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Scientists Detects Most Energetic Neutrino Ever in the Mediterranean Sea Scientists Detects Most Energetic Neutrino Ever in the Mediterranean Sea A neutrino with an energy level never observed before has been detected in the depths of the Mediterranean Sea. The subatomic particle, measuring an estimated 220 quadrillion electron volts, was recorded by a detector within the Cubic Kilometre Neutrino Telescope (KM3NeT). This discovery marks a significant milestone, as it surpasses previous neutrino detections by nearly 100 times in terms of energy. The precise origin of this particle remains undeetermined, though it is believed to have been generated by a high-energy cosmic event. Scientists are investigating its source and potential links to extreme astrophysical phenomena. High-Energy Neutrino Tracked in Deep-Sea Detector According to findings published in Nature, the neutrino was identified when it briefly interacted with KM3NeT’s sensors, located at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea. The telescope, divided into two sections—Astroparticle Research with Cosmics in the Abyss (ARCA) and Oscillation Research with Cosmics in the Abyss (ORCA)—is designed to capture rare, high-energy neutrinos. The detection was made in February 2023 by ARCA, positioned 80 kilometres off the coast of Sicily and submerged 3.5 kilometres below sea level. Neutrinos: Elusive Cosmic Messengers Neutrinos are elementary particles that carry no electric charge and possess nearly negligible mass. Due to their weak interactions with matter, they pass through most objects undetected. Billions of neutrinos constantly travel through the human body and the Earth without any interaction. Their detection requires highly sensitive instruments, such as those deployed in KM3NeT, which use Cherenkov radiation—a faint blue glow produced when particles travel through water faster than the speed of light in that medium—to trace their movement. Potential Origins and Further Research The energy levels and trajectory of the detected neutrino indicate that it could have originated from a powerful cosmic accelerator. Researchers suggest that sources such as ****** holes, supernovae, or pulsars might have propelled it. Another hypothesis being considered is that the particle emerged from a cosmic ray interacting with light from the cosmic microwave background. Scientists aim to expand KM3NeT to increase detection capabilities, allowing for deeper exploration of high-energy neutrinos and their origins. According to Paschal Coyle, a researcher at the National Centre for Scientific Research in France, said in a statement, that this discovery represents a step towards unveiling more about extreme cosmic events and their impact on the universe. Source link #Scientists #Detects #Energetic #Neutrino #Mediterranean #Sea Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

These Podcasters Want to Teach You How to Date These Podcasters Want to Teach You How to Date At the tail end of her 30s, Elizabeth Day found herself divorced and single after a string of long-term relationships. Ms. Day, a British writer and podcaster, entered a world of dating she had never encountered, not having been single since the advent of dating apps. “It was such a jungle out there,” Ms. Day, 46, said in a video interview. Her experiences in the dating world — which ultimately led to her meeting her husband on the dating app Hinge — gave her the idea to start “How to Date,” a new limited series and an offshoot of her popular podcast “How to Fail,” which is in its 20th season. Ms. Day hosts the podcast with Mel Schilling, a dating coach who serves as an expert on the reality television show “Married at First Sight,” in which couples — you guessed it — meet each other and marry on the same day. Both women met their husbands online when they were 39, and have been, by their own accounts, “through it.” “I want to teach the world how to date,” Ms. Day said. “I really would have liked to have a podcast to turn to that could’ve guided me through.” While the landscape of dating podcasts is vast, Ms. Day said she hoped that “How to Date” would stand out as a mixture of expertise and entertainment, with just a bit of voluntary homework. Each episode prompts listeners to do exercises and comes with work sheets. “I think there are so many people out there dating and just feeling isolated and lonely or completely confused and overwhelmed,” Ms. Schilling said in a phone interview. The podcast, she added, will “hopefully help them feel less alone.” Here are some of the duo’s biggest lessons. First, date yourself. Before you can date someone else, you have to get to know yourself. Often, people start dating shortly after a terrible heartbreak, she said, instead of giving themselves time to process the loss of their prior relationship. After her own breakup, Ms. Day said, she allowed herself time to process what she had lost, which helped her “to remind myself what I enjoyed doing when I was on my own.” (For example, going to the movies by herself.) “It’s really important to spend that time nurturing yourself, to know who you are and to know what you want,” she said. Have an open mind. Some people keep very rigid lists of what they want — or do not want — in romantic partners. Those kinds of restrictions can be very limiting, Ms. Schilling said, and are often based on previous romantic experiences that did not turn out well. Instead, you should decide what values matter to you most, and what criteria are nonnegotiable. “People need to be less scared about being real early on,” Ms. Schilling said. Sure, you may scare some people off, she added, but those people were not going to be aligned with your lifestyle. Rejection is inevitable. Unfortunately, living through at least some disappointment is virtually a guarantee for those looking for a significant other. “Every failed date, I came to realize, was data acquisition about what to do differently next time,” Ms. Day said. “Someone who isn’t right for you is bringing you one step closer to the person who might be right.” Chemistry isn’t always instant. One of the lessons that Ms. Schilling said she took away from working on “Married at First Sight” is that couples can build chemistry over time. “That’s something I didn’t understand before,” she said. “Now I understand, and see it. I reassure people all the time.” It is, of course, also possible that there is simply no chemistry, in which case kindness and direct communication are paramount, according to Ms. Day and Ms. Schilling. “Don’t ghost!” Ms. Day said, admitting she did disappear on a romantic partner once and still felt guilty. “Communicating kindly is just invaluable,” she said. Have patience. That’s often easier said than done, and is something Ms. Day said she herself had struggled with. “I was single in my late thirties and I wanted a child,” she said. “In that situation, it can feel very difficult to be patient.” Life does not always turn out the way you think it should, and patience pays off. “I now don’t have a child, and I am at peace with that,” she said. “My past self would be reassured by my future self saying, ‘Listen, it’s not going to work out the way you think you can control, and it’s going to be so much better than that.’” It’s OK to take a break. Dating can be overwhelming. Make sure to shut off those apps when you need to. When Ms. Schilling got together with her husband in 2011, online dating was different than it is now, she said. “It’s definitely more of a disposable dating culture now because there is so much choice,” she said. Periods without dating can be helpful and serve as a reset. Dating can be tiring, Ms. Day said, “it’s like having another job.” Enjoy Valentine’s Day. If you are single on Valentine’s Day, do something that you like and lean into the enjoyment of being single, Ms. Day advised. “Valentine’s Day is just a day,” she said. “It’s a commercial invention from a capitalist society that wants to sell you stuff.” But do not mistake that for cynicism. “If you want to meet someone, ultimately you will,” Ms. Day said. But, she added, imparting one last lesson, “they might not come in the package you expect.” Source link #Podcasters #Teach #Date Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Best Gothic Thriller Novels, According to M.L. Rio Best Gothic Thriller Novels, According to M.L. Rio Horror is having a moment. Once confined largely to Halloween, or at least to October, “spooky season” has evolved into a monthslong phenomenon — and our hunger for the frightful doesn’t stop there. At a time when real life can feel like a nightmare, a collective turn toward the ghoulish and the ghastly might seem counterintuitive, but the Gothic genre has always offered a space to examine the darkest corners of the human psyche. The supernatural happenings that scare us out of our skin are — like the portrait of Dorian Gray — reflections of our own evil as much as anything else. These novels, both old and new, will make you shiver with delight one moment and recoil in hair-raising horror the next. By Daphne du Maurier In this master class of psychological horror, the naïve second wife of Maxim de Winter grapples with the legacy of his first spouse, Rebecca. Du Maurier makes good use of many of the usual tropes of the Gothic genre, especially uncanny doubling: Relentlessly and unfavorably compared to the Manderley estate’s bewitching former mistress, the nameless narrator is pushed to the brink of sanity by the sinister housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers. Secrets bob to the surface like drowning victims from the deep until nobody — not even the reader — can easily separate the terrible truth from even more terrible fictions. By Jennifer Egan This book has it all: castles, caves, childhood nightmares dragged back into the light. Grotesque and fantastic, “The Keep” is one of Egan’s more experimental novels, in which two cousins haunted by a childhood prank reunite in a remote village in Eastern Europe to turn its tumbledown castle into an alternative resort. (“The White Lotus” Season 4, anyone?) Egan’s descriptions of the setting are elegant, whimsical and incredibly evocative, conjuring a rare and delightful tale of things that go bump in the night. Read our review. By Javier Marías; translated by Margaret Jull Costa In the late 1700s, many of the earliest Gothic writers turned to Shakespeare for inspiration. Two centuries later, the Spanish writer Marías took a page out of their book with “Corazón tan blanco,” published in English as “A Heart So White,” which borrows not only its title but also many of its major themes from “Macbeth.” After their wedding, Juan, the narrator, and his young wife begin probing his father’s shadowed past, and find blood and betrayal at every turn. As in “Rebecca,” in this tale a new marriage exposes old family secrets and cycles of violence, but through a glass darkly. Author and narrator alike refuse easy moral judgments as past and present collapse in murky obscurity. Set in Spain and Cuba, “A Heart So White” also shares with Shakespeare’s Scottish play a lingering unease at the bloody legacies of Catholic dogma. But the real witchcraft in the novel is the language; even in translation, Marías’s sinuous, elliptical prose unfolds like a troubled dream. Read our review. By Sayaka Murata; translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori One of the strangest novels you will ever read, Murata’s “Earthlings” is impossible to categorize and just as difficult to describe. That’s exactly what makes the book so delicious — and so disturbing. Murata’s hairpin narrative style keeps readers so persistently off-balance that you’ll feel like a Gothic heroine yourself, lost in a maze of blind corners, dead ends and mind-boggling moments. But the darkness lurking at the core of this modern fable about a girl who believes she is an alien is all too real and so eerily familiar that, when the shocking ending arrives, you might not know what to believe. Read our review. By Octavia E. Butler Like many of the best-known Gothic thrillers of centuries past, “Fledgling” blends genres and bends morality with grisly determination. One part horror, one part science fiction and one part fantasy, this is a refreshingly freaky entry in the overworn category of vampire fiction. As sinister as they are seductive, Butler’s bloodsuckers prey on human frailty as much as human flesh. The novel’s protagonist, Shori, challenges — often violently — assumptions about race and power, sexuality and desire, and every ethical truth you thought you knew. Not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach, “Fledgling” is a slim but sharp-toothed novel unjustly overlooked in Butler’s oeuvre. By Catriona Ward Ward’s sun-soaked “Sundial” is Southwestern Gothic at its finest. Childhood horrors and bones long buried splinter into the present when Rob spirits her elder daughter away from their suburban neighborhood after the remains of house pets and local wildlife start turning up in her bedroom and the 12-year-old’s “silent fury” threatens her younger sister. Rob’s strange and sinister childhood home offers no sanctuary, however: It harbors a dark history of child abuse, dubious animal experimentation and an unnamed evil slinking through the badlands like a snake. Read our review. By Ian McEwan The premise alone is goose bumps grim: After the death of their mother, four children decide to hide her body in a trunk of cement in their basement and fend for themselves rather than surrender to social workers and foster care. What follows is a twisted game of house where familiar familial relationships crumble and new ones take root like ****** ****** weeds. This one will make your skin crawl. Read our review. By Elizabeth Kostova In her fresh take on the vampire novel, Kostova reworks the Dracula legend with a historian’s meticulous attention to detail. Following in the tradition of imperiled Gothic heroines, a young woman in 1970s Amsterdam