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Funfetti cake quarantine trend

While many people sheltering in place were distracted with their sourdough starters, a smaller contingent of amateur bakers was hard at work on a less glamorous but no less beloved baked good: the flashy and cheerful boxed Funfetti cake. If sourdough is the Grace Kelly of quarantine baking, Funfetti cake is Shirley MacLaine — maybe not quite as elegant, but way more fun.

Funfetti is technically the brainchild of Pillsbury and consists of vanilla cake mix with a burst of color from rainbow sprinkles. Chances are it popped up at birthday parties, or your mom kept a box in the pantry for special occasions. The name alone signifies celebration and good times — not exactly the vibe in the world today, which, between restaurant closures, layoffs, and an escalating death toll is quickly starting to feel like an avalanche of garbage. That constant and immovable sense of dread you feel? Yeah, you’re not the only one.

Cake isn’t a cure-all for *gestures broadly* all this anxiety (see: Tina Fey eating sheet cake), but for people quarantined — whether alone or with their families — it’s been the temporary Band-Aid on a deepening wound. And it’s actually helping, thank you very much.

“Funfetti feels like an instant party in a frivolous and kind of silly way,” Rebecca, a filmmaker living in Rhode Island, tells me. “There’s just something irresistible about the way it seems kind of over the top and childlike. I probably would have gone for Funfetti in regular life, but with the quarantine I felt extra decisive that it was the only solution for [my] baby’s birthday.”

The element of nostalgia is an important one in the Funfetti cake equation. It transports bakers to a pre-pandemic world, one that at least seemed a little less complicated. The innocence of childhood isn’t an easy feeling to recapture, but licking icing flecked with rainbow sprinkles off your plate is certainly one way to get there. And if you have kids, passing down treasured memories of baking cake with your parents makes Funfetti even more appealing.

Rebecca (left) and Alexandra (right)

“Funfetti has been my favorite since I was little and there was something oddly comforting about baking it up and having it out like my mom used to when I was younger,” says Alexandra, a teacher in Rochester, New York. “She always made a double layer Funfetti cake with extra frosting. I haven’t made it in a long time, and quarantine seemed like the perfect time because what else is there to do?”

“My kids and I are now on our third cake in as many weeks,” she adds. “We’ve had fun making and frosting them, but the best has been sitting down each night for a show and having a giant slice. It’s a nice reward for all of us.”

Funfetti lives up to its name: It’s fun to bake and fun to eat, and in a time when fun is pretty much canceled everywhere else, it actually makes sense that people are gravitating toward the low-grade boxed version of fun that should do the trick until it’s safe to go on vacation. Yes, you could bake a cake from scratch — and if my Instagram feed is any evidence, many people have — but Funfetti from a box has one other characteristic that has upped its appeal: It’s just so easy to make.

Ease of execution is crucial. Even browsing the headlines is a risky undertaking right now, let alone stepping outside. You have to remember your mask, gloves, and hand sanitizer just to get a cup of coffee at the cafe around the corner, and don’t forget to stay six feet away from everyone else in line or else you could get sick, or get your family sick, or get the barista sick. Point being: Life is high stakes right now. Anything simple and straightforward is a relief.

“[Funfetti] has that childhood connotation of being relatively error-proof, which is really nice right now when so much feels like failure,” Maddox, a writer and comedian who posted their Funfetti journey on Instagram to much fanfare, says. “Failure to be productive to stay in touch, to solve any part of this disaster or say anything profound about it. There’s a lot that feels wrong and I’m not even a sourdough cultist (no offense to bread persons). But I can measure and stir the Funfetti mix and not feel like it’s going to turn out terribly. And if somehow I did screw up, it’s like, a pretend children’s cake.”

The surge in Funfetti’s popularity is another facet of the cooking and baking trends that have emerged during lockdown, but you don’t have to be an expert to partake — you don’t even have to be someone who is interested in taking up baking as a new hobby. The only requirement for baking Funfetti cake is that you have a little time on your hands and a few eggs. And it doesn’t hurt if you could use a cheering up. Cake is a completely appropriate weapon in the battle to disperse the storm clouds hanging above all our heads.

“We all need and deserve joy wherever we can find it right now,” says Shelby, a writer and editor from New Jersey, who baked a Funfetti cake early on in quarantine. “I can’t think of anything better to do that with than a good bit of nostalgia from a Funfetti cake.”

