Why Canada could become the next nuclear energy ‘superpower’
Why Canada could become the next nuclear energy ‘superpower’
NexGen
NexGen’s operation in Canada’s remote Athabasca Basin
Uranium is making a comeback thanks to a renewed focus on nuclear energy as a climate crisis solution. Canada, rich with high-grade deposits, could become a nuclear “superpower”. But can its potential be realised?
Leigh Curyer had been working in uranium mining for nearly two decades when he noticed a striking shift.
In 2011, the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster in Japan badly damaged the world’s view of nuclear power, and the price for the heavy metal – a critical component for nuclear fuel – cratered.
But the last five years has seen a reversal, with the global price of uranium spiking by more than 200%one of this year’s top-performing commodities.
Mr Curyer, an ***********-born businessman, credits this to a changing attitude that began soon after Microsoft founder Bill Gates touted nuclear energy as “ideal for dealing with climate change” in 2018.
Four years later, then-*** Prime Minister Boris Johnson pushed forward a policy of generating at least 25% of the country’s energy from nuclear.
Shortly after, the ********* Union voted to declare nuclear energy climate-friendly.
These events were “catalytic” for the uranium industry and a turning point for Mr Curyer’s company NexGen, which is behind the largest in-development uranium mine in Canada.
His phone began to ring with calls from investors worldwide – something that “had never happened in my previous 17 years in the industry”, he said.
NexGen
Leigh Curyer is the head of NexGen, whose mine is the largest in development in Canada
NexGen, whose project is located in Canada’s remote, uranium-rich Athabasca Basin in northern Saskatchewan, is now worth nearly $4bn (£2.98bn), despite the fact that the mine won’t be commercially operational until at least 2028.
If fully cleared by regulators, NexGen’s project alone could push Canada to become the world’s largest producer of uranium over the coming decade, knocking Kazakhstan out of the number one spot.
Other companies have also rushed to Saskatchewan to capitalise on the *****, starting their own exploration projects in the region, while existing players re-opened dormant mines.
With its rich resources, Canada’s mining companies see the country playing a major role in the future of nuclear energy, meeting a demand for uranium that is poised to rise after nearly two dozen countries committed in COP28 climate conference to tripling their nuclear energy output by 2050.
Nuclear energy is often hailed for its low carbon emissions compared to other sources like natural gas or coal.
The World Nuclear Association estimates that 10% of power generated worldwide comes from nuclear sources, while more than 50% is still generated by gas or coal.
At this year’s COP29, the focus has been on ramping up funding for nuclear projects in the wake of a recent UN report indicating that current policies and investments fall short of what is needed to slow global temperature rise.
Canada’s role in supplying the commodity is made more urgent by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, particularly for the US, which had relied heavily on Russian-supplied enriched uranium to ***** up its commercial nuclear reactors.
Mr Curyer believes his mine could prove to be “absolutely critical” to America’s nuclear energy future, as the US is now hunting for alternatives to Russia, including by ramping up exploration on its own soil.
Uranium can be found around the world, though it is heavily present in Canada, Australia and Kazakhstan.
But what makes Canada’s Athabasca Region unique is that its uranium is especially high grade, said Markus Piro, a professor of nuclear engineering at McMaster University.
Canada has set strict rules for the ***** of its uranium to other countries, Prof Piro said, and mandates it only be used for nuclear power generation.
The country is also referred to as a “tier-one nuclear nation”, he said, due to its capability to produce nuclear fuel from the mining to the manufacturing stage.
Once mined, uranium is milled to produce what is called calcined yellowcake, and then enriched, either at facilities in Canada or overseas, to create fuel for nuclear reactors.
“We’ve got a one-stop shop here in Canada, not every nation’s like that,” Prof Piro said.
Canada is currently the world’s second largest producer of uranium, accounting for roughly 13% of the total global output, according to the ********* government. NexGen anticipates that once its mine is operational, it will boost that to 25%.
Meanwhile, Cameco, which has been mining uranium in Saskatchewan since 1988 that supplies 30 nuclear reactors around the world, re-opened two of its mines in late 2022 to increase output.
CEO Tim Gitzel told the BBC that he believes “Canada could be a nuclear superpower around the world”.
But enthusiasm around nuclear energy is not without its critics.
Some environmental groups worry nuclear projects are too costly and come with timelines that do not meet the urgency of the climate crisis.
Data from the ***-based World Nuclear Association shows that 60 nuclear reactors are under construction across 16 countries, most of them in China, and a further 110 are in the planning stages.
Some are expected to come online this year – others won’t be ready until at least the end of the decade.
Meanwhile, more than 100 nuclear plants have been closed in the last two decades around the world, including New York State’s sole nuclear power plant, which was retired in 2021 due to high operating costs and environmental and safety concerns.
Plants were also shuttered in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Quebec, Canada.
And not all of Canada is on board with the country’s uranium industry.
British Columbia sits on its own supply of uranium but has not allowed any nuclear plants or uranium mines to operate in the province since 1980.
Critics have also expressed concern about radioactive waste nuclear reactors leave behind for future generations.
Others ***** another Fukushima-scale disaster, where a tsunami disabled three reactors, causing the release of highly radioactive materials and forcing mass evacuations.
“The risk is not zero, that is for sure” though t can be reduced, said Prof Piro.
“Even though amongst the general public there are mixed feelings about it, the reality is that it has produced very safe, very reliable and affordable electricity worldwide.”
The industry maintains the technology is both promising and viable.
Mr Gitzel of Cameco said the industry has learned from past safety errors.
“And the public is buying on,” he said. “I can tell you that we have in Canada great public support for nuclear power.”
A 2023 Ipsos poll indicates that 55% of Canadians support nuclear energy.
Getty Images
Uranium City, photographed in this 1975 photo, was once home to 2,500 residents
Still, past uranium booms in Canada have turned into dramatic busts.
North of NexGen’s proposed mine stands Uranium City, once home to 2,500 residents in its mid-20th Century heyday. In 1982, a major local mining firm shuttered operations over high costs and a soft market for uranium.
Now, Uranium City’s population is 91 people.
But investors argue that there is a true global burgeoning demand for the commodity that poses a golden opportunity for Canada.
NexGen anticipates that construction on its mine – which is awaiting clearance from Canada’s federal nuclear regulator – will begin early next year.
Mr Gitzel says around 100 other companies are now actively exploring Saskatchewan for deposits.
As to when it will be on the market ******** unclear.
Mr Gitzel cautioned that some companies have started explorations in the past that never reached production stage. The timeline to get mining projects approved in Canada can also be lengthy.
“Building a mine is going to take five to 10 years, and so far, the only ones in operation are ours, so we will wait and see how it plays out,” he said.
For Mr Curyer, it is crucial that his project and others are realised in the next four years, for both Canada and the world.
“Otherwise, there is going to be a shortage in uranium, and that will subsequently impact power prices,” he said.
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Menopause, the other menstrual ****** for Indian women
Menopause, the other menstrual ****** for Indian women
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Indian women are struggling to find resources to help them deal with the end of menstruation
Indian women on average hit menopause a few years earlier than their counterparts in the West, studies show. A recent paper found that women experiencing ********** menopause, particularly in the age group of 30–39 years, is also on the rise. Yet there are few resources to help them deal with it.
“In some studies, the average age of menopause in India is 47 – meaning some women can hit it by 44-45 while others by 50 and this is considered normal,” says Dr Ruma Satwik, a gynaecologist and obstetrician at Delhi’s Sir Gangaram Hospital.
This is several years earlier than, for example, the US where the average age is 51.
Doctors say the earlier menopause is a result of nutritional and environmental circumstances as well as genetic factors.
But in a country where conversation on menstruation still comes with stigma and ******, menopause awareness is lagging.
Sangeeta, who goes by one name, is overwhelmed every day as she juggles work, household chores and childcare while enduring severe hot flashes, fatigue, insomnia, backache and abdominal pain.
