Time to race riot! A new take on racing strategy is here, with Nitro Racing Manager getting a global launch for Android devices. From AxesInMotion Racing, the developer known for the po[CENSORED]r Extreme Car Driving Simulator introduces yet another racing title that appears to be rather feature-rich. Get your cars running as you compete for being the best Nitro Racing Manager doesn’t feature the player to race, instead, the results are simulated. The goal is to build a formidable lineup that can outrun your opponents. The plan is to look for the track, plan the strategy you are going to use, and then while the race goes on, pick what’s best for you. Recruitment plays an important role in assembling your final team. Select new vehicles and upgrade their stats and top speed to increase their performance on the tracks. To gain the upper hand, you can also hit the top drivers with missile-style weapons and turbo boosts. Players can also use a shield to protect themselves on the battlefield to avoid rockets. As you progress, collect legendary cars that will allow you to compete in world championships and participate in exciting events. Aim to prove your skills against other players by climbing to the top of the leaderboard with a combination of strategic decision-making and strategic planning. Rewards in a league system are distributed as well. The game is currently only accessible for Android devices. Interested users can download and play the game from Google Play Store. Because no news concerning the iOS release has been announced, players must wait for official updates. Source: https://gamingonphone.com/news/nitro-racing-manager-gets-a-global-launch-for-android/

There are a lot of unique pieces of Diablo 4 gear, many of which have helpful legendary aspects and stats to juice up your build. Except for this unique pair of gloves that runs entirely on luck. The Fists of Fate are a high-level set of sacred item gloves that don't have any of the usual stat boosts on them, like strength or intelligence. Instead, they have four effects that rely on Lucky Hits and a Legendary aspect that will randomly make your attacks either pathetic or godlike by doing between 1% and 280% of their usual damage. Are you feeling lucky?. "It's like playing my own slot machine with [the Barbarian's Frenzy skill] on every hit," Reddit user Mcsebbymeal wrote, sharing the gloves they found in one of Diablo 4's higher difficulty levels. They might even be worse than a slot machine. These gloves have two levels of RNG happening because the Lucky Hit stat in Diablo 4 requires two successful 'dice rolls' to do anything. First, a skill has to have the ability to trigger a Lucky Hit, which is often a very low percentage chance per use. Then, when it successfully lands a Lucky Hit, you have to successfully roll again for one of your Lucky Hit effects to go off. Mcsebbymeal would need some incredible luck, or a Barbarian build that stacks multi-hit skills, to rely on the bonuses from these gloves. They only have a 5% chance to heal or restore their primary resource and around a 15% chance to immobilize or daze enemies—and remember, that's after landing a Lucky Hit attack in the first place. The Fists of Fate truly run on hope, as their item description says: "Will you let fear cheat you, or will you risk everything to find understanding? After all, death is simply the coin with which we purchase life." In an RPG about whacking enemies for a chance at rare loot, I don't think you could design a better joke item… that probably won't stay a joke. Someone will center their entire build around it. One commenter suggested a unique headpiece that gives them a 19% chance to get a Lucky Hit on crowd-controlled enemies to use with it and some class skill trees let you boost that number even more. You won't see items like these until you've finished Diablo 4's campaign and you've completed the capstone dungeon to increase the world tier difficulty setting. There are a set amount of unique items you can find in world tiers 3 and 4. Their powerful attributes combine with your Paragon points to fuel some of the game's best builds. I fully expect to see someone showing how they solo killed Ashava with a full RNG build in a week. Source: https://www.pcgamer.com/one-lucky-barbarian-finds-unique-diablo-4-gloves-that-are-like-playing-my-own-slot-machine/

