Pelican Press

Stellar Blade is getting Nier Automata DLC and a photo mode this month Stellar Blade is getting Nier Automata DLC and a photo mode this month Stellar Blade will add Nier Automata DLC and a photo mode next week as part of a major title update. Launching on November 20, the patch will also introduce new costumes for protagonist Eve and lip-sync support for six additional languages (French, Spanish, Italian, *******, Portuguese, and ****** ********* Spanish). “Nier:Automata significantly inspired Stellar Blade,” Shift Up chief technology officer DongKi Lee said in a PlayStation Blog post. “The collaboration between Director Kim Hyung Tae and Director Yoko Taro, marked by mutual respect and creativity, led to this successful outcome. “In the center of all this is Emil (voiced by Maii Kadowaki), the strange character from Nier:Automata. Emil’s Shop makes a surprise appearance in the world of Stellar Blade where eleven different collaboration-special items will be available. Items that intertwine the best of both games, leading you to a more enriched world.” The game’s photo mode will let players pose Eve, change her outfit, and add new visual effects to screenshots. “You can now transform each moment in the game into your personal masterpiece,” Lee said. “Beautiful landscape, thrilling battles, those emotional moments with the characters… Capture these moments to your heart’s content. Meticulous camera work and various filters allow you to create unique looks.” Shift Up has confirmed that it’s exploring the possibility of releasing Stellar Blade for PC and developing a sequel to the game. Ahead of its PS5 release in April, VGC’s Stellar Blade review called it “one of the most mechanically satisfying action games of the generation.” We said: “For those who wished that **** of War Ragnarok offered a bit more challenge or that Bayonetta had a bit more weight to its combat, this slick sci-fi slasher is the perfect tonic, offering both the perfect entry point into the Souls-like genre and a refreshing refinement of the well-worn character action formula.” Source link #Stellar #Blade #Nier #Automata #DLC #photo #mode #month Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Audio AIs are trained on data full of bias and offensive language Audio AIs are trained on data full of bias and offensive language Audio training data has been overlooked when it comes to assessing AI ******* Palacio/Unsplash Artificial intelligence models that generate audio are being trained on datasets plagued with bias, offensive language and potential copyright infringement, sparking concerns about their use. Generative audio products, such as song generators, voice cloning tools and transcription services, are increasingly popular, but while text and image generators have been subject to much scrutiny, audio has received less attention. To help rectify this, William Agnew at Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania and his… Source link #Audio #AIs #trained #data #full #bias #offensive #language Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Italian authorities bust ‘international forgery ring’ Italian authorities bust ‘international forgery ring’ Police in Italy say they have busted a major ********* ********* network forging and selling artworks by some of the biggest names in modern art. More than 2,100 forged artworks were recovered, including works attributed to Banksy, Andy Warhol and Pablo Picasso. Thirty-eight people were arrested over the forgeries, which carried a potential ***** value of about €200m (£165m; $213m). Six forgery workshops were uncovered in the sting, including two in Tuscany, one in Venice and the rest elsewhere in Europe, Italian prosecutors added. Those arrested face charges of *********** to handle stolen goods, forgery and ******** ***** of artworks, the Carabinieri cultural squad and the Pisa prosecutors’ office said in a ****** statement on Monday. The statement said authorities were tipped off in 2023 after they seized about 200 fake pieces from the collection of a businessman in Pisa, including a copy of a drawing by Italian painter Amedeo Modigliani. Fake artworks attributed to more than 30 famed artists were seized in raids carried out in Italy, Spain and Belgium, the statement said. Other artists impersonated by the network included Claude Monet, Vincent Van Gogh, Salvador Dali, Henry Moore, Gustav Klimt, Joan Mirò, Jackson Pollock, Francis Bacon and Piet Mondrian. Pisa Chief Prosecutor Teresa Angela Camelio said experts believe the operation is “the biggest act of protection” of Banksy’s estate. Banksy is one of the world’s most famous artists, but despite his global following, his identity ********, officially at least, unknown. This is not the first time his artwork has attracted **********. In September, two thieves were arrested and charged over the theft of his famed Girl with Balloon piece from a central London art gallery. Banksy’s art, which tends to be graffitied by the artist on public buildings, has at times not remained intact for long. A recent urban jungle collection, which popped up over a series of days across London, was defaced. Warhol’s work, too, has fallen foul of ********** of late. Earlier this month two of his artworks were stolen during an overnight break-in at a gallery in the Netherlands. Source link #Italian #authorities #bust #international #forgery #ring Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

F1 24: A deeper ***** into its PS5 Pro enhancements, plus first details on the upcoming season 4 F1 24: A deeper ***** into its PS5 Pro enhancements, plus first details on the upcoming season 4 Electronic Arts writes: “In a first for EA Sports, the PS5 Pro F1 24 enhancements enable 8K/60Hz support when using a compatible display in Resolution Mode. All 25 circuits in the game are improved both on and off the track, and with variable weather and time of day options for each, players are bound to discover a new favorite in 8K/60Hz.” Source link #deeper #***** #PS5 #Pro #enhancements #details #upcoming #season Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Food security: Is the climate change food crisis even worse than we imagined? Food security: Is the climate change food crisis even worse than we imagined? Роман Заворотный/Adobe Stock You have probably already noticed that the price of many of the foods in your grocery basket has risen – a lot. In the ***, the cost of white potatoes is up 20 per cent in the past year, with carrots up 38 per cent and olive oil up 40 per cent. And while that means the expense of putting together a roast dinner is soaring, specialty items are suffering even ******* hikes – you will now pay nearly double for some bars of chocolate. What is driving prices up is complex, but one of the biggest factors is climate change. In the short term, extreme weather caused by a warming climate has had devastating consequences for growers. In northern Europe, for instance, torrential rains in spring 2024 left fields too sodden to harvest vegetables or plant new crops. Meanwhile, a drought in Morocco, which typically exports a lot of vegetables to Europe, meant there wasn’t enough water for irrigation. The result was soaring prices for potatoes and carrots. As the average global temperature zooms past 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels in the coming years, heatwaves, droughts and extreme storms are going to become even more common and severe, causing greater disruption to food production. But current efforts to compensate for the impact of poor harvests – such as clearing forests to grow more crops – make many other problems worse, from biodiversity loss to increasing carbon dioxide levels. With such big impacts on so many foods already happening, have we underestimated how bad the effect will be? And what can we do about it if we have? Source link #Food #security #climate #change #food #crisis #worse #imagined Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Bitcoin skyrockets to an all-time high of over $84,000 — a euphoric surge in investments from Trump’s presidential win Bitcoin skyrockets to an all-time high of over $84,000 — a euphoric surge in investments from Trump’s presidential win After months of sitting in consolidation, Bitcoin has broken its record high for the second time this year, rising to over $84,000 at the time of writing. CNBC reports the main driving force behind Bitcoin’s resurgence is Donald Trump’s electoral win for the presidential seat. Bitcoin broke its previous high ($73,794) on November 6, the day Trump won the election. Since then, Bitcoin has been on a nonstop bull run, charging to its all-time high of nearly $85,000 today. Bitcoin’s new high represents a 15% increase over its previous high of $73,000 and a 23% increase from its last major high of $69,000 in 2021. This massive spike is purportedly a result of market euphoria following Trump’s presidential win. Trump is a big supporter of cryptocurrency, promising to make the ******* States the crypto capital of the world. He also purportedly insists that all Bitcoin should be mined in the country. (Image credit: TradingView) Trump’s endorsement of crypto, especially Bitcoin, is encouraging investors to pour more money into the cryptocurrency. Purportedly, net inflows for Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs in the two days after the election were combined over $2 billion. ETFs appear to be the leading value-builder for the world’s most popular cryptocurrencies. BlackRock Bitcoin ETF is now more valuable than gold due to the election, making Bitcoin one of the most attractive asset builders moving forward. The good news for PC gamers and graphics card buyers is that Bitcoin’s mining difficulty has not gotten any easier. As a result, we shouldn’t see another major GPU mining shortage in the foreseeable future. Bitcoin’s difficulty now requires dedicated ASICs to be profitable. Ethereum is in the same boat since the crypto moved to a proof-of-stake strategy that makes mining Ethereum with GPUs impossible. Bitcoin isn’t the only cryptocurrency that has seen price increases; virtually all of the popular cryptos have seen sudden spikes due to Trump’s electoral win. Ethereum is now at $3,300, representing a full $1,000 increase in less than a week. Another popular coin, Ada (Cardano), has increased in value by over 80% in the same timeframe. Get Tom’s Hardware’s best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox. Source link #Bitcoin #skyrockets #alltime #high #euphoric #surge #investments #Trumps #presidential #win Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Katie Stockton says bitcoin could be headed to $98,000 next after some short-term consolidation Katie Stockton says bitcoin could be headed to $98,000 next after some short-term consolidation Market participants have been closely watching the so-called “Trump trades” on the back of the election. The cryptocurrency market is one that was strongly impacted by Trump’s victory last week, noting bitcoin subsequently gained about 23%. The charts are a great way to analyze cryptocurrencies like bitcoin given their deep global liquidity and pure supply/demand dynamics. The postelection rally in bitcoin has had a positive impact on the chart from a technical perspective, with a breakout to new all-time highs having been confirmed. The breakout resolves a seven-month long corrective phase to the upside in a bullish intermediate-term development. The weekly MACD is positive after flashing a timely ‘buy’ signal a few weeks earlier. This should allow overbought conditions to be absorbed for some time. The effect of the postelection rally is also meaningful on the monthly chart, which has taken the shape of a bullish cup-and-handle formation. There is a new bullish ‘pop’ higher in the stochastic oscillator, which suggests that the cyclical bull trend is set for another wave higher. The monthly MACD histogram shows an uptick in long-term upside momentum in additional