Ga[M]er

Last summer, Mazda expressly confirmed it was actively looking into electrification for the Mazda Miata roadster, stating it would "work hard to make it a lightweight, affordable, open two-seater sports car in order to meet the needs of customers." It seems that hard work will be paying off at closer to the end of the decade, as more recent comments from Mazda's head of European product development indicate the MX-5 will stick to combustion engines only for as long as it can beat back increasingly strict regulations. Back in June, Mazda announced that 25 percent of its model lineup would be fully electric, and the other 75 percent would have to be hybrid or plug-in electrified vehicles by 2030. That naturally raised some questions around the fate of the Miata, which has remained laser-focused on its compact, lightweight character for four generations so far, and exists as somewhat of an antithesis to the weight and packaging challenges that come with an EV. Mazda has confirmed a next-gen Miata will come in some form or another, but it now seems like any electrification efforts are still many years away. Speaking to Autocar, Joachim Kunz, Mazda's head of European product development, indicated the rush to electrify Mazda's lineup could pass over the MX-5 Miata, for now: "It's our brand icon and it is always treated very specially," Kunz told Autocar. "At the moment, it looks like we will have this car forever, with this size and concept and combustion engine. Of course, some day, we will have to electrify it, but we want to keep this pure concept." Autocar claims the next-gen Miata will not move over to the automaker's new small-vehicle architecture, and will retain a rear-wheel drive layout. Kunz also mentioned "having one generation for 10 years," so we may not see the next-gen roadster until sometime around 2024, giving the current model a few more years of gas-powered fun, too. So what exactly does Mazda have planned? It's possible we see a heavily-reworked update of the current Miata with combustion power only in 2024. If we give it a 10-year generation like Kunz mentioned (which, admittedly, is in line with previous Miata life cycles), that could mean a mid-cycle refresh around 2029 that would then likely introduce a hybrid powertrain in order to achieve the company's stated 2030 electrification goals. At least, we hope that's Mazda's plan. https://www.motortrend.com/news/2024-mazda-miata-mx-5-ev-ice-rumors/

Michael Jordan is a billionaire who loves spending his money – he needs heavy-duty protection for it and himself. An icon of the game – Michael Jordan is worth around 1.6 billion dollars. That is Billion with a B. His salary during the NBA wasn’t anything to be scoffed at, but nowhere close to what the athletes make today. Players like Evan Fournier easily have made more than what Michael Jordan has made in his basketball career, but yet the man is worth over 20 times Fournier’s net worth. Smart investments, brand name, and general marketability put Jordan in the ranks of the best paid Black personalities, and he spends like an athlete as well. Luxurious yachts, custom planes, and crazy mansions mean that Jordan is well and truly in for a lifestyle of dreams. With that comes the added fear and responsibility of keeping oneself safe. An eminent personality like MJ may not be under obvious threat, but the security cannot be lax. The owner of the Charlotte Hornets does not take any risks when it comes to personal safety, shelling up to 1500 dollars an hour on just his overseas security detail. The security team is active since his playing days and has not left his side ever since his first comeback to the NBA. Michael Jordan lives out a life that is fit for a GTA character with the money cheat on – some of his expenses makes no sense What seems like a luxury to the common man is a basic amenity for his Airness. A regular person would be elated to own a small sailboat, the man has a 100-foot superyacht. he spends close to a million dollars just to keep it operational, despite not sailing for long stretches at a time. When you have money rolling in on an hourly basis, things like this seem trivial. Athletes of today look up to MJ both on and off the court. Not for his spending habits, but the way he turned himself into a PR machine. Any place with which his name is associated rakes in the moolah – so does he! MJ was not a fool with his money though – even though he had a penchant for luxury, he made sure he secured his investments, and only then did he think about pampering himself. The general public only looks at his lavish lifestyle, not the grind behind it. He deserves to enjoy his life the way he dreams because he put in the effort to manifest it. https://thesportsrush.com/nba-news-michael-jordan-is-so-scared-for-his-life-that-his-security-is-on-par-with-the-potus-to-facilitate-his-incredible-lifestyle-jordans-security-detail-is-the-cream-of-the-crop/

The day after Anton Ischenko celebrated his 23rd birthday, he was taken by the Russians, led away at gunpoint from his home in the village of Andriivka, west of Kyiv. His family found his body a month later, once the Russian troops were driven out. He was so badly mutilated that they had to identify him by his clothes. As Russian forces retreat to eastern Ukraine, horrors are being uncovered in the villages which they left. About 1,000 people lived in Andriivka, some 60km away from the capital. At least 40 of them were killed. "He was a very nice boy, very clever - he recited poetry," recalls Anton's grandmother, Tetiana, sitting outside the family house. Suddenly, her exhausted face crumples. "Maybe if he had gone to fight somewhere else, he would have returned here in one piece," she says, struggling to speak through her tears. "When my husband told the Russians, 'Take me instead,' they pointed a machine gun at him and said, 'Go home - or we will take you both.'" Andriivka, on the route up to the Belarus border, has been blighted by battle and the month-long occupation. Buildings are ripped apart amid a mess of rubble and mangled metal. Craters lie in the dirt road where tanks were blown up. Remnants of artillery lie beside corpses of chickens and rabbits. Burnt-out armoured vehicles lie at either end of the village. It is a scene of utter devastation. With the Russians pushed out, some residents are beginning to return - or emerge from shelters. On the main road, beside wooden boxes that contained grad missiles, Grigoriy Klymenko is taking in the sight of destruction. He decided to stay throughout the occupation to be with his 90-year-old mother, who is bedridden. They had watched in terror as tanks encircled the village. "They're animals," he says of the forces that moved in. "Humans don't behave like this. My parents told me about the war and the fascists didn't even do such things." Next door, Leonid Koval and his son are beginning to repair their damaged house, retiling the roof and fixing plastic sheeting into blown-out windows. Russian soldiers stayed in his home - and looted it. Inside, the cupboards lie wrenched apart by the Russian occupiers, boxes of photographs and clothes turned upside down. Cushions were ripped from the sofa. The soldiers emptied everything they could find. When the Ukrainian army began to push towards Andriivka, the Russians staying there moved out of the main house and into the tiny cellar to hide. Leonid takes me down to the cold and dark space, the mattresses and blankets they used still stuffed against the wall. To one side are the open packets of biscuits and jars of pickled fruit they feasted on. As he surveys the damage to his home, Leonid breaks down. "I don't know what they were looking for," he says, "they just destroyed everything. I have no words to describe what they did." The scarred villages and towns near Kyiv and Chernihiv in northern Ukraine, from where the Russians have retreated, are now sites of possible war crimes. Andriivka joins a growing list - with Bucha, Irpin and others - which bear the hallmarks of deliberate targeting of civilians and other atrocities banned by the rules of war. And they are grim omens of what may be in store in the east, where Russian forces are now intensifying their attacks ahead of a new offensive. What nightmares will be found there once the shroud of war finally lifts? On the edge of Andriivka cemetery, the remains of Tetiana's grandson, Anton, lie in a fresh grave. His family have only now been able to bury him. The 23-year-old was studying to become an electrician. "We wanted to bury him separately and with a priest, not just in a mass grave," she says. "I had two daughters, so he was our boy. We only had one boy." https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-61062213

