You Need to Watch Bruce Willis' Most Underrated Comic Book Movie on HBO Max ASAP

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You Need to Watch Bruce Willis' Most Underrated Comic Book Movie on HBO Max ASAP It’s jarring to see the DC logo at the top of Red, but it is technically a comic book movie. In 2003 and 2004, Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner released Red, a three-issue graphic novel about grizzled CIA veterans forced out of retirement. The comic was published by a DC Comics imprint, but complex legalese meant the star-studded 2010 film with nary a superhero in it gets the same studio tag as Batman Begins and Green Lantern. Continued here

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Legacy Pizza: Naples vs. N.Y.C. One of the newest additions to New York’s ever-evolving pizza landscape is not so new at all, at least in terms of its pedigree. L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele opened in Naples in 1870 and has since garnered world renown. Fans of Elizabeth Gilbert’s “Eat, Pray, Love” may remember it from both the book and the movie; in the latter, Julia Roberts, as Gilbert, declares that she is in a relationship with her margherita. In Naples just two pies are available at the very small, very casual restaurant—the margherita (tomato sauce and fior-di-latte mozzarella, with a bit of Pecorino and fresh basil) and the marinara (tomato sauce, sliced garlic, and dried oregano, no cheese). In the West Village (2 Bank St.)—and in Los Angeles, where the restaurant’s first U.S. outpost opened in 2019—both the dining room and the menu are much bigger and more formal, with a half-dozen additional pizzas ($18-$65), plus appetizers, pastas, entrées, and dessert. The margherita and the marinara are successful imports, cooked here in a domed brick oven, with guidance from a fifth-generation member of the pizzeria’s founding family. Though the pies are much larger than their Naples counterparts, they bear clear evidence of a craftsmanship honed for more than a century. This is dough that won’t let you down: incredibly pliable and stretchy, floppy but more than sturdy enough for its toppings (all sourced from Italy), and flavorful to boot, fermented for forty-eight hours, then flash-cooked until speckled with bubbles and char. The sauce lets the volcanic tomatoes speak for themselves, and the cheese captures the essence of the sweetest, grassiest milk. Continued here

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'Horizon Call of the Mountain' Might Be Virtual Reality's 'Mario 64' Moment I yelped with glee as the beast tumbled to the floor in a shower of sparks. For a brief, shining moment, I actually considered that I might have a natural affinity for archery, a latter-day Robin Hood or Katniss Everdeen. But after spending a bit more time with Horizon: Call of the Mountain, out February 22 along with Sony’s new virtual reality headset (read our official hardware review here), I realized “innate talents” probably weren’t the source of the magic here. Call of the Mountain succeeds where so many other ambitious VR projects stumble for one reason — it keeps it simple. Core mechanics like traversal and combat have a generous margin of error and can be customized extensively depending on your appetite (or lack thereof) for a challenge. This keeps the focus on immersion and exploration, rather than fiddling with finicky button inputs and timing. Continued here

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This 1 Habit Is a Key to Warren Buffett's Success and It Will Work for You Too Do you avoid the things you're afraid of, or do you explore them instead? Continued here

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Biologists Just Unlocked How Octopuses Hunt With Deadly Precision Videos of octopuses solving puzzles and escaping from jars have long fascinated people — from the safety of dry land, of course. But under the sea, octopuses’ deadly intelligence makes them one of the most terrifying predators on the ocean floor, especially for their fellow mollusks. While an octopus and a clam belong to the same subphylum and inhabit the same environment, evolution favored the cephalopods when it came to brains. “No one really thinks of a snail as being something intelligent,” says Gareth Fee, a master’s student at the University of Cape Town. “But [octopuses] have developed this high level of intelligence.” Octopuses can even tell their different types of prey apart and can learn where their weak points are, according to a new study published earlier this year in Marine Biology and authored by Fee and others. Continued here

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Can Trees Actually Talk to Each Other? New Research Suggests an Alternative Idea The idea has gained attention in mainstream pop culture, but scientists are calling it out due to a lack of evidence. In recent years, naturalists all around the world have fallen in love with the “wood wide web” — a vast network of mycorrhizal fungi that attach to the roots of trees. Continued here

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Tropical seagrass meadows are sand factories that can help defend coral reef islands from sea-level rise Seagrasses are flowering plants that form dense underwater meadows in coastal waters worldwide, from the frigid seas of the Arctic to the warm shallows of the Caribbean. These meadows provide a refuge for young fish, food for grazing sea turtles and manatees, and help to slow climate change by absorbing carbon from the atmosphere up to 35 times faster than rainforests. In a new study, we discovered another reason to preserve the world’s remaining seagrass meadows: they can build and maintain coral reef islands. Continued here