positive technical development. $98,000? Breakouts to new highs often instill questions about upside potential. When there is no resistance left on the charts, we can apply a measured move price projection to derive a target. In the case of bitcoin, an aggressive measured move targets approximately $98.1K, based on the 2023-2024 upmove projected from the corrective low in August. Former resistance near $73.8K is now initial support following the breakout. Investors in bitcoin should welcome the breakout as an extension of the uptrend, and prospective investors should see it as a reason to revisit the chart. We recommend letting bitcoin digest its strong gains of late in a short-term consolidation phase before adding exposure. —Katie Stockton with Will Tamplin Access research from Fairlead Strategies for free here . DISCLOSURES: (None) All opinions expressed by the CNBC Pro contributors are solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of CNBC, NBC UNIVERSAL, their parent company or affiliates, and may have been previously disseminated by them on television, radio, internet or another medium. THE ABOVE CONTENT IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY . THIS CONTENT IS PROVIDED FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY AND DOES NOT CONSITUTE FINANCIAL, INVESTMENT, TAX OR LEGAL ADVICE OR A RECOMMENDATION TO BUY ANY SECURITY OR OTHER FINANCIAL ASSET. THE CONTENT IS GENERAL IN NATURE AND DOES NOT REFLECT ANY INDIVIDUAL’S UNIQUE PERSONAL CIRCUMSTANCES. THE ABOVE CONTENT MIGHT NOT BE SUITABLE FOR YOUR PARTICULAR CIRCUMSTANCES. BEFORE MAKING ANY FINANCIAL DECISIONS, YOU SHOULD STRONGLY CONSIDER SEEKING ADVICE FROM YOUR OWN FINANCIAL OR INVESTMENT ADVISOR. Click here for the full disclaimer. Fairlead Strategies Disclaimer: This communication has been prepared by Fairlead Strategies LLC (“Fairlead Strategies”) for informational purposes only. This material is for illustration and discussion purposes and not intended to be, nor construed as, financial, legal, tax or investment advice. You should consult appropriate advisors concerning such matters. This material presents information through the date indicated, reflecting the author’s current expectations, and is subject to revision by the author, though the author is under no obligation to do so. This material may contain commentary on broad-based indices, market conditions, different types of securities, and cryptocurrencies, using the discipline of technical analysis, which evaluates the demand and supply based on market pricing. The views expressed herein are solely those of the author. This material should not be construed as a recommendation, or advice or an offer or solicitation with respect to the purchase or ***** of any investment. The information is not intended to provide a basis on which you could make an investment decision on any particular security or its issuer. This document is intended for CNBC Pro subscribers only and is not for distribution to the general public. Certain information has been provided by and/or is based on third party sources and, although such information is believed to be reliable, no representation is made with respect to the accuracy, completeness, or timeliness of such information. This information may be subject to change without notice. Fairlead Strategies undertakes no obligation to maintain or update this material based on subsequent information and events or to provide you with any additional or supplemental information or any update to or correction of the information contained herein. Fairlead Strategies, its officers, employees, affiliates and partners shall not be liable to any person in any way whatsoever for any losses, costs, or claims for your reliance on this material. Nothing herein is, or shall be relied on as, a promise or representation as to future performance. PAST PERFORMANCE IS NOT INDICATIVE OF FUTURE RESULTS. Opinions expressed in this material may differ or be contrary to opinions expressed, or actions taken, by Fairlead Strategies or its affiliates, or their respective officers, directors, or employees. In addition, any opinions and assumptions expressed herein are made as of the date of this communication and are subject to change and/or withdrawal without notice. Fairlead Strategies or its affiliates may have positions in financial instruments mentioned, may have acquired such positions at prices no longer available, and may have interests different from or adverse to your interests or inconsistent with the advice herein. Any investments made are made under the same terms as nonaffiliated investors and do not constitute a controlling interest. No liability is accepted by Fairlead Strategies, its officers, employees, affiliates, or partners for any losses that may arise from any use of the information contained herein. Any financial instruments mentioned herein are speculative in nature and may involve risk to principal and interest. Any prices or levels shown are either historical or purely indicative. This material does not take into account the particular investment objectives or financial circumstances, objectives or needs of any specific investor, and are not intended as recommendations of particular securities, investment products, or other financial products or strategies to particular clients. Securities, investment products, other financial products or strategies discussed herein may not be suitable for all investors. The recipient of this information must make its own independent decisions regarding any securities, investment products or other financial products mentioned herein. The material should not be provided to any person in a jurisdiction where its provision or use would be contrary to local laws, rules, or regulations. This material is not to be reproduced or redistributed absent the written consent of Fairlead Strategies. Source link #Katie #Stockton #bitcoin #headed #shortterm #consolidation Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

US envoy vows climate ****** will continue under Trump US envoy vows climate ****** will continue under Trump Getty The US will still continue fighting climate change and curbing its emissions of planet-warming gases despite the election of Donald Trump, the US special envoy told the COP29 conference on its opening day. John Podesta, a Biden administration appointee, labelled the incoming president a climate denier who would dismantle environmental safeguards and remove the US from a key international agreement to stop burning fossil fuels. Experts say Trump’s return to the White House will have a hugely negative effect on climate change action, at least in the short term. But Podesta said “facts were still facts, science is still science,” and US states and cities would continue the ****** to reduce fossil fuel use. “In January we are going to inaugurate a president whose relationship with climate change is captured by the words ‘hoax’ and ‘fossil fuels’, Mr Podesta said. “He has vowed to dismantle our environmental safeguards and once again withdraw the ******* States from the Paris Agreement.” “That is what he has said, and we should believe him.” The 2015 Paris agreement saw countries agree to try to keep global temperature rise below 1.5C. Leaders from nearly 100 countries will address the meeting in the coming days. COP29 had been billed as an opportunity to solve the crucial issue of getting money to poorer countries to help them deal with the impacts of climate change and help them prepare for it. But expectations for what the summit can achieve have been lowered by a Trump victory that makes Biden administration negotiators from one of the world’s largest carbon emitters a lame duck in this process and unable to really promise much. However, the election wasn’t the end of the struggle, Mr Podesta told reporters. He believed that as a result of the policies put in place by President Biden and with the support of states and cities, US emissions would continue their downward trajectory, albeit at a slower pace. “The ****** is ******* than one election, one political cycle and one country. This ****** is ******* still because we are living through a year defined by the climate crisis in every country of the world.” COP29 got underway amid a welter of scientific gloom. The UN’s World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said in a report released to coincide with the conference’s start, that 2024 is on track to be the world’s warmest year on record. Its latest State of the Climate report also finds that our oceans are heating up rapidly and glacier melt is accelerating. “We are on the road to ruin,” Mukhtar Babyaev, president of COP29 said in his opening remarks. He went on to list examples of climate impacts now around the world, saying “these are not future problems” as rising temperatures were doing huge damage around the world right now. Getty Images Experts say the recent deadly floods in Valencia, Spain, were likely made worse by climate change The mood of delegates wasn’t improved by the scale of the main task facing negotiators here. Amid energy and economic crises, developed countries are expected to find billions extra in climate finance for developing nations. Richer countries are willing to increase their contributions, as long as major emerging economies like China and the Gulf states also chip in. UN climate change chief Simon Stiell said that two thirds of the world cannot afford to cut emissions quickly enough to keep the 1.5C temperature threshold alive. If they didn’t get the cash to cut their carbon, everyone suffers, he said. “Let’s dispense with any idea that climate finance is charity. An ambitious new climate finance goal is entirely in the self-interest of every nation, including the largest and wealthiest,” he told delegates. One issue exercising the minds and pockets of attendees at this gathering is the price of food and drink in the conference centre Our colleague Aygul Mehman, a journalist with the BBC’s Azerbaijani service, was charged 41 AZN (the Azerbaijani currency) for her modest lunch of soup, a bean salad and a dry roll. That’s about £18 ($24). “It’s like they are taking money from our pockets,” one delegate told BBC Climate Editor Justin Rowlatt as he was queuing up for food. This is a serious issue. Delegates from poorer nations often complain about how much these big conferences cost them when you add in flights and hotels and the total can come to many thousands of pounds. Source link #envoy #vows #climate #****** #continue #Trump Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