A person’s mind is as full of surprises as the depths of the ocean. Scientists are constantly studying the brain and learning more about new patterns of behavior. And the number of surprises is growing! For example, did you know that the smarter a person is, the fewer friends they have? Well, we didn’t. So now you can easily detect a genius among your friends. Bright Side loves psychology and today we want to share the most fascinating facts about this science with you. And it’s all meant to make you feel better and to help you overcome life’s obstacles more easily. 10. People with a very high IQ don’t have many friends. A long time ago, when our distant ancestors were engaged in hunting and gathering, friendship was essential for the tribe’s survival as it was easier to hunt a mammoth together. People still make friends, but not for the sake of its benefits. However, a recent study showed that people with a high IQ don’t need a lot of friends. This is because their brain is preoccupied with solving big problems and they perceive communication as a waste of time. But that’s not a reason to be satisfied with this situation. The study proved that friendship positively influences not only the psychological state but physical health as well. That’s why sometimes it’s better to pry yourself away from books and talk to interesting people. 9. Depression changes color perception. People suffering from depression often say, “Life has lost its colors.” This isn’t just a vivid expression, it’s a real medical fact. During a bout of depression, the retina becomes less sensitive to contrasting colors and patients distinguish colors poorly. It also works in the opposite way: if you’re surrounded by gray and pale colors, you’re more prone to depression and melancholy. 8. Don’t brag about your plans, otherwise nothing will come out of it. If you decide to start something new (like not eating after 6 p.m., running in the morning, or learning a foreign language), never tell anybody about your plans. Overwise, nothing will happen. When you talk about your plans, your brain perceives this task as “done,” and it’s very difficult to convince it of the opposite. It may sound like a superstition, but psychologists have proven this correlation true. 7. Knowing a foreign language helps you make decisions. To make better decisions, you don’t have to be cold-blooded: you just have to think in a foreign language. Scientists believe that people often act emotionally when they make crucial decisions. However, if you analyze the situation in a foreign language, the rational part of your brain will get involved, so your approach will be more well-balanced and won’t include excessive risks. 6. Young people suffer from depression more often. A survey shows that the most unhappy people in the world are those who are under 30. Men and women from 18 to 30 years old are more prone to anxiety and stress. And who said that youth is the most carefree time in life? Millennials sure don’t think so. 5. Tiredness can boost your creativity. If you want to come up with a creative idea, it’s better to get tired. Creative thoughts often come to exhausted people because their brains work less efficiently: it doesn’t reject ideas that may seem crazy at first sight that you would usually say “no” to. A crazy idea can become the beginning of a huge project. That’s why good ideas often come to our heads in the shower after a long work day. If you’re a morning person, your creative process can start in the evening and if you’re a late sleeper, inspiration may come to you in the morning. 4. 80% of every conversation is gossip. The major part of any conversation is gossip and this factor doesn’t depend on gender: men are inclined to gossip just as much as women. Scientists have come up with shocking statistics: 80% of our conversations are just gossip and an exchange of information about friends and colleagues. However, gossiping isn’t that bad: it’s an important way of communication. It helps people maintain social connections. By the way, chimpanzees also love to gossip about their relatives. 3. You can buy happiness. People say that it’s impossible to buy happiness. However, psychologists confuted this information: you can buy the feeling of happiness but the money should be spent not on yourself but on your relatives, friends, or charity. When we bring joy to others, we improve our self-esteem, perceive ourselves as more important and become happier and more satisfied with our life. 2. 20 seconds are enough to establish trust. To establish trust, you should hug a person for approximately 20 seconds. Of course, only after you get consent. It happens because of oxytocin, a hormone that gets released when we feel safe (including when we’re with our loved ones) that calms down and relaxes us. So there’s one more reason to hug during long winter evenings! 1. 80% of your thoughts are negative. Every day, 12,000 to 60,000 thoughts on average come into our heads. Our brains are more powerful than any computer. But take a look at what we spend our thoughts on: 80% of our thoughts are negative. And most of these negative thoughts repeat every day. So all the silly thoughts that come into your head every day are absolutely normal: it happens to everybody. Source: https://brightside.me/inspiration-psychology/10-curious-facts-about-the-human-psyche-well-hardly-find-in-any-textbook-647860/

