Pelican Press

Trump asks Supreme Court to let DOGE access sensitive Social Security data – Politico Trump asks Supreme Court to let DOGE access sensitive Social Security data – Politico Trump asks Supreme Court to let DOGE access sensitive Social Security data PoliticoTrump Asks Supreme Court to Let DOGE View Social Security Data The New York TimesTrump administration asks Supreme Court to grant DOGE access to Social Security data NBC NewsTrump order targeting law firm struck down; supreme court asked to allow Musk’s Doge access to social security data – as it happened The GuardianTrump brings DOGE fight over access to Social Security data to Supreme Court CNN Source link #Trump #asks #Supreme #Court #DOGE #access #sensitive #Social #Security #data #Politico Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

The Universe’s Brightest Lights Have Surprisingly Dark and Mysterious Origins The Universe’s Brightest Lights Have Surprisingly Dark and Mysterious Origins Some of the brightest lights in the universe shine from some of its darkest corners — so-called supermassive ****** holes. Invisible to the human eye, these high-energy powerhouses light up the cosmos with emissions that are detected by space telescopes. Thousands of such light sources have been discovered with NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, which has been observing since 2008. These aren’t just stars — they are active galactic nuclei (AGN) where large gravitational forces fling matter around ****** holes, creating intense radiation blasts all across the electromagnetic spectrum. Blazars and AGN Jets Reveal How ****** Holes Shape and Light Up the Universe As per NASA’s observational data, ****** holes lurk at the centres of most galaxies and are hundreds of thousands to billions of times the mass of the sun. In AGN, gas and dust fall into an inward-spiralling disk. Second, the disks experience friction and magnetic forces that produce light from radio to gamma rays. About one in ten AGN produce powerful jets of particles that move at nearly the speed of light, and it’s still a mystery to scientists how material so close to the event horizon is accelerated in the jets. Interestingly, the type of AGN observed depends on its orientation relative to Earth. Radio galaxies shoot their jets sideways, while blazars aim them nearly straight at us, making them appear especially bright in gamma rays. Fermi’s sky surveys show that more than half of the thousands of gamma-ray sources it has recorded are blazars, giving researchers vital clues about the energetic mechanics behind these cosmic light shows. AGN are more than just bright; scientists are attracted to them for what they tell us about cosmic history. AGN existed in the early universe and were probably important in modulating galaxy evolution. Astrophysicists will use observations and analyses of the conditions directly around these ****** holes to learn more about the structure and history of the universe itself. The paradox is acute: ****** holes are famous for eating up all the light and matter they can latch onto, but they lie behind some of the most luminous phenomena seen in space. Through missions like Fermi, scientists are adjusting the picture of the universe, in which some of its darkest origins can sparkle the most. Source link #Universes #Brightest #Lights #Surprisingly #Dark #Mysterious #Origins Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

WAFL 2025: East Fremantle cruise to big win as Swan Districts go down again in 45-point hammering WAFL 2025: East Fremantle cruise to big win as Swan Districts go down again in 45-point hammering Swan Districts remain the only winless team in the WAFL as a Milan Murdock masterclass led East Fremantle to a 45-point victory. Source link #WAFL #East #Fremantle #cruise #big #win #Swan #Districts #45point #hammering Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Ed Miliband’s team of climate extremists is leading us to disaster Ed Miliband’s team of climate extremists is leading us to disaster Anyone in any doubt over Ed Miliband’s eco zealotry need look no further than the Energy and Climate Change Secretary’s top team. It is almost as if we have Extinction Rebellion (XR) directing the ***’s energy policy. His special adviser Tobias Garnett formerly led the group’s legal team in a crucial High Court case that ruled the police ban on the activists’ protests was unlawful after they shut down roads around Parliament, superglued themselves to a plane at London City Airport and sparked an outcry by jumping on top of Tube trains during rush hour. Garnett has boasted that “direct action like this may be justified to avert the greater damage that climate change promises”. Also on Team Ed is socialist Jonty Leibowitz, who advocates a 100 per cent tax imposed on football transfers from abroad and an extra 2 per cent tax on all transfer fees with higher rates from Premier League clubs. He also believes “regional banking should be charged with … financing the energy transition”. Fellow Miliband adviser Eleanor Salter, who has described XR as “hugely successful”, wrote a 2021 article for the socialist magazine Tribune, in which she argued that “tackling air pollution and climate breakdown requires a fundamental shift … including taking many cars off the roads altogether”. In another Tribune piece, the self-confessed Jeremy Corbyn and Bernie Sanders fan called for a “right to roam” across the countryside, to challenge “the vastly unequal land ownership on this island”. This would include “the Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller communities” who should not live in “fear of trespass”. Salter also advocates the “managed decline” of industries that use fossil fuels. Rachel Kyte, appointed as the ***’s climate envoy by Labour, has previously expressed support for XR, including wearing a badge associated with the group. No wonder Miliband has struggled to distance himself from XR, which he once compared to the Suffragettes. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more. Source link #Milibands #team #climate #extremists #leading #disaster Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

US army plans for a potential parade of 6,600 soldiers on Trump’s birthday – The Guardian US army plans for a potential parade of 6,600 soldiers on Trump’s birthday – The Guardian US army plans for a potential parade of 6,600 soldiers on Trump’s birthday The GuardianMilitary parade to honour US Army will fall on Trump’s birthday BBCVeterans’ Groups Object to Trump’s Proposal to Rename Veterans Day The New York TimesTrump to mark Army’s birthday, and his, with parade of 6,600 soldiers The Washington PostTrump to host military parade to celebrate Army’s 250th birthday, honor active-duty service members, veterans Fox News Source link #army #plans #potential #parade #soldiers #Trumps #birthday #Guardian Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

1 Clue in Castlevania That Hints the Reincarnation of Dracula 1 Clue in Castlevania That Hints the Reincarnation of Dracula Which universe better represents the battle between good and evil than Castlevania? The eternal struggle between the vampire-hunting Belmont Clan and Count Dracula, the Dark Lord, is full of action, adventure, and mystery. However, Julius Belmont brought this struggle to an end in 1999 during the events of Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow. By severing Dracula’s tie to the power of Chaos, Belmont ended his dark reign. However, a subtle hint in Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow suggests that the evil is far from gone. This hint tells us about a potential reincarnation of the Dark Lord who will ensure that Dracula’s dark reign continues. The power of Chaos is a lingering threat in Castlevania Richter speaks to Dracula in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night | Credits: Konami Dracula’s death was a pivotal moment for the Castlevania franchise. The dude had been alive for several centuries, and it took a whole lineage of Belmonts to kill him for good. Julius Belmont (the most badass Belmont in our opinion) separated him from the power of chaos, depriving him of his immortality. This also ended the cycle of resurrection that saw Dracula being reborn every century. This, however, wouldn’t end the terror. The power of chaos in itself is an entity that cannot be eradicated. It is a perpetual force that serves as a catalyst for evil and corrupts those around it. It is unbound by Dracula, and as seen in Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, the power can anoint a new Dark Lord if certain conditions are met. In Dawn of Sorrow, we see Dmitri Blinov and Dario Bossi, who are supposed to inherit the power of Chaos after Dracula. They are drawn to the power and have qualities that mirror Dracula. This suggests that anyone can become the Dark Lord if they can access the power of chaos. This underscores why Dracula’s death doesn’t signify the end of evil. Comment byu/KurisuKagato from discussion incastlevania This falls in line with Arikado’s (Alucard) warning during Dawn of Sorrow, which tells us that as long as Chaos exists, someone will inevitably try to channel its power. This means that no matter how many Draculas or Dark Lords the Belmonts can kill, they will never truly be able to eliminate the essence of evil. Dawn of Sorrow hints at the reincarnation of evil Dracula tells Richter that he (Dracula) was summoned by humans | Credits: Konami The Castlevania series has long established that Dracula’s resurrection is cyclic in nature. Every hundred years or so, a new Dracula is born, who holds the same amount of power and malic as the one before him. If this pattern holds, then a new Dracula should have been born to succeed the Dracula who died in 1999. The story has made it clear that Dracula’s essence, along with the power of Chaos, is something that can’t be completely destroyed. Alucard’s statement in Dawn of Sorrow foreshadows the inevitable. The cult’s efforts to foster a new Dark Lord show us that true evil will always find a way to seep its claws and fangs into the world. While Dracula can’t be revived or resurrected in flesh, his essence continues to live on and corrupt. The presence of Dmitri and Dario reinforces this idea. Both were born just after Dracula had been killed by Julius, and possess certain evil qualities we last saw in Dracula. Dracula’s permanent death is a fleeting triumph in Castlevania. The cult and Alucard’s statement in Dawn of Sorrow about evil never truly ending, reveal the inevitable: though he can’t be revived in flesh, Dracula’s essence and malice endure through the power of Chaos, and as long as this power persists, the Belmonts continue to face the undying shadow of Dracula’s evil. Castlevania and Castlevania: Nocturne are available to stream on Netflix. Source link #Clue #Castlevania #Hints #Reincarnation #Dracula Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