4,000-Year-Old Bronze Age Dilmun Temple Found on Failaka Island, Kuwait 4,000-Year-Old Bronze Age Dilmun Temple Found on Failaka Island, Kuwait From one of the oldest trading civilizations in the world comes another exciting discovery – a 4,000-year-old Bronze Age temple, uncovered on Failaka Island, linked to the early Dilmun civilization (3,200 to 320 BC). During prior excavations, traces of the wall believed to be part of the same temple’s platform were found on top of a hill, and were dated to approximately 1900-1800 BC. Now, the full temple, measuring 11×11 meters (36.08×36.08 feet) in size, has been unearthed, along with many artifacts such as seals and pottery, that confirm the temple’s association with the Dilmun people, an East Semitic-speaking population from eastern Arabia that traded extensively with the civilizations of Mesopotamia. The National Council for Culture, Arts, and Literature announced in a press release that the Kuwaiti-Danish team from the Moesgaard Museum in Denmark, which has been performing excavations on the island for many years, made these finds earlier last week. The new finds lie not far from other significant structures linked to this ancient culture, such as ‘the Palace’ and ‘Dilmun Temple,’ meaning this was the second temple discovered in the same general area. Early Dilmun civilization pottery, from 2,300 BC. (Ciacho5/CC BY-SA 3.0). Dr. Stephen Larsen, head of the Danish delegation, emphasized that the temple’s layout held clues about religious practices during the early Dilmun *******, featuring altars that would have had ritualistic and ceremonial significance. Dr. Hassan Ashkenani, Professor of Archaeology and Anthropology at Kuwait University, was quick to point out that finding the temple next to a large administrative building hints at the site’s importance as a religious and administrative center for the kingdom, reports the Kuwait Times. Dr. Ashkanani explained that the discovery represented a fascinating find that sheds light on the Dilmun people’s activities on the exotic and remote Failaka Island, and in the region in general. The existence of two temples at the same site, alongside a large administrative building, highlights Failaka’s role as an important center for religious and administrative activities. The Dilman Civilization: Prospering in the Bronze Age The Dilmun people built a prominent ancient civilization that flourished from the third millennium BC. It occupied the lands of modern-day Bahrain, eastern Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait, and played a crucial role as a key trading hub on the route connecting Mesopotamia, the world’s oldest civilization, with the Indus Valley in South Asia. Scholars also believe that Dilmun maintained commercial connections with other significant ancient sites, including Elam in present-day Oman, Alba in Syria, and Haittan in Turkey, reports The BBC. Dilmun ruins (burial chambers) unearthed in Saar, Bahrain. (Rapid Travel Chai/CC BY-SA 3.0) Dilmun merchants held a valuable monopoly on the trade of copper, the first mined metal by humans. Sourced from the rich copper mines in Oman, copper would be transported through Dilmun’s ports and then shipped to Mesopotamian cities, converted into tools, weapons, and luxury items. Dilmun’s exclusive control over copper trade routes made it a key economic hub and powerful intermediary between Oman and the Mesopotamian civilizations. Despite their trade orientation, Religion was a major part of the Dilmun culture as well. “The belief system here has a lot in common with those of Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt. Belief in the after-life is shown by burying the ***** with possessions such as tools, food, drinking vessels and gold. We’ve even found weapons,” explained Abdullah Hassan Yehia, the keeper of the Qal’at al Bahrain. Failaka Island: Oozing Fertility in an Arid Dustbowl Failaka Island is relatively small, but its location made it a natural attraction for the commerce-minded Dilmun people. The island can be found approximately 30 miles (50 kilometers) from the spot where the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers converge to empty into the Persian Gulf. From here, the Dilmun culture was able to maintain control over the lucrative Persian Gulf trade in general. Satellite view of Failaka Island, Kuwait. (NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Space Systems/Public Domain). Even beyond its strategic location, Failaka Island was famed for its agricultural produce; its fertility was enabled by abundance of sweet-water springs, which still supply the island with much of its drinking water. The island was an oasis in a larger, arid region, giving rise to the myth that perhaps it was the mythical Garden of Eden! “There is no doubt that the land of Kuwait is rich with different antiquities, which began from the Stone Age and Bronze Age, as well as from other historic ages,” archaeologists exploring the island remarked in a 2017 interview with the Kuwait News Agency Kuna. “We have found 20 Sumerian documents in Falaika, all talking about the importance of Dilmun, and the big trade relations between Dilmun and Old Iraq.” Top image: Ancient Bronze Age ruins from the Dilmun civilization found previously on Failaka Island. Source:Bo Hessin/CC BY-SA 3.0. By Sahir Pandey Source link #4000YearOld #Bronze #Age #Dilmun #Temple #Failaka #Island #Kuwait Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

FEMA Supervisor Fired for Allegedly Telling Relief Workers to Skip Homes of Trump Supporters FEMA Supervisor Fired for Allegedly Telling Relief Workers to Skip Homes of Trump Supporters The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has confirmed that a supervisor is currently under investigation after being fired for allegedly asking fellow employees not to inspect homes in a Florida town hit by Hurricane Milton if they displayed signs in their yards supporting Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. According to internal correspondence obtained by The Daily Wire, supervisor Marn’i Washington told workers to “avoid homes advertising Trump” as they went to a Lake Placid neighborhood to assess the damage left by the hurricane. Washington allegedly reiterated the message verbally and in a group chat used by the workers. “I volunteered to help disaster victims, not discriminate against them,” one of the employees told the outlet. “It didn’t matter if people were ******, white, Hispanic, for Trump, for Harris. Everyone deserves the same amount of help.” Department of Homeland Security employees were tasked to help understaffed FEMA workers as they dealt with Hurricane Milton which struck just weeks after Hurricane Helene. The workers given the guidance were operating in the Highland County area. “I know they’re short-staffed, I thought we could go help and make a difference,” one of the employees said. “When we got there we were told to discriminate against people. It’s almost unbelievable to think that somebody in the federal government would think that’s okay.” The government employees shared that as a result of the guidance from Washington, they skipped over 20 homes with Trump signs or flags from the end of October and into November – essentially barring residents from receiving FEMA assistance. Workers who followed the guidance kept track of the houses they skipped noting, “Trump sign no entry per leadership,” “Per leadership no stop Trump flag,” “Trump sign,” and “Trump sign, no contact per leadership.” Employees said it felt wrong to discriminate against people when they were at their “most vulnerable.” One of those employees filed a complaint to DHS writing, “If they had damage or lost power for over thirty-six hours, it was my duty to inform them of benefits to which they are entitled through FEMA.” But instead, they were guided to skip over those homes along with other recommendations like “practice de-escalation and preventative measures,” and “avoid high salt diets and coffee.” “This behavior raises significant concerns of discrimination against ******* States citizens because of their political views,” a copy of the complaint obtained by The Daily Wire said. “These actions not only undermine the integrity of our agency and create a hostile work environment for those who may hold differing political beliefs but they also threaten the very democracy of our country.” FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell has called the incident “reprehensible.” “This is a clear violation of FEMA’s core values and principles to help people regardless of their political affiliation,” she said. “This type of behavior and action will not be tolerated at FEMA and we will hold people accountable if they violate these standards of conduct.” ***Please sign up for CBN Newsletters and download the CBN News app to ensure you keep receiving the latest news.*** Criswell noted that Washington was terminated and the matter has been turned over to FEMA’s Office of Special Counsel. Another FEMA spokesperson released a statement saying the agency is “deeply **********” by the employee’s actions and that it is an “isolated incident.” “The employee who issued this guidance had no authority and was given no direction to tell teams to avoid these homes and we are reaching out to the people who may have not been reached as a result of this incident,” the spokesperson said, adding that the agency has helped more than 365,000 households impacted by both Hurricanes Helene and Milton in Florida and provided nearly $900 million in direct assistance to survivors. “We are horrified that this took place and therefore have taken extreme actions to correct this situation and have ensured that the matter was addressed at all levels.” Before being terminated, Washington walked back the instructions she gave and also denied that homes were skipped after a meeting with other FEMA administrators. Lake Placid Mayor John Holbrook told the New York Post that many of the residents had taken it upon themselves to clear out the destruction with the assistance of Highland County. He noted that he hadn’t noticed FEMA activity in the area. “We’re picking up most of the debris ourselves,” he said. Highland County backed Trump by 70% in the general election last Tuesday. It is unclear if a similar guidance was issued elsewhere in the country. Meanwhile, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has directed the Florida Division of Emergency Management to investigate the incident as well. The blatant weaponization of government by partisan activists in the federal bureaucracy is yet another reason why the Biden-Harris administration is in its final days,” DeSantis said on social media. “New leadership is on the way in DC, and I’m optimistic that these partisan bureaucrats will be fired,” he said. Source link #FEMA #Supervisor #Fired #Allegedly #Telling #Relief #Workers #Skip #Homes #Trump #Supporters Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Preorder Venom 4K Collection With Limited-Edition Action Figure For $50 Off Preorder Venom 4K Collection With Limited-Edition Action Figure For $50 Off With Venom: The Last Dance bringing trilogy of live-action movies to a close, Sony is releasing a collection featuring all three films on 4K Blu-ray, and it comes with a cool collectible. Venom 3-Movie Collection is bundled with a limited-edition action figure, and big fans of the symbiote can place their preorders now. Listed for $130, Venom 3-Movie Collection is discounted to only $80 at Amazon. A release date for the collection hasn’t been revealed, but it’ll probably launch alongside the physical editions for Venom: The Last Dance, which went up for preorder when the film premiered in theaters last month. Venom 3-Movie Collection Venom Series 4K Limited Edition Steelbooks If you’d rather own steelbook cases instead of an action figure, you can create your own Venom collection by preordering Venom: The Last Dance’s Limited Edition Steelbook and picking up reprints of the first two movies’ steelbook editions for cheap: Venom — $23.40 Venom: Let There Be Carnage — $23.40 Venom: The Last Dance — $48.49 ($66) | Preorder The Venom movies may not be very good, but the steelbook cases look cool, and The Last Dance has the best design of the bunch. Just like the Venom 3-Movie Collection, there’s no official release date yet for The Last Dance, but we’ll update this article once the date is revealed. Check out more details on the collection and all editions of Venom: The Last Dance below. $80 (was $130) | Release Date: TBA The Venom 3-Movie Collection comes with 4K Blu-ray, Blu-ray, and digital versions of all three films in the series. The most notable aspect of this set is undoubtedly the limited-edition action figure. Though Amazon has not released specifics on the figure, based on the window on the box, the Venom figure is likely three to four inches. As mentioned, you are missing out on the steelbook case for The Last Dance, but this collection offers a convenient way to get all three movies in all three popular formats for a reasonable price–at the moment, at least. Amazon’s price is currently set at $80, but the list price for the collection is $130. With Amazon’s preorder price guarantee, you’ll pay the lowest price offered between the time you order and release. $48.49 (was $66) | Release Date: TBA Amazon listed Venom: The Last Dance’s 4K