebrated the final outcome. “Mann’s behavior throughout has been appalling,” the publication stated. “Now, he must pay up.”
This case highlights the importance of protecting free speech and the right to criticize public figures, even in the face of legal threats. It also serves as a warning to those who attempt to use litigation to stifle debate and silence opposing viewpoints.
Dr. Michael Mann is Presidential Distinguished Professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Science at the University of Pennsylvania, with a secondary appointment in the Annenberg School for Communication. His research focuses on climate science and climate change, according to the University of Pennsylvania.
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Updated at 2:08 p.m. ET on January 12, 2025In 2016, I was hired to teach skiing at the Park City resort, in Utah. The ultimate fun job: For one winter, I would get paid to do and share my favorite activity.But I soon realized that although the piste conditions might be great, the working conditions were poor. An early clue was a training video that Vail Resorts, Park City’s owner, showed to employees. It bragged about how the company’s charity organization was helping local residents. The only problem: One of the charity cases was a Vail employee. In other words, the company was obliviously broadcasting how underpaid its own workers were.That video came to mind last month when I heard that, starting December 27, Park City’s ski patrollers were going on strike to demand higher wages and better treatment. “We are asking all of you to show your support by halting spending at Vail Resorts properties for the duration of this strike,” the union said in an Instagram post. “Do not use Vail-owned rental shops or retail stores. Do not stay in Vail-owned hotels.”For those unfamiliar with the industry, the union’s decision may have seemed puzzling. People who work on skis tend to love skiing, so why would they want to stop? They’re called ski bums, after all, not ski laborers. But for anyone who has been employed by Vail—and navigated the housing crises that plague resort communities—the union’s pleas are entirely comprehensible. The Park City strike illustrates just how distorted the American ski business has become, both for workers and for visitors. Central to the malaise is one trend: monopolization.For much of skiing’s history, mountains were locally owned and operated. But over the past few decades, that has changed. In the 1990s, ski resorts began buying other ski resorts. Private-equity firms got in on the act. Soon, these conglomerates were gobbling up one another, creating a small clique of businesses that had control over the industry. Independent mountains still dot the country, but most major resorts now are either owned by or associated with one of two giant corporations: Vail and Alterra.This consolidation is perhaps the main reason the sticker price of skiing, never cheap, has become exorbitant. With fewer competitors, Vail and Alterra have been free to jack up prices. In 2000, when Mount Snow (where I learned to ski) was owned by a smaller company, the cost of a day pass was about $93 in today’s dollars. Today, the Vail-owned resort charges approximately $150. The pricing at Park City is even steeper. Twenty-five years ago, you could get a three-day ticket for $308 in today’s dollars. Now you’re paying $850.As a result, skiers tend to buy either Vail’s Epic Pass or Alterra’s Ikon Pass, season tickets that, depending on category, afford varying levels of access to a selection of the companies’ resorts (and, particularly for Ikon, of affiliated ones). These passes offer a better deal than day tickets; in some circumstances, they give better value than the season passes of earlier eras. But they also represent an intricate form of price discrimination filled with disadvantages. Skiers must purchase them before the winter begins. Many of the passes come with restrictions. And, as a lump sum, they’re hardly cheap: The Epic “Northeast Value Pass,” for example, is about $600, and has blackout dates on Vail’s marquee northeastern-U.S. properties. Only the full Epic Pass, priced at roughly $1,000, is limit free.This new economic model means that visitors have fewer affordable ways to hit the slopes—especially if they ski only on an occasional basis. For instance, newbies may find themselves obliged to buy season passes just to spend a few days learning how to ski. The season-pass imperative also forces skiers of all levels to commit to one of two ecosystems, Epic or Ikon. This constrains people’s choice of where to ski, and makes planning trips with friends harder. What it does allow is conglomerates to keep people ensconced at company properties, buying overpriced food, lodging, and equipment.Naturally, this strategy has worked