‘F**ing erased them again’: Outrage as women’s violence mural defaced in iconic Melbourne laneway ‘F**ing erased them again’: Outrage as women’s violence mural defaced in iconic Melbourne laneway Police are investigating after a mural in an iconic Melbourne laneway highlighting violence against women was vandalised with the words ‘war on men’. Source link #Fing #erased #Outrage #womens #violence #mural #defaced #iconic #Melbourne #laneway Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Ground zero for the collapse of the Catholic church Ground zero for the collapse of the Catholic church Credit: Instagram/aguavivaperu Could this be scheduled for 10am Saturday please? Thank you The warm up act resembles a K-pop band. For half an hour, five young singers bounce on the stage, belting out glitzy Christian tracks in the vast auditorium. “Even when I failed you, you were always there for me,” croons one of the men in white trainers, ****** jeans and a white T-shirt, as multi-coloured spotlights flash across the stage. “A day in your house is worth more than 1,000 years without you,” sings a young woman. The Amauta Coliseum, in the centre of the Peruvian capital, Lima, which once hosted everything from a Miss Universe pageant to Ricky Martin concerts, is perhaps only a third full. But with a capacity of 20,000 people, that still means this evangelical service has attracted more congregants – by two orders of magnitude – than most Catholic churches in Latin America, which is experiencing a drastic decline in Catholicism despite the first South American pontiff, Pope Francis, sitting in the ******** from 2013 until his death last month. x Eventually, the band makes way for Carla Hornung, a slim, blonde preacher, in a flowing floral trouser suit. With a gleaming smile, she launches into a sermon about “identity” and how to avoid “toxic thoughts, emotions and ideas” by acknowledging Christ. Amid the self-help lecture peppered with biblical references, Miss Hornung encourages followers of Agua Viva, a neo-Pentecostal mega-church that preaches an unabashedly materialistic “theology of prosperity”, to enrol in its “leadership” MA programme. At one point, the huge TV screen behind her displays Agua Viva’s bank account details, complete with a QR code, as she urges congregants to donate. Similar scenes play out not just on Sundays but throughout the week in protestant churches large and small across Latin America, a region renowned as the most Catholic in the world, yet where evangelicals have for decades been rapidly attracting millions of converts. Numbers vary and the demographics are complicated, but according to one major study by the Pew Research Center, only 69 per cent of Latin Americans identified as Catholic in 2013, down from 94 per cent in the 1950s. Thanks to population growth, the number of Catholics has actually risen in all regions in the world over the past century, including Latin America. The total jumped from 1.39 billion in 2022 to 1.406 billion in 2023. Yet while other regions, above all Africa and Asia, have seen significant jumps in the proportion of Catholics, Europe’s figures have remained stagnant, while the Church has, relatively, been rapidly losing ground in Latin America. The trend in Latin America was established long before Pope Francis assumed office in 2013. It continued throughout his time in the ********, notwithstanding his common touch and immense popularity. His attempts to halt the slide – and their lack of success – are now part of his legacy. x The reasons are complex and rooted in rapid social changes, especially rural-to-urban migration, says Richard Wood, a University of Southern California sociologist. The process is part of the same global trend of a diversification in religious – and increasingly non-religious – beliefs evident in Europe, says José Luis Pérez Guadalupe, a sociologist from Lima’s University of the Pacific. “Secularisation is different in Latin America,” he adds. “In Europe, it is rooted in rationality. Here it is cultural. The region remains overwhelmingly Christian and that is thanks to the Catholic Church. In that sense, evangelism is not a radical change. It’s not like converting to Islam.” Changing attitudes on social issues have also left the Catholic establishment increasingly out of touch with many ordinary Latin Americans. Abortion and same sex marriage have been legalised in various nations, such as Argentina, Colombia and Mexico. x Meanwhile, child sex abuse scandals have taken a toll on the Church’s legitimacy. Despite a hesitant start, there is “no doubt” that Pope Francis eventually dealt decisively with clerical paedophilia, and possibly prevented it from mushrooming further, says Paola Ugaz, a Peruvian journalist whose campaigning on the issue led to the pontiff inviting her to the ******** in December. Notwithstanding many deeply conservative clergy and lay leaders, the Catholic Church in Latin America may also have suffered from its association with progressive causes, such as the focus on human rights and economic inequality. That “moral courage, to bear Catholic witness to basic human dignity”, including fighting sometimes unpopular battles on behalf of the poor and even democracy, has seen church figures, from bishops to nuns, assassinated down the years, especially in Central America, while also alienating some of the region’s elites, says Dr Wood. Another reason is the relative lack of ordained priests. “The bar to becoming a Catholic priest is really high,” he adds. “You have to study theology for years. There’s celibacy, and you have to be male. There just aren’t that many.” For evangelicals, however, becoming a preacher can be a rapid, often informal process that largely boils down to “charisma”, says Dr Pérez Guadalupe. “The bottom line is, will people in a church listen to you?” Yet Catholicism’s decline in Latin America may also have been inevitable given its previous near total dominance. Since the 16th century, when, at the point of a sword, it was established as the hegemonic faith, the only way was down, Dr Wood says. x Protestant missionaries first began making inroads in the 19th century. Those pioneers were principally Presbyterians and Methodists, with a strong social conscience. But since the 1960s, they have been overtaken by others, led by Pentecostals, preaching a more conservative interpretation of the gospel. Often focused on individual advancement, their message speaks to the aspirations of Latin America’s working and lower middle classes struggling to escape from, or avoid falling back into, grinding poverty. Many Pentecostals have also become involved in Right-wing politics. That often includes pushing a strong law-and-order message, even demanding the death penalty, that resonates in a region plagued by violent crime. The Church has responded in multiple ways, beginning with the decision in the 1960s to translate the liturgy from Latin into local languages. x Catholic theologians still debate how much deeper that process of “inculturation”, blending local culture into Church rituals, should go. One of the most sensitive areas is celibacy, especially in Africa, where it can undermine respect for Catholic clerics. Since the 1990s, there has also been an acceptance that the Church had been too Eurocentric in its thinking. Indeed, many clerics in developed nations today hail from the developing world. Meanwhile, there has also been a growing trend of “charismatic” Catholicism. The movement, which has no clear structure or leadership, has seen Catholic clergy borrow evangelical rituals, including prayer meetings away from churches, faith healing and even speaking tongues. x As they leave the Amauta Coliseum, Yheison Ventura and Susan Mayta, a married couple who manage a small swimming academy, explain what drew them to Agua Viva. “It’s more about the message than the preacher,” says Ms Mayta, 30. “This is much more direct. You connect with it. In a Catholic church, the priest is more distant, a bit like a boss. And the ceremonies are repetitive. They’re a bit boring.” Her husband, 34, adds: “I really like the music here. It’s uplifting. I know the Pope. I liked him. He liked football. But that’s not going to make me go to a Catholic church.” Now, following the death of the first Latin American pontiff, the challenge for the Church to maintain its relevance in the region may become even steeper. Dr Wood says that the choice of the next pope is more complex than the way it is often portrayed, as a struggle between liberal and conservative strains of Catholicism. He says: “Francis’s legacy is, as he often said, that the Church is for everyone. He made it more open, more human. Can it now maintain its traditions while also projecting itself into the future, with a sense of joy in the gospel?” Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more. Source link #Ground #collapse #Catholic #church Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