Steelbook Edition for $66 at first, but as with many other Blu-ray preorders, the price has since dropped substantially to $48.49. There’s no guarantee it will remain at this price–it could go back up or drop even lower–but preordering from Amazon secures a price guarantee. As usual, you won’t pay until your preorder ships from Amazon’s warehouse, and you will only be charged the lowest price offered since completing your order. As an added bonus, you’ll also get a copy of the movie on a standard Blu-ray disc and a digital streaming code for it. $35-$50 Venom: The Last Dance will also release on 4K Blu-ray without a steelbook. You can preorder the standard 4K Blu-ray edition for $37.49 (was $50), the 1080p Blu-ray for $32 (was $41), or the DVD edition for $27 (was $35). Special features haven’t been finalized yet, but if it’s anything like its predecessors, Venom 3 will probably have an assortment of behind-the-scenes documentaries, deleted scenes, and promotional materials to check out once you’re done watching the main event. The threequel once again stars Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock and his alien bestie, as the pair find themselves hunted by deadly forces. The movie has a pretty stacked cast, as Chiwetel Ejiofor, Juno Temple, Rhys Ifans, Peggy Lu, Alanna Ubach and Stephen Graham also star in it. If you’re thinking of making your own Venom collection, here’s a look at the Limited Edition Steelbooks for the first two movies. You can put together a pretty cool art gallery of Venom’s weird adventures. It’s worth noting that these are bad movies, but they’re actually so bad that they’re good, in a weird, outrageously magical sort of way. Venom & Venom: Let There Be Carnage Limited Edition Steelbooks Source link #Preorder #Venom #Collection #LimitedEdition #Action #Figure Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Our only visit to Uranus came at an unusual time for the planet Our only visit to Uranus came at an unusual time for the planet Uranus is more normal than we had thought NASA/Space Telescope Science Institute Uranus’s strange magnetic field may be much less weird than astronomers first thought, which means its largest moons could be much more active, and even perhaps have global oceans. Our only direct measurements of Uranus’s magnetic field come from NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft, which flew by the planet in 1986. The spacecraft’s readings suggested that the magnetic field was lopsided – meaning it wasn’t aligned with the planet’s rotation – as well as being unusually rich in extremely energetic electrons and devoid of the plasma that is common in the magnetic fields of other gas giants like Jupiter. Astronomers at the time thought the results so bizarre that they invoked complex physics to try to explain the readings – or simply dismissed them as evidence that Voyager 2’s instruments had gone haywire. Now, Jamie Jasinski at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California and his colleagues have reanalysed the Voyager 2 data and found that it was skewed by a rare burst of solar wind that squashed Uranus’s magnetic field just before the spacecraft arrived, disturbing the readings. This means everything we thought we knew about Uranus’s magnetic field might be wrong, says Jasinski. “This kind of almost resets everything,” he says. Jasinski and his team found that the solar wind compressed Uranus’s magnetic field to a size that it would typically only adopt 4 per cent of the time – but that scientists have, for the past 40 years, assumed was its normal state. The squashed magnetic field explains the previous strange results, such as its lack of plasma and highly energetic electrons, says Jasinski. If there is, in fact, plasma in Uranus’s magnetic field – and Voyager 2 just happened to miss it – then it might not all come from the planet itself. Some might come from Uranus’s moons, the largest of which are called Titania and Oberon. Until now, we have assumed these moons were inert, but the new study leaves open the possibility that they are geologically active after all. This would fit with recent calculations indicating the moons might have hidden oceans. “The solar wind could have essentially eradicated all the evidence of active moons just before the flyby happened,” says Jasinski. Topics: Source link #visit #Uranus #unusual #time #planet Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Ukraine rushes to reinforce east amid Russian advances Ukraine rushes to reinforce east amid Russian advances Ukraine says its hard-pressed military is battling 50,000 troops inside Russia’s Kursk region while also scrambling to reinforce two besieged fronts in the east and bracing to meet an infantry ******** in the south. The escalating fighting along a more than 1000-km front line is stretching Ukraine’s already outnumbered troops at a critical moment after Donald Trump won the US election, raising the prospect of possible talks with Russia. Russia occupies a fifth of Ukraine and President Vladimir ****** has said he wants Ukraine to drop ambitions to join the NATO military alliance and retreat from four Ukrainian regions that he partially holds, something officials in Kyiv says is tantamount to capitulation. Ukraine’s armed forces commander General Oleksandr Syrskyi said he travelled to the front in Russia’s Kursk region where a surprise Ukrainian incursion carved out a chunk of land in August that President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said could be used as a bargaining chip. “(Russian forces) are trying to dislodge our troops and advance deep into the territory we control,” he said on Telegram. Some US military analysts have questioned the rationale of the Kursk operation, which extended an already long front line, creating more strain for Ukraine. Ukraine says Russia has deployed 11,000 North Korean troops to the Kursk region and that they have already been involved in clashes, urging its allies to respond robustly. Russia has neither denied nor confirmed their presence. Syrskyi said the Kursk operation had drawn in ****** Russian fighters and relieved pressure that would have been brought to bear on several important outposts in eastern Ukraine where Russia has been making gains at its fastest clip since 2022. “These tens of thousands of enemies from the best Russian shock units would have stormed our positions in the Pokrovsk, Kurakhove or Toretsk directions, which would have significantly worsened the situation at the front,” he said. The Ukrainian governor of Donetsk region said a dam at the Kurakhove reservoir had been damaged creating a threat to villagers living near the Vovcha river. He blamed Russian shelling. Zelenskiy said that Ukraine would strengthen positions on the Pokrovsk and Kurakhove fronts where Russia has directed its offensive pressure for months. Russia has been closing in on Pokrovsk, a strategic road and rail hub that has a coal mine. The small industrial town of Kurakhove is home to a major coal-powered thermal power plant. A Ukrainian military spokesperson told Reuters that Russia was also moving trained ******** groups to forward positions in the southern Zaporizhzhia region and that they were preparing to *******. The southern front has had far less fighting since 2023 when Ukraine launched a major counteroffensive that ******* to break through heavily defended and mined lands held by Russia. “(The assaults) could begin in the near future, we’re not even talking about weeks, we’re expecting it to happen any day,” said Vladyslav Voloshyn, spokesman for the southern military sector. Although it was not clear if they would involve a single offensive push or separate assaults, intelligence assessed that Russian troops planned to use armoured vehicles and a considerable number of drones, he said. “They are preparing both armoured groups and light vehicles – buggies, motorcycles – to conduct these ******** operations,” he added. Russia has already carried out preliminary reconnaissance and stepped up air strikes in the south by about 30-40 per cent in the last two-three weeks, using ******** and unguided air missiles, he added. Russia has been claiming the capture of village after village as it advances in Ukraine’s east, and has vowed to expel Ukrainian forces from its Kursk region. Reuters was not able to independently verify reports from the front. Source link #Ukraine #rushes #reinforce #east #Russian #advances Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Warhammer 40K Darktide Crossplay Confirmed for PS5 Release Warhammer 40K Darktide Crossplay Confirmed for PS5 Release Two years after its initial release, Warhammer 40K: Darktide is finally making its way to the PS5. It is currently available on both PC and Xbox consoles and supports cross-platform play between the two systems and different PC clients. With the PS5 release date announcement, Fatshark has officially confirmed that the crossplay will be available on the new platform as well. Warhammer 40K Darktide PS5 Crossplay Confirmed Unlike the Vermintide series, Fatshark confirmed on Twitter/X that the PS5 release of Warhammer 40K Darktide will indeed have crossplay support. Oh, and Rejects… There’ll be crossplay on PS5. — Warhammer 40K: Darktide (@Darktide40K) November 8, 2024 Since this is a cooperative title, there isn’t a competitive aspect that pits players against each other which is why queuing up with friends, and other players across different platforms is highly encouraged. Image via Fatshark As of right now, PC players can’t opt out of crossplay, but it is possible for users who are playing on the Microsft Store or Xbox version as there is account-level support for opting out of crossplay features. We expect something similar for the PS5 release as well. Crossplay in Darktide offers the following features: Matchmaking across platforms Adding friends across platforms Joining players from Steam and the Microsoft Store We don’t expect cross-progression on the PS5 with other platforms, unlike the Xbox and Microsoft Store versions which support the Xbox Play Anywhere feature. Warhammer 40K Darktide PS5 Release Date Fatshark has announced that Darktide is coming to PlayStation 5 on December 3, 2024. Pre-Order Warhammer 40K Darktide PS5 Version You can now pre-order the Standard and Imperial Edition of Warhammer 40: Darktide from the PlayStation store at the links below. If you pre-order the Imperial Edition, you will be able to play Darktide six days early. Image via Fatshark Warhammer 40K Darktide PS5 Pro Features In addition to the PS5 release, Darktide also comes with the “PlayStation 5 Pro Enhanced” label and targets the following performance on both consoles. PS5 Model Mode Resolution Framerate PS5 Performance 1440p 60 FPS PS5 Quality 4K 30 FPS PS5 Pro Pro Enhanced 4K 60 FPS Darktide also has DualSense Haptic Feedback support on the PS5, though there isn’t a mention of adaptive triggers. Warhammer 40K Darktide is in an incredible place right now, and many of its issues have been addressed over the past year with major updates. The PS5 release will include all the updated content, fixes, and quality-of-life additions, making it a great version right off the bat. Crossplay works quite well in its current state, and we expect the same for the PS5 version as well. Prima Games is supported by our audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn a small affiliate commission. Learn more about our Affiliate Policy Source link #Warhammer #40K #Darktide #Crossplay #Confirmed #PS5 #Release Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

