Blackfire

During Ramadan, Muslims abstain from food and drink from dawn until sunset, and engage in acts of worship and spiritual reflection throughout the day. This month provides us with an opportunity to purify our hearts and minds, strengthen our faith, and renew our commitment to Allah. As we embark on this month-long journey of spiritual growth and self-discipline, let us remember the true purpose of our fasts. Let us strive to be mindful of our actions, thoughts, and intentions, and seek Allah's forgiveness and guidance in all that we do. May this Ramadan bring you peace, blessings, and spiritual enlightenment. May Allah accept your fasts, prayers, and good deeds, and bless you with the strength and guidance to fulfill your duties as a Muslim. Ramadan Mubarak!

@Kayn™has been upgraded to Co-leader [excellent activity] keep it up @BirSaNN has been promoted to coordinator.

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Adobe has revealed its answer to AI art generators like Midjourney, Dall-E, and Stable Diffusion – and the new family of generative AI tools, collectively called Adobe Firefly, could ultimately be as influential as the original Photoshop was in 1990. The giant behind apps like Photoshop and Illustrator has been baking AI image generation into its software for years, but Adobe Firefly takes it to a whole new level. Its first Firefly beta brings text-to-image generation to Photoshop and gives you the ability to apply styles to text in Illustrator, among other skills. A key difference from the likes of Midjourney and Dall-E is that Adobe Firefly is more open about the data its AI models have been trained on. Adobe says this first beta model has been trained on Adobe Stock images, openly-licensed content, and public domain content where the copyright has expired. In theory, this makes it a more ethical alternative to rivals that have attracted class-action lawsuits from artists who claim that some AI models, including Midjourney and Stability AI, are illegally based on copyrighted artworks. While this is an understandable policy from a giant as big as Adobe, it isn't yet clear what effect this will have on Firefly's overall power and versatility. Adobe is treading carefully in this space, with a Firefly beta sign-up(opens in new tab) now open. Signing up won't necessarily grant you access to the new tools, though, as Adobe says that the beta process will be used to "engage with the creative community and customers as it evolves this transformational technology". But the good news for amateurs is that it will be asking "creators of all skills levels" to contribute While it might be a while until we see Adobe Firefly's new AI models rolled out across its full range of Creative Cloud apps, the early demos show that some fascinating, powerful tools are coming soon. In general, Firefly takes the usability and creative potential of its apps to new heights, thanks to the ability to simply describe an image, style, or text effect you're looking for. The first apps that'll benefit from Firefly beta are Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Express, and Adobe Experience Manager. And Adobe says this Firefly beta is just the first AI model in a family that is in the pipeline, with all of them likely to be integrated into Creative Cloud and Express workflows. So what exactly is Adobe Firefly right now and how does it compare to the best AI art generators? We've gathered everything you need to know about Adobe's AI milestone in this guide, which you can navigate using the shortcuts on the left. But AI tools are coming soon to other apps, too. For example, Adobe previewed a feature in Premiere Pro that'll let you change the season and weather of a video scene, simply by writing the request in a text box. Video editing is about to get a lot more powerful and user-friendly, although it isn't yet clear how quickly Adobe plans to roll out the betas for this next wave of Firefly tools It'll be a similar story with new AI text effects in the likes of Illustrator. For example, you'll be able to type a specific prompt like 'many fireflies in the night, bokeh light' and the AI generator will cook up a font matching that particular description. The possibilities for marketing, social media, and more are huge, particularly for those with no background in digital art. Looking further ahead, Illustrator will be able to take sketched fonts and turn them into digital reality, while Adobe Express will let you generate social media templates from simple prompts like 'make templates from mood board. https://www.techradar.com/news/adobe-firefly

