December 30, 2022 - Is the terrorism threat over?

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Is the terrorism threat over? Chair in Global Islamic Politics, Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University Eight years after raising the national terrorism threat level, Australia recently lowered it again – from mid-range (probable) to low-range (possible). Continued here

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Curious Kids: do all animals have belly buttons? Do live-born lizards have belly buttons, and do live-born reptiles have an umbilical cord? – Gaelle, aged 12, Bristol, UK Humans have belly buttons because before we are born, we are connected to our mothers via an umbilical cord. This is a tube that delivers nourishment to the unborn baby, known as an embryo, and removes waste. It runs from the placenta – an organ in the mother that provides a source of food and oxygen – to the tummy of the embryo. Continued here

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This neuroscientist taught brain cells to play Pong — and shifted how we view human intelligence forever Brett Kagan and his colleagues at Cortical Labs want to understand what motivates brain cells. In theoretical physics, there’s the idea of the multiverse, that beyond our observable universe, other universes or dimensions exist and maybe even overlap our own. It's still just a theory, but it makes you wonder what your potential alternate yous may be up to. Continued here

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Five ways to avoid pain and injury when starting a new exercise regime Getting in the habit of exercising isn’t easy. Not only is finding the time to exercise a major deterrent for people, the fear of aches, pain and injuries is also a reason that people put off starting a new exercise regime. But exercise doesn’t necessarily have to lead to pain or injuries. Here are some simple things you can do to avoid these when starting out. Continued here

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Researchers could observe the middle corona of the sun in a world first Researchers have discovered web-like plasma structures in the Sun's middle corona, according to a recent study published in Nature Astronomy. The results bring us closer to solving a fundamental mystery about solar wind's origins and its connections with other solar system bodies.  Continued here

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Marguerite Duras and the Domestication of Desire The story of the great French modernist Marguerite Duras is rarely told as a tale of household management, despite her obvious talent for it. She made her name writing about the agonies of her own eros in ruthless, blanched sentences—and yet she could also knit socks, sew a set of pajamas, and repair a lamp. She felt strongly that the Spanish were wrong about gazpacho, which should be made with water, not broth, and despite her hellacious drinking and prolific output (more than fifty novels, plays and films) she made sure that the shelves of her country home were stocked with the necessities: wine, potatoes, butter, oil, garlic, insulating tape, steel wool, and nuoc mam. Keeping a house, Duras explains in “Practicalities” (1987), is an endless struggle to impose order on the chaos of everyday experience. Like “doing a balancing act over death,” domestic work defends against the household disasters (adultery, mental breakdown, murder) that structure so many of her works. In “The Ravishing of Lol Stein” (1964), a book about a stifled housewife driven to the far shores of madness by unrequited desire, the hot, anarchic force of Lol’s sexuality is sublimated to “the icy order” of her home. “This obsessive orderliness, both in space and in time, was more or less of the kind she desired, not quite but almost.” It is toward this kind of catastrophe—what happens when a woman’s passion is scoured away—that Duras’s writing is repeatedly drawn. “You can spend your whole life tidying life up,” she writes. Continued here

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Avatar 2: What is the future for visual effects? James Cameron has long been considered a pioneer of cinema. An industry behemoth, the Canadian filmmaker has been celebrated so much for raising the bar for cinematic endeavours – as with The Terminator, The Abyss and Titanic – that South Park parodied him in a 2012 episode. "James Cameron doesn't do what James Cameron does for James Cameron," a fictionalised, cartoon version of the director says after completing a deep-sea mission that sees him literally raise the bar for society. "James Cameron does what James Cameron does because James Cameron is… James Cameron."More like this: 2009's Avatar was considered the pinnacle of his filmmaking prowess. It remains the highest-grossing film of all time thanks to a re-release in 2021 and 2022 to push its cumulative box-office total to $2.85 billion. Narratively, the story might best be described as a rehash of the 1992 Australian animated feature FernGully: The Last Rainforest; a white male saviour similarly teams up with the indigenous inhabitants of a lush ecosystem of flora and fauna to fight back against colonial industrialisation. But visually, critics and audiences across the globe lauded the innovative world-building of jungle-covered moon Pandora and the new VFX realms Cameron and WētāFX (the digital effects company founded by Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson) took cinema goers to. "Avatar is a joyous celebration of story craft and the visual possibilities of cinema," Anne Thompson wrote in a review for IndieWire. "Cameron had set his sights on taking the technology of film where no one had gone before. And he delivers." Continued here