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Razer's BlackWidow V4 Pro is Overkill in the Best Way The gaming brand’s very best mechanical keyboard adds a knob, brings back the beloved macro keys, and ups the keystroke durability to 100 million. Worthy of its place at the top of the totem pole, Razer's BlackWidow V4 Pro mechanical keyboard for gaming is exactly what you'd expect: overkill in the best way possible. Continued here

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'Genshin Impact' 3.5 livestream start time, how to watch, and Dehya banner Gone are the flickering flames of Lantern Rite, now replaced with springtime salutations. Genshin Impact ushers in another update of new characters and seasonal events for Genshin Impact 3.5 . This time, players can expect to see Pryo mercenary Dehya and Knights of Favonius’ Mika in the upcoming banners. The finer details for the update haven’t been confirmed yet, but that’s what the Genshin Impact 3.5 livestream is for. Here’s exactly when you can learn about all the new content coming in version 3.5. The Genshin Impact 3.5 livestream will start on February 17, 2023 at 7 a.m. Eastern. That’s for the Twitch livestream, though. The special program will run again at 8 a.m. Eastern on YouTube, after which it will become a VOD that those who couldn’t make either livestream can watch later. Continued here

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Friday essay: parents of 9-month-old babies as 'workers in waiting'? How ParentsNext monitors single mothers For the first two months of Svetlana’s daughter’s life, the pair couch-surfed and lived on the streets. Granted public housing, Svetlana then worked to “stabilise” herself and slowly form “new ties”. A “former addict”, she had been “clean and sober for six years”. Her daughter faced speech delays, and with help from a social service, Svetlana had been focused on supporting her, deciding to keep her at preschool for an additional year. Svetlana’s father, who has dementia, had lately moved to an aged care facility, leaving her mother “all alone” and “very sick”. Continued here

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'Quantumania's Kang is Just a "Taste" of Marvel's Biggest Villain Yet, Producer Says Working within a well-established world with strict rules like the Marvel Cinematic Universe can be difficult. But creating an entirely new world is the biggest challenge that Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania producer Stephen Broussard has faced. It’s a world that’s been teased since the first Ant-Man — and which we got our first secret glimpse of in Ant-Man and the Wasp. But the Quantum Realm is finally shown in all its glory in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, the movie that kicks off the Marvel’s Phase Five and introduces the franchise’s next great villain: Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors). Continued here

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Why does Turkey want other countries to start spelling its name 'T Is Turkey’s recent spelling change about being more authentically Turkish? Or is there more to the story? In June 2022, the United Nations agreed to change the spelling of the country known in the English-speaking world as Turkey to Türkiye, heeding a request by the government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. In January 2023, the U.S. State Department also agreed to adopt the requested change in its written communications. Continued here

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Loneliness is making us physically sick, but social prescribing can treat it - podcast Science + Technology Editor & Co-Host of The Conversation Weekly Podcast, The Conversation Associate Science Editor & Co-Host of The Conversation Weekly Podcast, The Conversation Continued here

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RuPaul's Drag Race: our research shows how it helps destigmatise the LGBTQ+ community Pressures on gender recognition laws, the strong opposition to drag shows and increasing incidents of violence show that stigmatisation of LGBTQ+ people still exists, especially for those who do not conform to societal expectations around gender and sexuality. A 2021 report by Stonewall highlighted how people in the UK still experience feelings of “fear, resentment, pity and disgust” towards those who identify as LGBTQ+, especially transgender men and women. Continued here

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Australian humpback whales are singing less and fighting more. Should we be worried? I analysed 123 days’ worth of data on Australian humpbacks (Megaptera novaeangliae), collected from 1997 to 2015, and found male humpbacks sang less and fought more as the whale population ballooned. Humpbacks have recovered magnificently since 1965, when the species became globally protected. Continued here

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Your Ultimate 'Hogwarts Legacy' Sophronia Franklin Quiz Cheat Sheet Hogwarts Legacy is here, and in case you were worried: Yes, it has a know-it-all character in the style of Hermione Granger. A huge amount of the fantasy in playing through this chapter of the Wizarding World is in dueling, brewing potions, learning curses, and exploring the grounds, but there’s also an opportunity for players to show off all the knowledge they’ve attained over the years. And that opportunity come from the third-year Ravenclaw student Sophronia Franklin. If you need a refresher or you just want to make extra-sure you don’t get a question wrong, you’ve come to the right place. During one mid-game quest where players are working to unlock the Transfiguration spell, they’ll need to acquire a Field Guide Page from the Library. In order to attain it, they’ll have to go through a round of questions before Ms. Franklin will relent and let you access the book. You can then optionally go through two more quizzes of increasing difficulty if you so desire. Continued here