well for both Vail and Alterra. Vail’s revenues have increased by 50 percent since my brief spell with the company in 2017. Alterra, a smaller company, is privately held and does not disclose its financials. But Big Ski’s business model works well enough at Alterra’s scale that, last year, it purchased a new ski area in Colorado for more than $100 million.The system has not worked as well for staff, who remain underpaid. Vail set its minimum wage at $20 in March 2022, after facing staffing shortages and an earlier strike threat by ski patrollers. But that hourly figure is set against the extremely high cost of living in resort towns: In Park City, the median monthly rent is $3,500, which is about what a Vail minimum-wage employee makes working full-time. Meanwhile, Vail’s charity arm continues to brag about helping staff with “hardship relief.”This is what happens when companies don’t have to compete for labor. Thanks to industry agglomeration, ski-resort workers have only a small number of potential employers, making it harder to switch jobs if they don’t like the way a particular resort treats them. And supervisors can afford to be high-handed. During my tenure, for example, instructors would sometimes have shifts added to their schedule without permission; at other times, they would have shifts canceled after arriving at work—meaning that they’d driven to the mountain only to get sent home without pay.At the Park City resort, Vail owns a formidable collection of lodges and rental properties, but none of it was allocated to employees in my time. In 2022, the company began working with a separate development to help lease out discounted units for 441 of its staffers—but Vail has hundreds more employees at the resort, so those dormitories and apartments are nowhere near enough to make a very expensive town remotely affordable for most workers. In fact, according to a 2023 University of Utah study, only 12 percent of the community’s workforce live in Park City itself. This housing crisis is one of the main factors behind the strike. To help explain the picketing, Quinn Graves, one of the union’s officials, told New York magazine that most of her colleagues don’t live locally.Most of the visitors who fly in to ski at Park City probably do not think much about these issues. They are, after all, there for a vacation, not for field research on economic injustice. But this season, they’ve had plenty of opportunity to ponder that: Because most of the resort closed during the patrollers’ strike, visitors had to wait in freezing lines for hours for brief runs down the few slopes Vail managed to keep open with supervisors and patrollers drafted from other mountains. Many of these guests, sick of Park City’s high costs, came down on the side of the strikers. Online, angry customers blasted Vail for refusing to give staff a raise. One person filed a lawsuit against the company in which he bemoaned how ski-ticket prices have risen “exponentially” over the past 10 years. In person, guests chanted “Pay your employees” while waiting to get on lifts.On January 8, the company listened. It struck a deal to increase average pay for patrollers by $4 an hour and offer better leave policies. “This contract is more than just a win for our team,” Seth Dromgoole, the union’s lead negotiator, said in a statement. “It’s a groundbreaking success in the ski and mountain worker industry.” Other Park City employees, including instructors, have similarly cheered, hoping that the bump will eventually extend to them.The outcome may encourage other ski-resort workers to organize. The idea of unionizing was bandied about by ski-school workers when I was there, and labor-organization rates have spiked at ski areas. The rationale is compelling: To get a fair deal in the face of corporate consolidation, workers may have to consolidate themselves.For now, however, what’s on offer to skiers is governed by the unfortunate logic of mountains and monopolies. America has only so many ski areas, and as long as they’re controlled by a couple of conglomerates, the whole experience will continue to go downhill.This article originally misapplied a male pronoun to Quinn Graves. In fact, Graves is a woman who uses female pronouns.Support for this project was provided by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.About the AuthorDaniel BlockDaniel Block is a senior editor at Foreign Affairs.More StoriesHow a Strongman Made Himself Look WeakThe Democrats’ Senate Nightmare Is Only BeginningExplore More TopicsUtah