“What’s the point of living like this?” the 43-year-old asks. “Sometimes I feel my pain will end when I ****.”
A janitor at Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, a government-run facility in the capital, Delhi, Ms Sangeeta hit menopause a year ago but did not know until recently that the hospital had a dedicated clinic to address the health concerns it raised.
Hundreds of miles away in the financial capital, Mumbai, Mini Mathur says she felt like she was experiencing “every possible” symptom after she turned 50.
The TV host says she had never had any medical concerns and followed a healthy lifestyle. The onslaught of symptoms reminded her of the advice a friend had given her years ago.
“It’s coming for everyone. Please hit the ground running.”
Getty Images
TV host Mini Mathur says it was difficult to find a doctor in India who would take her symptoms seriously
India’s 2011 Census data showed the country had 96 million women above 45 years. By 2026, that number is projected to reach 400 million, says Dr Anju Soni, president of the Indian Menopause Society.
“Indian women live one-third of their life after menopause,” she says.
Women are considered to have hit menopause when they haven’t menstruated for a year. But this is preceded by perimenopause, a phase of gradual decline in reproductive hormones that can last from anywhere between two to 10 years.
The symptoms are wide ranging: from affecting mood, memory, focus, ******* to effects on bone, brain, muscle, skin and hair. Depending on its severity, women may find their quality of life decline.
Most symptoms are manageable with supplements, changes in diet, exercise and, if necessary, hormone replacement therapy, doctors say. But there are no tests to determine the condition and they usually rely on eliminating other causes for the symptoms.
Doctors say menopause and perimenopause are under-researched across the world with very little taught about it in medical school.
This can make the process of getting a diagnosis quite frustrating for women, Dr Satwik says.
Ms Mathur says it took visits to several healthcare centres across the country and abroad over the past two years before she received the care she needed.
She was stunned to find that a lot of her symptoms – which included brain fog, low mood, ****** pain and anxiety – became “vastly better” when she began using progesterone cream topically.
“I had to go to Austria to find a doctor who wouldn’t negate my symptoms and feelings and say ‘sabko hota hai [it happens to everyone]’.”
Getty Images
India is expected to have 400 million women above the age of 45 by 2026
The refrain is all too familiar for 60-year-old activist Atul Sharma who was so worried about the changes menopause brought in her mood and **** drive that she hid the condition from her husband for nearly six years.
Ms Sharma, who works with women in rural areas on health and economic empowerment in northern Uttar Pradesh state, found there was barely any provision for menopausal women at rural government clinics. Primary healthcare workers who wanted to help did not have any specialised training.
“Even the nurse who comes here says, ‘Ab iske liye bhi davai mangogi [now you will seek medicine for this also]? Just bear it with. It happens to every woman’.”
In 2022-24, Dr Satwik surveyed over 370 women between the ages of 40 and 60 on their symptoms and its severity.
“About 20% experienced nothing at all. The rest experienced one or more symptoms mildly while 15-20% were experiencing it to a severe degree.”
Getty Images
In the US, Hollywood actresses like Halle Berry have been publicly talking about their experience of menopause
While information within India ******** scarce, many women say they are turning to social media and that online resources are often more illuminating than conversations with their doctors.
Many follow ********* specialists like Dr Mary Claire Haver who shares latest research on social media and celebrities like Hollywood actresses Naomi Watts and Halle Berry who have been promoting the documentary The M Factor: Shredding the Silence on Menopause. Watts is herself writing a book on menopause while Berry is pushing for new legislation to promote its research, training and education.
Ms Mathur says she feels privileged that she was able to get treatment. “How are women who are bringing up families, kids, going to work, travelling in packed local trains dealing with it?
“We are not up to date with the West,” she says. “We don’t have enough brands of oestrogen patches and progesterone creams that we need in India.”
She’s now studying a course in the US, certified by the National Board of Health and Wellness Coaches, hoping to eventually bridge the gap between information, resources and access to specialists for women from all kinds of backgrounds in India.
“The cost of this treatment is out of reach for many poor women in India,” Ms Sharma says. Ms Sangeeta says she is resigned to living with pain.
Increased awareness has to come from the medical fraternity, says Dr Satwik, adding that there need to be as many talks on menopause or perimenopause as there are on fertility and adolescent health.
Dr Soni says the government already has a network of healthcare workers in rural and remote areas.
“They already give supplements and provide health care services to pregnant women. Now extend that to menopausal women.”
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Walmart-Exclusive LOTR: Fellowship Of The Ring 4K Steelbook Up For Preorder
Walmart-Exclusive LOTR: Fellowship Of The Ring 4K Steelbook Up For Preorder
Peter Jackson’s adaptation of The Fellowship of the Ring is getting a standalone 4K Blu-ray release. Exclusive to Walmart and available to preorder for $35, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring is the Steelbook Limited Edition. It includes a 4K UHD and digital versions of the theatrical and extended cuts of the beloved film.
The Fellowship of the Ring releases January 7, just a few weeks after The Lord of the Rings Trilogy: One Ring Gift Box, which you can preorder for $157 at Amazon ahead of its December 20 release. Speaking of limited-edition trilogy box sets, The Hobbit’s Limited Edition 4K Steelbook Collection is up for grabs for only $150 at Amazon, the lowest price we’ve seen this year.
$35 | Exclusive to Walmart
This is the same version and steelbook of The Fellowship of the Ring included in The Lord of the Rings Trilogy Steelbook Collection, which received a reprint in August and quickly sold out for $170. If you already own that, there’s really no reason to buy this, but for those who missed out, this upcoming release offers solid value.
It’s not a 1:1 comparison because the box set also includes a slipcase, but each movie in the box set averaged out to roughly $57. Walmart’s $35 price point is quite reasonable, especially if the retailer also winds up releasing the steelbook editions of The Two Towers and The Return of the King. If that happens with the same pricing structure, you’ll be able to get the complete LOTR Trilogy with steelbook cases for $115.
The Lord of the Rings is almost always packaged as a trilogy on 4K Blu-ray. You won’t find 4K or even standard Blu-ray editions of the individual movies at major retailers, so the fact this even exists is fairly surprising.
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy: One Ring Gift Box
LOTR: One Ring Gift Box
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy: One Ring Gift Box, shown above, includes theatrical and extended cuts of all three films on 4K Blu-ray. The traditional Blu-ray case comes packaged inside a faux-leather “book” that will look handsome on a display shelf. You’ll also get a pouch containing a replica of the One Ring on a necklace chain.
B2G1 Free Lord of the Rings Books
Tolkien Illustrated Editions
Lord of the Rings fans should also check out the Buy Two, Get One Free Book Sales at Amazon and Target before they end on November 16. Both retailers have included a bunch of popular editions of J.R.R. Tolkien’s novels, including the lovely Tolkien Illustrated Editions of The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and The Silmarillion.
The recently released Lord of the Rings Collector’s Edition Hardcover Box Set is also eligible for B2G1 free, and it’s on ***** for $73 at Amazon. All three volumes of The Lord of the Rings have foil-stamped cover art, stained edges, ribbon bookmarks, and maps on the inside of these elegantly bound hardcovers. These sales end November 16.
Tolkien Illustrated Editions
New Collector’s Editions
The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and Middle-earth Books Galore
To help you navigate the many, many editions of J.R.R. Tolkien’s books, we put together a custom Amazon hub filled with notable collector’s editions and box sets of the author’s beloved fantasy novels, The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, as well as the complementary tomes that provide fascinating insight on Middle-earth.
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France mounts big security operation for ******* match after Amsterdam *********
France mounts big security operation for ******* match after Amsterdam *********
FRANCK FIFE/AFP
Paris police are treating the event as a high-risk match and aim to pre-empt any trouble
Thousands of police are being deployed in Paris to ensure security at Thursday’s France-******* football international, a week after ********* in Amsterdam in which Maccabi Tel Aviv fans came under *******.