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Denmark wind power islands

The government of Denmark announced last week plans for two massive “energy islands” to be built in waters off its coast, one piece of a six-part plan to reduce emissions 70 percent from 1990 levels by 2030 and to be carbon neutral by 2050. The project must gain approval from the Danish parliament but is expected to pass after negotiations.

Once in operation, the two wind power “islands” are expected to produce so much green power that not only will they power all Danish households, but the country will also be able to export additional wind energy to neighboring countries. Denmark’s announcement is another step in the wind power explosion happening across northern Europe, which comes shortly after the UK released plans to develop the world’s largest offshore wind farm off the Yorkshire coast, with additional wind power projects beginning in Scotland.

The first of Denmark’s “islands” is to be built in the North Sea and connected to the Netherlands. This wind farm will generate two gigawatts of power at first and could later be expanded to produce five times that. The second development is slated for the Baltic Sea on the existing Danish island of Bornholm. Once the islands are fully operational and their GW capacity is expanded, the country hopes to use excess energy to power part of its transportation sector, including ships and trucks.

“Denmark must be a green pioneer country, which is why we hold on to the high climate ambitions even if we are in the midst of a historic crisis,” said Dan Jørgensen, Denmark’s climate minister, in a statement. “We present a package that delivers both CO2 reductions in the short term and paves the way for future climate neutral Denmark.”

The plan to build the “energy islands” also includes funding for further research toward carbon capture and storage technologies, according to a report from Climate Change News. Later this year, Denmark hopes to release plans to reduce emissions across its transportation and agriculture sectors.

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Universal Orlando Resort reopening

After an almost three-month closure, Universal Orlando Resort’s theme parks — including Universal Studios Florida, Universal’s Islands of Adventure, and Universal’s Volcano Bay — will reopen next week. Of course, the reopening of a major theme park comes with several questions surrounding the health risks, so this summer, a trip to Universal will look a lot different than your last visit. The parks will enforce limited capacity, introduce a variety of social distancing measures, and require guests to wear face masks.

Universal Orlando Resort’s website says, “This carefully managed reopening comes with stringent new health, safety and hygiene procedures in place. So, as we enjoy our parks together again, everyone will need to follow CDC guidelines and the recommendations of health officials, and Universal Orlando’s policies. Note that any public location where people are present provides an inherent risk of exposure to COVID-19 and we cannot guarantee that you will not be exposed during your visit.”

If you’re planning to visit Universal Studios in the next few months, you can expect temperature checks at entrance gates and ground markings to promote social distancing while waiting for rides. Visitors and staff will be required to wear face masks, and guests will also be asked to use hand sanitizer before boarding rides.

So no, it won’t look like the Universal Orlando vacation from your childhood, but it’s better than no Universal at all.

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San Francisco pier fire

Part of San Francisco’s iconic pier was destroyed today as flames started ravaging the area from 4:17 AM local time. Over 125 San Francisco firefighters are currently battling the four-alarm warehouse fire on Pier 45. A quarter of the pier at Fisherman’s Wharf has already been destroyed, and the fire caused a partial building collapse on the southern end of the pier, but fortunately no one has been injured.

The historic SS Jeremiah O’Brien ship, built during WWII, was threatened by the flames, but the St. Francis fireboat came to its rescue.

“When firefighters arrived,” said Jonathan Baxter, a spokesman for the fire department, “the flames were literally lapping over the Jeremiah O’Brien. They literally saved the O’Brien.”

During this fire at pier45, the SS Jeremiah O'Brien a Liberty ship built during World War II and named after the American Revolutionary War ship captain Jeremiah O'Brien was saved from burning. pic.twitter.com/ykhY3rKCex

— Reyna Harvey (@ReynaHarveyB) May 23, 2020

It also appears that the fire has been successfully contained to one section of the pier. According to Baxter, “The fire is no longer in danger of spreading and is contained to one area of the pier. Multiple walls of the building have collapsed. No injuries have been reported and at least 130 firefighters are at the scene working to safely contain the fire.”

Although the fire has been contained, it is not likely to be fully extinguished for several hours. The cause of the fire is not yet known, CNN reports, but the warehouse in which it began contained a large fish processing operation.