Twitter has confirmed it reversed a change that altered the appearance of deleted tweets embedded on websites outside of Twitter (thanks to @RuinDig on Twitter for pointing this out). Instead of leaving a blank gap in place of the deleted tweets, the site will go back to displaying the tweet’s original text. “After considering the feedback we heard, we’re rolling back this change for now while we explore different options,” Twitter spokesperson Remi Duhé said in an emailed statement to The Verge. “We appreciate those who shared their points of view — your feedback helps us make Twitter better.” If you head to any third-party webpage with an embedded tweet (like this one from The Verge), you’ll see that you can once again see the tweet’s original text, date, and the name of the user who posted it. Judging by Twitter’s response, it looks like this reversal is only temporary while the company figures out an alternate way to display deleted tweets on websites. It’s unclear what kind of “different options” Twitter might try out, but, hopefully, it won’t involve completely blocking out any information associated with the tweet. On Wednesday, Kevin Marks pointed out that Twitter quietly began using Javascript — potentially as early as late March — to block out deleted tweets (pictured above) embedded on other websites. This includes tweets from accounts that have been banned or suspended from Twitter, making it impossible to see embedded tweets from people like Donald Trump, who Twitter banned last year. This had pretty big implications for news stories that included deleted tweets or tweets from banned users, which are typically important for context. Earlier this week, Twitter announced that it’s working on a long-awaited “edit” button, sparking concerns over whether people could abuse the feature to change the content of a tweet (including those that are embedded) after it had already been shared. https://www.theverge.com/2022/4/9/23018126/twitter-reverts-change-left-blank-spaces-websites-embedded-tweets

Light-matter interactions form the basis of many important technologies, including lasers, light-emitting diodes (LEDs), and atomic clocks. However, usual computational approaches for modeling such interactions have limited usefulness and capability. Now, researchers from Japan have developed a technique that overcomes these limitations. In a study published this month in The International Journal of High Performance Computing Applications, a research team led by the University of Tsukuba describes a highly efficient method for simulating light-matter interactions at the atomic scale. What makes these interactions so difficult to simulate? One reason is that phenomena associated with the interactions encompass many areas of physics, involving both the propagation of light waves and the dynamics of electrons and ions in matter. Another reason is that such phenomena can cover a wide range of length and time scales. Given the multiphysics and multiscale nature of the problem, light-matter interactions are typically modeled using two separate computational methods. The first is electromagnetic analysis, whereby the electromagnetic fields of the light are studied; the second is a quantum-mechanical calculation of the optical properties of the matter. But these methods assume that the electromagnetic fields are weak and that there is a difference in the length scale. "Our approach provides a unified and improved way to simulate light-matter interactions," says senior author of the study Professor Kazuhiro Yabana. "We achieve this feat by simultaneously solving three key physics equations: the Maxwell equation for the electromagnetic fields, the time-dependent Kohn-Sham equation for the electrons, and the Newton equation for the ions." The researchers implemented the method in their in-house software SALMON (Scalable Ab initio Light-Matter simulator for Optics and Nanoscience), and they thoroughly optimized the simulation computer code to maximize its performance. They then tested the code by modeling light-matter interactions in a thin film of amorphous silicon dioxide, composed of more than 10,000 atoms. This simulation was carried out using almost 28,000 nodes of the fastest supercomputer in the world, Fugaku, at the RIKEN Center for Computational Science in Kobe, Japan. "We found that our code is extremely efficient, achieving the goal of one second per time step of the calculation that is needed for practical applications," says Professor Yabana. "The performance is close to its maximum possible value, set by the bandwidth of the computer memory, and the code has the desirable property of excellent weak scalability." Although the team simulated light-matter interactions in a thin film in this work, their approach could be used to explore many phenomena in nanoscale optics and photonics. https://techxplore.com/news/2022-01-light-matter-interactions-simulated-world-fastest.html

PowerColor's upcoming Radeon RX 6750 XT graphics card in the Devil custom variation has been submitted to the RRA (South Korean National Radio Research Agency). This confirms that the card is coming out soon as expected. PowerColor Readies Radeon RX 6750 XT Devil Graphics Card With 12 GB GDDR6 Memory & 18 Gbps Dies The AMD RDNA 2 Desktop refresh is expected to include three new graphics cards, the Radeon RX 6950 XT, RX 6750 XT, and RX 6650 XT. The Radeon RX 6750 XT will be a slight bump to the existing Radeon RX 6700 XT graphics card and feature the same Navi 22 XT GPU with 2560 cores, 12 GB of GDDR6 memory running across a 192-bit bus interface, and a TBP of around 230W. The difference is that the card is expected to feature higher clocks, especially in the memory department which is being upgraded to the 18 Gbps memory dies. Spotted by Harukaze5719 at the RRA, the R-R-TUF-RX6750XT3DHEOC is the codename for the new PowerColor Radeon RX 6750 XT graphics card. The Devil Radeon RX 6700 XT carries a dual-slot and triple-fan cooling system. It is a relatively high-end custom model and comes with a factory OC out of the box as evident by the 'OC' name at the end. The card will feature a custom PCB design and power is expected to be provided by a dual 8-pin connector configuration. There would also be a small price difference and the TGP numbers are expected to go up slightly with the addition of the faster memory chips. These GPUs will likely compete with Intel's high-end ARC Alchemist GPUs that are launching in a few months while the Radeon RX 6950 XT flagship is clearly aimed at NVIDIA's RTX 3090 Ti graphics card which is one power-hungry insanity. The AMD RX 6750 XT is expected to be priced similarly and will also come in a midnight black model. https://wccftech.com/powercolor-radeon-rx-6750-xt-devil-12-gb-gddr6-graphics-card-spotted/