Paris police chief Laurent Nuñez said that 4,000 officers would be on patrol, 2,500 at the Stade de France in the northern Paris suburbs and the rest on public transport and inside the capital.
In addition around 1,600 private security guards will be on duty at the stadium, and an elite anti-********** police unit will protect the visiting ******** squad.
“It is a high-risk match [because of] an extremely tense geopolitical context,” Mr Nuñez said.
“We will not allow any attempt to disturb public order.”
The Uefa Nations League match is under intense scrutiny following the ********* after last Thursday’s match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Netherlands.
The stadium, which can hold 80,000, will be only a quarter full. Following advice by the ******** government, no more than 100 or so ******** fans are expected to travel to Paris, though other ******* supporters may go to the game.
Politicians across Europe decried a “return of antisemitism” after ******** fans were chased through the streets of Amsterdam.
Maccabi fans were themselves involved in vandalism, tearing down a ************ flag, attacking a taxi and chanting anti-***** slogans, according to city authorities. They were then targeted by “small groups of rioters… on foot, by scooter or car”, the city said in a 12-page report.
********* between ******* and its neighbours in the Middle East has the potential to spread to Europe.
France, Belgium and the Netherlands all have large ******* populations of North ******** origin and they live beside far smaller ******* populations, who in the main identify strongly with *******.
To express solidarity with ********* Jews after Amsterdam, President Emmanuel Macron has said he will attend Thursday’s match, which begins at 20:45 (19:45 GMT).
He will be joined by Prime Minister Michel Barnier as well as previous presidents François Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy.
FRANCK FIFE/AFP
Security is tight but few Israelis are expected to travel to the match
Supporters have been told to expect identity checks ahead of the game. Bars and restaurants in the area have been told to close from the afternoon.
The Stade de France was the scene of a dangerous breakdown in law-and-order at a Uefa Champions League final between Liverpool and Real Madrid in 2022. However since then the Rugby World Cup and Paris Olympics have both been peacefully staged there.
France’s far-left France Unbowed (LFI) party – which sides with Palestinians and Lebanese in the conflicts with ******* – has called for Thursday’s match to be cancelled, or at least for President Macron to refuse to attend.
“We do not want our head of state honouring a country that commits genocide,” said LFI deputy David Guiraud. ******* has denied allegations of genocide as baseless and grossly distorted.
But Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said it was out of the question to cancel or relocate the match. “France does not give way to those who sow hatred,” he said.
France and ******* are in the same group in the Uefa competition, alongside Italy and Belgium. In their first leg – played in Budapest – France beat ******* 4-1.
Pre-match tensions were already in evidence after a pro-******** “gala” event was given the go-ahead for Wednesday evening in Paris, which the far-right ******** minister Bezalel Smotrich was at one point expected to attend – although it was later thought his “presence” would be by video-link.
Luc Auffret/Anadolu
Pro-************ demonstrators have tried to get Thursday’s Uefa Nations League match cancelled
Pro-************ and anti-******* organisations were planning demonstrations in the capital to coincide with the event.
Relations between Macron and Benyamin Netanyahu have come under severe strain in recent weeks, after Macron accused the ******** prime minister of “spreading barbarism” in Gaza and Lebanon.
French Jews were also upset when Macron was quoted as saying that Netanyahu should accept ******* Nations calls for a ceasefire because “his country was itself created by a decision of the UN.” This was interpreted in ******* as an insult to Jews who had lost their lives in their country’s war of independence.
France in turn was angered when two French officials were briefly detained by ******** authorities at a holy site in East Jerusalem that is under French administration.
Macron has been described as pursuing a zigzag in his approach to the Middle East, as in many other domains, flipflopping inconsistently between outspoken statements of support for ******* and then its ***** neighbours.
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PWHL Coming To EA Sports NHL 25
PWHL Coming To EA Sports NHL 25
EA Sports and the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) have announced that the league will be coming to NHL 25 in December.
Starting December 5, all six PWHL teams — Boston Fleet, Minnesota Frost, Montréal Victoire, New York Sirens, Ottawa Charge, and Toronto Sceptres — will be added to the game to play in a number of modes. Those include Play Now, Online Versus, Shootout and Season. In addition to being playable in modes, PWHL content will be added to the World of Chel as well Hockey Ultimate Team (HUT).
The launch comes alongside the start of the PWHL’s second season.
“We are thrilled to bring the PWHL into NHL 25 as part of a massive holiday update, giving players all-new ways to play, starting in a couple of days with the frenetic energy of NHL Arcade through to the launch of 4 Nations Face-Off in the New Year,” NHL 25 Executive Producer Bill Dollar said.
Women’s hockey has been a growing presence in the EA Sports NHL series for a number of years with international teams being a part of the last handful of games. The PWHL marks the first women’s league to be added to the franchise. In the past, EA Sports did speak with the NWHL about possible inclusion, but no deal was ever reached.
As far as this update is concerned, not all likenesses will be scanned and into the game when the update comes. That said, there is a plan to add more via updates to NHL 25.
In addition to the PWHL, EA Sports announced that the Four Nations Tournament and a new Arcade mode are both coming to NHL 25.
What do you think of the PWHL coming to NHL 25? Let us know down below, and join the discussion in the official Insider Gaming forums.
For more Insider Gaming, check out the 16 games coming to the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog in November. And don’t forget to sign up for our weekly newsletter.
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Brazil Supreme Court evacuated after blasts in capital
Brazil Supreme Court evacuated after blasts in capital
Brazil’s Supreme Court has been evacuated and a man has been found ***** after two explosions were heard outside the building on Wednesday evening.
The blasts hit the centre of Brazil’s capital – where the Supreme Court, parliament and presidential palace are all located.
A spokesperson for the federal police told the AFP news agency a body had been discovered in front of the court. It is unclear how the man was connected with the blasts.
The country’s solicitor general, Jorge Messias, condemned what he said was a deliberate ******* and vowed a full investigation into the blasts would be launched.
“I strongly condemn the attacks against the Supreme court and the lower house,” he said in a statement posted to X.
“We must know the motivation behind the attacks, and to re-establish peace and safety as fast as possible.”
Images carried by news agencies showed the deceased man lying in an area outside the court, as officers cordoned off the area.
A police spokesperson told AFP that they could “confirm that there is a body in front of the Supreme Court”, but offered no further details.
Earlier, the Supreme Court said in a statement that the building had been evacuated as a “precautionary measure” after explosions were heard. Justices had just finished hearing a plenary session and were quickly evacuated safely, it added.
The court is located in the Plaza de los Tres Poderes, across the square from the presidential palace. Local media reported that President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva had left the area shortly before the blasts.
The explosions come just a week before ******** President Xi Jinping is due to visit the capital, following a trip to a G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro.
Last year, the plaza was the scene of mass disorder, after supporters of ex-President Jair Bolsonaro ransacked the buildings in a bid to prevent his electoral defeat by President Lula.
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A Disturbing Pattern With the Most Hideous Elden Ring Bosses Reveals a Weird Hidetaka Miyazaki *******
A Disturbing Pattern With the Most Hideous Elden Ring Bosses Reveals a Weird Hidetaka Miyazaki *******
When it comes to boss design, Hidetaka Miyazaki has always had a flair for the dramatic. But there’s something particularly fascinating (and slightly disturbing) about a pattern that Elden Ring players have recently noticed in some of the game’s most memorable encounters.
Miyazaki at The Game Awards 2019. | Image Credit: thegameawards/YouTube
It seems that many of the game’s most formidable bosses share an unusual trait: they become significantly stronger after… well, mutilating themselves. And once you notice this pattern, you can’t help but wonder what this says about Miyazaki’s unique vision for these epic confrontations.