Caroline Dubois will fight Yanina del Carmen Lescano at York Hall on June 16, live on Sky Sports; BOXXER promoter Ben Shalom believes this fight against Lescano demonstrates Dubois' ambition, that could lead her to eventual fights with Mikaela Mayer or Katie Taylor Caroline Dubois is an ambitious, fast-rising prospect. Already she wants to take on the biggest names possible, says promoter Ben Shalom. On Friday June 16 at London's York Hall, live on Sky Sports, Dubois will fight Yanina del Carmen Lescano, the Argentinian ranked at No 2 by the WBC. Dubois, though still young and at an early stage of her own professional career, wants to force her way into the world title picture as a mandatory challenger for one of the major belts. Although Katie Taylor lost most recently to Chantelle Cameron that was up at super-lightweight and the Irish star remains the undisputed champion at 135lbs.BOXXER promoter Ben Shalom, who represents Dubois, thinks the Londoner will soon be in the mix at the highest level.He believes taking the Lescano fight next demonstrates that. "That shows where she's going to be going," Shalom told Sky Sports. "She's a phenomenon. "For me Caroline Dubois is ready for Katie Taylor this year," the BOXXER CEO continued. "She is ready to go. Lescano is a big fight for someone in their seventh pro fight. This is Caroline wanting to make statements and make statements early in in her career as well." Taylor is widely expected to rematch Cameron but it's yet to be determined whether she will return to 135lbs to defend her four titles there. "I think Chantelle showed she [Taylor] is more comfortable [at lightweight]. I do expect the rematch to happen at lightweight," Shalom said. "It would be a great passing of the torch to possibly get Caroline Dubois in with Katie Taylor before she retires. [Dubois] is a special talent and someone that turned over so young. You look at the other fighters and what they've achieved in their 30s but this is someone at 22 years old that's showing frightening potential." With Dubois being so young, Shalom knows she has real longevity in the sport. "She could be a pro for 15 years. She's got so much hunger for it, she genuinely wants to make history. She always says to me: 'I'm the number one, I'm the number one fighter,'" Shalom said. "She wants to win multiple world titles. She wants to be a multi-weight world champion. She's going to do things, I believe, that haven't been done before by a British fighter. It's exciting because she's 22 years old but the confidence that she has and has developed over the past 12 months and the way she's developing physically is quite something. "Hopefully we can build her right and build her so she can sell out arenas. The classic example is Savannah Marshall and how she built a following in the past 12, 18 months. That's what women's boxing needs," he added. "Caroline has the potential and the longevity to be able to achieve that and I believe she'll beat everyone and anyone, it's just taking the right fights at the right time." Those bouts with Mikaela Mayer, Katie Taylor and perhaps even Chantelle Cameron are future targets for Dubois. "She wants to fight Mikaela Mayer this year, she wants to fight Katie Taylor," Shalom said. "She wants the big names, knowing Caroline she'll want Chantelle Cameron, she'll want them in the next 12 months. "I know she wants Mikaela in December. That's what we're going to try and do for her and hopefully we can deliver it. "It's amazing to see from when she was nervous on her debut in Cardiff," he continued. "To now be 12 months later where she wants to headline shows and fight Mikaela Mayer. "It shows she now knows how powerful she is at the weight and how dangerous she is. "She's going to enjoy it and she's going to do amazing things." Source: https://www.skysports.com/boxing/news/30778/12897463/caroline-dubois-is-ready-for-katie-taylor-and-mikaela-mayer-this-year-says-promoter-ben-shalom

The geopolitical stakes of Ukraine’s counter-offensive On the eve of the commemoration of the Allies’ D-Day landings in Normandy, General Mark Milley, America’s most senior general, drew a direct parallel with the Ukrainian counter-offensive starting some 2,800km to the east. The goal, he said, was the same as it had been nearly eight decades ago: “To liberate occupied territory and to free a country that has been unjustly attacked by an aggressor nation, in this case, Russia.” Then as now, the battles will determine the future security order in Europe. But for Ukraine’s Western supporters, at least, the ultimate aim of the war is much less clear than it was for the Allies in 1944. Unlike Nazi Germany, Russia is a nuclear power. It is hard to imagine its complete capitulation. Ukraine’s professed goal is to reconquer all of the land Russia has seized since 2014, restoring the borders that were set in 