Name of the Game : No Man's Sky Price : 29.99$ https://store.steampowered.com/app/275850/No_Mans_Sky/ Offer ends up after Xhours: 21 April Requirements: MINIMUM: Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system OS: Windows 7/8.1/10 (64-bit versions) Processor: Intel Core i3 Memory: 8 GB RAM Graphics: nVidia GTX 480, AMD Radeon 7870 Storage: 10 GB available space RECOMMENDED: Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system

Whether you fancy gearing up as a bulky tank or a DPS powerhouse, Sandbox Interactive's Albion Online lets you be whatever you want to be. With its unique, classless "you are what you wear" system and no enforced questlines, the game offers players all over the world a true hardcore sandbox experience. By constantly updating its content and regularly adding quality-of-life improvements, the game has been keeping things fresh for players since its launch in 2017. Here we take a quick look at what Albion brought to players in 2021, and preview some exciting developments coming in 2022. The Albion Online you've always known and loved Platform compatibility and content expansions aside, the free-to-play game has always evolved and improved its content to cater to the needs and wants of its eager fanbase. The cross-platform title offers an accessible, flexible gameplay experience as players can switch between PC and mobile with a seamless and innovative control scheme. Other QOL updates in the past have included the option to buy loadouts straight from the marketplace, customizable guild roles and chest access rights, streamlined farming of crops and animals, improved feedback when crafting, refining, and rerolling, numerous customization options for characters and mounts, and more. A core part of the game is the dynamic economy where weapons and equipment are crafted by the players themselves. Users can customise their own character paths with their choice of equipment, letting everyone enjoy that refreshing flexibility to suit varying playstyles and strategies. A look back at 2021 When the Call to Arms update dropped in March 2021, players were able to immerse themselves in a revamped Faction Warfare that breathed new life into small and medium-scale PvP while introducing the new Carleon Faction. A few months later, the full mobile launch expanded the game's cross-platform flexibility. With daily active users going over the 270,000 mark, Albion Online boasted a thriving community filled with players both new and old across the globe. The game ended 2021 with a bang as the Lands Awakened update revitalised Albion's biomes with stunning visual improvements. The addition of the brawler-style War Gloves weapon line and new guild warfare mechanics offered numerous gameplay options to keep the entire player base deeply engaged. To 2022 and beyond This year, Albion Online aims to keep its Guild Warfare fresh and exciting, with smaller guilds empowered by the Lands Awakened update. Territories in the Outlands are more competitive than ever, keeping guilds of all sizes on their toes. Those that enjoy the tighter gameplay of playing in smaller groups will be pleased to hear that The Roads of Avalon maps are set to be updated with more rewards, content, and optimisation for small group play. And, for those who prefer to go it alone, there will be a new solo-player Road. This can be accessed via mist-shrouded portals that will allow players to explore new regions without the risk of ambush from groups of enemies. There will also be an overhaul of the existing Magic Staff weapon line, with new weapons and spells added, improved designs and vfx, and a rework to their current spells. This will breathe new life into this weapon line, further diversifying the range of combat styles that players can employ. Albion Online will remain a dynamic and ever-evolving game, and further expanded playability options are coming with controller support. This includes availability on the new Steam Deck, opening the MMORPG's doors to even more players all over the world. If you're keen on experiencing the freedom of Albion Online yourself, you can download the game on the iOS App Store and on the Google Play Store for Android devices. It's a free-to-play game with in-app purchases. https://www.pocketgamer.com/new-weekly-mobile-games/april-7-2022/

Sci-fi horror game Returnal was the big winner at this year's Bafta Games Awards, scooping four prizes. They included the top honour - best game - for the Playstation 5 shooter. "It feels wonderful of course and we're so proud for the team that made it," Housemarque studio head Ilari Kuittinen told BBC News. Jane Perry won best leading performer for playing Returnal's Selene, an astronaut who gets stuck in a time loop after crash landing on an alien planet. In her acceptance speech at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, the actress thanked Bafta for "recognising the artistry and the incredible talent in the games industry". She also thanked the game's makers for "bringing to life - and several deaths - the person who became Selene". Perry continued: "Performers dream of having a role like that to sink our teeth into. She is a middle-aged woman, she's a single mom and she is courageous and strong. And despite her considerable loss and trauma, she never gives up. "She hopes for a better future and I think given the very serious state of the world right now that we can all take inspiration from Selene." Other winners at Thursday's ceremony included It Takes Two, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart and Unpacking, which won two Baftas each. Unpacking, a puzzle game in which a woman's life unfolds as the player unboxes her possessions over a series of house moves, was conceived when Wren Brier and partner and co-creator Tim Dawson moved in together. "It's incredible to have our little weird game recognised," Brier said when accepting the narrative award. "We're not telling a complicated story in Unpacking but the way we tell it is different, and it's nice to see that that's appreciated and resonates with people." The Brisbane-based couple were more shocked when it was named winner of the EE game of the year, the only category voted for by the public. "Wow. We really, really didn't expect this one. Like, there was no chance," Brier said. This is the 18th year that Bafta has honoured the best of the gaming world. Gaming boomed in po[CENSORED]rity during the pandemic. Last week, it was revealed that Brits spent a record £7.16bn on games, hardware and accessories in 2021 - up 32% compared with 2019. Thursday was the first time the industry had got together in person for the Bafta Games Awards since 2019. The past two ceremonies have been staged virtually because of Covid. And many of this year's winners had worked on their creations during lockdown. The award for best British game went to racing title Forza Horizon 5, set in Mexico but made in Leamington Spa by Playground Games. Studio head Trevor Williams said: "I'm really honoured and proud. It wasn't the easiest game to finish, I'll be honest. "We shipped it in the middle of the pandemic and it was just truly inspiring working with a team that not only tried to ship the game but at every turn tried to ship the best game that they could. You truly are masters of your craft." Accepting It Takes Two's trophy for best original property, Hazelight Studios' Swedish founder Josef Fares said: "This is a surprise. We're super happy and proud." When he returned to the stage to pick up the multiplayer prize, Fares joked: "This one was expected, actually." https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-61026307

Kota Factory is a story set in Kota, a hub for many coaching centres where students come from all over India to prepare for various entrance exams. It follows the life of 16-year-old Vaibhav who moves to Kota from Itarsi and shows the life of students in the city, and their efforts to get into IIT. It also stars Jitendra Kumar, Ahsaas Channa, Alam Khan and Ranjan Raj in prominent roles.

