Surprising link found between niacin and risk of heart attack and stroke

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Surprising link found between niacin and risk of heart attack and stroke     In the early 20th century, the deadliest nutrient-related disease in US history ravaged the American South. Pellagra, a disease caused by a deficiency in niacin and/or tryptophan, is marked by the four "D's": diarrhea, dermatitis that leads to gruesome skin plaques, dementia, and death. At its peak during the Great Depression, pellagra killed nearly 7,000 Southerners a year. Between 1906 and 1940, researchers estimate that the epidemic struck roughly 3 million Americans, killing around 100,000. Continued here

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Apple Vision Pro's components cost $1,542--but that's not the full story     Research firm Omdia has published the first publicly available educated estimates of how much the materials for each Vision Pro really cost Apple. The analysis sets an overall price tag for the materials and identifies which components cost the most money. Continued here

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5 ways leaders can prioritize positive social impact     In the rapidly evolving business landscape, leaders are expected to redefine success beyond financial metrics. Recent years have shown us that customers, employees and shareholders pay more and more attention to the non-financial success of companies and support those that go the extra mile to be socially responsible. A socially responsible company has policies, plans and systems to identify and manage any social risks related to company operations. Here are five strategies that leaders can implement to prioritize social impact in 2024.  Continued here

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Kagan: Florida social media law seems like "classic First Amendment violation"     The US Supreme Court today heard oral arguments on Florida and Texas state laws that impose limits on how social media companies can moderate user-generated content. Continued here

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External Data and AI Are Making Each Other More Valuable     In private equity and venture capital, firms have invested in using external data sources often referred to as “alternative data,” a broad term used to describe information sourced from outside a company’s internal systems, including social media chatter, news feeds, government reports, industry databases, anonymized credit card transactions, and satellite imagery. For private investors eager to stay on the cutting edge, there are significant opportunities: from identifying potential investment opportunities and conducting due diligence, to adding value post-investment. While these approaches have been honed by investors, they also offer models for how companies across industries can use alternative data. Continued here

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Wear OS "Hybrid" design has two OSes, two CPUs, "100 hour" battery life     Smartwatches are capable little devices, but a big downside is that the battery doesn't last that long. A smartphone-style smooth-scrolling UI usually leads to smartphone-style battery life, where you have to charge the watch every day or so. Simpler fitness devices with more minimal screens and UIs can last a lot longer, but what if there was a smartwatch that could attain the best of both worlds? Continued here

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Going into the Office for the First Time?     If you’re someone who began your career since 2020, it’s possible that you have little experience showing up to your job in person. In fact, for many of you, this year may be your first in the office. A recent survey shows that 90% of employers with office space or who plan to have office space will ask their employees to come in regularly by the end of 2024. That’s a big increase for the U.S., which currently has a 55% return to office rate compared to Europe at 75% and Asia-Pacific at 85%. Continued here

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Windows security updates could come with fewer reboots beginning later this year     Microsoft is already testing Windows 11 24H2, this fall's big new Windows release. The company has already demonstrated a few new features, like 80Gbps USB4 support and Sudo for Windows, and the new version could also give a significant refresh to the Windows installer for the first time since the Windows Vista days. Continued here

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Odysseus has less than a day left on the Moon before it freezes to death     Time is running out for the historic Odysseus lander that made a soft touchdown on the Moon last Thursday evening. Continued here

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The tiny house trend began 100 years ago     Maybe you’ve watched one too many episodes of Tiny House Nation (or Tiny House Hunters or Tiny House, Big Living or Tiny Luxury or Container Homes), and now you want to downsize your life into a 600-square-foot paradise. It’s the new way to live! But as an archival collection shared via JSTOR by Western Michigan University shows, the tiny house trend isn’t new at all. In the 1920s, sociologist and social reformer Caroline Bartlett Crane designed and promoted what we would now consider a tiny home as part of a larger effort to provide adaptable, affordable housing in the United States.Trained in both sociology and in the ministry, Crane believed “that housing reform was essential and perhaps key to all other social improvements in an increasingly democratic society,” writes Nancy J. Rosenbloom, and she looked for solutions to problems wherever possible. In 1891, while in Great Britain on a preaching circuit, she visited the Salvation Army and Toynbee Hall, a “foundational settlement house” in a worldwide movement to provide charitable housing in a manner that would put the working classes in contact with the wealthy. With her church’s “Unity Club,” she conducted a study of Kalamazoo and its municipal services in 1896, gathering data on sanitation, air pollution, housing conditions, and the state of the jails and poorhouse, explains sociologist and Crane scholar Linda Rynbrandt. Continued here

