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I’m Laughing Uncontrollably At These 36 Hilarious Internet Fails From Last Week I’m Laughing Uncontrollably At These 36 Hilarious Internet Fails From Last Week Editor’s Note: While we can’t endorse what X has become, we can bring you the fun moments that still exist there, curated and free of the surrounding chaos. What have we here, another Monday? I don’t think so. Seriously, what does it take to get a weekday removed around here? I’ve had enough. While we wait for Pope Gregory XIII to resolve our issues with the Gregorian calendar, at least we can laugh at these 36 hilarious internet fails from last week: 1.Who would have guessed? Tweet humorously expresses a lack of motivation to wash pots and pans, unchanged from the previous night 2.A little bribery goes a long way. Tweet joking about paying hush money to a child for secretly eating chips 3.Yes, that’s definitely what that button is for. Elevator panel with three buttons: regular buttons for floors 14 and 15 and a button with an image of a fireman hat above them 4.Jail for the person who laid a mug on its side for a thousand years. Dishwasher loaded messily with cups and glasses; a tweet above sarcastically calls coworkers “monsters” for bad loading 5.Well, at least you avoided dating someone who doesn’t know the same celebrities you do. Summary of tweet: The person explains they were ghosted by a date who later revealed seeing a picture of them with someone else, mistaking it for a relationship 6.Time to put The Strokes on the TouchTunes. Tweet about a cafe scene where someone discusses the music similarities between Mac DeMarco and The Strokes, while “Congratulations” by MGMT plays 7.Here’s a thought: Maybe we don’t set minimum character limits for names. Tweet about a web form error requiring at least three characters in the First Name field, despite input meeting the requirement by adding a space 8.Righty-tighty, lefty needs a different screwdriver. Tweet about someone humorously discussing buying a left-handed screwdriver as a prank at Home Depot 9.At least it wasn’t written down on a Post-It note nearby. Tweet by McDad: “Sorry I was late. The app that I’ve been automatically logged into for months was asking for my password.” 10.Okay, well…have a nice day then, Matt! Screenshot of a text exchange where “Timothy” confirms identity and “Matt” responds with a warning about cold calling 11.Oh my. A freshly baked sourdough bread with a crispy crust is on display. Caption humorously anticipates feedback: “Id say the sourdough bread came out great.” 12.Time to chug a Pedialyte. A person relaxes on a couch in a robe, holding a tape measure. A lamp glows beside them. Text refers to a hangover and someone walking with the tape measure 13.Thanks for the freebie; see ya never. Tweet about trying a free Pilates class and deciding not to return 14.Didn’t even need a Ouija board to get that message. A tweet recounts a surreal cemetery experience involving a 17-year-old’s grave and an unexpected hair fire after researching her presumed cause of death 15.I…don’t want to know which one it was. A large advertisement with text: “Love at First Slur~!” promoting a restaurant, with images of various dishes 16.What if I didn’t do that, Mom? Text conversation shows a photo of the World Trade Center at night from New Jersey. “Mom” replies saying it’s a pretty picture and suggests framing it 17.The breakfast sandwich is just trying to watch the game. Hockey game at Bridgestone Arena shown on the jumbotron. Screen displays the score, *******, and a breakfast sandwich advertisement 18.Appreciate the support, guys. Character from “Inside Out” representing sadness, wearing a sweater, depicted as a leader in your head. Tweet expresses frustration about depression 19.I actually just finished 3 ft. of green paper covered in candy canes. It’s great. Tweet humorously stating Goodreads’ terms don’t allow counting wrapping paper as a book toward reading goals, wondering who attempted it 20.Chappell? Is that really you? Text exchange with sender claiming to be “Chappele Roan,” asking for $500 for an album, followed by confusing message. Option to report junk 21.Um. Yes. Yes, they do. Tweet recounts a public defender being mistaken for not being a lawyer by a security deputy in court 22.Well, I guess that settles it. A tweet from @DontWorryBoutB humorously recounting how their daughter lost phone privileges after being smart and jokingly kissing her phone goodbye 23.Thank you for sharing. A hand holding a tiny piece of chocolate. A humorous caption about sharing chocolate with a child is above the image 24.If you can’t handle the heat, sir, don’t come to the karaoke bar. Person in a striped top enthusiastically sings karaoke, while a seated man nearby covers his ears 25.It’s either this one or the one with the guy’s head in front of me filling half the frame. Blurry concert photo with a caption lamenting the difficulty of deleting concert pictures 26.Was the wrap good, at least? Tweet: “Purchased a $3 roast beef wrap from the gas station and now my left leg is completely numb.” 27.Sounds like you need to take the test again. Text conversation: Person 1 asks, “what’s your love language?” Person 2 replies “physical touch,” with a heart emoji. Person 1 responds, “manipulation.” 28.Tons of people use Yahoo! (In 2002.) A tweet humorously questioning if people still use Yahoo email, after friends reacted with surprise to the mention of a Yahoo address 29.She can’t even go to work on her own? Tweet by user sharing a story: A woman says a man follows her everywhere after catching her cheating. User reacts with “I’m like WHAT LMFAOOO” and crying emoji 30.This feels safe. Store aisle with a plastic sheet on the ceiling channeling water into a bucket. Shelves are stocked with various goods. Caption jokes about “milking the ceiling.” 31.No better reason to change up your relationship than a little extra rent money. A text exchange about becoming polyamorous to financially manage rent, noting the benefit of a three-income household 32.Look at the clock, man. Text message exchange where one person asks for a pickup after school ends. The response is simply “Oh.” 33.And the read receipts are going right back off. Person seated at a bar, smiling slightly. Social media caption humorously mentions texting and read receipts 34.Sorry to report that David ****** is not my Papa. Person wearing a ****** textured sweater and a necklace with a small heart-shaped pendant featuring a face, with a chain strap visible on the left 35.Bye-bye, Miss American Pie. Went to get a bagel, and the deli was on fire. A person with curly hair looks concerned, in a GIF, alongside text about a deli being on fire during a bagel visit 36.And finally, well, I have a guess. Person holds ********** with French warning: “La ********** cause le *******,” meaning “Cigarettes cause *******.” If you enjoyed these laughs, go follow the creators! And for more fails, check out our most recent posts: I Swear I’m Going To Tell My Doctor I Did Cardio After Laughing At These 34 Fails From Last Week These 18 Hilarious Fails From Last Week Made Me Laugh So Hard I Shed A Few Tears These 15 Hilarious Internet Fails From Last Week Made Me Laugh So Hard I Shed A Single Tear Source link #Laughing #Uncontrollably #Hilarious #Internet #Fails #Week Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Here’s the first look at the spiritual successor to a PlayStation classic Here’s the first look at the spiritual successor to a PlayStation classic Developer Ratata Arts has debuted the first gameplay for its spiritual sequel to PlayStation’s Patapon, Ratatan. The side-scrolling rhythm game, which was crowdfunded within an hour of its Kickstarter launch in 2023, will launch sometime this year with online co-op gameplay for up to 4 players. A closed beta test for Ratatan is planned for later this week, on February 27, giving Kickstarter backers a chance to try the game’s opening stage. “The three main game concepts are over 100 cute characters fighting it out on screen, four-player simultaneous battles, and more adventure and roguelike elements than Patapon had,” producer Kazuto Sakajiri explained in an interview with VGC. Originally released for PlayStation Portable in 2007, Patapon is a rhythm-based 2D platform / action game in which players command an army of cute anthropomorphic eyeballs known as “Patapons” that can be instructed to move forward, attack, defend and retreat by using a sequence of drum beats. The game received two sequels on PSP, and the first two games were remastered with 4K visuals for PS4. Last year, Sony appeared to tease a new project in the Patapon franchise. Source link #Heres #spiritual #successor #PlayStation #classic Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Use network standardization to facilitate automation Use network standardization to facilitate automation Standardized and simplified network design and configuration are essential foundations for a smoothly functioning system. Ensuring consistency across the network facilitates the implementation and effective use of automation, making it easier to deploy changes and validate network operations across your infrastructure. For example, using a single Git hosting service such as GitHub, GitLab or Bitbucket as the network source of truth instead of multiple hosting services ensures engineers are familiar with one specific platform for DevOps. This article explores these functions further. But first, let’s examine what network equipment vendors recommend. Using building block designs Network equipment vendors recommend that network teams adopt building block designs to further enhance standardization and simplify automation. Each building block should specify the exact hardware, OS, interface selection and configuration used. To reduce system complexity, teams should minimize the number of building block variations their automation systems handle. For example, it’s best to have two remote site designs: an older design to transition from and a new design to transition to. Teams might also have small and large site designs for a total of four. Note that supporting more unique designs often increases the effort needed to maintain the automation system. One key challenge in managing multiple designs is handling significant design variances — differences that automation can’t deploy. For example, hardware changes such as equipment refreshes or interface updates fall into this category because they require more than just a configuration update. Contrast that with a simple configuration change, like updating an access control list, which is easily deployed by automation. It’s tempting to deploy a nonstandard hardware configuration to handle new site requirements, but the downside is that it requires additional complexities in the automation process. Even simple differences, like changes in the interfaces used for uplinks, can complicate automation. Thus, when emergency situations arise that require exceptions to standards, teams should work to standardize them as soon as possible. Automation and network standardization When your network follows a consistent design, automation tools can reliably execute critical functions such as maintaining an up-to-date network device inventory, monitoring for configuration drift, conducting configuration audits, applying network device OS updates, performing configuration remediation, managing changes efficiently, enforcing security policies and using AI agents. Let’s explore these functions. 1. Network device inventory A network device inventory guarantees the recognition of all devices. Regularly scheduled network scans might reveal rogue or unprotected devices that aren’t protected by a security patch, so teams should make sure their networks are secure. Network inventories can also remove any old, forgotten devices that pose an operational risk to the network. Automation plays a crucial role in this process by continuously discovering a device and getting details about it. The process also has the ability to catalog network devices, detect unauthorized additions and flag discrepancies in real time. One popular open source tool is NetBox; alternative products include Datadog and SolarWinds. A comparison of common network devices. 