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Better, cheaper childcare is on the horizon in Australia, but 4 key challenges remain About 100 early childhood experts are meeting in Canberra today for a national summit on children who are five and under. This is part of the Albanese government’s work to develop an early years strategy to ensure Australian kids “have the best start at life in their critical early years of development”. It is also the latest in a flurry of activity around early childhood education and care. Continued here

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Bad beliefs: Misinformation is factually wrong - but is it ethically wrong, too? The impact of disinformation and misinformation has become impossible to ignore. Whether it is denial about climate change, conspiracy theories about elections, or misinformation about vaccines, the pervasiveness of social media has given “alternative facts” an influence previously not possible. Bad information isn’t just a practical problem – it’s a philosophical one, too. For one thing, it’s about epistemology, the branch of philosophy that concerns itself with knowledge: how to discern truth, and what it means to “know” something, in the first place. Continued here

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Pandemic telehealth was a boon to people with psychiatric conditions -- what happens when it ends? Psychiatric telehealth is far from perfect but experts say blanket guidelines are both impractical and unsafe. People who see a psychiatrist through telehealth may be in for a rude awakening: For almost three years, psychiatrists have been able to see their patients virtually — and prescribe whatever prescriptions they deem necessary — as a result of those visits. But, on May 11th, the latter part of that equation will change. That’s when the Biden administration will formally end the Public Health Emergency designation implemented in 2020 when the Covid-19 pandemic took hold. When it does, psychiatrists will have to see a patient in person at least once if they want to prescribe a controlled substance. Continued here

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Is 'Mandalorian' Season 3 Excluding One Iconic Star Wars Character? An Investigation After an excruciatingly long wait, Star Wars is finally getting back to what matters: the adventures of Mando and Baby Yoda. The Mandalorian returns on March 1, bringing with it Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal), Grogu, and a slew of other fan-favorite characters. But one Star Wars standby seems to be missing in action. As some fans have noted, a recent story in Empire magazine featured a lineup of Mandalorian helmets that we can likely expect to see in Season 3. Missing from that lineup? None other than Boba Fett. Continued here

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Government's privacy review has some strong recommendations - now we really need action Dr Arnold was a former board member of the Australian Privacy Foundation and a member of OECD data protection working parties Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus yesterday released a report with 30 proposals for updating Australia’s privacy regime. The proposals are practical, necessary and overdue. However, they are just proposals, which have been made several times in the past before disappearing into the “too hard basket” of the Australian, state and territory governments. Continued here

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The 1967 referendum was the most successful in Australia's history. But what it can tell us about 2023 is complicated This article references antiquated language when referring to First Nations people. It also mentions names and has images of people who may have passed away. Before the end of this year, Australians will vote on enshrining an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice in the nation’s constitution. Referendums are famously fraught, and both advocates and detractors of the Voice have drawn comparisons to the 1967 referendum, the nation’s most successful to date. Continued here

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6,000 words but silent on falling real wages: what Chalmers got wrong on 'values-based capitalism' and fixing our economic woes Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ recent essay in The Monthly, “Capitalism after the crises”, tells us a lot about economic predicament faced by the Albanese government and governments around the world. The essay reflects two unpalatable facts. The first is that the model of capitalism that became dominant in the late 20th century – variously referred to as “neoliberalism”, “the Washington Consensus”, or in Australia as “economic rationalism” – has failed to meet the challenges of the 21st century, beginning with the global financial crisis of 2008. Continued here

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Tanzania is ruled with impunity - four key issues behind calls for constitutional reform Tanzania’s president issued a statement in June 2016 announcing a ban on political rallies outside campaign periods. The ban was unconstitutional. Article 20 (1) of the constitution of Tanzania allows for public assembly. Other laws, such as the Political Parties Act and the Parliamentary Immunities, Powers and Privilege Act, give political parties and politicians the right to conduct rallies. Continued here

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For developing world to quit coal, rich countries must eliminate oil and gas faster - new study Limiting how much coal countries can burn is considered an urgent priority for restraining global heating. After all, coal is the most carbon-rich of all fossil fuels and its combustion has contributed the most to planetary warming. For the first time in international talks, negotiators agreed to “phase down” coal use to prevent global temperature rise exceeding 1.5°C in the 2021 Glasgow Climate Pact. Coal’s primacy in climate negotiations is partly because of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which has devised pathways to halting warming at 1.5°C. These scientific assessments prioritise the rapid phasing out of coal burning not only for the fuel’s carbon intensity and the need to head off CO₂ accumulation in the atmosphere, but also to encourage the availability of cost-competitive alternatives in the form of solar and wind farms. Continued here

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You'll Get Better Candidates if You Stop Focusing on These Things You want your business to move toward the future. Here's how. Continued here