A distant planet seems to have a sulfur-rich atmosphere, hinting at alien volcanoes A distant planet seems to have a sulfur-rich atmosphere, hinting at alien volcanoes The potential detection of sulphur dioxide and hydrogen sulphide hint at a molten or volcanic surface. Credit: USGS Photo Today, we know of more than 5,000 exoplanets: planets outside our solar system that orbit other stars. While the effort to discover new worlds goes on, we’re steadily learning more about the exoplanets we’ve already detected: their sizes, what they’re made of and whether they have atmospheres. Our team has now provided tentative evidence for a sulfur-rich atmosphere on a world that’s 1.5 times the size of Earth and located 35 light years away. If confirmed, it would be the smallest known exoplanet with an atmosphere. The potential presence of the gases sulfur dioxide (SO₂) and hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) in this atmosphere hint at a molten or volcanic surface. In our solar system, we have two distinct categories of planets—the small rocky ones, including Earth and Mars, and the gas giants, such as Jupiter and Saturn. However, exoplanets span a great spectrum of sizes. Our solar system lacks a planet whose size falls into the range between Earth and Neptune, but it turns out that’s the most common type of planet we have seen around other stars in our galaxy. The ones closer to Neptune’s size are called sub-Neptunes and the ones closer to Earth’s size are called super-Earths. L 98-59 d is a super-Earth, slightly ******* and heavier than the Earth. The composition of the atmospheres of these planets is still an open question, one that we are only starting to explore with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), launched in 2021. L 98-59 d was discovered in 2019 with Nasa’s Tess space telescope. Most exoplanets, including L 98-59 d, have been detected using the “transit method”. This measures the tiny dips in starlight when the planet passes in front of the star. This dip is more pronounced for larger planets and enables us to figure out the size of a planet. Even JWST can’t separate these tiny planets from their host stars—as they orbit their stars too closely. But there is a way to see the planet’s atmosphere from this entangled light. When a planet passes in front of its star, some of the starlight filters through a planet’s atmosphere, hitting the gas molecules or atoms present there, on its way to us on Earth. Every gas modifies the light in its own signature manner. From the light we receive from that star system, we can infer what the composition of that atmosphere might be. This is called transmission spectroscopy, a proven technique that has previously been used to confirm the presence of CO₂ in an exoplanet’s atmosphere. I am part of an international team of scientists who used JWST to observe one transit of L 98-59 d across the disk of its host star. We then obtained the transmission spectrum of the atmosphere of the exoplanet from these observations. This spectrum hinted at the possible presence of an atmosphere filled with sulfur dioxide and hydrogen sulfide. These findings are published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. The distant exoplanet might share some similarities with Jupiter’s moon Io. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona This discovery was surprising, as it stands out in stark contrast to the atmospheres of rocky planets in our own solar system, where water vapor and carbon dioxide are much more prevalent. Earth’s atmosphere, for example, is rich in nitrogen and oxygen, with trace amounts of water vapor. Meanwhile, Venus has a thick atmosphere dominated by carbon dioxide. Even Mars has a thin atmosphere dominated by carbon dioxide. We then used computer models that incorporate our understanding of planetary atmospheres and the light coming from L 98-59 d to come up with a potential picture of the composition of this planet’s atmosphere. The absence of common gases such as carbon dioxide and the presence of SO₂ and H₂S suggests an atmosphere shaped by entirely different processes to those we’re familiar with in our solar system. This hints at unique and extreme conditions on L 98-59 d, such as a molten or volcanic surface. Additional observations will be necessary to confirm the presence of these gases. JWST observations had previously spotted signs of SO₂ on an exoplanet, but this was a gas giant, not a potentially rocky world such as L 98-59 d. Exo-volcanoes? The potential presence of SO₂ and H₂S raises questions about their origin. One explosive possibility is volcanism driven by tidal heating, much like what is observed on Jupiter’s moon Io. The gravitational pull of the host star on this planet stretches and squeezes it as it goes along its orbit. This motion can heat up the center of the planet, melting its interior and producing extreme volcanic eruptions and possibly even oceans of magma. Combined with its close proximity to the star (one year on this planet is seven and half Earth days), truly hellish temperatures can be reached on the surface. If future observations support the presence of such an atmosphere, not only would it be the smallest exoplanet to have a detected atmosphere, but also a crucial step towards understanding the nature of such planets. Detecting atmospheres on small, rocky planets is exceptionally difficult, as the planets are very small compared to the host stars, and also as intense radiation from their host stars often strips the atmospheres away. These observations, while tantalizing, are only from a single transit. That means instrumental noise and other factors prevent us from making statistically strong claims. Future JWST observations will be key in confirming or refuting our analysis. L 98-59 d may not be a candidate for life as we know it, but studying its sulfurous atmosphere and potential volcanism provides valuable insight into worlds around other stars. Extreme worlds like these help us understand the diversity of planetary evolution across the galaxy. More information: Agnibha Banerjee et al, Atmospheric Retrievals Suggest the Presence of a Secondary Atmosphere and Possible Sulfur Species on L98-59 d from JWST Nirspec G395H Transmission Spectroscopy, The Astrophysical Journal Letters (2024). DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/ad73d0 Amélie Gressier et al, Hints of a Sulfur-rich Atmosphere around the 1.6 R ⊕ Super-Earth L98-59 d from JWST NIRspec G395H Transmission Spectroscopy, The Astrophysical Journal Letters (2024). DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/ad73d1 Provided by The Conversation This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. Citation: A distant planet seems to have a sulfur-rich atmosphere, hinting at alien volcanoes (2024, November 11) retrieved 11 November 2024 from This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only. Source link #distant #planet #sulfurrich #atmosphere #hinting #alien #volcanoes Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

The game-changing Razer Blade 16 RTX 4090 gaming laptop is now $800 off ahead of ****** Friday – you won’t want to miss this one The game-changing Razer Blade 16 RTX 4090 gaming laptop is now $800 off ahead of ****** Friday – you won’t want to miss this one ****** Friday may still be a few weeks away, but it hasn’t stopped the early deals from flying in – I’ve found an unmissable ***** on the Razer Blade 16 RTX 4090 Mini-LED gaming laptop available for $3,499.99 (previously $4,299.99) thanks to a 19% discount on Amazon. Both performance and immersion are at the forefront of this system, with Nvidia’s flagship laptop GPU present along with the benefits of a mini-LED display. OLED may arguably still be leading as the best display technology available across the board with individually lit pixels, but mini-LED shouldn’t be scoffed at. There’s zero risk of *****-in (unlike OLED) and more often than not, mini-LED displays can offer higher brightness (in this case 1000 nits) in comparison, all while maintaining great contrast and ****** levels due to local dimming zones. Paired with a powerhouse laptop graphics card and an Intel HX chip, framerates in-game at 4K won’t chug along or stutter (especially with Frame Generation and DLSS 3 available on that RTX 4090 GPU), leaving this among the selection of the best gaming laptops on the market. Now I know the price of the Razer Blade 16 may still throw some people off, but if your budget can stretch that far, it’s one you should definitely consider this holiday season. Not in the US? Scroll down to see the best Razer Blade 16 deals in your region. Today’s best Razer Blade 16 deal I think it goes without saying that any system that packs an RTX 4090 GPU instantly ranks among the best gaming devices in terms of raw performance – it doesn’t mean the likes of RTX 4070 or 4080 laptops aren’t great for high-level gaming too, but they’re simply no match for the RTX 4000 series’ monster flagship GPU. The clear downside here is the pricing – since its launch date, the RTX 4090 has been highly sought after, with a notable lack of price drops for the desktop GPU along with 4090-equipped laptops remaining expensive. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that this is still the case, despite the long-awaited RTX 5000 series reveal no doubt coming soon. Based on this, you should treat the current discount for the Razer Blade 16 as a generous one – there is very little indication that the high prices for high-end gaming laptops like this will drop significantly (even during the ‘actual’ ****** Friday sales), so you may want to lock this one in… More of today’s ****** Friday sales Amazon: TVs, smart home & air fryers from $12.99 Apple: AirPods, iPads, MacBooks from $89.99 Best Buy: $1,000 off 4K TVs, laptops & headphones Cheap TVs: smart TVs at Best Buy from $69.99 Christmas trees: top-rated trees from $54.99 Dell: best-selling Inspiron & XPS laptops from $279.99 Dreamcloud: mattress deals from $349 + free shipping Holiday: decor, lights, Christmas trees & PJs from $10.99 Home Depot: 40% off tools, appliances & furniture Lowe’s: holiday decor, appliances & tools from $17.31 Nectar: up to 50% off all mattresses Nordstrom: 46% off boots, coats, jeans & jewelry Samsung: $1,500+ off TVs, phones, watches & appliances Target: save on furniture, tech & clothing Walmart: cheap TVs, ****** vacs, furniture & appliances Source link #gamechanging #Razer #Blade #RTX #gaming #laptop #ahead #****** #Friday #wont Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

FTX sues Binance and its former CEO for $1.8 billion FTX sues Binance and its former CEO for $1.8 billion LONDON (Reuters) – Collapsed cryptocurrency company FTX is suing Binance and its former CEO Changpeng Zhao, alleging that $1.8 billion was “fraudulently transferred” by FTX management to Binance and its executives. The lawsuit relates to Binance’s ***** of its stake in Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX, which it acquired in 2019 but then negotiated to sell back to FTX in July 2021. According to the lawsuit, FTX’s Alameda Research division directly funded the share repurchase using tokens which had a then fair market value of $1.76 billion. Alameda, the lawsuit alleges, was insolvent at the time of buying the shares and could not therefore afford to fund the transaction and it should not have been allowed to proceed. “By this lawsuit, the Plaintiffs seek to recover, for the benefit of FTX’s creditors, at least $1.76 billion that was fraudulently transferred to Binance and its executives at the FTX creditors’ expense, as well as compensatory and punitive damages to be determined at trial,” the administrators for the FTX estate said in a filing made on Sunday in the U.S. state of Delaware. A Binance spokesperson said: “The claims are meritless, and we will vigorously defend ourselves.” Zhao, known as “CZ”, could not immediately be reached for comment. The lawsuit is the latest battle between FTX and Binance. FTX was one of the largest cryptocurrency firms in the world before it collapsed in late 2022. Arch-rival Binance, then led by Zhao, was set to come to its rescue and buy FTX’s non-U.S. unit as it struggled to stay afloat in November 2022, before Binance withdrew its offer. FTX founder Bankman-Fried was sentenced in March this year to 25 years in prison for stealing $8 billion from customers. He has appealed the conviction. Zhao was sentenced to four months in prison earlier this year, after pleading guilty to violating U.S. laws against money laundering at the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. (Reporting by Tommy Reggiori Wilkes; Editing by Susan Fenton) Source link #FTX #sues #Binance #CEO #billion Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