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Bloop! Everything you need to know about Fortnite's Sky Jellies It’s a new week in Fortnite and Epic Games has plenty of new quests for you to complete. Some are straightforward, such as taming wildlife, while others aren’t as simple. One new challenge requires you to gain health or shields from Sky Jellies — a mysterious type of wildlife found around the map. Unfortunately, the game doesn’t specify what this wildlife is or where to find them, so you might struggle to complete this quest. In this guide, we’ll explain where to find Sky Jellies and everything else you need to know about this Fortnite quest. Your best bet is to search the areas in between named locations, such as the spot to the east of Anvil Square. Keep your eyes peeled for floating, blue jellyfish-looking creatures that typically spawn in little groups. Continued here

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The mystery of rising prices. Are greedy corporations to blame for inflation? Many economists and politicians on the left point to the war in Ukraine (for pushing up oil prices, which bleeds into most everything else), and also greedy companies, many of which, despite tales of supply chain snarls and rising costs, have been bringing in record profits. (Corporations, in aisle 4, with the price gun.) Continued here S31 2022 Could Have Been Worse—Much, Much Worse Twelve months ago, on December 29, 2021, Joe Biden closed out the first year of his Presidency with abysmal approval ratings—the lowest at that point for any President, except Donald Trump, since modern polling began. According to the Web site FiveThirtyEight, he had a 43.1 per cent approval rating and a 51.8 per cent disapproval rating. Coverage of his leadership and future prospects was brutal. Biden had seemingly turned Republican predictions of his failure into a self-fulfilling prophecy. A year later, Biden's numbers are all but unchanged. His approval rating stands at a meagre 43.2 per cent—an increase of one-tenth of one per cent—and his disapproval rating is 51.4 per cent. America's oldest President at age eighty, Biden is poised to announce a reëlection bid soon, with a large majority of voters—including Democrats—hoping that he won't run again. Continued here � S8 Watch: A Chinese fighter jet flew within 20 feet of US recon plane this month A Chinese fighter jet came dangerously close to an American aircraft belonging to the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, forcing the U.S. pilot to evasive maneuvers to avoid a collision, The New York Times reported. The U.S. Air Force has declassified the video of the incident and published it. The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command is part of the U.S. Air Force tasked with protecting the national interests of roughly three dozen countries in the South China Sea region, where China has begun flexing its muscles in the past few years. Continued here S70 The Burj Khalifa: The World's Tallest Building What’s the first picture that comes into your mind when you hear the word “Dubai”? I don’t know about you but for most people, it’s the image of Burj Khalifa — the iconic skyscraper that completely changed the way people perceive the Middle East, and especially the UAE. The Burj Khalifa tower is much more than just the world’s tallest building. For many people, it symbolizes the limitless power of the human mind.  Continued here � S34 The 7 best action cameras of 2022 2022 introduced a ton of action camera variations beyond the traditional GoPros that we’re used to. We can always count on GoPro to release the latest edition of its flagship action camera, as we saw again this year. Beyond GoPro’s most recent offering, we saw a handful of other action cameras designed with more specific needs in mind. Continued here S27 A brief history of statistics in football: why actual goals remain king in predicting who will win In 2017, BBC’s Match of the Day introduced a new statistic in their post-match summaries of Premier League matches. Expected goals, or xG, is designed to tell us how many goals a team should have scored based on the quality of the chances they created in a game. It is loved by amateur and professional statisticians alike who want to use data to analyse performance. The BBC regularly uses xG in its Premier League coverage, but this metric was absent from both BBC and ITV coverage at the recent men’s World Cup. A brief look into what xG is and the history of using data to predict football matches may give us some insight into why they decided not to use it. Continued here � S14 Great Entrepreneurs the World Lost in 2022 They worked across an array of industries, but all of these individuals share one thing in common: the entrepreneurial spirit. Continued here S37 Can we map every tree in the world? AI tech could help get us there From AI bot ChatGPT helping college students plagiarize essays to tools like Dall-E potentially spreading misinformation, conversation about the future of AI seems increasingly pessimistic. But some scientists are still banking on AI