1991, when the Soviet Union broke up. But even if the Ukrainian army can achieve that (and many Westerners, especially, have their doubts), there are fears that Russia might view such an outcome as a humiliation so abject that it would be worth using nuclear weapons to avoid it. The upshot is a much vaguer aim: for Ukraine to inflict as many losses and make as many territorial gains as possible to strengthen its hand as it tries to reach a modus vivendi with a weakened Russia. By this way of thinking, a positive outcome would be for Ukraine’s new Western-armed brigades to sever the land bridge between Russia and the Crimean peninsula or to get close enough to endanger Russian positions in Crimea. Most Western officials expect more modest gains, however, with Ukraine taking back and holding less strategic slices of the territory it has lost in the past year, but at least demonstrating that it can still make headway on the battlefield. In the pessimistic view, the Ukrainians struggle to get past Russian defences, make only minor gains and end up in a stalemate. Hearteningly, the prospect of Ukrainian forces failing, exposing themselves to a counter-attack and retreating can be all but ruled out, because Russia lacks the means to stage a big advance and because Western allies would no doubt quickly step up support to Ukraine. Although it is the resolve and competence of the Ukrainian forces that will be decisive, external factors will influence the outcome. America’s president, Joe Biden, has declared two broad objectives: to ensure both that Ukraine is not defeated and that nato does not get drawn into direct conflict with Russia with the attendant risk of nuclear escalation. Early on he declined to send troops to Ukraine or impose a “no-fly zone”. But he has delivered weapons of ever greater quantity and sophistication to help Ukraine defend itself. Equally vital has been the provision of intelligence, planning and training by America and its allies. Ukraine today has one of the largest armies in Europe backed by the most powerful military in the world. And while it is not trained to the standard of nato, “it only has to be better than the Russian army” to get an upper hand, say Western officials. China’s leader, Xi Jinping, also appears to have set boundaries, according to American and European officials. He wants to prevent the complete defeat of Russia, a close partner; he wants to prevent a breakdown in relations with Europe; and he wants to prevent the use of nuclear weapons. So even though he and Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, have declared that their countries’ friendship has “no limits”, there have been limits so far in the help China has been prepared to offer Russia. It buys Russian exports of oil and gas at a discount, and sells Chinese goods, some of which might be useful to the war effort. But he has so far declined to provide large-scale deliveries of weapons, of the kind the West has given Ukraine. That may change if China thinks the Russians are about to be routed, Western officials worry. China’s leader, Xi Jinping, also appears to have set boundaries, according to Even allowing for that risk, however, and while sticking to Mr Biden’s parameters, America’s generals increasingly think it is possible to engineer a “strategic defeat” for Mr Putin’s regime. Over time they have become less fearful of nuclear escalation. In part their “boiled frog” strategy of gradually increasing conventional military aid has helped to mitigate the risk. And by prodding Russia itself, through attacks on the border region of Belgorod or small-drone attacks on the Kremlin, Ukraine also seeks to expose the emptiness of Russian threats. Increasingly, America’s top brass, backed by some in Europe, aims to ensure Russia loses both the military capacity and the inclination to launch another war of aggression. “Never again is not a difficult concept to grasp,” says a Western official. and European officials. He wants to prevent the complete defeat of Russia, a close partner; he wants to prevent a breakdown in relations with Europe; and he wants to prevent the use of nuclear weapons. So even though he and Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, have declared that their countries’ friendship has “no limits”, there have been limits so far in the help China has been prepared to offer Russia. It buys Russian exports of oil and gas at a discount, and sells Chinese goods, some of which might be useful to the war effort. But he has so far declined to provide large-scale deliveries of weapons, of the kind the West has given Ukraine. That may change if China thinks the Russians are about to be routed, Western officials worry. This goal is especially enticing to America’s military planners because they have long dreaded the prospect of having to fight two wars at once: with Russia in Europe and