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Waynesboro man, already on state registry, facing multiple child porn charges Waynesboro man, already on state registry, facing multiple child porn charges WAYNESBORO – Authorities arrested a convicted sex offender last week after receiving a cyber tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children concerning alleged child porn, Waynesboro police said Wednesday. Robert O. Lafferty Jr., 37, of Waynesboro, is facing 11 charges of possession of child ************, second or subsequent offense, court records show. In 2006, Lafferty was convicted on multiple charges in Augusta County and listed on the state’s sex offender registry. On Friday, Jan. 31, detectives from the Waynesboro Police Department executed a search warrant at Lafferty’s residence in the 1800 block of Monticello Street. Results of the search led to his latest arrest, police said. He is being held without bond at Middle River Regional Jail in Verona. When Lafferty was 18, a tip from a family member in 2006 resulted in his arrest, according to a News Leader article from that same year. Weeks after turning 19, he was convicted in Augusta County Circuit Court on 13 charges of possessing ********* explicit material, six charges of distributing ********* explicit material, and one charge of possessing child porn, court records show. Lafferty has been on the Virginia State Police Registry for sex offenders since 2007, online records show. More: Augusta County meth dealer used ride-sharing app, frequently switched motels while selling More: Shenandoah LGBTQ responds in wake of Donald Trump’s executive orders targeting transgender community Brad Zinn is the cops, courts and breaking news reporter at The News Leader. Have a news tip? Or something that needs investigating? You can email reporter Brad Zinn (he/him) at *****@*****.tld. You can also follow him on X (formerly Twitter) This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: Waynesboro man facing multiple child porn charges Source link #Waynesboro #man #state #registry #facing #multiple #child #porn #charges Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Exclusive: Ukraine sees marked improvement in accuracy of Russia's North Korean missiles – Reuters Exclusive: Ukraine sees marked improvement in accuracy of Russia's North Korean missiles – Reuters Exclusive: Ukraine sees marked improvement in accuracy of Russia’s North Korean missiles ReutersUkraine war latest: North Korean missiles used by Russia getting more accurate The IndependentRussia’s North Korean Missiles Are Getting Better Newsweek’Russian media lies’ — Ben Stiller denies claims about USAID funding his Ukraine trip, reposted by Musk Kyiv IndependentNorth Korea Improves Missile Accuracy Thanks to Russia’s War in Ukraine MSN Source link #Exclusive #Ukraine #sees #marked #improvement #accuracy #Russia039s #North #Korean #missiles #Reuters Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

The bodies of two people have been discovered inside a Gold Coast unit The bodies of two people have been discovered inside a Gold Coast unit The bodies of two people have been found dead inside a unit at a Gold Coast apartment complex in a possible *******-suicide. Source link #bodies #people #discovered #Gold #Coast #unit Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

US Air Force builds $80M F-35A for just $6M by merging parts from two crashed jets US Air Force builds $80M F-35A for just $6M by merging parts from two crashed jets In a notable achievement, Airmen from the 388th Fighter Wing have successfully restored an F-35A Lightning II aircraft, merging the remnants of two damaged jets into a single operational unit. This marks the first instance of maintainers creating an airworthy F-35A by combining components from separate aircraft. The restoration project stemmed from the need to salvage an aircraft damaged in a nose gear collapse in 2020 at Hill Air Force Base, while the other had suffered an engine fire at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida in 2014. The endeavor has been locally dubbed the “Franken-bird” due to its unique origins. Merging two wrecked F-35As This interagency initiative involved collaboration among key entities, including the F-35 Joint Program Office, the Ogden Air Logistics Complex, the 388th Fighter Wing, and Lockheed Martin. Throughout the restoration process, teams at Hill developed specialized tools, stands, and equipment to aid in merging various aircraft sections, with much of the initial work accomplished at the Ogden Air Logistics Complex. The aircraft was returned to the 388th Fighter Wing in November 2023. Scott Taylor, Lockheed Martin’s lead mechanical engineer for the project, noted that the methods and resources implemented during this phase could be valuable for aircraft repairs in combat settings. For the past year, the restored aircraft has been housed within the 4th Fighter Generation Squadron, where maintainers have been focused on completing its restoration. Senior Airman Jaguar Arnold, serving as the crew chief for the aircraft, acknowledged the extensive challenges faced during the rebuilding process. “When we received the aircraft, it was essentially just a shell,” Arnold stated, highlighting the wide range of tasks they were required to tackle, many of which were new to their unit. The restoration involved critical tasks such as re-installing landing gear with attention to the aircraft’s center of gravity and procuring and implementing various components, including “belly bands” and flight controls. The Airmen collaborated closely with engineers and technicians from Lockheed Martin to rewire the systems, rebuild the cockpit, overhaul avionics, and install components typically uncommon in routine maintenance environments. Additionally, the team was responsible for fabricating and applying coatings to restore the aircraft’s low-observable features. One combat-ready jet 1st Lt. Ryan Bare, Sortie Generation Flight commander for the 4th FGS, noted the team’s dedication. “We put in long hours, often working nights and weekends,” Bare remarked. Balancing the demands of this ambitious restoration with the regular maintenance needs of an active fighter squadron posed logistical challenges for squadron leadership. However, the team successfully navigated these obstacles, reaping rewards from the experience gained. Bare added, “Taking on this project at the field level was unprecedented and came with its difficulties, but it also made for an invaluable opportunity for our maintainers to enhance their skills.” The lessons learned from this unique project are expected to influence updates to the Joint Technical Data used by F-35 maintainers, promising improved safety for aircraft, maintainers, and pilots. Financially, the Air Force stands to benefit significantly from this endeavor. The project’s estimated cost was nearly $6 million, starkly contrasting to the expense of a new F-35A, which exceeds $80 million. Upon successful functional check flight, the aircraft will undergo final certification at Lockheed Martin’s Fort Worth, Texas. Afterward, it is set to return to Hill Air Force Base, where it will rejoin the 4th Fighter Squadron fleet. Source link #Air #Force #builds #80M #F35A #merging #parts #crashed #jets Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Katz instructs IDF to prepare plan allowing Gazans to leave voluntarily – The Jerusalem Post Katz instructs IDF to prepare plan allowing Gazans to leave voluntarily – The Jerusalem Post Katz instructs IDF to prepare plan allowing Gazans to leave voluntarily The Jerusalem PostMiddle East crisis live: Israel’s defence minister says countries which opposed military operations in Gaza should take Palestinians The GuardianIsraeli defense minister orders IDF to plan for Gazans to leave in line with Trump’s controversial proposal Fox NewsLive briefing: Israel orders military to prepare for ‘voluntary departure’ of Gaza residents The Washington PostIsrael orders army to prepare for ‘voluntary departure’ of Gazans after Trump unveils plan Reuters Source link #Katz #instructs #IDF #prepare #plan #allowing #Gazans #leave #voluntarily #Jerusalem #Post Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Increasing Space Debris Risks Aircraft Collisions, Experts Warn Increasing Space Debris Risks Aircraft Collisions, Experts Warn Uncontrolled space debris entering the Earth’s atmosphere has become a rising concern, with potential risks to aircraft. The probability of an impact remains low, but the consequences could be severe. Recent incidents have highlighted the issue, prompting authorities to take precautionary measures. During a recent spaceflight, debris from SpaceX’s Starship 7 fell into the Atlantic Ocean, leading to temporary airspace restrictions near the Turks and Caicos Islands. Aircraft were delayed, and some were diverted due to low fuel while awaiting clearance. