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<ul><li><keyword id="255703" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="bluestone" source="Orion">BlueStone</keyword> is looking forward to opening its third manufacturing unit in <keyword id="6354779" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="jaipur" source="Orion">Jaipur</keyword> and will be looking forward to hiring 400 employees over the next 3-4 months.</li><li>The <keyword id="727556" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="jewellery-retailer" source="Orion">jewellery retailer</keyword> is rapidly scaling operations across the country with new warehouses and stores coming up in many cities.</li><li>Till date, the company has raised $70.1 million in external funding.</li></ul>BlueStone, a Bengaluru-based <keyword id="13123234" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="online-jewellery-platform" source="Orion">online jewellery platform</keyword>, is planning to open its third manufacturing unit in Jaipur and will be looking forward to hiring 400 employees over the next 3-4 months. As part of the expansion plan, the jewellery retailer will be hiring across various domains like production, warehouse, logistics and design functions for their <keyword id="3386928" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="new-manufacturing-unit" source="Orion">new manufacturing unit</keyword> in Jaipur. The existing two other manufacturing units of the company are located in Mumbai with a total work area of 12,000 square feet (sq. ft) and with an employee count of around 500. BlueStone is rapidly scaling operations across the country with new warehouses and stores coming up in many cities, catering to the growing demand. The new manufacturing unit will help the brand meet the rising demand for its products. “With the launch of our new manufacturing unit in Jaipur, we have expanded our production capacity three-fold, which is required to meet the scale at which we operate at present, having opened 68 new stores over the last 2 years and with plans to open more in the months ahead,” said Gaurav Singh Kushwaha, founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of BlueStone.com. Kushwaha further said, “We intend to double the size and capacity of the new manufacturing unit in about a year from now with the premise having an additional 20,000 sq ft of space that could be utilised. Our customers will stand to benefit from reduced production timelines and good air connectivity from Jaipur, resulting in quicker deliveries.” In 2020, the jewellery retailer raised a series E round funding of ₹14.73 crore from its existing investors Accel, IIFL Seed Ventures Fund, Kalaari Capital, Iron Pillar Fund, Ivycap Ventures and Saama Capital. Till date the company has raised $70.1 million in external funding. Founded by Vidya Nataraj and Kushwaha in 2011, BlueStone claims to ship in-house designed jewellery across 25,000 pin codes in the country and internationally to the US, Canada, UK and Australia. It also has 65 physical stores in over 22 cities, including Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai, Hyderabad and New Delhi. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/education/news/meet-santishree-dhulipudi-pandit-the-first-female-vice-chancellor-of-jawaharlal-nehru-university/slidelist/89409341.cms">Meet Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit, the first female vice-chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/investment/news/sundar-pichai-pegs-googles-web3-ambitions-to-the-cloud/articleshow/89409184.cms">Sundar Pichai pegs Google’s Web3 ambitions to the cloud</a>