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Mapping Iran's biodiversity hotspots to create new protected areas covering 20% of the landscape Iran’s ancient forests, rugged mountains, vast deserts and captivating coasts are rich in biodiversity, including animals found nowhere else on Earth. But many of these precious areas are not formally protected from development, potentially endangering the species that live there. Fortunately, the Iranian government has committed to expanding the network of protected areas to cover 20% of the land. That is a substantial increase from the existing approximately 11% in conservation reserves. Continued here

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Ukraine 12 months at war: why Kyiv's western allies must rethink the limits of their military aid “Range anxiety” is a phrase most often associated with electric vehicles having to regularly charge their batteries. But it is also central to an understanding of the protracted nature of the limited war being fought between Russia and Ukraine. Range in this case means something different, of course. It is the limited distance at which Ukraine can strike Russian military targets that is effectively imposed on Kyiv by the weaponry supplied by Ukraine’s western allies. The willingness of Kyiv’s allies to supply ever more sophisticated military aid has evolved over the year. Initially, western aid to Ukraine was limited to Manpad air defence systems and handheld anti-tank weapons. But this has gradually been extended to include sophisticated air defence systems, armoured fighting vehicles and the promise of main battle tanks such as US Abrams, German Leopard 2 and British Challengers. Continued here

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'I Am Legend 2' Will Pick Up from the Ending Fans Preferred In an interview with Deadline, producer Akiva Goldsman provided an update on the sequel to 2007’s I Am Legend. The project, which does not yet have a director, will star Will Smith, reprising his role as Dr. Neville from the first film. Dr. Neville is one of the few survivors of a plague that has turned humans into vampires. Michael B. Jordan will join the movie in a new, undisclosed role. In what is a necessary twist, Goldsman confirms the sequel will be based on the alternate ending of I Am Legend, included on the film’s DVD and Blu-ray release in 2008, where Dr. Neville survives. Continued here

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Ukraine war: what the last 12 months has meant for the ordinary Russian soldier If Vladimir Putin launches a new offensive in Ukraine this spring as expected, the key to its success or failure will be the ordinary Russian soldier. Moscow has shown little consideration for these soldiers over the past 12 months. In February 2022 troops who were told that they were going on routine exercises instead found themselves fighting a war in Ukraine. Barely trained conscripts were sent into battle in defiance of Russia’s own laws. Continued here

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The gory new Winnie the Pooh horror causing a storm Each year, in many countries around the world, 1 January remains one of the most exciting days in the calendar for lawyers and creatives alike. It's Public Domain Day, when the copyright expires for works published a certain duration ago – the US copyright limit is 95 years, while in the UK it is 70 years – and those works therefore lapse into the public domain. 2022's Public Domain Day in the US brought with it a particularly tantalising prospect: AA Milne's Winnie The Pooh was among the works that had reached their 95-year copyright limit, meaning that the butterball bear could henceforth be used and depicted by anyone – and in any way they wanted. More like this: – The return of slasher horror– The power of the eerie in film – The most disgusting films ever made Within months, the culturally entrenched image of Winnie The Pooh as a kind, smiling, honey-bellied fellow had quite literally been savaged. On May 25, the poster for an upcoming slasher-horror film named Winnie The Pooh: Blood and Honey was released, and a new Pooh emerged: half-man, half-bear; axe-wielding, snarling, feral, terrifying. The image went viral across the internet, triggering a response that seemed to split into two distinct camps. One side seemed to laugh it off, while the other was outraged. Petitions against the film's release were filed. Continued here

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Get Rich or Die Tryin': 50 Cent's seminal hip-hop album 20 years on The video shows a van driving through a desert on its way to the “Shady / Aftermath Artist Development Centre”, where lab coated rap legends Eminem and Dr. Dre observe a “patient” through a Perspex screen. The patient in question looks like he’s just burst off the pages of a comic book. All bulging muscles, smouldering stares and chiselled good looks, he’s hanging upside down from a pull up bar as he performs eye-watering stomach crunches. Continued here

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After Nicola Sturgeon, what's next for Scottish independence? In the wake of Nicola Sturgeon’s surprise resignation, it cannot be overlooked that she became leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) after it had suffered a double blow. The party had failed to achieve its cherished goal of independence in 2014, and lost its (then) best asset, Alex Salmond. Salmond led the SNP from the fringes to power and was often credited with its success, much as Sturgeon is now. Sturgeon, the deputy leader, had the difficulty of becoming the leader of a party whose primary purpose was independence just after it lost a referendum on the subject. It was not until after the UK voted for Brexit in 2016 (with a majority in England and Wales but not Scotland) that the SNP was able to reengage with its primary purpose. Continued here