Elden Ring‘s Self-Mutilating Menagerie
The trend in question becomes apparent when you look at some of the game’s most notorious boss fights:
Take Godrick, for example. In what might be one of the most metal moments in gaming history, this grafting-obsessed demigod decides that having a regular arm just isn’t cutting it anymore:
Comment byu/Full_Data_6240 from discussion ingaming
This fascination with transformation through self-mutilation has become something of a signature move in Miyazaki’s games. It’s a design philosophy that extends far beyond just making bosses look cool—it’s about creating moments that stick with players long after they’ve put down the controller.
And this isn’t just limited to Elden Ring. Miyazaki’s peculiar predilection for self-destructive power-ups extends throughout FromSoftware’s entire catalog, from Dark Souls 2 to Bloodborne:
Comment byu/Full_Data_6240 from discussion ingaming
The consistency of this design choice across multiple games suggests this isn’t just coincidence—it’s a deliberate artistic decision that has become one of Hidetaka Miyazaki‘s most distinctive directorial signatures.
The Method Behind Miyazaki’s Madness
As always, his design choice has a valid explanation. | Image Credit: FromSoftware
What makes these transformations particularly fascinating is how each one tells a story. From Malenia’s scarlet bloom to Godfrey’s rejection of nobility, these aren’t just random acts of self-destruction:
Comment byu/Full_Data_6240 from discussion ingaming
These moments of self-mutilation often serve as powerful character development, revealing the desperate lengths these beings will go to achieve victory. Take Malenia, for instance, whose transformation has become more than “legendary” among players:
Comment byu/Full_Data_6240 from discussion ingaming
In interviews, Miyazaki has often spoken about his ******* to create boss encounters that leave lasting impressions on players. This unique approach to boss transformations serves multiple purposes: it creates memorable spectacles, raises the stakes mid-******, and often tells us something profound about these characters and their motivations.
The genius ***** in how these transformations affect both the narrative and gameplay. When a boss mutilates itself, it’s not just for show—it fundamentally changes how players must approach the ******. What worked in phase one suddenly becomes obsolete, forcing players to adapt their strategies on the fly while processing the visual and emotional impact of what they’ve just witnessed.
This balance of beauty and horror, of power and sacrifice, has become one of the most distinctive aspects of Miyazaki’s game design. It’s a reminder that in the worlds he creates, true power often comes at a terrible price. And sometimes, that price is paid in flesh and blood.
Whether you find it disturbing or fascinating (or both), there’s no denying that this recurring theme has become one of the revered designer’s most effective tools for creating unforgettable moments in gaming. And honestly? We wouldn’t have it any other way.
What’s your favorite boss transformation in Elden Ring? Which one do you find most disturbing? Let us know in the comments below!
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We gave the Lenovo Legion 7i four stars — it’s $600 off today
We gave the Lenovo Legion 7i four stars — it’s $600 off today
Lenovo
In one of its early ****** Friday deals happening right now, Lenovo has cut the price of the Lenovo Legion Tower 7i by 19%. That means instead of paying $3,150, it’s down to $2,550 for a limited time. It’s a high-end gaming PC and easily one of the best gaming PC deals around right now. If you’re looking to game in style for a long time to come, here’s what it has to offer.
Why you should buy the Lenovo Legion Tower 7i
Lenovo makes some of the best gaming PCs around and it’s a name you can depend on. With the Lenovo Legion Tower 7i, you get a 14th-generation Intel Core i9-14900KF processor paired up with 32GB of DDR5 RAM and 1TB of SSD storage. The star of the show here is its Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 Super graphics card with 16GB of dedicated VRAM. That CPU and GPU combination is quite the powerful pairing, so you can enjoy high-end gaming performance for a long time to come.
The Lenovo Legion Tower 7i uses liquid cooling. It’s an effective cooling method combined with decreased airflow obstruction and better efficiency. The Lenovo Legion Tower 7i has a neat looking 3D mesh foot bezel along with an eye-catching rail-side transparent glass panel so you can always see what’s going on in your PC, right down to how good the RGB lighting looks. The tower also offers those extras you might not think of, like 2.5G Ethernet and Wi-Fi 6E support. There are plenty of USB ports for connecting all your favorite accessories. Just make sure to add one of the best gaming monitors and you’re all set for the long-term. Whatever you want to play, it’s going to look great here.
If you’re keen to play games at ultra quality levels for a while to come, you need the Lenovo Legion Tower 7i in your life. It ordinarily costs $3,150, but right now it’s down to $2,550 for a limited time only at Lenovo. Now is the perfect time to buy, with the 19% discount a doorbuster deal likely to end very soon.
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Labour to ‘miss homes pledge’ and ‘pension megafunds’ plan
Labour to ‘miss homes pledge’ and ‘pension megafunds’ plan
The i says Labour’s pledge to build 1.5 million homes by the end of this Parliament has been “plunged into doubt” by comments from the head of Homes England, the government’s housing agency. The paper says that, in an email to staff, Peter Denton said the target was “realistically” part of a “two parliamentary term approach”.
The Times says the government is facing a growing “business backlash” over last month’s Budget, which contained, among other things, a £25bn increase in employers’ national insurance. The paper says the British Retail Consortium has drafted a letter telling Chancellor Rachel Reeves its members will not be able to absorb the additional cost of the measures. It quotes the letter as saying the “sheer scale of new costs… and the speed with which they occur, together with costs from a raft of other regulation, create a cumulative burden that will make job losses inevitable, and higher prices a certainty”.
Councils will be allowed to increase council tax by 5% next year, meaning a £110 jump in average bills, according to the Daily Mail. The paper says Downing Street will allow councils to do this in order to help them meet rising costs. It adds, though, that the news comes just a fortnight after some “eye-watering” tax rises in the Budget and despite previous attacks by Labour on the Conservatives over similar council tax hikes.
Reeves hopes to unlock £80bn worth of investment by reforming local government retirement schemes to form eight pensions “megafunds”, the Financial Times reports. It comes as the chancellor is due to deliver her first Mansion House speech, an annual address delivered by the sitting chancellor in the City of London, on Thursday. Reeves tells the paper she also wants to reassure businesses the recent tax rises were part of a “once in a parliament Budget”.
The Daily Telegraph says Essex Police has been accused of attacking free speech after launching an investigation into one of its columnists, Allison Pearson, for allegedly stirring up ******* hatred in a social media post last year. Pearson has said two officers visited her to tell her about the investigation on Sunday, but they would not say which post it concerned or who had made the complaint. Former prime minister Boris Johnson is quoted calling the behaviour of the police “appalling”, while shadow home secretary Chris Philp says he is “deeply concerned this will have a chilling effect on free speech and free expression”.
A report by Human Right Watch has said ******* is using evacuation orders to pursue the “deliberate and massive forced displacement” of ************ civilians in Gaza and the policy amounts to “******* against humanity”, according to the Guardian. The paper says the report comes amid mounting evidence that ******* is “accelerating efforts to cut the Gaza Strip in two with a buffer zone” and “building infrastructure to support a prolonged military presence” in the territory.
The Metro leads with Donald Trump’s “shock appointment” of a Fox News TV host and former soldier as the US defence secretary. The paper says that, despite having no government experience, Pete Hegseth, 44, will run the “world’s largest military machine and its $800bn (£627bn) budget”, with responsibility for 1.3 million active duty personnel, 1.4 million reservists, and civilian staff worldwide.
“Wild west of cosmetic surgery in Britain”, reads the headline in the Daily Mirror. The paper says an ITV investigation has found that potentially deadly operations, including liposuction, are being carried out by people with just hours of training. It adds Health Secretary Wes Streeting has pledged a crackdown on rogue operators.
And the Sun alleges a video taken at this summer’s Euros appears to show Premier League David Coote using a rolled-up US banknote to sniff a line of white powder in a clip he later sent to a friend on WhatsApp. The BBC has not independently verified the footage.
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Survive the Night in IfSunSets | COGconnected
Survive the Night in IfSunSets | COGconnected
IfSunSets is a new open world survival/crafting game with a pirate theme, set on a mystery-and-monster filled tropical island.