Online jewellery platform BlueStone to hire 400 people in the next 3-4 months

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A cafe chain owner said he's largely dodged the effects of the US <keyword id="11908404" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="labor-shortage" source="Orion">labor shortage</keyword>. </li><li>Nick Stone, CEO of <keyword id="12122025" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="bluestone-lane" source="Orion">Bluestone Lane</keyword>, has been paying employees $15 an hour nationally.</li><li>He has hired 400 employees at a time when many other chains have been struggling.</li></ul>A dire labor shortage has left many business owners across the US <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dunkin-store-temporarily-closes-labor-shortage-colorado-springs-coffee-shop-2021-9?r=US&amp;IR=TIR=T">struggling to find workers</a>. But not the CEO of Bluestone Lane, a cafe chain with branches across the country, who has made hundreds of hires in the last eight months. Nick Stone told Insider that he hasn't experienced many issues bringing back team members and hiring new ones for the chain's 51 locations. He said he recruited 400 new employees since February 2021. The US labor shortage has hit all corners of the <keyword id="11893570" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="economy" source="Orion">economy</keyword>, including <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/restaurant-owners-labor-shortage-new-staff-afford-rent-workers-poll-2021-5">hospitality</a> and more recently, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/labor-shortage-means-nobody-wants-to-pick-up-your-trash-2021-8?r=US&amp;IR=TIR=T">trash pick-ups</a>. It's caused some businesses to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/labor-shortage-layoffs-laid-off-quit-job-companies-cling-staff-2021-7">shorten opening hours, cut production, and raise prices</a>.Bluestone Lane, however, has not been particularly impacted by it, according to Stone. "Offering a competitive, and frankly a fair, hourly wage to our employees helps attract talent and improve retention, which has a direct positive correlation with business performance," he said.Stone pays his employees $15 an hour nationally and $22 an hour to those living in New York. His success story is similar to that of Michael Lastoria, CEO of restaurant chain &amp;pizza. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pizza-chain-ceo-says-theres-no-labor-shortage-if-you-pay-well-2021-7?r=US&amp;IR=TIR=T">Lastoria told Insider</a> that business was booming at the pizza chain's 51 locations and all were fully staffed. He said that the secret was paying staff a proper wage.Employees working at Bluestone Lane are entitled to benefits such as a company-paid top-up mechanism to guarantee a certain amount of tips per hour, Stone said. <div type="image" title="Bluestone Lane" height="810" width="1080" msid="86316523" hostid="261"></div>Like most of the hospitality industry as a whole, Stone said his chain was initially hit hard by the pandemic but quickly adjusted to the new reality. "We were able to keep 14 of our 52 locations operating across New York, Los Angeles and Washington DC," he said.Part of its successful recovery can also be attributed to the cafe chain's digital ordering facilities. In July 2021, Stone said that Bluestone Lane became the first restaurant chain to offer dine-in ordering, takeout, and free delivery all through its proprietary app.The app also provides customers with loyalty program rewards and special offers. "We were ahead of the curve with the right technology and the right time, while our competitors were scrambling to adapt to the wave of customer demand for digital ordering," Stone said. The cafe chain is popular among millennials and Gen Zers - who amount to 90% of its customer base - due to its healthier menu options and Australian-beach inspired interior, according to Stone.That demographic are often digital natives, so adjusting to digital payments was a natural process for Bluestone Lane.Stone said: "Our customers have embraced contactless ordering because it removes the friction, provides greater transparency on our menu and rewards our locals whether dining-in or ordering-ahead for takeaway." The pandemic caused Stone to invest more heavily into urban and suburban residential areas, which also added to the <keyword id="11936960" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="coffee-chain" source="Orion">coffee chain</keyword>'s success."Business and office districts are still subdued in most part of the country, with many people continuing to work from home. Our cafes in particular act as a retreat for those locals working from home who want a break," he said. And despite new challenges brought on by the pandemic, Stone said the company continues to innovate, grow, and launch new products.

This cafe chain owner who pays $15 an hour says his commitment to treating staff fairly helped him avoid the labor shortage

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="149379" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="West-Virginia">West Virginia</keyword> Gov. <keyword id="1909191" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Jim-Justice">Jim Justice</keyword> is reportedly on the hook for $700 million in loans from <keyword id="11028705" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="greensill">Greensill</keyword>, the collapsed financial firm.</li><li>Justice personally guaranteed loans Greensill made to his coal companies, The Wall Street Journal reported.</li><li><keyword id="48085" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Credit-Suisse">Credit Suisse</keyword> is trying to claw back cash for people who invested in its Greensill-linked funds.</li></ul>West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice is personally liable for around $700 million in loans that the collapsed financial firm <keyword id="10863254" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="greensill-capital">Greensill Capital</keyword> made to his coal companies, according to a report.Justice and his wife guaranteed the loans from Greensill to his coal businesses, the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/west-virginia-gov-jim-justice-is-personally-liable-for-700-million-in-greensill-loans-11622462401?mod=hp_lead_pos2">Wall Street Journal reported</a>, citing people familiar with the issue and documents.Greensill, which collapsed into bankruptcy <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/softbank-backed-greensill-capital-preparing-to-file-for-insolvency-2021-3-1030144913">in March</a>, had packaged the loans and sold them to Credit Suisse, The Journal reported. Now, Credit Suisse is in talks with Justice's <keyword id="4820203" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="bluestone-resources">Bluestone Resources</keyword> and other major borrowers from Greensill to recoup the money and repay investors, per The Journal.The Swiss bank told investors in a recent notice that Bluestone owes nearly $700 million, the WSJ reported.Bluestone said in a lawsuit brought in March that it had not expected to start repaying the loans until at least 2023.The personal liability of Justice, who has been governor of West Virginia since 2017 and is a Republican, adds to his financial pressures. <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherhelman/2021/03/30/gov-jim-justice-no-longer-a-billionaire-after-850-million-debt-to-insolvent-greensill-capital-revealed/">Forbes knocked</a> the politician and businessman off its billionaires list earlier this year, due in large part to Greensill's collapse.Justice's companies are also in legal disputes with other companies over payment contracts and coal deliveries, The Journal reported said. They have settled a number of disputes in recent years over alleged non-payment of bills, according to <keyword id="6355005" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="news">news</keyword> outlet <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/the-billionaire-governor-whos-been-sued-dozens-of-times-for-millions-in-unpaid-bills">ProPublica</a>.A representative for Justice did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Credit Suisse declined to comment. Insider could not reach Bluestone's representatives, although they declined to comment to The Journal.As well as the guarantees from the governor and his wife, Justice's son James C. Justice III guaranteed loans up to a certain limit, The Journal reported. The collapse of Greensill has heaped pressure on Credit Suisse, which is frantically trying to recoup its losses. It said in April that it was focused on three main borrowers: Bluestone, British-Indian steel magnate Sanjeev Gupta's GFG Alliance, and SoftBank-backed construction company Katerra.