April’s Storms Were Relentless. But the Rainwater Is Finally Going Away. April’s Storms Were Relentless. But the Rainwater Is Finally Going Away. At the start of April a deadly torrent of rains caused flooding across the Midwest, as days of severe storms ravaged much of the central part of the United States. A month later, the Mississippi River in New Orleans was finally cresting this week, as much of the water from those storms is ending its long journey south. The river has been gradually rising for weeks and reached 16.7 feet on Thursday. This is just below the flood stage of 17 feet, and far from a record, but it’s the highest water level in New Orleans since 2020, and comes amid a four-year drought in the Mississippi River Basin. “It looks noticeably different than it was just a year ago,” said Robert Florence, a co-owner of NOLA Historic Tours, who led a tour by the river a week ago. “When the water is higher, it accentuates the sinkholes, cross currents, whirlpools and eddies. It feels more alive and powerful.” The Mississippi watershed is the third largest in the world. The Mississippi River is complex and huge. Its main stem flows 2,350 miles from the headwaters at Lake Itasca in Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico, touching 10 states and spreading out into many more with its tributaries. The water that comes down the river and arrives in New Orleans is a result of rain and snowmelt that has occurred in states as far away as Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Montana, Colorado and Tennessee. In the case of the water pushing into New Orleans right now, it started out as falling rain four weeks ago, mainly over the upper Mississippi River and Ohio River Valleys. Between April 2 and 6, it turned roads into rivers and flooded communities across Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee. Some locations recorded over 15 inches of rainfall. The rain was part of a sprawling cross-country storm system that also generated thunderstorms and tornadoes, although most of the damage came from the relentless rainfall, fueled by moisture from the Gulf. Small rivers in the upper watershed rose quickly, some cresting at historic levels, and have already come back down. The flood cycle is longer on the channeled and leveed Mississippi, which is fed by numerous tributaries. The rain in early April turned into runoff and flowed for days, into the upper portion of the lower Mississippi River Basin and its tributaries, including the Arkansas, White and Red Rivers, and especially the Ohio. It can take weeks for the discharge from the Mississippi tributaries to peak, and for that water to eventually travel down the river. “This is the situation we’re seeing now, where heavy rains fell in Kentucky in early April and it will be roughly four weeks before that peak discharge reaches New Orleans,” said Kory Konsoer, associate director of the Center for River Studies at Louisiana State University. As all of that water traveled south, the river swelled along with it, causing additional flooding in some areas, and overtaking roads and farmland that was recently planted. About 250 miles north of New Orleans, Vicksburg, Miss., saw the river rise to near major flood stage earlier this week, then hold there for several days. The river has been closely watched for weeks. It was well-known that the river would peak in New Orleans this week. The National Weather Service provides forecasts, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers monitors these closely as it manages the river’s plumbing system of levees, floodways and reservoirs built to prevent major flood disasters. Occasionally, the Army Corps will open spillways and floodways that are designed to divert floodwaters during extreme weather events. It hasn’t opened any since the storms in April, but it did come close. This week, the agency ran tests on the Bonnet Carre Spillway, 30 miles northwest of New Orleans, to ensure it was ready, if needed, to prevent flooding. The spillway is opened when the river is flowing into the Gulf at a rate of 1.25 million cubic feet per second. But Matt Roe, a spokesman for the Corps in the New Orleans district, said the flow was expected to be just shy of that level. “This whole event, it has been very close,” Mr. Roe said. “In the earlier forecast, we were predicted to go beyond that trigger point, but the conditions appear to be coming out a little lower.” The spillway was built in 1931 to remove pressure on the levees protecting New Orleans by diverting up to 250,000 cubic feet of fresh water per second into Lake Pontchartrain’s brackish waters. Since then, it has been used 15 times, five of them between 2016 and 2020. “It’s not the most water that has moved through in the last decade, but it’s still a lot of water,” Mr. Roe said. Source link #Aprils #Storms #Relentless #Rainwater #Finally Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Russian drone attack wounds dozens in Ukraine's Kharkiv Russian drone attack wounds dozens in Ukraine's Kharkiv President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is urging stronger support from Ukraine’s allies after Russia launched a drone strike on the country’s second city. Source link #Russian #drone #attack #wounds #dozens #Ukraine039s #Kharkiv Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Which GPU Is Better for GTA 6? Which GPU Is Better for GTA 6? Grand Theft Auto 6 has been delayed until 2026, and is set to launch exclusively for consoles first. While a PC release is most definitely on the cards, it might take a year or two before we see GTA 6 on PC. That being said, modern PC hardware should be more than capable of running the game at equivalent, or even greater than, console settings. The best mid-range GPUs from both AMD and Nvidia (RX 9070 and RTX 5070, respectively) will be considered for this particular evaluation. GTA 6 system requirements vs. RTX 5070 and RX 9070 specs Both the RTX 5070 and RX 9070 offer competitive levels of performance at their price points and come equipped with their own set of advantages and disadvantages. The RX 9070 XT and RTX 5070 are top-tier cards for GTA 6 | Image Credits: Rockstar Games However, the RX 9070 is a better card overall, having more positives and raw performance when compared to the RTX 5070, which retails for a higher price. A table comparing the two GPUs can be found below: Spec AMD Radeon RX 9070 Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Core Count 3584 6144 Boost Clock 2.520 GHz 2.512 GHz VRAM 16 GB GDDR6 12 GB GDDR7 Bus Width 256-bit 192-bit TDP 220 W 250 W PCIe Version PCIe 5.0×16 PCIe 5.0×16 Family Navi IV Blackwell 2.0 While the RTX 5070 does appear to have a few advantages (especially with regards to its higher TDP and memory type), overall, it loses out by a fair margin to the RX 9070. In particular, the RX 9070’s usage of a 256-bit bus and 16 whopping gigabytes of VRAM makes it stand out against the competition. Moreover, it stands at a much lower price of $449. It should be kept in mind that the Core Counts mentioned here are for reference only – differing architectures do not make for direct comparisons. However, as far as ray tracing performance goes, the RTX 5070 should edge out a bit faster when compared to the RX 9070 (7% gain). The RTX 5070 has access to DLSS 4 (which includes Multi Frame Generation), which can help it diminish the margin by a bit, but of course, at the cost of latency. As far as GTA 6’s official PC system requirements go, we actually know nothing about it yet – the game is yet to receive an announcement for a PC port. Assuming that Rockstar Games goes on to release it in the near future, we should theoretically expect the following PC system requirements: Minimum Recommended Operating System Windows 11 Windows 11 CPU AMD Ryzen 5 5660 AMD Ryzen 7 5800x3D RAM 16 GB 32 GB GPU Nvidia RTX 2070 Super/AMD RX 6600 XT Nvidia RTX 5080/AMD RX 9070 XT Storage A fast, NVMe-based SSD will be required A fast, NVMe based SSD will be required Keep in mind that these values are based on speculation and do not reflect official PC system requirements. Ray tracing is expected to be a must, as is common with most games these days. GTA 6 is expected to be quite demanding too, hence the rather high assumed PC system requirements. An NVMe SSD is also expected to be mandatory for the game, as it is more or less the norm in 2025. Performance in GTA 6: RTX 5070 vs RX 9070 at 1080p, 1440p, and 4K Both the RTX 5070 and RX 9070 are 1440p-class GPUs, with a capability of performing at 4K resolutions. While the RX 9070 is a fair bit more capable, one thing remains clear – both cards excel at native 1440p, delivering well above 60 FPS in most titles. As far as GTA 6 is concerned, both cards should perform roughly the same across 1080p, 1440p, and 4K resolutions. AMD is a lot cheaper | Image Credits: AMD For 1080p, both GPUs should be able to play the game at Very High settings at upwards of 60 FPS, with no upscaling involved. At 1440p, though, the cards are expected to run at roughly 60 frames per second with the same settings (or lower), at a native resolution. 