The Supreme Court's originalists have taken over - here's how they interpret the Constitution

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The Supreme Court's originalists have taken over - here's how they interpret the Constitution     Today a majority of U.S. Supreme Court justices are either self-described originalists or strongly lean toward originalism. Yet less than 50 years ago, originalism was considered a fringe movement, hardly taken seriously by most legal scholars. Originalism is the theory that judges are bound to interpret the Constitution as it would have been interpreted in the historical era when it was written. Understood this way, originalism is the idea that judges must follow the law as written and not merely ignore it or reinterpret it to their liking. Continued here

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What to Know About 'Honkai Impact 3rd Part 2' Post-Kiana     Before the global success of Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail, HoYoverse was known for its action RPG Honkai Impact 3rd. Seven years after the game's initial release in 2016, Honkai Impact 3rd is still going strong, and now a new chapter is on the horizon. After concluding the story of protagonist Kiana, HoYoverse announced Honkai Impact 3rd Part 2 on September 22. While it won’t be an entirely new game, Part 2 will see major changes to the story and combat systems. Here’s everything you need to know about Honkai Impact 3rd Part 2. Continued here

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12 Years Later, 'Ahsoka' May Have Sneakily Fixed Star Wars' Strangest Canon Problem     The Chosen One has always been Star Wars’ major theme. It’s central to the franchise’s original story, it’s integral to the Force’s mythological roots, and later, in the prequels, the idea becomes literal. But if Anakin truly is the Chosen One, then how did he bring balance to the Force? The answer may lie in Ahsoka Episode 5, and Ahsoka Tano herself could play a role. In Episode 5, we see Anakin in a mystical dark realm fans have assumed is the otherworldly plane known as the World Between Worlds, which was introduced in Rebels. But Anakin never actually visited the World Between Worlds. Instead, in The Clone Wars, we see Anakin and Ahsoka on another strange, metaphysical world: Mortis, where three deities ruled over the Force. Is that where Episode 5 took place? Continued here

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Here's What You Need to Know Before Jumping Into Phantom Liberty's Dogtown     In three years, Cyberpunk 2077 has gone from a broken mess to one of the must-play RPGs of the generation, and a big part of that is the massive expansion Phantom Liberty. This standalone story takes heavy inspiration from spy thrillers like Mission Impossible and features a set of new characters, including sleeper agent Solomon Reed, played by Idris Elba. As you might expect from a CD Projekt Red game, Phantom Liberty is a lengthy adventure that you’ll need to set aside time to play through. Here’s how long you can expect to take with Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty. Continued here

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'Loki' Season 1 Deleted Scene Could Reveal a Surprising Season 2 Cameo     Loki (Tom Hiddleston) has come a long way from his first moments in Marvel’s Cinematic Universe. He may be Marvel’s most loveable anti-hero now, but he started as a tragic foil to his golden boy brother, Thor Odinson (Chris Hemsworth). It’s hard to see one without thinking of the other; they were virtually inseparable throughout Marvel’s Infinity Saga. Wherever Thor was, Loki was never far behind, at least until his untimely demise. While Thor continues his journey in Marvel’s main continuity, Disney+ series Loki has given the God of Mischief a new lease on life. Season 1 went a long way in establishing Loki as a solo player, but as it returns for its second season, it may just reunite Loki with his estranged brother — or, more accurately, one of his variants. Continued here

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This Martian Mesa Was Once The Center Of Alien Conspiracy Theories -- The Real Answer Is Weirder      There's no face on Mars, but the psychology behind the optical illusion may also have helped humans become artists.A nameless mesa in a strange Martian landscape once stood at the center of a swirl of alien conspiracy theories. Continued here