technology to help save our planet. Researchers deployed an AI technique known as deep learning to map all the individual trees in Rwanda — and their methods could potentially help us conserve trees all around the world. Continued here S39 What is invasive strep A? Here's what you should know about the infection At the heels of a tripledemic — this season’s collision of Covid-19, the flu, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) — comes the rise of invasive group strep A infection (or iGAS). Seen mostly among children, cases of the infectious disease are popping up all over Europe and in some states in the U.S. In the U.K., 21 children (aged 18 and younger) have died, along with 73 adults. In the U.S., where the first spike of invasive strep A was detected in November in Colorado, two children have died. Shortly before Christmas, the CDC sent out a health advisory to all clinicians and public health authorities and assured that while overall cases of strep A and iGAS in the U.S. remain low, the agency would update with any new investigation. Continued here S10 Want to Use a Brand Ambassador to Market Your Business, But Don't Know Where to Start? NASCAR Might Provide the Perfect Blueprint The Association's Chief Revenue Officer Darryl Wolfe on how your business can build effective, lasting, and profitable brand ambassador and partner relationships. Continued here S21 5 Australian women choreographers you should know (and where to see them in 2023) In Australia, even the keenest ballet fan will struggle to recall a dozen ballets by women in The Australian Ballet company’s 60-year history. While men make up a very small proportion of those dancing in this country, the 2018 Turning Pointe report found that in Australia’s major dance companies from 2011 to 2017 only 25% of choreographic commissions were women. Continued here S67 Why Don't We Have The Lightsaber from Star Wars Who doesn’t want a sword that glows and makes you feel like a Jedi? For many Star Wars fans, it has been a dream to hold a real-life lightsaber in their hands at least once in their lifetime. About 55 years have passed since we got introduced to lightsabers in the first Star Wars film. It seems scientists have all the time in the world to develop robots and rocket engines, but not for a lightsaber. Well, “I find their lack of faith disturbing.” Continued here S2 How to buy a social network, with Tumblr CEO Matt Mullenweg But talking about Twitter in a vacuum seems wrong. There are lots of other social networks and community-based products, and they all have basically the same problems: some technical (you have to run the service), some political (you have to comply with various laws and platform regulations around the world), and some social (you have to get millions of users to post for free while making sure what they post is good stuff and not bad stuff). Continued here S15 To Be Honest, These Overused Filler Phrases Really Get on Other People's Nerves Especially in a business setting, where honesty shouldn't need to be declared. Continued here S11 The Best New Feature of the New AirPods Pro Are the Sounds the Case Makes. Here’s What Each One Means Sometimes the little things make all the difference. Continued here S20 Don't like drinking plain water? 10 healthy ideas for staying hydrated this summer Water is an essential nutrient. Our body cannot produce sufficient water to live, so we need to consume water through food and fluids to survive. Maintaining hydration is one of the most fundamental components of good health. But lots of people don’t like drinking plain water much. The good news is there are many other healthy ways to help you stay hydrated. Continued here S29 Reasons I’m Crying on Winter Vacation Follow @newyorkercartoons on Instagram and sign up for the Daily Humor newsletter for more funny stuff. © 2022 Condé Nast. All rights reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. The New Yorker may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast. Ad Choices Continued here S25 Nigeria has a coastal litter problem: it's time to clean up Bottles. Plastic bags. Surgical facemasks. These are just some of the 29,029 items we found along the 180km Araromi coastline Nigeria in nine months while studying marine litter. The litter weighed in at a hefty 465.54kg. The study used the “clean coast index”, a science-based estimation tool used internationally, to assess the cleanliness of the beach. The beach was classified as dirty during the dry season and extremely dirty in the rainy season. Continued here S7 Metaverse fails to meet expectations as VR headset sales shrink in 2022 Virtual reality (VR) technology, once hailed as the next big thing in the tech industry, has yet to live up to its hype. According to data acquired by CNBC from research firm NPD Group, sales of VR headsets in the U.S. declined 2% to $1.1 billion in 2022, while analyst firm CCS Insight reported that worldwide shipments of VR headsets and augmented reality devices fell 12% to 9.6 million during the same period. These figures represent a setback for companies like Facebook, which has invested heavily in the development of its metaverse and VR technology. In 2019, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the company would be rebranding as Meta and investing billions of dollars in the development of the metaverse, a virtual world in which people can interact and do business. Zuckerberg has stated that