How to Unlock Saug in ****** Ops 6 & Warzone How to Unlock Saug in ****** Ops 6 & Warzone The Saug SMG is one of the first instances of the Call of Duty: ****** Ops 6 armory being bolstered in the shooter’s year-long cycle. The **** is sure to be another powerful addition to an already-dominant ******* class, and we have all the details on how to unlock it in BLOPS 6. ****** Ops 6 Season 1 is a monumental occasion for Activision’s newest CoD title. Usually, the player base is at its strongest around the first season, and Treyarch understands the assignment. Nuketown was an early inclusion to ****** Ops 6—pre-Season One—and things only get ******* and better from here on out. The first ****** Ops 6 seasonal update adds another new ******* in the Krig C, the Ransack game mode, and the focus of today’s article—the Saug SMG. How to Unlock Saug SMG in ****** Ops 6 More weapons to level up. Credit to Activision You unlock the Saug SMG by choosing it as your reward from Page 3 of the Season One Battle Pass in ****** Ops 6. The Season One Battle Pass is the first iteration of the revamped pass format in BLOPS 6. Gone is Modern Warfare’s sector-orientated setup, instead, ****** Ops 6 welcomes the “Page” system—explained in a CoD blog. Activision says, “Think of the Battle Pass as a book, with two front pages of Instant Rewards (one BlackCell), then 100 in-game Battle Pass rewards across 14 Pages, and a Completion Page that is instantly unlocked once all other Pages are completed.” The Saug is one of the Battle Pass’ free tiers—to smartly avoid putting weapons behind paywalls—and you need to earn enough Battle Pass XP to reach Page 3. Here, the Saug awaits you; once unlocked, you can throw it into a loadout, and start leveling the SMG up to earn Mastery Camos. Furthermore, advance to Page 11 of the seasonal pass, and an exclusive Blueprint can be unlocked to apply to the ****. What is the Saug SMG in ****** Ops 6? The Saug is described as a “rapid-***** SMG” with top-notch mobility, handling, and a great rate of *****. The Saug’s biggest downside is its “high recoil,” and given the ******* looks like an old-school Uzi, this would be in keeping tradition with the SMG’s history of wildness. It has 39 ******* Levels, comes with four Magazines by default, and has Mastery Badges. Moreover, the Saug has lots of possible attachments, meaning, if it’s anything like ****** Ops Cold War’s launch Uzi (the Milano 821), prepare to add all the recoil-reducing attachments you can! Stay on top of ****** Ops 6 with our latest meta loadout guides: ASG-89, PP-919, and Kompakt 92. Subscribe to our newsletter to receive the latest news and exclusive leaks every week! No Spam. Source link #Unlock #Saug #****** #Ops #Warzone Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

‘King Arthur’s Hall’ is five times older than thought, researchers discover ‘King Arthur’s Hall’ is five times older than thought, researchers discover Credit: Historic England A historic site in Cornwall linked to King Arthur has been found to be 4,000 years older than previously thought after a new survey was carried out by a team of researchers, including experts from the University of St Andrews. The team, including Dr. Tim Kinnaird from the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, carried out a survey of the mound on Bodmin Moor, named King Arthur’s Hall, confirming the site dates back to prehistoric times. The monument was previously listed as dating back to the medieval *******, but it is now believed to date back 4,000 years earlier to the Neolithic *******, thanks to a team of specialists from the universities of St Andrews, Reading, and Newcastle. The site consists of a rectangular bank of earth and stone formed with 56 standing stones, some measuring up to 1.8 m, which are either leaning, recumbent or partially *******. It’s protected by Historic England, which listed it as an early medieval animal pen from around 1000AD. However, there had been some speculation that due to integrated standing stones, the mound was much older. Dr. Kinnaird and his team used a technique called optically stimulated luminescence, or OSL—the date the mound to the neolithic ******* making it around 5,500 years old—4,000 years earlier than previously thought. OSL is used to date when sediment was last exposed to light, prior to burial. Dr. Kinnaird said the findings were a “major revelation.” “It’s extremely exciting that we’ve finally been able to date construction of this enigmatic monument, previously grounded in myths and legends.” Cornwall National Landscape’s “A Monumental Improvement” project commissioned the Cornwall Archaeological Unit (CAU) to carry out archaeological investigations on the site to define a clear chronology of the monument, understanding its use and relationship in the wider context of the landscape as well as understanding the longer-term conservation needs of the monument. Dr. Kinnaird said, “The first insight into the construction of the monument came much earlier though. Myself and my colleague Professor Sam Turner from Newcastle University visited the excavations undertaken by the Cornwall Archaeological Unit. “We were able to demonstrate that the ******* soil beneath the bank was ********** at construction—resetting the luminescence signals, and providing the opportunity to date the monument. “Given that the monument is now 4,000 years older than first thought, we now need to consider the monument within the context of Bodmin Moor’s prehistoric landscape, and the other structures on the moor that might have been significant at the time. “This all alludes to a rich Neolithic landscape, evidencing an active community on the Moor, which requires further investigation.” Provided by University of St Andrews Citation: ‘King Arthur’s Hall’ is five times older than thought, researchers discover (2024, November 11) retrieved 11 November 2024 from This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only. Source link #King #Arthurs #Hall #times #older #thought #researchers #discover Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D review: a gaming dynamo with new, unexpected suprises AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D review: a gaming dynamo with new, unexpected suprises AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D: Two-minute review This generation of processors has been a mixed bag at best (and disappointing at worst), so it makes sense that Team Red would go all out to ensure the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D delivered something that exceeded expectations. In that regard, the 9800X3D is a smashing success, delivering substantially better gaming performance than the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D that it replaces, though at a slightly higher $479 / £449.99 (about AU$700) price point. For gamers though, most will happily pay a bit more for a roughly 15% increase in gaming performance on average. The chip isn’t without faults, though. It isn’t the absolute best processor for gaming in terms of framerates (that title belongs to the Intel Core i9-14900K over several games, averaged out), but where the last-gen Intel flagship simply threw raw wattage to get to the top, AMD’s latest gaming processor uses substantially less power to come within 6% of the 14900K’s overall gaming performance, a difference that is so close to being within the margin of variance and test setups that if I reran all my tests next week, the 9800X3D might beat it outright. But, honestly, it doesn’t need to do that. Intel’s 14900K is overkill for anyone not running creative workloads like video editing, and the power cost is simply too high to justify getting an extra 6% overall gaming performance in synthetic tests. The Ryzen 9800X3D, meanwhile, will get you effectively identical actual performance and at a lower cost, both in MSRP terms, but also reduced power consumption and indirect savings like not needing to shell out for a 360mm AIO cooler to get the most out of the chip. For that, the Ryzen 7 9800X3D is indisputably the best processor for gaming you can buy right now, and it cements 3D V-Cache as the second most impressive innovation for gaming hardware after AI upscaling and it’s something that Intel just doesn’t have an answer for it. AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D: Price & availability (Image credit: Future / John Loeffler) How much is it? Its MSRP is $479 / £449.99 (about AU$700) When is it out? It went on ***** November 7, 2024 Where can you get it? You can get it in the US, ***, and Australia The AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D is available now in the US, ***, and Australia for $479 / £449.99 / AU$799, respectively. This is a bump up from the price of the Ryzen 7 7800X3D it replaces, which launched at $449 / £439 / AU$779. I would have loved to see the price remain the same, of course, but the last-gen chip wasn’t exactly a cheap processor to begin with, and both chips are very much targeted at an enthusiast market where the price bump here isn’t exactly going to be a dealbreaker—so long as the performance increase justifies the bump in price. In terms of Intel’s competing offerings right now, on the performance side, the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K (and Intel Core i9-14900K, for that matter) is $110 / £100 / AU$300 more expensive to get the same kind of gaming performance. As for in-class silicon, the 9800X3D is about 15-20% more expensive than the competing Intel Core Ultra 7 265K, and is roughly 33% more expensive than the AMD Ryzen 7 9700X. Essentially, the 9800X3D is a specialist chip for gamers, and while it isn’t a performance slouch, at this price it’s really only for PC gamers who want the best overall gaming processor and don’t much care about stellar performance elsewhere. For those who need more than just a gaming chip, other options from AMD and Intel will be a better fit for the price. AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D: Specs Swipe to scroll horizontally AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D vs AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D Row 0 – Cell 0 AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D Price $479 / £449.99 / AU$799 $449 / £439 / AU$779 Architecture AMD Zen 5 (TSMC N4X) AMD Zen 4 (TSMC N4) Cores 8 8 Threads 16 16 Base clock 4.7GHz 4.2GHz Boost clock 5.2GHz 5GHz DDR5 memory support 5600MHz 5200MHz L3 cache 96MB 96MB TDP 120W 120W Motherboard socket AM5 AM5 AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D: Features & chipset (Image credit: AMD) The fundamental specs of the 9800X3D aren’t much different from the 7800X3D. They both sport the same 8-core/16-thread setup as the AMD Ryzen 7 9700X, but like the 7800X3D, the 9800X3D has an additional 64MB L3 cache while the Ryzen 7 9700X only has 32MB L3 cache. This 3D V-Cache in the Ryzen 7 9800X3D has been redesigned from the previous two generations of AMD X3D chips. This second-generation 3D V-Cache, as AMD calls it, fundamentally changes how the 3D V-Cache **** interfaces with the main processing ****, which addresses some of the main complaints of the previous two generations of X3D chips. In the first iteration of 3D V-Cache, the extra cache **** was stacked on top of the main processing cores, but with 2nd-generation V-Cache, the extra cache **** is underneath the main ****, leaving the main processing cores free to directly interface with the CPU cooler. This is a big deal, since the processing cores are where all the heat is being generated, so having an extra layer of silicon between