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'The Creator' Review: A Half-Baked Attempt at Sci-Fi Originality     The Creator is the embodiment of our originality-starved movie landscape — for better and for worse.When Gareth Edwards first signed on to direct and write The Creator (originally titled True Love), he cited Blade Runner, Akira, E.T., and Apocalypse Now as inspirations. The astonishingly ambitious The Creator certainly wears those comparisons on its sleeves, but those inspirations ultimately become the albatross around the movie’s neck. Continued here

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20 Years Later, the Most Underrated Final Fantasy Sequel Still Deserves More Credit     If there’s one thing that defines Final Fantasy, it’s that no two games are quite alike. Mechanics and settings change with every release, giving each installment its own unique character. So when the sequel to Final Fantasy Tactics — a game about class struggle, conflict, and the malleability of history — opened with a group of school kids having a snowball fight, it shouldn’t have been too surprising.Final Fantasy Tactics Advance came to North America on September 8, 2003, six years after Final Fantasy Tactics. In that time, the original game had become a critical darling, and players were already looking forward to a sequel. The game that succeeded the mature RPG couldn’t have looked more like a departure from its predecessor, but the way Final Fantasy Tactics Advance uses its childlike appearance to draw in players and subvert their expectations should garner it a lot more credit. Continued here

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Joe Biden’s Visit to a U.A.W. Picket Line Was a Powerful Political Gesture     At lunchtime on Tuesday, Joe Biden became the first sitting U.S. President to join a picket line. Outside General Motors' Willow Run Redistribution Center, in Belleville, Michigan—not far from Detroit—Biden greeted a group of striking members of the United Auto Workers union. He told the workers that they had saved the automobile industry during the economic crisis of 2008-09 and made a lot of personal sacrifices. (These included taking wage cuts.) Now that the auto industry was doing "incredibly well," Biden said through a bullhorn, "you should be doing incredibly well, too."It wasn't a new message. The day the strike began, Biden said that record profits at the Big Three U.S. automakers—Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis—should mean record pay contracts for the U.A.W. workers. But it's one thing to deliver remarks sympathetic to a union from behind a White House lectern. Flying on Air Force One to Detroit, taking a Presidential limousine to the Willow Run facility, standing alongside the striking employees, and appealing to the Big Three to "step up"—that is something else completely. Continued here

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Just Making Sure You Saw My Thing     Hey, there, just dropping you a note to make sure you saw my thing. It went up last week, my thing did. You may have seen it on my Web site, or in my e-mail blast, or maybe on one of the various content feeds I update regularly with my things and also short, enticing snippets of my things.Real quick: please understand that these thing-snippets don’t do justice to the thing-wholes, but I’m hoping they draw enough viewers and entrant-tier subscribers to justify the time I spend maintaining eleven separate social-media platforms, which each has its own formatting guidelines and vibe. Continued here

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D.H. Lawrence on the Hypocrisies of Social Change and What It Actually Takes to Shift the Status Quo     “We have created a great, almost overwhelming incubus of falsity and ugliness on top of us, so that we are almost crushed to death. Now let us move it.” Continued here

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Center of the Universe: Non-Speaking Autistic Poet Hannah Emerson's Extraordinary Poem About How to Be Reborn Each Day     “Please try to go to hell frequently because you will find the light there.” Continued here

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How CEOs Can Navigate the Emotional Labor of Leadership     Although the CEO role comes with power, pay, and privilege, it also involves emotional labor, as leaders feel the toll of making divisive and unpopular decisions. This aspect of the job has become more challenging the last few years. This article offers leaders four tools to help cope with the pressure. Continued here

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Generative AI Has an Intellectual Property Problem     Generative AI, which uses data lakes and question snippets to recover patterns and relationships, is becoming more prevalent in creative industries. However, the legal implications of using generative AI are still unclear, particularly in relation to copyright infringement, ownership of AI-generated works, and unlicensed content in training data. Courts are currently trying to establish how intellectual property laws should be applied to generative AI, and several cases have already been filed. To protect themselves from these risks, companies that use generative AI need to ensure that they are in compliance with the law and take steps to mitigate potential risks, such as ensuring they use training data free from unlicensed content and developing ways to show provenance of generated content. Continued here