he expects it to take up to a decade for the metaverse to go mainstream and that it will eventually host hundreds of billions of dollars in commerce. However, the slow adoption of VR technology and the decline in sales and shipments of VR headsets suggest that this goal may be more difficult to achieve than Zuckerberg anticipated. Continued here S9 SpaceX may have to come to the rescue of the stranded ISS crew if the Russian plan fails Reuters reports that NASA and SpaceX are discussing the possibility of sending a Crew Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) to bring back three astronauts who don't have a way to get home. The crew is stranded after a severe leak was detected in the Russian-built Soyuz capsule. A severe leak that saw coolant shooting out of the Russian capsule occurred two weeks ago on the Soyuz spacecraft that carried the Americans Frank Rubio, Sergey Prokopyev, and Dmitri Petelin to the ISS in September. Continued here S24 How to get the most out of sand play: 4 tips from a sculptor One of the things kids love most about the beach is the chance to play with sand. Sand is an excellent material to play with. It is versatile, widely available, open-ended and cheap. Not only is it nature-based, but it involves manipulation, exploration, and construction with materials to create imaginary worlds. Continued here S65 Why Don't We Still Have Flying Cars From Blade Runner Movie Isn’t modern technology supposed to make gadgets of the future a reality? What about those flying cars we have seen in the Blade Runner movies, and the Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets? When do I get to fly around in my Ford Mondeo? Surely with airplanes of all sizes being a common sight, flying cars can’t be all that hard to make. Syd Mead, an American neo-futurist concept artist, and industrial engineer, created the Spinners featured in the first Blade Runner film released in 1982. These Spinners could be operated as ground-based vehicles; they could take off vertically, hover, and make use of jet propulsion to cruise, just like the VTOL aircraft of today. Isn’t this everything we’ve wanted in our flying cars? Continued here S6 The fascination and complexity of the world's hardest math problems Mathematics has been a fascinating and challenging subject for centuries. From the ancient Greeks to modern-day mathematicians, the pursuit of understanding and mastering math has been a source of intrigue and intellectual curiosity.  But have you ever wondered what the hardest math problem is? What could be so challenging and complex that even the most brilliant mathematicians have yet to find a solution?  Continued here S23 The sky isn't just blue - airglow makes it green, yellow and red too Look up on a clear sunny day and you will see a blue sky. But is this the true colour of the sky? Or is it the only colour of the sky? The answers are a little complicated, but they involve the nature of light, atoms and molecules and some quirky parts of Earth’s atmosphere. And big lasers too – for science! Continued here S5 The year's worst video game writing I’m going to pick on Neon White, which is still a very good game that I would recommend. It’s a first-person speedrunner with clever level design — a combination of readable elements and mechanics that make parkouring across the map intuitive and satisfying. I’m neither a twitchy perfectionist nor a completionist, but the game compelled me to shave milliseconds off of my time. (A sneaky leaderboard shows you scores from your friends, and I suddenly became very competitive with Jay.) Continued here S3 The many, many controversies surrounding the 2022 World Cup, explained The 2022 FIFA World Cup is set to kick off in Qatar on November 20, stirring excitement and anticipation in soccer fans around the world. But even if you’re not a die-hard soccer fan, you’ve probably heard something about the many controversies swirling around this year’s edition of the most famous sporting event in the world. Continued here S49 You need to watch the most high-octane crime thriller on Netflix ASAP Why watch Emily make a fool of herself gallivanting around Paris in tacky platforms with trust-fund baby price tags when you could be watching Emily commit credit card fraud? Such is the choice Netflix subscribers have had to make recently, as both Emilys (Emily Cooper, unable to pronounce croissant, and Emily Benetto, bad girl gone badder) have appeared on the streamer. While Lily Collins radiates bubblehead joy throughout Emily in Paris, Aubrey Plaza, who stole scenes in Season 2 of The White Lotus, is all slow, bubbling-over rage in Emily the Criminal. Continued here S43 Astronomers find a star pulling its giant exoplanet into a death spiral Kepler-1658b’s orbit is getting a little shorter – and therefore a little closer to the blazing surface of its star – every year. In a star system 2,600 light years away, a Jupiter-like exoplanet called Kepler-1658b is spiraling toward a fiery collision with its star, and it could shed light on the terrible fate that awaits our own cozy world. Continued here S28 What ancient wisdom can teach businesses about sustainable finance The world of business tends to prioritise concepts of profit maximisation, economies of scale and the importance of shareholder value. As the industry has developed over centuries, these concepts have become deeply embedded in global financial systems. But some businesses in