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Hands-On With Samsung's Health-Hacking Galaxy Ring     Last month, Samsung made a surprise product announcement after it debuted its new Galaxy S24 smartphone series—the Galaxy Ring. But it had almost no other information about the smart ring other than its expected release later this year. Well, at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the company held a roundtable to share a few more details about its newest product category. Here's what we know so far.Samsung is positioning the Galaxy Ring as a device for people who want the benefits of a smartwatch without feeling inundated with data. Since there's no screen interaction on a smart ring, the thinking is that the barrier is lower for users to adopt and wear one—they'll still get the health tracking they want without needing to learn a new interface. Continued here

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Why some animals have evolved a sense of humour     When you think about what sets our species apart from other animals, a good sense of humour probably features fairly high up on the list. We love to laugh – so much so, that an appreciation of comedy seems almost ingrained into our species. Babies as young as three months old giggle and find it hilarious when their parents pull funny faces. By eight months, infants have learned how to use their own faces, bodies and voices to make grown-ups laugh. Soon after, parents may notice that their child has turned into a full-time comedian, deliberately playing with things they know they shouldn't with a cheeky grin on their face. Continued here

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The US Supreme Court Holds the Future of the Internet in Its Hands     The US Supreme Court seems torn over whether to trigger a radical transformation of the internet. The nation's highest court heard arguments Monday over state laws in Florida and Texas that restrict how platforms like Facebook and YouTube moderate speech. If the court lets them take effect, social media feeds could look very different, with platforms forced to carry unsavory or hateful content that today is blocked or removed.The high stakes gave long-standing questions about free speech and online regulation new urgency in Monday's arguments. Are social platforms akin to newspapers, which have First Amendment protections that give them editorial control over content—or are they common carriers, like phone providers or telegraph companies, that are required to transmit protected speech without interference? Continued here

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SpaceX discloses cause of Starship anomalies as it clears an FAA hurdle     A little more than three months after the most recent launch of a Starship vehicle, which ended with both the booster and upper stage being lost in flight, the Federal Aviation Administration has closed its investigation of the mishap. Continued here

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Go Ahead, Get a Pet Rat     This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here.Strap in, folks. Today, we're talking about rats: why you should love them, and why you should consider obtaining one for yourself. But first, here are three new stories from The Atlantic. Continued here

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An Upcoming Supreme Court Decision Could Expand Censorship on Social Media     Business owners' rights to advertise products and speak out on public matters has historically been protected under the First Amendment as commercial speech. The rise of social media has brought controversy to how far those protections should stretch, who should be the ones to moderate, and when it's considered censorship. That's the debate behind two proposed laws in Texas and Florida that have made their way to the Supreme Court, both of which allege social media sites like Twitter and YouTube of censoring conservative viewpoints and motion to forbid the platforms from removing such content. Continued here

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Even 'Twilight Zone' Coral Reefs Aren't Safe from Bleaching     Coral reefs hundreds of feet below the ocean surface aren’t as safe as scientists thoughtAs marine biologist Nicola Foster and her colleagues steered a remote-controlled submersible through the coral reefs of the Indian Ocean's Chagos Archipelago, they saw corals full of color near the surface. But nearly 300 feet below, in the dimmer and colder waters of what oceanographers call the “twilight zone,” some corals had turned ghostly white, leaving them vulnerable to disease and death. Continued here

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How clicking a single link can cost millions     Is cybercrime getting easier? Cybersecurity expert Ryan Pullen dives into his work investigating massive digital breaches and testing security blindspots — which led to him gaining access to the software controls of a well-known building in London. Learn more about how cybercriminals exploit human vulnerabilities and hear the latest on how to recognize and protect yourself from scams. Continued here

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Why new fan blog "Final Fantasy VIII is the Best" is the best     It has never been easier to share your thoughts online. Anyone with a smartphone is mere seconds away from spinning up a new account on any number of popular social media platforms and screaming their opinions into the void. Then your casual, tossed-off thoughts are served up to The Algorithm, which decides whether it's briefly pushed in front of the gathered masses or almost instantly forgotten to the ephemeral tide of the endless scroll. Continued here