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How to Have Better Strategy Conversations About Monetizing Data     Our special report on innovation systems will help leaders guide teams that rely on virtual collaboration, explores the potential of new developments, and provides insights on how to manage customer-led innovation.Our special report on innovation systems will help leaders guide teams that rely on virtual collaboration, explores the potential of new developments, and provides insights on how to manage customer-led innovation.Companies can’t manage what they don’t measure. They also can’t manage what they can’t discuss. Take the term data monetization: Definitions range from the narrowly focused “selling data sets” to the overly broad “creating benefits from data.” Too little consistency among curricula in academia and too much siloed business thought leadership only add to the proliferation of data babel. When leaders try to have productive conversations about a data monetization strategy within a complex business environment, they often reach an impasse. They need a simple, common language to break through. Continued here

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'Shrinkflation' isn't a trend - it's a permanent hit to your wallet     If you've noticed you're getting less while your bill at the till stays the same, it's not just you.'Shrinkflation' – reducing a product's size or quantity while keeping its price stable – is rampant. As the global economy grapples with issues including rising raw material costs, supply chain backlogs and higher post-pandemic labourer wages, consumers are bearing the brunt of spiking production expenses. Continued here

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UAW auto strike: Why US Automotive CEOs make more than global competition     At 23:59 on 14 Sept, roughly 13,000 workers at three of the largest automakers in the US went on strike. After eight weeks of unsuccessful negotiations among the United Auto Workers union (UAW) and the companies – General Motors (GM), Ford and Stellantis – workers walked off the job when contracts expired. Thousands more workers have since joined the strike in 38 locations across 20 states, and President Biden is expected to show support by walking the picket line this week.At the top of the UAW's demands is a 40% pay increase across four years (that number was lowered to 36% a few days after the strike began, after ongoing negotiations). Union president Shawn Fain has made the canyon-like gap between CEO and worker pay the foremost banner of the strike. Continued here

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India's beloved mosur dal     The everyday dish of simmered lentils known as dal is more than just food to most Indians; it is comfort, it is nourishment and very often, it is the taste of home."For me, dal is comfort food and I have it every day. When I am tired, or when I'm having a bad day, dal with rice uplifts my mood in a way that nothing else can, not even coffee or chocolate," said cookbook author Archana Pidathala. Continued here

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Why Aperol Spritz is the drink of the summer     This summer, Aperol Spritz has been flowing from the counters of the most enchanting venues in New York City, from the rooftop of the Independent Art Fair in Tribeca to the flamingo-themed new bakery on my Brooklyn block. In Singapore, you can take an Aperol Spritz bar crawl, and in Paris, it's now a fixture at most cafes next to the local pastis and kir.It seems that aperitivo (Italy's cherished pre-dinner drink) has become the new happy hour. And yet, the current popularity of Aperol Spritz leaves us Venetians slightly perplexed. How did a drink that, until 20 years ago could only be found in our region's humble osteria (tavern) and cheap local bars, conquer the world? Continued here

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Sheikh el mahshi: Aubergines filled with ground beef     In the Levant, there's a diverse array of dishes called mahshi (stuffed vegetables), including kousa bil labn (stuffed courgette cooked with yoghurt), beitenjan mahshi (aubergine simmered in a rich tomato sauce), malfouf (rolled cabbage leaves) that resemble delicate fingers, and waraq einab (grape leaves) that are similar to dolma eaten in Turkey, Greece, the Balkans and Iraq.What all these mahashi (the plural of mahshi) share in common is that they are filled predominantly with rice then layered inside a big pot to be covered in steaming broth or sauce and cooked on the stove until tender. Continued here