2. Configuration drift An automation system can collect configurations and monitor changes once the network inventory recognizes devices on the network. Incorrect changes are the greatest cause of network outages. Network teams will find that tracking configuration drift is a critical function in failure diagnosis to identify what changed. Standardized designs make it easier to determine when something changes and whether the change was caused by an outage. 3. Configuration audit A configuration audit identifies devices with configurations that don’t match a team’s best practices and policies. Network teams can guarantee that standardized configurations are operational by performing an audit that compares device configurations against standardized configuration templates and by remediating noncompliant configurations. The templates specify required commands that should exist and forbidden commands that shouldn’t exist. The templates are specific to each device function and model. Example of a configuration policy rule definition for NTP on a Cisco Internetwork Operating System. This audit identifies configurations that don’t match the standards for teams to bring them into compliance. Teams should also address any differences in hardware, like device vendors and models, before standardizing the related configuration elements. Some examples of popular configuration auditing tools are Kyverno for Kubernetes network policies, SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager and Infoblox NetMRI. 4. Network device OS updates Network teams should also standardize the OS versions used on their devices to simplify updates and patch processes. The initial inventory process should identify the OS used on each device. Keep the OS patched to avoid network security holes and subtle bugs that affect a network’s operation. The patching process will be much smoother on a network that minimizes the number of OSes. 5. Configuration remediation Remediation and configuration updates are where automation provides its greatest value. For example, updating passwords, modifying a critical access control list or making a routing protocol change across hundreds of routers are actions made simpler by starting with a known, standard configuration. 6. Change management Change management also becomes more efficient with automation. If all network configurations are stored in one Git repository, engineers can easily track changes, enforce version control and roll back to previous configurations if needed. Different tools offer distinct advantages when choosing a standard platform for change management. For example, a database-driven platform like NetBox provides a structured and enriched source of truth for network configurations. On the other hand, a Git-based platform like Nautobot — born out of NetBox — extends Git’s version control benefits while allowing for more automation-driven workflows, including CI/CD pipelines for network configuration updates. 7. Security Standard designs are important for other reasons, including security. Network teams should consistently apply good security configurations across the entire infrastructure to prevent bad actors from accessing the network. For example, with cloud networking, enforce a standardized routing policy where all traffic is routed through a central security VPN before reaching the internet or other virtual private clouds. 8. Network troubleshooting Standardization greatly simplifies network troubleshooting because standard operating procedures are easier to create and maintain. For example, if every switch is configured to send logs to a centralized server, engineers can easily access the logs to track down the root cause of an issue. 9. Standardization across public clouds Standardization should extend beyond on-premises networks to cloud and multi-cloud environments. For example, teams using infrastructure-as-code tools like Terraform or OpenTofu can use one configuration language to define networking policies across AWS, Azure and Google Cloud. This guarantees uniform security groups, firewall rules and routing configurations. 10. AI-driven network automation Creating a digital twin of the network and using AI to interact with it using natural language rather than complex network configuration is starting to gain traction. When an interaction is made using natural language, AI agents preconfigured with a knowledge base of network instructions understand the language and interact with the network device or cloud infrastructure on behalf of the human. It’s important to standardize a knowledge base for your AI agents. The knowledge base can be built with vendor-neutral instructions. For example, when a network engineer says, “Set the speed of all active Gigabit Ethernet interfaces with an IP address in subnet 192.168.1.0/24 to 10 Gbps,” the agent translates that request into a vendor-neutral format. To see more of this in action, check out John Capobianco’s YouTube channel. Automation and network standardization complement each other Automation and network standardization work together to improve network operations and reduce human error. Standard network designs enable consistent application of automation across larger parts of networks. In turn, automation identifies exceptions to network standards and enables the network team to implement configuration changes quickly and accurately. This synergy results in a more secure, scalable and resilient network that’s ready to support future technologies like AI-driven automation. Editor’s note: This article was updated in February 2025 to reflect the latest developments in network standardization as it relates to automation. Charles Uneze is a technical writer who specializes in cloud-native networking, Kubernetes and open source. Terry Slattery is an independent consultant who specializes in network management and network automation. He founded Netcordia and invented NetMRI, a network analysis appliance that provides visibility into the issues and complexity of modern router- and switch-based IP networks. Source link #network #standardization #facilitate #automation Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Nasdaq 100: Bulls Spooked by Stagflation Fears Nasdaq 100: Bulls Spooked by Stagflation Fears Despite the Nasdaq 100’s earlier single-day loss of -3% on 27 January inflicted by ******** Artificial Intelligence (AI) start-up DeepSeek’s cutting-edge capabilities with lower operational costs, the price actions of have remained resilient in the entire month of February. It continued its upward climb but in a choppy fashion to recoup its January losses and printed a fresh all-time closing high of 22,176 on 19 February. However, stagflation fears have resurfaced last week. Firstly, several US Federal Reserve officials as expressed in their respective discussions, noted in the latest FOMC minutes have flagged concerns of heightened inflationary pressures in the US if the White House follows through with its hawkish trade tariffs policy. Secondly, the S&P Global flash US Services PMI data for February fell sharply unexpectedly to a contractionary level of 49.7 from 52.9 in the previous month, its first contraction in the services sector activity in the US over two years. Given that the services sector contributes to almost three-quarters of US economic growth, the latest contractionary reading of the S&P Global flash US Services PMI, a leading economic growth indicator has triggered a “growth scare infused with sticky inflation” feedback loop into the US stock market that torpedoed all the four major US benchmark stock indices on last Friday. The Nasdaq 100 declined by almost 2%, its worst single-day decline in two months. Inflationary expectations continued to divert further away from the Fed’s 2% target Market-transacted inflationary expectations (breakeven inflation rates) in the US as inferred from the prices of Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS) have surged significantly since December 2024. The 5-year breakeven inflation rate has climbed to 2.61% as of last Friday, 21 February, its highest level in almost two years (see Fig 1). Hence, the Fed is likely to adopt a less dovish monetary policy guidance in 2025 which may lead to a liquidity-tightening condition that is likely to be detrimental to US stock indices due to a higher cost of funding environment that can dampen earnings growth. Bearish technical elements surfaced on the Nasdaq 100 ahead of Nvidia’s earnings results US AI juggernaut Nvidia (NASDAQ:), also the second biggest market cap component stock in the Nasdaq 100 will report its fourth-quarter earnings results for calendar year 2024 on Wednesday, 26 February after the close of the US cash stock market session. Interestingly, the trend condition and market breadth elements of the Nasdaq 100 are not so rosy at this juncture. The daily MACD trend indicator flashed out an earlier bearish divergence on its histogram on 18 February coupled with a recent MACD signal line bearish crossover last Friday, 21 February. These observations suggest the bullish momentum of the medium-term uptrend phase of the Nasdaq 100 from the 5 August 2024 low may be exhausted, and a trend change towards a potential corrective decline sequence may be imminent. In addition, the number of Nasdaq 100 component stocks that are making new 52-week highs (smoothed by a 5-day moving average) are lesser since 11 February while the Nasdaq 100 scaled to a fresh all-time closing high on 19 February which represents a weak market breadth condition at this juncture. Watch the key 20,790 intermediate support on the Nasdaq 100 CFD Index (a proxy of Nasdaq 100 E-mini futures), and a daily close below it may trigger a multi-week corrective decline sequence to expose the medium-term supports of 19,840 and 18,310 (see Fig 2). On the other hand, clearance above the 22,470/980 medium-term pivotal resistance zone invalidates the bearish scenario for the continuation of its impulsive upmove sequence for the next medium-term resistance zone to come in at 23,980/24,440 in the first step. Original Post Source link #Nasdaq #Bulls #Spooked #Stagflation #Fears Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Trump says tariffs on Canada and Mexico ‘will go forward’ Trump says tariffs on Canada and Mexico ‘will go forward’ U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks during a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron in the East Room at the White House on Feb. 24, 2025 in Washington, DC. Tasos Katopodis | Getty Images President Donald Trump said Monday that sweeping U.S. tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico “will go forward” when a month-long delay on their implementation expires next week. This is breaking news. Please refresh for updates. Source link #Trump #tariffs #Canada #Mexico Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Map: Tracking Tropical Cyclone Alfred Map: Tracking Tropical Cyclone Alfred Alfred was a tropical cyclone in the Coral Sea Monday morning Eastern time, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center said in its latest advisory. The tropical cyclone had sustained wind speeds of 75 miles per hour, which would make it a Category 1 hurricane if it were in the Atlantic Ocean. All times on the map are Eastern. By The New York Times What does the storm look like from above? Satellite imagery can help determine the strength, size and cohesion of a storm. The stronger a storm becomes, the more likely an eye will form in the center. When the eye looks symmetrical, that often means the storm is not encountering anything to weaken it. Only about a quarter of the Earth’s tropical cyclones form in the Southern Hemisphere. When these storms have sustained winds of 74 m.p.h. or greater, they would be called hurricanes in the Atlantic, but here, they are called cyclones. The only other difference is that, in the Southern Hemisphere, cyclones spin clockwise (hurricanes spin counterclockwise). Cyclones can strike eastern Africa, primarily Madagascar, as well as the western, northern and eastern coasts of Australia and surrounding island nations. The season here runs opposite the rest of the world, typically beginning in late October and running through May. Peaks in activity vary depending on the region, but normally, activity is highest in late February and early March. Sources and notes Tracking map Tracking data is from the National Hurricane Center. The map shows probabilities of at least 5 percent. The forecast is for up to five days, with that time span starting up to three hours before the reported time that the storm reaches its latest