At some point, the returns on higher refresh rates must surely diminish. But not yet. Enter Alienware's 500Hz gaming monitor, yours for $829. The Alienware AW2524H was originally announced back in January at CES. But now it's actually available to buy on the Dell Alienware website. The 500Hz bit isn't totally novel—Asus has been promising a 500Hz screen since Computex(opens in new tab)—but this is the first time anyone has managed to hit that refresh rate with an IPS rather than TN panel. It's a 25-inch model and, inevitably given the refresh rate, runs 1920 by 1080 pixels. So, it's an out-and-out esports panel built for speed rather than pretty graphics. On that note, Alienware is claiming 0.5ms gray-to-gray response, which is exceptional. The catch is that it is also claiming 1ms for gray-to-gray response. Confused? Us too. More specifically, Alienware says the 1ms figure is for gray-to-gray "extreme" response, where the 0.5ms pertains to gray-to-gray "min" response. Whatever. No doubt this is a very quick panel by IPS standards. But it'll still be miles off the response of an OLED panel. It's something of a niche tool, then, this new Alienware panel. It's 1080p on a 25-inch panel, so image clarity isn't a priority. And yet it bigs up the IPS thing, which implies image quality is important. it gives you 500Hz refresh, which is great for latency and beats out any OLED monitor(opens in new tab) by some distance. But it doesn't come close to an OLED for pixel response, however you want to measure it. And it's over $800. Ouch. Really, this new Alienware panel mostly serves to confirm how fragmented the monitor market is. When you consider factors like refresh rate, response, brightness, contrast, black levels, color accuracy, pixel density and so on, you have to accept that no one panel tech delivers it all. Currently, LCD monitors offer the best refresh rates and latency, mini-LED models the best brightness, OLED the best lighting control and pixel speed. But if it's latency you prize above all else, and that $829 price tag isn't an issue, well, you know what to do. https://www.pcgamer.com/alienwares-500hz-1080p-gaming-monitor-is-yours-for-dollar829-because-of-course-its-unfeasibly-expensive/

Nick Movie: Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves Time: Feb 6, 2023 Netflix / Amazon / HBO?: Netflix Duration of the movie: 2h 4 min Trailer:

NATHROP, Colo. — Wildlife officials said Monday they are searching for a mountain lion that clawed a man’s head while he was sitting in a hot tub with his wife at a rental home in central Colorado. The man was soaking in the in-ground hot tub in a wooded subdivision west of Nathrop on Saturday night when he felt something grab his head, according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife. He screamed at the mountain lion and started splashing water while his wife shined a flashlight at the animal. Authorities said it retreated to the top of a hill and continued to watch the couple. The man and his wife were able to get back into the home, where they cleaned his wounds and called the property owner, who happened to work for Colorado Parks and Wildlife. The man had four superficial scratches on top of his head and near his right ear, but he declined medical treatment https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/mountain-lion-claws-mans-head-hot-tub-colorado-rcna75872