With as much as 60% of U.S. consumers living paycheck to paycheck, it’s not a surprise to see that the spending cutbacks have started. Even with a strong job market and wage gains, as well as Covid stimulus savings, pricing spikes in core spending categories including food, gas and shelter are leading more Americans to mind their pocketbooks closely. A new survey from CNBC and Momentive finds rising concerns about inflation and the risk of recession, and Americans saying not only have started buying less but will be buying less across more categories if inflation persists. But these financial stress points are not limited to lower-income consumers. The survey finds American with incomes of at least $100,000 saying they’ve cut back on spending, or may soon do so, in numbers that are not far off the decisions being made by lower-income groups. The high-income consumer demographic is key to the economy. While it represents only one-third of consumers, it is responsible for up to three-quarters of the spending. As Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s notes, “If the high-income consumers are out buying, we won’t see a big impact on raw consumer activity.” Lower-income households are the most at risk, and they are the ones most likely to be making unwelcome tradeoffs to make their money stretch as far as it did just a few months ago, according to the survey results. They are also clearly experiencing more financial anxiety, according to the survey, with 57% of Americans with income under $50,000 saying they are under more stress than a year ago, versus 45% of those with incomes of $100,000 or more. The 68% of high-income consumers who said they are worried higher prices will force them to rethink financial decisions is significantly lower than the 82% of Americans with income of $50,000 or less who told the survey this, but it is still a majority. More than half of people with household incomes under $50,000 say they have already cut back on multiple expenses due to prices, and for those with income of at least $100,000, the cutback levels are already similar when it comes to dining out, taking vacations, and buying a car. “People making six-figure incomes are almost as worried about inflation as people making half as much —and they are just as likely to be taking steps to mitigate its effect on their lives,” said Laura Wronski, senior manager of research science at Momentive. “Inflation is a problem that compounds over time, and even high-income individuals won’t be insulated from the second- and third-order effects of price increases,” she said. Other recent consumer survey data paints a weakening picture. The University of Michigan Survey of Consumers finds more consumers mentioning reduced living standards due to rising inflation than at any other time in the survey’s history except during the two worst recessions in the past 50 years: from March 1979 to April 1981 and from May to October 2008. Notably, the consumer confidence gap between low and high income levels always shrinks at cyclical troughs and is always widest at peak, and the gap is narrowing now, according to survey director Richard Curtin. In January, the percentage point gap between the lowest income and highest income group in the survey’s sentiment index was 13.2 points. That was erased in March, with the top income group sentiment actually dipping below the lowest income bracket in overall sentiment and future expectations. In January, the higher income group expectations, specifically, were 18 percentage points higher. Right now, there is a unique set of issues that could be exacerbating this gap narrowing, Curtin said, including the potential for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to do more damage to the global economy than forecast and the fact that the majority of the po[CENSORED]tion has not experienced 10%+ inflation, or 15% mortgage rates, as past generations had. “Even at lower rates they may display behaviors associated with more extreme economic conditions in the past,” Curtin said. “Precautionary motives play a big part in consumption trends for upper income groups,” he added. “The American consumer is in a dark mood,” Zandi said of the CNBC survey data. More than two years since the pandemic hit, first with millions of lost jobs and high unemployment, and now high inflation, and “fractured politics also weighing heavily on the collective psyche.” All income groups in the survey are equally likely to say the economy will enter a recession this year, at over 80%. But there is a key caveat: actual spending actions from the economy don’t yet indicate this prediction will come true. Despite the downbeat feelings about their financial situations, and cutbacks, Zandi stressed that consumers are still spending strongly. There are now lots of jobs, unemployment is low, debt loads are light, asset prices are high, and there is a lot of excess saving. Even if people are cutting back, spending less on some items, the mood has not yet taken control of the spending motivation to a degree that amounts to more than a slowdown in economic growth. “I suspect the American consumer will continue spending, regardless of their mood, as long as the job market remains strong,” Zandi said. The Conference Board’s latest monthly confidence index reading showed present confidence up (slightly) for the first time this year, but the expectations index lower, with consumers citing rising prices, including gas. Lynn Franco, director of economic indicators and surveys at The Conference Board, said there is still a gap in its confidence data between lower income and higher income consumers and a lot of that is driven by the inflationary environment, and less impact the affluent will feel from factors including gas prices. She said the gap does always narrow in a pre-recession period — but its data is not indicating a recession as of now. What its confidence survey is forecasting is a slowdown in growth over the next few quarters driven by higher prices, and more Americans spending less on discretionary items as more of their money goes to covering the basics. That will be most acutely felt by the lower-income consumers, but there is broad-based concern about prices rising significantly in the months ahead — 6 out of every 10 consumers surveyed by The Conference Board think the Russia-Ukraine war will cause prices to rise significantly. “That is very broad-based and that, coupled with interest rates going up, may make people more hesitant to postpone big-ticket purchases likes housing and autos and washing machines,” Franco said. “We will see a bit of slowing in consumer spending over the next few quarters, but we don’t feel that will drive us into recession.” The overall confidence level from Americans with income of $125,000 in its survey has come back down from mid-2021, but Franco described them as still “relatively confident despite all volatility we have seen. ... The indications we are getting across income groups speaks more towards softening in consumer spending rather than a severe pullback,” she said. The Conference Board data, similar to other outlooks, is underpinned by a key role for the labor market in supporting confidence and balancing the negative influence of inflation, with Americans who say jobs are “plentiful” at an all-time high. Members of the CNBC CFO Council have mentioned “a tale of two cities” among consumers, with higher income bracket consumers continuing to be strong while lower income consumers are beginning to chew through the stimulus. There will be a new equilibrium point, and inflation won’t grow as it has over the past year, but it will remain at a higher level, and the consumer spending has to be set against this dynamic that will play out through calendar year 2022, and is expected to be more sharply felt in the second half of the year. Key factors that CFOs are watching include the decline in the consumer savings rate; how successful the Fed is in using its tools to slow the economy without pushing it into recession, including raising rates to cool consumption and investment; and greater supply chain stability. The supply chain remains in flux with new Covid variants, as well as the Russian war against Ukraine hitting energy and food prices. But if supply chain pressures overall do ease, inventory will be replenished at a rate that could lead to more pushback from retailers on pricing, as consumers also begin to slow down consumption habits, trading down in certain categories of purchases or trading away from them. The Conference Board’s most recent CEO survey showed that companies are passing along the costs of inflation relatively quickly to consumers, and that pattern is likely to continue in the months ahead, with wage gains a contributing factor. “What we are seeing and hearing from members is that these tight labor market conditions are going to continue for several months, so we will continue to see wage pressure,” Franco said. As earnings come in, the market will be looking for signs of durable consumer strength amid higher prices. Earlier this week, Conagra’s results showed that it couldn’t make price increases flow through to its bottom line relative to input costs, but CEO Sean Connolly said on Thursday that “consumer demand has remained strong in the face of our pricing actions to date.” Conagra is planning more price increases. https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/08/as-inflation-bites-higher-income-consumers-are-cutting-back-too.html