4K gaming is an entirely different matter, however. Given the large number of pixels that need to be pushed around, both cards will struggle at Ultra or Very High settings, and one can expect close to 30 FPS at 4K. With upscaling techniques such as FSR 4 and DLSS 4, things could change, with a very minimal impact to image quality. As such, playing at 4K will require upscaling. Additionally, the RX 9070 is expected to fare better here, given its larger VRAM pool. The RTX 5070 will most certainly choke on loading high-resolution textures with its measly 12 gigabytes of VRAM. Of course, it is always possible to push for higher frame rates using lower presets and FSR 4/DLSS. It might even be a worthwhile idea, given that the visual differences will be minor at best, especially when you’re engrossed in the game. Value for Money: Which GPU offers better long-term performance for GTA 6? The RX 9070 offers top-tier performance, along with exceptional ray tracing performance as well – something which is a first for AMD. The tech giant’s products have historically suffered from poor hardware-based RT performance, and RDNA 4 might change things. However, when compared to Nvidia, the RX 9070’s ray tracing capabilities appear to be a bit worse. The RTX 5070 offers marginally superior ray-traced performance, despite the RX 9070’s higher raw horsepower. DLSS 4 is game-changing. | Image Credits: Nvidia Combined with DLSS 4 (which still remains superior to FSR 4 – if only by a bit), the real-world performance gap decreases by a fair margin. After all, the average gamer is more likely to use the default settings with upscaling enabled, and this should skew results a little. Additionally, given that GTA 6 is also very likely to use some form of mandatory ray tracing, the RTX 5070 doesn’t seem to fall too far behind. Things change, however, when we begin to look at the prices of these cards. The RTX 5070 has an MSRP of $549, a whole $100 over the RX 9070. Given the scarcity of these cards, though, good luck getting them at those prices, though. As of writing, you can still expect to be spending a couple of hundred bucks more than the MSRP to cop any one of these cards. Regardless, neither GPU is particularly cheap and should last gamers for quite some time. Source link #GPU #GTA Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Tiffany Lamps Shine Bright Across New York City Tiffany Lamps Shine Bright Across New York City The pieces couples acquire when decorating their first home are often significant. Few purchases, though, prove as influential as the one made by the Neustadts in 1935. The newlyweds were browsing tchotchkes in a secondhand store in Manhattan when Hildegard Steininger Neustadt discovered what her husband, Egon Neustadt, an orthodontist, later described in a poem as a “strange, old-fashioned lamp.” Made from hundreds of pieces of oddly shaped glass in a kaleidoscope of greens and yellows, it illuminated a scene straight from spring, when daffodils herald the end of winter — a scene of hope. According to Neustadt’s memoirs, he and his wife asked the shopkeeper about the lamp and were told that it was the work of an American artist, Louis Comfort Tiffany. Though they did not recognize the name, they eventually handed over $12.50 (somewhere around $290, in today’s dollars) and took the lamp — with its Tiffany “Daffodil” lampshade — home, where Neustadt placed it on his desk. While unfamiliar to the Neustadts in 1935, Tiffany’s prismatic creations have since become widely known, and beloved by many. Today, the lamps are on view in venues across New York, including at the upcoming TEFAF New York art fair, running May 9-13 at the Park Avenue Armory. The decades have brought discovery, as well, as scholars have uncovered the importance of women to Tiffany’s success, and consumers who have encountered the lamps in museums and stores have brought them into their homes. Even younger generations have succumbed to the charm of Tiffany lamps, with some who cannot afford the real deal committing Tiffany’s designs to ink as tattoos. According to Neustadt’s handwritten memoirs, which recall the purchase of that first lamp in 1935, his “friends didn’t like it.” But their opinions were of little consequence. “Tiffany blended perfectly with the Jacobean furnishings in our Long Island home,” Neustadt told The New York Times in an interview in 1971. “Our home was large and needed many lamps,” he said, “and the prices were low.” And so the Neustadts bought more, over 200 of them, making theirs “one of the largest private collections of Tiffany lamps in the world,” according to Neustadt’s obituary that was published in The Times in 1984. Much of that collection remains in New York City, on display on both sides of the East River: at the Queens Museum, less than two miles from where some of the pieces would have been made at Tiffany Studios in Queens; and at the New York Historical in Manhattan. The remainder is kept at the Neustadt Collection of Tiffany Glass, a private archive in Long Island City containing over 100 lamps, 40 windows and nearly half a million examples of flat glass. The collection is accessible by appointment, and pieces from it occasionally travel the country in temporary exhibitions. The Tiffany lamps at the Queens Museum are displayed thanks to a partnership with the Neustadt Collection, which is also home to Neustadt’s memoirs. Lindsy R. Parrott, the executive director and curator of the collection, said in an email interview that she first “fell in love with the beauty and the history” of Tiffany in the late 1990s. “I was especially transfixed by how much remained unknown about this celebrated and internationally recognized artist — there was so much detective work that still needed to be done, which I found tantalizing,” Parrott said. The son of Charles Lewis Tiffany, who co-founded the store that became Tiffany & Company, Louis Comfort Tiffany was an artist and designer who believed in translating the beauty of nature into the decorative arts. He ran various art- and design-focused companies from the 1880s until the 1930s, the most famous of which was Tiffany Studios, which produced, among other things, the leaded-glass lamps and windows that became synonymous with his name and that, for a time, captivated a populace enchanted with Art Nouveau. At least, they fascinated the public until styles shifted toward the more minimal appeal of modernism, which took root after World War I. As Parrott noted, “Tiffany’s work had fallen deeply out of favor by the mid-1930s,” which explained why Neustadt was able to begin his collection for $12.50. A Tiffany “Wisteria” table lamp, made around 1905 from more than 2,000 pieces of cascading glass, will be exhibited by the DeLorenzo Gallery at TEFAF New York. Such items today can carry a price in the hundreds of thousands of dollars and have been known to sell for well over $1 million at auction. In 2018, a “Pond Lily” table lamp brought $3.37 million at Christie’s. How much people are willing to pay for a piece of Tiffany’s history is not the only thing that has changed over the decades. A 2007 exhibition at the New York Historical, to which Neustadt had donated 132 of his lamps before his death, revealed something that had previously gone uncelebrated: the role of women in Tiffany’s company. This centrality of female employees, known as Tiffany girls, was discovered when two scholars — Nina Gray and Martin Eidelberg — separately yet almost simultaneously unearthed letters written by Clara Driscoll to her family. “The correspondence describes her work as a designer and department supervisor as well as the goings-on at Tiffany Studios,” Rebecca Klassen, the curator of material culture at the New York Historical, said in an email interview. Driscoll ran the Women’s Glass Cutting Department, which was formed in 1892 in response to a strike by the Lead Glaziers and Glass Cutters Union, which allowed only men to be members. Tiffany had needed workers to complete windows and mosaics for the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, officially known as the World’s Columbian Exposition, Klassen said. “But it was also his belief that women had better color sensitivity and feel for naturalistic design than men,” she added. “Women had an undeniable impact on the output of Tiffany Studios.” In an email interview, Alice Cooney Frelinghuysen, a curator of American decorative arts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, called herself “somewhat of a crusader” for Agnes Northrop, whom Frelinghuysen described as one of Tiffany’s most important female employees and “an extraordinary designer.” Where Driscoll was behind many of Tiffany’s lamps, Northrop’s visions came to life in the studios’ large-scale landscape windows, including one installed last November at the Met. The three-panel window that was commissioned by Sarah Cochran, a philanthropist and leader in the coal industry, and conceived by Northrop, offers a glimpse into the craftsmanship that is at the heart of Tiffany’s glasswork, and the skilled women behind it. “In our window alone, I have estimated over 10,000 individual pieces of glass,” Frelinghuysen said. Ninety years after the Neustadts acquired their first piece of Tiffany’s history, the lamps are back in favor. “Once again, ‘Tiffany’ lamps are everywhere, from tattoos to culture,” notes the prospectus of a new traveling exhibition from the Neustadt Collection, “Tiffany or Ti-phony? A Story of Desire,” which will be on view at Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wausau, Wis., from January to May 2026. Beth Mintzer, a tattoo artist who is based in Los Angeles, did her first Tiffany-style ink on a friend when she was learning how to tattoo in 2021. Since then, she has done so many that she has called her business Lamp Lady Tattoo. “I love them as a tattoo subject because I can’t imagine it being something that you grow out of with age,” Mintzer said by email. “Younger generations have grown to seek out more unique, one-of-a-kind home décor pieces that have their own character and charm, and Tiffany lamps definitely fit that description,” she added. Parrott said she thought that recent enthusiasm for Tiffany stemmed from nostalgia, “a nostalgia for what is perceived to be simpler, less complicated times.” Klassen also suggested that younger generations’ fondness for Tiffany lamps was linked to nostalgia. “However, that era is not the turn of the 20th century,” she said. Instead they were referencing, in their tattoos and décor choices, the Tiffanyesque lamps of 1980s restaurants, and the lamps their parents decorated with. “Authentic Tiffany lamps command prices that are out of reach for many, so it makes sense to me that these more accessible iterations are a base of inspiration,” Klassen said. While Frelinghuysen said she found the Tiffany-inspired ink “fascinating,” she could not explain it. “I would like to think that the more the public is aware and learns about the subject, the more they appreciate it,” Frelinghuysen said, adding that Northrop’s recently installed window had been incredibly well received. “Perhaps during these ever more challenging times we are living in right now, it provides some joy and solace.” Source link #Tiffany #Lamps #Shine #Bright #York #City Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Pakistan test fires ballistic missile as tensions with India spike after Kashmir gun massacre Pakistan test fires ballistic missile as tensions with India spike after Kashmir gun massacre Pakistan test-fired Saturday a ballistic missile, as tensions with India spiked over last week’s deadly attack on tourists in the disputed Kashmir region. The surface-to-surface missile has a range of 450 kilometres (about 280 miles), the Pakistani military said. Source link #Pakistan #test #fires #ballistic #missile #tensions #India #spike #Kashmir #gun #massacre Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