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Microsoft Just Invested in This French AI Startup to Capitalize on 'Entirely New Businesses'     The company has announced a multi-year partnership with Paris-based artificial intelligence startup Mistral, whose new flagship large language model, Mistral Large, has been added to Azure, Microsoft's cloud computing and application development platform. The move comes as Microsoft reportedly seeks to diversify its partnerships with AI companies beyond OpenAI, in which the company has invested more than $13 billion. Last month, the FTC announced that it had launched an inquiry into generative AI investments by large companies, including Microsoft's investment in OpenAI.Microsoft invested a small amount in the 10-month old Mistral--valued at $2 billion in December--but does not have equity in the business, the Financial Times reported. Microsoft president Brad Smith told the FT that recent advancements in artificial intelligence have ushered in an "AI economy, and it's going to create entirely new businesses and new business categories." Continued here

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Apollo's Sequel Will Be a Gold Rush     The moon hasn't seen this many missions since the Apollo era. This time, humanity might be there to stay.For the past few days, mission control in Houston has been talking to the moon. It's a throwback to an earlier space age, with a few tweaks. Mission control is not NASA, but a private American company called Intuitive Machines, sending instructions to an uncrewed lander about the size of a telephone booth. The spacecraft made a nail-biting descent to the lunar surface on Thursday, with a last-minute software patch to make up for malfunctioning navigation sensors. One of the spacecraft's legs snagged the surface and the whole thing tipped over, landing on its side. But still: It was the first time an American spacecraft had landed on the moon in more than 50 years. The mission is the latest event in what has quickly become the busiest decade in lunar exploration since the 1960s. Government agencies and private companies in the United States, China, India, Japan, Israel, and the United Arab Emirates have all dispatched lunar landers in the past five years, with varying degrees of success. Many more missions, both uncrewed and crewed, are in the works. The U.S., the only country so far that has set people on the moon, aims to repeat the feat as early as 2026, and then start building a sustained presence on the surface. Continued here

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How an AI-Powered Dog Food Brand Secured     The scientist started her career at the Redwood City, California-based Impossible Foods, where she worked in research and development. But once she adopted her dog, Paco, she started to think about how she could use her knowledge in the field of nanoscience to ensure he got the best nutrition possible--leading her, in 2021, to found PawCo, a San Francisco-based plant-based pet nutrition brand.Vazin bootstrapped the company to create its core ingredient: GreenMeat, its plant-based meat, which it developed using artificial intelligence to optimize both its nutrition and palatability. In 2022, PawCo officially launched. Continued here

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Happy Employees, Happy Business: 5 Affordable Ways to Make Your Office Feel Like Home     I once got a job at a law firm that was, frankly, not my first choice. The gig was fine, not great, and so I was surprised a few months later when the firm announced that it was going to have a holiday party. The first clue that something was amiss was that we were told that no spouses or partners were allowed at the party.A few weeks later we all went to the event on, of all things, a Thursday at 2:00 p.m. Like I said, it was strange. But things got downright weird when the managing partner took to the microphone near the end to announce that we all needed to go back to the office to be able to bill for the two hours we had been at the party ... and so everyone thereafter trudged back to the office to work late. Continued here

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Russia's Online Campaign to Destroy Yulia Navalnaya     In the wake of Alexei Navalny's sudden death in a remote Arctic penal colony last week, his wife, Yulia Navalnaya, has emerged as the new face of Russia's opposition movement. A widespread, coordinated, and misogynistic disinformation campaign has emerged online to tarnish her reputation.Lies about Navalnaya having affairs and abortions and not caring about her husband's death are being shared widely on Telegram channels, Russian state-run media, and social media accounts controlled by groups with close ties to the Kremlin. The campaign, which features fake videos and doctored images, continues to gain momentum as Navalnaya speaks out about Navalny's death and criticizes Russian president Vladimir Putin, according to details of the campaign shared with WIRED by researchers at Reset, a London-based nonprofit that tracks disinformation campaigns, and Antibot4Navalny, a group of anonymous Russian researchers who track the online activity of Kremlin-linked trolls. Continued here

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Sony claims to offer subs "appropriate value" for deleting digital libraries     Sony is making an effort to appease customers who will lose their entire Funimation digital libraries when the anime streaming service merges into Crunchyroll. Currently, though, the company's plan for giving disappointed customers "an appropriate value" for their erased digital copies isn't very accessible or clear. Continued here