finds herself in the clutches of malevolent forces as she tries to unravel the mystery of her mother’s disappearance, which seems to be tied to the 15th-century reign of Vlad the Impaler and a sinister, supernatural legacy that stretches into her present. The sweeping scope of this aptly titled novel makes it perfect for a long dark evening, and for readers who like a side of folklore with their thrills and chills. By Cormac McCarthy A word of caution: Don’t read this book on the bus, or the train, or anywhere else someone might be tempted to look over your shoulder. McCarthy follows in the footsteps of William Faulkner in this disquieting masterpiece of Southern Gothic horror, treading where few other authors dare. His characteristically sparse prose only makes this portrait of a necrophiliac serial killer haunting the hill country of eastern Tennessee that much more disturbing: Lester Ballard makes Norman Bates look like Beaver Cleaver. Read our review. By Mariana Enríquez; translated by Megan McDowell If such a thing as a slow-burn thriller exists, this is it. Like “The Historian,” Enríquez’s dense danse macabre of a novel braids together fantasy, horror and historical fiction. Set in the 1980s and ’90s, against the aftermath of Argentina’s military dictatorship, “Our Share of Night” reimagines the all-too-human evils of the world as a ravenous supernatural power known only as “the Darkness,” which has spawned a secret society of rich, immortality-seeking devotees known as the Cult of the Shadow. The Darkness feeds on suffering and cruelty and, as this circuitous tale spins through the years and around the world, it finds more than enough acolytes to satisfy its gruesome appetite. Read our review. Source link #Gothic #Thriller #Novels #M.L #Rio Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Horoscope for Friday, February 14, 2025 – Chicago Sun-Times Horoscope for Friday, February 14, 2025 – Chicago Sun-Times Horoscope for Friday, February 14, 2025 Chicago Sun-TimesHoroscopes Today, February 14, 2025 USA TODAYYour Daily Horoscope by Madame Clairevoyant: February 14, 2025 The CutHoroscope Today: Astrological prediction for February 14, 2025 Hindustan TimesHoroscope for Friday, 2/14/25 by Christopher Renstrom SFGATE Source link #Horoscope #Friday #February #Chicago #SunTimes Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

What to Know About ‘Captain America: Brave New World’ What to Know About ‘Captain America: Brave New World’ The Marvel Cinematic Universe was vastly different when the last Captain America movie premiered nine years ago. In “Captain America: Civil War,” the supervillain Thanos had not yet snuffed out half of humanity, Tony Stark was still alive and the vibranium shield of Captain America still belonged to Steve Rogers. Now, in “Captain America: Brave New World” (in theaters), the shield and its hefty responsibilities have passed to Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), the winged Avenger who must decipher the origins of an attack on the President. The film’s plot draws on classic Marvel movies like “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” and “Avengers: Endgame,” but it also features characters from more recent offerings, such as the Marvel series on Disney+, “The Falcon and The Winter Soldier.” Here’s what you need to know before watching. How did Sam Wilson become Captain America? For much of the history of the M.C.U., Captain America was synonymous with Steve Rogers, the frail but big-hearted young man who transformed into one of Marvel’s most recognizable heroes when he received a super serum and an indestructible shield. In “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” Rogers befriends Wilson, an Air Force veteran grieving the loss of his wingman. Equipped with the Falcon flight suit, Wilson joins forces with Rogers to combat terrorists and other threats. He quickly becomes one of Captain America’s closest allies, siding with Rogers when the Avengers split into feuding factions in “Captain America: Civil War.” Wilson was one of the many people who disappeared in the five-year “Blip” caused by Thanos’s snap, but he reappeared in “Avengers: Endgame.” In “Endgame,” Rogers goes back in time to return the Infinity Stones but instead of returning to the present day, he decides to stay in the past and live a full life with his lover Peggy Carter. Wilson ultimately finds Rogers sitting on a bench, his face wrinkled and his body aged. Rogers hands him the shield and anoints him as the new Captain America. “I’ll do my best,” Wilson says. What happened on “The Falcon and The Winter Soldier”? Rogers leaves monumental shoes to fill, and the 6-episode “Falcon and the Winter Soldier” series, released in 2021, focuses on Wilson’s struggle to bear the weight of his predecessor’s legacy. Initially, instead of donning the shield, Wilson gives it to the Smithsonian. Wilson spends much of the show fighting an anarchist group. Along the way, he meets two characters who will also appear in “Brave New World”: Joaquin Torres (Danny Ramirez), a friend from the Air Force, as well as Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly), a soldier who was given the super serum from the U.S. government during the 1950s but whose identity and accomplishments were erased by the military. By the end of the show, Wilson decides to fully embrace his identity as Captain America, wielding the shield and giving his old Falcon suit to Torres. Who is Thaddeus Ross? The trailer for “Brave New World” revealed that Thaddeus Ross, the U.S. President, plays a central role in the film. Ross is portrayed by Harrison Ford, who takes over after William Hurt, who previously played the character, died in 2022. Ross has had a long history in the M.C.U., appearing in the 2008 film “The Incredible Hulk,” in which, as a lieutenant general, he oversaw the government weapons project that eventually led Bruce Banner to become Hulk. He later appeared in “Civil War” as secretary of state and the proponent of the Sokovia Accords, a set of legal documents meant to regulate the activities of the Avengers. In that film, Ross imprisoned Wilson because of his resistance to the Accords. Trailers for “Brave New World” show Ross being attacked in what seems to be an assassination attempt. They also show him becoming Red Hulk, a fiery, crimson version of Hulk. This will be the first time Red Hulk appears in the M.C.U., but in the comics, Ross transforms into Red Hulk after he is infused with gamma radiation. What is adamantium? Like vibranium, adamantium is an indestructible steel alloy that can withstand extreme blasts. The precious metal was created by the same scientist who designed the vibranium for Captain America’s shield, and it’s the same material that makes up the claws for Wolverine, one of the X-Men. It’s likely that adamantium will play an important role in the film’s plot. Source link #Captain #America #Brave #World Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Man found guilty of ***** and ******* Man found guilty of ***** and ******* McLaughlin family Danielle McLaughlin’s body was found in Goa in 2017 A man has been found guilty of the ***** and ******* of an Irish woman backpacking in India. Danielle McLaughlin, 28, from County Donegal, was found dead in a field in the western state of Goa in March 2017. Vikat Bhagat was found guilty at the District and Sessions Court in south Goa, India, on Friday. A post-mortem examination found brain damage and strangulation as the cause of death. Mukesh Kumar Danielle’s sister Jolene (left) and mother Andrea Brannigan (centre) travelled to Goa for the verdict on Friday ***** victims cannot usually be named under Indian law. Their identities are often hidden in a bid to protect them from being shunned in society. In this case, Danielle McLaughlin’s family have spoken to the media to raise awareness of her case. Ms McLaughlin, who grew up in Buncrana, had travelled to India in February 2017. She was there for two weeks before her life was ended. The Liverpool John Moores University student had been staying in a beach hut with an *********** friend. The pair had been celebrating Holi, a Hindu festival, in a nearby village. She left the village at night and her body was found the next day by a local farmer in an isolated spot. McLaughlin family Danielle McLaughlin, who grew up in County Donegal, travelled to India in February 2017 Ms McLaughlin, who had dual Irish and British citizenship, travelled to India using a British passport. In 2018, the then Taoiseach (Irish prime minister) Leo Varadkar met and apologised to her family after a misunderstanding about her citizenship. Her body was brought home to Donegal with the help of the Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust. She is buried in her hometown of Buncrana in the Republic of Ireland. Locals left photos, flowers and candles near where Ms McLaughlin’s body was found Source link #Man #guilty #***** #******* Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Book Review: ‘A Fearless Eye: The Photography of Barbara Ramos’ Book Review: ‘A Fearless Eye: The Photography of Barbara Ramos’ Barbara Ramos’s ******-and-white street photographs from the late 1960s and early 1970s, when she was a student at the San Francisco Art Institute, are far from the fanfare of the Summer of Love. Instead, the art historian Sally Stein writes in A FEARLESS EYE: The Photography of Barbara Ramos (Chronicle, $35), they make for a “multifaceted chronicle” of a “society brewing with diversity” in which, improbably, “the center still held.” Born in New York City but raised in Los Angeles, Ramos documented the in-between moments of urban living, in images that fill the frame with small and mesmerizing details. A couple waiting for the bus on 16th Street, leaning against the wall that borders the grassy park; a man napping on the hood of his car at Altamont near a group of hippies; a salesman standing in front of a wall of shoe boxes; a daydreaming grandmother rocking a stroller in front of a store window in Chinatown. The clothes and hairstyles feel nostalgic but not saccharine, sideburns and cigarettes placing the images firmly in their era. “I felt like I became the people I was photographing,” Ramos tells Steven A. Heller in one of the book’s introductory essays. “Every waking minute I was obsessed by looking, by exploring the world.” Shortly after this series was taken, Ramos put away her camera and her images for 50 years to become a jewelry maker. In 2020, she unearthed negatives, scanned the images and posted them on Facebook, a single photo each day. Published for the first time in “A Fearless Eye,” Ramos’s work captures minute and mesmerizing everyday scenes in a city that was about to change drastically. Source link #Book #Review #Fearless #Eye #Photography #Barbara #Ramos Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Wanderers jump Jets for second straight ALW victory Wanderers jump Jets for second straight ALW victory Western Sydney Wanderers have beaten Newcastle 4-1 to claim their second win on the bounce and give their A-League Women season a pulse. Newcastle defender Tash Prior scored the opening goal in the seventh minute at Wanderers Football Park on Friday. But the central defender’s night ultimately proved an unhappy one, with Newcastle’s defence shipping the next four goals. Bronte Trew equalised in the 28th minute, then a wonderful strike from Ena Harada gave the Wanderers the lead in the 39th. Amy Harrison scored a contentious penalty in the 74th minute, and Holly Caspers sealed the deal 14 minutes later. The Wanderers (12 points) are up to ninth but still 12 points outside the finals places, with Newcastle (11 points) only ahead of last-placed Sydney FC Newcastle opened the scoring when Cass Davis hit the post, but Prior was on hand to bundle home the opener. The defender will now head to the United States, where the Matildas play Japan, the US and Colombia in the SheBelieves Cup. Western Sydney responded when Danika Matos released Trew, who burst down the left and beat Danielle Krzyzaniak at her near post. The Wanderers took the lead when Harada caught Emma Dundas on the ball and nipped in before bursting forward and unleashing a wonderful, fierce strike. Shamiran Khamis saved a strike from Dundas on the stroke of halftime, batting the ball on to the post. The Wanderers extended their lead when Harrison stepped up and drove her spot-kick home. The penalty was a contentious one, because Libby Copus-Brown appeared to have fouled Milly Bennett just outside the area. The Wanderers made it a sure thing when Prior was unable to cut out a through-ball and Caspers pounced, sliding in to score. Both teams now have the international break. The Wanderers next face Central Coast away on February 28, before the Jets return to action against Perth Glory at home on March 1. Source link #Wanderers #jump #Jets #straight #ALW #victory Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Ultenic U16 Flex Cordless Vacuum review: a flexible friend that’s great on hard floors Ultenic U16 Flex Cordless Vacuum review: a flexible friend that’s great on hard floors Ultenic U16 Flex Cordless: two-minute review Ultenic has certainly upped the ante with the U16 Flex Cordless vacuum, launched in August 2024. As you may have already guessed from the name, the most notable feature is the U16 Flex’s flexibility. Thanks to a clever bendable elbow feature in its wand, this cool cordless does all the bending for you – making light work of pushing the floorhead deep under the furniture. That’s not the only feature borrowed from today’s best cordless vacuums. The floorhead has ‘GreenEye technology’; essentially bright green LED lights that help you track down less obvious dirt, dust and dander… as well as adding a bit of space-ship coolness. There’s a tangle-free roller brush that actually works, three power modes, six-layer HEPA filtration and a funky illuminated display panel that adds more spaceship vibes. Operation is one-touch, by which I mean you don’t have to hold