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#Survive #Night #IfSunSets #COGconnected
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Early ****** Friday Lenovo Laptop deals 2024: Up to 20% off
Early ****** Friday Lenovo Laptop deals 2024: Up to 20% off
Mark Coppock / Digital Trends
****** Friday falls on November 29 this year, and while it’s still quite early, there are a lot of great Lenovo deals you can take advantage of already. Along with Dell and Asus, Lenovo is one of the best laptop brands on the market right now and offers a pretty substantial choice of laptops for you to pick from. In fact, its laptops often show up on our list of best laptops and best gaming laptops, so pretty much everything you grab from Lenovo is likely going to be pretty excellent.
That’s why we’ve gone out and collected some of our favorite early ****** Friday Lenovo deals and put them for you down below.
IdeaPad 5i 2-in-1 — $507 $634 20% off
Lenovo
This configuration of the IdeaPad 5i is perfect for those who want a budget-oriented 2-in-1 laptop, and with a 14-inch WUXGA resolution screen, it’s really quite portable. It comes with an entry-level Intel Core 3 100U processor that should handle most tasks just fine, and while the 8GB of RAM isn’t a ton, the 512GB of storage is, plus it has a solid 20% discount.
Yoga 7 2-in-1 — $680 $880 22% off
Lenovo
The Yoga lineup from Lenovo shows up on our list of best 2-in-1 laptops quite often, and this configuration comes with the mid-range AMD Ryzen 5 8640HS processor that gives you a bit more versatility. The 14-inch screen makes this very portable, while the 16GB of RAM is really nice to see at this discounted $680 price point.
LOQ 15 — $810 $909 10% off
Lenovo
This configuration of the Lenovo LOQ is a great budget gaming laptop, especially since it’s been discounted to $810 from $909 and comes with an RTX 4050. That should let you play most free-to-play and older AAA games quite easily, and the AMD Ryzen 5 8645HS is a great mid-range CPU for work and day-to-day activities.
Lenovo Slim 7i — $900 $1,130 20% off
Mark Coppock / Digital Trends
The Lenovo Slim 7i is a great mid-range work option if you want something relatively portable. It has a mid-range Intel Core Ultra 5 125H processor, 16GB of RAM, and a substantial 1TB SSD, as well as a 1080P FHD camera which is great for those who have online meetings. The 20% discount is also pretty great.
Legion Pro 5 — $1,750 $2,000 12% off
Jacob ****** / Digital Trends / Jacob ****** / Digital Trends
A great mid to high-end gaming laptop is Lenovo Legion Pro 5 series, and even our lead reporter Jacob ****** said “The Lenovo Legion Pro 5 is a next-gen gaming laptop that is actually affordable.” This configuration comes with an RTX 4070, which should handle most games pretty well on the 16-inch 2K screen, plus you get an AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX CPU and 32GBs, all for $1,750 instead of $2,000.
How to Choose a Lenovo Laptop on ****** Friday
There are a lot of great Lenovo laptops on the market, and most of them tend to be broken down into specific subgroups that you can look at depending on what you need. For example, if you’re interested in a gaming laptop, then the Lenovo LOQ is a great budget-oriented option, whereas the Lenovo Legion is the mid to higher-end gaming laptop option you can go for. Just be sure that if you do go for a gaming laptop, to aim for at least 16GB of RAM for a better overall experience.
Other options include the ThinkPad lineup, which tends to be made for business uses and tends to be smaller, comes with better webcams, and will often include a fingerprint reader. Alternatively, the Lenovo Yoga laptops are great 2-in-1 laptops but also have some very solid budget-oriented laptops if you’re looking for something like that. Ideapads are another great option if you’re looking for a budget-oriented laptop that’s great for general day-to-day work and also school and university, and some of them even come as Chromebooks.
How We Chose These Lenovo Laptop ****** Friday Deals
Because there are so many different types of Lenovo laptops, we do our best to include various options at different price points and configurations so you can pick exactly the type of laptop you’re looking for. We also rely on our experience and tools to find the best deals so you’re getting the best bang for your buck. That way, you know that you can shop in confidence knowing that you’re getting the best deal you could possible get.
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House GOP reaches deal to make it ******* to oust speaker
House GOP reaches deal to make it ******* to oust speaker
Washington — House Republicans said they have reached a deal to raise the threshold to oust their speaker on Wednesday as the party seeks to project a unified front after winning control of the White House and both chambers of Congress.
The leaders of the House Freedom Caucus and the Main Street Caucus, two influential factions, said they have an agreement to change the rule that allowed a single member to trigger a no-confidence vote to remove the speaker.
The House Freedom Caucus agreed to increase the threshold to nine members. In exchange for the increase, the Main Street Caucus would drop proposed rule changes that sought to punish those who defied the majority of the party.
“We’ve been able to work across the conference to eliminate the controversial issues that could have divided us,” Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland, who chairs the House Freedom Caucus, said.
Rep. Dusty Johnson of South Dakota, who leads the Main Street Caucus, said Harris reached out to him Wednesday morning to broker a deal, telling him “unity is important.”
Johnson conceded that some of the proposed rule changes “probably would have divided this conference.”
“Because of this agreement, we are in a better position to move forward the *********** agenda,” Johnson said.
Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska, a member of the Main Street Caucus, said the proposals were made because they wanted members who rebelled to be held accountable.
“We were very let down by the actions of some in…this current Congress,” he said.
Infighting has made it difficult for Republicans, who have a razor-thin majority, to govern over the last two years.
In January 2023, former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California finally won the speaker’s gavel after 15 ballots amid a prolonged — and public — ****** with conservatives who demanded concessions, including allowing a single member to trigger a no-confidence vote to oust the speaker.
Nine months later, the deal led to McCarthy’s downfall after he relied on the votes of House Democrats to temporarily avert a government shutdown. It was the first time in U.S. history a House speaker was ousted by such a motion.
Though House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana has faced similar issues as McCarthy and has had to rely on Democratic votes to pass legislation, Republicans on Wednesday backed him for another term leading the party.
House Republicans are again expected to have a narrow majority in the next Congress, which will temporarily be made more difficult by President-elect Donald Trump’s offers to several members to serve in his administration.
Johnson said he changed his plans to spend to the weekend with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida so that he can “be there while more of these decisions are being made.”
“He’s very aware of the margin, the size of the margin, but he has an administration to fill, a Cabinet to fill,” Johnson said at a news conference with House *********** leaders. “Everyone in this room is keenly aware of it as well, and that’s why we’re emphasizing unity right now.”
Jaala Brown
contributed to this report.
Caitlin Yilek
Caitlin Yilek is a politics reporter at CBSNews.com, based in Washington, D.C. She previously worked for the Washington Examiner and The Hill, and was a member of the 2022 Paul Miller Washington Reporting Fellowship with the National Press Foundation.
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Xbox is testing a handheld device, but it’s a long ways off
Xbox is testing a handheld device, but it’s a long ways off
Microsoft
Xbox CEO Phil Spencer confirmed that the company is working on a handheld device, which has been heavily rumored for quite some time. However, don’t expect it any time soon.
In a Bloomberg interview, Spencer said Microsoft said that a potential device is only in the prototyping stage at this time. Even if the team was set to bring a product to market, it would still be a few years out.
“Longer term, I love us building devices,” Spencer told Bloomberg. “And I think our team could do some real innovative work, but we want to be informed by learning and what’s happening now.”
A lot of handheld consoles and cloud streaming devices have entered the market over the past few years. The space is arguably led by the Nintendo Switch and Steam Deck right now, but there are plenty of other competitors, including the Logitech G Cloud and the Asus ROG Ally. Xbox’s main competitor PlayStation also released a handheld late last year called the PlayStation Portal that just allows players to remotely stream games from their PlayStation 5.