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Leo Frobenius made African rock art famous, but is tainted by racism and a lack of understanding University of the Witwatersrand provides support as a hosting partner of The Conversation AFRICA. Leo Frobenius was a largely self-taught German ethnologist (someone who studies societies and cultures) who undertook numerous expeditions. One of them, from 1928 to 1930, was to southern Africa, where he recorded the rock art of the San people (indigenous hunter-gatherers and their descendants). Continued here

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Are calls to cancel two Palestinian writers from Adelaide Writers' Week justified? The organisers of the 2023 Adelaide Writers’ Week, which starts on March 4, are under pressure to withdraw invitations to two Palestinian writers: one for her views about Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and the other for his views on Israel and Zionism. South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas has condemned both authors. “I completely abhor the comments that have been made … they don’t accord with SA’s value system,” he said. “I’ve got to be frank, I’m surprised they are being facilitated at Adelaide Writers’ Week. I won’t be going along to hear them speak.” Continued here

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Norovirus: what to know about this bug as northern hemisphere countries face outbreaks Recently there has been a sharp rise in cases of norovirus, sometimes called the winter vomiting bug, in the UK. According to the UK Health Security Agency, cases in England are 66% higher than the average for this time of year, and at their highest level in more than a decade. Surveillance data shows norovirus outbreaks have increased in hospitals, schools, and particularly in care homes. The majority of reported cases are in people over 65. Continued here

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We found 29 threatened species are back from the brink in Australia. Here's how Australia’s natural world is in deep trouble. Many of our species are getting rarer. Some are now perilously close to extinction, while entire ecosystems face collapse. Sudden biodiversity loss in events such as the Black Summer wildfires happen against a backdrop of decline due to land clearing, introduced species and other pervasive threats. For example, Australia’s threatened bird species declined in abundance by an average of 44% from 2000 to 2016. Continued here

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Do elementary school students do better when taught by teachers of the same race or ethnicity? New research finds: Not that much Our findings indicate that calls to diversify the teacher workforce are unlikely to meaningfully address large racial and ethnic educational inequities in U.S. elementary schools. We compared the academic achievement, classroom behavior and executive functioning of U.S. elementary school students across two naturally occurring conditions. Continued here

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I bonded with COVID vaccine sceptics over saunas and Mother Earth rituals - this is what they taught me I was standing in a forest at night, by a dark lake taking part in a Mother Earth ritual. Shaman drums echoed between the cliffs. The witch leading the ritual suddenly encouraged us to sound like wild animals. The other women seemed to greet this as something predictable and expected. “Stand up, let your inner spirit out, the wild animal within you!” the witch called out. And then she laughed out loud into the darkness – and just howled. A woman in her 60s, with long blonde tangled hair, looking tough and slender-limbed at the same time, rose to her feet, and with something wild glittering in her eyes, she followed the witch into this transcendental phase of the ritual, and started to howl too. Continued here

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Economy and security on the ballot in Nigeria - 5 things to watch in presidential election Voters in Africa’s largest democracy will go to the polls on Feb. 25, 2023, to pick a new president. While voter turnout has been on a steady decline in Nigeria for two decades, a recent surge of interest in politics and improvements to the election process have meant that 93 million Nigerians are now registered to vote. Continued here

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Hiring more social scientists could be the solution to Canada's innovation issue Canada has been dealing with an innovation problem for decades. We are currently ranked 15th in the Global Innovation Index (GII) following Japan, France, Finland and Singapore. Switzerland is ranked first. Why should we care about the GII? It helps us, as tax paying citizens, better understand how we compare with similar nations on innovation development strategies, policies and outputs like jobs and gross domestic product (GDP). Continued here

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Is Bird Flu A Danger To Humans? Here's What Scientists Know Right Now Eggs, the breakfast of champions (chugged raw if you’re Rocky Balboa), are now an unlikely luxury item. Outbreaks of avian influenza affecting poultry have at least partially contributed to the nationwide shortage of eggs. But it’s not only eggs. Spikes in cases of avian flu, particularly the H5N1 strain, over this past year among mammals have been raising fears of the virus spreading to other species, including humans. Should you be worried? Here’s what you need to know. Continued here

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Tesla Announced It's Giving a Huge Boost to the Competition. Why It's a Brilliant Power Play Opening up the Supercharger network is good for everyone. Continued here

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Smart Product Breakthroughs Depend on Customer Control For centuries, writers and storytellers have imagined fantastic stories about autonomous robots and artificial intelligence. Today, what was once fantasy has become reality. Smart products, such as robotic vacuum cleaners and smart speakers, populate our everyday lives. They act completely on their own, without the need for humans to intervene. In Greek myths and Hollywood movies alike, whenever such robots take control, it often ends in disaster. The robots wreak havoc and oppress humans. Influenced by this dystopian vision, many people are suspicious of and feel threatened by the reach of advanced technology — such as the friend who stops wearing a smartwatch after growing tired of its constant nudges, or the driver of an autonomous car who is reluctant to let go of the steering wheel. Both examples illustrate concern over losing control — a reasonable concern, given that humans have an innate desire for control. From a business perspective, consumer fear of losing control hinders smart-product adoption and use. In our work, we aim to provide guidance to managers on how to design and market smart products with customer control in mind. We do so by answering the following question: How can managers help customers restore control over their smart products? Continued here