The giant anteater lives up to its name: it is large and eats ants. In fact, giant anteaters are the largest species of anteater. Giant anteaters can grow to be 1.8-2.4 meters (6-8 ft.) from nose to tail and weigh between 25-45 kg (55-100 lbs.). Males and females are roughly the same size. Giant anteaters have brown fur with black stripes and white front legs. They shuffle walk on the knuckles of their front legs because they tuck their claws into their fists to keep them sharp. The head and tail of the giant anteater are very unique. Their tails are big and bushy, and can be used to provide shade or to sit on for extra height. They have a long snout, which has no teeth, but a very long tongue. Their tongues are a little more than 60 cm (2 ft.) long. Not only is the anteater’s tongue super long, it’s also super sticky. Covered with sticky saliva, there are also tiny backward-pointing spines on their tongue. Giant anteaters can slurp up ants and termites up to 150 times in a minute. They only eat for a minute at each termite mound or ant hill so that they can get out before the insects start attacking. They can eat 30,000 to 35,000 ants or termites a day. You might think giant anteaters also use their tongue to lap up water like other animals, but they rarely drink. Most of the giant anteater’s water comes from their food. In the wild, giant anteaters can be found all over Central and South America, except for Guatemala, Uruguay, and El Salvador. They can live in a variety of habitats such as forests, wetlands, savannas, and grasslands. They keep a range of 1.5 to 2.5 km (1-1.5 mi.). Giant anteaters do not have a den and rest in many places in their range. Reproduction Giant anteaters breed at the beginning of the rainy season, between March and May. During this time the generally solitary animals come together. After a gestation period of 6 months, a single baby called a pup is born. Parents will stay together only while the mother is caring for the young. Pups look like tiny versions of their parents which helps them blend in when they ride on their mother’s back. The pups cuddle under their mother’s legs and nurse when they are not traveling around. After 6-9 months, the pups stop riding on their mothers back and stop nursing. By 2 years old, they are on their own completely. Conservation Status Giant anteaters are considered vulnerable to extinction by the IUCN Redlist. While they have predators, like pumas and jaguars, they are also killed by human hunters or captured by poachers. The biggest threat is habitat loss, which is forcing them out of their natural homes. What You Can Do to Help Giant Anteaters To help giant anteaters you can advocate for renewable energy, sustainable farming practices, and land conservation. https://animalfactguide.com/animal-facts/giant-anteater/

Even though Russia's currency, the ruble, has apparently stabilized after going into a free-fall in the face of crushing global financial sanctions in response to the invasion of Ukraine, its car market is still going for quite the ride. According to Automotive News Europe, car sales in Russia were down over 60 percent in March, effectively the first full month of its incursion into Ukraine. It probably seems obvious that global automakers boycotting the Russian market, financial sanctions on the banking system, and worried Russian citizens pulling back on extra spending with the expectation of a recession or worse that car sales might not be okay there—but the reasons for this severe sales drop-off are as intertwined as they are varied. Take the ruble's rollercoaster ride over the past two months. Fairly soon after the U.S. and other nations imposed brutal sanctions on overseas Russian financial holdings, the movement of money in and out of Russia, and on key figures and oligarchs close to the Kremlin, the ruble's value plummeted relative to the dollar. Feverish machinations by Russia's equivalent to our Federal Reserve (a central bank), headlined by a foundational interest rate hike to as high as 20 percent, shored up the country's currency. But consider the consequences of such an interest rate: Taking out loans for, say, a car or home in Russia has got to be astronomically expensive right now, which likely is curtailing demand. Here in the U.S., the Fed raised interest rates only slightly, and customers have noticed mortgage rates and car loan rates rise in lockstep; mortgage interest rates have almost doubled since the end of last year—and even then, to "only" 5 percent. The difference in America, of course, is that the economy is still cooking along hot enough to drive inflation, and the Fed's interest rate fiddling has yet to cool demand for cars, homes, and other big-ticket items enough to bring prices under control while keeping the economy moving forward, though that is the aim. It's a little different than purposefully kneecapping an entire country's finances, which is what Russia is facing now. Of course, cars in Russia aren't merely more expensive to finance—per Automotive News, thanks to automakers ceasing production in the country or outright refusing to send cars from outside of Russia there, the supply of new vehicles has dried up, pushing prices up by as much as an estimated 40 percent. Think that thousand bucks or so you paid over MSRP for your RAV4 last month was bad? Imagine paying Maserati money for a compact Toyota SUV—that's what a 40-percent price hike looks like. Even taken individually, any of these debacles would leave buyers thinking twice about buying a new car instead of, say, socking money away to pay for essentials in case things get worse. Jittery citizens are the central part of Russia's economic Venn diagram right now; whether they're worried because of interest rates, or because the ruble was nearly rubble, or because the new car they planned to buy costs almost half again more than it did two months ago, or that car simply isn't available at all, the end result is the same: They're not buying cars. Russia is scrambling to find other sources of cars, per Automotive News. It's looking domestically, though sanctions on the exports of certain car parts and chips to Russia are creating problems there, and the government is looking at importing more cars from India and China, two nations that have stayed either relatively neutral or supportive of Russia while the rest of the world turns its back on the nation. Some Russians are apparently flooding into neighboring countries not under sanction and snapping up what they can there, but there's no getting around the impact global sanctions are having on Russia's car market, or that they're far, far worse than the fallout for everyone else. https://www.motortrend.com/news/russia-ukraine-car-sales-plummet/