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) mandated an investigation into the mishap, citing safety concerns associated with falling debris. Study Highlights Rising Collision Risk According to a study published in Scientific Reports, an increasing number of reentries combined with rising air traffic have escalated the risk. The study, conducted by researchers from the University of British Columbia, examined the probability of space debris affecting busy airspaces. Ewan Wright, a researcher involved in the study, told Inside Outer Space that an uncontrolled reentry has a 26 percent chance of occurring in heavily trafficked regions such as the Northeastern United States or Northern Europe annually. Authorities have previously closed airspace in response to reentry events, but such measures cause economic strain and operational disruptions. Impact on Airspace and Economic Consequences As reported by space.com, the researchers, including Aaron Boley and Michael Byers, stated that the likelihood of collision increases in areas with high air traffic density. The decision to shut down airspace for safety reasons has repercussions, as delays and diversions result in financial losses. In 2022, European authorities implemented temporary airspace closures, demonstrating the trade-off between aviation safety and economic efficiency. Future Challenges in Managing Reentries Authorities face a dilemma in balancing safety and operational efficiency. The study suggests that controlled reentries over oceans could mitigate risks, but thousands of rocket bodies remain in orbit, set to reenter unpredictably over the coming decades. Airspace management will require continued adaptation to address the ongoing challenges posed by space debris. Source link #Increasing #Space #Debris #Risks #Aircraft #Collisions #Experts #Warn Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Brooklyn’s Outlandish Hosts ****** History Month Hike Brooklyn’s Outlandish Hosts ****** History Month Hike On the surface, hiking can seem as if it has a low barrier to entry. How hard is it to get up and go outside? Dig deeper and you will find that you need proper footwear and plenty of water. Depending on the weather, moisture-wicking apparel and warm socks will come in handy. Transportation to remote areas can be complicated, and having a guide, or at least a member of your group with knowledge of the terrain, can’t hurt. And more gear will probably be needed the more hours hikers spend outside. The barriers can be even higher for ****** people and other people of color, given the lack of access to the outdoors for certain communities. There’s also a pervasive stereotype that ****** people do not enjoy activities like hiking, which discourages some people from trying it in the first place. At Outlandish, a hiking-gear store in Brooklyn founded by Benje Williams and Ken Bernard, the staff works to end such stereotypes by educating ****** people and other marginalized groups on hiking and other outdoor activities. Last weekend, in celebration of ****** History Month, the shop hosted a guided hike so participants could have a chance to reconnect with nature at a time of upheaval. “That’s the hope for this hike, especially after a couple of rough weeks, just going out and breathing and remembering that things might be falling apart but there’s still a lot of beauty as well,” Mr. Williams said, referring to crackdowns on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives by President Trump. “I think now more than ever we want to celebrate ****** history, celebrate one another, and really I think community is going to have to really be the nucleus of this next presidency,” Mr. Bernard added. Nearly 40 participants, most of whom were ******, set off around 10 a.m. to Harriman State Park, where they hiked a 5.3-mile loop along the mossy terrain past Lake Nawahunta, eventually climbing Stockbridge Mountain to take in panoramic views of the forest. They explored Indigenous routes made by the Lenape tribe along the way. Avalou Ross, a licensed hiking and camping guide in New York who has been hiking for about 10 years via her organization, Tristate Hikers, was the main guide for the event. She has led about 20 of Outlandish’s hiking adventures, which the store calls Hikeish, and said that one of the things she stresses to participants is to “not just to connect with nature, but to connect with each other.” “Every day that we decide to step out as a ****** person into these spaces is a part of ****** history,” Ms. Ross said. “And I considered myself a part of ****** history because I’ve helped so many ****** women face their fears of getting outdoors, especially in the winter.” Ms. Ross also spoke to the fear that some ****** people have expressed toward activities such as hiking and backpacking, claiming that they do not feel it is a space for them. “Because they don’t see it,” she said. “They’re not exposed to it.” For Similejesu Sonubi, Sunday’s hike, which took nearly four hours, was only her second, after going on one about three years ago in Cold Spring, N.Y. Outlandish, she said, was the first hiking community she had heard of that centered ****** people. “It’s always nice to see when different types of ******-owned businesses are started and supported by the community,” Ms. Sonubi said. There are a number of hiking and outdoor clubs around the country and internationally that have emerged in recent years with a goal of centering ****** people and other marginalized groups. Among them: Trials, Trails and Triumphs in New Jersey, the Hood Hikers in the Bronx, Rando Fragile in France, ****** Men Hike and ****** Girls Trekkin’ in Los Angeles and ****** People Outside in Chicago. For Outlandish, the store and the hikes started with a friendship that began in 2021. Mr. Williams, 40, and Mr. Bernard, 32, who are ******, met while Mr. Bernard was working at R.E.I., a recreational equipment retailer. Mr. Williams was preparing to go on his first backpacking expedition in the Sierra Nevada and needed gear. He was elated to see a ****** person, Mr. Bernard, working at R.E.I. After that initial connection, the two kept in touch and talked about their love of the outdoors. Eventually, Mr. Williams began moonlighting at R.E.I. and, in 2022, he shared his goal of opening a hiking store. Soon the pair began plotting what would become Outlandish. Since opening the store in January 2023, Outlandish has positioned itself as a go-to destination for hiking gear. The store tries to spotlight gear from companies owned by people of color. It also tries to provide a variety of products that are not only fashionable but might not be accessible in mainstream outdoor-equipment stores. The store sells major brands like Patagonia as well as smaller labels, including Urban Native Era, ToughCutie, Leimert Mountaineering and Allmansright. “We know that when they made these pieces, there are stories behind them that aren’t being told, especially in a big-box retail space,” Mr. Bernard said. “So it’s been really cool to help these brands evolve in a way and get rooted in a community that a lot of them don’t exist in.” The founders began their outdoor outings just a few weeks after opening the store. They then secured a partnership with the outdoor brand Salomon to launch Hikeish, which has led to around 40 outings so far. “We felt like people of color and ****** people especially have belonged outside since the beginning. Like, my grandparents grew up in Arkansas and they were farmers and sharecroppers and then they left and they never went back,” said Mr. Williams, who is originally from Auburn, Calif. “With the Great Migration, there is this fragmentation that’s happening with our relationship in nature, and we are trying to return to that,” he added. Source link #Brooklyns #Outlandish #Hosts #****** #History #Month #Hike Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Flooding puts focus on failing major highway Flooding puts focus on failing major highway Flooding has again exposed the vulnerability of one of Australia’s major highways, prompting promises of a valuable upgrade. North Queensland has been lashed by days of downpours, triggering floodwaters that cut the Bruce Highway and completely isolated some communities. Ingham near Townsville was one of the worst hit, with the critical Ollera Creek Bridge collapsing amid the deluge. A temporary replacement was put in place on Thursday. The isolation meant helicopters were required to drop essential supplies to the town. There had been ongoing problems with the Bruce Highway, with Premier David Crisafulli labelling it a “goat track” before winning the 2024 state election. It led to the Commonwealth recently committing $7.2 billion to a $9 billion upgrade of the 1600km highway, built as part of a 80:20 funding arrangement with the state government. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the recent flooding had reinforced the importance of producing a new and improved Bruce Highway. “Forty-two Australians lost their lives on the Bruce Highway last year and that is why when you go up and down this highway, we need to do better,” he said on Thursday. “My government is working constructively with Queensland to make sure we do just that.” An inland freight route has remained open as rain hit the region. “We can run ******* combinations up that route, it takes the pressure off the Bruce (Hwy), it lowers the fuel burn, it is already a much more reliable all-weather route,” Queensland Trucking Association CEO Gary Mahon told AAP. Mr Mahon claimed drivers were more inclined to take the inland route, which runs west of Brisbane through Roma then up to Charters Towers, saying it was more safe despite being 120km longer. “More members are taking the option of going up the inland freight route … they’re not interacting with cars anywhere near as much, there’s actually better provision of rest areas,” he said. Truck drivers are also venturing between 400km to 800km further in their trips due to detours and road closures from the rainfall, with price increases roughly $35 a pallet, Mr Mahon said. He said while northern residents were used to dealing with flooding, conditions on the Bruce Highway had to improve so entire towns were not cut off each year by weather. “We also need reliability and sustainability to be injected into that road so that we’ve got a much more sustainable all-weather route,” he said. Meanwhile, the state government on Thursday announced that shops, warehouses and transport depots in 11 north Queensland local government areas will temporarily operate 24/7 after an emergency planning declaration due to the floods. Source link #Flooding #puts #focus #failing #major #highway Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