Over its 32 years of existence, the UFC has grown exponentially into one of the biggest sports promotions in the world with a lot of that down to the work of the current CEO, Dana White.When the UFC was created in 1993, there was a lot of criticism surrounding the sport of MMA and it came with its preconceptions of being barbaric, which led to its many issues.Fast forward 32 years and it has grown into one of the most popular sports, with the UFC growing in popularity each year.Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty ImagesJoe Rogan and Mark Zuckerberg praise Dana White for growing the UFCUFC boss, Dana White has been largely praised for his role in expanding the business but it’s fair to say, a lot of the UFC’s success has come as a result of luck, especially in their early days.In 2005, the ‘most important fight in UFC history’ took place on The Ultimate Fighter, as Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar put on one of the greatest combat sports fights of all time.Before this Hall of Fame fight, White along with owners Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta were fighting to keep the UFC alive after the Fertitta brothers purchased the company for $2m back in 2001.After fighting tirelessly to get the sport sanctioned in many states, they pictured The Ultimate Fighter Finale as the final roll of the dice, and it thankfully paid off as it put the sport and the UFC on the map, securing a TV deal.American businessman, Mark Zuckerberg, has praised White for his role in growing the UFC after he announced earlier this week that he was appointing White to the Meta board of directors.“Running this company is not for the faint of heart, there’s definitely a lot of pressure from all of these different governments,” Zuckerberg began to explain on the Joe Rogan Experience. MORE BLOODY ELBOW NEWS “Without him, none of the UFC would’ve ever taken place the way it did, I mean you needed the Fertitta brothers, they had to come in with all of the money and the vision,” Joe Rogan agreed.[embedded content]“It’s really funny, Eddie Bravo and I went to a live show in the 90’s, I was working for the UFC as a backstage interviewer… We were talking about it in the 90’s like, ‘You know what this sport needs? This sport needs some billionaires who just throw a tonne of money at it’, and then the Fertitta brothers come along.“Then they buy the UFC for $2m which is probably the greatest purchase ever, except they were $40m+ in the hole when they financed The Ultimate Fighter… And then this one fight takes place with Stephan Bonner and Forrest Griffin… The sport’s born.“Without Dana, it wouldn’t have ever taken place, he’s tireless,” Rogan continued.Could we see Mark Zuckerberg vs Elon Musk in 2025?Zuckerberg has been teasing a potential MMA fight against fellow businessman, Elon Musk for several years now and White even revealed that he was in ‘legitimate negotiations’ with the Colosseum to host the fight.The Meta owner has been consistently training MMA for a while and even won a jiu-jitsu competition in 2023. With the 40-year-old’s love for MMA continuing to grow, he told Rogan that he is likely going to fight in 2025 but it probably won’t be against Musk.With Zuckerberg’s relationship with White extending to the next level, we could see the business mogul step foot inside the UFC Octagon in a historic appearance. Related Topics
The Noon Book Group at Bluffton Public Library meets on Wednesday, February 5 to discuss North Woods by Daniel Mason.The activity is scheduled for the first Wednesday of each month at noon at Bluffton Public Library, 145 S. Main. Books to be discussed are available for checkout at the library front desk.
FARGO – The folks at Nice Barber Company say it’s really nice to be back.The downtown barber shop reopened Monday, Jan. 6, at 1320 1st Ave. N, just a
few blocks south of its old home in the Fargo Brewing
building.
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All four chairs were occupied, the clippers and combs were moving fast, and over some background music, a buzz of conversation.A day later, after the initial rush, co-owner Branden Ashmore was happy and relieved. It was a sprint over the Christmas and New Year’s break to set up the new shop, move all the chairs and equipment, and get the last city inspections checked off.
Nice Barber Company, as seen on Jan. 6, 2025, is in a new location at 1320 1st Ave. N in Fargo.Chris Flynn / The Forum
“It felt good to reopen Monday, and it felt really good to start on a clean slate,” Ashmore said Tuesday. “A new year, a new shop, new possibilities.”Ashmore started the shop four years ago, just off the taproom at Fargo Brewing, next to Nova Eatery and The Hall concert and events center. He regularly spent 12-14 hours a day building his clientele, staying late to get people haircuts who simply couldn’t make it to a barber during their own busy workdays.
Jared Osburnsen cuts Ezra VanDenEinde’s hair at Nice Barber Company on Monday, Jan. 6, 2025, in north Fargo. Chris Flynn / The Forum
The
closing of Fargo Brewing
near the end of November was part of a trying time for Ashmore and his shop.