the power button in to keep it going, which is always a relief to my poor RSI-ridden hand. Ultenic promises the battery will last up to a full 60 minutes. I managed 54 in my tests, but that’s still very respectable. For all these features, you may well be expecting a price tag along Dyson lines, but perhaps the most astonishing aspect of the U16 Flex cordless is its price – if you shop smart, you can pick one of these little beauties up for under $200 / £200. It’s absolutely one of the best budget vacuums I’ve tested. I test it in out my four-bed home over the very busy Christmas and New Year holidays, and it did a sterling job on hard flooring (of which we have plenty). I loved how lightweight it was, and the power lasted plenty long enough to whip round downstairs before the next gaggle of guests descended. However, there’s one concession you’ll need to make for that mind-blowingly bargain price. To get carpets clean, Normal mode won’t cut it; you’ll need to call on the maximum ‘Turbo’ mode. Unfortunately, the U16 can only manage 12 minutes of cleaning in this mode; not long enough to make it around my mostly-carpeted upstairs. So this one is only really suitable for people with mostly hard floors in their home. Now you’ve read the short-and-sweet version, keep going to discover the full highs and lows of using this budget-friendly cordless in my full Ultenic U16 Flex Cordless review. Everything that came in the box for my review model (Image credit: Future) Ultenic U16 Flex Cordless review: price & availability List price: $219.99 / £219.99 (but discounted everywhere) Launched: August 2024 Availability: US / *** The Ultenic U16 Flex cordless vacuum is a straight-up bargain. If you’re on the hunt for a lightweight player without dropping a small fortune, this sleek little number is worth a look. Officially, purchasing direct from Ultenic the list price is $219.99 / £219.99, which is in TechRadar’s lower-mid price bracket for vacuums. However, at time of writing, it’s discounted there and on Amazon, so you can expect to pay more like $150-$180 in the US, or £160-£170 in the ***. That’s firmly in the budget bracket. Sadly, Australians are out of luck because it’s not available there yet. But for everyone else, this vacuum delivers mid-range performance for a low-end price-tag. It’s got power, it’s lightweight, and it’s brilliant for getting into all those low-level nooks and crannies. If you’re after a cordless vac that’s stylish, effective, and doesn’t leave you eating instant noodles for a month, the Ultenic U16 Flex has got your back. Value for money score: 5 out of 5 Ultenic U16 Flex Cordless specs Swipe to scroll horizontally Weight: 6 lbs / 2.7 kg Dimensions (H x W x D): 45.7 x 9.8 x 13.8 inches / 116 x 25 x 35cm Floorhead width: 9.8″ / 25cm Filter: Six-layer HEPA filtration system, can capture 99.9% particles as small as 0.3 microns Bin capacity: 1L Max suction: 45,000Pa Runtime: 12 mins on max mode, 37 mins on medium and 54 mins on min mode (official claim is 60 mins) Charge time: 4 hours Ultenic U16 Flex Cordless review: design Lightweight, with flexible wand for getting under furniture Intuitive LED display and good bin capacity Slightly plasticky build quality Landing on my doorstep in a compact box, with a fair number of plastic bags and foam padding, it wasn’t especially eco-friendly looking on the packaging front, but the Ultenic U16 Flex was very well protected. After pulling out and unwrapping all the elements, I found it was super easy to put together without any need to look at the quick setup instructions. In red, ****** and a hint of purple, the Ultenic U16 Flex cordless vacuum gives me ’80s throwback fear. The design has hints of early Dyson, too – that purple cyclone-like filter chamber looks very familiar. Overall, it’s lightweight and easy to use; you won’t be breaking a sweat lugging it around. The build quality feels a bit on the budget side – kind of plasticky and a bit clunky to connect the wand to the floorhead, but given the price that’s not a dealbreaker. It’s sturdy enough to get the job done without worrying it’ll collapse mid-clean. (Image credit: Future) The main design highlight for me was the flexible wand, which can be released to bend forwards. It’s an idea borrowed from today’s best Shark vacuums (like the PowerDetect Cordless), and a game-changer for reaching awkward spots – like under the couch where crumbs and dust bunnies love to party. It bends and twists like a pro, making those hard-to-reach areas not so hard-to-reach. Combined with the lightweight build and searing green LED lighting in the floorhead (this one inspired by the far-pricier Dyson V15 Detect and Gen5detect), it was perfect for quick zips around the house. Oddly, the control panel isn’t nearly as sexy as the previous model, the slightly cheaper U12 Vesla (which I have also put through its paces) but it’s still nicely styled and techy-looking. There’s one button for switching between power modes, so you don’t have to overthink anything while you’re cleaning. Plus, the battery indicator is super clear – no guessing games about how much power you have left in the tank. The control panel shows power level and battery percentage, and the light ring turns more red as the power dials up (Image credit: Future) The main floorhead is solid enough, with decent swivel action that lets you glide around furniture. It’s also shallow enough that it doesn’t get stuck under my sideboards, like competitors’ models have. It only comes with one detachable crevice tool, but let’s face it, that’s the one we all use – I’ve got a cleaning cupboard full of weird and wonderful (and never used) nozzles from various ghosts of vacuums past. If you do need the gentler approach of a bristled nozzle, for furniture or upholstery etc, one slides out in handheld mode, which is handy because it’s always there, close to hand. The Ultenic U16 Flex features a generous dustbin for the cordless sector, with a 95ml capacity. I could vacuum round our 4-bed home at least twice before needing to empty it, and given that we have two very hairy spaniels and two messy kids so that’s pretty impressive. When it’s time to dump the contents, the process is simple – just press the release button, and the lid flaps open. You can then empty it directly into the trash with minimal mess – and I never had to get my hands dirty digging out any stuck muck. The bin empties easily. (Image credit: Future) The Ultenic U16 Flex’s charging wall mount is space-saving and convenient. I didn’t fix it to my wall because it wasn’t staying, but I could check how well the vacuum slots in and out and always appreciate a mount where the charging is automatic once docked – no need to fiddle about manually inserting the charger port. If you prefer, you can also slide the battery out and charge it away from the vacuum, which would be handy if you don’t have a socket where you want to store your cleaner. Overall, the U16 Flex is designed to offer everything you need, with a few cool extras on top. It might not feel as premium as some high-end brands, but nor do you have to sell a kidney to buy it. Design score: 3.5 out of 5 Ultenic U16 Flex Cordless review: performance Excellent maneuvering, and great on hard floors Easy to empty and clean Battery-sapping Turbo mode needed for carpets Let me start by saying that the Ultenic U16 Flex cordless vacuum isn’t great on carpets. It’s not the worst I’ve tested, but if you have wall-to-wall carpets throughout and like to feel the power of dirt lifting through from the floorboards underneath, this is not the vacuum for you. Those with mostly solid floors, like me, should keep reading, especially anyone who is really feeling the cost-of-living crisis right now (also me!). The Ultenic U16 Flex has three power levels: Eco, Normal (which is the default startup setting) and Turbo. In Eco mode, which gives you the maximum battery life, it did a perfectly good job of sucking up dog hair, crumbs and small particles of dust/dirt from my solid floors (in the busiest rooms of our home: the open-plan kitchen, hallway and utility). However, it wasn’t great at dealing with ******* debris like hay and shavings (we have horses, and half the yard seems to come home via the kids’ socks). Normal was much better and so it was the mode I used most of the time on my hard floors. On carpet I felt like I was wasting my time in Eco mode. Normal was okay, but I also had to call upon the battery-depleting Turbo mode for carpets. The vacuum only lasted around 12 minutes in Turbo mode. This was okay if I was only cleaning the downstairs, where there’s just one room that’s carpeted, and it’s small. However, it wasn’t long enough to clean the four carpeted bedrooms upstairs. The Ultenic U16 Flex took a little longer than I’d expect to complete a full battery recharge – around four hours. I could have done with a spare battery to tackle upstairs though. Using the crevice tool in handheld mode (Image credit: Future) The real star of this vacuum, though, has to be the flexibility. The floorhead swivels and moves really smoothly and I can glide around my furniture without getting the floorhead stuck. I never felt like I was doing battle with the vacuum, and my hand/arm never ached, even when testing the battery to its maximum use in Eco mode (I clocked 52 minutes). The flex wand is also a total game-changer. It bends low so I don’t have to, stretching under areas that I can normally only reach by getting down on my hands and knees. That almost never happens so it was quite satisfying/disturbing to see how full the bin got when I tackled under the island and kitchen sofa. Plus, the attachments are really easy, if slightly clunky, to pop on and off. I’ve been using the crevice tool on the end of the long wand for the edges of my baseboards and getting cobwebs up high, and it worked perfectly – again without making my arm ache. The brush bar is great on hard floors and doesn’t get choked with hair (Image credit: Future) In handheld mode, the Ultenic U16 Flex really shines for quick and targeted cleaning jobs. It’s lightweight and easy to handle, making it perfect for tackling stairs, upholstery, or even light spills in your car (just don’t expect thorough detailing – for that you might need to invest in one of the best car vacuums). With the crevice attachment, you can reach tight spots effortlessly, like between couch cushions or the corners of stair treads, without contorting into awkward angles or straining your wrists. In handheld mode, the suction is the best you’ll get from this cordless, easily picking up crumbs, and dust. I’d have like a mini upholstery head attachment, ideally with power brush, for really getting those deep-grained **** hairs out of my couch cushions though. TechRadar’s best vacuum for **** hair list has some alternative suggestions here. It’s light and nimble for cleaning the stairs (Image credit: Future) When it comes to noise, the Ultenic U16 is pretty average for cordless vacuums – not too loud but not super quiet either. In the lowest power it recorded 71 dB on my decibel meter app, in Normal it was 74 dB and in Turbo it went to 82 dB, which is comparable to a food processor or blender. It’s not silent, but it’s definitely quieter than I expected for the price. The good news was I could vacuum in Eco without making my spaniel bark his head off, which is a huge win and a rare feat. He still lost his cool when I dialed up to Turbo, though. Suction tests When I ran our standard vacuuming tests – one with flour to mimic fine debris, and another with oats for larger particles – the results were exactly as I’d anticipated. The Ultenic U16 did well on the hard floors and failed on carpets. The flour test was completed on our engineered wood flooring, and I found I had to switch to Turbo mode to get the best results, but it only took two passes to achieve a clean strip of flooring. Flour on hard floors, the left strip shows Eco mode and the right is in Turbo (Image credit: Future) Next came the oats test, again on engineered wood, and I was surprised to discover that I could get all the oats up as easily in Eco mode as I did in Turbo. In fact, the Ultenic U16 Flex made really light work of clearing away the entire spill, with a little help from the spaniels! Oats on hard floors, the left strip shows Eco mode and the right is in Turbo (Image credit: Future) Moving into the snug to check out performance on carpet (a short-pile wool number), and the flour test was an absolute fail. Eco mode barely touched the flour and even in Turbo I had to do a bazillion passes and then call in the big guns (my Miele Duoflex cordless) to get the job done. Flour on carpet, the left strip shows Eco mode and the right is in Turbo (Image credit: Future) The oats test was a bit better on carpet, but I still had to spend a lot of time going back and forth over the same spots. Then I had to get the crevice nozzle out to suction up the strays that had snuck into the threshold joint. I nearly ran out of power before my carpet was clean again. Oats on carpet, the left strip shows Eco mode and the right is in Turbo (Image credit: Future) Maintenance I found the Ultenic U16 easy to clean and maintain. The bin pops open really easily and empties straight out – no fishing about with sticks to unblock clogs. The HEPA filter is also simple to access, which is a bonus for those who hate vacuum maintenance. The filter is easy to clean under a running tap (Image credit: Future) You just detach the dustbin by pressing the release button and the filter is easy to spot and pull out. Wash it under a running tap and leave to dry – there’s a spare so you’ll always have a dry one to hand. Another bonus of this cordless is the hair-evading brush in the floorhead, which didn’t get wrapped in any hair, string or random threads during the entire test *******. Performance score: 3.5 out of 5 Ultenic U16 Flex Cordless review: battery Battery lasts 12 mins in Turbo, 52 mins in Eco 4 hours to fully recharge the battery Removable and swappable battery The Ultenic U16 Flex provides a practical balance between performance and battery life, especially in a home with mostly solid floors like ours. In Eco mode, the vacuum lasted a generous 52 minutes. That’s not quite as long as the hour promised by Ultenic, but it’s still plenty of time to tackle everyday messes in busy areas like my open-plan kitchen and hallway. Most of today’s best cordless stick vacuums will offer a maximum of 50 or 60 minutes’ of cleaning (and a couple offer up to 70 minutes), although of course the suction in that mode will vary from model to model. In Turbo mode the battery lasted just 12 minutes. It’s not unusual for a stick vacuum’s maximum suction mode to drain power that quickly, but the fact I had to use Turbo mode quite a lot when tackling carpets wasn’t ideal. Recharging takes around four hours. The U16’s battery is removable and spares can be purchased if you want to extend the cleaning times further. Battery life score: 3.5 out of 5 Should you buy the Ultenic U16 Flex Cordless? Swipe to scroll horizontally Attribute Notes Rating Value for money Lower-mid range at full price but generally discounted to the budget bracket. With a price tag this low, one thing you can’t grumble about is value. 