Israel's parliament has voted to allow Israeli citizens back into the sites of four settlements in the occupied West Bank which were evacuated at the time of the disengagement from Gaza in 2005. There has been international criticism of the bill, as the settlements were built on what the High Court of Justice ruled was private Palestinian land. It still has to be signed by an Israeli military commander to be enforced. But it risks further inflaming tensions with Palestinians ahead of Ramadan. Some 600,000 Jews live in 140 settlements built since Israel's occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war. Most of the international community considers the settlements illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this. Almost 18 years ago, Israel's parliament passed a law mandating the unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip as well as the evacuation of four isolated settlements in the northern West Bank - Sa-Nur, Ganim, Kadim, and Homesh. Then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's government said the latter move would help "provide Palestinian territorial contiguity" in the West Bank and make it easier for Palestinians to live a normal life. Israelis were banned from entering the evacuated area without the permission from the Israeli military. However, a group of settlers were able to establish a Jewish religious school and an unauthorised outpost at Homesh which the new coalition government - the most right-wing and nationalist in Israel's history - has been pushing to legalise. On Monday night, lawmakers voted to repeal parts of the 2005 law so that Israelis could return to the sites of the evacuated settlements. "The State of Israel tonight began its recovery process from the deportation disaster," tweeted Yuli Edelstein, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party who sponsored the bill. "This is the first and significant step towards real healing and settlement in Israel's homeland territories, which belong to it." But the Israeli anti-settlement watchdog Peace Now said the return of settlers to the area would be "a huge security burden and a focus of settler violence". "This decision will also pave the way for establishing many more outposts in an area that is now almost entirely Palestinian," it added. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas's spokesman denounced the decision, saying the Israeli government was defying international law and working to sabotage international efforts to de-escalate the situation. A spokesperson for the European Union said the Israeli move "hampers the possibility to pursue confidence-building measures" and that it represented "a clear step back" away from a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Last month, the Israeli government announced the legalisation of nine unauthorised outposts and approved the planning and building of more than 7,000 new housing units in existing settlements. But at a meeting with Palestinian Authority officials in Egypt on Sunday, it reaffirmed a commitment to stop discussion of any new West Bank settlement homes for four months, and to stop authorisation of any outposts for six months. It was part of a series of measures designed to calm tensions ahead of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which is scheduled to start later this week and coincides with the Jewish festival of Passover and the Christian festival of Easter. This move by Israeli lawmakers will be viewed as being at odds with that pledge. There has been a surge of violence between Israel and the Palestinians in the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem this year. At least 88 Palestinians - militants and civilians - have been killed by Israeli forces, and on the Israeli side, 16 people have been killed in Palestinian attacks, all civilians, except for a paramilitary police officer. On Monday, there was widespread condemnation of a claim made by Israel's Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich that "there is no such thing as Palestinians". Mr Smotrich, the leader of the far-right ultranationalist Religious Zionism party and a key figure in the governing coalition, told a conference in Paris that Arabs "invented fictitious people in order to fight the Zionist movement", and that the remarks "needed to be heard in the White House". Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh strongly criticised the speech, saying it provided "conclusive evidence of the extremist, racist Zionist ideology that governs the parties of the current Israeli government". Jordan, meanwhile, complained that a map used on the conference stage, which appeared to depict the country and the Palestinian territories as part of Israel, violated a 1994 peace treaty. The Israeli foreign ministry later stressed in a tweet that there had "been no change in the position of the State of Israel, which recognizes the territorial integrity of the Hashemite Kingdom". Earlier this month, Mr Smotrich called for the Palestinian town of Hawara in the northern West Bank to be "wiped out" after two settlers were shot dead there by a Palestinian gunmen and settlers attacked the town and nearby villages in response. He later said he regretted the comment, and called it "a slip of the tongue". https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-65024114

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More than 400 employees are being laid off from Twitch as a result of "the current macroeconomic environment," which the company said is making it difficult to meet its financial expectations. The layoffs are part of wider job cuts at Twitch parent company Amazon, which said today that it will eliminate approximately 9,000 jobs over the next few weeks. As a company focused on building community together, this decision was incredibly difficult and one we did not make without considerable thought," Twitch CEO Dan Clancy said in a statement(opens in new tab). "Like many companies, our business has been impacted by the current macroeconomic environment, and user and revenue growth has not kept pace with our expectations. In order to run our business sustainably, we’ve made the very difficult decision to shrink the size of our workforce." Amazon CEO Andy Jassy provided a little more context to the cuts in his own statement(opens in new tab), saying that Amazon's businesses have "added a significant amount of headcount" over the past several years. But the "uncertainty" of the current and future economy means Amazon has "chosen to be more streamlined in our costs and headcount," which means that people who used to have jobs now do not. This is Amazon's second huge round of layoffs, following the elimination of 18,000 jobs(opens in new tab) in January. It comes in the midst of comparably large-scale job cuts at other major tech companies including Facebook parent company Meta(opens in new tab), which laid off more than 21,000 employees across two rounds of cuts, Microsoft(opens in new tab), which eliminated 10,000 jobs in January, and Google(opens in new tab), which cut 12,000 employees just a couple days after the Microsoft layoffs. Being "leaner"—a word also used by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg last week—is bad news for the thousands of people left unemployed, but good news for shareholders: "I remain very optimistic about the future and the myriad of opportunities we have, both in our largest businesses, Stores and AWS, and our newer customer experiences and businesses in which we’re investing," Jassy said. Clancy, the CEO of Twitch, shared similar sentiments in his own statement. "Millions of streamers choose Twitch every day to build and engage with their communities," he wrote. "I and the rest of the leadership team are confident that we have big opportunities ahead to support you and grow Twitch. Our singular focus has always been on inspiring, growing and sustaining our streamers globally, and that will never change." The timing of the announcement will no doubt raise some eyebrows: Clance took over as CEO of Twitch just last week, following the resignation of co-founder Emmett Shear(opens in new tab). Shear, who will continue to work at Twitch in an "advisory role," said he wanted to spend more time with his family, which is fair after more than 16 years at the top, but it's also fair to wonder whether the timing is fully coincidental, or if the then-looming cuts—which Shear surely would've known were coming—played some role in his decision to move on. Jassy said the layoffs at Amazon will take place "in the next few weeks," after the company has finalized its decisions on who's being let go. https://www.pcgamer.com/twitch-lays-off-more-than-400-employees-as-amazon-cuts-another-9000-jobs/