A Grocery What?!? Karoline Leavitt’s Briefing Blunder Leaves Everyone Confused A Grocery What?!? Karoline Leavitt’s Briefing Blunder Leaves Everyone Confused Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what’s in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience.Generate Key Takeaways White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt caused two words to go viral on social media following a verbal flub during Wednesday’s press briefing. Fox Business’ Edward Lawrence asked Leavitt: “So now that the President Trump’s policies are starting to take shape, how long will it take to cycle through and get some of the actual prices that Americans are paying to come down?” Leavitt ― whose boss, President Donald Trump, is certainly no stranger to verbal goofs and who promised during his campaign to reduce prices on his first day back in office ― sought clarification on the question. But she misspoke and said: “Prices at the store and at the grocery pump?” Lawrence confirmed he meant “all of the above” and Leavitt listed some of the administration’s actions that she claimed will reduce prices, but couldn’t give a timeframe for when it would happen. Watch here: On social media, the words “grocery pump” took on a life of their own. Related… Source link #Grocery #Karoline #Leavitts #Briefing #Blunder #Leaves #Confused Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Intel data center CPU sales hit the lowest point in 13 years Intel data center CPU sales hit the lowest point in 13 years Sales of Intel’s data center CPUs in 2024 hit their lowest level in more than a decade due to increased competition from AMD, the transition to higher-core count models amid a drop in the number of CPUs, and a market shift to AI servers that use up to eight GPUs and just two CPUs. As analysts from SemiAnalysis observed, unit sales of Intel’s data center CPUs in 2024 dropped by 20% from 2011 levels and over 80% from 2021. “DCAI revenue increased by $182 million from 2023, primarily driven by an increase in server revenue,” Intel’s recently published Form 10-K reads. “Server ASPs increased by 12% from 2023, primarily due to a higher mix of high-core-count products. Server volume decreased by 10% from 2023 due to lower demand in a competitive environment and a higher mix of high-core-count products.” There are multiple possible reasons why Intel’s server-grade CPU sales have hit their lowest level in 13 years in 2024. Intel’s server CPU chip volume hit the lowest in last 14 years for the second straight year in 2024. It’s <50% of the previous peak of 2020. With Intel admitting the competitive gap even with Granite Rapids and Clearwater Forest pushout, the product chief has once again dropped… pic.twitter.com/0QpWzJFVtgFebruary 3, 2025 Intel’s data center CPU sales began to ascend sharply in the mid-2010s due to the rise of cloud data centers. Back then, Intel did not have any real competitors, so the number of cores did not increase quickly, which stimulated cloud service providers to buy more CPUs to meet the performance demands of their customers. Then, Intel processor sales increased in 2018 due to Meltdown and Spectre mitigations that reduced the performance of already installed CPUs and prompted CSPs to buy more servers with Intel CPUs in 2018. Competition from AMD became stronger in 2019, which is why sales of Intel CPUs for data centers slightly dropped that year. Then came COVID-19, and demand for cloud computing increased again in 2020 and 2021, further driving sales of Intel server CPUs. However, in 2022, demand for general-purpose servers slowed down while AMD unveiled its 4th Generation EPYC processors with up to 96 cores, far exceeding the number of cores in Intel’s top-of-the-range Xeon CPUs. As a result, the blue team’s unit shipments dropped in 2022 and then collapsed in 2023. Get Tom’s Hardware’s best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox. In 2024, Intel finally released its Xeon 6 processors with up to 128 high-performance cores or 144 energy-efficient cores, so unit sales of Intel server CPUs declined slightly once again as customers switched to high-core-count models. The good news is that Intel’s data center average selling prices have increased, but it isn’t yet clear if the company can regain share in a market that has now shifted focus, and spend, to AI accelerators. Source link #Intel #data #center #CPU #sales #hit #lowest #point #years Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Trump signs executive order banning transgender athletes from women's sports, directing DOJ to enforce – ABC News Trump signs executive order banning transgender athletes from women's sports, directing DOJ to enforce – ABC News Trump signs executive order banning transgender athletes from women’s sports, directing DOJ to enforce ABC NewsTrump bans trans athletes in women’s sports ESPNTrump executive order on protecting women’s sports draws response from NCAA Fox NewsColumn | Ban on trans athletes seeks to demonize, not protect The Washington PostPresident Trump Signs No Men in Women’s Sports Executive Order C-SPAN Source link #Trump #signs #executive #order #banning #transgender #athletes #women039s #sports #directing #DOJ #enforce #ABC #News Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Hollywood movie star Scott Eastwood shares selfie with a quokka on Rottnest Island Hollywood movie star Scott Eastwood shares selfie with a quokka on Rottnest Island A member of a Hollywood dynasty has shared a selfie with one of Australia’s cutest animals on Rottnest Island. Source link #Hollywood #movie #star #Scott #Eastwood #shares #selfie #quokka #Rottnest #Island Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Drone Operator Finds Puppy Lost in Deep Snow Drone Operator Finds Puppy Lost in Deep Snow A drone operator saved a lost puppy in upstate New York recently, when he was able to spot a heat signature in a field covered in deep snow. Chad D Tavernia, who specializes in finding lost pets with his thermal drone in North Country Drone Search & Recovery, told Storyful that the pup, Aurora, escaped an electric fence perimeter and was lost somewhere in the deep snow for over 24 hours before being found. Tavernia said he got a call from Aurora’s owner, Paul, and drove to Burke to start his search on January 11. 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. After 90 minutes of searching with no sign of Aurora, Tavernia expanded the search zone and detected a lone heat signature in a snow-covered field across a frozen river, he said. “I GPS-marked her location and made a game plan for her owner to make an on-foot recovery,” Tavernia said. Footage here shows the search and the eventual reunion of Aurora and her owner. Credit: North Country Drone Search & Recovery via Storyful Video Transcript Sir, sir. You think you got I think I do. Let me know what you think. See that dot right there? Yeah, she’s out in the field. See that red dot? Yeah, is that the trail, the ATV trail? No, she’s, I’ll show you here. I’m pretty sure this is her. Oh yeah, that looks like that’s her, OK, so she is, looks like she’s cold. She’s, uh, let me drop a pin on her. We drop a pin on her. OK, so she is. Go up Pikeville Road, you know, go up Pikeville. She’s on the left in a field. So you go down, you go up Pikeville. She’s gonna be on the left hand, you know, going up Pikeville. She’s on the left-hand side of the road, um. But that’s right, but she is good, if you want to get your, uh, get your cell phone. Oh yeah. Yeah Come on Come on, you want it? Come on, here she come. Come on, you want it. It was Grandma. Come on Laurie. Come on baby. Come on, you wanna. Yeah, I get it. Yeah Good Paul, I, I might have to come back for batteries, but just keep doing what you’re doing and don’t move, OK? She will come to you. She will, she will go to you. Just, just stick with it, OK. Come on, buddy. Come on. Come here. Come here, come here. Yeah Yeah Have you Aurora Come here you little fool. Yeah. Yeah. Come in. What are you doing? What are you doing? I mean. Come here, come here, here. Come on. It was. Yeah Yeah. Hang on. Yeah, don’t, Paul, don’t approach her. Paul, do not approach a dog. You have to let her go to you, OK? Just, just kneel down. I have to come back for battery. Just, OK, you got her, you got her, buddy. Awesome. Source link #Drone #Operator #Finds #Puppy #Lost #Deep #Snow Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