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Trump's mugshot to Burning Man: Six of the most striking images of 2023 so far     It was the mugshot heard around the world. The booking photo of Donald Trump, taken at an Atlanta jail after the former US president was indicted for conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Georgia, was released moments after it was taken on 24 August. The portrait's penetrating stare instantly seared itself into cultural consciousness, and Trump made the most of it, with his campaign website selling mugshot-branded mugs, t-shirts and drink coolers within hours. The mugshot in the US has a mystique all its own and an arresting allure that Andy Warhol seized upon almost 60 years ago in a series of 13 super-sized portraits he fashioned from the New York Police Department's list of most-wanted individuals, which the Pop Artist provocatively plastered to the side of a pavilion in the New York State Fair in 1964, causing a scandal. It was quickly painted over.About shadows they were never wrong, the Old Masters. If the 16th-Century Italian painter Caravaggio were alive today, perhaps he would have found intriguing the conspiracy of darkness and light in a photo caught on the floor of the US House of Representatives in January. Here, the controversial Republican congresswoman and ally of former President Trump, Marjorie Taylor Greene, attempts to persuade a colleague, Matt Rosendale from Montana, to speak to Trump, whom she has on hold on her smartphone. The gadget's glow, Greene's outstretched arm, Rodendale's raised hand in refusal and rumples of dark fabric that frame the scene echo the contours and contrasts of Caravaggio's own chiaroscuro canvases. Continued here

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An entry fee may not be enough to save Venice from 20 million tourists     Venice’s history, art and architecture attract an estimated 20 million visitors every year. The city, a Unesco World Heritage site, is often crammed with tourists in search of special memories. But for the people who actually live there, this level of tourism has become unsustainable. So from 2024, day-trippers will be charged a €5 (£4.31) fee as part of an attempt to better manage the flow of visitors. Continued here

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Online safety bill: why making the UK the 'safest place to go online' is not as easy as the government claims     Among the bill’s key aims is to ensure it is more difficult for young people (under the age of 18) to access content that is considered harmful – such as pornography and content that promotes suicide or eating disorders. It places a “duty of care” on tech companies to ensure their users, especially children, are safe online. And it aims to provide adults with greater control over the content they interact with, for example if they wish to avoid seeing sexual content. The legislation puts the onus on service providers (such as social media companies and search engines) to enforce minimum age requirements, publish risk assessments, ensure young people cannot access harmful content (while still granting adults access) and remove illegal content such as self-harm and deepfake intimate images. Continued here

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Queer film in Africa is rising - even in countries with the harshest anti-LGBTIQ+ laws     Yes, the last decade has seen a proliferation of these films. Nigeria’s Nollywood has produced a considerable body of films portraying queer lived experiences. Although most of these experiences remain largely formulaic and moralistic, there have been films like the 2020 lesbian love story Ife which offer positive images of queerness in Nigeria. With its long history of queer representation in film, South Africa continues to produce work that highlights the diversity of LGBTIQ+ experiences. Christiaan Olwagen’s coming-of-age war musical Kanarie appeared in 2018. The following year saw Moffie by Oliver Hermanus, set in the apartheid army. And Bonnie Sithebe’s 2022 lesbian drama Valley of a Thousand Hills is set in traditional rural South Africa. Continued here

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Lithium-ion battery fires are a growing public safety concern - here's how to reduce the risk     In today’s electronic age, rechargeable lithium-ion batteries are ubiquitous. Compared with the lead-acid versions that have dominated the battery market for decades, lithium-ion batteries can charge faster and store more energy for the same amount of weight.These devices make our electronic gadgets and electric cars lighter and longer-lasting – but they also have disadvantages. They contain a lot of energy, and if they catch fire, they burn until all of that stored energy is released. A sudden release of huge amounts of energy can lead to explosions that threaten lives and property. Continued here