And now for something different. Budget tier motherboards can look a bit same-same, with black on black or black with highlights being dominant. The ASRock B760M Sonic WiFi(opens in new tab) definitely bucks this trend. It's still a motherboard, but it's a Sonic the Hedgehog motherboard! And I love it. As a young lad, my earliest gaming experiences included sitting in front of the TV playing games on the Sega Mega Drive, or Genesis to our North American readers. The graphics and gameplay of the very first Sonic the Hedgehog game back in 1991 amazed me, and Sonic nostalgia holds a special place in my heart. In recent times, ASRock hasn't been afraid to step outside of the box when it comes to its motherboard designs. The Z790 Live Mixer(opens in new tab) being a good example of this. But as we all know, looks are only a small part of what makes a good motherboard. It can be plated in 24 carat gold but if it's got a junk BIOS it'll be a gold-plated paperweight The B760M PG Sonic WiFi belongs to ASRock's Phantom Gaming sub brand. It's an affordable B760 motherboard at $189(opens in new tab) / £166 / AU$349. That puts it up against some strong competition, including well-regarded and po[CENSORED]r options including the MSI B760 Tomahawk and B760M Aorus Elite. Notably, the B760M Sonic is priced below entry level Z790 boards, unless you can find one on special. If you're unsure about the B760 chipset, why should you consider a B760 board over an entry level Z790? Apart from Intel's lock on CPU overclocking, the major difference between the two is the CPU to chipset DMI link speed. In the case of Z790, this link is an x8 link, whereas B760 has an x4 link. This means B760 will generally have a lesser I/O with fewer SATA and USB ports or fewer M.2 slots. B760 allows you to run fast memory, which removes one of the historically major Z series selling points. If you run a single GPU and an SSD or two, and don't need a dozen or more USB ports, the chances are a good quality B760 board will suit you just fine. The Sonic branding is everywhere. There's a large blue Sonic stencil on the rear of the board and even the BIOS has a Sonic blue theme. The heatsinks have a brushed metal look and you get a line of RGBs underneath the bottom M.2 heatsink. Overall, I really like it. There's a definitely retro vibe to it. Credit to ASRock's design team. Socket: Intel LGA 1700 CPU compatibility: Intel 12th & 13th Gen desktop processors Form factor: Micro ATX Memory support: DDR5-7200+(OC), Up to 192GB Storage: 3x M.2, 4x SATA USB: Up to 3x USB 3.2 Gen 2, 6x USB 3.1 Gen 1, 6x USB 2.0 Display: 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x DP 1.4 Networking: Realtek 2.5G LAN, Wi-Fi 6E Audio: Realtek ALC897 Price: $189(opens in new tab) / £166 (opens in new tab)/ AU$349 The board has a good selection of onboard ports and headers. There are four RGB headers, three of which are addressable, six fan/pump headers and a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C header. The onboard WiFi is provided by an M.2 WiFi module. It looks a bit out of place but in almost all cases it will be covered by a graphics card, so it's not an issue really. https://www.pcgamer.com/asrock-b760m-pg-sonic-wifi/