What to Know About Canada’s Role in the Fentanyl Crisis What to Know About Canada’s Role in the Fentanyl Crisis Canada’s last-minute reprieve from crushing U.S. tariffs came after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau unveiled a series of measures aimed at controlling the trafficking of fentanyl, a key reason President Trump has cited for wanting to impose levies. Fentanyl has flooded North America’s drug supply over the last decade, killing tens of thousands in Canada and the United States, and generating enormous profits for criminal organizations using basic chemistry skills, improvised equipment and home laboratories to produce millions of doses. Mr. Trump has repeatedly talked about fentanyl as a major public health threat to Americans and holds Mexico and Canada responsible for allowing the drug to enter the United States. But last year, less than 1 percent of the fentanyl arriving in the United States came from Canada. In fact, fentanyl is just as big a public health threat in Canada, where on some days more Canadians than Americans die of opioid overdoses, officials say. The number of organized crime groups making fentanyl in Canada keeps growing, and ********* officials have uncovered links between ******** drug cartels and some domestic crime groups involved in the drug’s production. In the last six years, ********* police have dismantled 47 fentanyl labs, including the largest ever last year in British Columbia, government officials said. That lab had enough material to produce 96 million opioid doses. How ********* fentanyl enters the United States Last year, about 19 kilograms of fentanyl was intercepted at the Canada-U. S. border, compared with almost 9,600 kilograms at the border with Mexico, where cartels mass-produce the drug, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. “There is limited to no evidence or data from law enforcement agencies in the U.S. or Canada to support the claim that ********* produced fentanyl is an increasing threat to the U.S.,” said Marie-Eve Breton, a spokeswoman for the Royal ********* Mounted Police. Mr. Trump has said fentanyl seized at the northern border could kill 9.5 million Americans, but health experts have stayed away from defining a lethal dose of any opioid because it can depend on many conditions, including a drug user’s tolerance level or the way fentanyl is administered. ********* fentanyl that arrives in the United States tends to be sold on the dark web and shipped through the mail, Ms. Breton said. In one case last year, a 43-year-old man from Toronto was charged with about a dozen narcotics trafficking offenses, accused of sending packages of drugs containing small amounts of fentanyl to New Jersey, according to the U.S. attorney’s office there. Federal prosecutors called him a “prolific vendor of fentanyl on the Dark Net.” One gram of powder fentanyl can fetch up to 240 ********* dollars on the street, or about $170, and pills can go for up to 40 ********* dollars each, or $28, according to ********* police. The issue of drug shipments in mailed packages focuses primarily on China. A trade rule known as de minimis allows companies to ship packages from China worth less than $800 without paying duties, taxes and fees. Their contents do not have to be listed and are subject to fewer inspections. Last April, a report by the House Select Committee on the ******** ********** Party called for reforming the trade rule to address America’s vulnerability to drug trafficking through the mail. Mr. Trump signed an executive order on Saturday that removed the trade exemptions on those types of packages from China and Hong Kong. Canada’s main drug export into the United States is M.D.M.A., or ecstasy, according to a White House report in 2022 laying out the northern border counternarcotics strategy. A ‘fentanyl czar’ will shepherd Canada’s response. In response to Mr. Trump’s tariff threats, Canada said it would appoint a new “fentanyl czar” to oversee the country’s efforts at the border. The role will involve overseeing coordination between the border agency, law enforcement, prosecutors, the health agency that regulates drug imports and global affairs departments, said David McGuinty, the federal public safety minister, during a tour of a border crossing in Manitoba on Tuesday. “We’re going to be really wrestling this fentanyl scourge to the ground,” Mr. McGuinty said. The government has already deployed 60 additional U.S.-made drones to the border, two ****** Hawk helicopters and extra canine teams, and plans to station 10,000 “frontline personnel” at the border. Efforts to expand staffing levels at the border will come under a 1.3 billion ********* dollar, or $900 million, spending plan. The Canada Border Services Agency has a staff of 8,500 frontline officers across its 1,200 ports of entry, including airports and ports. Other efforts to curtail the fentanyl crisis include supporting new intelligence gathering, backed by a 200 million ********* dollar investment, and listing drug cartels as terrorist organizations in Canada, giving the government more power to “track the money, follow the assets and disrupt the activities of cartels,” Mr. McGuinty said. ********* crime groups are making more fentanyl. About 100 organized crime groups are involved in fentanyl production, more than four times as many as in 2022, according to reports by Canada’s financial intelligence agency. Most chemicals used to synthesize fentanyl, known as precursors, are legal to import because they have valid industrial uses but are subject to higher scrutiny by Canada’s health agency, which regulates controlled substances, and the police. Precursors are mostly shipped from China to Pacific Coast ports in British Columbia. While Mexico is not a major source of fentanyl or precursors in Canada, the police in British Columbia said the large-scale fentanyl lab that they took down showed connections to ******** cartels. That lab used a drug production method favored by ******** cartels to make a particularly potent synthetic drug. Fentanyl is killing Canadians at an alarming rate. Opioids have killed about 49,000 Canadians since 2016, with most deaths occurring in British Columbia, where most areas of the province have a rate of more than 50 deaths per 100,000 people, comparable to the rates in some U.S. states. “At some points of time in Canada, based on per capita population, there are more Canadians dying from fentanyl than there are Americans dying from fentanyl, a point that we made very clear to the White House,” said Mr. McGuinty, the public safety minister. The epidemic in both countries has been driven by the emergence of fentanyl, which is highly profitable, easy to produce and extremely potent. Vancouver, ground zero of Canada’s opioid crisis, has pioneered methods to address the public health harms caused by drug addiction, including decriminalization, but they have recently provoked political backlash as the crisis has deepened. Source link #Canadas #Role #Fentanyl #Crisis Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Wizardry Variants Daphne celebrates 1M downloads – that’s a million dungeon-exploring adventurers just raring to go Wizardry Variants Daphne celebrates 1M downloads – that’s a million dungeon-exploring adventurers just raring to go Plenty of giveaways to celebrate a million downloads Limited-time quests throughout the month New Handbooks added Drecom has plenty of reasons to celebrate as the studio surpasses a million downloads for Wizardry Variants Daphne, hot off the heels of the recent launch of the new Ninja class. This means that starting today, you can expect to score some bountiful goodies including a Class Change Guidance Certificate, and on top of that, a total of 2,000 Gems of Org will also be available. There’s the Adventurer’s Remains and a limited-time quest to take on across this 3D dungeon RPG as well. Log in every day and grab supplies from the Guild Tavern until February 19th, or try your hand at the Assassins in the Dark of Night Missions for 10,000 gold among other rewards. By the way, the aforementioned Class Change Guidance Certificate can be used to redeem Adventurer’s Handbooks at the Jeweler’s Exchange Archive of Guidance until February 26th, with handbooks now including Fighter’s Handbook (Gerard), Knight’s Handbook (Gerard), Fighter’s Handbook (Abenius), and Priest’s Handbook (Abenius). And finally, from February 13th to the 26th, you can accept dispatch requests to Dens by completing each respective Den within the event duration. To help you with that, though, why not take a look at our Wizardry Variants Daphne tier list first? In the meantime, if you’re eager to join in on all the fun, you can do so by downloading it from the App Store and on Google Play. It’s free-to-play with in-app purchases, so it’s worth having a go to see what the fuss – a whopping one million of them – is all about. You can also join the community of followers on the official Twitter page to stay updated on all the latest developments, visit the official website, or take a little peek at the embedded clip above to get a feel of the vibes and visuals. Source link #Wizardry #Variants #Daphne #celebrates #downloads #million #dungeonexploring #adventurers #raring Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Why It Is So Difficult to Stop the Flow of Fentanyl Into the U.S. Why It Is So Difficult to Stop the Flow of Fentanyl Into the U.S. When President Trump threatened to impose steep tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China, he blamed these three countries for enabling the flow of fentanyl into the United States and fueling what officials have called a national emergency. President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico swiftly pushed back on Mr. Trump’s suggestions that her government colluded with drug traffickers, calling it “slander.” And she also put the blame on the United States, arguing that the fentanyl crisis stemmed from immense domestic demand for drugs, including fentanyl, and the ******** ***** of U.S. guns to cartels. Ms. Sheinbaum announced Monday that she had reached an agreement with Mr. Trump, who agreed to pause the tariffs as she promised to send 10,000 members of the National Guard to the U.S.