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Dead kangaroos make a surprising feast for possums in the Australian Alps This work was funded by the Australian Alps National Parks Cooperative Management Program.James Vandersteen undertook this work as an MPhil student at The University of Sydney. He is, however, currently affiliated with The University of New South Wales as a PhD student. This work was funded by the Australian Alps National Parks Co-operative Management Program. Funding/support for related work in the study region has been received from the Australian Pacific Science Foundation, Hermon Slade Foundation, Australian Government, NSW Government (South East Local Land Services, NSW National Parks/NSW Environment Trust), and Australian Geographic. Thomas Newsome is a Council member of the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales, a member of the Australian Mammal Society and Ecological Society of Australia, and President of the Australasian Wildlife Management Society. Continued here

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Turkey's historic city of Antakya, known in Roman and medieval times as Antioch, has been flattened by powerful earthquakes in the past - and rebuilt itself Tens of thousands have died and millions have become homeless in southern Turkey and northern Syria after the massive 7.8 earthquake that struck on Feb. 6, 2023. But the ancient Turkish city of Antakya, known in Roman and medieval times as Antioch, has been here before. In the late fourth-century Roman world, two days after a powerful earthquake shook the border of Turkey and Syria, the Christian preacher John Chrysostom delivered a sermon to the frightened congregation in his shaken city of Antioch, much as survivors today struggle to understand the destruction. “Your nights are sleepless,” he acknowledged, and possessions “were torn asunder more easily than a spider’s web. … For a short time you became angels instead of humans.” Continued here

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New Aussie drama Bad Behaviour gives us a complex portrayal of girlhood and queer stories Bad Behaviour is a gritty, intense psychological drama that follows the haunting teenage experience of now 20-something Joanna Mackenzie (Jana McKinnon), who revisits the year she spent on scholarship at Silver Creek. The exclusive girls’ boarding school, in the remote Australian wilderness, fosters independence, strength and resilience through survivalism and marathon training. Continued here

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Nicola Sturgeon and Jacinda Ardern - what two shock resignations tell us about good leadership Leading two small countries on opposite sides of the planet, Nicola Sturgeon and Jacinda Ardern have both won widespread respect and admiration for their strong, courageous and determined leadership. They are both women who have smashed through glass ceilings to reach the summit. Sturgeon is the first woman (and longest serving person) to hold the office of first minister of Scotland. Ardern is the first leader of New Zealand (and second in the world, after Pakistan’s Benazir Bhutto) to give birth while in office. They both defended liberal policies and steered their countries through numerous crises with their calm, visible leadership. Continued here

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Gaslighting, love bombing and narcissism: why is Microsoft's Bing AI so unhinged? There’s a race to transform search. And Microsoft just scored a home goal with its new Bing search chatbot, Sydney, which has been terrifying early adopters with death threats, among other troubling outputs. Search chatbots are AI-powered tools built into search engines that answer a user’s query directly, instead of providing links to a possible answer. Users can also have ongoing conversations with them. Continued here

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5 Things the Smartest People Do That Make Them Super Productive (Without Destroying Their Health) Hustle culture is believed to make you super productive. Nothing could be further from the truth. Continued here

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Here's How Those Mysterious New Sea Treasure Tokens Work in 'Warzone 2.0' The new Resurgence Mode Ashika Island is live in Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0, and it aims to speed up the pacing by a considerable amount. The new small-scale map is full of interesting POIs, and new things to discover, including Sea Treasures Tokens. These are items you might’ve already come across while playing, but what exactly are they and what do they do? Here’s what you need to know about Sea Treasures Tokens in Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0’s Ashika Island map. First, you’ll need to get your hands on Sea Treasures Tokens, which are found around the Ashika Island map. Specifically, they have a chance of appearing inside blue chests, so make sure you’re thorough while looting. Continued here

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Turkey: Erdogan worries about implications for his support ahead of May election In the wake of Turkey’s worst earthquake since 1939, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is clearly concerned about how the government’s response will affect the result in the May elections. Erdoğan is striving to show he is at the forefront of relief efforts in those areas where an estimated 35,418 people have died. Continued here