The French government has narrowly survived a vote of no-confidence, which was triggered when it forced through an increase in the pension age to 64. The vote, tabled by centrist MPs, had 278 votes in favour, falling short of the 287 votes needed. If it had been successful, Emmanuel Macron would have had to name a new government, or call new elections. A second no-confidence motion, tabled by Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally party, also did not pass. Now both votes have failed, the controversial bill to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 will become law. The votes were held after Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne used a special constitutional power, called Article 49:3, to push the bill through without a vote last week. It sparked angry protests at the weekend, with some demonstrators clashing with police and blocking streets with debris fires in central Paris, as well as cities around the country. Monday's failed votes saw fresh protests in the capital, with a tense standoff between protesters and anti-riot police. France pension reform protests turn violent again The first motion, which had the backing of several left-wing parties including the Green Party and the Socialist Party, was the only one likely to succeed. When that vote failed, members of the left-wing contingent that voted for it held placards reading "continue" and "we'll meet in the streets", and shouted that the prime minister should resign. "Nothing is solved, we'll continue to do all we can so this reform is pulled back," hard-left La France Insoumise (LFI) parliamentary group chief Mathilde Panot said. Before the votes, members of the opposition booed and jeered Ms Borne when she took to the podium for a debate, which grew increasingly tense. The prime minister said that the government had "never gone so far" to find a compromise to pass the law. Boris Vallaud from the Socialist Party, who backed the centrist the no-confidence vote, called on the government to "withdraw" the pension reform or "submit it to the vote of the French people". Mr Macron has argued that France's ageing po[CENSORED]tion makes the current pension scheme unaffordable. But that is not a sentiment shared by all in parliament. The author of the first no-confidence votes, Charles de Courson, said removing the government was "the only way of stopping the social and political crisis in this country". However the leader of France's Republican party, Eric Ciotti, said last week they would not support the no-confidence motions. Mr Ciotti said the decision to invoke the clause was "a result of many years of political failures" that demonstrated "a profound crisis in our constitution", but he did not believe the vote of no-confidence was the solution.

Three men accused of killing 20-year-old rapper XXXTentacion during a 2018 ambush robbery have been found guilty. A Florida jury convicted Michael Boatwright, 27, Dedrick Williams, 26, and Trayvon Newsome, 24 on Monday after deliberating for more than a week. All three were charged with first-degree murder in connection to the death of the controversial rapper. Another man, Robert Allen, pleaded guilty last year to second-degree murder. The three face a possible sentence of life behind bars. Rapper XXXTentacion, real name Jahseh Onfroy, was shot and killed in Florida in June 2018. He was visiting a motorcycle shop and was leaving when he was approached by two armed masked men who "demanded property" from him, police said at the time. At least one of the men shot XXXTentacion during a 45-second struggle. The suspects then grabbed a bag full of $50,000 (£42,000) in cash that the rapper had just withdrawn from the bank before fleeing the scene in an SUV. During the trial, the lawyer for Boatwright argued that his client's DNA was not found on XXXTentacion's body. He said the DNA of the two other men did not match either. Whoever (XXXTentacion) struggled with is not in this courtroom," lawyer Joseph Kimok said during closing arguments. The fourth suspect, Allen, testified against the other three after he pleaded guilty last year. Lawyers for the other suspects have argued that Allen lied about their client's involvement in the robbery and death. They also claimed that investigators botched the case and failed to consider other suspects. Lead prosecutor Pascale Achille, however, said that the lack of DNA evidence was irrelevant, as cell phone data shows the three accused were together near the motorcycle shop at the time of the rapper's death. Ms Achille said that Bluetooth data shows the accused were in the SUV used by the shooters at that same time. Prosecutors presented surveillance video from the motorcycle shop as evidence, as well as cell phone videos that the accused allegedly took hours after the killing showing them flashing handfuls of $100 bills. XXXTentacion was a platinum-selling rising rap artist, who faced some controversies in his brief career. His personal life was plagued by allegations of domestic violence. He was facing 15 felony charges at the time of his death, including aggravated battery of a pregnant woman, domestic battery by strangulation and witness tampering. His music explored themes of depression, loneliness, abandonment and suicide. Many of his tracks climbed up the charts in the UK and the US shortly after his death, and his memorial was attended by thousands of fans. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-64825205