5/5 Design Functional design with some cool extra features like the flexible wand, but the construction feels a little cheap. 4/5 Performance Easy to maneuver and impressive pickup on hard floors, but not really powerful enough for carpet. 3.5/5 Battery Decent maximum battery life of 52 minutes in Eco mode, but Turbo mode (which I had to call on regularly) only lasted 12 mins. 3.5/5 Buy it if… Don’t buy it if… How I tested the Ultenic U16 Flex Cordless I tested the Ultenic U16 Flex cordless vacuum for four weeks during the festive season, during which we hosted far too many family gatherings than was good for our livers, and a child’s birthday, too. Our home is a Victorian, four-bed detached property that is mostly open-plan downstairs. We don’t have any thick-pile carpet, but we do have virtually every other type of flooring – porcelain, terracotta, luxury vinyl, engineered oaks, wool carpets and lots of flatweave rugs. I used this cordless as the only vacuum during the testing *******, in every room and up the stairs, checking out the various attachments as I went. I also conducted controlled tests using flour and oats on hard floors and carpet, monitored the sound levels using an App on my iPhone and timed battery use and charging. Read more about how we test vacuum cleaners. First reviewed January 2025 Source link #Ultenic #U16 #Flex #Cordless #Vacuum #review #flexible #friend #great #hard #floors Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

A Great James Earl Jones Role That Can Finally Be Seen A Great James Earl Jones Role That Can Finally Be Seen Burnett remembered how Jones threw himself into the part. (Jones so much enjoyed eating the curried goat that Fish cooks, Burnett said, that he would continue eating after a cut was called, risking continuity issues — but it was fun to watch.) And even though Jones had knee troubles, he worked to make the ******-wrestling visceral. “He did most of his stunts himself,” Burnett said. “Not the real, real hard ones, but the ones that he was on the floor with — we worried that he might hurt himself, but he was a real trouper.” It’s an unusual film, and it’s understandable that some original viewers couldn’t sync with its peculiar wavelength. Heller, who died in 2020, blamed its distribution woes on a pan in the trade magazine Variety. Writing in 1999, the critic Todd McCarthy described “The Annihilation of Fish” as “a drear moment in the careers of all concerned” that “will go over big with everyone who ever craved seeing a bed scene with James Earl Jones and Lynn Redgrave.” Yet the film’s off-center depiction of isolation and a search for connection holds up much better than that in “American Beauty,” which played at the same Toronto festival to a swell of critical support. Burnett said that “Fish” went over well elsewhere — he recalled showing it near San Diego in 2001 after the Sept. 11 attacks, when the audience seemed eager to embrace its portrait of love and compassion — but until now, it has been a film that got away. A quarter-century later — thanks to the restoration efforts of Milestone Films, the U.C.L.A. Film & Television Archive and Martin Scorsese’s Film Foundation — audiences have a chance to discover it. (Milestone and the U.C.L.A. archive also revived “Killer of Sheep.”) Burnett’s early films have been credited for their honest rendering of ****** working-class life in Los Angeles, a milieu rarely shown, or at best sensationalized, by Hollywood. In “The Annihilation of Fish,” he sought to show characters who live in their own world, but to keep it serious, to make them real. “You see people on the street here in Los Angeles, and it’s become such a thing that you see all the time now,” he said. “You wonder about who these people are.” He recalled an experience encountering a man on public transit in New York who told him a story about having to make a scene to get medication that he knew he needed. “It was a way to function in this country,” Burnett said. As with the characters in “Fish,” he added, “There’s some logic to this madness, you might say.” Source link #Great #James #Earl #Jones #Role #Finally Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Court in Tajikistan jails over 30 people for attempted mass poisoning linked to Islamic State offshoot Court in Tajikistan jails over 30 people for attempted mass poisoning linked to Islamic State offshoot DUSHANBE (Reuters) – A court in Tajikistan has handed down prison sentences of between eight and 20 years to more than 30 people it convicted of trying to poison attendees of a festival last year, the prosecutor general’s office said on Friday. A source in the Tajik security services told Reuters the convicted people were all tied to Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K), the Afghan offshoot of Islamic State. Islamic State, the militant group that once sought control over swathes of Iraq and Syria, claimed responsibility for a mass shooting at a concert hall near Moscow last year which left 145 people dead. Trusted news and daily delights, right in your inbox See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories. Tajik prosecutors said the defendants had attempted to poison food served to attendees of a Nowruz, or New Year, festival last March in Vahdat, a small city east of the capital Dushanbe. Ten more people are wanted for the crime, the head of the department for combating terrorism and extremism in the attorney general’s office, Jumanazar Sayidakhmadzoda, told reporters. He did not say exactly how many people had been sentenced. Tajikistan is a landlocked country of some 10 million people sandwiched between Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and China. The majority of Tajiks are adherents of the Hanafi school of Sunni Islam. Three militant attacks were carried out in the country in 2024 and two attacks were thwarted, the foreign minister said this week. Earlier this month, nine prisoners who had been convicted over links to Islamic State and the Jihadi Salafi movement assaulted guards at a prison in Vahdat in an escape attempt, leaving five inmates dead. (Reporting by Nazarali Pirnazarov; Writing by Lucy Papachristou; Editing by Andrew Osborn) Source link #Court #Tajikistan #jails #people #attempted #mass #poisoning #linked #Islamic #State #offshoot Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Human Fall Flat is taking you trekking in the new Hike map Human Fall Flat is taking you trekking in the new Hike map Travel across various rugged terrains to reach the mountaintop You’ll have to grapple with zip lines and scale cliffs Foggy paths will make traversal more difficult 505 Games, Curve Games, and No Brakes Games have just released a new update for Human Fall Flat, bringing a challenging new level to the physics-based sim on Android and iOS. Titled Hike, this new level takes you across rugged landscapes, icy caverns, and treacherous paths leading up to a mountain summit. Will your problem-solving skills help you reach the top? Human Fall Flat’s Hike level begins at a hunting lodge, after which you will proceed to make your way through dense woodlands, broken bridges, and hidden tunnels. Along the way, you’ll grapple with ziplines, scale rocky cliffs, and navigate secret caves filled with obstacles. Fog-covered paths add an extra challenge, making it easy to lose your way if you’re not careful. Waterfalls and sprawling forests make this level visually breathtaking, blending gorgeous exploration with tricky physics-based challenges. The varied terrain means you’ll need to use every tool available to make progress. Swinging from ropes, setting up jumps, and working with friends in co-op mode can help you overcome some of the more difficult sections. Hike supports up to four-player multiplayer, making teamwork essential for some of the tougher climbs. Whether you’re playing solo or with friends, the journey to the top promises new surprises at every turn. Are you ready for the trek of a lifetime? Wacky physics-based sims like this continue to challenge you and force you to think differently. If you’re on the lookout for a similar experience, then be sure to check out our list of the best physics games to play on iOS right now! Explore the Hike level by downloading Human Fall Flat on your preferred link below. It is available for $2.99 or your local equivalent. Alternatively, you can play it for free if you’re subscribed to Apple Arcade or the Google Play Pass. For more information and to stay updated on all the latest developments, visit the official website. Source link #Human #Fall #Flat #trekking #Hike #map Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

What’s Best, According to the Italian Mathematician Alessio Figalli What’s Best, According to the Italian Mathematician Alessio Figalli The words “optimal” and “optimize” derive from the Latin “optimus,” or “best,” as in “make the best of things.” Alessio Figalli, a mathematician at the university ETH Zurich, studies optimal transport: the most efficient allocation of starting points to end points. The scope of investigation is wide, including clouds, crystals, bubbles and chatbots. Dr. Figalli, who was awarded the Fields Medal in 2018, likes math that is motivated by concrete problems found in nature. He also likes the discipline’s “sense of eternity,” he said in a recent interview. “It is something that will be here forever.” (Nothing is forever, he conceded, but math will be around for “long enough.”) “I like the fact that if you prove a theorem, you prove it,” he said. “There’s no ambiguity, it’s true or false. In a hundred years, you can rely on it, no matter what.” The study of optimal transport was introduced almost 250 years ago by Gaspard Monge, a French mathematician and politician who was motivated by problems in military engineering. His ideas found broader application solving logistical problems during the Napoleonic Era — for instance, identifying the most efficient way to build fortifications, in order to minimize the costs of transporting materials across Europe. In 1975, the Russian mathematician Leonid Kantorovich shared the Nobel in economic science for refining a rigorous mathematical theory for the optimum allocation of resources. “He had an example with bakeries and coffee shops,” Dr. Figalli said. The optimization goal in this case was to ensure that on a daily basis every bakery delivered all its croissants, and every coffee shop got all the croissants desired. “It’s called a global wellness optimization problem in the sense that there is no competition between bakeries, no competition between coffee shops,” he said. “It’s not like optimizing the utility of one player. It is optimizing the global utility of the population. And that’s why it’s so complex: because if one bakery or one coffee shop does something different, this will influence everyone else.” The following conversation with Dr. Figalli — conducted at an event in New York City organized by the Simons Laufer Mathematical Sciences Institute and in interviews before and after — has been condensed and edited for clarity. How would you finish the sentence “Math is … ”? What is math? For me, math is a creative process and a language to describe nature. The reason that math is the way it is is because humans realized that it was the right way to model the earth and what they were observing. What is fascinating is that it works so well. Is nature always seeking to optimize? Nature is naturally an optimizer. It has a minimal-energy principle — nature by itself. Then of course it gets more complex when other variables enter into the equation. It depends on what you are studying. When I was applying optimal transport to meteorology, I was trying to understand the movement of clouds. It was a simplified model where some physical variables that may influence the movement of clouds were neglected. For example, you might ignore friction or wind. The movement of water particles in clouds follows an optimal transport path. And here you are transporting billions of points, billions of water particles, to billions of points, so it’s a much ******* problem than 10 bakeries to 50 coffee shops. The numbers grow enormously. That’s why you need mathematics to study it. What about optimal transport captured your interest? I was most excited by the applications, and by the fact that the mathematics was very beautiful and came from very concrete problems. There is a constant exchange between what mathematics can do and what people require in the real world. As mathematicians, we can fantasize. We like to increase dimensions — we work in infinite dimensional space, which people always think is a little bit crazy. But it’s what allows us now to use cellphones and Google and all the modern technology we have. Everything would not exist had mathematicians not been crazy enough