NEW DELHI: Indian bowler Yuzvendra Chahal says he was dangled from a 15th-floor hotel balcony by a heavily drunk fellow player during the Indian Premier League in 2013. The incident happened during a get-together when the leg-spinner, who has played 61 one-day internationals for India, was a part of the Mumbai Indians franchise. Chahal previously alleged that he was also bullied by Mumbai teammates in 2011 when he was an up-and-coming talent. "So there was a player who was very drunk — and I won't take his name —he was very drunk, he just called me aside and he took me outside and he hung me out from the balcony," Chahal, now 31, said in a video posted Thursday by his current IPL team Rajasthan Royals. "I was holding on to him, with my arms around his neck. If I had lost my grip, we were on the 15th floor... had there been a small mistake there, I would have fallen down," he said. Chahal said he was saved by people who rushed to his rescue. "I kind of fainted and they gave me water. Then I realised how responsible we need to be when we go anywhere," said the bowler, who was chatting in the video to fellow spinner Ravichandran Ashwin about tricky off-field situations. Former India all-rounder and coach Ravi Shastri said the incident must not be taken lightly and called for players to be banned from the game if they commit such an offence. "Someone's life is at risk, some people might think it is funny but for me, it is not funny at all," he said during ESPNcricinfo's 'T20 Time Out' programme. "If such an incident happens today, (give) a life ban for that person involved and send that person to a rehab centre as quickly as possible." Chahal had alleged in a podcast earlier this year that, in another incident, his then Mumbai teammates James Franklin and Andrew Symonds tied him up, taped his mouth and left him in a room and forgot about him in 2011. https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/948821-ipl-player-says-teammate-dangled-him-from-15th-floor-balcony

As childhood’s go, mine was relatively lovely. Our family was stable – my parents were generous and kind. We had difficult moments, but I don’t resent my upbringing. My parents valued discipline, a trait I see in myself as a dad today. Being obsessive has always been part of my personality. As a kid, I was often left with my imagination, more interested in internal worlds than what was happening around me. I had friends, but preferred being alone. At first I was consumed by Marvel comics, then music took over in my teens. By sixth form I was partying – clubs and raves opened up a whole new world. And I was always the last one to leave, desperate to feel and experience as much as I could. I’ll say I’ve lived a life, but I’ll save the gory details out of respect for Mum. I’ve got away with it so far. I feel most alive when I’m in the studio. There’s this magic to getting an idea down, the alchemy of pulling threads out of the air and seeing where it takes you. It’s such a magical feeling, that moment of creating something that’ll live on after you die. Reality TV gives me my fix of drama and conflict. If I have free time, I’ll gorge on Real Housewives (Potomac is my favourite), or Celebrity Ex On The Beach. There’s something about watching people navigate love and romance in artificial scenarios that keeps me hooked. Frank communication is the only way relationships can function properly. Bottling things up leads to disaster; let trauma come in and go out. Since having kids I’ve found myself crying more regularly. Yesterday I was reading my daughter a book – Lubna and Pebble – about a young Syrian refugee, when I broke down in tears. Explaining suffering and war to her broke my heart. My younger one is still so beautifully innocent. I keep asking myself: how long will it last? People with views antithetical to my existence needn’t be invited on to TV to be debated. Something strange is happening where racists and bigots are given airtime for so-called balance, when they believe one group of people is simply lesser than another. It makes no sense. I’m quite messy. It drives my partner wild. I spend a lot of time in my head, planning and scheming, so I don’t mind walking past piles of clothes or washing up in the house. I appreciate it’s not so considerate. I’m working on it now. Turning 40 felt insignificant. Now it seems like a milestone. I noticed grey hairs in all sorts of places – I’m in a different part of my life, worrying about different things. And for the first time in years, I have a routine at home with my family. I feel happiness and security, which I never saw for myself decades ago. Co-writing Leave to Remain, a musical, cross-cultural gay love story, was a real achievement. We created something that explored life for queer black men growing up in Britain. Seeing how people who look, think and live like me were moved by it, I felt so proud. Bloc Party’s new album, Alpha Games, is out 29 April. The band tours the UK in May-June … we have a small favour to ask. Millions are turning to the Guardian for open, independent, quality news every day, and readers in 180 countries around the world now support us financially. We believe everyone deserves access to information that’s grounded in science and truth, and analysis rooted in authority and integrity. That’s why we made a different choice: to keep our reporting open for all readers, regardless of where they live or what they can afford to pay. This means more people can be better informed, united, and inspired to take meaningful action. In these perilous times, a truth-seeking global news organisation like the Guardian is essential. We have no shareholders or billionaire owner, meaning our journalism is free from commercial and political influence – this makes us different. When it’s never been more important, our independence allows us to fearlessly investigate, challenge and expose those in power. Support the Guardian from as little as $1 – it only takes a minute. If you can, please consider supporting us with a regular amount each month. Thank you. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2022/apr/09/this-much-i-know-kele-okereke-i-was-always-the-last-one-to-leave-the-club