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice is reportedly on the hook for $700 million in loans from collapsed lender Greensill

<keyword id="1042120" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Uber">Uber</keyword>DOST (Hindi for 'friend') is an India-first initiative for anyone to act as Uber affiliates. It's an app where anyone can sign up on Uber and refer <keyword id="44435" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="drivers">drivers</keyword> to join the platform and earn from it. 
 
While drivers usually have their own solid network, the referral policy has been introduced so that it benefits both the organization as well as the drivers. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/exclusive-this-indie-musician-raised-more-than-two-lakhs-in-six-hours-through-crowdfunding-for-his-upcoming-album/articleshow/57082834.cms">ALSO READ: Exclusive: This Indie-musician raised more than Two Lakhs in Six Hours through crowdfunding for his upcoming album</a> 
 
How does it work? 
 1. <keyword id="3371106" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="UberDOST">UberDOST</keyword> lets everybody register and refer drivers to join Uber platform in return for a one-time payout once the driver completes a set number of rides 
2. UberDOST offers people a flexible, source of extra income which they could pursue full-time or part-time; rapidly growing base of UberDOST in India now 3. UberDOST is an India-first innovation that has been exported to other markets in <keyword id="6368397" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="South-East-Asia">South East Asia</keyword> under the same name 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/check-out-bluestone-coms-quirky-customized-collection-for-valentines-day/articleshow/57082192.cms">ALSO READ: Check out BlueStone.com’s Quirky customized collection for Valentine’s Day</a> 
 
We got in touch with four UberDOSTs to figure out how this program has impacted them.

Here's
how Uber is letting you earn from its platform 'UberDost'

Be it <keyword id="3507370" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="BlueStones-upskilling-support-policy">BlueStone’s upskilling support policy</keyword>, offering employees with financial assistance for completing their graduation, or <keyword id="3507371" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Citibanks-appraisal-policy">Citibank’s appraisal policy</keyword> that safeguards women employee’s performance ratings after they go on maternity leave, <keyword id="1040857" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="employee-friendly-policies">employee-friendly policies</keyword> help companies in ways more than one can imagine. 
 
"This has been one of the most significant interventions in the past four years that has facilitated the retention of women employees in the bank," Anuranjita Kumar, chief HR officer at Citi South Asia, told <a href="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/jobs/how-people-initiatives-help-firms-check-attrition-and-boost-employee-morale/articleshow/53329298.cms">ET</a>. 
 The most important benefit that a company can expect from such policies is the control that they can have over <keyword id="1001077" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="employee-attrition">employee attrition</keyword>. After all, who would want to leave a company that goes a step ahead in making sure that you get more than just your salary in return of long hours of work you give in? 
 
Also read: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Infosys-relaunches-ESOP/articleshow/53225972.cms">Infosys relaunches employee stock option plan to control rising attrition rate</a> 
 
The Lemon Tree Hotel Company, on a different note, started hiring people with disabilities (PwDs) as their regular employees, to make the environment more open and inclusive. While early stages saw such employees being hired only in back-end roles, with time, they were trained to be employees with disabilities (EwDs) and now handle several areas equally well as other employees. 
 
"Today, many of our guests are surprised and happy to be served by EwDs at our hotels and feel they too are contributing to nation-building. We get a lot of feedback about the excellent service provided by EwDs from the guest satisfaction tracking system and TripAdvisor," said Aradhana Lal, VP (Sustainability Initiatives) at Lemon Tree. 
 
Also read: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/IT-firms-invest-in-predictive-algorithms/articleshow/53223948.cms">IT firms are trying to avoid attrition by investing big in predictive algorithms</a> 
 
What these chnages tell us is that hitting the right chord with the employees is the key step towards ensuring a long-term association with them, which would not only benefit them, but would also save these companies time, money and efforts in finding, procuring, and training new talent all over again. 
 