-Mexico border to stop the trafficking of fentanyl. But thwarting the transport of the deadly synthetic opioid into the United States poses significant challenges for both the United States and Mexico given the cartels’ immense resources, the ease with which fentanyl is produced and moved and the insatiable demand for narcotics among U.S. consumers, analysts and experts say. Given these factors, it may be extremely difficult for Mexico to demonstrate that it is meeting Mr. Trump’s terms — particularly within the 30-day window he allotted to delay the imposition of tariffs. Fighting the cartels is hard, and often futile. For over a decade, most of Mexico’s efforts to tackle organized crime focused on targeting powerful leaders to weaken their grip on large swaths of territory. But the strategy backfired. Engaging in direct confrontations and going after senior cartel members led to these groups splintering into smaller, disorganized and violent cells that caused even more bloodshed. While those actions were symbolic and put pressure on the criminal groups, analysts say, the strategy never focused on or intended to thwart the cartels’ production capabilities. Instead, its goal was to stem the violence disrupting communities. Mexico’s previous president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, came to office in 2018 promising a new approach: avoiding direct confrontation with the cartels in favor of addressing the root causes of criminality like corruption and poverty. But his strategy, which he branded with the slogan “hugs, not bullets,” did little to tame the extraordinary levels of violence or diminish the ever-expanding power of cartels that traffic drugs across the U.S. border. When Ms. Sheinbaum took office in October, she said she would continue Mr. López Obrador’s focus on the social causes of the violence, while also working to lower rates of impunity and build up the national guard. In her first few months, she has taken a tougher line on organized crime, ramping up operations that have led to large seizures of fentanyl and a slew of arrests. But analysts still question whether this can truly have a big effect. One of the most prolific producers of fentanyl in Mexico is the Sinaloa Cartel, which traffics most of the fentanyl entering the United States. Given its vast financial, logistical and operational resources, the group has been able dominate production “with an impressive ease,” said Alberto Capella, a security analyst and former police chief of the ******** states of Quintana Roo and Morelos. Mr. Capella added that even if ******** authorities could seize every shipment of fentanyl before reaching the border, the root of the problem would not disappear. “The problem is not the existence of ******** cartels; it is the existence of a mass consumption and markets,” said Mr. Capella. “If the mass market of consumers prevails, it will immediately lead to the emergence of suppliers to satisfy this mass consumption, whether it is fentanyl or any other drug,” Mr. Capella added. Chemicals coming from China are hard to regulate. Given its robust chemical industry, China is the major supplier of the raw compounds, known as precursors, needed to produce synthetic drugs, including fentanyl and methamphetamines. As the fentanyl crisis continued to take lives in the United States in recent years, the Biden administration sought more counter narcotics cooperation with President Xi Jinping of China to tackle the issue. Last year, China announced new regulations and tightened controls on the precursor chemicals, including increased government oversight on several chemicals used to make fentanyl. Fentanyl deaths in the United States did drop in the last year. Yet Mr. Trump still issued a 10 percent tariff on all ******** products on Tuesday, the result of an executive order issued over the weekend aimed at pressuring Beijing to further crack down on fentanyl and precursor shipments. But even more regulations may not bring significant results. Some of the chemicals used to manufacture fentanyl are very common and are used in the production of plastics, perfumes, pharmaceuticals and more, making broad restrictions difficult. Criminal groups are also now coming up with new methods and risky ways to maintain fentanyl production and potency, and to circumvent regulations. Sinaloa Cartel members are, for instance, experimenting on animals and people to come up with potent concoctions, including mixing their formulas with substances like animal tranquilizers to keep people hooked. The group is also luring chemistry students and professors to synthesize the chemical compounds, with the goal of sidestepping the need to import those raw materials from China. Fentanyl is easy to transport, hard to intercept. In the past five years, the amount of fentanyl crossing the border has increased tenfold, with Mexico being the source of almost all of the synthetic opioid seized by U.S. law enforcement in recent years. Fentanyl is a potent and fast-acting drug that is highly addictive. It is 100 times more potent than morphine, which means a small quantity goes a long way: Two milligrams can kill you. Because the synthetic opioid is so potent, it is shipped in small, compact packages that are easy to transport and hide, making them less detectable and harder to intercept. As opposed to other drugs like ********, ********** and methamphetamine, which are regularly trafficked in tons, fentanyl is moved in kilos. It takes only a small amount to make hundreds of thousands of laced pills. Even in small quantities, it is extremely profitable, meaning couriers can smuggle small amounts and make a considerable profit by hiding it in their vehicles, under their clothes or in backpacks. Of the people smuggling synthetic opioids into the United States, most are not undocumented migrants traversing the desert, swimming across the Rio Grande or moving through secret tunnels, as Mr. Trump has suggested. The largest known group of fentanyl smugglers are Americans coming through legal ports of entry. More than 80 percent of the people sentenced for fentanyl trafficking at the southern border are U.S. citizens, federal data shows. The New York Times has found that cartels are recruiting thousands of Americans and turning them into fentanyl mules who can easily cross back and forth into the United States and carry the drug mostly in their private cars. Almost all the fentanyl found at the southern border arrives in cars and just 8 percent of private vehicles that cross are scanned for drugs, according to Customs and Border Protection. Fentanyl is easy to make; it can be cooked in small kitchens. Whereas methamphetamine needs large laboratories and specialized equipment to produce, fentanyl can be made in small kitchens and makeshift labs using rudimentary cooking utensils. New York Times reporters gained access last year to a fentanyl lab in the state of Sinaloa, where there is a turf war underway between rival factions of the Sinaloa cartel. They witnessed firsthand how the deadly opioid was made in a small kitchen using an immersion blender and cooking pans. In one single batch, the cooks were making 10 kilos, an amount that can reap a profit of up to $6.4 million dollars, according to U.S. prosecutors. Cooks and operatives affiliated with the cartel have revealed in interviews that since the conflict erupted in September, Ms. Sheinbaum has deployed hundreds of soldiers to Culiacán, the capital of Sinaloa, to combat violence and fentanyl production. This escalation has led to increased arrests and the dismantling of laboratories, forcing them to frequently relocate out of fear of detention. Still, fentanyl is so incredibly profitable that it is just too good to pass on, cooks and senior members of the Sinaloa Cartel have said, making it highly unlikely that they will stop producing what they consider a miracle product. As one cook said: “This is what makes us rich.” Source link #Difficult #Stop #Flow #Fentanyl #U.S Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Artificial news: How to create an AI anchor – video Artificial news: How to create an AI anchor – video Channel 1 is a new rolling news channel with a difference – its stories are scripted, edited and presented by AI. Available in more than 30 languages and able to transmit bespoke news stories faster than ever, its threat to the mainstream media is clear. But can we trust it? And would anybody actually watch a channel that lacks the human touch? The Guardian visited the channel’s creators in Los Angeles to find out more – and to audition for a role Continue reading… Source link #Artificial #news #create #anchor #video Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

‘Parthenope’ Review: Goddess Worship – The New York Times ‘Parthenope’ Review: Goddess Worship – The New York Times “Beauty is like war — it opens doors,” says the middle-aged American writer John Cheever (Gary Oldman) to Parthenope (Celeste Dalla Porta), a statuesque brunette from Naples whom he meets at a resort. It’s southern Italy, 1973, and Cheever (Oldman in a small but memorably melancholic part) strikes up a friendship with her early on in the film. “Parthenope,” a characteristically decadent drama by the director Paolo Sorrentino, is about all the doors opened by Parthenope’s beauty. At first — when she’s seen primarily in a bikini, lounging by crystalline ocean waters — this means capturing the hearts of male suitors, like her namesake siren from Greek mythology. Cheever, who in real life spent years traveling around Italy, is one of the few men in the film who is immune to her charms — maybe it’s the booze, or his repressed yearning for men. Or maybe its because a woman like her should be admired from a distance as one does a religious icon or marble statue. If this way of idealizing women sounds painfully retrograde, know that Sorrentino isn’t interested in realism — or political correctness, for that matter. His work (including the Oscar winner “The Great Beauty” and the HBO series “The Young Pope”) is less about people than it is about big ideas: art, desire, religion, and, yes, beauty; the way they shape our lives with an almost mystical power. Now add to this an enduring fixation with Sorrentino’s native Italy, its past and present, and its