it and the CPU cooler had a lot of implications for what the chip could do. Thermals had to be carefully managed, so clock speeds had to be kept in check and there was no ability to overclock the chip. By moving the 3D V-Cache **** underneath the main processor core complex, the thermal restraints around clock speeds and voltage no longer apply, so the 9800X3D is the first 3D V-cache chip to feature full overclocking support, allowing precise voltage controls at the same voltage limits as the rest of the Ryzen 9000-series lineup. Compared to the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D, then, the 9800X3D benefits from noticeably faster base clock and boost clock speeds out of the box, and overclockers can now tinker with their CPUs without too much concern that they’ll brick the chip (though with overclocking, that is always possible and can void your warranty, so use caution). Beyond that, the only major change from the previous generation is faster DDR5 memory support, from 5200MHz with the 7800X3D to 5600MHz with the 9800X3D, though both chips support AMD EXPO memory overclocking for even faster memory speeds. AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D: Performance At the end of the day though, all that fancy new tech wouldn’t amount to much if the chip’s performance didn’t deliver, and thankfully, it does – though not universally. In the synthetic benchmarks, the Ryzen 7 9800X3D showed very strong single-core performance on par with the rest of the Ryzen 9000-series lineup. The Ryzen 7 7800X3D, meanwhile, lags behind its Ryzen 7000 siblings noticeably, owing to the need to control thermals by limiting clock speeds. The Ryzen 9800X3D does not have this problem. Likewise, its multi-core performance is also unconstrained, running ahead of the Ryzen 7 9700X across the board. On the creative front, this is generally not going to be a chip for creatives to concern themselves with – though there is one exception. If you’re a photographer or graphic designer who does a lot of work in Adobe Photoshop or its alternatives, the Ryzen 7 9800X3D’s extra cache is going to be a serious benefit for your workflows, beating out even the Intel Core i9-14900K in PugetBench for Adobe Photoshop be a few hundred points. Everyone else though, this chip is not going to do much for you. On the gaming side, this is where the 9800X3D really shows off, though there’s a bit of a caveat to that. In games where the main CPU bottleneck is game logic, such as Total War: Warhammer III or Civilization VI, the extra 3D V-Cache isn’t necessarily going to help your game performance. In that instance, you’re going to want something with the fastest clocks possible to plow through all those AI decision trees or physics calculations before a game frame is even drawn. As such, Intel’s last-gen (and even current-gen) chips have an advantage in some games like Returnal (where complex bullet and geometry physics are the main CPU workload) or Total War: Warhammer III (where a lot of individual actors need to have their logic calculated quickly) because these gaming workloads benefit from faster clock speeds. Where 3D V-Cache really benefits gaming is when there’s data being communicated from the CPU to the GPU, like texture files or model geometry, and that additional cache memory can retain these smaller-but-not-tiny files in the fastest possible memory that can hold it. This mitigates the latency introduced when drawing a new game frame when the CPU has to go back to RAM to fetch a file because it didn’t already have it in its much closer cache memory. Games like F1 2023 and Tiny Tina’s Wonderland benefited mightily from the extra available cache. In the case of the former, the Ryzen 9800X3D just wallops the Intel Core i9-14900K, and in the case of the latter, runs a very close second to it. Taken all together, the Intel Core has a slight advantage just given the mix of games I used to test these chips, but for most gamers, the odds are good that the thing you’re going to be looking for is a processor that works with your graphics card the best most of the time, and in this case, that’ll be the Ryzen 7 9800X3D. Overall, then, with performance that comes in neck-and-neck with the best Intel processors in gaming workloads on average, the Ryzen 7 9800X3D would already be an incredible chip. But I simply can’t get over the fact that the 9800X3D can do this with just 53% of the power of the Core i9-14900K. Add to that the Ryzen 7 9800X3D’s impressive single- and multi-core performance, surprisingly great Photoshop performance, and gen-on-gen performance gains at very little power or monetary cost, and the Ryzen 7 9800X3D is easily one of the best AMD processors ever made. Should you buy the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D? (Image credit: Future / John Loeffler) Swipe to scroll horizontally AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D scorecard Value While not the most expensive processor out there, it’s not cheap either, and I’m not thrilled about the price increase. 4 / 5 Features The redesigned, 2nd-gen 3D V-Cache empowers higher clock frequencies and unlocks the ability to overclock the chip. 4 / 5 Performance While not every game will benefit from 3D V-Cache, those that do will see noticeably better performance at higher quality settings and resolutions. 5 / 5 Final score Between the better gaming performance, strong general performance, overclocking capacity, and other improvements over its predecessor, this is unquestionably the best processor release of the year. 4.34 / 5 Buy the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D if… Don’t buy it if… Also consider Originally reviewed November 2024 Source link #AMD #Ryzen #9800X3D #review #gaming #dynamo #unexpected #suprises Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

This other Elon Musk proxy is up more than 200% since the election This other Elon Musk proxy is up more than 200% since the election The election victory of Donald Trump is sparking a huge rally for investments tied to Elon Musk , even indirectly. The Destiny Tech100 Fund — a closed-end fund that trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker DXYZ — surged again on Monday, trading above $40 per share. The fund is now up more than 200% since Election Day. The fund holds shares in privately held tech companies, most notably Musk’s SpaceX. The one position accounts for more than a third of the fund’s portfolio, according to its website . Other notable holdings include Axiom Space, Epic Games and OpenAI. DXYZ 5D mountain This closed-end fund has rallied sharply since the election. The rally is not too surprising given that Musk campaigned with the president-elect and that Tesla has also rallied sharply since the election. However, the price of the Destiny fund could give some investors pause. The latest unaudited financial report for the fund showed net asset value per share of $5.15 as of June 30. That means that the fund is now trading at a premium of roughly 700% above that valuation. To be sure, investors may be ******** SpaceX and other holdings are worth more now than they were on June 30. DXYZ launched in March, but this isn’t the first time that the fund has traded at an eye-popping premium . The fund traded as high as $105 per share during the April 8 trading session, but was back below $10 per share in August. While it is not uncommon for closed end funds to trade at a gap to their net asset value, the difference for the Destiny fund is unusually large. Additionally, it is more common for the funds to trade at a discount than a premium. DXYZ currently holds positions in 22 companies, according to its website, though the plan is to build out a portfolio of 100, Destiny XYZ CEO Sohail Prasad told CNBC in April. The fund has a management fee of 2.5%. Source link #Elon #Musk #proxy #election Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Tesla shares pop 8% as post-election rally continues Tesla shares pop 8% as post-election rally continues Elon Musk embraces *********** presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump during a campaign rally at the Butler Farm Show fairgrounds in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Oct. 5, 2024. Anna Moneymaker | Getty Images Tesla shares popped 8% on Monday, continuing to ride a postelection rally as President-elect Trump, closely allied with CEO Elon Musk, begins to set up his presidential cabinet. Analysts at Wedbush reiterated their “outperform” rating on the stock, joining earlier sunny outlooks reacting to Tuesday’s results. Tesla recently reclaimed its $1 trillion market cap after surging nearly 30% last week. “We are raising our price target on Tesla to $400 from $300 as we believe the Trump White House win will be a gamechanger for the autonomous and AI story for Tesla and Musk over the coming years,” the Wedbush analysts wrote. Musk’s wealth rocketed past $300 billion in the days since Trump’s decisive electoral win, further cementing his place as the richest man in the world and joining the wave of gains across the technology and crypto sector since post-election trading began. It’s unclear whether Musk, who spent at least $130 million on Trump’s campaign, will receive an official title in the second Trump White House or will influence policy decisions from his inner circle. Either way, Musk stands to earn potentially billions from new government contracts with his companies, on top of the $19 billion SpaceX has already been awarded. Some or all of the 19 known ongoing federal lawsuits and investigations into his companies may begin to wind down entirely. “It is difficult to judge how Elon Musk’s increasingly close public relationship with President Trump could benefit Tesla, but this needs to be monitored closely,” analysts from Bank of America wrote in a note last week, raising their TSLA price target from $265 to $350. Trump has said previously he may cut the federal $7,500 electric vehicle tax credit, and those credits have historically helped to drive sales of Tesla vehicles. At one of his final campaign rallies, Trump suggested Musk could be put in charge of “government efficiency,” and he was present on Trump’s phone call with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy two days ago. — CNBC’s Michael Bloom, Annie Palmer and Lora Kolodny contributed reporting. Source link #Tesla #shares #pop #postelection #rally #continues Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Xbox is seemingly teasing plans to bring Spyro to Game Pass Xbox is seemingly teasing plans to bring Spyro to Game Pass Xbox Game Pass is seemingly teasing plans to bring Spyro to Microsoft’s subscription service. A post on the Xbox Game Pass X account, which was accompanied by an image of a Spyro chest, reads: “Hey uhh who left this chest here?” The official Spyro account then replied to the post with eye emojis, which are often used to draw attention to something. It was claimed this summer that Activision titles Spyro Reignited Trilogy and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 were being lined up for Game Pass. Following Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Diablo 4 became the publisher’s first Game Pass title when it hit the service in March. It has since been followed by the likes of ****** Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy and Call of Duty games Modern Warfare 3 and ****** Ops 6. Most recently, StarCraft: Remastered and StarCraft II: Campaign Collection joined Game Pass last week. Developed by Toys for Bob, Spyro Reignited Trilogy was released for PS4 and Xbox One in 2018, before making its way to Nintendo Switch and PC the following year. The collection includes remakes of the first three series entries: Spyro the Dragon (1998), Spyro 2: Ripto’s Rage! (1999) and Spyro: Year of the Dragon (2000). Xbox will publish the next game from Spyro, Skylanders and ****** Bandicoot studio Toys for Bob, which split from Activision this year. Source link #Xbox #seemingly #teasing #plans #bring #Spyro #Game #Pass Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Children aren’t reading for pleasure according to new research—here’s how you can help them love books Children aren’t reading for pleasure according to new research—here’s how you can help them love books Credit: CC0 Public Domain The National Literacy Trust’s annual literacy survey 2025 reveals that one in three children and young people do not enjoy reading, with only 35% of eight to 18-year-olds stating that they enjoy reading in their spare time. This is the lowest figure recorded since 2005 when the National Literacy Trust started to gather this data. This report reveals that children and young people’s enjoyment of reading is now at a crisis point. Many literacy researchers like me are just not surprised by this data. Given the lack of funding and closure of our local libraries. Not to mention the narrow approach to the curriculum for reading in schools, which is targeted specifically at struggling readers. This includes the systematic synthetic phonics (SSP) scheme, which teach children to read by breaking words down into their individual sounds and is pushed too early. As well as the dreaded phonics screening check, which tests your child’s phonics knowledge, standardizing testing. The joy of reading, alongside the awe and wonder from engaging in meaningful reading activities is slowly being taken away from our children in schools with overcrowded timetables and an overreliance on reading books matched to systematic synthetic phonics schemes. In addition, it now appears that reading at home seems to have become a luxury we can’t afford. Why is reading for pleasure important? The report found that, when children engage in reading for pleasure (creating time and space to read at home or in school), children feel happy and relaxed, learn new things, learn about other cultures and begin to understand the views of others, which in turn develops their confidence. These are all wonderful reasons to read. My research highlights that reading is a complex activity, with many aspects to consider—enjoying stories, reading images on screen, experimenting with patterns of language, which include music, rhyme, rhythm and steady beat. When reading is meaningful, young children make connections with what they read, learn something new, understand ideas in context to form their own critical viewpoint. It is important to consider that reading is not just focused on print-based books or learning phonics from a phonics scheme in isolation. When teachers and parents start to separate these important components and focus on one aspect (such as phonics), the joy of reading is lost. We now live in a world full of digital resources, with most children having access to these at home. Therefore, we do need to consider authentic literacy practices using digital technology and the opportunities these activities offer our children alongside printed books. Recent research reports that most under three-year-olds already engage in valuable communication, language, literacy activities at home. This could also be considered to be reading for pleasure. Supporting your child’s reading Let’s not panic though. We can support our young children with lots of reading activities to bring back the joy of reading. Settings and schools can build in time for children to read freely and to read what they choose to read. This could include a larger variety of books, for instance information books, rhyming books, comics and poetry. They could also consider including magazines and annuals in this, Nursery settings need to focus more on early reading activities and stop teaching phonics. Communication, language and the ability to express themselves are key priorities here). Primary schools can widen the scope of their reading materials and try to declutter the curriculum to support children’s reading. Reading is not a tick-box exercise and one size does not fit all. When reading or telling stories to children, make this a joyful experience that does not involve stopping to ask questions lots of times. Given that secondary school children disclosed the steepest decline in reading enjoyment in the study, there is significant work to do here. My suggestions would be to make time in the busy day for children to read what they are interested in and widen the scope of reading materials offered to include the list above. At home, parents, caregivers and families can support their children with reading through a range of tactics. Again, diversifying what you read with your children could help. Try reading online or branch out into magazines, comics, leaflets and information books. If you want to make reading more active why not try taking photographs and making your own photograph books together. You could also play rhyming games. Or, you could simply spend time sharing stories with each other and telling stories as well as reading stories (in print and online). BBC Musical Storyland is a wonderful resource and full of visual retelling of ****** and folk tales. It can be found online and features music from the BBC Philharmonic for families to share together. Representation matters for reading. If children do not see themselves in books or other reading materials, why would they enjoy reading at all. We all have a duty to choose resources that are inclusive for all children and all communities. Provided by The Conversation This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. Citation: Children aren’t reading for pleasure according to new research—here’s how you can help them love books (2024, November 11) retrieved 11 November 2024 from This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only. Source link #Children #arent #reading #pleasure #researchheres #love #books Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

India’s luxury airline flies into the sunset India’s luxury airline flies into the sunset Getty Images Vistara will become fully integrated with Air India starting Monday Indian full-service carrier Vistara will operate its last flight on Monday, after nine years in existence. A ****** venture between Singapore Airlines and the ***** Sons, Vistara will merge with *****-owned Air India to form a single entity with an expanded network and broader fleet. This means that all Vistara operations will be transferred to and managed by Air India, including helpdesk kiosks and ticketing offices. The process of migrating passengers with existing Vistara bookings and loyalty programmes to Air India has been under way over the past few months. “As part of the merger process, meals, service ware and other soft elements have been upgraded and incorporates aspects of both Vistara and Air India,” an Air India spokesperson said in an email response. Amid concerns that the merger could impact service standards, the Tatas have assured that Vistara’s in-flight experience will remain unchanged. Known for its high ratings in food, service, and cabin quality, Vistara has built a loyal customer base and the decision to retire the Vistara brand has been criticised by fans, branding experts, and aviation analysts. The consolidation was effectively done to clean up Vistara’s books and wipe out its losses, said Mark Martin, an aviation analyst. Air India has essentially been “suckered into taking a loss-making airline” in a desperate move, he added. “Mergers are meant to make airlines powerful. Never to wipe out losses or cover them.” To be sure, both Air India and Vistara’s annual losses have reduced by more than half over the past year, and other operating metrics have improved too. But the merger process so far has been turbulent. The exercise has been riddled with problems – from pilot shortages that have led to massive flight cancellations, to Vistara crew going on mass ***** leave over plans to align their salary structures with Air India. There have also been repeated complaints about poor service standards on Air India, including viral videos of broken seats and non-functioning inflight entertainment systems. Getty Images Vistara’s demise leaves a vacuum in India’s skies for a premium, full-service carrier The Tatas have announced a $400m (£308m) programme to upgrade and retrofit the interiors of its older aircraft and also a brand-new livery. They’ve also placed orders for hundreds of new Airbus and Boeing planes worth billions of dollars to augment their offering. But this “turnaround” is still incomplete and riddled with problems, according to Mr Martin. A merger only complicates matters. Experts say that the merger strikes a dissonant chord from a branding perspective too. Harish Bijoor, a brand strategy specialist, told the BBC he was feeling “emotional” that a superior product offering like Vistara which had developed a “gold standard for Indian aviation” was ceasing operations. “It is a big loss for the industry,” said Mr Bijoor, adding it will be a monumental task for the mother brand Air India to simply “copy, paste and exceed” the high standards set by Vistara, given that it’s a much smaller airline that’s being gobbled up by a much larger one. Mr Bijoor suggests a better strategy would have been to operate Air India separately for five years, focusing on improving service standards, while maintaining Vistara as a distinct brand with Air India prefixed to it. “This would have given Air India the time and chance to rectify the mother brand and bring it up to the Vistara level, while maintaining its uniqueness,” he adds. Beyond branding, the merged entity will face a slew of operational challenges. Shutterstock The biggest task for the merged arline would be offering customers a uniform flying experience “Communication will be a major challenge in the early days, with customers arriving at the airport expecting Vistara flights, only to find Air India branding,” says Ajay Awtaney, editor of Live From A Lounge, an aviation portal. “Air India will need to maintain clear communication for weeks.” Another key challenge, he notes, is cultural: Vistara’s agile employees may struggle to adjust to Air India’s complex bureaucracy and systems. But the biggest task for the merged carrier would be offering customers a uniform flying experience. These are “two airlines with very different service formats are being integrated into one airline. It is going to be a hotchpotch of service formats, cabin formats, branding, and customer experience. It will involve learning and unlearning, and such a process has rarely worked with airlines and is seldom effective,” said Mr Martin. Still, many believe Vistara had to go – now or some years later. A legacy brand like Air India, with strong global recognition and ‘India’ imprinted in its identity, wouldn’t have allowed a smaller, more premium subsidiary to overshadow its revival process. Financially too, it makes little sense for the Tatas to have two loss-making entities compete with one another. The combined strength of Vistara and Air India could also place the Tatas in a much better position to compete with market leader Indigo. The unified Air India group (including Air India Express, which completed its merger with the former Air Asia India in October) “will be ******* and better with a fleet size of nearly 300 aircraft, an expanded network and a stronger workforce”, an Air India spokesperson said. “Getting done with the merger means that Air India grows overnight, and the two teams start cooperating instead of competing. There will never be one right day to merge. Somewhere, a line had to be drawn,” said Mr Awtaney. But for many Vistara loyalists, its demise leaves a void in India’s skies for a premium, full-service carrier – marking the third such gap after the collapse of Kingfisher Airlines and Jet Airways. It’s still too early to say if Air India, which often ranks at the bottom of airline surveys, can successfully fill that void. Source link #Indias #luxury #airline #flies #sunset Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]