<a href="http://culturefit.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/attrition3.jpg">Image source</a>

It’s not difficult to deal with employee attrition if you handle your employees well

Check out BlueStone.com’s  Quirky customized collection for Valentine’s Day

In his fourth investment in an e-commerce firm, Tata Group chairman emeritus <keyword id="6360722" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="ratan-tata">Ratan Tata</keyword> has invested in <keyword id="1945738" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Cardekho">CarDekho</keyword>.com, an auto classifieds portal. In 2014, the 77-year-old business leader had invested in online shopping portal Snapdeal, furniture e-tailer Urban Ladder and online jewellery seller <keyword id="255703" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Bluestone">BlueStone</keyword>. 
 
"Tata, a deeply revered man in the Indian auto sector, has for the first time ever joined hands with an auto portal by investing in personal capacity. While the investment amount remains undisclosed, Tata has agreed to advise the company as and when required,” as per a statement issued by CarDekho. 
 
"Such an investment by the man who has significantly shaped the Indian auto sector is a testimony to CarDekho's plans in its quest to rapidly grow in the auto classifieds sector," it added. 
 <keyword id="191830" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="GirnarSoft">GirnarSoft</keyword>, the company that owns CarDekho, also operates other websites like BikeDekho.com and PriceDekho.com. And it is now valued at $300 million. 
 
"Post our recent funding and investment by Tata, we are another step closer to the group's vision of becoming a global company through our innovative products and services,” said Amit Jain, co-founder and CEO, GirnarSoft. 
 
"With the faith and confidence shown by Tata in the company, it increases our responsibility towards contributing for the overall development of the online automobile sector," he concluded.