An Ojibwe Writer Refuses to Let Her Mother’s Trauma Be in Vain An Ojibwe Writer Refuses to Let Her Mother’s Trauma Be in Vain Alone as a child tucked in at night, Mary Annette Pember had visions. “Strings of lights, rather like phosphorescent snakes,” she writes, would float along the ceiling of her bedroom, turning and twisting in the dark. When she asked what the strange lights could be, her mother, an Ojibwe from northern Wisconsin, urged her not to be afraid: They want to protect you; they won’t hurt you, but don’t ever tell anyone else you see them. Her mother knew what it took to survive. Sometimes that meant looking with eyes wide open in the dark. Pember’s affecting new book, “Medicine River: A Story of Survival and the Legacy of Indian Boarding Schools,” does just that. Full of unvarnished anguish, it’s both a solemn history of the pervasive abuse of Native children in federal boarding schools and a visceral family memoir about Pember’s mother, Bernice Rabideaux, a traumatized Ojibwe child who emerged a strong but suffering Ojibwe woman. Beginning in the 1860s and over the next hundred years, many Native children across the country were forced to attend Indian boarding schools, often run by the Catholic Church, as a means of assimilation. There they regularly endured humiliation, violence, deprivation and sometimes death, devastating their lives and their families. Bernice Rabideaux was one such child, who, from the age of 5 through adolescence. attended St. Mary’s Catholic Indian Mission School, or “Sister School,” on the Bad River reservation in Odanah, Wisconsin. According to the book, the experience created an intractable conflict between white Christian settler values and her Ojibwe values of community and environmental stewardship. She died in 2011 at the age of 86. Pember, who moved here to work at the Cincinnati Enquirer, is the former president of the Native American Journalists’ Association and a freelance writer. Talking about “Medicine River” recently at her home in a quiet Cincinnati neighborhood, she exuded wary authority. Asked about coming to terms with a parent coming to terms with trauma, she demurred. Her mother, she said, “never really thought of herself as coming to terms with anything. I think she wanted to leave that behind, but you never could. It was just in there, in a sound or a smell or quality of light.” Rabideaux took great pride in her heritage, but coercive assimilation at the Sister School left a permanent mark, her daughter explained. “The white world that we entered into, she was successful in it,” Pember said, “but it was just so disappointing to her. There was just so little emotional and spiritual sustenance. I think that she really hungered for her origins.” David Treuer, the author of “The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee” and an editor-at-large at Pantheon Books, which published “Medicine River,” invoked the motto of second-wave feminism — “the personal is political” — in framing Pember’s blend of history and memoir. “It was largely a matter of trying to see how the forces of history flowed through her mother’s life and her life through their relationship — and being really attuned to the ways in which history flows through all of us,” he explained. “My goal has always been about healing,” Haaland, the first Native American to serve in a cabinet position, said in a recent interview. “And I don’t think you can heal from things unless you highlight them, unless you face them.” After high school, 19-year-old Bernice Rabideaux moved to Janesville, Wisconsin, where her four siblings lived. Soon enough she married Charles Gordon Pember, a kind and stable man. For a time she cleaned offices and worked at a factory canning vegetables. One of the offices was that of Leon Feingold, the father of former Wisconsin senator Russ Feingold. The Feingolds would become lifelong friends, encouraging her fledgling political consciousness. She joined a Democratic women’s organization and, in 1964, campaigned for Lyndon Johnson in his run for the presidency. Yet she was ambivalent about her life. She “became a shape-shifter, transforming herself according to her surroundings,” Pember writes. “On the one hand, she encouraged [her children] to conform to the white world, but at the same time she not so secretly despised us for trying.” When the family visited the reservation, it would take her mother time to settle in, Pember recalls in the book. Seeing Lake Superior, “she would gaze out toward that perfect line between water and sky, her thin arms wrapped around herself; we could see she was home.” Still, her fragile peace couldn’t last. For many former boarding school students like Rabideaux, the wounds of the flesh were the wounds of the soul. And when she worked herself into a rage, a young Pember felt the impact. “I stood by helplessly; I said nothing,” she writes. “I learned to be quiet. From my place under the table I secretly began constructing my own armor and defiance.” As an adult, Pember married, had a family and pursued a prolific career in journalism. She also suffered from alcoholism. As time went on, she sought out Ojibwe spiritual practices, which require sobriety for participation. After getting sober and with her life now rooted in her heritage, she felt a greater sense of serenity. Yet one challenge remained: to tell the story of her mother. “It was like she gave me this baton,” Pember explained. ”She never overtly told me, but I just knew that I had to do it.” Starting in 1980, she began to write down her mother’s first-person accounts of her school years and life on the reservation. She also spent more than 20 years researching Indian boarding schools in federal and Catholic church archives, along with conducting over 50 interviews, for what would come to be “Medicine River.” It has provided Pember a sense of closure that her mother likely never attained. “I honored her, her quest she sent me on,” she said. “So I’m done with that now.” Source link #Ojibwe #Writer #Refuses #Mothers #Trauma #Vain Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Horoscope for Saturday, May 03, 2025 – Chicago Sun-Times Horoscope for Saturday, May 03, 2025 – Chicago Sun-Times Horoscope for Saturday, May 03, 2025 Chicago Sun-TimesHoroscopes Today, May 3, 2025 USA TodayTarot Horoscope Today: Zodiac sign predictions for May 03, 2025 Hindustan TimesLeo Daily Horoscope Today, May 03, 2025: Let Go of What’s Forced Times of IndiaYour Daily Work Horoscope for May 03, 2025 Yahoo Source link #Horoscope #Saturday #Chicago #SunTimes Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Elon Musk’s company town: SpaceX employees to vote on ‘Starbase’ | Elon Musk Elon Musk’s company town: SpaceX employees to vote on ‘Starbase’ | Elon Musk Voters in a small patch of south Texas are casting their ballots on Saturday in an election that could give Elon Musk a town to call his own. The vote would officially create a new city called Starbase in the area where Musk’s SpaceX holds its Texas rocket launches. A couple of hundred residents of what was previously known as Boca Chica will decide whether to make their unincorporated neighborhoods into a town that would grant them the authority to pass city ordinances. The outcome, which will be decided almost entirely by SpaceX employees and their families, who make up the majority of the local population, is nearly guaranteed to result in incorporation. The creation of Starbase would put Musk in the unusual position of holding sway over a company town, a distinction that has more in common with Gilded Age industrialists than most modern US businesses. It would be a small victory for the world’s richest man as he pivots away from his job as de facto leader of the “department of government efficiency” – a role that has elicited furious backlash and hurt his public image as well as his businesses. Much like with Doge, Musk will not officially be in charge of Starbase. The entirety of the future city revolves around SpaceX, however, and it is almost entirely made up of the company’s employees and their kin. The Starbase population, as of 2025, is a little over 500 people, some 260 of which are SpaceX employees. The others are mostly family members of workers, according to Bloomberg. The town’s proposed mayor, 36-year-old Bobby Peden, has worked at SpaceX since 2013 and is vice-president of test and launch operations in Texas. Peden, along with two other city commissioner candidates who are also SpaceX employees, are all running unopposed. Starbase sits on a tiny piece of land near the ******** border on a small bay that feeds into the Gulf of Mexico. Prefabricated houses, airstreams