with China in Asia or the Pacific. If the threat from Russia were to be substantially reduced, at least for some years, it would allow more planning and resources to be directed towards deterring China, which has become America’s most pressing military concern. On the eve of the Ukrainian counter-offensive, a group of senior Western officials and experts gathered at Ditchley Park, a stately home in the countryside near London and a venue for informal transatlantic powwows since the cold war—to discuss how the war might unfold. They came up with three broad scenarios. The first involves the Ukrainians breaking through, a collapse of Russian forces, perhaps with Ukraine even threatening Crimea. This might result in Mr Putin’s losing power. To some that is the best way to restore peace in Europe. But assessing Russia’s capacity to maintain discipline among its troops is hard; gauging the brittleness of Mr Putin’s regime is harder still. Nuclear worries are not entirely gone. Still, some American officials are less worried about Mr Putin’s use of nuclear arms than they are about Russia’s descent into chaos and a concomitant loss of control over its nuclear arsenal. A second scenario entails more limited Russian losses—and the prospect of further defeats if the war goes on—which may be enough to chasten Russia and weaken Mr Putin. Especially embarrassing would be to lose some of the territory in the eastern region of Donbas that Russia grabbed in 2014, and that Mr Putin has pledged to defend. A third, gloomier outcome would be a stalemate that lets Russia hold on to most of what it has taken. That would undermine Western confidence in Ukraine and embolden Mr Putin. For all Russia’s military setbacks, says Alexander Gabuev, of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Centre, a think-tank in Berlin, Mr Putin does not appear to have abandoned his intention of subjugating the whole of Ukraine, annexing more of its territory and installing a puppet government in Kyiv. Mr Putin may imagine he can still achieve that by grinding out the conflict for years, making Ukraine dysfunctional and depo[CENSORED]ting it. His air force and navy are largely intact, and he can mobilise more soldiers, though that risks po[CENSORED]r discontent in Russia. He will want to wait out the West, perhaps hoping that elections there bring deliverance. In particular, Mr Putin will be hoping for a return to power of Donald Trump in next year’s presidential election in America. Mr Trump complains that America has been wasting billions on Ukraine, depleting its own arsenal and prolonging a bloody war. If elected he claims he could put an end to the conflict within 24 hours, without saying how. Ukrainians fear that he might either cut off the flow of aid or otherwise agree to Mr Putin’s terms. There is also the possibility of the election in France’s presidential election in 2027 of Marine Le Pen, a far-right leader, who does not hide her sympathy for Russia and promises to bring France out of nato’s integrated command. How to avert a protracted war? One hope is that Ukraine will inflict such a smarting military defeat as to bring Mr Putin to the negotiating table, especially if prolonging the war seems likely to lead to further defeats. Some Western officials, notably in Germany, hope the fighting in Ukraine’s counter-offensive will soon be followed by peace talks. But others, especially in America, caution that Mr Putin is unlikely to be ready for serious negotiations unless he suffers a rout. Even if talks were to take place, Russia’s participation might be an entirely insincere stalling tactic. Genuine diplomacy might have to wait for a further round of Russian defeats next year. In the meantime, many are looking for ways to give greater credence to the West’s promises to keep supporting Ukraine “for as long as it takes”. Eric Ciaramella of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a think-tank in Washington, argues that Western leaders should set out plans for Ukraine’s reconstruction and integration with the West, not least through security arrangements enshrined in law. Hitherto some Western leaders thought such matters would best be left until after a cessation of hostilities; but Mr Ciaramella argues they would help bring the fighting to an end by denying Mr Putin’s hope of winning a drawn-out conflict. The security “assurances” given to Ukraine by America, Britain and Russia itself in the 1994 Budapest memorandum, in return for its agreeing to the removal of Soviet-era nuclear weapons from its soil, proved hollow. Ukraine and eastern European friends argue that only membership of the nato alliance—with Article 5 enshrining the mutual-defence commitment that an attack on one is an attack on all—can protect Ukraine from further attack. For all the devastation he has visited on Ukraine, Mr Putin has been careful not to