CarDekho bags investment from Ratan Tata

<ul class="summary-list"><li>This post originally appeared in the Insider Today newsletter.</li></ul>Hello! Turns out letters addressed to Santa Claus are so popular the US Postal Service has an entire operation dedicated to handling them. Read more about "Operation Santa," and <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.insider.com/letters-to-santa-north-pole-address-2018-12">learn how to participate in the fun</a>. In today's big story, we're looking at a new study <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/remote-work-innovation-collaboration-return-to-office-work-from-home-2023-12">showing a big downside to remote work</a>.What's on deck: <ul><li>Markets: The <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/top-forecasts-predictions-for-2024-wall-street-oracles-2023-12">13 people who nailed their market calls this year</a> share their 2024 predictions.</li><li>Tech: The first "SEO heist" shows <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/seo-heist-ai-generative-artificial-intelligence-google-2023-12">how AI has upended the internet forever</a>.</li><li>Business: This Wall-Streeter-turned-escort pulls in <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ex-wall-street-accountant-stripper-how-much-make-holidays-2023-12">$34,000 a week during the holidays</a>.</li></ul>But first, what days are you in this week?If this was forwarded to you, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/subscription/newsletter/insider-today">sign up here.</a><h2>The big story</h2>In-office innovation<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/subscription/newsletter/insider-today"></a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/remote-work-innovation-collaboration-return-to-office-work-from-home-2023-12"></a><div type="image" title="Two people working in an office successfully waving to someone else by the door" height="1499" width="2000" msid="106131209" hostid="261" sizebytes="127826"></div>If you're a big proponent of remote work, you won't like what you're about to read. In the long-running debate over the efficacy of remote work, proponents of the office often point to an ambiguous, undefinable feature they say is lost with WFH. Their way of identifying what's at risk if workers don't return to their desks comes in all forms— <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/return-to-office-mandates-employees-managers-fight-messy-remote-work-2023-11">from "togetherness" to "culture.</a>"But pinpointing what's lost when water-cooler talk becomes Slack chats has been tough. However, a recent study seems to have figured out exactly what employees sacrifice when remote.An examination of 20 million scientific studies and 4 million patent applications over the past 50 years found those who collaborated in person produced more breakthrough work than those who were remote, <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/remote-work-innovation-collaboration-return-to-office-work-from-home-2023-12">Business Insider's Aki Ito writes</a>. The study found that teams in the same city were 22% more likely to create innovative patents and 27% more likely to uncover pioneering insights in scientific papers than teams separated by hundreds of miles or more.In short, you have a better chance of being innovative when everyone's in the office.<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/remote-work-innovation-collaboration-return-to-office-work-from-home-2023-12"></a><div type="image" title="Men in white coats working in a lab" height="4224" width="5446" msid="106131210" hostid="261" sizebytes="1128262"></div>But, as Aki's story details, it's not just about being in the office.The study also showed that successful in-person teams had the same people working on a project starting with the inception of an idea. On the other hand, senior people on remote teams developed a concept <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/remote-work-innovation-collaboration-return-to-office-work-from-home-2023-12">before delegating it to their less-established peers</a>.That seems less like a ringing endorsement of in-office mandates and more of a fascinating insight into the best ways firms can brainstorm.Of course, seeing what executives look to take away from this new study will be interesting. "The only way for us to be an innovative company that can come up with the next big thing is by you being in the office!" And that mentality, <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/remote-work-innovation-collaboration-return-to-office-work-from-home-2023-12">as demonstrated by the study</a>, isn't necessarily wrong. Even if you're a diehard supporter of remote work, it's hard not to acknowledge that something is lost from being remote. As convenient as tools like Slack and Zoom are for collaboration, they still represent an additional hurdle that doesn't exist when you can just turn to the person sitting next to you. But getting everyone back to the office might only be half the battle. Once there, senior employees pawning their ideas off on young workers isn't going to facilitate the type of innovation execs are banking on.<h2>3 things in markets</h2><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-multi-strategy-firms-are-balancing-growth-investor-demand-2023-12"></a><div type="image" title="Man on tightrope holding stock market line" height="1500" width="2000" msid="106131211" hostid="261" sizebytes="165718"></div><ul><li>These hedge funds are balancing ambition with the risk of growing too fast. Multi-manager funds, which are made up of dozens of teams trading various things, are all the rage these days. As the biggest funds close themselves off to new investors, midsize firms have an opportunity to grow their assets. <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-multi-strategy-firms-are-balancing-growth-investor-demand-2023-12">But it doesn't come without risks</a>.</li><li>Meet the Oracles of Wall Street. These 13 economists, strategists, and analysts were head and shoulders above their peers when making calls on the market during a wild year. In addition to highlighting their impressive year, we also got them to share <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/top-forecasts-predictions-for-2024-wall-street-oracles-2023-12">their highest-conviction predictions for 2024</a>.