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Peter Diamandis Predicts 'Millions, Then Billions' of Humanoid Robots Are Coming     XPrize Foundation founder Peter Diamandis predicts that millions or even billions of robots that look and move like people could integrate into consumers' homes and workplaces, thanks to technological breakthroughs including artificial intelligence and a looming labor shortage. The market for these robots could hit $150 billion by 2035 and as much as $3 trillion by 2050, according to figures cited by Diamandis."It's only now, driven by major advances in sensors and actuators, battery technologies and artificial intelligence, that a new generation of useful and affordable robotic labor is within reach," Diamandis wrote in a recent blog post. Continued here

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If You Want to Scale Faster, Choose a Niche and Excel in It     When I founded my tech company, I spent the first several years solely focused on acquiring clients and generating revenue. It was a hustle that I enjoyed and excelled at. Finding prospects, conducting sales meetings, developing proposals, and closing deals. I enjoyed the challenge and the thrill.Over time, I had to bring on other people to help market and sell our services. It forced us to become more focused and systemized. I had to figure out what we were selling, to whom, and what the real benefits of our solutions were. This compelled us to rethink our strategy. I realized that until that point, I was just chasing money and trying to nip at the heels of our bigger competitors. Continued here

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Your Organization Isn't Designed to Work with GenAI     Many companies are struggling to derive value from GenAI because of a fundamental flaw in their approach: They think of GenAI as a traditional form of automation rather than as an assistive agent that gets smarter — and makes humans smarter — over time. The authors suggest a framework, Design for Dialogue, for reimagining their processes to mirror the back-and-forth collaboration of human dynamics to create an effective and adaptable human–AI workflow. At the heart of the framework are three primary components: task analysis, interaction protocols, and feedback loops. Continued here

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Meet the Portuguese-speaking African creators making it big in Brazil     As a child, Baptista Miranda marveled at Brazil, learning about it through lavish soap operas that made the faraway country’s colorful metropolises come alive on screen. From his hometown of Lobito, an Angolan city of about half a million people, he dreamed of visiting Brazil one day.In 2017, Miranda started a YouTube channel dedicated to showing how Brazil was perceived in Angola — both countries were once colonized by Portugal, and continue to share an official language. His initial videos — most of which he recorded on his friends’ devices since he didn’t own a phone — slowly gained popularity. Continued here

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How a Small Iowa Newspaper's Website Became an AI-Generated Clickbait Factory     When two former Meta employees dug into why the website of Iowa's Clayton County Register was spewing dubious posts about stocks, they uncovered a network of sites slinging seemingly AI-made content. Continued here

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How a Right-Wing Controversy Could Sabotage US Election Security     The meeting between top US election officials and their cybersecurity partners from the federal government almost went off without a hitch. Then Mac Warner spoke up.Warner, West Virginia's Republican secretary of state, didn't have a mundane logistical question for the government representatives, who were speaking at the winter meeting of the National Association of Secretaries of State in Washington, DC, on February 8. Instead, Warner lambasted the officials for what he said was their agencies' scheme to suppress the truth about US president Joe Biden's son Hunter during the 2020 election and then cover their tracks. Continued here

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The Strangest Job in the World     This is an edition of the Books Briefing, our editors' weekly guide to the best in books. Sign up for it here.The role of first lady couldn't be stranger. You attain the position almost by accident, simply by virtue of being married to the president, but then it comes with punishingly high expectations. The moment's prevailing ideas about womanhood and marriage—right now, very confused and fluctuating ones—are projected onto the plus-one, who must conform or find some way out from under this burden. Katie Rogers's new book about our most recent first ladies, from Hillary Clinton to Jill Biden, looks at exactly this struggle to play a part for which there is no longer any clear script to follow. Continued here

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How to Celebrate Diversity Beyond Black History Month     Gone are the days when a one-off Black History Month event would suffice. Employees and consumers are now looking for authenticity and year-round engagement. In the events industry, we are seeing an increase in companies looking to tap into different event types and formats to support their diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) programs, to engage with their multicultural audiences and communities.Business and inclusion are interconnected. Companies know that DEIB affects retention, performance, employee engagement, and brand reputation. Gen Z and candidates in younger generations are considering our companies' diversity and inclusion efforts when deciding whether to apply to a job. Continued here