and palm trees line the streets. An imperious golden bust of Musk stands nine feet tall outside the town. A plaque on its pedestal reads “ELON aka Memelord”. Last month, vandals defaced the statue by peeling off layers of foam and fiberglass from its cheeks. There is an employee-only restaurant called Astropub with a neon red “Occupy Mars” sign behind the bar. One of the main boulevards is called “Memes Street”. A visitor photographs a large bust of Elon Musk in Boca Chica. Photograph: Eric Gay/AP Although creating Starbase is likely somewhat of a vanity project, one which Musk has been touting for years, it does grant the potential city and its SpaceX leadership powers over what to do with the land. Company workers submitted identical statements to a legislative hearing in April arguing that creating the town would help with logistics and coordination around issues such as road closures during test launches, the Associated Press reported. Opposing Starbase Even though the incorporation of Starbase is extremely likely, given who can vote in the election, it has also faced protests and pushback from others in the area. The South Texas Environmental Justice Network activist group has been holding protests and urging Texans to email their state representatives to oppose the incorporation. The group argues that creating Starbase will allow SpaceX to close access to the public beach in the town whenever it wants and block others from using the public land. “Boca Chica Beach is meant for the people, not Elon Musk to control,” the organization said in a statement on its site. “For generations, residents have visited Boca Chica beach for fishing, swimming, recreation, and the Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe has spiritual ties to the beach. They should be able to keep access.” skip past newsletter promotion A weekly dive in to how technology is shaping our lives Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. after newsletter promotion Musk has in previous years made grand pronouncements about the future of Starbase while urging employees to move to the town. “Starbase will grow by several thousand people over the next year or two,” he posted on Twitter in 2021. SpaceX has become an increasingly valuable part of Musk’s empire as Tesla’s performance has tanked and the government has turned to SpaceX for billions of dollars in contracts related to space travel. Musk has relocated his primary residence and businesses to Texas in recent years. He lives in a $35m sprawling compound in Austin that houses three separate mansions. During his backing of Trump’s re-election last year, he temporarily uprooted and moved to the swing state of Pennsylvania. Musk then took up residence in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building while serving as senior adviser to Donald Trump, but left the White House in late April as he shifts back to overseeing his companies. Source link #Elon #Musks #company #town #SpaceX #employees #vote #Starbase #Elon #Musk Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

The Young Virtuoso Roman Mejia Now Has the X Factor: Nobility The Young Virtuoso Roman Mejia Now Has the X Factor: Nobility When Roman Mejia found out he would be dancing “Apollo,” the oldest work in New York City Ballet’s repertory, he knew where to turn for god guidance. A dancer who does his homework — he is, he says, “such a bunhead” — Mejia had a plan, or a man, in mind: Jacques d’Amboise, a family friend and an athletic, unruly Apollo from the 1950s and ’60s whose performances he studied on video, would lead the way. “His approach was just so raw,” Mejia said after a run-through of the ballet in advance of his debut. “Essentially at the beginning of the ballet, he is just learning how to become a god. And these muses are here to teach him how to progress and how to get there. So you really see from the beginning that he’s almost weak on his feet, trying to figure out things — some things work, some things don’t. He gets frustrated.” The fervor of youth? Mejia, 25, has always had that down. But over the last couple of seasons, he has begun to tap into a more understated refinement, which was indelibly clear in his first “Apollo,” on Tuesday night at Lincoln Center. Mejia went from an unfinished boy to a refined god with the help of his three muses (Unity Phelan, Dominika Afanasenkov and Ashley Hod). He was raw, yes, but also guileless. This was a sincere, musical Apollo — full of heat and strength, but also youthful and unaffected, impulsive and curious. Mejia’s control was in the way that he linked the steps with emotions, giving both a logic, a fluidity. Mejia may have muscles — he is, as they say, ripped — but he doesn’t muscle his way through steps. Mejia is an airborne dancer whose exuberance shines in joyful Balanchine ballets like “Stars and Stripes,” “Rubies” and “Western Symphony.” But his repertoire, especially in recent seasons, has expanded to roles that require him to be more subtle, more sophisticated. His bravura side is still firmly in place, yet it is buoyed now by a growing sophistication. Mejia, who grew up in Fort Worth, saw “Apollo” for the first time when he was 3. It might seem unusual that such a young child would fall for such an dramatic yet unadorned Balanchine ballet with music by Stravinsky, but there he was, a toddler, performing the choreography at home. “My dad has stories of me going around the house just like this,” Mejia said, illustrating a striking moment from the ballet in which Apollo wraps an arm behind his back, the other raised, and opens and closes his hands like blinkers. Both of his parents were dancers — Maria Terezia Balogh and Paul Mejia, a former member of City Ballet who had staged “Apollo” in Texas. “At that age,” his father said, “he would go to the ballet whenever we had a performance, and what was always amazing, whether it was ‘Apollo’ or whatever he saw, the next day he could duplicate it.” “It was just uncanny,” he added. Roman was especially proud, Paul Mejia said, “of the fact that he could do the hand behind the back and in front flashing. He thought that was a neat thing.” While on a visit to the zoo, the young Roman approached another little boy with his new skill. “He said, ‘Look, look — look at this!’” Paul said. “And he did Apollo, and the little boy started to scream and cry. He thought he was a nut or something.” Mejia started training at 3. “I was just so inspired by the whole idea of moving to music and taking up space,” he said. When Mejia was 9 or 10, he lost interest in ballet and took a couple of years off, playing the piano and studying taekwondo. (He excelled at that, too.) A couple years later, while in middle school at the Fort Worth Academy of Fine Arts, he learned that a nearby studio needed boys for “The Nutcracker.” “I wasn’t too crazy about dance, but I was doing it at school so I thought why not?” Mejia said. “And that’s when I really fell back in love with it again. I think it’s just the aspect of performing. I really love performing.” He began training at an academy in Coppell, Texas, more than an hour away. “I’d go with him, and he’d do his class,” Paul said. “I didn’t watch it, nothing. I wanted to stay away from the whole thing. We saw that he was not only serious, but he had a gift.” His parents decided to open a studio themselves. At 13, Roman started training at the Mejia Ballet Academy where he focused on technique and on learning variations, classical and from the Balanchine repertory. At 14, he came to New York for one of two summer sessions at the School of American Ballet, the academy that feeds into City Ballet. Before he started, he learned about his father’s history at the company — and that Paul had married Suzanne Farrell, the dancer Balanchine was most enamored with. The marriage led to drama: Paul and Farrell left the company and danced in Europe. But while Farrell eventually made her way back to City Ballet, Paul did not. “My sister always said, ‘Oh, you know, our father was married to Suzanne Farrell,’” Mejia said. “And I was like: ‘No he wasn’t. That’s crazy.’ And she’s like, ‘Oh yeah, it was all over the internet.’” (A family friend confirmed it at the dinner table one night. “My sister was, like, ‘I told you so,’” he said.) Once Mejia was serious about studying at the School of American Ballet, his father “sat down with me and kind of gave me the rundown of everything,” he said. There is more family history at the school: Both of his parents studied there along with his paternal grandmother, Romana Kryzanowska, a protégé of Joseph Pilates. Mejia is named after her father, the Detroit artist Roman Kryzanowska. D’Amboise was the reason Mejia ended up at City Ballet. At one point Mejia found himself with an offer to join Boston Ballet or to continue at the school. D’Amboise voted for New York. In 2017, Mejia joined the corps de ballet and was promoted to soloist in 2021. Two years later he became a principal dancer. In the fall of 2023, he performed his first lead in a full-length ballet as a principal: Franz, the male lead in “Coppélia.” Franz is a comic role with virtuosic elements — Mejia trademarks — but what was most revealing about his performance was the warmth and assurance with which he held the stage, especially in the classical third act. Last winter, performing opposite Tiler ***** — his fiancée — he made his debut as Siegfried in “Swan Lake” and, again, showed a more nuanced side of his dancing, more grounded and understated. He showed that he could be a prince. For Siegfried, Mejia worked with Gonzalo Garcia, a former principal who is now a repertory director at City Ballet, and Isabelle Guérin, a former Paris Opera Ballet étoile. She showed him, he said, that “I don’t have to always punch things to make them effective.” Garcia, who works frequently with Mejia, was proud of his Siegfried. “I think becoming that kind of dancer, a noble dancer, can take