</li><li>Some predictions on Fed rate cuts in 2024. Goldman Sachs said the world economy is now in a period of "great disinflation," adding that the <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/stock-market-outlook-disinflation-federal-reserve-rate-cuts-goldman-sachs-2023-12">Fed will cut interest rates five times next year</a>. Pantheon Macroeconomics, meanwhile, sees the Fed being <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fed-rate-cuts-2024-outlook-us-economy-unemployment-inflation-recession-2023-12">more aggressive with its cuts than people expect</a> due to a weaker-than-forecasted economy.</li></ul><h2>3 things in tech</h2><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/seo-heist-ai-generative-artificial-intelligence-google-2023-12"></a><div type="image" title="A robot hand grabbing a webpage" height="1000" width="1343" msid="106131212" hostid="261" sizebytes="35516"></div><ul><li>Inside the first "SEO heist" of the AI era. A provocative online company used AI to clone thousands of articles for a competitor, raising their traffic. This success raises big questions about the future of the internet — it's nearly impossible to <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/seo-heist-ai-generative-artificial-intelligence-google-2023-12">spot the difference between human- and AI-generated content</a>.</li><li>Big Tech avoided responsibility for online content for decades — AI is about to end that. They've long been immune from legal liability for user content. But with the rise of generative AI, Big Tech could finally be <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/generative-ai-big-tech-responsible-online-content-section-230-2023-12">seen as creators of content</a>.</li><li>Salesforce markets itself as a trustworthy AI company. Customers aren't buying it yet. Executives acknowledge and talk about <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/salesforce-trust-generative-ai-customers-2023-12">a "trust gap" with AI</a>. But experts say many customers are still "in more of an exploration phase" — not an implementation stage.</li></ul><h2>3 things in business</h2><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/virginia-data-center-boom-power-grid-utility-2023-11"></a><div type="image" title="A photo of a data center in Virginia" height="1000" width="2000" msid="106131353" hostid="261" sizebytes="244362"></div><ul><li>Data centers are becoming an economic powerhouse — just look at Virginia. Major players in the business are getting wooed by counties for their job-generating projects. And the region's largest utility proposed a plan tailored to their needs. But Virginia residents and businesses could be left with <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/virginia-data-center-boom-power-grid-utility-2023-11">the plan's enormous costs</a>.</li><li>An escort and stripper who caters to Wall Street clients says she pulls in $34,000 a week during the holiday rush. Mia Lee revealed what her <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ex-wall-street-accountant-stripper-how-much-make-holidays-2023-12">busiest and most lucrative weeks</a> are like. She's a former forensic accountant and is a self-identified psychopath.</li><li>Healthcare companies are promising to help people quit Wegovy — and it makes no sense. Growing evidence suggests it must be taken for the long term to sustain weight loss. But quitting the drugs is something of <a style="text-decoration: underline;" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/quit-wegovy-ozempic-no-evidence-stop-taking-works-2023-12">an informal medical experiment</a>. And it could even be harmful.</li></ul><h2>In other news</h2><ul><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jonathan-majors-found-guilty-of-some-domestic-abuse-charges-2023-12">Jonathan Majors, of Marvel fame, is found guilty of assault and harassment at domestic abuse trial</a>.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/adobe-figma-calls-off-acquisition-merger-technology-antitrust-competition-cma-2023-12">Adobe has called off its plans to acquire rival Figma for $20 billion</a>.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/clarence-thomas-pay-raise-justices-ethics-cliff-stearns-2023-12">Clarence Thomas was deep in debt when he hinted to a GOP lawmaker that he'd quit if he didn't get a pay raise: report</a>.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/best-social-media-apps-worth-downloading-recommendations-2023-12">I'm a tech reporter who's downloaded dozens of social-media apps this year. 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Niall Horan, John Legend, Reba McEntire, and Gwen Stefani are the coaches for the NBC show's 24th season.</li><li>Happy birthday, Jake Gyllenhaal. Karim Benzema, Alyssa Milano, and Jennifer Beals were also born on this day.</li><li>Earnings today: FedEx, Accenture, <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/earnings-calendar">and other companies</a>.</li></ul><h2>For your bookmarks</h2>Simple, festive desserts<a href="https://www.insider.com/easy-holiday-desserts-5-ingredients-or-fewer-2022-12"></a><div type="image" title="Peppermint Bark" height="1333" width="1777" msid="106131355" hostid="261" sizebytes="142272"></div>These 10 festive desserts need five — or fewer — ingredients. 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<ul class="summary-list"><li>The mysterious <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/stonehenge-mystery-origin-of-boulders-solved-2020-7">Stonehenge</a> monument is 5,000 years old and consists of two semi-circles of stones.</li><li>A new study shows it was built in <keyword id="36421" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Wales">Wales</keyword> first, then moved to <keyword id="6355981" type="LOCATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="england">England</keyword> centuries later.</li><li>The research suggests <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/stonehenge-graves-artifacts-found-tunnel-construction-2021-2">Stonehenge</a> is a burial ground that its builders erected after they migrated.</li></ul><keyword id="55281" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="stonehenge">Stonehenge</keyword>'s origin story has baffled archaeologists for centuries. The mysterious rock arrangement on England's Salisbury Plain features two distinct types of stone slabs in half circles. Researchers have traced the massive 30-foot boulders forming Stonehenge's outer circle to nearby woodlands, while the inner circle of smaller, 9-foot bluestone monoliths likely came from a site in Wales more than 140 miles away.While Stonehenge's builders left no indication of how the monument came to be there or why they erected it, new research into the stones' places of origin are offering new insight into the monument's purpose.