location. Wind speed probability data is not available north of 60.25 degrees north latitude. Wind arrivals table Arrival times are generated from a New York Times analysis of National Hurricane Center data. Geographic locations use data from the U.S. Census Bureau and Natural Earth. Time zones are based on Google. The table shows predicted arrival times of sustained, damaging winds of 58 m.p.h. or more for select cities with a chance of such winds reaching them. If damaging winds reach a location, there is no more than a 10 percent chance that they will arrive before the “earliest reasonable” time and a 50 percent chance they will arrive before the “most likely” time. Radar map Radar imagery is from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration via Iowa State University. These mosaics are generated by combining individual radar stations that comprise the NEXRAD network. Storm surge map Storm surge data is from the National Hurricane Center. Forecasts only include the United States Gulf and Atlantic coasts, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The actual areas that could become flooded may differ from the areas shown on this map. This map accounts for tides, but not waves and not flooding caused by rainfall. The map also includes intertidal areas, which routinely flood during typical high tides. Satellite map Imagery is from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Japanese Meteorological Agency via the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere. Precipitation map Data for multi-day forecasts or observed rainfall totals are from the National Weather Service. The 1-day forecast is from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Source link #Map #Tracking #Tropical #Cyclone #Alfred Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Tomb Raider IV–VI Remastered Review – Lara Jumps, Lara Falls | COGconnected Tomb Raider IV–VI Remastered Review – Lara Jumps, Lara Falls | COGconnected VGChartz’s Evan Norris: “In the end, Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered is less essential than last year’s Tomb Raider collection, entirely because the games are inferior. While The Last Revelation remains one of the franchise’s better entries, Chronicles is merely decent, and The Angel of Darkness is subpar. Still, thanks to control and graphics options, paired with the 60 fps boost, this newest compilation represents the superior way to experience these titles. If you only have the time and money for one purchase, go for I-III Remastered without question. If, however, you’re a completionist who wants to experience Lara’s lesser, weirder adventures and observe how developer fatigue and mismanagement affected the trajectory of the franchise in the early 2000s, this is the collection for you.” Source link #Tomb #Raider #IVVI #Remastered #Review #Lara #Jumps #Lara #Falls #COGconnected Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

This robot video is weirdly depressing, and I’ve never been so happy to be human This robot video is weirdly depressing, and I’ve never been so happy to be human It’s rare that a robot video fills me with sadness, but this new one from 1X featuring the company’s new Neo Gama humanoid robot left me in a state of ennui. Neo Gamma is an update to the Neo Beta 1X introduced six months ago. At the time, the company claimed its ****** and gray humanoid robot was undergoing home trials. In the video, it showed the bot briefly interacting with (even hugging) a human companion. It left me and other roboticists I talked to skeptical. Home humanoid robots are generally thought to be a decade out, but 1X appeared to be trying to close that gap significantly. Recently, the company unveiled Neo Gamma, a robot with numerous aesthetic and technical improvements. There are new “emotive” LED ear rings that the company thinks will help improve communication. I assume this is because the rings light up when you’re talking to the robot, which features microphones and speakers. They’ve redone the body cover and almost made it a more attractive beige, making it softer and safer for the home. Movement’s gotten an upgrade, too. Neo Gamma’s arms can now swing, and its walk is smoother than that of the Beta model. Additionally, the robot can now sit down in a chair. As with Neo Beta, Neo Gamma integrates AI. For instance, the updated visual manipulation model will make it possible for Gamma to handle objects it’s never seen before. Overall, 1X claims on its website, “NEO Gamma’s design opens the door to start internal home testing—a first step in creating fully autonomous humanoids.” Introducing NEO Gamma | Another Step Closer to Home – YouTube Watch On To illustrate this point, 1X released this launch video, which shows Neo Gamma operating in a typical home. It cleans, makes and serves coffee, pours wine, and collects the groceries from its owner. Neo Gamma even cleans windows. Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. But it’s a lonely existence. Most of the time, the couple in the video ignores Neo Gamma, even as it’s serving and working around them. When it serves coffee, they barely look up. As it vacuums the rug, it doesn’t even get a glance. There is one touching moment where Neo Gamma helps hang a picture and even gets a thumbs up, but that is the extent of real human engagement. At the end of the video, the couple is enjoying a meal in the dining room, one that I bet Neo Gamma prepared and served, and the robot is in the other room alone. It takes a seat on the couch and stares into space. Is this the “life” we anticipate for our humanoid companions – with us, but separate? Even though I assume these robots will have no feelings, I’m sure others and I will anthropomorphize them and start to thank them, chat, and engage in a more human way. I guess I wonder if 1X could have shown me a bit more natural human-to-robot interaction. 1X hasn’t set a price or delivery date for Neo Gamma, but you can join the wait list to become the robot’s mas…er…beloved owner. In the meantime, I think I need to cheer up and go watch a fun cat video. You might also like Source link #robot #video #weirdly #depressing #Ive #happy #human Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Apollo economist Slok sees downside risks increasing for the economy and markets Apollo economist Slok sees downside risks increasing for the economy and markets Even with most economic indicators holding strong, worries are beginning to creep up that the tumult in Washington could start weighing on growth, posing a potential threat to stocks. For the most part, the data has been solid across traditional yardsticks like job creation , consumer spending and business activity. But in recent days, an unexpected slide in consumer confidence that dovetailed with worries about higher inflation ahead raised the specter that the economy could be headed for some turbulence. Economist Torsten Slok chalked up the misgivings to storm clouds out of the White House as President Donald Trump and his lieutenant Elon Musk seek to slash the federal bureaucracy through job cuts. At the same time, Trump continues to saber-rattle on tariffs, adding to the jangled nerves. “The incoming economic data remains strong,” Slok, the chief economist at Apollo Academy, a unit of Apollo Global Management , a private equity firm, said in a note over the weekend. “But we are starting to worry about the downside risks to the economy and markets from: 1) the impact of DOGE layoffs and contract cuts on jobless claims and 2) persistently elevated policy uncertainty weighing on capex spending decisions and hiring decisions.” On a national level, unemployment filings have held fairly steady since Trump came into office but have increased in the Washington, D.C., area . In the city itself, there have been about 6,700 new claims filed since Trump took office, a sharp increase over prior months and the same ******* in 2024. Should the Department of Government Efficiency, a Musk-led advisory board which Trump has relied on since taking office, hit the consensus level of 300,000 job cuts, second-order effects involving contractors could lead to 1 million layoffs nationwide, Slok said. “Any increase in layoffs will push jobless claims higher over the coming weeks, and such a rise in the unemployment rate is likely to have consequences for rates, equities and credit,” the economist wrote. At the same time, the policy gyrations have added to the climate of uncertainty. Trump has threatened to impose wide-ranging tariffs against U.S. trading partners, while increasing hostilities with Ukraine as he seeks an end to the war with Russia. The global Economic Policy Uncertainty Index has spiked to an all-time high in data going back to 1997. While credit spreads are not widening, as they usually do with rises in the policy measure, “The question is if persistently elevated policy uncertainty will begin to have a negative impact on capex spending and hiring decisions,” Slok said. At the same time, the Citi Economic Surprise Index, a generally countertrend indicator, has hit its lowest level since late September 2024. The index measures incoming data against Wall Street estimates. Friday showed an especially precipitous fall as the University of Michigan consumer sentiment survey weakened more than expected and respondents sharply increased their inflation expectations at the one- and five-year horizons. The five-year outlook rose to 3.5%, its highest since 1995. Though the Atlanta Federal Reserve’s GDPNow tracker still shows growth running at a 2.3% annual pace in the first quarter, the current trends are indicating trouble, Slok said. “The bottom line is that the incoming data remains strong,” he wrote. “But the near-term downside risks to the economy and markets are growing.” Source link #Apollo #economist #Slok #sees #downside #risks #increasing #economy #markets Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Steam Next Fest: what it is, start times, games, and more Steam Next Fest: what it is, start times, games, and more Table of Contents Table of Contents What is Steam Next Fest? When is Steam Next Fest? What game demos are available? We all have a list of upcoming video games that we’re eagerly awaiting getting our hands on. Waiting is always the hardest part, but Valve tries to make that wait a little bit more bearable with its Steam Next Fest events. Hosted multiple times a year, this gives PC players a chance to play demos for a ton of upcoming PC games while the celebration is going on. This is the perfect chance to get an early look at some games you have on your wishlist, but also get exposed to some new games you hadn’t heard of before. This is a major event with tons to do and not a lot of time to do it, so here are all the details you need about Steam Next Fest to make the most of it. What is Steam Next Fest? In short, Steam Next Fest is an event Valve hosts during select times during the year where developers can all release demos for their upcoming games at once for everyone to see. The entire Steam page will be taken over with featured demos, streams, and more to encourage people to check out these projects and add them to their wishlists. It is a fantastic chance for smaller developers in particular to get eyes on their project and hopefully build up some positive word of mouth. For players, it is a great chance to jump into a ton of demos with no strings attached. Every demo in Steam Next Fest is completely free to download and play while the event is going on. All you need is a Steam account and you can access any available demo. When is Steam Next Fest? The February Steam Next Fest event starts on February 24 at 10:00 am PT and will end one week later on March 3 at 10:00 am PT. That gives you a full seven days to play as many demos as possible. If you happen to be busy or miss out on this event, there will be two more Steam Next Fest events in 2025 in June and October, so you will have more chances to participate. What game demos are available? There are hundreds of games posting their demos during Steam Next Fest so it would be overwhelming to list them all. However, a few games highlighted in the trailer that would be good games to start with include: Of course, the best thing to do during Next Fest is to explore the lineup and try out games that look interesting for yourself. Every demo is free, so now is the perfect chance to try out a game you never heard of and possibly discover a hidden gem you might not have otherwise found. Source link #Steam #Fest #start #times #games Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