certain parts of the world operate based on respect for all living beings, not just humans – particularly in countries that adhere to dharmic religions such as Jainism and Hinduism (primarily across the Indian subcontinent, southeast and central Asia). Learning about such ways of working could help the global business world to become more sustainable and address the climate crisis. Continued here S59 'Credible threat': 400 million Twitter users' private data allegedly at risk A private Israeli cybercrime company has warned of the "credible threat" of online criminals allegedly attempting to sell the privacy information of 400 million Twitter users, including well-known figures from around the world. Model Cara Delevingne, American politician Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, pop musician Shawn Mendes, and former Australian prime minister Scott Morrison are among the celebrities whose private information may have been exposed, according to the private intelligence firm Hudson Rock. Continued here S13 4 Rare Workplace Habits of Exceptionally Happy Employees Happy workers are more productive workers. Continued here S66 China reveals ambitious plans for Asia's largest optical telescope Peking University has ambitious plans to build the largest optical telescope in Asia, according to an article by Space.com published on Wednesday. The new telescope will have an aperture of 19.7 feet (6 meters) by 2024 while its mirror will be expanded to 26.2 feet (8 m) by 2030. The project in English is called the Expanding Aperture Segmented Telescope (EAST) and according to a statement "will greatly improve China's observation capabilities in optical astronomy."  Continued here S62 CES 2023: LG's 240Hz new display has only 0.03ms reaction time LG Display, the pioneer of display technologies in the world, will introduce its 27- and 45-inch UltraGear OLED gaming displays at CES 2023 in January, according to a press release published by the company today. The company hopes to improve its position as a leader in the high-end gaming sector through these state-of-art products. Continued here S60 The richest tech founders and executives lost $400 billion in 2022 Founders and CEOs of the world's biggest technology companies have together seen more than $400 billion wiped off from their fortunes in 2022, Markets Insider reported. Macroeconomic conditions have led to an outflow of money from tech stocks to safer havens, making billionaires poorer this year. The pandemic years saw a major bull run by technology stocks as investors pumped more money into these companies that looked poised to survive the economic backlash of COVID-19. It was during these years that the likes of Apple and Microsoft reached $2 trillion valuations and Tesla, although a carmaker, saw a meteoric rise in its stock price. Continued here S44 10 plant and fungus species named in 2022 highlight biodiversity threats Every year, thousands of new species of plants and fungi are discovered, proving again and again just how much we still don’t know about our world. And each year, Britain’s Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew highlights 10 key discoveries. Even as they’re being discovered, some species are already endangered. Naming them won’t put a stop to that, but it shines a needed light on their precarious situation and shows us what conservationists are working to protect. Continued here S68 Why Don't We Have Invisibility Cloaks? Remember all those embarrassing times when you sunk low in your seat and wished for no one to see you? Or the tangent spurred on from that moment when you wondered when you would be gifted an invisibility cloak, just like the one Harry Potter did in the first movie? Oh, is it not just me, then? Aha! Well, those cloaks do not exist. Or do they? You see, when Harry first put the cloak on and his body disappeared, it was the Visual Effects Department who applied a green screen effect over this one-of-a-kind cloak made for the movie using a unique velvet fabric adorned with Celtic designs and ancient runes.  Continued here S33 You need to watch the most tragically underrated epic on HBO Max ASAP Christopher Lambert couldn’t speak English when he was cast in Highlander. This single detail not only perfectly explains his unique performance in the cult 1986 fantasy film, but it’s also a microcosm of the effective surrealism that Highlander probably achieved on accident. Although Highlander concerns the machinations of secret immortals, the mortal stakes drive the movie. Lambert, a French actor born in New York and raised in Geneva, stars as Connor Macleod, a 16th-century Scotsman who discovers he cannot be slain. Before Highlander, Lambert was mostly known for Greystroke (1984), in which he played Tarzan, and the stylish Luc Besson thriller Subway (1985). Early in Highlander, when Connor is interrogated by New York City cops, one of them says, “You talk funny... where are you from?” When Connor replies, “Lots of different places,” Lambert could have been talking about himself. Continued here S22 Digital nomad visas offer the best of two worlds: what you should know before you go Imagine starting your work day with a fresh coconut juice perched by your laptop as you gaze over the ocean or a tropical rainforest. It’s the sort of thing to fantasise about during long, tiresome commutes and days in a claustrophobic, noisy office. Continued here S42 30 years ago, James Cameron