<a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/original-stonehenge-a-dismantled-stone-circle-in-the-preseli-hills-of-west-wales/B7DAA4A7792B4DAB57DDE0E3136FBC33">A recent study</a> in the journal Antiquity suggests that Stonehenge's bluestone circle was first built at a site called Waun Mawn in Wales, then moved to its final resting place centuries later. When Stone Age farmers migrated east across the island, they brought the 2- to 4-ton slabs stone circle with them piece by piece, the study authors said."One theory for why prehistoric people might have dismantled a stone circle in west Wales and transported it all the way to Salisbury Plain proposes that the stones were the embodiment of those people's ancestors," Mike Parker Pearson, an archaeologist at University College London and co-author of the study, wrote <a href="https://theconversation.com/stonehenge-first-stood-in-wales-how-archaeologists-proved-parts-of-the-5-000-year-old-stone-circle-were-imported-155315">in The Conversation</a>. <h2>Stonehenge was imported</h2><div type="image" title="stonehenge" height="2500" width="3402" msid="81112705" hostid="261"></div>Arthurian legend claims that the wizard Merlin transported Stonehenge to England after stealing the stones from a monument built by Irish giants. The new study suggests one part of that narrative wasn't quite as far-fetched as archaeologists thought.Researchers figured out <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/megalith-quarries-for-stonehenges-bluestones/AAF715CC586231FFFCC18ACB871C9F5E">in 2015</a> that Stonehenge's 43 bluestones came from two quarries in Wales' Preseli Hills, but Pearson's team confirmed that people were quarrying there about 400 years before Stonehenge's initial construction started 5,000 years ago.The mismatched dates puzzled the study authors: "Surely it couldn't have taken 400 years to haul newly quarried bluestones to Stonehenge?" Pearson wrote.That led his group to look into where the hewn bluestones went during those four centuries. At Waun Mawn, which is just three miles from the Preseli Hills quarries, they found remnants of a stone circle dating to about 3,400 BCE - which matched the bluestones' quarrying age. Distinct divots at the site matched the size and shape of the bluestones at Stonehenge, and fragments of rock there matched the monument's bluestones. This suggests the builders of that stone circle deconstructed it then rebuilt it as Stonehenge more than 140 miles away.Indeed, according to the study authors, the Waun Mawn stone circle and the ditch surrounding Stonehenge are exactly the same diameter: 361 feet (110 meters).<h2>Stonehenge's sarsen boulders came from a different location</h2><div type="image" title="stonehenge sarsen" height="1772" width="2362" msid="81112708" hostid="261"></div>While the bluestones were imported, the source of Stonehenge's 25-ton sandstone boulders, called sarsens, was a bit closer to the current site.Stonehenge once had 80 sarsens erected in square-shaped archways encircling its bluestones, but only 52 remain. According to <a href="https://advances.sciencemag.org/lookup/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abc0133">a July study</a>, Stonehenge's builders dragged most of the stones from a nearby area called the West Woods. It's more than 15 miles (25 kilometers) from the monument - "which is insane really if you think about it," David Nash, an archaeologist from the University of Brighton and co-author of that study, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/stonehenge-mystery-origin-of-boulders-solved-2020-7">previously told Insider</a>.Nash said Stonehenge's builders likely used some sort of roller or dragged the heavy sarsens on a slippery surface like vegetation or frosty ground."There's no evidence they used animals to do it, but we don't know," he said.Nash added that the builders probably raised the sarsens into their standing positions in Stonehenge's rock circle at the same time, around 4,500 years ago, after transporting them en masse.<h2>A burial ground or a celestial calendar</h2><div type="image" title="A druid rests in the stone circle at Stonehenge where people gather to celebrate the dawn of the longest day in the UK" height="1331" width="2000" msid="81112712" hostid="261"></div>Ideas about what Stonehenge might have been used for run the gamut from a celestial calendar that tracked the sun to a sacred graveyard."Put simply, Stonehenge was the ceremonial center of southern England," Matt Leivers, an archaeologist with Wessex <keyword id="6360337" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="archaeology">Archaeology</keyword> in England, told Insider.The new study lends credence to the idea that it was erected as a burial ground: The researchers examined 25 people whose cremated remains had been buried at the site 5,000 years ago. By peeking at the chemical composition of those remains, Pearson's team concluded that four of the cremated individuals had "lived the last decades of their lives" in Wales."It therefore seems highly likely that people came with the bluestones - and stayed with them," Pearson <a href="https://theconversation.com/stonehenge-first-stood-in-wales-how-archaeologists-proved-parts-of-the-5-000-year-old-stone-circle-were-imported-155315">wrote</a>, adding, "burials suggest Stonehenge was a place of the dead." Leivers' team recently uncovered <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/stonehenge-graves-artifacts-found-tunnel-construction-2021-2">4,500-year-old graves</a> belonging to a baby and young woman less than a mile from the monument, underscoring this theory. Both individuals were part of the Beaker culture, a group who lived in Europe between 4,000 and 5,000 years ago.Stonehenge was also a place of spiritual and political power, Leivers said: "Think of Washington, DC, with a big dollop of religion."<div type="image" title="stonehenge" height="800" width="1200" msid="81112714" hostid="261"></div>Stonehenge's main entrance aligns with sunrise on the summer solstice - the longest day of the year. This suggests the monument could have also served as a celestial calendar, or a site for rituals that celebrated the changing seasons. The Waun Mawn stone circle had that same alignment."It provided an assurance that - no matter how the seasons cycled and the skies darkened, no matter how the days shortened - there was a pattern and that people knew what it was," Leivers said, adding, "Stonehenge guaranteed that the sun would always come back."