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'John Wick: Chapter 4' Trailer Pits Keanu Reeves Up Against Dangerous New Management The world’s most dangerous assassin is back for one more round in John Wick: Chapter 4, and this time, he’s taking on the High Table. Keanu Reeves dons the bulletproof suit once again to fight all manner of foes and a few martial arts legends. But his most powerful enemy is the new leader of the High Table, Marquis de Gramont (Bill Skarsgård), whom he must challenge to single combat in order to finally be free of this underworld of assassins once and for all. The fourth John Wick film picks up after John Wick was shot by his ally and Continental Hotel manager Winston Scott (Ian McShane) at the end of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum. When John Wick is saved by the Bowery King (Laurence Fishburne), they vow vengeance on the High Table, who preside over the whole assassin underworld. And in John Wick: Chapter 4, we get to see that vengeance play out. See how, in the new trailer below. Continued here

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What is Marburg virus and should we be worried? An epidemic outbreak of Marburg virus in Equatorial Guinea, Central Africa, was confirmed this week, the first time the virus has occurred there. At least 16 cases have been detected, and nine deaths. There are no approved treatments for Marburg virus, which is closely related to Ebola virus, but vaccines are in development. Following an unprecedented Ebola epidemic in West Africa in 2014 that caused more than 28,000 cases and 11,000 deaths, drugs and vaccines against Ebola were developed. Continued here

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Four ways that fossils are part of everyday life South Africa boasts some of the best fossil records on Earth. Fossils are found in strata and rocks in many parts of the country. Some are billions of years old. There are microfossils dating back to the Archaean epoch, between 3.5 billion and 3.3 billion years ago, in the Barberton Greenstone Belt in the Mpumalanga province. The fossils of now extinct invertebrates that lived around 444 million years ago have been found in the Western Cape province. So, too, have fossils of large animals like sivatheres (giraffids) and sabretooth cats, 5 million years old. The country’s fossils also contain an exceptional record of human ancestry, mapping our evolutionary history through time. Continued here

S18

COVID-19 restrictions unexpectedly reduced Islamic State violence - political science experts explain why World leaders and policy experts at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic feared that the health crisis might make the world more dangerous. They worried specifically that terrorist organizations like the Islamic State group would capitalize on the pandemic to increase attacks on civilians and recruit new sympathizers. In some ways, the pandemic presented an opportunity to groups like the Islamic State group, known by the initials IS, because the sudden increase in health spending strained many countries’ budgets and diverted attention away from extremism. Governments’ COVID-19 responses also called on police and armies to deliver health care services in some cases. Continued here

S16

Ukraine war 12 months on: the role of the Russian media in reporting - and justifying - the conflict The media war that has accompanied Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has shown how important a part of 21st-century conflict journalism is, and also demonstrated the power authoritarian regimes possess to restrict reporting – even in the age of smartphones and social media. In a move that echoed the draconian censorship laws of earlier ages, the Russian government declared its media war just days after it invaded its neighbour. New legislation meant journalists risked jail if they refused to follow dutifully the official line that the war was “a special military operation”, and not a war at all. Continued here

S26

How to poll 93 million voters - the challenge of pulling off Nigeria's presidential elections Nigeria’s registered voters, which the Independent National Electoral Commission has put at 93.5 million, are expected to come out in their numbers in what will be Africa’s biggest election this year. They will be electing the president and members of the National Assembly on 25 February and governors and members of the State Houses of Assembly on 11 March. Continued here

S11

Kourtney Kardashian's 'vaginal health gummies': here's what the evidence shows Even if I fully agree with Kourtney Kardashian that vaginal health is an important but not sufficiently talked about part of women’s wellbeing, we may have a strikingly different view on how to tackle the problem. The reality TV star recently launched a vitamin sweet called Lemme Purr to boost the health of your vagina. On her Instagram channel, she says these gummies use pineapple, vitamin C and probiotics to target vaginal health and pH levels that “support freshness and taste”. Continued here

S45

Do beach cabanas actually protect you from the sun? H. Peter Soyer is a shareholder of MoleMap NZ Limited and e-derm consult GmbH and undertakes regular teledermatological reporting for both companies. He is a Medical Consultant for Canfield Scientific Inc and Blaze Bioscience Inc. You may have seen them popping up on beaches everywhere – colourful, breezy, shady, beach cabanas. Continued here

S23

Water cuts in South Africa are hurting hospitals and clinics - there's an increased risk of infections South Africa is a water scarce country. Changing rainfall patterns and the escalating electricity crisis are making the situation worse. Treating and distributing water requires electricity. Some of the country’s biggest cities have had to impose water restrictions and residents in other parts have gone months without regular water supply. Unfortunately, health facilities have not been spared. There have been numerous media reports of hospitals and clinics around the country being hit by water shortages. The Conversation Africa’s Ina Skosana spoke to epidemiologist Husna Ismail about the dangers of clinics and hospitals running out of water. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines healthcare-associated infections, or “hospital” infections, as those affecting patients admitted to a healthcare facility. These are infections not present at the time of admission. They also include infections that appear shortly after discharge. Healthcare-associated infections are a significant cause of illness and death in hospitals. Continued here