Microsoft executives have been teasing the possibility of a handheld for a while, but Spencer has done a lot of the anticipation-building himself. He’s talked a lot about handhelds in the past, and in June, he told IGN that Xbox is looking to expand its hardware options.
“The future for us in hardware is pretty awesome. The work that the team is doing around different form factors and different ways to play, I’m incredibly excited about,” he said.
However, a roadmap that leaked as part of a recent FTC trial showed Xbox’s plans through 2030, with a dedicated handheld “not in scope for first party.”
In September, Xbox vice president Sarah Bond told Bloomberg that she wants to reach players wherever they play. Xbox Game Pass has expanded to a number of platforms, even allowing Amazon ***** TV users to stream Xbox games.
“I want people to think no matter who you are, you can come to Xbox and find a game,” she said.
Spencer also said in the Bloomberg interview that the company is interested in more acquisitions to break into new markets like Asia, and to tap into mobile gaming. Xbox has already begun its investment into mobile, with the Activision Blizzard acquisition netting them Candy Crush Saga maker King.
“We definitely want to be in the market, and when we can find teams and technology and capability that add to what we’re trying to do in gaming at Microsoft, absolutely we will keep our heads up,” he said.
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If you use one of these passwords, hackers will love you
If you use one of these passwords, hackers will love you
NordPass
You would think that at this point, people would be using stronger passwords. Sorry to disappoint you, but according to NordPass’ annual list of the world’s most popular passwords, the unoriginal choices are a letdown.
123456 is the back-to-back champ for the most common and easiest password. But on the bright side, at least “password” doesn’t have the No. 1 spot like it did in the past. The remaining top spots go to passwords such as:
123456789
12345678
password
qwerty123
Those are the obvious ones, and if you have any of these, we strongly recommend you create a stronger password. We know passwords are hard, but your security is at risk. It’s better to take a few minutes to have a strong password than to deal with the headache of getting your files and accounts back from a hacker.
Perhaps even more interestingly is the extended list, which has some passwords that surprised me.
The other easy passwords on the list include:
iloveyou
monkey
dragon
11111111
secret
abc123
00000000
*******
88888888
pokemon
superman
baseball
These are only a few weak passwords used, and the hackers only need one second to ****** them. Clearly, many of the passwords used revealed interests, while the rest of the list shows those who opt for a more aggressive way of saying: “Back off!” If you want to see the most popular passwords in your country, you can use the filter at the top of the NordPass page.
If you’re struggling to create a strong password, it’s easy to fall back on options such as “secret” or “123456” (which are among the most popular in the U.S.). But you don’t have to go it alone; another top-tier password manager, such as 1Password, can also help. There is a trick involving a new email address that takes security to a new level, making your online accounts super secure. Don’t forget to check it out.
You can also clean up your passwords and strengthen your online security, and remember not to use personal data such as your address when creating your next password.
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Unemployment rate ******** steady at 4.1 per cent for three months in a row
Unemployment rate ******** steady at 4.1 per cent for three months in a row
While October unemployment figures have continued to be steady for the third month in a row, record high employment growth is slowing.
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#Unemployment #rate #******** #steady #cent #months #row
Pelican News
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Bluesky surges to 15 million users after getting a million sign-ups in one week
Bluesky surges to 15 million users after getting a million sign-ups in one week
Bluesky may still be the underdog in the race for alternatives to X, but the once Twitter-affiliated service is gaining momentum. The app just passed the 15 million user mark after adding more than a million new users over the last week, the company said in an update.
While Bluesky is still considerably smaller than Threads, which with 275 million users is its biggest rival, there are signs that Threads users have been increasingly curious about the upstart. “Bluesky” has been a trending topic on Threads in recent days and an in-app search suggestion shows there are more than 19,000 posts about “Bluesky.” Bluesky itself has also made to win over Threads users in recent weeks by posting regularly on the Meta-owned service.
That effort seems to be working. A month ago, Engadget , the service had just under 9 million users. Its mobile app also has the top spot in Apple’s App Store, followed by Threads and ChatGPT. Its recent success also seems to be driven, at least in part, by frustration with Elon Musk and X following the US presidential election.
A recent report from web analytics company SimilarWeb found that “more than 115,000 US web visitors deactivated their accounts,” on November 7, “more than on any previous day of Elon Musk’s tenure.” The report also noted that “web traffic and daily active users for Bluesky increased dramatically in the week before the election, and then again after election day,” with Bluesky at points seeing more web traffic than Threads. (Threads’ mobile usage, however, is still “far ahead” of Bluesky.)
SimilarWeb
“In the US, Bluesky got more web visits than Threads in the immediate aftermath of the election,” the report notes. “For context, it’s important to note that both services are app centric, even though they support a web user interface.”
On its part, Bluesky seems intent on distinguishing itself from its larger, billionaire-controlled rivals. The company, which began as an internal project at Twitter before it spun off into an independent entity, has experimented with novel features like , user-created and “” for new users.
“You’re probably used to being trapped in a single algorithm controlled by a small group of people, that’s no longer the case,” Bluesky’s COO Rose Wang shared in aimed at new users Tuesday. “On Bluesky, there are about 50,000 different feeds … these feeds provide a cozy corner for you to meet people with similar interests. And you can actually make friends again, because you’re no longer tied to a dominant algorithm that promotes either the most polarizing posts and or the biggest brands, and that’s the mandate of Bluesky.”
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Today’s Wordle answer is so hard it nearly cost me my 1,045-game streak – and it’s all the NYT’s fault
Today’s Wordle answer is so hard it nearly cost me my 1,045-game streak – and it’s all the NYT’s fault
Having a very, very long Wordle streak is a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, it grants me immense bragging rights over those mere mortals with their streaks in the hundreds. On the other, it turns every game into a must-win ordeal. After all, what would I be without my Wordle streak? A so-called ‘expert’ with no credentials, that’s what. I’d be laughed out of town.
I joke, of course, but having gone 1,046 games without a loss I would rather not give up my streak all the same. I nearly had to today, though, because game #1,244 (Thursday, 14 November) nearly sent me back to ground zero.
I’m pretty sure I won’t be the only one, though – because today’s Wordle answer is undoubtedly a very difficult one. And it’s all the fault of the New York Times’ puzzle setters.
To explain why, I’ll need to reveal the solution, so don’t read past this point if you haven’t played yet, because SPOILERS FOR TODAY’S WORDLE, GAME #1,244, ON THURSDAY, 14 NOVEMBER 2024 will follow. You have been warned.
Wordle hall of shame
Let’s start with a question: what’s the hardest Wordle ever? Is it CAULK, one of the first games to upset thousands of avid Wordlers soon after the game’s meteoric rise to prominence? Or maybe BORAX, a word that many players outside of the ******* States had almost no knowledge of? Or JAZZY, with its repeated Zs and very-uncommon J at the start?
None of those, actually – the toughest ever is PARER, game #454 in September 2022. That’s based on the fact that it had an average score of 6.3, which to put it in context is half a guess more than its closest competitor, MUMMY (#491, 5.8).
Those average scores come from WordleBot, the in-game AI helper tool that analyzes your Wordle after you’ve played. As well as doing that, it records the average across everyone who plays, and in turn I note down those averages to keep a sort of league table. I have 956 of them listed now, giving me a pretty good idea of which Wordles people have found most difficult.
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By that measure, today’s game is some way down the list of the hardest ever, with an average of 4.9. High, but not ridiculously so. However, that only tells half of the story.
Right, let’s get into the specifics now, which means revealing today’s answer. This is your last chance to go away and play if you haven’t done so yet.
**FINAL SPOILER ALERT**
Sorry, what?
(Image credit: ShutterStock)
Today’s answer is UVULA.
No, me neither.
I do sort of know what it means, actually. Or at least I knew before I played it that it was a real word, albeit a fairly obscure one with a very strange spelling. For the unaware, it’s the soft dangly bit between your tonsils at the back of your throat. I thought it was the ridge at the top of your mouth, maybe, but at least I was in the right area.