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3,600 yr old tablet seized

In 2014, Hobby Lobby — an arts and crafts retailer — purchased a 3,600-year-old Iraqi tablet bearing original text from the Epic of Gilgamesh, one the world’s oldest works of literature, from an auction house in the United States. Hobby Lobby purchased the artifact for display in the Museum of the Bible in Washington, DC, which was founded by Hobby Lobby CEO Steve Green.

According to a statement by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, the artifact was stolen from Iraq. The New York Times reported that after the Persian Gulf War of 1991, hundreds of thousands of artifacts were looted from archaeological sites in Iraq. The Gilgamesh tablet could be one of them.

The federal government is alleging that the auction house withheld information about the tablet’s origins. According to the inquiry by Homeland Security Investigations, in 2003, a US antiquities dealer purchased the tablet from a Jordanian antiquities dealer in London and brought it to the US where it was then sold with a false provenance letter. A later owner provided the provenance letter to the auction house, which allegedly, against advice from the antiquities dealer, used it for its sale to Hobby Lobby. Court records indicate that Hobby Lobby purchased the tablet in 2014 for $1,674,000.

When the curator of the Museum of the Bible sought to obtain more information about the tablet, the auction house did not provide details as to its dubious provenance. Before displaying the item, the museum contacted Iraqi officials to explain what they had in their possession.

Hobby Lobby filed a lawsuit against auction house Christie’s in connection with the tablet.

In a statement, Richard P. Donoghue, US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said, “Whenever looted cultural property is found in this country, the United States government will do all it can to preserve heritage by returning such artifacts where they belong. In this case, a major auction house failed to meet its obligations by minimizing its concerns that the provenance of an important Iraqi artifact was fabricated, and withheld from the buyer information that undermined the provenance’s reliability.”

The Department of Homeland Security seized the tablet from the museum in September 2019 and took formal possession of the artifact on Monday, May 18, 2020.

Iraq has filed a petition for the recovery of the tablet.

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Rare white grizzly bear sighting

The Clarkson family was treated to a rare surprise while driving down a highway in Canada’s Banff National Park. Cara Clarkson was traveling with her son and husband when they spotted and filmed two grizzly bears searching for food on the side of the road. While one had a traditional brown coat, the other had a coat of white fur.

“We’re talking polar bear white,” Clarkson told local media.

According to experts, the bear is not considered albino; the unusual coloring is the result of a recessive gene in the animal. While some bears are white, such as the polar bear and the Kermode bear, grizzly bears range in color from tan to dark brown. White grizzly bears are extremely rare.

The sighting and ensuing enthusiasm for the animal is worrisome for experts who believe photographers will come in droves to snap a picture of the animal. In an email to CBC News, conservation biologist Mike Gibeau explained, “These unusual looking animals get hunted ruthlessly by photographers, and so the less we talk about them, the better. Even now, I suspect there will be photographers from all over North America here in the coming weeks.”

Seth Cherry, wildlife ecologist with Parks Canada, hopes that the warming weather will lead the bear to higher elevation before visitors make their way to the park in search of it.

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Bison attacks woman at Yellowstone

After being closed for nearly two months, Yellowstone National Park started its phased reopening on Monday, May 18. Just two days later, on Wednesday, visitors were already acting up.

A woman who got too close to a bison was knocked to the ground and injured by the animal in the Old Faithful Upper Geyser Basin. The visitor was immediately assessed by the park’s emergency medical providers and refused to be transported to a medical facility.

Park officials said it was the first bison attack on a visitor this year.

It goes without saying that visitors to the park shouldn’t approach wildlife. Last summer, the park published a humorous diagram to outline the proper way to interact with the bison.

In a news release, officials reminded the public of the proper behavior to exhibit when around the park’s wild animals. “When an animal is near a trail, boardwalk, parking lot, or in a developed area, give it space. Stay 25 yards (23 m) away from all large animals — bison, elk, bighorn sheep, deer, moose, and coyotes and at least 100 yards (91 m) away from bears and wolves. If need be, turn around and go the other way to avoid interacting with a wild animal in close proximity.”

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New TSA guidelines

The number of travelers passing through US airports is slowly increasing. The Transportation Security Administration’s checkpoint travel numbers went from an abysmal 87,534 screened travelers on April 14, 2020, to 318,449 on May 21, 2020. This might be an encouraging trend for the travel industry, but the more passengers there are, the greater the risk of spreading the novel coronavirus. To protect travelers, as well as TSA agents, from potential illness, TSA is updating its security procedures.