The first misfortune was a bad break – literally.On Aug. 11 last year, Ashmore was at Bluestem Amphitheater in Moorhead enjoying a Dwight Yoakim concert. After the concert, a fight broke out in the crowd and he and a couple buddies tried to stop it before it escalated. Ashmore tripped, fell, and broke his shoulder.
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He damaged “just about everything” but his rotator cuff. If that had torn, he would have been out of work for more than a year, he said.“I did a ton of physical therapy with Sanford (Health), and those people were amazing. My doctor at Sanford was awesome,” Ashmore said.His care team recommended physical therapy rather than surgery. It was a good call, he said.
Scott Ehresman, left, and Jacob Johnson cut Troy Steele and Alex Gruver’s hair on Monday, Jan. 6, 2025, at Nice Barber in north Fargo. Chris Flynn / The Forum
“And that’s what I have been doing, and back to work twice as fast because of it,” Ashmore said. “I’m not 100%, but I’m getting there.”Then, of course, came the news that the owners of Fargo Brewing had decided while working through bankruptcy proceedings to dissolve their company. That meant Nice Barber needed a new home.
Jade Nielsen, a co-owner of Nice Barber Company, on Monday, Jan. 6, 2025, at the new location at 1320 1st Ave. N in Fargo.Chris Flynn / The Forum
In addition to Ashmore, the other owners of Nice Barber are Ian Johnson and Jade Nielsen.Nielsen, an entrepreneur who owns concert and event production company Jade Presents, and Tickets 300, also has a portfolio of several properties in the Fargo-Moorhead area. One of them is 1320 1st Ave. N.
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Nielsen said he and his the partners searched for the best spot they could find for Nice Barber, and the interior space, parking and access for the 1st Avenue North location made it the winner. (The building is also home to Jade Presents, Tickets 300 and 46 and 2 Tattoo.)“There’s some small conveniences” for Nice Barber in the new shop, and the renovation was relatively inexpensive, Nielsen said.
Jade Nielsen and Branden Ashmore, the co-owners of Nice Barber Company, on Monday, Jan. 6, 2025, 2024, in their new location at 1320 1st Ave. N in Fargo. Chris Flynn / The Forum
Nielsen said the next addition for the barber shop could be a deck off the westside garage doors.In nice weather, Ashmore and Nielsen said the garage doors can be raised, and with screens in place so patrons can enjoy summer breezes without worrying about summer bugs.
Scott Ehresman cuts Troy Steele’s hair on Monday, Jan. 6, 2025, at Nice Barber Company in north Fargo. Chris Flynn / The Forum
“We’re trying to provide a space where you can still just come in and hang out if you want, and BS once in a while,” Ashmore said. “It will be cool to have a little break area or getaway space.”Nice Barber’s hours are 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday. Walk-ins are taken as time allows, Ashmore said. But, as busy as the shop has gotten, it is best to set up a reservation, he said.
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“People now live in such a time-sensitive age. When you need to be somewhere, you need to be able to get in, get out, and get done,” Ashmore said. “It’s just the most efficient way to keep everyone happy and keep everything running smoothly.”Ashmore said he just wants people to know that Nice Barber is still in the game.“We’re still a downtown barber shop and we’d still like to get everybody over to our shop to check us out,” Ashmore said. “I’m glad we were able to find a spot and bounce back.”
By
Helmut Schmidt
Helmut Schmidt is a business reporter at The Forum. He’s a German import, arriving in the United States about a decade after the Volkswagen beetle. After graduating high school in Cottage Grove, Minn., he served in the U.S. Army as a microwave radio operator and repairman. He earned a journalism degree from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, then started at the Albert Lea Tribune in southeastern Minnesota, where he served three years as its managing editor. At The Forum, he has covered various beats, including K-12 schools, city government, cops and courts, and the business community. Contact Helmut at 701-241-5583 or [email protected].