sometimes a few tries,” he said. “But from the moment we started until he did his first shows, I was blown away. He understood it.” It has become increasingly apparent that, however thrilling, Mejia has more to offer than virtuosity. This season, he makes his debut in Jerome Robbins’s elegant, folk-infused “A Suite of Dances,” created for Mikhail Baryshnikov in 1994; later he’ll take on Balanchine’s “Divertimento from ‘Le ******* de la Fée.’” “It’s fiendishly hard,” he said of “*******.” “I didn’t realize. And it’s not bravura at all. That solo is long.” But Mejia, Garcia said, “never whines” and “never seems upset, which is kind of amazing.” Mejia got only one crack at “Apollo” this time around. That was fine. When he describes himself as feeling “over the moon” — a recurrent Mejia line — he means it. “I’m ready to be pushed in this new way of not just nuanced work, but telling a story,” he said. “Apollo is bravura, but a lot of it is so subtle and it’s not so in your face. I’m starting to figure out where to play with things now.” When the curtain went up on “Apollo,” his nerves kicked in, but the music calmed him down. “I felt so comfortable and at home,” he said. “It was quite something to perform, and I just feel really lucky that I was able to experience that at this point. Obviously, I feel like here’s still more to do and more to grow in it. But in the moment it just felt so right.” Source link #Young #Virtuoso #Roman #Mejia #Factor #Nobility Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Fred Kerley arrested in Miami for allegedly punching ex-girlfriend Alaysha Johnson Fred Kerley arrested in Miami for allegedly punching ex-girlfriend Alaysha Johnson It was also reported that Richard Cooper, Kerley’s attorney, released a statement saying: “We are confident that this case will be summarily dismissed shortly.” Grand Slam Track confirmed in a statement on Friday: “Fred Kerley was arrested last night. The matter is under active investigation. “Fred will not compete this weekend. We have no further comment at this time.” Johnson, 28 and an Olympic hurdler, was also due to compete at Grand Slam Track. BBC Sport has contacted the Broward County Sheriff’s Office and Kerley’s representative for comment. Former world champion Kerley won 100m bronze at the Paris 2024 Olympics, having won silver at Tokyo 2020. He was scheduled to compete in the 100m on Saturday and 200m on Sunday in Miami, after racing in the inaugural Grand Slam Track meet in Kingston, Jamaica last month. Source link #Fred #Kerley #arrested #Miami #allegedly #punching #exgirlfriend #Alaysha #Johnson Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

How Hard Do You Have to Push Yourself to Get Stronger? How Hard Do You Have to Push Yourself to Get Stronger? You’re sweaty and sore, and just hoisting your gym bag onto your shoulder makes you groan. The workout was exhausting, but was it effective? Many trainers and athletes have long believed that lifting to failure — the moment when you can’t complete another repetition of an exercise — is the best way to build muscle. But recent research has challenged that idea, suggesting that training at a slightly lower intensity can produce similar results. “The question I ask people is: ‘Are we getting better or are we getting tired?’” said David Frost, an associate professor in the kinesiology department at the University of Toronto. If you’re new to lifting, it can be tough to know how hard your workout should feel. Learning what failure feels like — and understanding when you should push that far — can help you build a sustainable strength training routine and allow you to safely progress as you get stronger. What is training to failure? There are two types of failure in strength training. “Technical failure” is when you can’t do another repetition with proper form and control, so you may have to rely on other muscles and joints to lift the weight. “Muscular failure” happens when your muscles are so fatigued that you can’t lift the weight at all. While you can build muscle mass by training to failure, some experts say the risks may outweigh the benefits. “If you push yourself to failure and damage your muscles to a very extreme degree in a single workout, that’s going to impair what you can do the next day and the next day,” Mr. Frost said. Pushing yourself to lift with poor form can also increase your risk of injury. What matters more is that you’re working hard each time you step into the gym. Challenging your muscles creates micro-damage in the tissue, which is what makes them change. When you rest, that tissue repairs, grows and gets stronger. “You don’t need to necessarily be pushing to failure, but a high level of effort is required over time,” said Brad Schoenfeld, a professor in the exercise science program at Lehman College in New York who studies how different methods of resistance training affect muscle growth. How much should you lift? When you’re starting out with strength training, perform new exercises with just your body weight first so you can learn proper form, said Elizabeth Davies, a strength coach in Kent, England, who works primarily with women who are relatively new to lifting. Once you’re ready to add weight, start by picking up a weight that feels light to you. Focus on moving with good form rather than trying to do as many repetitions as possible. You can use what’s known as the Reps in Reserve, or R.I.R., scale to find out how much weight you can handle for a full set. When you perform an exercise, estimate how many more times you could lift the weight — your “reps in reserve” — before feeling maxed out. You want to choose a weight where at the end of your set, you feel like you have a few repetitions left in the tank. The R.I.R. method lets you adjust your workouts for how you feel — which can vary based on everything from sleep and diet to hormonal changes and stress — rather than sticking to a set amount of weight. How hard do you have to work to build muscle? As a new lifter, your muscle tissue will generally adapt quickly to training, so you can stop when you feel like you have five or six repetitions in reserve and still see progress, Ms. Davies said. As you get stronger, research suggests that stopping two or three repetitions before failure can be ideal for maximizing muscle growth. Once you’re able to complete the same number of repetitions in a given set for two or three weeks in a row, add a bit more weight and see how that changes your sense of effort, Mr. Frost suggested. When you’re familiar with an exercise and can practice it consistently with good form, it can be worthwhile to occasionally train to failure to refine your sense of how hard you need to work. After all, “if you don’t train to failure, you don’t know how far away from failure you are,” Dr. Schoenfeld said. When your body is pushed beyond its limits, it will also try to adapt to meet that challenge more easily next time, Dr. Schoenfeld said. If you really enjoy the feeling of hitting your maximum effort, failure can have an occasional place in your workouts. Ms. Davies gives her clients that opportunity on single-joint moves like bicep curls that won’t leave them too exhausted and hinder their progress, she said. The key to getting the most out of strength training is stacking up hard work over time, Mr. Frost said. On most days, that means aiming to push yourself a little bit more than you did the day before. Alyssa Ages is a journalist in Toronto and the author of “Secrets of Giants: A Journey to Uncover the True Meaning of Strength.” Source link #Hard #Push #Stronger Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Awesome Warhammer 40K Space Marine 2 12-player co-op mod turns the game into unbridled chaos Awesome Warhammer 40K Space Marine 2 12-player co-op mod turns the game into unbridled chaos Focus Entertainment and Saber Interactive are excited to celebrate the release of the new “Trygon” update for their blockbuster third-person action game Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2. Available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series and PC right now, the “Trygon”update comes with a new PvE mission, a new weapon, two cosmetic DLCs, a host of quality-of-life improvements and more. Source link #Awesome #Warhammer #40K #Space #Marine #12player #coop #mod #turns #game #unbridled #chaos Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

MMA: Patrick Evra to make mixed martial arts debut at PFL Europe Paris MMA: Patrick Evra to make mixed martial arts debut at PFL Europe Paris Speaking in the PFL press release about the announcement, Evra added: “I love this game too. “I’ve performed on the world’s biggest stages, won every major trophy in football, but PFL Europe Paris will be an incredibly special night for me. “I’ve been training alongside the best in the world for years, and they’ll also tell you I’m ready for this. I’m going to put on a show at the Accor Arena on 23 May, so come watch the spectacle.” Evra played 379 times for Manchester United between 2006 and 2014, winning five Premier League titles and the Champions League. He also played for several clubs in France and Italy, including Monaco and Juventus, and ended his football career with a short spell at West Ham. Since retiring he has worked as a TV pundit. The Professional Fighters League (PFL) is the second biggest MMA promotion in the world, behind the UFC. Source link #MMA #Patrick #Evra #mixed #martial #arts #debut #PFL #Europe #Paris Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Why some ‘frustrated’ NDP voters flipped to Conservatives in the election – National Why some ‘frustrated’ NDP voters flipped to Conservatives in the election – National As Liberal red and Conservative blue swept across the country in Canada’s federal election earlier this week, NDP orange dwindled. While many voters who left the party turned to the Liberals, many others flipped to the Conservatives — with affordability being among the key factors. In Monday’s federal election, the Liberals are projected to have won 168 seats — enough to form a ********* government — and the Conservatives sit at 144. But after winning 25 seats in the 2021 election, the NDP plummeted to just seven seats with their leader, Jagmeet Singh, among those who lost re-election. And in ridings that flipped blue, union workers appear to have played a key role. “What you’re seeing happening is this shift of people who are union workers who typically in the past might have gone NDP or Liberal,” said Terri Givens, a political science professor at the University of British Columbia. Story continues below advertisement “They’re frustrated with the last 10 years. They’re also looking for somebody who’s going to say the things they want to hear, and that’s something that Poilievre has really tried to do is to be the person who’s out there saying what people want to hear on things like housing and immigration and affordability.” Windsor West is one such riding that saw a shift from the NDP to Conservative. Despite outgoing MP Brian Masse having been elected since 2002, he came in third in that riding with 28 per cent of the vote, while the Liberals’ Richard Pollock garnered 31 per cent and Conservative MP-elect Harb Gill won with 39 per cent. 3:07 Canada Election 2025: Jagmeet Singh loses riding, steps down as NDP leader One pollster says it’s clear what drove that shift. “If you’re a member of a working class union, particularly if you are a male member of a working-class union at least, they don’t feel that they have a place in that particular version of the New Democratic Party,” said Darrell Bricker, president of Ipsos Public Affairs. Story continues below advertisement Ipsos data provided to Global News shows of those who voted for the NDP in 2021, 19 per cent switched their vote to the Liberals this election, but five per cent went to the Conservatives, which could amount to more than 151,800 voters. Get daily National news Get the day’s top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. While five per cent might not seem like a lot, it could shift the balance when progressive votes split between the NDP and Liberals, and make the Conservatives more competitive, Bricker said. “Normally, the strategy for the Conservative Party is hope that the Liberals and the NDP split the progressive vote and then the Conservatives unite on more of a western coalition with a suburban community coalition,” he said. More on Canada More videos “And increasingly with a labour-based coalition, working-class type of coalition in industrial cities, that’s basically what they try to execute. And it seemed to me, just based on the results, that the Poilievre Conservatives were more effective doing that than the Ford Conservatives were.” It wasn’t just Ontario, either: communities reliant on natural resources like the B.C. ridings of North Island-Powell River and Cowichan-Malahat-Langford also switched to the Conservatives, with the NDP only losing by a few percentage points. Bricker said this is in part due to the Conservatives’ efforts to appeal to voters who were more focused on affordability. “What we saw was working people who weren’t really motivated by the issue of what was going on with the United States, really focused more on the affordability question, which normally would be enough to keep them pinned down with the NDP,” Bricker said. Story continues below advertisement “This time around, they actually saw Poilievre and the Conservatives as being a viable option on that question.” A ‘political tsunami’ shifted NDP votes: strategist NDP strategist Kim Wright said the party’s policies were “solid” on issues like housing, but the political atmosphere changed voters. “There are just sometimes political tsunami, as we like to say, that happen during certain times in campaigns,” said Wright, principal and founder of Wright Strategies. She pointed to the 1993 federal election in which the NDP also lost official party status by falling to nine seats, with the Progressive Conservatives falling to two. Trending Now Conservative MP will resign Alberta riding so Pierre Poilievre can run again Man who kept angry crowd back from suspect at Lapu Lapu festival says it was right to do While she disagrees about policy being the driver for some NDP voters to Conservatives, there were still factors behind the switch, including strategic voting and comparisons to Liberals. Story continues below advertisement “We saw that certainly happening in Windsor,” she said. “The strategic voting plot and the strategic voting message not only depressed NDP voters, but then created other challenges with those blue-versus-orange switch hitters.” 1:55 Liberals likely looking to cut deals with Bloc, NDP after winning ********* government One Conservative strategist argued that the orange-to-blue swap may also be from the NDP not drawing a clear enough contrast with the Liberals in their messaging. “If you are given two versions of the same thing and one is orange and one is red, the benefit that the red team has as what I would argue the ‘natural governing party’ of Canada is: you’re going to get those progressive votes,” said Kate Harrison, vice-chair of Summa Strategies. “So the NDP did not take the opportunity to draw contrast. I would say that they lost that opportunity the moment they signed into the supply and confidence agreement.” Story continues below advertisement That 2022 deal saw Singh agree to support the Liberals in a formal pact to keep them in power in exchange for passing several specific NDP policies. NDP can rebuild, strategists say With the NDP down to seven seats, and its worst result since the party’s creation, strategists and political experts say it could give the party time to rebuild. Harrison noted the NDP form governments in B.C. and Manitoba, and opposition status in four provinces, as examples that the party’s support still exists. But what the path forward looks like for the federal party is now the key question. “This is not a party on life support if they make the decision that they want to govern and to do that I think they will have to look at that same group that the Conservatives just appealed to in order to try and get their core focus back,” Harrison said, Story continues below advertisement Wright said that provincial support for the NDP may be where the federal party can draw knowledge from. “There is a lot to build upon and never underestimate feisty New Democrats in the House of Commons,” she said. Source link #frustrated #NDP #voters #flipped #Conservatives #election #National Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Durack voters at odds over housing and cost-of-living Durack voters at odds over housing and cost-of-living Broome local Sam Younis’ s vote in the sprawling seat of Durack was based on who he was not voting for. Source link #Durack #voters #odds #housing #costofliving Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Trusted Retail Chain Is Closing 500 Stores by August Trusted Retail Chain Is Closing 500 Stores by August Walgreens is retracting its retail footprint, with the trusted retail chain closing 500 stores across the U.S. this fiscal year alone. According to Yahoo Finance, the 500 stores are among 1,200 locations that Walgreens plans to shutter overall. According to Newsweek, Walgreens still runs about 8,500 stores throughout the United States. The 500 closures started in September 2024 and are expected to take place by August 2025, which is the end of the company’s fiscal year, according to the Coloradoan. Walgreens closed 11 locations in Colorado, the Coloradoan reported, including three stores in April. Already, reports of Walgreens’ closures are coming in throughout various states, which many occurring in March, April, and May. The chain has not provided a master list of closings. Walgreens is closing seven Connecticut locations in April and May. Nine locations closed in Massachusetts, mostly in March and April. A Kansas Walgreens closed in March. In December 2024, Walgreens closed two locations in Milwaukee, WI. According to a May 1, 2025, report by ABC 7, long lines were forming at the last remaining Walgreens in San Francisco’s Mission District after the chain closed two dozen stores in the city, although some of those closures dated to 2000. Multiple stores are closing in California, including in Fresno, The Fresno Bee reported. Walgreens’ website posted a list of suggestions for customers who are dealing with their local store’s closing. When Walgreens first announced the closures in October 2024, a number of trends were blamed. According to The Associated Press, they include “shrinking prescription reimbursement, persistent theft, rising costs,” and competition from online retailers. According to AP, the 500 closures span the company’s fiscal year, which started in September 2024. Although Walgreens didn’t provide a list, the company said it was closing “poor-performing stores where the property is owned by the company, or where leases are expiring,” AP noted. CVS Health and Rite-Aid, which are two Walgreens’ competitors, have been closing locations, too, according to AP. Related: Beloved Toothpaste Company Delivers Bad News Source link #Trusted #Retail #Chain #Closing #Stores #August Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Who owns London’s (privately owned) public spaces? Who owns London’s (privately owned) public spaces? ShareShare Article via FacebookShare Article via TwitterShare Article via LinkedInShare Article via Email Privately-owned public spaces—or POPS—have transformed cities over the past sixty years. But their ownership is regularly questioned — and with it, their design, accessibility and what they’ve replaced. 19:29 Fri, May 2 20258:00 PM EDT Source link #owns #Londons #privately #owned #public #spaces Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]