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This Christian text you've never heard of, The Shepherd of Hermas, barely mentions Jesus - but it was a favorite of early Christians far and wide     People usually think about the Bible as a book with a fixed number of texts within its pages: 24 books in the Jewish version of the Bible; 66 for Protestants; 73 for Catholics; 81 if you’re Ethiopian Orthodox.Writings that didn’t make it into the Bible, on the other hand, are often called “apocrypha,” a Greek term that refers to hidden or secret things. There are hundreds of apocryphal Jewish and Christian texts that, for one reason or another, were not included in different versions of the Bible. Some simply fell out of use. Some caused theological headaches for later Jews or Christians, and some were rejected because of their author – for supposedly not having really been written by an apostle, for instance. (When used with a capital “A,” Apocrypha refers to a handful of books included in the Catholic and Orthodox versions of the Old Testament, but not most Protestant ones.) Continued here

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Microphone check - 5 ways that music education is changing     Music education – which traditionally has been heavily reliant on large ensembles and classical music – is changing with the times. Not since the introduction of the school wind ensemble in the 1920s or the growth of marching band in the 1950s has music education undergone such a transformation.The changes occurring now have been developed to bring more students into school and community music classes at all levels of education, from kindergarten to college. Continued here

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Remote workers are more aware of cybersecurity risks than in-office employees: new study     Workers who telecommute tend to be more aware of cybersecurity threats than those who spend most of their time in a physical office and are more likely to take action to ward them off, according to our new peer-reviewed study. Our findings are based on Amazon Mechanical Turk survey data collected from 203 participants who recently switched to full-time remote work, as well as from 147 in-office workers, across multiple organizations within the United States. We didn’t collect data on hybrid workers. Continued here

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What are APIs? A computer scientist explains the data sockets that make digital life possible     APIs, or application programming interfaces, are the gateways to the digital world. They link a wide array of software applications and systems. APIs facilitate communication between different software systems, and so power everything from social media – think of the share buttons on webpages – to e-commerce transactions. At a simple level, APIs are like electrical sockets. A software application that you’re using, say the playback controls for a video on a webpage, is like an appliance. The system that provides data or services that the application needs, say YouTube, is like the electrical grid. The API, in this example the YouTube Player API, is like the standard electrical outlet that lets any appliance plug in to the grid. Continued here

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Why separating fact from fiction is critical in teaching US slavery     Of all the debate over teaching U.S. slavery, it is one sentence of Florida’s revised academic standards that has provoked particular ire: “Instruction includes how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.”Does this sentence constitute “propaganda,” as Vice President Kamala Harris proclaimed, “an attempt to gaslight us?” Continued here

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Loud sounds at movies and concerts can cause hearing loss, but there are ways to protect your ears     Ever go to the movies or a rock concert and been blasted by the sound? You may not realize it while it’s happening, but ongoing exposure to loud sounds at these venues can damage your hearing.Our ears are highly sensitive to loud noise. Even very short exposures to high-level sounds – that’s anything above 132 decibels – can cause permanent hearing loss for some people. That’s true even if it’s just a brief blast; a single gunshot or fireworks explosion can cause immediate damage to the ear. Continued here

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On Sukkot, the Jewish 'Festival of booths,' each sukkah is as unique as the person who builds it     Sukkot is a Jewish festival that follows right on the heels of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, Judaism’s High Holy Days. The harvest holiday, which begins on Sept. 29, 2023, lasts for seven days when celebrated in Israel and eight days when celebrated elsewhere.Like many Jewish rituals and traditions, from lighting Friday night candles to hosting Passover seders, Sukkot is primarily celebrated in the home – or rather, in the yard. Translated as the “Festival of Booths,” Sukkot is celebrated in an outdoor structure called a sukkah, which is carefully built and rebuilt each year. Continued here

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The family home in South African townships is contested - why occupation, inheritance and history are clashing with laws     During apartheid, black South Africans could not own land – and therefore their homes – in what were classified as “white” cities. In racially segregated townships, living in “family houses” and passing them on depended officially on a range of permits. These were usually to rent from state authorities, but in some cases confusingly to build or buy a house without owning the plot underneath it, which was owned by the state.A crucial measure in undoing apartheid was transferring ownership of township houses to their long-term residents. In 1986, a few years before apartheid’s end, the law changed to enable outright ownership for black people in urban areas. Subsequently, processes for transfer on a large scale were established. Continued here