contradictions. The country is home to some of the world’s great triumphs — think ancient Rome and the Sistine Chapel — but the director also depicts it as a hotbed of spiritual rot personified by its corrupt leaders. At one point in the film, Parthenope enjoys a dalliance with a monstrous bishop (Peppe Lanzetta), representing a union of the sacred and the profane. “Parthenope,” like Sorrentino’s previous films, is an intentionally garish display of sex and luxury that is both irritating and oddly seductive. From the opening scene, in which baby Parthenope is gifted a carriage from Versailles, there’s an otherworldly feel that runs through the film, accented by gliding pans, voyeuristic close-ups and touches of the surreal. Beginning in 1950, Parthenope’s birth year, the film quickly skips ahead to 1968 — and later the ’70s — showing her maturation through a series of symbolic interactions with other people. There’s her romance with a local boy (Dario Aita) and her vaguely incestuous relationship with her older brother (Daniele Rienzo). For a spell, she considers becoming an actress, though gloomy encounters with two older divas (Isabella Ferrari and Luisa Ranieri) dissuade her. Parthenope also has a beautiful mind. At university she earns top marks in the anthropology department and wins over a grumpy professor (Silvio Orlando) who eventually becomes her mentor and guides her to a tenure track position. This is Sorrentino’s first movie in which the main character is a woman, and because he’s more interested in deifying Parthenope than he is in humanizing her, the portrait is inherently limited — and frequently dull. The opulence on display, coupled with the film’s languid visual style, can feel anesthetizing. At least the hypnotizing Dalla Porta brings a strength and sadness to the role that underscores the film’s most compelling argument: Beauty may inspire awe and worship, but it also alienates. Can you ever be loved if you can never truly be known? Parthenope Rated R for nudity, suicide and ******* activities. Running time: 2 hours 16 minutes. In theaters. Source link #Parthenope #Review #Goddess #Worship #York #Times Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Scientists Simulated Bennu Crashing to Earth in September 2182. It's Not Pretty. – ScienceAlert Scientists Simulated Bennu Crashing to Earth in September 2182. It's Not Pretty. – ScienceAlert Scientists Simulated Bennu Crashing to Earth in September 2182. It’s Not Pretty. ScienceAlertNear-Earth asteroid Bennu could hit Earth in 157 years and set off a global ‘impact winter,’ study says CNNAsteroid impact simulation reveals climate and ecological disruptions Phys.orgNASA’s Asteroid Bennu Could Cause A Global Catastrophe, Scientists Say ForbesHere’s what could happen if asteroid Bennu smashes into Earth in 157 years Livescience.com Source link #Scientists #Simulated #Bennu #Crashing #Earth #September #It039s #Pretty #ScienceAlert Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Caspar David Friedrich: A Solitary Wanderer Finding His Way in the Fog Caspar David Friedrich: A Solitary Wanderer Finding His Way in the Fog We always overhype our vacations. After a long morning’s climb the weather is clearing up, and we are peering into the distance, into the fog gathered beneath this craggy outcropping — high above Germany, or what is not yet Germany, where only little tufts of grass push from the bare rock. It was not an easy hike, but we had a purpose. This is what we keep telling ourselves, as we dust our Hessian boots or charge our D.S.L.R. cameras: Hike to the summit, behold the awesome view, and the sight of beauty will change our life. Yet now, looking out through the thin mountain air … well, of course it’s spectacular. Still, when we look out at the mountains — at the picture of the mountains; we have trouble distinguishing, sometimes — the sensation that washes over us is not exultation but melancholy. This famous view we waited our whole life to see is missing details, seems washed of its particulars. Between us and eternity, between human understanding and the essence of the universe, lies a stubborn, obscuring bed of white cloud. “Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog,” the wistful rear view that Caspar David Friedrich painted circa 1817, has the pesky distinction of epitomizing not just a single artist but also a whole epoch: the era of ******* Romanticism, when Enlightenment ideals of reason and skepticism unleashed a counterrevolution of passion and sentiment. The solitary Wanderer, in his head-to-toe crushed green velvet, has become a metaphor for Germany itself, and the object of countless paste-ups and parodies. (Angela Merkel, recognizable from the back in her trademark pantsuit, was grafted into this landscape more than once.) Yet the Wanderer has never hiked as far as America, not until now, when from this weekend he will have his back turned to the visitors of “Caspar David Friedrich: The Soul of Nature.” Already, on a huge poster adorning of the Metropolitan Museum of Art facade, our crestfallen hero has cast his gaze away from Fifth Avenue. “The Soul of Nature” is much more than a showcase of one Romantic icon, and it has some surprises for audiences who associate Friedrich, and early-19th-century art more generally, with calm and tranquillity. Organized with three ******* museums, the exhibit includes 88 paintings and drawings, of rocks gleaming in the moonlight, solitary crucifixes in evergreen forests, and lonely Germans gazing out onto the sea. That’s a lot more than any American museum has ever assembled (only two Friedrich shows have ever taken place here before; one of his biggest fans, Adolf Hitler, cast a long shadow on the artist’s 20th-century reception), but also barely half as many in a related show last year commemorating Friedrich’s 250th birthday. When I saw that show in Hamburg, Germany, I found myself dumbfounded by the sensitivity of Friedrich’s drawings, how he lavished attention on the hatching of stones and the ribbing of leaves, turning one lifeless boulder into a reflection of the soul. That part-to-whole magic is a little harder to find at the Met, but the core of Friedrich’s achievement is still present in this show: the spontaneous, occasionally visionary gaze on the natural world, and the unrivaled ability to imbue one view with an entire philosophy of the world. Its curators, Alison Hokanson and Joanna Sheers Seidenstein, stick up very hard for the virtues of landscape — a genre that, after falling out of favor in the 20th century, is rising again in importance alongside global average temperatures. Most critically, as we keep failing to forge a culture serious about a changing climate, the curators here show us how tumultuous Friedrich’s glades and grasses really are. War. Nationalism. Religion. Industrialization. The world outside is changing, and the inner world too: racked by anxiety, cursed with nostalgia. It’s that double instability, that inner and outer climatology, that has turned Friedrich and the Romantics into my chosen guides through the Anthropocene. Friedrich was born in 1774 in the Baltic port of Greifswald: part of Germany today, but then a holding of the Swedish crown. When he was 20, he left to study art in Denmark. The academy in Copenhagen trained students to draw the human body, first after plaster casts of classical sculpture, then from nude life studies. A youthful self-portrait here, with searching eyes and pursed lips, confirms that the lessons stuck. But Friedrich didn’t like his Danish education, and he dropped out halfway to move to Dresden, a city with two big appeals. The Saxon art collections, then as now, are among the richest in the world. More important, this corner of Germany had become a hotbed for a new movement of poets, philosophers and painters. His career started slowly, and not until he was 30, with a series of large, lonely views in the new medium of sepia, did he really figure out how landscape could become a medium of feeling. You’ll find the sepias in the second gallery of the Met show, and their impetuous sparsity still takes me aback. The sun sets over the Baltic, illuminating the rocks on the inhospitable shore. A shepherd walks along the coastline beneath an empty sky that fills more than three-quarters of the sheet. No one before had distilled the landscape into such moody desolation. They are closely observed, technically flawless: Indeed there’s almost no visible brushwork in Friedrich, quite unlike the active composition of his English contemporaries Turner and Constable. But the angles are unorthodox, the vistas never very Arcadian. The few human beings, dwarfed by the rocks and the sea, are nearly left for dead. What Friedrich was doing, with these sepia landscapes and in later pictures of forests, dolmens and icebergs, was rejecting the scientific or academic pretensions of art, and putting individual feeling first. That achievement may be hard to see for modern audiences, who have only ever really known art as an expression of the self. But this individuation was a sea change in the history of Western culture, one that the great ******* sociologist Georg Simmel saw as the hallmark of the Romantic era. In the 18th century, and in France above all, “there had been the thorough liberation of the individual from the rusty chains of guild, birthright and church. Now,” Simmel wrote of Friedrich’s Germany, “the individual that had thus become independent also wished to distinguish himself from other individuals.” Which is to say: For these upstarts, the model of the citizen that emerged from the Enlightenment and the French Revolution had come to seem too abstract and mechanical. The selfhood that Friedrich and his friends defended