‘We want stability’: Ukrainians in Winnipeg on third anniversary of war – Winnipeg ‘We want stability’: Ukrainians in Winnipeg on third anniversary of war – Winnipeg On the third anniversary of the war in Ukraine, members of Winnipeg’s Ukrainian community are reflecting on the conflict that continues to drag on and where they stand in Canada as they nervously watch news from back home. Ihor Shved, pastor at the city’s Ukrainian Catholic Metropolitan Cathedral of Sts. Volodymyr and Olga, said those questions come up regularly among his parishioners — most of whom never expected a third year would go by without resolution. “We all know that war is not something that you can plan to stop it tomorrow or in one month, but we had hope … and we don’t want to believe that it will still be here next year,” Shved told Global Winnipeg. “But we are here … and we are thankful for those people who are fighting there as well as for those who are supporting our country around the world. For some Ukrainian families in Winnipeg, returning home isn’t as easy as it seems — they’ve set up roots in the city and, after three years, their children have become integrated into ********* culture. Story continues below advertisement “There are mix(ed) feelings. It looked different one year ago or two years ago,” Shved said. “Now, after three years here — especially for those who are with children and their children are growing up in the society … the English language, ********* culture, it’s not that easy. The number of those who are willing to go back are less.” Despite that, he said, there are many Ukrainians in Canada who long to return home and are doing what they can to get back. Many of those decisions, however, depend on official documentation, as many community members await news on permanent residency applications while facing the imminent expiration of their three-year work permits. Get daily National news Get the day’s top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. “We, as human beings, we want stability,” he said. “We don’t like to live in the feelings when you don’t know what will happen tomorrow. There are worries, stress … but people are trying. “We’re trying to give a message of hope to our people.” 2:08 Provincial nominee application for Ukrainian family in Winnipeg stalled for 2 years That message is something shared by the Ukrainian ********* Congress (UCC), a national non-profit that acts as the voice of the Ukrainian community in Canada. Story continues below advertisement UCC executive director Ihor Michalchyshyn told Global Winnipeg there are more than 45 rallies planned this weekend across Canada in support of Ukraine and many others around the world. Recent comments from U.S. president Donald Trump suggesting that Ukraine is to blame for the conflict are raising red flags in the community, Michalchyshyn said. Trending Now ‘Outrage’: Child stabbed multiple times by 19-year-old in downtown Halifax: police Key U.S. agencies refuse to comply with Musk’s latest demand on workers More on Canada More videos “We’re feeling angry that we have a third anniversary of this invasion, we’re feeling upset that Russian disinformation continues to permeate about the nature of this … that somehow it’s Ukraine’s fault, or somehow all these arguments about the pro-Russian narrative continue to make their way to the forefront. “Ukraine is not to blame for the Russian invasion. That’s a false narrative. Ukraine can’t hold elections while Russia’s firing missiles on cities every day, so this willingness by President Trump to take on these Russian narratives and propagate them is very concerning.” Michalyshyn said his organization continues to lobby the federal government for more financial and humanitarian aid to help Ukraine’s war efforts and the people on the ground as well as displaced Ukrainians living and working in Canada, who, in order to have some certainty about their futures, could benefit from having their working permits renewed. “We really want to avert a refugee crisis or some kind of mass movement of people working illegally,” he said. Story continues below advertisement “These people are contributing and participating in their community lives and working hard … and we think they should continue to have that temporary protection as long as the war continues.” On Monday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, attending a peace and security summit in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, announced that Canada is set to send $5 billion in aid to Ukraine, with funds from seized Russian assets. 3:04 Trudeau pledges $5B in seized Russian assets for Ukraine on war anniversary &copy 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc. Source link #stability #Ukrainians #Winnipeg #anniversary #war #Winnipeg Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Former Control lead designer’s NetEase studio ‘not affected by any closures’ Former Control lead designer’s NetEase studio ‘not affected by any closures’ The NetEase studio founded and headed by former Control lead designer Paul Ehreth hasn’t been impacted by any restructuring of the ******** tech giant’s games business. Ehreth, the CEO and creative director of Anchor Point Studios, published a statement on Monday confirming that work on the company’s debut game is “still full steam ahead”. His statement was released following reports that numerous NetEase studios, including Quantic Dream, Nagoshi Studio, and Grasshopper, are at risk of closure after the ******** publisher decided to divest its international operations. Previously known for its popular PC MMOs and mobile games, NetEase has expanded significantly in recent years, acquiring and establishing studios from industry veterans in Japan, North America, and Europe. However, as the games industry continues to endure turbulent times, there have been signs that, in recent months, it could be scaling back its ambitions – although NetEase has denied suggestions that recent cuts are part of a wider change of strategy. “Due to recent news of multiple studio closures, we’ve had many friends and fans reach out to us out of concern,” Ehreth said in a statement published on X. “After responding to each of them, I wanted to make a more formal statement that Anchor Point Studios has not been affected by any studio closures, and we are still full steam ahead building our game. “So far, NetEase has been a great partner for us, giving us creative control and development support, and we look forward to the prospect of shipping an exceptional game together in the future. “While it may be stormy seas at the moment for the industry, we are very much still growing, and we have several positions open for anyone looking for a safe harbor.” Anchor Point, which was established in 2023, is currently seeking to hire a senior game designer, a senior AI designer and a lead level designer. “The studio’s motto is Per Aspera, Ad Astra (through hardships, to the stars) which speaks to our team’s desire to pour everything we have into all that we do, building action-adventure experiences that take risks and journey deep into uncharted territory,” according to its website. Source link #Control #lead #designers #NetEase #studio #affected #closures Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Donald Trump, Emmanuel Macron discuss Ukraine peace at White House meeting, Ukraine war could end ‘in weeks’ Donald Trump, Emmanuel Macron discuss Ukraine peace at White House meeting, Ukraine war could end ‘in weeks’ French President Emmanuel Macron and US President Donald Trump have held talks at the White House, revealing war in Ukraine could end “within weeks”, staying tight lipped on how that result could be achieved. Mr Trump said the purpose of the pairs meeting was to “end the war”. “I think the war (in Ukraine) could end soon, within weeks, if we’re smart,” Mr Trump said alongside Mr Macron in the Oval Office. “If we’re not smart it will keep going. We don’t want that. “Remember what I said, this could escalate into a third world war, we don’t want that either.” Mr Macron says some European countries would be ready to have peacekeepers in Ukraine as a security guarantee after a peace treaty is signed, although they would not be sent to the front line. He indicated that the peace deal could come in a second phase, after what he called a “truce”. Mr Trump said he does not see a problem with European troops being sent to Ukraine to serve as peacemakers. The US president said on Monday the United States was “very close” to securing a minerals deal with Ukraine. He said he might meet Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky later this week or next week to seal the agreement. “He may come in this week or next week to sign the agreement, which would be nice,” Mr Trump said of Mr Zelensky. He said he would also be meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin at some point. Mr Trump said the United States backed the idea of sending European peacekeeping troops into Ukraine, revealing he had raised the concept with Mr Putin and that the Russian leader would accept it. Mr Macron said that the strength of US re-engagement with Russia is a source of uncertainty for Mr Putin. Asked if Ukraine should be willing to cede territory to Russia as part of a negotiated end to the war, Trump said “We’ll see”. Mr Macron became the first European leader to visit Mr Trump since he regained power a month ago. He was at the White House for a morning session that lasted an hour and 45 minutes, including both leaders participating in a video conference with other G7 leaders about Ukraine. United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer is to visit Mr Trump later in the week, amid alarm in Europe over Mr Trump’s hardening stance towards Ukraine and overtures to Russia on the three-year-old conflict. Turkish officials said on Monday they were ready to host possible talks between Ukraine and Russia and would support any initiative leading to peace, following a visit to Ankara by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. NATO-member Turkey hosted initial talks between the sides months after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, helping secure a deal for the safe passage of grain exports in the ****** Sea. Speaking alongside Mr Lavrov on the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Turkey valued a US initiative for peace as a “result-oriented” approach but repeated that both sides must participate in the search for a solution. “In that framework, we are ready to contribute all forms of support for peace to be achieved through talks. We are ready to host these talks as we have done before,” Mr Fidan said. While he did not repeat Turkey’s long-held stance supporting Ukraine’s territorial integrity, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan did so in a separate video message marking the anniversary. Asked about the security guarantees Ukraine has demanded from the United States and other allies for ending the war, Mr Fidan said Turkey was “ready to take any step contributing to peace in principle”. Mr Lavrov said Russia’s position on the conditions needed to end war had not changed and that scrapping Ukraine’s bid for NATO membership was non-negotiable. He later met Mr Erdogan. Mr Zelensky visited Turkey for talks with Mr Erdogan last week, on the same day US and Russian representatives met for talks aimed at ending the war in Riyadh without Ukraine’s participation. Mr Zelensky said on Sunday that he viewed Turkey as an important security guarantor for Ukraine. The Ukrainian president paid tribute to his country’s resistance on Monday, as it marked the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion. “I am proud of Ukraine,” Mr Zelensky wrote on Telegram, commemorating the soldiers who died in battle. Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov meanwhile emphasised the country’s will to continue fighting. “Ukrainian warriors fight for every metre of our land,” he wrote on X, adding that “the whole country is working towards victory”. – With Reuters, DPA Source link #Donald #Trump #Emmanuel #Macron #discuss #Ukraine #peace #White #House #meeting #Ukraine #war #weeks Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Monster Hunter Wilds Review – Thrill of the Hunt | MP1st Monster Hunter Wilds Review – Thrill of the Hunt | MP1st Monster Hunter Wilds Review – Read on to see how the newest entry in Capcom’s bestselling series improves on the action RPG’s formula. Time to hunt! Source link #Monster #Hunter #Wilds #Review #Thrill #Hunt #MP1st Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Gmail will stop using SMS for two-factor authentication Gmail will stop using SMS for two-factor authentication Google is planning to end support for SMS-based two-factor authentication in Gmail, Forbes reports. Sending a code to your personal phone via text message has long been an option Google offered to verify your identity, but it has unavoidable security issues the company wants to address. The goal is to “reduce the impact of rampant, global SMS abuse,” Gmail spokesperson Ross Richendrfer tells Forbes, and the solution, at least for now, is QR codes. Instead of entering your number and receiving a text with a code you need to enter, Google will throw up a QR code you need to scan with your phone. The reliance on your smartphone is still present, but now you don’t have to rely on the lax security of SMS messages. Using SMS two-factor authentication is better than nothing, but text messages aren’t as secure as other methods. Criminals can intercept your message just by convincing your carrier to port your number to a new phone. By tricking a provider to send multiple SMS messages to a number a criminal operation controls in a process called “traffic pumping,” they can even make money on each text, Google says. Considering the volume of SMS messages the company sends to both verify users and make sure people aren’t bulk-creating accounts to send spam, it’s not hard to see how SMS could be problem. Ultimately, the goal for Google and other companies like it is to use passkeys and move away from passwords entirely, but adoption is slow, and making the current, much more familiar process secure is still meaningful. Source link #Gmail #stop #SMS #twofactor #authentication Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Everything announced at Annapurna Interactive Showcase 2025 Everything announced at Annapurna Interactive Showcase 2025 Table of Contents Table of Contents Wheel World is coming this summer Wanderstop has a Steam demo Blendo’s Skin Deep lands on April Cocoon dev is working on a new game Lushfoil Photography Sim reveals release date, locations Faraway gets a brief dev diary Katamari Damacy creator’s To a T launches in May Morsels gets a new spotlight Sayonara Wild Hearts gets a surprise PS5 release Annapurna Interactive held a digital showcase today, giving updates on its suite of upcoming indies. The presentation covered nine games in total and revealed spring release dates for To a T, Lushfoil Photography Sim, and Skin Deep. Today’s showcase offers a lot of clarity for Annapurna, which went through a surprise restructure in September after its entire staff quit. The presentation confirms that the games it was working on are still progressing as normal, with some coming over the next few months. Notably, no new games were shown and we didn’t get a glimpse of the studio’s mysterious Blade Runner game either, which we haven’t gotten news on since it was revealed two years ago. We did get plenty of updates for its 2025 slate, though. In addition to the three new release dates, we got fresh looks at titles like Wheel World and Morsels. We even got one proper surprise in a PS5 release of Sayonara Wild Hearts that brings a brand new mode to the cult hit. You can watch the full stream below, but here’s the full list of announcements. Please enable Javascript to view this content Wheel World is coming this summer Annapurna Interactive The showcase kicked off with a fresh look at Wheel World, an upcoming open-world biking game from developer Messhof. The dev diary gave some insight into the origin of the project and how its freeform exploration works. While it didn’t reveal a firm release date, we at least know that it’s now scheduled to launch this summer for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. Wanderstop has a Steam demo Annapurna Interactive On March 11, Ivy Road will release its debut game, Wanderstop. It’s a cozy tea shop management simulator created by a team of indie veterans, including The Stanley Parable’s Davey Wreden. We got a new trailer to hype up the release, which also reminded viewers that a free Steam demo for the game is available right now. If you don’t have time to play, you can read our hands-on impressions of Wanderstop. Blendo’s Skin Deep lands on April Annapurna Interactive It’s been a very long time since we’ve seen Skin Deep, the latest project from Blendo, but it turns out that it’s right around the corner. The oddball shooter will launch on April 30. The presentation gave us a full look at the game, which stars a former bounty hunter turned pirate-slaying insurance commando. A developer in the clip describes it as “Die Hard, but with more comedy,” which makes sense based on the trailer. We see a lot of playful action, from deadly banana peel accidents to heads being flushed down urinals. It looks a bit like a mini-immersive sim with lots of ways to take down pirates on a spaceship. Cocoon dev is working on a new game Annapurna Interactive The developers at Geometric Interactive showed up with two quick announcements. The first is that it is teaming up with Iam8bit to release a collector’s edition of its debut game, Cocoon, along with a vinyl soundtrack. The team also dropped the only new game announcement of the show: Geometric is working on its next game. We didn’t see it, but it’s at least a small confirmation that the team is onto its next project. Lushfoil Photography Sim reveals release date, locations Annapurna Interactive Lusfoil Photography Sim, a hyper realistic photography game, finally has a release date. It’ll come just ahead of Skin Deep on April 15. Alongside that news, a new trailer confirmed nine of the game’s world-spanning locations. There’s a mysterious 10th one too, but it looks like that’s being kept secret for now. You can find out for yourself come April. Faraway gets a brief dev diary Annapurna Interactive Puzzle game Faraway made a quick cameo during the show, as solo dev Steph Thirion explained a bit more about the project. He explains how Tetris inspired it while showing off a bit of gameplay. We didn’t get a release date, though, as it’s still just scheduled for a 2025 release on PC. In the meantime, you can read out hands-on preview of Faraway. Katamari Damacy creator’s To a T launches in May Annapurna Interactive To a T, the long-awaited game from Katamari Damacy creator Keita Takahashi, is coming this year. The showcased revealed a May 28 release date. That came at the tail end of a new trailer featuring an original song about a giraffe who likes to cook sandwiches (it’s a real earworm, I promise). We previewed To a T back in December and walked away charmed by the quirky narrative adventure, which is a coming of age story about a kid who is stuck in a perpetual T-pose. Morsels gets a new spotlight Annapurna Interactive The presentation gave us a quick look at Morsels, an upcoming creature-collecting roguelite from Furcula. There wasn’t much new information in here. We mostly just got a description of how the game works and how the developer’s obsession with concrete led to the project’s creation. As a refresher, it’s a game about a mouse who transforms into other critters using cards and takes down cat bosses. It’s scheduled for a 2025 release. Sayonara Wild Hearts gets a surprise PS5 release Annapurna Interactive For its grand finale, Annapurna revealed that 2019 hit Sayonara Wild Hearts is coming to PS5 today. The new version will support 4K and 120 frames per second. Those who have it on PS4 can upgrade for free. The double dip comes with one big surprise: a PS5-exclusive mode. It appears to be a high-score infinite run mode that features no loading between levels. You can try it out for yourself today. Source link #announced #Annapurna #Interactive #Showcase Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Momentum stocks like Palantir and Goldman are cracking. What the charts say will happen next Momentum stocks like Palantir and Goldman are cracking. What the charts say will happen next The momentum factor describes a quantitative investing style that favors stocks that are outperforming with strong price momentum. The iShares MSCI USA Momentum Factor ETF (MTUM) offers a tradable vehicle that uses the momentum factor. It has been a source of significant underperformance over the past few trading sessions, with high-flying names undergoing significant retracements, including Palantir Technologies (PLTR) which has fallen over 25% in the past few sessions. While the momentum factor has been a source of long-term outperformance, MTUM and its largest holdings are showing vulnerability. We believe they became overextended and are poised to consolidate over the next several weeks. The ETF remains in a long-term bullish trend, but a corrective ******* is likely to keep hold for several weeks per intermediate-term overbought/oversold metrics like the weekly stochastic oscillator and DeMARK Indicators. MTUM is now approaching initial support from its 50-day moving average (MA), near $216, which has the potential to serve as a staging ground for a bounce. Ultimately, would we not rule out a deeper pullback to the 200-day MA, near $202, before the correction matures. One of the most widely followed momentum stocks is PLTR, and like MTUM, it has intermediate-term overbought ‘sell’ signals from the stochastic oscillator and DeMARK Indicators. Last week’s pullback resulted in an ‘outside-down’ bar, which further increases risk of a deeper pullback in the weeks ahead. Initial support is located at former resistance near $85. We are deriving secondary support from the daily cloud model (not shown), which rises into the low-$70s next week. The deterioration in our short- and intermediate-term metrics has not affected our long-term momentum gauges, which still support the broader uptrend in PLTR. Goldman Sachs (GS) is another example of a momentum stock that is retreating in response to overbought indications on its weekly chart. The downturn in the weekly stochastics is an intermediate-term setback within the context of a long-term uptrend, and it increases risk of a deeper pullback following by several more weeks of consolidation. Initial support for GS is defined by last November’s highs, and more important secondary support can be found at the 200-day MA, roughly $529. Both PLTR and GS exemplify the loss of momentum behind the momentum factor, shared by heavyweights like Walmart (WMT) and Costco Wholesale (COST). While their collective shift may be a continued drag on MTUM and other proxies, the consolidation phase has the potential to ultimately refresh their long-term uptrends. —Katie Stockton with Will Tamplin Access research from Fairlead Strategies for free here . DISCLOSURES: All opinions expressed by the CNBC Pro contributors are solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of CNBC, NBC UNIVERSAL, their parent company or affiliates, and may have been previously disseminated by them on television, radio, internet or another medium. THE ABOVE CONTENT IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY . THIS CONTENT IS PROVIDED FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY AND DOES NOT CONSITUTE FINANCIAL, INVESTMENT, TAX OR LEGAL ADVICE OR A RECOMMENDATION TO BUY ANY SECURITY OR OTHER FINANCIAL ASSET. THE CONTENT IS GENERAL IN NATURE AND DOES NOT REFLECT ANY INDIVIDUAL’S UNIQUE PERSONAL CIRCUMSTANCES. THE ABOVE CONTENT MIGHT NOT BE SUITABLE FOR YOUR PARTICULAR CIRCUMSTANCES. BEFORE MAKING ANY FINANCIAL DECISIONS, YOU SHOULD STRONGLY CONSIDER SEEKING ADVICE FROM YOUR OWN FINANCIAL OR INVESTMENT ADVISOR. Click here for the full disclaimer. Fairlead Strategies Disclaimer: This communication has been prepared by Fairlead Strategies LLC (“Fairlead Strategies”) for informational purposes only. This material is for illustration and discussion purposes and not intended to be, nor construed as, financial, legal, tax or investment advice. You should consult appropriate advisors concerning such matters. This material presents information through the date indicated, reflecting the author’s current expectations, and is subject to revision by the author, though the author is under no obligation to do so. This material may contain commentary on broad-based