S3

This New Study Explains Why Zoom Happy Hours Are So Unbearably Awful Psychology explains why virtual get-togethers with alcohol are their own special form of torture. Continued here

S42

Ukraine recap: how the conflict might unfold in its second year Almost exactly a year ago – on February 17 2022 – we published a story by David Galbreath, an expert in international security from the University of Bath. In it he pointed to the fact that – despite the Kremlin’s repeated assurances to the contrary – an invasion of Ukraine was looking more and more likely. He provided three possible scenarios. The first was a decapitation of Ukraine via a rapid incursion through Belarus supported by pro-Moscow elements operating in Kyiv to remove the current government and replace it with a friendly administration. His second scenario was for a turbocharging of the war in the east which would spill out into the rest of the country –– or at least those areas with majority Russian-speaking populations, something Russia was to attempt in September when it annexed the four regions of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia. Continued here

S31

Calls for peace in Ukraine a year after Russia's full-scale invasion are unrealistic As we reach the one-year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, politicians continue to call for peace. Elizabeth May, Canada’s Green Party leader, is among the most recent to make such a call in Canada. Former British Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn has been among the most consistent. Continued here

S38

Before The Last of Us, I was part of an international team to chart the threat of killer fungi. This is what we found Fungal infections have received a frenzy of attention thanks to the popularity of HBO’s The Last of Us. The show depicts a fungal pandemic caused by the real-life zombie-ant fungus, Ophiocordyceps unilateralis. It imagines the outcome of society’s collapse and a brutal approach to maintaining public health. With few drugs to treat major fungal infections, and no vaccines on the horizon, the potential harm caused by fungal infections have raised alarms at the highest levels of public health. Continued here

S29

Russia-Ukraine war has nearly doubled household energy costs worldwide - new study The Russia–Ukraine war has exacerbated an energy crisis that directly affects the costs of heating, cooling, lighting and mobility, and indirectly pushed up the costs of other goods and services throughout global supply chains. While all households are affected, they are affected in different ways depending on their income, how they spend their money, and how and where the products that they are buying were produced. Targeted energy assistance can help vulnerable households during this crisis but for that we need to know who is affected, to what degree and why. To investigate this, we have modelled the direct and indirect impacts of increased energy prices in 116 countries, covering 87.4% of the global population, with a focus on developing countries. Our results are now published in Nature Energy. Continued here

S44

Two decades of stagnant funding have rendered Canada uncompetitive in biomedical research. Here's why it matters, and how to fix it. The United States is a relevant comparator because it is home to many of the world’s leading scientists. Canadian scientists, if not funded, often relocate to the U.S. Compare America’s National Institutes of Health (NIH) 2020-21 budget of US$45 billion (roughly C$60 billion) to CIHR’s C$1.2 billion. America’s NIH budget is 50-fold that of Canada’s CIHR budget, but the U.S. population is only nine-fold greater than ours. The success rate in CIHR grant competitions has declined from 31 per cent in 2005 to around 15 per cent in 2020. Continued here

S24

Ilemi Triangle spat: how resources fuel East Africa's border conflicts For decades, African states have grappled with numerous interstate border disputes, especially in resource-rich regions. In east Africa, most of these conflicts are as old as independence. The disputes flare up every so often despite interventions by agencies of the African Union and the United Nations. A fresh war of words has erupted between Kenya and South Sudan over the water- and oil-rich Ilemi Triangle border, which was first drawn up in 1914. We asked Al Chukwuma Okoli, a defence strategy scholar, four key questions. The term “boundary” refers to a cartographic (mapped out) line that marks and defines the confines of a state, distinguishing its sovereign territory from that of others. It is mutually agreed upon and jointly owned by the countries involved. Continued here

S1

YouTube's CEO Is Resigning. These 2 Things After 25 years, Susan Wojcicki is moving on to other things. Continued here S43 Cyclone Gabrielle triggered more destructive forestry 'slash' - NZ must change how it grows trees on fragile land Adjunct Senior Fellow Te Kura Ngahere – New Zealand School of Forestry, University of Canterbury The severe impacts of Cyclone Gabrielle on the North Island, and the five severe weather events experienced by the Thames–Coromandel region in just the first two months of 2023, are merely the latest examples of more frequent erosion-triggering rainfall events over the past decade. Continued here Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom) Tweets Tweets follow me on Twitter Microsoft Silverlight - Change the World Connect with Me Random Hacks! - My Blog @ MSDN Loading... Where Dreamers Dare! Loading... About Me Sayan Will copy and paste later from my official biography! 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