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Environmental disasters and climate change force people to cross borders, but they're not recognised as refugees - they should be     University of Johannesburg provides support as an endorsing partner of The Conversation AFRICA.As our planet warms, we’re experiencing more frequent and severe weather events, rising sea levels, prolonged droughts and altered ecosystems. These environmental shifts directly affect people’s livelihoods by destroying crops and depleting water sources. They make once-inhabitable areas uninhabitable. Continued here

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How to make a perfect romcom - an expert explains the recipe for romance     Picture the scene: it’s a dreary weeknight evening, you’re tired from work, and you want to watch something that will pick you up. My guess is that some of you – perhaps more than would admit it – would pick a romantic comedy. Over the years the romcom has been designated as “chick flick”, dismissed at awards ceremonies (the best picture Oscar primarily goes to drama films) and frequently panned by critics. Yet, critics are not the only ones buying cinema tickets or watching streaming services. Continued here

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The rich history of black British fashion is explored in an exciting new exhibition     The story of black people is often told through a narrow lens, explained curator Andrew Ibi, at the private viewing of his new exhibition at Somerset House. Looking to widen that lens, The Missing Thread tells the rich history of black British Fashion. With designs by Bruce Oldfield, Ozwald Boateng, Bianca Saunders, Saul Nash and the late Joe Casely-Hayford, the show presents a fusion of black British culture through displays on fashion, music and art from the 1970s to the present. Continued here

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How rape myths and unconscious biases prejudice the judicial system against women -- and rape survivors in particular     It is well documented that women who are sexually assaulted, or raped, rarely report the crime to the police. The US charity, the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, has shown that one in six women in the US has been the victim of rape or attempted rape, yet two in three rapes go unreported. For women under 25, that figure drops to one in five. In the UK, these figures are similarly bleak. The Victims’ Commissioner for England and Wales notes that, in the year to December 2021, the police recorded 67,125 rape offences. And yet the charity Rape Crisis says five in six women who are raped don’t report it. Continued here

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World's biggest bat colony gathers in Zambia every year: we used artificial intelligence to count them     Everybody who visits Kasanka National Park in Zambia during “bat season” agrees that the evening emergence of African straw-coloured fruit bats from their roost site is one of the wildlife wonders of the world. The bats (Eidolon helvum) arrive at Kasanka every year around October. The numbers swell rapidly until they peak in November. By January they are gone again.Once they recover from the shock of the breathtaking spectacle, everyone also converges on the same question – how many bats are there? So many fly out so fast, it seems impossible to count them. Past estimates based on visual counts have ranged from 1 million to 10 million, a sign of how difficult the task is. Continued here

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Tyson Fury's Netflix series highlights the mental health challenges faced by Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities     The Netflix documentary series, At Home With The Furys, provides a fascinating look at the day to day life of Tyson Fury, family man and heavyweight boxing world champion. A particular source of pride for Tyson is his heritage as a member of the Traveller community, his boxing moniker being “The Gypsy King”. Yet despite the glitz and glamour that comes with being a millionaire celebrity, Fury has had his internal, as well as external, battles to fight. These include a long history of anxiety and depression, bipolar disorder, substance abuse and suicidal thoughts. Continued here

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Fossil fuel workers have the skills to succeed in green jobs, but location is a major barrier to a just transition     As the U.S. shifts away from fossil fuels to cleaner energy sources, thousands of coal, oil and gas workers will be looking for new jobs. We analyzed 14 years of fossil fuel employment and skills data and found that, while many fossil fuel workers could transfer their skills to green jobs, they historically have not relocated far when they changed jobs. Continued here