to go out of the standard boundaries of the mind, where we only live in three dimensions. Reality is much more than that. In society, the risk is always that people just see math as being important when they see the connection to applications. But it’s important beyond that — the thinking, the developments of a new theory that came through mathematics over time that led to big changes in society. Everything is math. And often the math came first. It’s not that you wake up with an applied question and you find the answer. Usually the answer was already there, but it was there because people had the time and the freedom to think big. The other way around it can work, but in a more limited fashion, problem by problem. Big changes usually happen because of free thinking. Optimization has its limits. Creativity can’t really be optimized. Yes, creativity is the opposite. Suppose you’re doing very good research in an area; your optimization scheme would have you stay there. But it’s better to take risks. Failure and frustration are key. Big breakthroughs, big changes, always come because at some moment you are taking yourself out of your comfort zone, and this will never be an optimization process. Optimizing everything results in missing opportunities sometimes. I think it’s important to really value and be careful with what you optimize. What are you working on these days? One challenge is using optimal transport in machine learning. From a theoretical viewpoint, machine learning is just an optimization problem where you have a system, and you want to optimize some parameters, or features, so that the machine will do a certain number of tasks. To classify images, optimal transport measures how similar two images are by comparing features like colors or textures and putting these features into alignment — transporting them — between the two images. This technique helps improve accuracy, making models more robust to changes or distortions. These are very high-dimensional phenomena. You are trying to understand objects that have many features, many parameters, and every feature corresponds to one dimension. So if you have 50 features, you are in 50-dimensional space. The higher the dimension where the object lives, the more complex the optimal transport problem is — it requires too much time, too much data to solve the problem, and you will never be able to do it. This is called the curse of dimensionality. Recently people have been trying to look at ways to avoid the curse of dimensionality. One idea is to develop a new type of optimal transport. What’s the gist of it? By collapsing some features, I reduce my optimal transport to a lower-dimensional space. Let’s say three dimensions is too large for me and I want to make it a one-dimensional problem. I take some points in my three-dimensional space and I project them onto a line. I solve the optimal transport on the line, I compute what I should do, and I repeat this for many, many lines. Then, using these results in dimension one, I try to reconstruct the original 3-D space by a sort of gluing together. It is not an obvious process. It kind of sounds like the shadow of an object — a two-dimensional, square-ish shadow provides some information about the three-dimensional cube that casts the shadow. It is like shadows. Another example is X-rays, which are 2-D images of your 3-D body. But if you do X-rays in enough directions you can essentially piece together the images and reconstruct your body. Conquering the curse of dimensionality would help with A.I.’s shortcomings and limitations? If we use some optimal transport techniques, perhaps this could make some of these optimization problems in machine learning more robust, more stable, more reliable, less biased, safer. That’s the meta principle. And, in the interplay of pure and applied math, here the practical, real-world need is motivating new mathematics? Exactly. The engineering of machine learning is very far ahead. But we don’t know why it works. There are few theorems; comparing what it can achieve to what we can prove, there is a huge gap. It is impressive, but mathematically it is still very difficult to explain why. So we cannot trust it enough. We want to make it better in many directions, and we want mathematics to help. Source link #Whats #Italian #Mathematician #Alessio #Figalli Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Asus ExpertBook P5 (P5405) Review: Sleek and Sensible Asus ExpertBook P5 (P5405) Review: Sleek and Sensible Business laptops prioritise providing essential features at an attractive price. Compared to their glitzy consumer counterparts, business laptops are built for business requirements, appear practical at best and these (at least in India) get as barebones as they possibly can. So, what happens when Asus builds a business laptop to Microsoft’s CoPilot+ PC requirements? Can we truly have a device that satisfies the needs of small to medium businesses and corporates but also offers good performance? Asus’ new ExpertBook P5 laptop sure seems like a worthy candidate. Asus ExpertBook P5 (P5405) Design Asus’ ExpertBook P5 defies expectations of a bulky or heavy business laptop. It has a slim overall profile that’s sensibly designed (even compared to the Asus Zenbook S14), made from quality materials, and according to the company, is built to the US MIL-STD 810H military-grade standard. This means that it can perform on a sunny beach (for the WFH crowd) or in the frigid temperatures of a corporate office. The Asus ExpertBook P5 is only available in one matte grey finish The laptop’s hinges feel solid, and it is possible to lift the display with one finger (without appearing clumsy) at a presentation. The hinge also enables the display to open fully and rest flat on the table. No, this isn’t designed to let your colleagues peer into your display from the other side of your table, but to prevent excessive pressure on the hinge. Since the display rests flat on the table, there are fewer chances of the hinge getting destroyed if something heavy falls or is placed on it accidentally. The Asus ExpertBook P5’s hinge lets its display rest on the surface Unlike its snazzy counterpart, the Zenbook S14, the ExpertBook does not have a CNC-machined frame, which functions as the chassis. The business laptop instead goes with matte-finished aluminium lids or panels that lend it a premium look and feel. They do not gather fingerprints or smudges easily, but even if they do, these can be wiped off without much trouble. The panels also mean that there is a certain amount of flex; this is quite obvious with the display lid when you open it up but not so much with the bottom half, which is really hard to flex given the layered components and panels. The camera has a handy privacy cover I found ExpertBook’s keyboard quite comfortable for all-day usage. There’s enough key travel at 1.5mm, but I did find the keys to be a little stiff if you type a lot like I do. Key presses are quiet, which is good for conference rooms and meetings. The keyboard is also spill-resistant if you are the clumsy type and comes with a backlight so you can continue to toil away at night. The rear venting means you can place the ExpertBook P5 in the dock and use the laptop with its lid shut There are some simple design decisions made with the ExpertBook that feel logical and practical, forcing me to draw comparisons with its high-priced sibling, the Zenbook S14. Since the ExpertBook has an air inlet at the bottom (throwing hot air out from the back), it can be easily placed into a dock stand and function perfectly well with the lid closed. The Zenbook S14 needs to be open as it breathes from the perforations that sit above the keyboard on the inside. Asus ExpertBook P5 (P5405) Performance There’s a good selection of I/O ports except for the missing Ethernet port because of its slim design. The ExpertBook P5 provides 2 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports, 2 x Thunderbolt 4 ports, 1 x HDMI 2.1 port, and the usual 3.5mm combo audio jack. The port selection on the Asus ExpertBook P5 is pretty good but lacks an Ethernet port Coming to the bits that make this business laptop a CoPilot+ PC, it has an Intel Core Ultra 7 Processor 258V processor (4.8GHz), including the Intel AI Boost NPU with up to 47 AI TOPS, needed to meet Microsoft’s requirements. There’s 32GB of RAM (LPDDR5X), 1TB M.2 2280 NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSD, and an Intel Arc 140V GPU for graphics. We ran our usual benchmarks, and the results are as follows: Benchmark AsusExpertBook P5 Asus Zenbook S 14 Dell XPS 13 9345 Geekbench 6 Single 1,531 2,520 2,795 Geekbench 6 Multi 7,636 10,688 14,478 Geekbench AI Quantised Score 3,530 3,678 22,200 PCMark 10 4,694 6,836 N/A 3DMark CPU Profile 5,161 5,161 8,459 3DMark Night Raid 33,631 34,727 25,732 3DMark Steel Nomad Light 2,741 3,243 1,931 Since this is a business laptop, my usage was limited to office work. And during that time, everything worked as smoothly as expected with the laptop barely heating up. And since the P5 managed a decent 33,631 in 3DMark’s Night Raid, you can consider some casual gaming on this machine as well… if your IT policy allows it and your boss isn’t around. The fans, when they did spin up (especially when I was running benchmarks), were still fairly quiet. The Asus ExpertBook P5’s IPS display is vibrant but not as good as the Zenbook S14’s OLED panel Our review unit came preloaded with Windows 11 Pro and Microsoft’s Office Suite. Asus offers a bunch of AI tools; among these, I liked the included AI ExpertMeet, which basically provides AI-generated summaries for both live and recorded meetings. It is also capable of watermarking video calls with messages and business cards which can be handy for self-employed professionals or for SMBs. Like the Asus Zenbook S14, the Asus ExpertBook P5 also offers a high-resolution IPS display. However, the P5’s display resolution is a bit lower at 2,560 x 1,600 pixels versus the 2,880 x 1,800 pixels on the S14 and also lacks touch input. The P5’s display strangely also offers a 144Hz refresh rate, which both feels out of place and does not perform as expected (not blur-free). A standard 60Hz or even a 90Hz panel would have sufficed, making way for some other additional hardware add-ons. On the plus side, the P5’s matte display is better suited for glare-free productivity when working outdoors. The ExpertBook’s trackpad incorporates Asus’ gesture actions (around the edges), which are useful but can get fidgety with ghost touches The Asus ExpertBook P5 offers a 63Wh 3-cell battery. Thanks to the latest Intel silicon, battery life is quite solid, and I easily managed 9-10 hours of office use with the display set to a 144Hz refresh rate and the brightness set to 70 percent (because 50 percent wasn’t bright enough). Asus provides a 65W Type-C power supply in the box, and it manages to deliver a 70 percent charge in an hour. Asus ExpertBook P5 (P5405) Verdict Of course, being a business laptop means the average consumer will not be able to purchase the ExpertBook P5 online or even in-store. Interested businesses or business owners will need to connect with Asus directly. The Asus ExpertBook P5 offers excellent value given its target audience. It goes above and beyond to deliver some practical AI features for business users and offers more than enough power for the self-employed crowd at the right price. It’s not as snazzy as its consumer counterpart, the Asus Zenbook S14 (Review) (priced from Rs. 1,42,990), but offers a sleek design that still looks and feels premium. The 144Hz display surely is overkill for a business laptop. An OLED display with a standard refresh rate would have been more useful. But pretty much everything else sure seems up for the job. Source link #Asus #ExpertBook #P5405 #Review #Sleek Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Lou's Lagoon Preview – Cozy Airborne Deliveries – MonsterVine Lou's Lagoon Preview – Cozy Airborne Deliveries – MonsterVine MonsterVine: “Explore a colorful archipelago, collect resources, and fly a seaplane in Lous Lagoon, a cozy life sim with crafting and deliveries.” Source link #Lou039s #Lagoon #Preview #Cozy #Airborne #Deliveries #MonsterVine Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Lasers, Waffle Fries and the Secrets in Pterosaurs’ Tails Lasers, Waffle Fries and the Secrets in Pterosaurs’ Tails Above the shores of prehistoric seas and lakes, pterosaurs roamed the skies. They were feathered creatures that ranged in size from pigeons to planes, and the first vertebrates known to have been able to fly. And for millions of years, they had long tails ending in a prominent flap of skin called a vane. Paleontologists have long wondered about this strange appendage and its purpose. A team of scientists using a laser scanning technology have found new structures in four pterosaur fossils that helped keep the vane stiff, suggesting it aided maneuvering in flight. The study, published in December in the journal eLife, shows that “even fossils that we knew and studied in detail for hundreds of years might have new things to show if you develop new technology to see them,” said Natalia Jagielska, a paleontologist at the Lyme Regis Museum in England and the paper’s lead author. Dr. Jagielska, also a professional artist, became involved in the research after Michael Pittman, a paleontologist at the ******** University of Hong Kong, approached her about illustrating a children’s book. They teamed up to examine pterosaur fossils in collections in England and Scotland. After surveying over 100 pterosaur specimens, scientists picked four from the species Rhamphorhynchus, which often had diamond-shaped, kitelike tail vanes, for follow-up with laser-stimulated fluorescence. Dr. Pittman and Thomas G. Kaye, director of the Foundation for Scientific Advancement and an author of the study, have promoted the technique for exploring dinosaur-era remains and for archaeological investigations. The laser method makes use of how some minerals