was going to have to be more spiritual, more ethical, more natural. Theirs was an inner freedom, a freedom that wasn’t naturally endowed but had to be made, by each of them, through moral and aesthetic education. That freedom ripples through Friedrich’s art, and it’s what thrills me most in this show: the restless but ardent search for authentic sentiments in nature, even as he knows he will never reach the absolute truth of the world. I see it in the two friends leaning on each other as they contemplate the crescent moon over a half-uprooted oak tree. In the woman with outstretched arms, looking out on the sun as it rises or sets over a fulvous hillside. In the Wanderer, again, up in the air and lost in the fog. These Germans didn’t just want to be free. They wanted to be unique. Where some Enlightenment authors saw literature as a domain to seek the best of all possible worlds, a Romantic like Heinrich von Kleist could write stories and plays where passion overtakes principle and justice does not reign. Where Enlightenment philosophers saw reason as the royal road to truth, a Romantic like Friedrich Schlegel could celebrate the very limits of reason, and put personal experience first. And where a doctrinaire Enlightenment philosopher might scorn all religion as oppressive superstition, a Romantic like Friedrich could — in his immensely powerful “Monk by the Sea” of 1808-10 — dress a universal unknown in a cleric’s robe. This second-most-famous painting of his places a solitary observer in front of near-total emptiness, dwarfed by an infinitude of gray cut through with steely blue. (An infrared reflectogram of the painting reveals that Friedrich originally placed two boats on the horizon, then wiped them out.) Like the later “Wanderer,” “Monk by the Sea” uses the obscuring device of fog to tantalize our imagination and draw us into the picture’s mysteries. But the scale of man to nature is far more imposing here, the alienation more complete, and its barren grandeur points forward to — I don’t think it’s too presumptuous to say — the desolate beauty of Mark Rothko. There is not much of a seashore to see in “Monk by the Sea,” just as the mountainscape the Wanderer beholds lacks the epic scale of, say, the Americans of the Hudson River School. (In an 1810 review of “Monk by the Sea,” an unimpressed young woman in the gallery moans to her governess, “That’s where goods from the colonies arrive.”) But that’s the whole point here; you don’t need to go all the way to the Matterhorn or the Grand Canyon to discover the infinite, because the infinite is inside you. As observed by the art historian Joseph Leo Koerner (a contributor to this show’s catalog), what’s sublime in Friedrich are not the mountains or trees — some of which, if we’re being honest, can tend into Bob Ross monotony in places. What’s sublime in Friedrich are the subjective effects of these natural things on painter and viewer, or what a landscape does to an observer in history and time. The Romantics had a word for this: Erlebniskunst, an “art of experience,” in which what you feel has primacy over what you see. Shrouded in fog or illuminated by sunbeams, landscape for Friedrich was always finally a journey into the unknown, the geographic unknown but also the unknown of the heart. “A stranger I arrived; a stranger I depart,” goes the opening of Schubert’s “Winterreise,” and at the end of this beautiful show, in late sepia drawings of caves and cemeteries made after Friedrich abandoned painting and lost his fame, this most ******* of artists depicted the ******* landscape as an almost alien terrain. And I think one of the many reasons the Met’s exhibition feels so timely is just how much of a stranger Friedrich remained in landscape — and how much human longing he located within his rocks and evergreens. Longing for God. Longing for stranger shores. Longing for death, maybe. I have my own longings now, my nostalgia for a nature not yet human authored, as I wander through a climate as distant from Greifswald as from Babylon. But we may yet find peace, a measure of it, if we learn to see in the fog. Caspar David Friedrich: The Soul of Nature Feb. 8 to May 11, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 Fifth Avenue, Manhattan; 212-535-7710, metmuseum.org. Source link #Caspar #David #Friedrich #Solitary #Wanderer #Finding #Fog Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Six Nations 2025: Wales include Taulupe Faletau and Eddie James to face Italy Six Nations 2025: Wales include Taulupe Faletau and Eddie James to face Italy Gatland’s side face an Italian outfit that were beaten 31-19 by Scotland in Edinburgh in the opening round of matches. Wales have not been beaten in Rome since 2007 and their last Six Nations victory was the away trip to Italy two years ago. This has been followed by seven consecutive defeats in the tournament and defeat this week will leave Gatland’s squad contemplating consecutive Wooden Spoons with home matches against Ireland and England and a trip to Scotland to come. Another loss will also probably see Wales drop to a lowest position of 12th in the world rankings. “This has been an important week with a lot of hard work put in during training,” said Gatland. “We want to be accurate and disciplined on Saturday. It’s about our execution and how we manage the game. “We know Italy are a quality side with physical players and are looking forward to a good contest. We’re excited for the challenge on Saturday.” Wales: L Williams; Rogers, Tompkins, James, Adams; B Thomas, T Williams; G Thomas, Lloyd, H Thomas, Rowlands, Jenkins, Botham, Morgan (capt), Faletau. Replacements: Dee, Smith, Assiratti, F Thomas, Wainwright, R Williams, Edwards, Murray. Source link #Nations #Wales #include #Taulupe #Faletau #Eddie #James #face #Italy Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

It Was Too Brutal for The Last of Us Part 2 but Neil Druckmann Confirms HBO Has Greenlight to Put the Deleted Scene In TLOU Season 2 It Was Too Brutal for The Last of Us Part 2 but Neil Druckmann Confirms HBO Has Greenlight to Put the Deleted Scene In TLOU Season 2 The Last of Us TV series has proven itself to be more than just a faithful adaptation of the beloved video game. It has captured the essence and emotional depth that made the game such a sensation. With Season 2 so close to the release, excitement among fans is reaching a fever pitch. Fans are excited to see the Season 2 in April. | Image Credit: Naughty Dog Recently, Neil Druckmann, co-creator of the series, confirmed that HBO’s adaptation will incorporate a deleted scene from The Last of Us Part II. This revelation has sparked a wave of excitement and speculation within the fan community. The Last of Us TV series continues to stay true to the source material Part II presented players with a darker and more intense narrative. | Image Credit: Naughty Dog The reveal that deleted content will make its way into the show has sent waves of excitement through the gaming community. The emotional journey that Part II of the game took players on was already intense, taking the series to more complex narrative spaces. With the TV series about to delve into a similar story, players are eagerly speculating on what this deleted scene might be. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Druckmann described the scene as brutal, which only heightens the anticipation surrounding its inclusion. Pretty brutal, but I’m very excited for people to see it. The Part II of the game offered a more controversial narrative that challenged players’ perceptions of heroism, revenge, and morality. It’s that emotional depth and daring storytelling that has made the show such a hit. Season 1 earned critical acclaim for its faithful adaptation and incredible performances from Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey. Now, as Season 2 prepares to adapt the events of The Last of Us Part II, the inclusion of this deleted scene is further evidence that the TV series has captured the true spirit of the games. The series is staying true to the source material while still expanding on it in exciting new ways. By including content that didn’t make the final cut in the game, HBO’s The Last of Us is offering players a new, immersive experience, further enhancing the story fans already know and love. Speculations are running wild in the community Fans are speculating what this deleted scene is. | Image Credit: Naughty Dog Fans have been quick to speculate on what this brutal scene might entail. The Last of Us Part II was known for its shocking twists and gut-wrenching moments, and the fact that this scene was deemed too intense for the game only adds to the intrigue. Given the themes of loss, revenge, and violence that surround the game, many are wondering if the deleted scene will go even deeper into the darker aspects of the characters’ journeys or provide additional context to the already emotional narrative. It’s a testament to Druckmann’s dedication to trying to bring this cut content into Season 2. This shows that the series is not just trying to replicate the game’s success but wants to deliver a pure portrayal of its complex characters and their struggles. As expected, fans are excited to see how the adaptation handles the challenging themes of Part II and also to witness the evolution of Ellie, Joel, and the new characters introduced in the second game. In the end, players are excited to go on an emotional rollercoaster in April with Season 2, until then, they are putting on their tin foil hats to speculate what this deleted scene is. Source link #Brutal #Part #Neil #Druckmann #Confirms #HBO #Greenlight #Put #Deleted #Scene #InTLOUSeason2 Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Google