In a statement outlining the changes, TSA Administrator David Pekoske said, “In the interest of TSA frontline workers and traveler health, TSA is committed to making prudent changes to our screening processes to limit physical contact and increase physical distance as much as possible. We continue to evaluate our security measures with an eye towards making smart, timely decisions benefiting health and safety, as well as the traveler experience.”

Travelers will now scan their own boarding passes and hold it for TSA agents to examine before the screening process begins. TSA agents will not touch boarding passes any longer.

The new security screening rules also call for passengers to take any food items out of their carry-on bags and place them into clear plastic bags to be put in bins, to avoid triggering the alarm as food items often do. This will prevent TSA agents from having to inspect bags unnecessarily.

For TSA agents to avoid handling travelers’ personal items, belts, wallets, keys, phones, and other items usually kept in pockets must now be placed directly into carry-on bags instead of in the bins.

If any prohibited items (large containers of liquid, aerosols, etc.) or items that should have been placed in the bins (laptops or other large electronic devices) trigger an alarm, passengers will be directed outside of security to dispose of the items or place them in the bins, and go through the X-ray machine a second time. Just like the separation of food for X-ray screening, this rule is meant to reduce the risk of cross-contamination through manual handling by TSA agents.

Along with new social distancing markers on the ground for lines leading to the security checkpoint, TSA agents will all be wearing masks. Passengers are encouraged to wear masks themselves, but they may be asked to lower it so agents can verify their identity.

Although not included in the guidelines, airline trade groups are lobbying for TSA to impose temperature checks to ensure passengers aren’t ill when boarding the aircraft. This measure is still under consideration by TSA, however.

The new rules are already in effect in some US airports, and will be implemented nationwide by mid-June.

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Marriage equality in Costa Rica

By Tuesday, May 26, marriage equality will officially be legal in Costa Rica. In comparison to many neighboring countries, Costa Rica has seen significant advances in LGBTQ rights and has Central America’s only LGBT chamber of commerce.

This legalization comes after the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled in January 2018 that all of its signatory countries must adhere to marriage equality if they are not currently doing so.

As Central America is predominantly Catholic, this has not been an easy law to implement across the area, and the journey for Costa Rica has seen many obstacles. Although in November 2018 the Costa Rican Supreme Court gave the country 18 months to fulfill that obligation, conservative legislators resisted it.

This week, a last-ditch effort to delay implementation of marriage equality was rejected. Conservative deputies had argued that, due to COVID-19, the nation needed a minimum of 18 months after the pandemic ends before the first same-sex in-person nuptials can commence. The country’s Legislative Assembly disagreed with the motion, by 33 votes to 20.

After the final block was removed, Costa Rican President Carlos Alvarado Quesada stated that he wants the nation to set an example for the rest of Central America, proclaiming in a tweet this week, “It’s now just a matter of time. Full equal rights will come, love will prevail.”

Celebrations of this monumental milestone will, of course, have to adhere to current social distancing rules. But no doubt this historic moment will bring some hope of equality to the LGBTQ community in the nation and across Central America.

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Japan may pay half your next trip

In the post-pandemic era, it’s going to take a lot of convincing to get people to feel comfortable enough to board a plane for an international trip. Airlines are spearheading new safety and sanitation measures designed to give travelers peace of mind, but destinations themselves still need to create incentives to visit. Japan might be making travelers an offer that’s pretty hard to refuse, potentially covering half of the travel expenses for your trip.

In a Wednesday news conference, reports The Japan Times, Hiroshi Tabata of the Japan Tourism Agency said that the Japanese government plans to allocate $12.5 billion to a new reimbursement program, which may launch as soon as July if infection rates continue declining. The government has not yet specified how this program would work, what expenses would be covered, or how the subsidies would be distributed. Currently, Japan has an international travel ban in place, prohibiting foreigners from entering the country.

In April, Japan reported a 99.9 percent drop in tourism from the previous year, so the country is understandably eager to jumpstart its tourism industry. The country had been relying on the 2020 Olympics to bring in significant tourism revenue and offset investments associated with hosting the Olympics. Now that the Olympics have been postponed to 2021, Japan is hoping to salvage the summer travel season. Once travel restrictions lift, the reimbursement program could be a perfect way to do that.

Japan would be following the lead of other countries eager to encourage tourism this summer. Last month, Sicily announced a new program that would reimburse travelers for their trips, covering half of their flight and a third of their hotel expenses.

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