glow when electrons absorb and then re-emit light. As a laser passes over the fossils, long-exposure digital photography captures hidden features that stand out Pictures from the first pterosaur specimen they scanned showed a lattice structure in the tail vane. For Dr. Pittman, this was “a ta-da moment.” “It looks like the kind of crisscross on a waffle fry,” he said. “But that structure in engineering is a reinforcing structure.” The “struts” of this lattice could have been beneficial to flight, Dr. Jagielska said. They would “tense up when you have a gust of air, similar to a sail in a ship, and that probably reduces the flutter” and might have helped the pterosaur in “making turns,” she said. Scientists say the primary function for the vane still could have been social display, like a peacock’s tail feathers are a signal to attract mates. In that vein, the vane most likely had prominent colors and patterns that are not preserved in the fossil record, Dr. Pittman said. Even so, like a modern billboard, the “display surface” needed support structures, which this study reveals in pterosaurs for the first time, Dr. Pittman said. Had the vane fluttered unfettered, it would have been “extremely costly and simultaneously useless as a visual signal,” said Michael Habib, a pterosaur flight expert at the University of California, Los Angeles, and an author of the study. The result is a significant advancement in the study of pterosaurs, said Andrea Cau, a paleontologist in Italy who was not involved in the study. He noted that one of the pterosaur fossils had not shown any soft-tissue details using other techniques but that the laser fluorescence had brought them out. “Given the rarity of soft-tissue remains in paleontology, even just a single new fossil makes the difference,” he said. Future studies of pterosaur tails may illuminate “just how good was this structure as a rudder or as a stabilizer,” said Scott Persons, a paleontologist at the College of Charleston in South Carolina who was not involved in this study. Given that different pterosaurs had differently sized vanes, more research may also show whether that variation had to do more with optimizing flight or “fashion.” Dr. Jagielska would like to explore why the long tails with vanes disappeared in pterosaurs by the start of the Cretaceous *******, about 146 million years ago. Further laser scanning may also bring out other characteristics important to pterosaur flight. A better understanding of their anatomy could even inspire airborne vehicles someday. “If they were so efficient that they could live for hundreds of millions of years, they probably are doing something right,” Dr. Jagielska said. Source link #Lasers #Waffle #Fries #Secrets #Pterosaurs #Tails Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Asus ExpertBook P5 (P5405) Review: Sleek and Sensible Asus ExpertBook P5 (P5405) Review: Sleek and Sensible Business laptops prioritise providing essential features at an attractive price. Compared to their glitzy consumer counterparts, business laptops are built for business requirements, appear practical at best and these (at least in India) get as barebones as they possibly can. So, what happens when Asus builds a business laptop to Microsoft’s CoPilot+ PC requirements? Can we truly have a device that satisfies the needs of small to medium businesses and corporates but also offers good performance? Asus’ new ExpertBook P5 laptop sure seems like a worthy candidate. Asus ExpertBook P5 (P5405) Design Asus’ ExpertBook P5 defies expectations of a bulky or heavy business laptop. It has a slim overall profile that’s sensibly designed (even compared to the Asus Zenbook S14), made from quality materials, and according to the company, is built to the US MIL-STD 810H military-grade standard. This means that it can perform on a sunny beach (for the WFH crowd) or in the frigid temperatures of a corporate office. The Asus ExpertBook P5 is only available in one matte grey finish The laptop’s hinges feel solid, and it is possible to lift the display with one finger (without appearing clumsy) at a presentation. The hinge also enables the display to open fully and rest flat on the table. No, this isn’t designed to let your colleagues peer into your display from the other side of your table, but to prevent excessive pressure on the hinge. Since the display rests flat on the table, there are fewer chances of the hinge getting destroyed if something heavy falls or is placed on it accidentally. The Asus ExpertBook P5’s hinge lets its display rest on the surface Unlike its snazzy counterpart, the Zenbook S14, the ExpertBook does not have a CNC-machined frame, which functions as the chassis. The business laptop instead goes with matte-finished aluminium lids or panels that lend it a premium look and feel. They do not gather fingerprints or smudges easily, but even if they do, these can be wiped off without much trouble. The panels also mean that there is a certain amount of flex; this is quite obvious with the display lid when you open it up but not so much with the bottom half, which is really hard to flex given the layered components and panels. The camera has a handy privacy cover I found ExpertBook’s keyboard quite comfortable for all-day usage. There’s enough key travel at 1.5mm, but I did find the keys to be a little stiff if you type a lot like I do. Key presses are quiet, which is good for conference rooms and meetings. The keyboard is also spill-resistant if you are the clumsy type and comes with a backlight so you can continue to toil away at night. The rear venting means you can place the ExpertBook P5 in the dock and use the laptop with its lid shut There are some simple design decisions made with the ExpertBook that feel logical and practical, forcing me to draw comparisons with its high-priced sibling, the Zenbook S14. Since the ExpertBook has an air inlet at the bottom (throwing hot air out from the back), it can be easily placed into a dock stand and function perfectly well with the lid closed. The Zenbook S14 needs to be open as it breathes from the perforations that sit above the keyboard on the inside. Asus ExpertBook P5 (P5405) Performance There’s a good selection of I/O ports except for the missing Ethernet port because of its slim design. The ExpertBook P5 provides 2 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports, 2 x Thunderbolt 4 ports, 1 x HDMI 2.1 port, and the usual 3.5mm combo audio jack. The port selection on the Asus ExpertBook P5 is pretty good but lacks an Ethernet port Coming to the bits that make this business laptop a CoPilot+ PC, it has an Intel Core Ultra 7 Processor 258V processor (4.8GHz), including the Intel AI Boost NPU with up to 47 AI TOPS, needed to meet Microsoft’s requirements. There’s 32GB of RAM (LPDDR5X), 1TB M.2 2280 NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSD, and an Intel Arc 140V GPU for graphics. We ran our usual benchmarks, and the results are as follows: Benchmark AsusExpertBook P5 Asus Zenbook S 14 Dell XPS 13 9345 Geekbench 6 Single 1,531 2,520 2,795 Geekbench 6 Multi 7,636 10,688 14,478 Geekbench AI Quantised Score 3,530 3,678 22,200 PCMark 10 4,694 6,836 N/A 3DMark CPU Profile 5,161 5,161 8,459 3DMark Night Raid 33,631 34,727 25,732 3DMark Steel Nomad Light 2,741 3,243 1,931 Since this is a business laptop, my usage was limited to office work. And during that time, everything worked as smoothly as expected with the laptop barely heating up. And since the P5 managed a decent 33,631 in 3DMark’s Night Raid, you can consider some casual gaming on this machine as well… if your IT policy allows it and your boss isn’t around. The fans, when they did spin up (especially when I was running benchmarks), were still fairly quiet. The Asus ExpertBook P5’s IPS display is vibrant but not as good as the Zenbook S14’s OLED panel Our review unit came preloaded with Windows 11 Pro and Microsoft’s Office Suite. Asus offers a bunch of AI tools; among these, I liked the included AI ExpertMeet, which basically provides AI-generated summaries for both live and recorded meetings. It is also capable of watermarking video calls with messages and business cards which can be handy for self-employed professionals or for SMBs. Like the Asus Zenbook S14, the Asus ExpertBook P5 also offers a high-resolution IPS display. However, the P5’s display resolution is a bit lower at 2,560 x 1,600 pixels versus the 2,880 x 1,800 pixels on the S14 and also lacks touch input. The P5’s display strangely also offers a 144Hz refresh rate, which both feels out of place and does not perform as expected (not blur-free). A standard 60Hz or even a 90Hz panel would have sufficed, making way for some other additional hardware add-ons. On the plus side, the P5’s matte display is better suited for glare-free productivity when working outdoors. The ExpertBook’s trackpad incorporates Asus’ gesture actions (around the edges), which are useful but can get fidgety with ghost touches The Asus ExpertBook P5 offers a 63Wh 3-cell battery. Thanks to the latest Intel silicon, battery life is quite solid, and I easily managed 9-10 hours of office use with the display set to a 144Hz refresh rate and the brightness set to 70 percent (because 50 percent wasn’t bright enough). Asus provides a 65W Type-C power supply in the box, and it manages to deliver a 70 percent charge in an hour. Asus ExpertBook P5 (P5405) Verdict Of course, being a business laptop means the average consumer will not be able to purchase the ExpertBook P5 online or even in-store. Interested businesses or business owners will need to connect with Asus directly. The Asus ExpertBook P5 offers excellent value given its target audience. It goes above and beyond to deliver some practical AI features for business users and offers more than enough power for the self-employed crowd at the right price. It’s not as snazzy as its consumer counterpart, the Asus Zenbook S14 (Review) (priced from Rs. 1,42,990), but offers a sleek design that still looks and feels premium. The 144Hz display surely is overkill for a business laptop. An OLED display with a standard refresh rate would have been more useful. But pretty much everything else sure seems up for the job. Source link #Asus #ExpertBook #P5405 #Review #Sleek Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Ben Whishaw, as Paddington Once More, Is Here to Make You Feel Better Ben Whishaw, as Paddington Once More, Is Here to Make You Feel Better Paddington was not part of my childhood. I was a Muppet kid, and Fozzie was my comfort bear of choice. Instead, Paddington came to me as an adult. In 2015, an exceedingly polite, marmalade-slurping fellow in a floppy felt hat and blue duffel coat arrived in theaters and offered an uplifting story about tolerance and pluck. Three years later, the euphorically reviewed “Paddington 2” delivered a reassuring — calming — message about the ugly chaos of modern life: Keep believing in goodness. It’s still out there. So when I recently had the opportunity to talk to Paddington himself, I couldn’t help but turn the interview into a therapy session. It wasn’t actually Paddington, of course. I was on a video call with the British actor Ben Whishaw. He voices Paddington in the PG-rated franchise, the third installment in which, “Paddington in Peru,” arrives in theaters in the United States and Canada on Friday. Our chat was supposed to be about an imaginary world where optimistic bears carry umbrellas and tuck sandwiches under their hats. On the day we spoke, however, my mind was consumed by the real world — the Los Angeles fires, the turmoil of a changing presidential administration, my mother needing heart surgery. Paddington! Say it’s all going to be OK! “I understand,” Whishaw said gently, sounding identical to Paddington in every syllable. “You feel like nothing is stable anymore.” My eyes started to well up. “But here is the truth,” he continued. “Treating people well, looking at the world kindly, that still exists.” In the first movie, Paddington turns up in London as an ******** immigrant from “darkest Peru” and encounters prejudice. A maniacal taxidermist played by Nicole Kidman wants to stuff him. “Let one bear in and soon the street will be full of them,” she sneers. Paddington carries on, helped by the kindhearted Brown family. In the second film, Paddington faces a new challenge: Can he hold on to his decency when sent into a wider world? After encountering a series of obstacles, including wrongful imprisonment, we learn that (spoiler alert) he can. This is one resilient bear, even in the face of a villainous Hugh Grant, who plays a narcissistic, has-been actor. “Paddington in Peru” has the same emotional arc. This time, however, the fish-out-of-water theme is reversed. Paddington is back on home turf, and the Browns — traveling with him — are caught in an unfamiliar world. “Paddington in Peru” also obscures the villain until late in the action. Is it Olivia Colman’s joyful nun? She seems to have a sinister secret. Or is it Antonio Banderas’s brooding steamboat captain? The third movie, which cost StudioCanal an estimated $90 million to make, has already taken in $104 million overseas. (It was released in the United Kingdom in November.) By the end of its global run, “Paddington in Peru” should have ticket sales exceeding $200 million, according to box office analysts. (“Paddington 2” collected $290 million.) In other words, the franchise is relatively healthy. No obvious reason to expect the Paddington films to go away anytime soon. But should fans (meaning: me) worry that Paddington could lose his voice? Already, one important member of the original cast, Sally Hawkins, has decamped. After playing the sensitive Mrs. Brown in the first two films, Hawkins decided not to return for “Paddington in Peru.” “We did everything we could to try and persuade her, but she felt she’d already brought everything she could to it,” Rosie Alison, who produced the trilogy, told me. Hawkins was replaced by Emily Mortimer, whose credits include “Mary Poppins Returns.” (It takes some getting