Pixel’s Random Stuttering Woes May End Soon as Developer Finds Custom Kernel Fix Google Pixel’s Random Stuttering Woes May End Soon as Developer Finds Custom Kernel Fix Google’s Pixel smartphones have excelled with AI tricks, yet software performance has consistently been a challenge. Stuttering or microstutters have always been a problem with Pixel devices, going back to the Pixel 6 series. However, new and updated hardware (like on the latest Pixel 9 series) somehow manages to make up for what is known to be a kernel-related issue. There’s even a recent thread on Google’s official Issue Tracker, which has been up since April 2024 (along with two other duplicates) that has pointed out the same, with no resolution from Google in sight. Finally, a developer decided to take things into his own hands and has come up with a fix that should hopefully be incorporated in Google’s official software channels for everyone. A developer, Sultan Alsawaf, who offers a custom kernel for some Pixel models, seems to have found a solution to the Pixel’s micro stutters. The developer claims that it is basically a bandwidth management problem. This has to do with the incorrect use of “lock” or “turn-taking rule,” which limits the number of OS queries on a specific path. He claims that Google uses the term “lock” incorrectly, as it is not strict enough in practice (btsdev->lock vs a mutex_lock). This allows an excessive number of operating system items to share the same path at any given time, akin to a traffic jam caused by too many vehicles clogging a street. This, according to the developer, chokes up the operating system, leading to stuttering at random instances. This is a topic we have previously discussed in our Pixel reviews. The developer also claims that he has found a fix that has been implemented in his custom kernel that can be flashed on supported devices. The fix implements the right use of “lock” which actually limits the number of OS items, avoiding overloading and more precise bandwidth calculations to the CPU for processing. Alsawaf has already sent Google his fix for the issue. So, hopefully, Google implements the kernel changes in a future update for all its Pixel smartphones. Those interested in flashing the developer’s custom kernel can also go ahead with the same, but it comes with a clear risk of wiping your data or ending up with a bricked phone. Therefore, it is advisable to simply wait for Google to deliver an official fix. Source link #Google #Pixels #Random #Stuttering #Woes #Developer #Finds #Custom #Kernel #Fix Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

The Choreographer Chris Gattelli Sends Love Letters to His Dance Heroes The Choreographer Chris Gattelli Sends Love Letters to His Dance Heroes If Christopher Gattelli’s choreography looks familiar, that’s probably the point. A veteran of more than 20 Broadway shows and a devotee of movie musicals, he has an encyclopedic dance brain, a catalog of musical theater references he deploys throughout his work onstage and onscreen. Homage is his calling card. And that makes him a very clever satirist. His two current projects — the stage adaptation of the television show “Schmigadoon!,” at the Kennedy Center in Washington through Sunday; and Broadway’s “Death Becomes Her,” at the Lunt-Fontanne Theater — both feature wickedly detailed sendups of “musical theater dance.” For Gattelli, 52, those scare quotes might as well be hugs. Barbed as his dance humor can be, it’s underpinned by his affection for the genre, in spite and because of its excesses and quirks. “It’s easy to get snarky when you’re spoofing something you’re so familiar with,” he said in an interview. “It’s easy to get all the digs in. But I’m truly writing love letters to all of my dance heroes.” The choreography for the stage version (based on that first season), which Gattelli also directs, is even giddier and broader. Now, when the performers sing out “S-C-H-M-I-G-A-D-O-O-N” in the opening number, à la “Oklahoma!,” they also spell the letters with their bodies, à la “Y.M.C.A.” In “Death Becomes Her,” which Gattelli choreographed and directed, the references are slightly less pointed, but the dance jokes are just as sharp. Based on the 1992 film — a dark comedy in which two women drink a potion that promises eternal youth, emphasis on eternal — the musical adds a chorus of body-suited dancers as “Immortals.” They delight in their own sinister sinuosity, like the self-aware dance ensemble of Fosse’s “Pippin.” And Gattelli ensures that the showstopping “Death Becomes Her” number “For the Gaze” lives up to its own double entendre title: There are parades of feathered Ziegfeld Follies showgirls, and enough shoulder shimmies and hip thrusts to power a disco-era variety show. (A dancer in a ****** bob wig even cartwheels in for a cameo as Liza Minnelli, jazz hands flying.) The dancer and actress Ariana DeBose, who appeared in the television version of “Schmigadoon!,” said in a phone interview that she appreciates Gattelli’s multilayered dance humor. “He understands how to build these big, glorious spectacles, and that energy is going to translate to any audience,” she said. But for DeBose, a fellow musical theater enthusiast who started as a dancer on Broadway, “a lot of the magic happened when we were chatting about the great film stars and theater stars who excelled in dance and how we could emulate their particular qualities,” she said. “We were referencing Vera-Ellen in ‘White Christmas,’ Donna McKechnie in ‘A Chorus Line’ — they meant something to us.” On a recent Zoom call between “Schmigadoon!” rehearsals in Washington, Gattelli discussed his approach to dance-based satire. These are edited excerpts from the conversation. When did you start using dance to make people laugh? Some of my earliest choreography jobs were for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS events. That’s the kind of audience that will get 90 percent of the theater jokes you make, even the deep cuts. So we would create these opening numbers that would spoof everything. Hearing my peers, my community, laughing — the bug really bit me then. How do you convey archness — the raised eyebrow — in dance? The dancing body is usually such a vulnerable, earnest thing. Even archness has to come from an earnest place. That happens most naturally when the dancers are addressing the audience directly. It helps in “Death Becomes Her” that we begin with Viola Van *****, Michelle Williams’s character, addressing the audience. When the Immortals come out for that first number and flirt with the audience, it doesn’t feel like a cheap wink — it feels like they’re helping her tell the story. The television version of “Schmigadoon!” created stage-style musical numbers for the screen. Are they funnier now, onstage? What I think is funny is that I’m now doing the opposite of what was happening in most of those Golden Age movies: Those choreographers were usually taking gorgeous stage dances and trying to make them fit on film. The stage is honestly a much more comfortable arena for me — this is the place and the history I know best. And so I felt like I could take the vision even further, like I was directing and choreographing the numbers the way they had always been intended. Especially because I have more bodies to play with, or at least more bodies that people can see all the time, which automatically amps everything up. Specificity seems like a big part of the humor in “Schmigadoon!,” too. Oh, definitely. When I was first choreographing these numbers, I would sit in the room and show the dancers YouTube videos of the old musicals, and then follow up with emails full of links. Like, “Watch what they’re doing at four minutes into ‘June Is Busting Out All Over.’ Look at this moment from ‘Dance at the Gym.’” I really got in there. [laughs] Most audience members can quote a few lines from Broadway songs. But not many can quote Broadway choreography. How do you make sure that kind of dance joke lands? I think the key to that is to add details that, even if the average audience member doesn’t know where they’re from, they’ll go, “Oh, I’ve seen that before.” Like in “With All of Your Heart,” Ariana’s big number from the first season of “Schmigadoon!,” we put in this toe-tapping moment that’s from “Step in Time” in “Mary Poppins,” when Mary is dancing with the chimney sweeps. It’s not exactly famous, but it is iconic. Even if people can’t name that moment, it will be familiar in a way that makes them, I hope, feel like they’re in good hands. And if they can name it, then it’s a great little Easter egg. Musical satire can be nihilistic — like “The Book of *******” — but your work seems fundamentally optimistic. Is it? Well, I like to lead with kindness. I feel like I tend to choose shows that I can do that with, or those shows tend to choose me. Even a show like “Death Becomes Her,” which we call a cautionary tale, the idea is still to lift up, not to push down. I’ve been a part of hits, and I’ve been a part of misses, but the thing I’m always going for is joy. And big belly laughs. Source link #Choreographer #Chris #Gattelli #Sends #Love #Letters #Dance #Heroes Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

City of Albany annual report 2023-24 reveals snapshot of residents, visitors and milestones of the year City of Albany annual report 2023-24 reveals snapshot of residents, visitors and milestones of the year Interesting statistics about the people and goings-on of Albany have been revealed in the city’s annual report, set to be confirmed at Thursday’s electors’ meeting. Source link #City #Albany #annual #report #reveals #snapshot #residents #visitors #milestones #year Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]