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As soon as OpenAI launched GPT-4, the net was abuzz with Microsoft, which is one of the biggest investors in ChatGPT’s parent company. Not for nothing, almost any new thing from OpenAI appears in Microsoft products, such as Bing search, Edge browser, Office 365, etc. We don’t know how long it will take for AI to replace office workers. But one thing is clear even now – it could be a very helpful assistant. A few days ago, on 16 March, Microsoft announced Power Platform Copilot. In case you haven’t figured it out yet, it allows devs to build apps with the help of Al Copilot is a new feature of Microsoft Power Platform that can provide AI-powered assistance based on GPT in Power Apps, Power Virtual Agents and Power Automate. Devs can talk to GPT and describe the app they want to create. Copilot can then build it in seconds and suggest tips to improve it. .With Power Platform Copilot, all devs need to do is describe the app using simple natural language. Once that is done, Power Apps will build the app. By this, we mean that it will not only write code for the UI but also create the data table and business logic. For instance, if a user tells Power Apps to “create a worker onboarding app, get new worker data and share training content and learning modules,” Copilot can create the app in one breach. Users can also customize the app by interacting with Copilot, for instance, adding new columns to the data table or even filling the data table with sample data, and so on. Even if there are problems during the creation of the app, Copilot can suggest how to improve the app. Not long ago, Power Automate announced that it could create automated processes using natural language. But at the time, these were simple processes requiring simple tasks With Power Automate Copilot, processes can be created using natural language no matter what complexity the requirements have. Also, Copilot can optimize and update the process in a dialogue-based manner. This allows users to create any process using natural language without any Power Automate expertise. https://www.gizchina.com/2023/03/18/say-goodbye-to-coding-microsoft-launches-power-platform-copilot/

PS VR2 is a massive step up for Sony's virtual reality efforts. It's immersive, luxurious, and genuinely fun to use in a way that Sony's first attempt at VR often struggled to be. If you're looking at it as an upgrade to your ageing PS VR kit, there's no contest. I dare say PS VR2 could even give the most po[CENSORED]r PC VR headsets a run for their money, though it'll have a tough job convincing PC VR enthusiasts to ditch SteamVR anytime soon. Make no mistake, there's something to be said for just how advanced Sony has made the PS VR2. It delivers an impressive feature set that's very much on-point for 2023. Features like intelligent eye tracking, which makes flicking through in-game menus as easy as glancing at them, and foveated rendering to lessen the load of dual 2000 x 2040 OLED displays on the PlayStation 5's hardware(opens in new tab). These are features that are up-to-date with modern, high-end virtual reality headsets, and only just looking to land on cheaper devices on PC. Even next to modern headsets like the Meta Quest 2(opens in new tab) and Valve Index(opens in new tab), PS VR2 offers a comparable level of visual fidelity. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. PS VR2's twin OLED displays offer a higher resolution than the Quest 2. The 90Hz–120Hz refresh rate is a match, too. https://www.pcgamer.com/sony-ps-vr2-review/

Nick Movie: Shazam Fury of the Gods Time: Feb 25,2023 Netflix / Amazon / HBO?: Netflix Duration of the movie: 2h 10m Trailer:

The Lunaz Upcycled Electric Vehicle (UEV) is a converted zero-emission bin lorry from a firm best known until now for converting ultra-posh Rolls-Royce, Bentley and Jaguars to electric power Rubbish? Quite the opposite: we’re all being encouraged to reduce, reuse and recycle – and the Lunaz UEV applies those ‘three Rs’ to the machines that picks up your empties. At the moment, collecting rubbish and recycling is dirty and smelly work – and not just because it involves a load of, well, rubbish. Most bin lorries in use today are big, heavy, diesel-powered vehicles, which are good for providing the power to pick up your leftovers but create problems of their own. They’re quite loud for one thing, as you might well know if your bins are collected early. But, more significantly, they’re not great when it comes to emissions. Essentially, the use case of a bin lorry is really not suited to diesel powertrains: they make slow journeys through often in dense residential areas, with frequent stops and starts. Studies have shown that idling vehicles produce more emissions than when a vehicle is moving – and those emissions are more likely to stay in that area. And it doesn’t help that the lifts on most bin lorries are actually powered by their Diesel engines, burning extra fuel and creating further emissions. Change is needed, and there is increasing national and local government emphasis on reducing emissions – look at the rising number of Clean Air Zones, or the UK government’s planned ban on the sale of all non zero-emission cars and vans from 2035 onwards. As a result, many councils and waste firm operators have pledged to switch to zero-emission machines in the coming years – including electric bin lorries. There are some new ones coming to the market: for example, the Mercedes Econic is a particularly po[CENSORED]r bin lorry in Europe, and the firm now offers an eEconic (and yes, the double e in its title makes us wince a bit too). But new electric vehicles have problems of their own: manufacturing a bin lorry produces a significant amount of emissions in itself. So Lunaz’s idea is to take an existing vehicle and fit an electric powertrains, while also giving it a thorough makeover. “If you replace the current fleet you just ‘carbon postbox’ existing vehicles to other countries, so you don’t solve the problem,” says company founder David Lorenz. “You have to break the pattern, by taking existing vehicles and upcycling them to electric – or else you just end up with more vehicles on the road.” So the Lunaz UEV is a diesel bin lorry converted to electric power then? That’s essentially right, although Lunaz doesn’t like to use the terms ‘conversion’ or ‘repowered’. It uses the term upcycling – and the difference is more than just some terminology pedantry. In fact, it’s probably best explained by returning to those Rolls-Royce and Bentleys we mentioned earlier. Lunaz founded in 2018 by entrepreneur Lorenz and engineer Jon Hilton, with an initial focus on Lunaz Design. That’s the classic car upcycling arm, which is based in a large unit at Silverstone Business Park, a few hundred metres from the home of the British Grand Prix. The division works on a commission basis, and its clients include high-end hotels, classic car fans and some ex-footballer called David Beckham, who was so impressed he invested in the company. https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/move-electric/first-ride-lunaz-upcycled-electric-vehicle-bin-lorry

A pet monkey attacked an Oklahoma woman on Sunday before a family member of the victim shot and killed the primate, police said. The attack, which left the woman with non-life-threatening injuries, occurred in Dickson, a town a little over 100 miles south of Oklahoma City. Police received a report of a monkey on someone's front porch just after 6 p.m., according to the Dickson Police Department. When police arrived at the scene, they called for help from the Oklahoma Wildlife Department. And when the officers got out of the car, the monkey jumped on the back of the vehicle and then ran toward the victim and climbed onto her, causing unspecified injuries, police said. NBC affiliate KTEN of Ada, a city about 83 miles southeast of Oklahoma City, reported that the victim, Brittany Parker, was the person who originally called police to report the monkey. She told the station that the monkey "ran up my back and jumped onto my head, pulled hair out, and then ripped my ear in half like you would a piece of paper." A spokesperson for the police department confirmed Parker's injuries and her identity as the victim in the case. Parker was transported first to Mercy Hospital Ardmore and then to OU Health University of Oklahoma Medical Center in Oklahoma City to receive treatment for her injuries, police said. She was released from the hospital early Monday with bruises and a stitched-up ear, KTEN reported. After attacking Parker, the monkey then ran into a wooded area, and its owners — and police — unsuccessfully tried to track it down, with police warning the public not to approach the animal. At some point, a family member of Parker shot and killed the monkey, police said. KTEN reported it was a friend of Parker's who killed the animal, with Parker claiming that the monkey also attacked the person who killed it. “We called him and he came over here, and after I had been attacked, the monkey went out to his vehicle, slapped him across the face, and pulled his hair,” Parker told the local station. The monkey's body is being analyzed at Oklahoma Disease Laboratory for testing, according to Dickson Police, who said the investigation is ongoing. Oklahoma law classifies primates as domesticated animals, making it legal to own one without a permit, KTEN reported. But state law also makes it a misdemeanor punishable by up to $50 or 30 days in jail to fail to keep domestic animals adequately enclosed. A spokesperson for the Dickson Police Department said the case has been submitted to the Carter County District Attorney's office for review and officials there will determine whether the owner of the monkey faces charges. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/animal-news/pet-monkey-attacks-oklahoma-woman-shot-killed-police-say-rcna75233

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