used to.) Paul King, who directed the first two movies, also departed and was replaced by Dougal Wilson, a first-time filmmaker. Whishaw, 44, could be next. Franchises do not seem especially important to him, although he also played the tech genius Q in three James Bond blockbusters. Based on his résumé, he clearly likes new challenges, especially in gritty TV dramas (“****** Doves,” “This is Going to Hurt”) and art films (“Women Talking,” the coming “Peter Hujar’s Day”). “I don’t know if there will be any more Paddingtons,” he said. “I’m always of the opinion that it’s best to leave people wanting more. I don’t think it should go on and on.” This was almost more reality than I could take. I gave Whishaw a hard stare. “We’ll see,” he offered, returning to therapist mode. The Paddington films are a hybrid of animation and live action, a style that can be tricky to pull off, especially tonally. Whishaw’s soft, soothing, somewhat otherworldly voice is the secret ingredient. But he was not the first choice for the role. Colin Firth, an Oscar winner for “The King’s Speech,” left the first Paddington film after production had already started because his voice (deep, booming) turned out to be an awkward fit. “I have to work quite hard at it,” Whishaw said. “He should be funny. But he also needs to be tender. He can’t be too knowing, not ever. If it becomes too much wink wink then he just dies as a character. Sometimes he must be a little melancholy, other times quizzical. He always has to be very optimistic.” “You do every single line 100 times or something,” Whishaw added, noting that each recording session lasts four hours. “Four hours of growling. It sounds easy, but it’s quite difficult.” While recording, Whishaw wears a helmet fitted with a camera that captures his facial expressions; Pablo Grillo, an animation *****, uses the imagery to create Paddington. Alison, the producer, said she hoped Paddington could help soothe the nerves of those who need it. “He’s a very composed Englishman who takes everything in his stride, and nothing really fazes him,” she said. “Somehow, everything turns out all right for him, and he sees the best of all possibilities in the world. There’s a lovely light touch about him — that inner child is very much still there. He’s courteous and respectful. He has manners.” Wait a second: Was she talking about Paddington or Whishaw? “One and the same,” she said. Source link #Ben #Whishaw #Paddington #Feel Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Adapting the Twists and Turns of ‘Conclave’ Adapting the Twists and Turns of ‘Conclave’ Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | How to Listen The screenwriter Peter Straughan has become adept at taking well known — and beloved — books and adapting them for the big and small screens. He was first nominated for an Oscar for his screenplay of the 2011 film “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy,” based on the classic John le Carré spy novel, and then adapted Hilary Mantel’s “Wolf Hall” trilogy into an award-winning season of television, with an adaptation of the third novel coming out soon. Now he has been nominated for a second Oscar: for his screenplay for “Conclave,” based on Robert Harris’s political thriller set in the secret world of a papal election. “It’s almost like mosaic work,” Straughan tells Gilbert Cruz, the editor of The New York Times Book Review, about adapting books. “You have all these pieces; sometimes they’re going to be laid out in a very similar order to the book, sometimes a completely different order. Sometimes you’re going to deconstruct and rebuild completely.” In the third episode of our special series devoted to Oscar-nominated films adapted from books, Cruz talks with Straughan about his process of translating a book to the screen, and about the moments in ‘‘Conclave” that he found most exciting to adapt. We would love to hear your thoughts about this episode, and about the Book Review’s podcast in general. You can send them to *****@*****.tld. Source link #Adapting #Twists #Turns #Conclave Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

What’s Best, According to the Italian Mathematician Alessio Figalli What’s Best, According to the Italian Mathematician Alessio Figalli The words “optimal” and “optimize” derive from the Latin “optimus,” or “best,” as in “make the best of things.” Alessio Figalli, a mathematician at the university ETH Zurich, studies optimal transport: the most efficient allocation of starting points to end points. The scope of investigation is wide, including clouds, crystals, bubbles and chatbots. Dr. Figalli, who was awarded the Fields Medal in 2018, likes math that is motivated by concrete problems found in nature. He also likes the discipline’s “sense of eternity,” he said in a recent interview. “It is something that will be here forever.” (Nothing is forever, he conceded, but math will be around for “long enough.”) “I like the fact that if you prove a theorem, you prove it,” he said. “There’s no ambiguity, it’s true or false. In a hundred years, you can rely on it, no matter what.” The study of optimal transport was introduced almost 250 years ago by Gaspard Monge, a French mathematician and politician who was motivated by problems in military engineering. His ideas found broader application solving logistical problems during the Napoleonic Era — for instance, identifying the most efficient way to build fortifications, in order to minimize the costs of transporting materials across Europe. In 1975, the Russian mathematician Leonid Kantorovich shared the Nobel in economic science for refining a rigorous mathematical theory for the optimum allocation of resources. “He had an example with bakeries and coffee shops,” Dr. Figalli said. The optimization goal in this case was to ensure that on a daily basis every bakery delivered all its croissants, and every coffee shop got all the croissants desired. “It’s called a global wellness optimization problem in the sense that there is no competition between bakeries, no competition between coffee shops,” he said. “It’s not like optimizing the utility of one player. It is optimizing the global utility of the population. And that’s why it’s so complex: because if one bakery or one coffee shop does something different, this will influence everyone else.” The following conversation with Dr. Figalli — conducted at an event in New York City organized by the Simons Laufer Mathematical Sciences Institute and in interviews before and after — has been condensed and edited for clarity. How would you finish the sentence “Math is … ”? What is math? For me, math is a creative process and a language to describe nature. The reason that math is the way it is is because humans realized that it was the right way to model the earth and what they were observing. What is fascinating is that it works so well. Is nature always seeking to optimize? Nature is naturally an optimizer. It has a minimal-energy principle — nature by itself. Then of course it gets more complex when other variables enter into the equation. It depends on what you are studying. When I was applying optimal transport to meteorology, I was trying to understand the movement of clouds. It was a simplified model where some physical variables that may influence the movement of clouds were neglected. For example, you might ignore friction or wind. The movement of water particles in clouds follows an optimal transport path. And here you are transporting billions of points, billions of water particles, to billions of points, so it’s a much ******* problem than 10 bakeries to 50 coffee shops. The numbers grow enormously. That’s why you need mathematics to study it. What about optimal transport captured your interest? I was most excited by the applications, and by the fact that the mathematics was very beautiful and came from very concrete problems. There is a constant exchange between what mathematics can do and what people require in the real world. As mathematicians, we can fantasize. We like to increase dimensions — we work in infinite dimensional space, which people always think is a little bit crazy. But it’s what allows us now to use cellphones and Google and all the modern technology we have. Everything would not exist had mathematicians not been crazy enough to go out of the standard boundaries of the mind, where we only live in three dimensions. Reality is much more than that. In society, the risk is always that people just see math as being important when they see the connection to applications. But it’s important beyond that — the thinking, the developments of a new theory that came through mathematics over time that led to big changes in society. Everything is math. And often the math came first. It’s not that you wake up with an applied question and you find the answer. Usually the answer was already there, but it was there because people had the time and the freedom to think big. The other way around it can work, but in a more limited fashion, problem by problem. Big changes usually happen because of free thinking. Optimization has its limits. Creativity can’t really be optimized. Yes, creativity is the opposite. Suppose you’re doing very good research in an area; your optimization scheme would have you stay there. But it’s better to take risks. Failure and frustration are key. Big breakthroughs, big changes, always come because at some moment you are taking yourself out of your comfort zone, and this will never be an optimization process. Optimizing everything results in missing opportunities sometimes. I think it’s important to really value and be careful with what you optimize. What are you working on these days? One challenge is using optimal transport in machine learning. From a theoretical viewpoint, machine learning is just an optimization problem where you have a system, and you want to optimize some parameters, or features, so that the machine will do a certain number of tasks. To classify images, optimal transport measures how similar two images are by comparing features like colors or textures and putting these features into alignment — transporting them — between the two images. This technique helps improve accuracy, making models more robust to changes or distortions. These are very high-dimensional phenomena. You are trying to understand objects that have many features, many parameters, and every feature corresponds to one dimension. So if you have 50 features, you are in 50-dimensional space. The higher the dimension where the object lives, the more complex the optimal transport problem is — it requires too much time, too much data to solve the problem, and you will never be able to do it. This is called the curse of dimensionality. Recently people have been trying to look at ways to avoid the curse of dimensionality. One idea is to develop a new type of optimal transport. What’s the gist of it? By collapsing some features, I reduce my optimal transport to a lower-dimensional space. Let’s say three dimensions is too large for me and I want to make it a one-dimensional problem. I take some points in my three-dimensional space and I project them onto a line. I solve the optimal transport on the line, I compute what I should do, and I repeat this for many, many lines. Then, using these results in dimension one, I try to reconstruct the original 3-D space by a sort of gluing together. It is not an obvious process. It kind of sounds like the shadow of an object — a two-dimensional, square-ish shadow provides some information about the three-dimensional cube that casts the shadow. It is like shadows. Another example is X-rays, which are 2-D images of your 3-D body. But if you do X-rays in enough directions you can essentially piece together the images and reconstruct your body. Conquering the curse of dimensionality would help with A.I.’s shortcomings and limitations? If we use some optimal transport techniques, perhaps this could make some of these optimization problems in machine learning more robust, more stable, more reliable, less biased, safer. That’s the meta principle. And, in the interplay of pure and applied math, here the practical, real-world need is motivating new mathematics? Exactly. The engineering of machine learning is very far ahead. But we don’t know why it works. There are few theorems; comparing what it can achieve to what we can prove, there is a huge gap. It is impressive, but mathematically it is still very difficult to explain why. So we cannot trust it enough. We want to make it better in many directions, and we want mathematics to help. Source link #Whats #Italian #Mathematician #Alessio #Figalli Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Astro Bot wins Game of the Year at the DICE Awards Astro Bot wins Game of the Year at the DICE Awards Astro Bot developer Team Asobi has another Game of the Year award for its shelves, this time from the 28th annual DICE Awards. Hosted by the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, the DICE Award nominees and finalists are decided by the Academy’s 30,000-strong membership of industry professionals. As well as Game of the Year, Astro Bot took home a further four awards, for Outstanding Achievement in Game Design, Family Game of the Year, Outstanding Technical Achievement and Outstanding Achievement in Animation. Other games doing well at the DICE Awards included Helldivers 2 (which won four awards including Online Game of the Year), Balataro (which won three including Best Mobile Game) and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle (which also won three, including Outstanding Achievement in Story). The full list of winners is below: 28th Annual DICE Awards – List of Winners Outstanding Achievement in Animation Astro Bot Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction ****** Myth: Wukong Outstanding Achievement in Character Indiana Jones and the Great Circle – Dr. Henry “Indiana” Jones Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition Helldivers 2 Outstanding Achievement in Audio Design Helldivers 