indices, market conditions, different types of securities, and cryptocurrencies, using the discipline of technical analysis, which evaluates the demand and supply based on market pricing. The views expressed herein are solely those of the author. This material should not be construed as a recommendation, or advice or an offer or solicitation with respect to the purchase or ***** of any investment. The information is not intended to provide a basis on which you could make an investment decision on any particular security or its issuer. This document is intended for CNBC Pro subscribers only and is not for distribution to the general public. Certain information has been provided by and/or is based on third party sources and, although such information is believed to be reliable, no representation is made with respect to the accuracy, completeness, or timeliness of such information. This information may be subject to change without notice. Fairlead Strategies undertakes no obligation to maintain or update this material based on subsequent information and events or to provide you with any additional or supplemental information or any update to or correction of the information contained herein. Fairlead Strategies, its officers, employees, affiliates and partners shall not be liable to any person in any way whatsoever for any losses, costs, or claims for your reliance on this material. Nothing herein is, or shall be relied on as, a promise or representation as to future performance. PAST PERFORMANCE IS NOT INDICATIVE OF FUTURE RESULTS. Opinions expressed in this material may differ or be contrary to opinions expressed, or actions taken, by Fairlead Strategies or its affiliates, or their respective officers, directors, or employees. In addition, any opinions and assumptions expressed herein are made as of the date of this communication and are subject to change and/or withdrawal without notice. Fairlead Strategies or its affiliates may have positions in financial instruments mentioned, may have acquired such positions at prices no longer available, and may have interests different from or adverse to your interests or inconsistent with the advice herein. Any investments made are made under the same terms as nonaffiliated investors and do not constitute a controlling interest. No liability is accepted by Fairlead Strategies, its officers, employees, affiliates, or partners for any losses that may arise from any use of the information contained herein. Any financial instruments mentioned herein are speculative in nature and may involve risk to principal and interest. Any prices or levels shown are either historical or purely indicative. This material does not take into account the particular investment objectives or financial circumstances, objectives or needs of any specific investor, and are not intended as recommendations of particular securities, investment products, or other financial products or strategies to particular clients. Securities, investment products, other financial products or strategies discussed herein may not be suitable for all investors. The recipient of this information must make its own independent decisions regarding any securities, investment products or other financial products mentioned herein. The material should not be provided to any person in a jurisdiction where its provision or use would be contrary to local laws, rules, or regulations. This material is not to be reproduced or redistributed absent the written consent of Fairlead Strategies. Source link #Momentum #stocks #Palantir #Goldman #cracking #charts #happen Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Lost Records: Bloom & Rage Tape 1 Review – It Was the Summer of '95 – MonsterVine Lost Records: Bloom & Rage Tape 1 Review – It Was the Summer of '95 – MonsterVine MonsterVine: “Step into 1995 with Lost Records: Bloom & Rage Tape 1, a gripping narrative adventure filled with friendship, nostalgia, and a few unfortunate bugs.” Source link #Lost #Records #Bloom #amp #Rage #Tape #Review #Summer #MonsterVine Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Jesus Guerrero, celebrity hairstylist to Kylie Jenner, Demi Moore, dead at 34 – New York Daily News Jesus Guerrero, celebrity hairstylist to Kylie Jenner, Demi Moore, dead at 34 – New York Daily News Jesus Guerrero, celebrity hairstylist to Kylie Jenner, Demi Moore, dead at 34 New York Daily NewsKim Kardashian and Khloé Kardashian Mourn “Incredible, Deep Loss” of Hairstylist Jesus Guerrero E! NEWSKylie Jenner Paying ******** Costs for Deceased Hairstylist Jesus Guerrero TMZKim Kardashian, Jessica Alba and More Stars Pay Tribute to Hairstylist Jesus Guerrero After His Sudden Death PEOPLE Source link #Jesus #Guerrero #celebrity #hairstylist #Kylie #Jenner #Demi #Moore #dead #York #Daily #News Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Skin Deep is absolutely absurd and I already love it Skin Deep is absolutely absurd and I already love it Back before I had a proper gaming PC or even a Steam account, I remember a friend at the time sending over some games that would run on my MacBook at the time. That was well over a decade ago, but I still remember the very first game I booted up from that batch. It was an oddball game called Thirty Flights of Loving by developer Blendo, a studio I’d never heard of. I was flabbergasted by its experimental structure and block-headed characters initially, but it stuck with me. Games come and go, falling into a memory hole to make more brain space for new ones, but you never forget a Blendo game. Well over a decade later, I’m happy to see that Blendo is still making unforgettable games. Its latest is Skin Deep, which will launch on April 30 for PC. The project perked my ears when it was first announced three years ago, but I’ve been in the dark about what it actually is until now. Ahead of its release date reveal during today’s Annapurna Interactive Showcase, I tried its new Steam Next Fest demo out. I’m pleased to report that Skin Deep is already every bit as strange and alluring as the Blendo games that still stick with me today. Flush the heads Skin Deep is a first-person stealth action game (if I had to classify it) starring Nina Pasadena, a once great bounty hunter who now collects insurance debts. She finds herself back in action when her company’s ships are taken by space pirates. Now, she must use her particular set of skills to take out her enemies, pop their heads off, flush them down the toilet, and save a bunch of talking cats trapped in lockboxes. Yep, it’s a Blendo game alright. Annapurna Interactive Let’s back up and start with the simple stuff. I get the basics down in a quick tutorial that teaches me how to navigate the ship and use my scanner to read fine print instructions on every item I can interact with. Soon enough, I learn how to pick up and store a handful of objects that I can swap between with my mouse wheel. I can pick up anything from books, to apple cores, to keycards. My best offense, at least in this brief demo, is my throwing arm rather than a gun. After learning how to heal up and use a defibrillator to restart my heart when I die, I enter a bathroom where a pirate has his back turned to me. A package of ****** pepper sits on a countertop next to me. I grab it, aim with one mouse click, and toss it with the other. The poor guy is stunned, leaving me just enough time to pounce onto his back and direct him into objects around the room like soap dispensers. He’s not exactly dead once his health drops, though. When these pirates die, their heads pop off and sail back to a respawn point, rebuilding their bodies. To finish the job, I pop his head off, place it in a toilet, and send it off into the vacuum of space. I pull a keycard off his corpse and open a box to free a kitty crewmate, who I have a chat with after. That all might sound weird, but Skin Deep is easier to understand than you’d expect. It’s essentially split up into a series of bite-sized rescue missions where I need to take care of pirates wandering around a few rooms, free the cats, and take an escape pod to safety. What makes that loop interesting is that Skin Deep is essentially a miniature immersive sim built around slapstick comedy. Annapurna Interactive In one room, I take a pirate out by throwing a banana in front of him. He slips on the peel, of course, and I wrestle him while he’s vulnerable before dumping his head in a trash chute. In another mission, I get on a pirate’s back and ram him into a glass window until it shatters, sending him into space (luckily, I have a protective suit and can freely fly outside). The encounters I played are short and only have me navigating a few rooms, but they aren’t linear set pieces that I’m meant to complete in one optimal way. Instead, I can crawl through vents to sneak my way through different parts of the ship, grab whatever items I can find, and use them to take out the wandering pirates any way I see fit. The ships are designed to be a death playground too, with fuel lines that can be ignited or ways to lure enemies into shock traps. It would be morbid if it all wasn’t rendered with Blendo’s signature blocky visuals. I’ve only gotten a very small taste of what’s to come in Skin Deep, but I’m glad to see another delightfully eccentric game that gets creative with genre. It’s almost like Blendo is making its “mainstream” crossover game here, getting away from the hacking complexity of Quadrilateral Cowboy and bringing its style to a stealth action game. The end result is some indescribable crossover between Hotline Miami and Prey that’s filled with cats and pratfalls. Just as Thirty Flights of Loving still lives rent free in my head, I can already tell that Skin Deep is going to move into the condo next to it. Skin Deep launches on April 30 for PC. Source link #Skin #Deep #absolutely #absurd #love Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Man City 0-2 Liverpool: Why are Premier League teams struggling to win at home? Man City 0-2 Liverpool: Why are Premier League teams struggling to win at home? The Covid-19 era showed fans likely had a positive impact on how home teams performed – but can home supporters have a negative effect too? Some might say the Goodison Park grumbles which accompanied Sean Dyche’s final days as Everton boss are in stark contrast to the partisan passion on show under David Moyes’ resurgent side. Have fans had an influence there? Some of this season’s struggling teams have seen their own supporters turn hostile on occasion. “You’re not fit to wear the shirt,” was one chant aimed at Leicester City players by Foxes fans in Friday’s 4-0 home defeat by Brentford at King Power stadium. It’s a ground where protests against the club’s hierarchy have been commonplace in recent weeks – a ******* in which, perhaps coincidentally, Leicester’s home form has seen six consecutive league defeats without scoring – setting a new unwanted Premier League record in the process. Leicester boss Ruud van Nistelrooy agrees supporters have a right to voice their opinion – but speaking before the Brentford game, he emphasised just how much fan backing can mean to teams. “Looking back as a player, when you played in front of your home crowd and there is a connection from a tackle, pass, cross or difficult moments in a game where support is lifting you, I know as a coach and someone who loves sports and football what it does to the team,” he explained. Similar, though perhaps less vocal protests, have been witnessed at Tottenham Hotspur stadium in recent months. Ironically, the most visible signs of discontent came as Spurs beat Manchester United earlier this month – but home fans had not seen their injury-hit team win at home in the league since early November, and that three-month wait for a home league win included defeats by relegation-battlers Ipswich Town and Leicester. Source link #Man #City #Liverpool #Premier #League #teams #struggling #win #home Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Sayonara Wild Hearts gets surprise PS5 release with exclusive game mode Sayonara Wild Hearts gets surprise PS5 release with exclusive game mode Annapurna Interactive has released a PlayStation 5 version of acclaimed rhythm action game Sayonara Wild Hearts. The game’s surprise PS5 launch was revealed at the conclusion of an Annapurna digital showcase on Monday, which is viewable below. The PS5 version of the game is priced at $12.99, but players who own the title on PS4 can upgrade to the new version for free as long as both platforms are linked to the same Sony account. The game is also available in the PlayStation Plus Extra Game Catalog for subscribers. The PS5 version of the game features 4K resolution, 120 FPS, and haptic feedback through the DualSense controller. It also introduces a brand-new unlockable mode called Remix Arcade, which is available exclusively on PS5. It sees players “speed through infinitely replayable levels and chase high scores in random sound bites, all with no loading”, according to a description accompanying the game’s reveal trailer. Developed by Simogo, Sayonara Wild Hearts was originally released in 2019 for PS4, Switch and Apple Arcade. VGC named the title Audio Visual Game of the Year in its 2019 Games of the Year awards. Today’s Annapurna digital showcase also confirmed that Cocoon developer Geometric is working on a new unannounced title that will be published by Annapurna. Among other announcements, Katamari Damacy creator Keita Takahashi’s new game, To a T, received a May 28, 2025 release date for PC, Xbox Series X/S and PS5. Source link #Sayonara #Wild #Hearts #surprise #PS5 #release #exclusive #game #mode Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