The conflict in Ukraine has shifted to the east of the country where Ukrainian forces are battle-hardened and well-prepared. Analysts believe Ukraine's best units are in the east, and that they are dug into trench systems and other fortified positions. So far, Ukrainian troops have strongly resisted the Russian advance, but they could be heavily outnumbered by Russian forces who are inching forwards in some areas. Where will the key battles be fought? Russian officials have said that the focus of its forces is now the "complete liberation" of the Donbas, broadly referring to Ukraine's eastern regions of Luhansk and Donetsk. The terrain in the east will pose big challenges for the Russians as they attack. With less wooded land than the north of the country, analysts say open areas may favour the Ukrainian defenders. The battle for Slovyansk is likely to be the next pivotal battle of the war, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW). If Russian troops advancing from Izyum are able to take the town, they could then choose to advance east towards Rubizhne to encircle a relatively small group of Ukrainian forces, or head further south to encircle a larger Ukrainian contingent. If Mariupol falls to the Russians, more troops may also be available to push north into the area west of Donetsk. How are the Ukrainians preparing? Brigadier Ben Barry (retired), of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, says Ukrainian forces have had years to prepare their defences and that Russian troops may struggle to force them out. "It's not just World War One-style trenches on the Ukrainian side, they will have also fortified key towns and villages they want to defend," he says. Ukrainian armoured vehicles and other equipment are positioned in revetments, or earth banks, for protection, he says. Many Ukrainian troops in the east are highly experienced - they have been holding back Russian separatists since the conflict of 2014. Their numbers may also be boosted, should Ukraine's military chiefs re-deploy units no longer needed to defend Kyiv after Russia's withdrawal from the north. How will Russia attack? Brigadier Barry says Russia is likely to make heavy use of artillery, to break down strong Ukrainian defences from the air before pushing forward on the ground. Artillery is heavy weaponry designed to fire munitions much further than small arms, Attacking Ukrainian troops head on with infantry, without a heavy artillery bombardment first, risks huge Russian casualties and greatly increases the risk of defeat. Russia has a range of weaponry to draw on. In particular, self-propelled artillery, in which Russia dominates, will be "a very significant factor", says Brigadier Barry. Self-propelled artillery has the appearance of a tank, but fires munitions upwards to then fall on to a target, rather than shooting directly at it. It is more heavily protected than a towed gun, and can advance quickly when enemy defences break down. Those opportunities to move forward may be rare, however, as front lines become semi-fixed in many areas. "It could take on quite a bloody and attritional feel," says Brigadier Barry. To pound Ukrainian positions from a greater distance, Russia has grad multiple rocket launcher systems and is likely to use them heavily. Grads have 40 rockets which can be fired in as little as 20 seconds, and have already inflicted a catastrophic toll on civilian po[CENSORED]tions in some areas, reducing residential districts of Kharkiv, Mariupol and other cities to rubble. Reports suggest thermobaric weapons have also been used by Russian forces in parts of Ukraine, including Mariupol in Donetsk and Izyum in Kharkiv. They are much more devastating than conventional explosives of similar size, scattering a fuel mixture as a cloud, which then detonates, producing a huge fireball and massive blast wave. Samuel Cranny-Evans, of the Royal United Services Institute, says they are "primarily designed for urban warfare" because the cloud of fuel mixture which is scattered after the initial impact can penetrate gaps in buildings before detonating. If Russian artillery is successful in destroying key Ukrainian defences, Russia is likely to use infantry with small arms and a range of wheeled and tracked vehicles, together with tanks with heavy fire power, to lead advances across terrain swept by Ukrainian fire. Air power in support could include fighter bombers and attack helicopters. Ukraine's foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, says the fighting "will remind you of the Second World War". https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-61023869

Name of the Game : Forza Horizon 4 Price : 6.59$ https://store.steampowered.com/app/1293830/Forza_Horizon_4/ Offer ends up after Xhours: 15 April Requirements: MINIMUM: Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system OS: Windows 10 version 15063.0 or higher Processor: Intel i3-4170 @ 3.7Ghz OR Intel i5 750 @ 2.67Ghz Memory: 8 GB RAM Graphics: NVidia 650TI OR AMD R7 250x DirectX: Version 12 Network: Broadband Internet connection Storage: 80 GB available space RECOMMENDED: Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system OS: Windows 10 version 15063.0 or higher Processor: Intel i7-3820 @ 3.6Ghz Memory: 12 GB RAM Graphics: NVidia GTX 970 OR NVidia GTX 1060 3GB OR AMD R9 290x OR AMD RX 470 DirectX: Version 12 Network: Broadband Internet connection Storage: 100 GB available space

All his customer wants is a white, standard model, manual transmission VW Golf. But Umesh Samani, a car salesman in Stoke-on-Trent, can't say when it will arrive. It could be many months, or he fears even a year until delivery. Extraordinary delays have hit car dealerships up and down the country during the pandemic. Mr Samani, who is also chairman of the Independent Motor Dealers Association, says manufacturers often tell him the computer chip shortage is to blame. Europe's car makers did not stockpile enough chips from their suppliers - mostly based in Asia - at a time of booming global demand. This and other factors have led to shuttered car factories and fewer new cars entering the market. "Used car prices have just gone unbelievable - almost a 30% increase on some of the models," says Mr Samani, while recounting stories of Range Rovers that have added £6,000 to their price tags in just 12 months. There are also people selling used cars for a higher price than they paid for them. Among those who want to wrestle back some of that market share is the European Commission (EC), which in February announced a Chips Act. The EC will plough 43bn euros (£36bn) of public and private investment into Europe's semiconductor industry. The Commission hopes to, among other things, increase the region's share of global chip manufacturing - from less than 10% to 20%. But can Europe really catch-up with the rest of the world? And could this mean the European Union's (EU) car industry - the second largest in the world - will be shielded from future supply shocks in the long-run? https://www.bbc.com/news/business-60554228