strike at nato countries. Western allies are divided. Germany, in particular, argues that a country with unresolved territorial disputes, especially one at war, cannot become a member (to which others retort that West Germany became a member of nato despite the partition of German territory during the cold war). In any case, it is difficult to see Mr Biden extending America’s nuclear guarantee to Ukraine in the near future, given his reluctance to send American troops to defend it now. All the more important then is to turn Ukraine into a porcupine that could deter Russia by putting the cost of attacking it too high. Mr Ciaramella sets out a five-point proposal to give Ukraine “less than Article 5 but more than the Budapest Memorandum”. This includes legally codified commitments to help-Ukraine defend itself, inspired in part by those that America gives to Israel and Taiwan, to ensure they endure regardless of who is in power in America and Europe. He also advocates multi-year commitments to arm Ukraine; support to rebuild Ukraine’s arms industry; mechanisms for political consultation like nato’s Article 4; and a clear path to eu membership. All this would not be an alternative to nato membership, but a bridge towards it. The goal, much like those hoped-for territorial gains in Ukraine’s counter-offensive, would be to demonstrate to Russia that there is nothing to be gained by prolonging the war. Source: https://www.economist.com/briefing/2023/06/06/how-to-ensure-vladimir-putin-suffers-a-strategic-defeat

From foxes to wombats, these creatures have adapted to life in the desert. But they’ll need to evolve even more quickly to keep pace with climate change. Near Baja California, Mexico, the tropical sun warms shallow tidal pools to temperatures well over a hundred degrees Fahrenheit. Yet even in this extreme environment, tiny crustaceans called tidepool copepods thrive. Surprisingly, these Mexican copepods can handle temperatures about seven degrees hotter than po[CENSORED]tions of the same species in northern California. Even so, in laboratory experiments, the Mexican copepods quickly die when exposed to hotter water. As the "organisms heat up, their proteins actually begin to melt,” says Morgan Kelly, a biology professor at Louisiana State University who studies the two-millimeter-long crustaceans. (Read about the animals can can live in the hottest places on Earth.) It’s a sobering clue into how the planet’s species—from the smallest insects to the largest mammals—are struggling to cope with a rapidly warming planet. Earth’s global temperature has risen about two degrees Fahrenheit since 1880, and the rate of warming is more than twice as fast today as it was in 1981. There is hope for some animals, however. City-dwelling acorn ants can evolve over multiple generations to tolerate up to three more degrees Fahrenheit, from 115 to 118. “Evolution gives you an important buffer,” says Sarah Diamond, an associate professor of biology at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio who studied the ants. “While evolution on its own might not be enough to keep pace with climate change for a lot of the species we’ve studied so far, it can buy us more time.” Some like it hot Many species have clever adaptations to handle heat, particularly those in arid desert environments. Creatures like the Sphincterochila snail can tolerate the direct sun of southern Israel’s desert for up to a few hours in 131-degree temperatures, and for much longer at 122 degrees. They remain dormant in the heat, saving energy until rainy periods when they eat and reproduce. The Rüppell’s fox makes a living in Iran’s Lut Desert, where the mercury has hit almost 160. The predator only hunts at night, when the weather cools down. The Saharan silver ant builds underground lairs to escape temperatures of 120 degrees, and only comes out briefly to grab food. Domestic donkeys and their ancestor, the wild ass, evolved to hoard resources instead of mates. The solitary African wild ass, a critically endangered species native to the Horn of Africa, will guard a watering hole, and mate with any arriving females, says Fiona Marshall, an archaeologist at Washington University in St. Louis who has long studied domestication of African animals and climatic shifts. “Everyone complains donkeys are stubborn, but they’re used to being solitary and making their own decisions,” Marshall says. (Read more about how climate change is impacting the natural world.) Living in a herd works for animals in wetter, lusher places where there’s plenty of food and water to go around. It’s not great for sparse deserts. Other adaptations are much more physical. The moist inner lining of a camel’s massive nostrils can extract moisture from air as the animal breathes in or out. Other desert animals, such as kangaroo rats and wombats, pull every bit of moisture from