What is storage virtualization? | Definition from TechTarget What is storage virtualization? | Definition from TechTarget Storage virtualization is the pooling of physical storage from multiple storage devices into what appears to be a single storage device or pool of available storage capacity. A central console is used to manage the storage. What is meant by storage virtualization? Storage virtualization or virtualized storage aims to abstract physical storage systems and drives in order to present them as a single pool of storage capacity. The capacity of this single virtual device can be centrally managed, thus simplifying storage allocation, maintenance and overall management. Storage virtualization disguises the actual complexity of a storage system, such as a storage area network (SAN), which helps a storage administrator perform the tasks of backup, data archiving and recovery more easily and in less time. The virtualization software used intercepts input/output (I/O) requests from physical or virtual machines (VMs) and sends those requests to the appropriate physical location of the storage devices that are part of the overall pool of storage in the virtualized environment. To a user, however, the various storage resources that make up the virtualized pool are unseen, so the virtual storage appears like a single physical drive, share or logical unit number (LUN) that can accept standard reads and writes. The virtualization and centralization capabilities make the overall approach different from bare metal storage systems where physical storage devices must be addressed directly. This is also why virtualization offers significant operational efficiencies over bare-metal provisioning of storage. Additionally, by allowing IT teams to address a single device as opposed to many, storage virtualization improves the performance of storage environments and minimizes compatibility and security issues. How storage virtualization works To build a virtualized storage environment, multiple physical storage devices are grouped so that they use a single server. The server is assigned virtual storage blocks that can redirect the I/O traffic. The devices are divided into small blocks of data (LUNs). They are then presented to remote servers as a virtual disk. However, the servers see the LUNs as physical disks. A software virtualization layer separates the storage hardware from the virtual volume. This makes it possible for the operating systems (OSes) and applications to access and use the storage. Storage virtualization technology relies on software to identify available storage capacity from physical devices, to create a barrier between the physical and virtual storage devices and to then aggregate the available capacity as a pool of storage that can be used by traditional architecture servers or in a virtual environment by VMs. In addition to identifying and compiling the available storage capacity, the software makes the capacity available to various applications to use. To provide access to the data stored on the physical storage devices, the virtualization software needs to either create a map using metadata or use an algorithm to dynamically locate the data faster or on the fly. The software intercepts read and write requests from applications. Using the map it has created, it can find or save the data to the appropriate physical device. This process is similar to the method used by OSes when retrieving or saving application data. A redundant array of independent disks or RAID array can sometimes be considered a type of storage virtualization. Multiple physical drives in the array are presented to the user as a single storage device that, in the background, stripes and replicates data to multiple disks to improve I/O performance and protect data in case a single drive fails. Benefits and uses of storage virtualization Some of the benefits and uses of storage virtualization include the following: Easier management. A single management console — often called a single pane of glass — to monitor and maintain multiple virtualized storage arrays cuts down on the time and effort necessary to manage the physical systems individually. This is particularly beneficial when a large number of storage systems or storage systems from multiple vendors are in the virtualization pool. Better storage utilization. Pooling storage capacity across multiple systems makes it easier to allocate and use the available capacity. In contrast, with unconnected, disparate systems, some systems might end up operating at or near capacity, while others are barely used, thus adversely affecting storage capacity utilization and efficiency. Lower cost. Virtual storage requires fewer hardware devices and software licenses than traditional enterprise storage architectures. This can save organizations a significant amount of money. Furthermore, virtualization supports dynamic storage provisioning, offering a more scalable and cost-effective way to add storage as the organization’s needs change. Less downtime risk. Virtualized environments provide fault tolerance, allowing the migration of data and applications from one server to another with minimal downtime. Also, virtual redundancy reduces the risk of disruption, increases storage flexibility, improves storage performance and reduces failure risk. High availability. The use of physical SANs and network-attached storage (NAS) devices in a virtualized manner creates an environment that’s not only easy to deploy and manage, but also highly available and capable of delivering very high uptime. Extended life of older storage systems. Virtualization offers a great way to extend the usefulness of older storage gear by including them in the pool as a storage tier to handle archival or less critical data. Universal advanced features. Enterprises can implement advanced storage features like tiering, caching and replication at the virtualization level. This helps standardize these practices across all member systems and further simplifies storage management and maintenance. Disadvantages of storage virtualization When first introduced more than two decades ago, storage virtualization tended to be difficult to implement. It also had limited applicability. Also, because it was originally host-based, virtualization software had to be installed and maintained on all servers needing access to the pooled storage resources. Storage virtualization could also create compatibility and interoperability issues. For example, the virtualization environment might not be fully compatible with protocols like Network File System (NFS), or it might not integrate with the automation tools, OSes or hypervisors used by an organization. This could lead to operational disruptions. It could also necessitate additional purchases to facilitate integration, orchestration and interoperability between the virtualization environment and the existing IT infrastructure. Another potential issue was related to performance. Some virtual environments have high latency and, therefore, cannot meet the performance requirements of certain applications. Admins needed to consider many aspects, including storage controller capabilities and caching mechanisms to minimize the impact of virtualization on performance. Data security was another concern that hindered the adoption of storage virtualization. If the virtualized environment does not support data encryption or does not provide strong authentication/access controls, it puts the security and integrity of data (at-rest and in-transit) at risk. To protect their data in a virtualized storage environment, organizations need to implement these measures, as well as effective data backup procedures. Fortunately, many of these drawbacks have already been addressed or minimized. As virtualization technology has matured, organizations are able to implement it for many different use cases. Also, they can choose from multiple virtualization methods and select the method that makes the most operational and financial sense for their existing infrastructure and IT requirements. Developments in virtualization software have also made it easier to deploy storage virtualization in different environments. Also, the emergence of standards such as the Storage Management Initiative Specification enables virtualization products to work with a wider variety of storage systems. For these reasons, virtualization is an attractive option for enterprises looking to increase storage capacities and simplify storage management, while controlling storage costs. Types of storage virtualization: Block vs. file There are two basic methods of virtualizing storage: file-based and block-based. File-based storage virtualization. File-based storage virtualization is applied to NAS systems. Using Server Message Block (SMB) in Windows server environments or NFS protocols for Linux systems, file-based storage virtualization breaks the dependency in a normal NAS array between the data being accessed and the location of physical memory. The pooling of NAS resources makes it easier to handle file migrations in the background, which will help improve performance. Typically, NAS systems are not that complex to manage, but storage virtualization further simplifies their management through a single management console. Block-based storage virtualization. In block-based storage virtualization, the virtualization management software collects the capacity of the available blocks of storage space across all virtualized arrays. It pools them into a shared resource to be assigned to any number of VMs, bare-metal servers or containers. The storage resources are typically accessed via a Fiber Channel (FC) or Internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI) SAN. Block-based systems abstract the logical storage, such as a drive partition, from the actual physical memory blocks in a storage device, such as a hard disk drive (HDD) or solid-state memory device (SSD). Because it operates in a similar fashion to the native drive software, there’s less overhead for read and write processes, so block storage systems perform better than file-based systems. Notwithstanding the benefits of SANs, managing SANs can be a time-consuming process. Consolidating multiple block storage systems under a single management interface that often shields users from the tedious steps of LUN configuration, for example, can be a significant timesaver. Block-based virtualization is also known as block access storage. Just as there are various storage protocols and media, there are also different types of storage virtualization to address each one. In-band vs. out-of-band virtualization There are generally two types of virtualization that can be applied to a storage infrastructure: In-band virtualization. Also called symmetric virtualization, in-band virtualization handles the data that’s being read or saved and the control information, such as I/O instructions and metadata, in the same channel or layer. A single virtualization device sits between the host systems and storage devices to process data and control the data paths. This setup enables the storage virtualization to provide more advanced operational and management functions, such as data caching, backup and replication