wrote a wild Spider-Man movie — and almost changed Marvel forever The Marvel Cinematic Universe is currently enchanted by the multiverse. Loki, What If...?, and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness let Marvel explore the concept in a variety of ways, but it’s almost unanimously accepted among fans that the most exciting MCU multiverse moment was when Tom Holland’s Spider-Man was joined by Andrew Garfield’s and Tobey Maguire’s in Spider-Man: No Way Home. But in another version of our world, a fourth and older Spider-Man would have joined the ranks. And he would have been played by Leonardo DiCaprio, in a throwback to a movie written and directed by James Cameron. Continued here S63 Did We Really Land On The Moon? Well, it’s 240,000 miles (385,000 km), and you’d be surprised to know that this call was made from the White House to the moon —- Yes, you heard that right “to the moon”. On July 20, 1969, US president Richard Nixon made a historic telephone call to congratulate Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin for their successful moon landing.   The first moon landing was indeed a giant leap for many reasons. For the first time, humans really touched the moon and even walked on the lunar surface.  President Nixon made the longest call in human history, and NASA one-upped the Soviet space program like forever. Continued here S45 'Genshin Impact' Ayato build strengthens his powerful Shunsuiken attacks He does what he can for his family, that’s for sure. Kamisato Ayato, the head of the Kamisato Clan and the Yashiro Commissioner, took charge of his clan at a young age with the finesse of a grown politician. He handles the governance side of the clan while his sister, Ayaka, manages the clan’s internal and external affairs. Both Kamisato siblings make formidable allies in many team comps. In Ayato’s case, he’s known for his fast-hitting Shunsuiken normal attacks and a kit that complements the Echoes of an Offering artifact set. He and Childe are two of the best Hydro DPSes in the game that serve different purposes depending on the team. Continued here S16 12 unforgettable style moments of 2022 This year has been a rollercoaster – and fashion was no slouch in responding to our messy times. It lurched between moods of cosiness and glamour, austerity and extravagance, the futuristic and the nostalgic, the bizarre and the straight-laced. It also reeled between the casual and the ready to go out-out, as we teetered between a post-pandemic desire to get dressed up and apply lots of lip gloss, and a more down-at-heel mood, a hangover from all those months in tracksuit bottoms. Put plainly, fashion in 2022 has been a heck of a ride. Here are the items and moments that might help to make some sense of the chaos: Continued here S58 200 vehicles have been involved in a huge pileup in China According to official Chinese state media, CNN reports, a single individual was killed on Wednesday, the 28th of December 2022, in a major collision involving more than 200 automobiles in the city of Zhengzhou in central China. According to state-owned The Global Times, the pileup occurred on a bridge obscured by thick morning fog, which led to many vehicles colliding. Continued here S38 How that wild 'Crisis Core' ending sets up 'Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth' Final Fantasy VII is one of the most renowned stories in all of gaming, and Crisis Core Reunion brings a fascinating new dimension to the overall narrative of the franchise, delving further into characters like Zack, Cloud, and Aerith. Crisis Core serves as a direct prequel to both FF7, but ever since the release of Final Fantasy VII Remake, the timeline — or timelines? — have gotten a bit muddled. Even though the original Crisis Core was released in 2007, it’s clear the game’s story will have some major influences on Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. In order to unravel just what might be coming in FF7’s future, we’ll break down the ending of Crisis Core Reunion. After being experimented on for four years in the laboratories of Nibelheim, Zack breaks himself and Cloud out and escapes Shinra. En route to Midgar, Zack learns that Genesis is entering the final phase of his plan, and so he goes to the ruin of Banora in order to stop it. Continued here S52 Tech Talent Is Flooding the Job Market Unlike other economic downturns, when employers cut roles no longer critical to business operations, laid-off workers from the tech sector offer a wide range of highly sought-after skills, including artificial intelligence, automation, data science, and more. By recruiting and hiring from the former ranks of the world’s leading digital companies, traditional companies can gain access to new talent who can help turn their stagnant business models into digitally agile models to prepare for increasingly turbulent business environments. In this article, the authors identify the reasons for these layoffs and explain how non-tech companies can benefit from the sudden influx of tech talent. Continued here S53 Hustles: 50 Side Gigs, Side Hustles, and Side Businesses that Work - StartUp Mindset Are you looking to make a little extra money on the side? Or maybe you’re interested in finding something that you can do that will one day replace your full-time job? Well, you’ve come to the right place. Whether your job doesn’t pay you enough, or if you make enough at your current job but are looking