food, depositing dry feces. “Time is running out” So are heat-adapted species better suited to survive an increasingly hot planet, or are they just as out of luck as the rest of us? It depends, researchers say. (Read how extreme heat can trigger die-offs for some animals in the American West.) As a general rule, the smaller, more widespread, and less complex an organism, the quicker it can adjust to change. That’s why a species like deer mice would have more opportunities to evolve enhanced adaptions to heat than, say, endangered elephants, says Martha Muñoz, a biology professor at Yale University in Connecticut. Larger po[CENSORED]tions often provide greater genetic variation for tinkering. Secondly, evolution requires time. A bacterium can reproduce six times a day, creating plenty of quick turnover. Blue whales, on the other hand, can take up to 15 years to reproduce. Some species can change their behavior when faced with hotter temperatures—though even that has consequences. Muñoz and colleagues found that Anolis lizards living on the edges of Caribbean forests where they can move between warmer and cooler spots—like hiding under boulders in the heat of the day—did not bother changing their metabolism or other physiological factors when temperatures increased. That ultimately diminished their future generations' ability to do so. Their forest brethren, however, increased their baseline heat tolerance, and were better able to survive. This evolutionary phenomenon even has a name: the Bogert effect. She has also found, as with acorn ants, that some species can evolve quickly. In one study, the montane horned lizard in Mexico increased its heat threshold by about 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit following a year of heat waves. But despite such remarkable adaptations, Muñoz warns they’re not nearly quick enough to keep up with the rate of our planet’s warming. These animals are “existing on borrowed time, and time is running out." Source: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/heat-adaptations-evolution-climate-change-animals

Though the honey kept in the refrigerator is well preserved as honey exposed to heat via sunlight or other means causes its darkening and flavour changes, honey’s storage in the fridge makes a semi-solid mass and disrupts its texture, said registered dietitian Garima Goyal Refrigerator is a boon for the modern human. But there seems to be the good-old yardstick — of what and what not to b be kept in the refrigerator — that many of us have forgotten in the rut of daily life. As such, we tend to keep even the most common things like bread in the refrigerator. MasterChef Pankaj Bhadouria has listed a few items that should not be kept in the fridge, including tomatoes and melons, and raised quite a few eyebrows. Take a look. https://www.instagram.com/masterchefpankajbhadouria/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=a9028b57-5f09-4876-b60b-c381d29d952a Here’s what she mentioned and why. Bread It turns stale faster Tomato Keeping them in the fridge spoils their taste and texture Honey It will form a semi-solid layer Melons Their antioxidants remain intact outside the refrigerator. Colour, texture, and flavour get spoilt in the fridge Potatoes Starch in potatoes tends to convert into sugar in cold temperatures which will make them turn sweet, she said. One user took to the comments section to remark, “My bread and tomatoes remain perfect in fridge n rotten without it”, while another shared, “Cold temperatures slow down bacteria growth, simple rule…” So, to understand whether such food items should be kept in the refrigerator or not, we decided to ask our experts. The way you store perishable food items really matters and impacts the texture and taste of foods, said registered dietitian Garima Goyal. Bread – At cool temperatures, the starch molecules present in the bread recrystallise faster, lose their moisture, and becomes dry. One thing to note here is that although the bread gets harder, there is no effect on its nutrient quotient on storing in the refrigerator, said Goyal, adding that refrigeration is not needed. “Rather than storing the bread in the fridge, keep it in an airtight plastic bag at room temperature,” said Goyal. For storing at room temperature, there should be an ambient temperature of 20 degrees Celsius and should be kept in a cool and dry place, away from direct sunlight. Honey – Always keep your container of honey on the kitchen shelf, rather than storing it in the refrigerator. “Though the honey kept in the refrigerator is well preserved as honey exposed to heat via sunlight or other means causes its darkening and flavour changes, honey’s storage in the fridge makes a semi-solid mass and disrupts its texture. Keeping honey in the fridge increases the speed of its crystallisation, turning the honey from its usual liquid form