Millennia after Stonehenge was built, archaeologists are finally solidifying where its stones came from and why it was erected

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A new study offers insight into why <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/stonehenge-origins-purpose-built-in-wales-moved-to-england-2021-2">Stonehenge</a> has remained unchanged since it was built 5,000 years ago.</li><li>Sarsens, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/stonehenge-mystery-origin-of-boulders-solved-2020-7">the massive boulders</a> that make up part of <keyword id="55281" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="stonehenge">Stonehenge</keyword>, contain interlocking quartz crystals.</li><li>Those crystals - some of which are 1 to 1.6 billion years old - make the rock very durable.</li></ul>Much of Stonehenge has remained almost unchanged since Stone Age builders erected its massive sandstone boulders, or sarsens, 5,000 years ago on England's Salisbury Plain.<a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0254760">A new study</a> reveals how the monument has stood the test of time so successfully: The quartz crystals that make up the sarsens form an interlocking structure that makes the boulders nearly indestructible."Now we've got a good idea why this stuff's still standing there," David Nash, a professor of physical geography at the University of Brighton who co-authored the study, told Insider. "The stone is incredibly durable - it's really resistant to erosion and weathering."The study also revealed that some of Stonehenge's sarsens contain grains of rock that are between 1 billion and 1.6 billion years old.<h2>Unlocking the sarsens' chemical secrets</h2><div type="image" title="stonehenge conservation" height="1732" width="2309" msid="85273067" hostid="261"></div>The new research was born out of an act of repatriation.In 1958, a team was repairing a cracked chunk of sandstone, and a driller named Robert Phillips took a 3-foot-long piece of Stonehenge. He eventually brought the relic to his home in Florida, but after 60 years, the Phillips family repatriated it to Historic England, a charity that preserves Stonehenge.The rock's return offered Nash's team an opportunity to investigate the monument's geological origins. Stonehenge is protected by law, so it's impossible to extract new samples for study.The researchers analyzed Phillips' sample, along with another found in a nearby museum, to look at the sarsens' inner structure. They zapped the rock with X-rays, looked at it under microscopes, and CT-scanned it."This small sample is probably the most analyzed piece of stone other than moon rock!" Nash said in a press release. His team discovered that the sample contains tiny grains of quartz that fit together like a puzzle. These grains were cemented together by other quartz pieces that crystallized - "creating this incredibly strong interlocking matrix of crystals that make up the rock," Nash said.<div type="image" title="stonehenge quartz" height="891" width="892" msid="85273069" hostid="261"></div>That interlocked structure could help explain why Stonehenge has persisted for millennia.The research also revealed that the sarsens are composed of sediment deposited during the Mesozoic era, between 252 million and 66 million years ago, when dinosaurs walked the Earth.The piece Phillips took came from a sarsen called Stone 58 - a boulder sticking 21 feet out of the ground, and weighing about 24 tons. Stonehenge originally had 80 such sarsens in square-shaped archways, but only 52 remain. According to Nash, 50 of those 52 share the same chemical makeup, so it's likely the findings from Stone 58 apply to the rest."Nobody's looked at a sarsen in such detail before, it's a nice little illustration of Stonehenge's history," he said.<div type="image" title="stonehenge david nash" height="2666" width="3555" msid="85273072" hostid="261"></div><h2>The sarsens likely came from nearby woods</h2>Neolithic people erected Stonehenge in two waves of construction 5,000 and 4,500 years ago. The monument consists of two concentric circles of sarsens, with smaller bluestones set up between those arcs. Archaeologists traced the bluestones to a site called Waun Mawn in Wales, 140 miles away. Some evidence suggests the bluestone circle was built there first, then <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/stonehenge-origins-purpose-built-in-wales-moved-to-england-2021-2">moved to its final resting place centuries later</a>. When Stone Age farmers migrated east across the island, they brought the bluestones, weighing 2 to 4 tons, with them.But the sarsens' origin remained a mystery <a href="https://advances.sciencemag.org/lookup/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abc0133">until last year</a>, when Nash helped discover that the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/stonehenge-mystery-origin-of-boulders-solved-2020-7">sandstone boulders</a> came from an area 15 miles away from the monument called West Woods.<div type="image" title="stonehenge sarsen" height="1772" width="2362" msid="85273073" hostid="261"></div>Nash thinks Stonehenge's builders likely used some sort of roller, or dragged the sarsens on a slippery surface like frosty ground."There's no evidence they used animals to do it, but we don't know," he said. <h2>Stonehenge's builders 'picked the right stuff'</h2>Ideas about what Stonehenge was used for run the gamut from a celestial calendar to a sacred graveyard. The monument's main entrance aligns with sunrise on the summer solstice. "Put simply, Stonehenge was the ceremonial center of southern England," Matt Leivers, an archaeologist with Wessex <keyword id="6360337" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="archaeology">Archaeology</keyword> in England, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/stonehenge-origins-purpose-built-in-wales-moved-to-england-2021-2">previously told Insider</a>.<div type="image" title="stonehenge" height="2500" width="3402" msid="85273076" hostid="261"></div>Nash said he isn't sure whether Stonehenge's builders knew "they picked the right stuff to build a monument that's going to last a long time."But had they picked a different type of local material, like the chalk rock that makes up England's White Cliffs of Dover, Stonehenge wouldn't have remained standing this long.Any threat to the monument's longevity now, it seems, would come from local bunnies."The only thing that could happen with Stonehenge is potentially rabbits might burrow under the stones and undermine them from below, making them fall over onto their sides," Nash said.

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