for some extra spending money, having a side hustle is the perfect way to earn some additional income without having to leave the security of your job. Continued here S4 Argentina are the most tactically flexible World Cup winners we have ever seen This is how World Cups are won. They are rarely won by truly legendary sides, and they are often not won by the outstanding side in the tournament. The World Cup isn’t about playing spectacular football all the way through; it’s simply about finding a way. It usually involves shutting down the opposition, and generally depends upon fine margins. Continued here S55 Check out this footage of NASA's SWOT satellite unfolding itself in orbit NASA released a video of its Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) spacecraft opening up in space after being sent into space successfully onboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 earlier this week. But before it could use its sensitive remote sensing equipment, it had to put out its arrays of solar panels, which give the satellite power. After completing that critical phase, the satellite could then unfold its substantial mast and antenna panels. The program uses telemetry data to track and control the satellite. It also put four commercial cameras on the spacecraft to record what's happening. Continued here S36 Everything to know about 'Ys X,' a major step forward for the RPG franchise Falcom has long been the “B-tier” RPG company, playing second fiddle to the likes of Square Enix and Atlus, with Final Fantasy and Shin Megami Tensei respectively. Over the years, however, Falcom has shown absolutely incredible growth, both in terms of success and the quality of its game design. Ys remains the company’s flagship series, and both Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana and Ys IX: Monstrum Nox represent some of the best action RPGs of the last decade. Once again, Falcom is set to redefine the franchise with Ys X: Nordics, a brand new game set to celebrate Ys’ 35th anniversary. While it’s still a ways out from release, here’s everything we know about Ys X: Nordics. Ys X: Nordics is planned for release in 2023 in Japan on PS4, PS5, and Nintendo Switch. However, Western fans should expect there to be at least a bit of a wait before NIS America localizes the game. Falcom’s games never have simultaneous releases, and the time for localization has varied wildly for past titles. Ys VII was localized roughly one year and three months after its Japanese release, while Ys IX took nearly two years. Combine that with the fact that NIS America is currently localizing multiple Trails games for Falcom, and we’re likely looking at a 2024 release at the earliest. Continued here S47 Alaskan HAARP experiment fired two-second 'chirps' to a near-Earth asteroid Amateur radio enthusiasts listened on as the University of Alaska's HAARP facility beamed signals to bounce off a Near-Earth asteroid. Amateur radio operators around the world heard an Alaskan science facility “chirp” an asteroid. Continued here S54 Twitter suffers global outage, remains unavailable for thousands of users Twitter users across the globe from New York to Tokyo reported trouble using the service on Wednesday, December 28, between seven and 10 in the evening Eastern Time, Engadget reported. The issue peaked around 7:44 PM ET when over 10,000 users reported their problems at Dowdetector.com. The unavailability of the service was also reported directly to the CEO Elon Musk, who calmly tweeted back: Continued here S57 A new head-up display could change how we drive in the future Continental AG, the German developer of pioneering technologies in mobility, has been picked to receive the Innovation Award for its Scenic View Heads-Up Display (HUD) at CES 2023, the company said in a press release. The CES is a technology trade show held in Las Vegas in January every year. Continental, a more than a century and a half old company, has developed technologies that enable safe, efficient, and intelligent movement of people and vehicles. According to its website, technologies developed by the company are used widely in popular brands such as Volkswagen, BMW, and Ford, including their recent offerings in the electric vehicle (EV) segment. Continued here S40 'Genshin Impact' Dehya release window, story, and abilities Another cat-eared lady? Yes, please. Dehya, a mercenary that hails from the desert region of Sumeru, is the next expected 5-star character to come to Genshin Impact. She’s the last out of the leaked Sumeru characters from before Genshin Impact 3.0 to be announced. The Traveler first meets her during the first chapter of the Sumeru Archon questline as a hired bodyguard in charge of protecting Dunyarzad, a devotee of Lesser Lord Kusanali and one of the major characters in that chapter of the story. From there, fans were wooed by her distinct character design and the inner kindness under her tough exterior. Continued here S64 A special enzyme may be a target for future cancer treatments Researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine have uncovered a surprising discovery – an enzyme that normally defends human cells against viruses could contribute to the evolution of cancer towards more malignancy.  