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All the Top New Gadgets at MWC 2024     Mobile World Congress—or just MWC—isn't one of our favorite trade shows just because it's situated in the beautiful city of Barcelona during a seasonally appropriate time of year. (Cheap cava and tapas don't have anything to do with it either.) No, this show is a favorite because it's one of the easiest to navigate, and there's always plenty of interesting, fun, or just plain crazy tech to scavenge through.This year, such bounty includes transparent laptops, bendable phones, a Barbie flip phone, and more. Here are the highlights. Continued here

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Qualities You'll Find in a Quality Executive     Surrounding yourself with the right people is important in every area of life, but especially in business. Whether you're a small start-up, a fast-growing mid-sized business, or a global corporation, your executive team forms the foundation of your company. These individuals are the ones who will establish and maintain the organization's culture, mission, and strategy, so you can imagine how finding a good executive fit can make or break success.Throughout my career, I've had the opportunity to found, grow, and scale 13 businesses, including Fluid Truck, which was named the 9th fastest-growing tech company in North America according to Deloitte in 2022. As a result, I've seen firsthand the necessity of putting the right people in the right roles at the right time. Here's what I learned. Continued here

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Why You Should Offer a Take-Back Program for Your Old Products     Countries around the world are enacting legislation, known as extended producer responsibility regulations, to make companies more accountable for the end-of-life phase of their products. While companies may fear that these take-back programs would lead to increased costs that drive away consumers, new research suggests differently. A series of studies and field experiments have shown that consumers value a product more highly when it’s part of a take-back program, show a greater willingness to pay, and don’t require any additional purchase incentives. Continued here

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Polar ID Is the Face ID Rival for Android Phones, and Could Even Beat Apple     A little more than six years ago, Apple unveiled Face ID. It was a new method to biometrically unlock iPhones and authenticate purchases by scanning your face. Yet after all this time, there still hasn't been a meaningful competitor on Android—at least, not with the same level of security and capabilities.Google's Pixel 8 has Face Unlock, but it has trouble working in the dark; the Face Unlock available on Samsung smartphones can't be used for secure applications, such as banking. In Androidland, the fingerprint scanner is king, but that might not be the case for long. Continued here

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Vertex Is the Last Good Place Online     OK, look, I know how it sounds when I say that I wind down from a long day on the internet by playing a game on the internet. I'm a freelance journalist writing a book about private equity, which means I spend my working hours toggling between half a dozen Google Docs, twice as many academic papers, and enough Chrome tabs to regularly crash my six-year-old computer. And when I'm not writing (which, let's be honest, is often), I'm toggling between Instagram, Bluesky, and X (yes, still). Were I a well-adjusted person, I would close my laptop at 6 pm and practice piano or knitting or, hell, poker—literally any hobby that allows me to detox from the many species of brainworms I contract online.I am not, however, a well-adjusted person, and I fear it's too late to become one. So instead of knitting, I have Vertex. Continued here

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How to Keep Your Loved Ones Safe From Financial Scams     As the guy in my family who writes for WIRED, I often act as tech support. When relatives want to know what phone to buy or why the Wi-Fi sucks in the back room, they ask me. I recently discovered that an elderly family member was being charged more than double what I pay each month for internet service that was 30 times slower. After investigating, I found they were paying well over the odds for mobile data too. The same carrier was charging them significantly more than me, even though I was getting four times the data. My relative had no idea that they were getting a bad deal, and they were reluctant to call, partly because of previous negative experiences and partly because they struggle to hear properly on the phone.For most folks, finding the best deal means wading through a minefield of attractive introductory offers and enticements. But opting to do nothing often means paying more. Anyone lacking the digital skills or willpower to shop around gets ripped off. At the risk of sounding like Jimmy Stewart, "What happened to basic decency?" Overselling is commonplace, loyalty is punished rather than rewarded, and old and vulnerable folks bear the brunt of this cynical exploitation. If your relatives are lucky enough to have you in their lives, here's how you can help. Continued here

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Age of Empires 2 gets another expansion 25 years later, and deservedly so     Real-time strategy (RTS) games aren't getting many new titles or mainstream attention these days, but that need not be a problem. Age of Empires 2, one of the best games in the genre—and some would say of all time, period—continues to be playable on modern systems and is even getting new expansions. Continued here