Others will not be so lucky. Twitter is already alight with people complaining that either they had no idea what it means or that it was just too obscure.
You have got to be kidding me Wordle 1,244 6/6November 13, 2024
Wordle 1.244 X/6How am I supposed to know THAT ???????? #nyt #wordleNovember 13, 2024
As well as its relative obscurity as a word, UVULA suffers from having an incredibly unusual format, with UVU at the start; that’s not found in any other answer. Plus, it contains two letter Us – and as I show in my analysis of every Wordle answer, that’s a very rare occurrence too, with only 10 games among the original 2,309 solutions having that format.
All of this added up to make it a very tough game. Its average of 4.9 puts it just outside of the top 20, but I think that’s misleading – people are probably solving it through brute force in the end, because there are no other words that have that format. With a word like PARER, in contrast, there are lots of alternatives and it’s therefore easy to keep guessing until you eventually fail. Here, you will ultimately reach a point where nothing else fits!
That’s what happened to me, anyway. I usually solve Wordle in about 10-20 minutes, sometimes 30-40 if it’s a difficult one and I’m playing carefully. Here, I must have stared at the board and played around with various letter combinations for two hours. That’s genuinely no exaggeration. My family thought I’d gone ****.
I nearly gave up – I was completely stumped. However, I have a daily column to write so kept going and eventually scored a five. My streak was genuinely in doubt, though – I could easily have wasted a couple of guesses on similarly obscure words that weren’t correct.
(Image credit: New York Times)
NYT blues
So why is this the NYT’s fault and not mine?
Well, it’s worth noting that this is – for the second day in a row – a non-canon Wordle answer. By that I mean that it was not among the 2,309 answers originally dreamed up by the game’s creator Josh Wardle and his partner, but has instead been added by the NYT.
Yesterday’s PRIMP (see below) was also one of these, and in total we’ve now had 10 of them: GUANO (game #646), SNAFU (#659), BALSA (#720), KAZOO (#730), LASER (#1038), PIOUS (#1054), BEAUT (#1186) and MOMMY (#1208).
Notice anything about those words? Yes – they include some of the toughest in recent memory.
I can easily work out the average for Wordle as a whole, and right now it stands at 3.964 across those 956 games that I have a score for. However, if you look at the average for those 10 games added by the NYT you’ll see that it’s a mighty 4.35. It’s official: the NYT is making Wordle *******!
There is a reason for this, of course – in that Josh Wardle used up most of the obvious answers. LASER (average: 3.3) and PIOUS (3.8) are the only two below 4.0, and are also the most common words among them, MOMMY aside. That last word is an outlier, meanwhile, because it contains three Ms, an incredibly unusual format (and it had an average of 5.0 as a result).
Elsewhere, KAZOO was a 5.1, PRIMP yesterday was 4.5, BALSA 4.4 and SNAFU 4.3, so it certainly appears as though the NYT’s editors are choosing tougher words when given the chance.
There’s nothing wrong with this, really – and I like a challenge as much as anyone. UVULA is a perfectly fair word, albeit an undeniably difficult one to solve in Wordle. But I wasn’t feeling anywhere near as charitable when I was sat staring at a seemingly impossible game, and I doubt you will be if you just lost your streak today, either.
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Republicans projected to maintain control of House
Republicans projected to maintain control of House
Republicans projected to maintain control of House – CBS News
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CBS News projected Wednesday that Republicans will keep their majority in the House, which along with control of the Senate, will make it easier for President-elect Donald Trump to fill his Cabinet posts and potentially fulfill his legislative agenda. Scott MacFarlane reports from the U.S. Capitol.
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US envoy says Mexico not safe, blames ex-president for ******* security
US envoy says Mexico not safe, blames ex-president for ******* security
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – The U.S. ambassador to Mexico, Ken Salazar, said on Wednesday that the country is not safe and criticized the previous president for a ******* security policy and refusing to accept ********* assistance.
“The reality is that at the moment Mexico is not safe,” Salazar said during a press conference at his residence in Mexico City.
The ambassador criticized former President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador directly, saying security coordination between Mexico and the U.S. had suffered during his term.
“Unfortunately this coordination has ******* in the last year, in great part because the previous president did not want to receive help from the ******* States,” he said.
Lopez Obrador’s attempt to address the root causes of *********, a strategy he called “hugs not bullets,” did “not work,” Salazar said.
He added he hoped that President Claudia Sheinbaum, who took office last month, would have greater success in fighting ****** and ********* by investing more in security.
Sheinbaum, who belongs to the same party as Lopez Obrador, has stressed that her security policy will follow closely that of the previous president.
The comments come as relations between Lopez Obrador and Salazar have become increasingly fraught in recent months, after the ambassador criticized a judicial overhaul being driven by the former president.
It marks a distinct change from the earlier part of Lopez Obrador’s presidency when the two were regarded as having a close working relationship – a proximity that some U.S. diplomats privately criticized.
Mexico has suffered a recent wave of ********* with hundreds ******* in intra-cartel warfare in the state of Sinaloa as well as massacres in other states such as Queretaro where 10 people were ******* in a bar over the weekend.
(Reporting by Diego Delgado; Writing by Stephen Eisenhammer; Editing by Sandra Maler)
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Humble’s New $18 Bundle Includes 10 Sid Meier Games Like Civilization 6, Sid Meier’s Pirates, And More
Humble’s New $18 Bundle Includes 10 Sid Meier Games Like Civilization 6, Sid Meier’s Pirates, And More
The video game industry is full of famous faces and notable names, but if you’re looking for engaging tours through history, a visit to Sid Meier’s library of classics is always a good idea. Over at Humble, several of the legend’s games have been collected into a bundle that’s now on ***** . While games like Sid Meier’s Railroads, Pirates, and Ace Patrol are a fascinating look back at an older era of PC gaming, the real treat here is for Civilization fans, as they can get the sixth game in the series and a ton of DLC to go with it.
Pricing for this bundle starts at $5 for five items, including the games Pacific Skies, Starships, Railroads, Ace Patrol, and Civilization 3. Chip in $9, and you’ll get Civilization 4, Civilization 5, Civilization: Beyond Earth, Civilization 6, and Pirates. For $12, you’ll unlock eight pieces of DLC for Civilization 6, and the full 20-item bundle for $18 throws in two more pieces of premium DLC for the turn-based strategy game.
Proceeds from sales will go toward two charities–Covenant House and the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research–so you’ll be helping worthwhile causes while getting a fantastic deal. The bundle itself is valued at $397, so this is quite the savings. Civilization is the big draw here, as you’re getting older games that have stood the test of time and DLC that extends Civilization 6 for many more hours.
Humble Bundle: The Sid Meier Collection
Games
Sid Meier’s Railroads
Sid Meier’s Ace Patrol
Sid Meier’s Ace Patrol: Pacific Skies
Sid Meier’s Starships
Sid Meier’s Civilization III: Complete
Sid Meier’s Civilization IV: The Complete Edition
Sid Meier’s Pirates
Sid Meier’s Civilization V: The Complete Edition
Sid Meier’s Civilization: Beyond Earth – The Collection
Sid Meier’s Civilization VI
Civilization 6 DLC
Khmer and Indonesia Double Civilization and Scenario Pack
Nubia Civilization and Scenario Pack
Persia and Macedon Civilization and Scenario Pack
Australia Civilization and Scenario Pack
Poland Civilization and Scenario Pack
Vikings Scenario Pack
Rise and Fall
Gathering Storm
New Frontier Pass
Leader Pass
Another good deal at Humble is its monthly Humble Choice game bundle that members get as part of their $12/month subscription. This month, you can grab eight games including Persona 4 Golden, Warhammer 40,000: Darktide, and The Lamplighters League. The neat thing about this service is that the PC games are yours to keep forever after you claim them, even if you decide to cancel your Humble Choice subscription.