Through its ability to cause mutations in cancerous cells, this newly identified target holds potential for novel treatments aimed at battling deadly diseases. Continued here S12 Starbucks Just Made a Change to Its Rewards Program and It’s the 1 Thing No Company Should Ever Do Free coffee is about to cost you more. Continued here S61 Why blockchain will remain a big deal in 2023 and beyond As 2022 draws to a close, the cryptocurrency market is under great scrutiny. From the crypto winter of 2021 that saw Bitcoin lose almost a third of its value and other cryptocurrencies follow suit to security issues with crypto exchanges, bridges, and web 3.0 apps, and of course, FTX’s dramatic failure, it’s almost impossible to disbelieve tales of gloom. However, looking at the forecasts for 2023, it appears the market may rebound, and now may even be an ideal moment to invest.  Web 3.0 and its emphasis on decentralization, token-based economies, NFTs, and the metaverse, rests on blockchain technology. New cryptocurrencies spring up every day, and crypto trading solutions like Dash 2 Trade promise a reliable algorithm that will help traders decipher what tokens to invest in. While it’s undeniable that cryptocurrency assets are still extremely risky investments and are reeling from some heavy losses, including those based on fraud, the industry isn’t done just yet. And if market cycle theories are anything to go by, we can assume that when assets are bearish (in decline), the most likely direction they will go – at some point in the future – is up. Let’s explore some of the reasons why blockchain will likely still be a big deal in 2023. Continued here S35 The best mobile game of 2022 is impossible to put down From Elden Ring to God of Wår Ragnarök to Xenoblade Chronicles 3, there was no shortage of amazing new video games in 2022. But while the hype for these blockbuster titles was through the roof — and many of them managed to meet or even exceed expectations — one game completely caught me by surprise Marvel Snap, a free-to-play card battle game released by developer Second Dinner in October 2022, is easily the year’s best. (It also won Best Mobile Game at The Game Awards 2022.) It might not have epic explosions or a massive open world, but it completely nails its gameplay loop and is simply impossible to put down. Continued here S56 Researchers discovered a microscopic organism that eats viruses Viruses have long been thought off the menu for almost all organisms, but a new study shows that viruses might be a delicious meal more often than once thought. Researchers have found that some animals have learned to eat certain viruses and use them for food and energy. John DeLong and his colleagues at the University of Nebraska have discovered that a species of Halteria—microscopic ciliates prevalent in freshwater habitats worldwide—can consume a sizable number of infectious chloroviruses. For the first time, the team's laboratory tests have also demonstrated that a virus-only diet, or "virovory," can support an organism's physiological growth and even population increase. Continued here S48 Why does cheese taste like cheese? Food experts explain how microbes work magic Nothing beats a holiday cheese board. Sure, you may eat cheese all year round, but the holidays are the perfect excuse to indulge in varieties you wouldn’t usually slide into a sandwich. Maybe you’re looking forward to reaching for a rich, sharp Cheddar to layer on a cracker topped with chutney. Or picking up a piece of toasted bread to dunk into the gooey, warm center of a wheel of Camembert. Continued here S46 Evie’s smart ring is ‘designed for women’ and aimed at challenging Oura Movano Health's Evie smart ring will offer insights into your heart and menstrual health for less than $300 and without the need for a monthly subscription. In a clear shot across the bow at Oura and wearable makers at large, Movano Health has announced Evie, a smart ring “designed uniquely for women,” ahead of planned demos at CES 2023 next week. Continued here S50 What Makes Some People More Productive Than Others Last year HBR.org published a survey to help professionals assess their own personal productivity – defined as the habits closely associated with accomplishing more each day. Nearly 20,000 people from six continents completed it, and the results provide some useful insights into important productivity habits and challenges facing professionals. Three general patterns stood out: First, working longer hours does not necessarily mean higher personal productivity. Working smarter is the key to accomplishing more of your top priorities each day. Second, age and seniority were highly correlated with personal productivity — older and more senior professionals recorded higher scores than younger and more junior colleagues. Third, the overall productivity scores of male and female professionals were almost the same, but there were gender differences on particular habits that promote personal productivity. Continued here S51 3 Workplace Biases that Derail Mid-Career Women Mid-career women are often surprised by the levels of bias and discrimination they encounter in the workplace, especially if they’ve successfully avoided it earlier in their careers. After speaking to 100 senior women executives, the authors identified three distinct kinds of bias and discrimination faced by mid-career women: unfair assumptions, unhelpful attention, and unequal access. They describe each bias and conclude with recommendations for overcoming them. 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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