Researchers are developing an on-board system for trains that can identify low adhesion hazards such as 'leaves on the line' as well as other issues that cause the rail equivalent of black ice. Low adhesion is caused by the contamination of railways lines by biological, chemical and physical factors, some of which cannot be easily monitored or controlled. The estimated overall cost of low adhesion to the UK railway industry is estimated at £350 million each year (RSSB). A minimum level of adhesion is essential for reliable braking and traction performance, especially for maintaining safety and limiting delays. Changes in adhesion can be very localized, unpredictable and transient, and poor adhesion experienced by one train may not affect following trains at the same location. Now, engineers from Loughborough University, the University of Sheffield and engineering firm Perpetuum have partnered to develop a new product that will detect low adhesion hot spots in real-time and create an up-to-date map of the UK's network which shows where any hazards might be. The map will allow network operators to react quickly to potential risks allowing services to run more safely and smoothly. Loughborough's Dr. Chris Ward, who is leading the initiative, said: "The network is in danger of low adhesion events occurring at all times and the industry takes the impact of these incredibly seriously. "Network Rail and the wider rail industry invests huge amounts of money in rail head cleaning, controlling flora alongside lines and forecasting where low adhesion events may occur—but it's not an exact science and affected areas may only be discovered after an incident has taken place. "The areas of low adhesion can often be short-lived and various types of train can react differently to the conditions. "This new technology, by detecting low adhesion in real-time from in-service vehicles, will allow for a much more accurate picture of where hazards lie on the UK's huge network of track, which will mean a quicker response—such as defensive driving or railhead treatment—and as a result a safer network with fewer delays." The detection system will use established sensing methods to collect data that will then be processed using algorithms created by Dr. Ward and colleagues at Loughborough. The experimental software should pick up small changes in how the wheels of a carriage respond to different track conditions. As a train passes over areas of low adhesion, the vehicle moves differently compared to running over tracks with high levels of adhesion. Signals of the movements are picked up by sensors, that are then processed and turned into an assessment of adhesion level. If required, a warning could be sent to the driver or the wider network users. Elaine Cockroft, Project Manager at Network Rail stated: "The aim is to develop a first of type product addressing the issue of low adhesion on the wheel/rail interface and consider a tribometer/measurement tool capable of determining the co-efficiency of friction on the rail head. "The medium-term aspiration is to install a device on the Network Rail Head Treatment Train (RHTT) or a Multi-Purpose Vehicle (MPV), or any other suitable vehicle to capture intelligent seasonal treatment data at a minimum speed of 60mph and to demonstrate the effectiveness of the rail head treatment. "The future ambition is to add the technology to passenger trains or freight locomotives and so the technology would need to be developed to capture continuous data at a traveling speed of 125mph across the network. This would feed into an up-to-date adhesion map of the network." The 22-month study will see the research team, conduct a major test program at Network Rail's, Rail Innovation and Development Centre, in Tuxford, Nottinghamshire, to test their algorithms, this summer. Artificial low adhesion will be created for the testing program and measured using state-of-the-art friction measurement equipment from the University of Sheffield. Professor David Fletcher from Sheffield said: "Our collaboration in the UK Rail Research Innovation Network has enabled us to develop a comprehensive suite of rail surface analysis hardware. We can now take our rail-wheel contact expertise from the lab and deploy it to site trials such as these with Loughborough." "Like any vehicle that rolls on wheels, railway vehicles rely on friction being created in the wheel/rail contact area for guidance and traction—for example, steering, braking and accelerating," said Dr. Ward. "Rail systems have a specifically stiff and low friction contact area of steel wheels on steel rails. "This is very efficient when it comes to energy loss during rolling and means that less energy is needed to maintain vehicle speeds compare to vehicles with tires. "This is due to very little contact area deformation—they are fingernail-sized—even with the huge contact pressures. "Low adhesion in this contact occurs for a variety of reasons, but one of the most widely known is 'leaves on the line." "The chemistry of the leaves, rain and the huge pressures create a material that is akin to "Teflon' or black ice—very nearly zero friction. "So, when brakes are applied vehicles can just slide. A recent example was a vehicle traveling at 100kmh (60mph) was expected to stop in 1km. Due to low adhesion, it took 5km. "This means red signals can be passed, station stops missed, and collisions can occur. "The main issue is that we don't know with confidence that these conditions have occurred. There is no real-time measurement at present. This is the key point we are aiming to address with the technology and turn into a process that can be deployed on the live railway." https://techxplore.com/news/2022-01-on-board-instantly-line-hazards.html

Consumers expecting to get hands on Intel's first Arc A-series GPU-equipped laptops have to wait a bit more as the blue team has pushed back availability to the end of the second quarter despite launching them and announcing availability in Q1 2022. Intel's Arc A-Series GPU Powered Laptops Will Be Available By The End of Second Quarter of 2022, Hints Massive Delay During the 29th March announcement, Intel confirmed that its Arc A-Series GPU-equipped laptops were shipping and available starting the same day. However, there's been an ongoing discussion on Twitter regarding the availability of these laptops and it looks like Intel Support themselves has confirmed that these products won't be available till the end of Q2 2022. This confirms that Intel's initial announcement was just a paper launch and the actual launch is planned around May or June which aligns with the rumors we had heard previously. Intel also claimed that the higher-end Arc 5 and Arc 7 series GPUs will be available in Early Summer and the desktop variants are expected to land in Q2 2022. However, based on the recent statement from Intel, it looks like the high-end lineup may potentially get delayed too if even the low-end GPU lineup isn't ready to ship for the mass market. This seems like a huge mistake by Intel's GPU and marketing division who not only themselves but with their OEM partners announced the availability and pre-orders of several Arc A-Series laptops. Laptops such as the Acer Swift X and the Samsung Book2 Pro were announced to feature the Arc 3 series GPUs but based on findings by Videocardz confirm that either the pre-order dates have now been moved several weeks back or the or have been updated with Arc-less specifications (using the Iris Xe iGPUs instead). This reaffirms the delay theory since we are one week since the launch and so far not a single Arc laptop has been reviewed or sold in any useful quantity to appear over the web. There are definitely lots of expectations from Intel with their first discrete graphics outing as the Arc A-Series GPU lineup but delays such as these can definitely have a negative impact on the community. We definitely want to see a third player in the graphics segment and the company has the potential to put out a great product in the form of Arc but Intel isn't sharing a whole lot on the table aside from just some slides. https://wccftech.com/intel-delays-arc-a-series-gpu-equipped-laptops-till-end-of-q2-despite-launching-them-in-q1-2022/