Several other game bundles are also available right now, so if you’re in the mood for interactive horror or a blast from the past with Atari, check out the list of Humble Bundles below.
Humble Game Bundles
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A news app is using AI to curate clarity over clickbait
A news app is using AI to curate clarity over clickbait
Trying to figure out the best way to curate your news diet these days can be, at best, difficult. Besides reading everything published by TechRadar, navigating and connecting news stories you want to follow up on can feel like a full-time job on its own. A new mobile app called Particle is employing AI to solve that problem. Particle’s iOS app relies on AI to sift through the news, looking beyond headlines and across multiple platforms to create more comprehensive reports on current events and real-time answers to questions about the news.
Particle offers customizable summaries of the news called Stories, claiming they are a more holistic way to explain what’s happening in the world. You can ask the app to simplify the news by telling it to “Explain Like I’m 5” or get the most concise, basic facts with the “5Ws” format of who, what, when, where, and why. If you want to see a range of opinions and views on a story, you can open the “Opposite Sides” summary for contrasting perspectives.
You can also ask for the summaries in audio form and in different languages. If just seeing summaries is too passive, Particle also has an AI chatbot to answer questions about stories and see what others have asked. The AI also adapts to your interests so you’re more likely to see stories on the topics you care about.
“We’re often scouring the news, looking for answers we might not even find. With Particle, you can get an instant answer to any question about the story. And because you can see other people’s questions, sometimes the answer you’re looking for is already there,” Particle wrote in a blog post. “We enable powerful and transparent control over which stories you see, and which you don’t. On Particle, you can tune your interests to the topics that matter the most to you. Your news feed will adapt to your interests, bringing you the most relevant stories without the noise.”
AI journalistic aid
AI’s foibles being what they are, Particle tries to avoid issues of incorrect facts and hallucinations with reviews by AI models and human oversight. The stories all include links to original sources as well; useful if you see something that comes off as unlikely. If the AI gets something wrong, you can flag it to have Particle fix the error.
Efficient news gathering is obviously appealing to busy people. Particle’s app can be as in-depth or straightforward as you want, which is another benefit to those who want to be more engaged in current events but who sometimes just want the basic facts and other times want more background than any single article might include. I’d rather rely on Particle than on the sometimes garbled or misunderstood takes seen on social media. If you want to keep up with the news without spending all day sorting through different sources, I’d give it a try after you finish your daily read-through of every word published here.
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Trump, Biden meet at White House
Trump, Biden meet at White House
Trump, Biden meet at White House – CBS News
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President Biden and President-elect Donald Trump held a meeting at the White House on Wednesday, where the two political foes shook hands in front of reporters. The two sat in the Oval Office for nearly two hours, discussing domestic issues, plus the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine. Ed O’Keefe has more.
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Pelican News
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Wealth manager reveals how he’s playing as euphoria fades
Wealth manager reveals how he’s playing as euphoria fades
As investors mull over how to play the market following the U.S. election result, Sanders Morris’ George Bull reveals what he is looking out for right now. “The postelection rally was frenetic and may have been too much too soon. But, it did show that investors have confidence that the business community and earnings will be strong under a [Donald] Trump administration,” the chairman at the U.S.-headquartered wealth management firm told CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia” on Wednesday. However, he warned that there was “schizophrenia” in the bond market, which could “fuel indecision and some correction” in the stock markets. Stocks are often rattled when Treasury yields surge, particularly growth stocks as higher yields can hurt their expected future earnings. “There is a great deal of ***** that the tax situation in the ******* States will refuel inflation. So investors are sort of caught, on the one hand, saying, these [bond] yields are quite attractive, let’s buy them. On the other hand, they think, my goodness, if the deficit goes untrammeled into the $2 trillion a year area, the bond vigilantes … will take over once again,” he noted, referencing an expected rising of fiscal deficits under the new administration, which could lead to higher government borrowing and thus higher yields. The term “bond vigilantes” refers to a situation where fixed income traders eschew government debt or sell it, which forces yields higher. President-elect Donald Trump previously vowed to make tax cuts such as in social security and corporate income taxes, leading many to predict that U.S. borrowing will increase as tax receipts fall. The Nasdaq Composite , the S & P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average took a breather midweek from their post U.S. election run and the Federal Reserve’s additional 25 basis point rate cut last week. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield , meanwhile, is hovering around 4.47%. Looking ahead, Bull believes the “euphoria of the moment will fade.” “The threat of the bond vigilantes will subdue the animal spirits, tho[ugh] not conquer them. At some point, the fixed income markets will determine what is fiscally irresponsible, trumping (pun) the Fed,” he said in research notes to CNBC. The wealth manager expects rates on the 10-year U.S. Treasury to reach 5% before the end of the year. Such a phenomenon, he said, will be both an “opportunity to lock in high yields and a signal to the new Trump administration and Congress that budgets count.” “That’s a plus to income seekers-especially retirees and seniors,” he said. Touching upon Trump’s tax cuts, Bull noted that the president-elect is likely to hold taxes down like he did in his first tenure. However, he foresees the imposition of new taxes “in obfuscated ways,” such as a major minimum tax on corporate earnings and limits on deductions. Market plays Against this backdrop, the wealth manager is playing the market with “companies who pay taxes on all of their income, not just income after deductions and shelters.” The energy sector is one he is looking at given Trump’s motive to ****** inflation by reducing energy costs. Names he is ******** on include “well-positioned” companies like Enterprise Product Partners and Energy Transfer with strong annual dividend yields of 6.88% and 7.58% respectively. The banking sector is another one Bull likes, describing community and regional U.S. banks as “attractive.” “They have been on a few days’ tear, but still far below their prior prices. With an economy that is apt to be strong coupled with more reasonable regulation, they deserve attention,” he said, naming the Texas-headquartered Veritex Holdings as an example of a “well managed, growing [and] conservatively capitalized” company he likes.
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Blizzard Shadow Drops Warcraft 1 and 2 Remasters for 30th Anniversary
Blizzard Shadow Drops Warcraft 1 and 2 Remasters for 30th Anniversary
In a rather surprising turn of events, in celebration of Warcraft’s 30th anniversary, Blizzard unveiled and surprise launched remasters of Warcraft 1 and Warcraft 2, which are available on Battle.net at this very moment. If you want to purchase the entire collection, you can score Warcraft Remastered, Warcraft 2 Remastered, and Warcraft 3 Reforged for $39.99 in a unique Battle Chest. Oh, and if you buy now, you’ll also receive Warcraft Orcs & Humans, Warcraft 3 Reforged multiplayer hero skins, and the World of Warcraft Meat Wagon mount, akin to a siege ******* with massive, ******* spikes on its front, rear, and wheels.
The surprise shadow drop of both Warcraft remasters occurs alongside the announcement that, after two decades, World of Warcraft is finally getting player housing in its upcoming expansion, Midnight. However, it’s still a year or two away from launch. But for now, if you pick up the Warcraft Battle Chest, you’ll find yourself with plenty of real-time strategy goodness to sift through before then.
For now, let’s focus on Warcraft Remastered and Warcraft 2 Remastered. For starters, Brad Chan, senior manager of Warcraft RTS, said:
These remasters have brand new hand drawn visuals that capture the original art style from each game, and you’ll be able to swap between the original graphics and the remastered versions in real time.
The remasters feature UI and UX improvements, making both real-time strategy games more accessible to modern audiences. Alongside the remasters, Warcraft 3: Reforged Patch 2.0 is on its way, featuring an environment and lighting overhaul, and improvements to the user interface. Oh, and there are uprezzed HD assets.
Is Warcraft a little too old for your tastes? Let us know if you’re hopping into the remastered RTS trilogy this week with the Battle Chest by visiting us on the community forum!
It wasn’t long ago that Blizzard took the stage at BlizzCon 2023 to announce 20 more years of World of Warcraft with the Worldsoul Saga!
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