services. However, it can also create performance bottlenecks and is not very scalable. For these reasons, it is more suitable for smaller environments where data storage demands are unlikely to substantially increase over time. Out-of-band virtualization. This storage virtualization approach, which is also known as asymmetric virtualization, splits the data and control paths. This means that the virtualization facility only sees the control instructions so it needs to handle only management tasks. The data transfers happen directly between the host systems and storage devices, minimizing the potential for bottlenecks. This approach is suitable for large organizations with growing data storage needs and high-performance requirements. That said, the separation between the data and control paths can add complexity to the virtualization environment. Also, advanced storage features are usually unavailable. Tape media and storage virtualization Although waning as a backup target media, tape storage is still widely used for archiving infrequently accessed data. Archival data tends to be voluminous; tape media can employ storage virtualization to make it easier to manage large data stores. Linear tape file system (LTFS) is a form of tape virtualization that makes a tape look like a typical NAS file storage device. It makes it much easier to find and restore data from tape using a file-level directory of the tape’s contents. Virtualization methods There are multiple approaches to storage virtualization: Host-based storage virtualization. This approach is software-based and most often seen in hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI) systems and cloud storage. In this type of virtualization, the host, or a hyper-converged system made up of multiple hosts, presents virtual drives of varying capacity to the guest machines, whether they are VMs in an enterprise environment, physical servers or PCs accessing file shares or cloud storage. All of the virtualization and management are done at the host level through software, and the physical storage can be almost any device or array. Some server OSes have virtualization capabilities built in, such as Windows Storage Spaces. Array-based storage virtualization. This is built around a storage array that acts as the primary storage controller and runs virtualization software, enabling it to pool the storage resources of other arrays and to present different types of physical storage for use as storage tiers. A storage tier may comprise SSDs or HDDs on the various virtualized storage arrays; the physical location and specific array are hidden from the servers or users accessing the storage. Network-based storage virtualization. This is the most common form of storage virtualization that enterprises use. A network device, such as a smart switch or purpose-built server, connects to all storage devices in a Fibre Channel (FC) or iSCSI SAN and presents the storage in the network as a single, virtual pool. The FC switch virtualizes and redirects I/O requests to physical storage so the server consuming the storage doesn’t need to know the underlying storage architecture. In addition to the above, storage can also be applied to a virtual environment via OS-level or file-system virtualization. With the former, the OS includes features that allow for the creation of tiered storage. The latter refers to using technologies that provide users with a consolidated view of file data even though those files might be scattered on many different file servers. Users might also be able to access the files remotely due to the file replication capability provided by the file-system virtualization technology. While storage virtualization can be realized using a number of different approaches and technologies, its basic function of pooling storage resources is a consistent across all methodologies. History of storage virtualization In the late 1960s and early 1970s, IBM developed the concept of virtualization in the context of time-sharing for mainframe computers — the idea that multiple users could share the usage of expensive mainframe devices without having to purchase or lease them. This approach helped to reduce the cost of providing computing capabilities, and allowed more users and organizations to use those capabilities in a cost-effective manner. Similar potential benefits drove the development of storage virtualization technology and solutions. IBM SAN Volume Controller was an early version of a block-based virtualization appliance. Now called the IBM Spectrum Virtualize, the appliance supports large-scale workloads and enables hybrid cloud storage deployments for 500-plus supported storage systems. The Spectrum Virtualize software provides insulation from physical storage and can be used in the appliance along with other server virtualization and containerization technologies. Another early storage virtualization product was Hitachi Data Systems’ TagmaStore Universal Storage Platform. That product evolved into Hitachi Vantara’s Virtual Storage Platform One (VSP One) which offers virtualization and aggregation so organizations can create large-scale storage pools and then logically partition them to optimize application quality of service. The platform also reduces storage-management complexity and offers high configuration flexibility. In the late 1990s, VMware released the VMware Workstation, a virtualization product that included a hypervisor to help IT admins set up VMs on a single machine running either Linux or Windows (x86) OSes. The hypervisor enables organizations to simultaneously run multiple applications on a single piece of hardware, thus simplifying hardware management and also reducing costs. Advanced hypervisors include features like fault tolerance and high availability to reduce the likelihood of downtime events and minimize the impact of these events on business continuity and productivity. From the 2000s onwards, many more companies entered the virtualization space, including Microsoft, Red Hat and Citrix Systems. Today, many enterprise data centers use the virtualization techniques and solutions developed by these organizations to create large aggregated pools of storage and other resources and offer those resources to the organization as agile and scalable VMs. Storage virtualization today usually refers to capacity that is accumulated from multiple physical devices and then made available to be reallocated in a virtualized environment. Modern IT methodologies, such as hyperconverged infrastructure and containerization, take advantage of virtual storage, in addition to virtual compute power and often virtual network capacity. Edge computing also relies on storage virtualization. Virtualization allows organizations to meet their storage requirements and simplify storage management and maintenance in edge computing environments. Also, virtualized storage environments are more compact than physical environments and require less hardware and management resources. All of this can deliver big cost efficiencies and also benefit organizations with limited space and smaller IT teams. Although storage virtualization is by no means extinct, it is largely overshadowed by cloud computing. In this new computing paradigm, organizations determine the amount and type of storage they need. The cloud service provider (CSP) then configures and provisions this storage from their virtualized storage pools and makes it available to the organization on-demand. With cloud-based virtualized storage, organizations can access the storage resources they need without having to worry about various storage management tasks. Furthermore, since the CSP provides the resources on a “pay as you go” basis, the business can control its costs, and, in many cases, achieve faster time to value. Virtualization refers to full-scale virtualization; paravirtualization is a different approach involving partial virtualization. Learn the differences between virtualization and paravirtualization, and explore their advantages and disadvantages. Also, read more about the history and development of virtualization technology. Source link #storage #virtualization #Definition #TechTarget Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

City of Bunbury to vote on $530k pool liner replacement at South West Sports Centre City of Bunbury to vote on $530k pool liner replacement at South West Sports Centre Replacing the swimming pool liner at the South West Sports Centre is now expected to cost $530,000 with the project blowing out by almost $280,000. Source link #City #Bunbury #vote #530k #pool #liner #replacement #South #West #Sports #Centre Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Destiny 2 Could Retire an Entire Weapon Archetype By Implementing a Simple Feature From ****** Ops 6 Destiny 2 Could Retire an Entire Weapon Archetype By Implementing a Simple Feature From ****** Ops 6 For years, Bungie has been working tirelessly to maintain a balanced weapon system in Destiny 2. It has consistently adjusted weapon archetypes to ensure a diverse set of options, keeping the gameplay fresh and competitive. Despite all its efforts, one archetype struggles to find its place: Scout Rifles. The developers keep the balance in check. | Image Credit: Bungie While this archetype has its strengths, its use remains very niche. Since the weapons don’t quite fit into the mainstream gameplay, they are less appealing compared to other, more versatile weapon types. Bungie could potentially retire this archetype entirely by borrowing an idea from ****** Ops 6. The constant struggle of Scout Rifles in Destiny 2 One archetype is still in limbo but developers can retire it entirely. | Image Credit: Bungie Scout Rifles are a weapon archetype that’s difficult to classify as the best at anything. While it deals decent damage at long range and boasts a faster fire rate than Sniper Rifles, it still loses out to it in a couple of key areas. In long-range combat, Sniper Rifles will always win, as they deal significantly more damage per shot and are built for precision over distance. In close to mid-range combat, Auto Rifles and Pulse Rifles take the lead, offering much higher rates of fire and better damage output over time. Scout Rifles don’t quite excel in any of these ranges, putting them in a tricky position where other weapons often outclass them. This creates a situation where the entire archetype doesn’t feel essential. And with players’ focus shifting toward more versatile and high-performing weapons, these weapons are becoming less of a go-to choice. So, why not retire the archetype altogether? Bungie could solve this dilemma by borrowing an idea from ****** Ops 6: giving Auto Rifles and Pulse Rifles an alternative single-shot firing mode. With this feature, players could toggle between a rapid-fire mode for close to mid-range engagements and a single-shot precision mode for longer distances. This would effectively replace the need for Scout Rifles. The challenges of replacing Scout Rifles While the toggle is a good idea, it creates a balancing issue. | Image Credit: Bungie On paper, replacing Scout Rifles with a toggleable fire mode for other archetypes sounds like a great idea. However, it comes with its own set of challenges and the biggest hurdle would be balancing. Scout Rifles are designed for precision and long-range combat, while Auto Rifles and Pulse Rifles are made for close to mid-range with high fire rates. So naturally, both tend to have low damage per shot, which works in rapid fire, but turning them into precision shots at long range would be tough. If the damage output of both archetypes were increased to make them viable as a single-shot weapon for longer distances, there would be balance issues. These weapons would become overpowered, especially in close-range encounters, overshadowing other archetypes like Sniper Rifles and Shotguns. This goes to show the reason for the Scout Rifles in the first place. However, if Bungie wants to actually retire the archetype, it needs to make a delicate balance to prevent these archetypes (Auto Rifles and Pulse Rifles) from becoming too dominant. In the end, it’s clear that it’s a delicate task, but if Bungie can find the right balance, it could streamline the weapon system and make the need for Scout Rifles a thing of the past. Source link #Destiny #Retire #Entire #Weapon #Archetype #Implementing #Simple #Feature #****** #Ops Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]