2 Outstanding Achievement in Story Indiana Jones and the Great Circle Outstanding Technical Achievement Astro Bot Action Game of the Year Helldivers 2 Adventure Game of the Year Indiana Jones and the Great Circle Family Game of the Year Astro Bot Fighting Game of the Year TEKKEN 8 Racing Game of the Year F1 24 Role-Playing Game of the Year Metaphor: Refantazio Sports Game of the Year MLB The Show 24 Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year Balatro Online Game of the Year Helldivers 2 Immersive Reality Technical Achievement Starship Home Immersive Reality Game of the Year Batman: Arkham Shadow Outstanding Achievement for an Independent Game Balatro Mobile Game of the Year Balatro Outstanding Achievement in Game Design Astro Bot Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction Animal Well Game of the Year Astro Bot Source link #Astro #Bot #wins #Game #Year #DICE #Awards Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Android 16 Beta 2 Rolls Out to Beta Testers With New Camera Features, Privacy Improvements Android 16 Beta 2 Rolls Out to Beta Testers With New Camera Features, Privacy Improvements Android 16 Beta 2 began rolling out to developers and testers on Thursday. The latest testing version of Google’s smartphone operating system arrives with features designed to improve the camera performance of handsets running on Android, including a hybrid auto-exposure mode and UltraHDR HEIC photos. New privacy improvements have also been introduced on the second Android 16 beta The company is expected to release the stable version of Android 16 to eligible Google Pixel smartphones in the second quarter of 2025. Android 16 Beta 2 Arrives With Improved Colour Adjustments, Hybrid Auto-Exposure After updating to Android 16 Beta 2, developers will have access to a new hybrid auto-exposure mode that enables access to auto-exposure adjustments, while allowing adjustments to both exposure time and ISO. These changes are part of the Camera2 API, and should improve the experience of pro users with Android smartphones. With Android 16, professional video recording applications will also be able to perform “precise adjustments of white balance based on the correlated colour temperature” using COLOR_CORRECTION_MODE_CCT on Android 16. Until now, white balance settings were controlled via CONTROL_AWB_MODE, which offered a few presets such as Incandescent, Cloudy, and Twilight. UltraHDR support is expanding to HEIC images Photo Credit: Google Google says it has added two new intent actions have been added to Android 16, and these will enable applications to request the capture of a motion photo. Smartphones running on Android 16 will introduce support for UltraHDR images encoded in the High Efficiency Image Format (HEIC) file format, and Google says it is working on doing the same for AV1 Image File Format (AVIF) images. Privacy and Health Features on Android 16 Android 16 will include new protections against intent redirection attacks, which can enable a maliciously crafted app to gain access to private files or components. Developers will no longer be allowed to opt out of edge-to-edge display mode, which means that their apps will need to extend their content to the edges of the screen, for a more immersive look. Google also says apps designed for Android 16 will need to request granular permissions to read data from Health Connect, which is the default data repository on a user’s smartphone, instead of the BODY_SENSORS permissions. Android 16 also adds a key sharing API that enables sharing access to keys in the Android Keystore, with other applications on the same device. Android 16 is expected to reach platform stability in the coming weeks, and the company’s release timeline indicates that the stable version of the operating system will be launched by Q2 2025, or the end of June. The update is expected to roll out to eligible Pixel smartphones, while other companies could roll out the update to their handsets in subsequent months. Source link #Android #Beta #Rolls #Beta #Testers #Camera #Features #Privacy #Improvements Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Spring Fashion That’s as Light as Air Spring Fashion That’s as Light as Air In Fashion shows the best of the season’s runway collections, as seen in the pages of T Magazine. Models: Aminata Ndoye At Next Management, Jeannie Pfeiffer At Women Management. Hair: Tamara McNaughton. Makeup: Alex Levy. Casting: Bert Martirosyan. Set designer: Alice Jacobs. Production: Shay Johnson Studio. Photo assistants: Shen Williams-Cohen, Arjay Estanislao. Styling assistants: Jasmine Fontaina, Natalya Clarke. Hairstylist’s assistant: Simone Domizi. Set designer’s assistant: Haley Geffen Source link #Spring #Fashion #Light #Air Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Insight: Saudi Arabia spearheads Arab scramble for alternative to Trump's Gaza plan – Reuters Insight: Saudi Arabia spearheads Arab scramble for alternative to Trump's Gaza plan – Reuters Insight: Saudi Arabia spearheads Arab scramble for alternative to Trump’s Gaza plan ReutersTrump’s ************ Plan Has Triggered a New, United and Angry Arab Front HaaretzEurope working with Arab states on alternative to Trump’s Gaza plan Financial TimesHow much longer will Arab leaders let Trump and Netanyahu run amok? Middle East Eye Source link #Insight #Saudi #Arabia #spearheads #Arab #scramble #alternative #Trump039s #Gaza #plan #Reuters Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Modi-Trump talks: Five key takeaways Modi-Trump talks: Five key takeaways Soutik Biswas and Nikhil Inamdar BBC News, Delhi Getty Images Modi and Trump have a strong personal rapport – but analysts say challenges lie ahead Despite the hype, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first visit to Washington under Donald Trump’s second term was a sober, business-first affair – unsurprising for a working visit, which lacks the pomp of a state visit. Trump announced expanded US military sales to India from 2025, including F-35 jets, along with increased oil and gas exports to narrow the trade deficit. Both sides agreed to negotiate a trade deal and finalise a new defence framework. He also confirmed the US had approved the extradition of Tahawwur Rana, a Chicago businessman accused of playing a role in the 2008 terror attack in Mumbai. “That’s a lot of deliverables for an administration less than a month old,” Michael Kugelman of the Wilson Center’s South Asia Institute in Washington told the BBC “Overall, both sides seem comfortable continuing Biden-era collaborations, particularly in tech and defence, though many will be rebranded under Trump.” Still, major challenges lie ahead. Here are the key takeaways: Did India dodge the reciprocal tax bullet? Modi’s visit came as Trump ordered that US trading partners should face reciprocal tariffs – ****-for-tat import taxes to match similar duties already charged by those countries on American exports. He ordered advisers to draft broad new tariffs on US trade partners, warning they could take effect by 1 April. India enjoys a trade surplus with the US, its top trading partner. India cut average tariffs from 13% to 11% in its federal budget in a bid to pre-empt Trump’s tariff moves. The jury is out on whether India appears to have dodged tariff shocks for now. Ajay Srivastava, founder of the Delhi-based think tank Global Trade Research Institute (GTRI), says he doesn’t see any “problems with tariffs”. The main reason, he says, is that 75% of the US exports to India attract import taxes of less than 5%. “Trump points to extreme outlier tariffs like 150% on select items, but that’s not the norm. India has little reason to fear reciprocal tariffs,” Mr Srivastava told the BBC. Abhijit Das, former head of the Centre for WTO Studies at the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, isn’t convinced. “The ****** lies in the details. Reciprocal tariffs won’t just mirror India’s import taxes -other factors will come into play,” he told the BBC. Trump’s approach could go beyond import duties, factoring in value added tax (VAT), non-tariff barriers and trade restrictions. While India’s goods and services tax (GST) on imported goods aligns with WTO rules, Trump may still use it to justify higher tariffs. A US government memo on reciprocal tariffs hints at this strategy, citing costs to American businesses from non-tariff barriers, subsidies and burdensome regulations abroad. It also cites VAT and government procurement restrictions as non-tariff barriers. AFP Indian and US soldiers rappel from a chopper during a joint exercise in Rajasthan – Trump says he wants India to buy more US weaponry Mr Das says the US is expected to push for access to India’s government procurement market, which is currently protected under WTO rules. “This will hamper India’s ability to prioritise domestic producers, posing a direct challenge to the ‘Make in India’ initiative. This is certainly not good news for us.” Mr Das suggests that India should counter Trump’s reciprocal tariff logic, particularly in agriculture where the US imposes strict non-tariff barriers that restrict Indian exports such as stiff maximum residue limits on chemicals. He argues that since the US “heavily subsidises” its farm sector, India should highlight these subsidies to push back against American claims. Tariffs alone may not help bridge the trade deficit between the two countries. Defence and energy purchases will go some way in addressing the deficit, experts say. Doubling US-India trade to $500bn by 2030 The new $500bn (£400bn) trade goal aims to more than double the $190bn trade between the two countries in 2023. Modi and Trump committed to negotiating the first phase of a trade agreement by autumn 2025. Talks will focus on market access, tariff reductions and supply chain integration across goods and services. “The announcement that the two sides will pursue a trade deal gives India an opportunity to negotiate for reduced tariffs on both sides. That would be a boon not only for the US-India relationship, but also for an Indian economy that’s sputtered in recent months,” says Mr Kugelman. What is not clear is what kind of trade deal the both sides will be aiming at. “What is this trade agreement? Is it a full blown free trade agreement or is it a reciprocal tariff deal?” wonders Mr Srivastava. Mr Das believes we’ll have to wait for details on the trade agreement. “It doesn’t necessarily mean a free trade deal – if that were the case, it would have been stated explicitly. It could simply involve tariff reductions on select products of mutual interest.” Priyanka Kishore, principal economist at the Singapore-based consultancy firm, Asia Decoded, says $500bn is a “tall target but there are low hanging fruit we can immediately exploit”. “For instance the US sanctions on Russian shadow fleet are soon going to kick in, so India can easily pivot to the US for more oil. This will not be too difficult.” Trump said at the joint press conference that the US would hopefully become India’s number one supplier of oil and gas. Multi-billion dollar US defence deals, including fighter jets India’s defence trade with the US has surged from near zero to $20 billion, making the US its third-largest arms supplier. While Russia remains India’s top source, its share has dropped from 62% to 34% (2017-2023) as India shifts toward US procurement. In a major announcement to deepen defence ties, Trump said the US would increase military equipment sales to India “by many billions of dollars starting this year” ultimately paving the way to providing the F-35 stealth warplanes. But this will be easier said than done, say experts. “This sounds good, but it may be a case of putting the cart before the horse,” says Mr Kugelman. Despite rising US arms sales to India, bureaucratic hurdles and export controls limit the transfer of sensitive technologies, he says. The new defence framework announced at the summit may help address these challenges. Also India isn’t “taking the F-35 offer seriously” due to high maintenance demands, says strategic affairs expert Ajai Shukla. Shukla notes that US arms deals come with challenges – private firms prioritise profit over long-term partnerships. Yet with delays and cost overruns affecting some of India’s arms deals with Russia, Delhi’s defence ties with the US look set to deepen. Reuters Modi met Elon Musk to discuss AI and emerging tech Modi meets Musk even as Tesla’s India plans still in limbo Modi met Tesla CEO Elon Musk to discuss AI and emerging tech, India’s foreign ministry said. It’s unclear if they addressed Musk’s stalled plans for Starlink’s India launch or Tesla’s market entry. Musk has pushed for direct spectrum allocation, clashing with Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani, who favours auctions. His licence remains under review. India is also courting Tesla to set up a car factory, cutting EV import taxes for automakers committing $500m and local production within three years. Tesla has yet to confirm its plans. Reuters Modi joined Trump at a press conference, answering two questions Taking questions – a rare departure for Modi In a rare move, Modi joined Trump at a press conference, answering two questions – on ******** immigration and the US Department of Justice (DOJ) bribery charges against the Adani Group. Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, accused of close ties with Modi, was charged with fraud in the US last November over an alleged $250m bribery scheme. Modi said he hadn’t discussed the issue with Trump. On immigration, he stated India was ready to take back verified ******** Indian migrants. This was only Modi’s third direct press Q&A in his almost 11-year tenure as India’s prime minister. He has never held a solo press conference. In 2019 he sat beside then party president Amit Shah as Shah answered all the questions and in 2023, he took just two questions alongside former President Joe Biden. Source link #ModiTrump #talks #key #takeaways Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]