to a thick dough-like sludge, said Goyal. According to Goyal, it is best to avoid metal containers to store honey as its slightly acidic pH might rust the metal container. “Honey is a naturally safe liquid as the high amounts of sugar present in it and its acidic pH make it have an indefinitely long shelf life and anti-bacterial properties. But if still you refrigerated it and want to restore its syrupy consistency, you can do so by immersing the jar of honey in hot water,” Goyal shared. amely watermelon, cantaloupe, and honeydew is to keep them at room temperature until you have cut them. “When melons are bought, clean their surface with water to remove any excess dirt and then keep it outside on the kitchen shelf. This allows them to even ripen because melons are such a fruit that continue to ripen even after being harvested. While ripening, the starches in the fruit get converted into sugars, making it more sweeter and flavourful. Also, room-stored melons have their antioxidants intact too,” described Goyal. Even its flavour, texture, and overall quality are preserved in this way, added Goyal. The texture of melons spoils on its refrigeration because the cell structure of the fruit alters when it is stored in cold temperatures, forming a mushy and grainy texture. Even fruit’s aroma and taste are preserved when kept at room temperature as refrigerated melons have a “dull flavour as cold temperatures affect the flavour-enhancing volatile compounds of the fruit”. “Once cut, then store them in the fridge and try to consume them within 3-4 days. Also while storing the melon, don’t remove its seeds as they aid in increasing its shelf life and if the melon is cut into slices, then cover it with a plastic wrap or keep it in an air-tight bag,” said Goyal. Potatoes – Dr Santosh Pandey, naturopath and acupuncturist, Rejua Energy Center, Mumbai, concurred and said that potatoes in the refrigerator can change the potato’s starch into sugar and taste sweet once cooked, so the best way is to store it in a normal and dry place covered with paper. The ideal way to store potatoes is in a cool and dark room with lots of ventilation supply. They stay fresh and firm if stored in this way and also do not turn green, said Goyal. “Greening of potatoes happens when chlorophyll builds up under the peel, on exposure to sunlight, and is linked with the production of high amounts of a toxin called solanine, a bitter and toxic alkaloid that may make you sick. Raw potatoes are loaded with starches which convert into reducing sugar when kept in cold temperatures, making potatoes sweeter and darker on cooking, also known as ‘cold-induced sweetening’. Reducing sugars can form carcinogenic substances, known as acrylamides when fried or exposed to very high cooking temperatures, so it’s best to keep levels low,” said Goyal. So for making potatoes’ shelf life up to two months, store them in a cool and dark place that is warmer than the fridge but colder than your average kitchen temperature. “The ambient temperature for this is 6-10 degrees Celsius, which delays the formation of potato sprouts on the skin, its first sign of spoilage. If you keep the potatoes on the kitchen shelf at room temperature, they may last only up to two weeks. If you have already peeled the potatoes, then keep these raw and peeled potatoes in a bowl of cold water in the refrigerator for 24 hours,” said Goyal. Tomatoes – According to Dr Pandey, tomatoes are most flavourful when stored at room temperature. “If you do store them in the fridge, it’s best to let them come to room temperature before using so that it carries flavour in it,” said Dr Pandey. When tomatoes are stored in the refrigerator, they lose their flavour and firmness, contended Goyal. “The ideal temperature needed for ripening of tomatoes is 65 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit. But anything at a temperature lower than 55 degrees Fahrenheit will cause the tomatoes to lose their aroma causing volatile compounds to give it its flavour and fragrance,” Goyal said, sharing that this especially holds true for unripe green-coloured tomatoes, which experience ‘chilling injury’ such as pitting, mealiness, uneven ripening, and decay. “To enjoy the flavours of tomato to the fullest, store it for a lesser time period and for this avoid buying tomatoes in bulk,” Goyal advised. Source: https://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/food-wine/tomato-bread-potato-honey-melons-not-refrigerator-8646502/

\ The Ford Bronco Raptor has many fans, and as such, there are many opinions on what makes the off-roader better or worse. Spend some time perusing online forums and social media outlets and you'll see what we mean. We suspect Ford surfs the digital halls of the internet absorbing all kinds of Bronco feedback, as the off-roader pictured here might be in response to some of those opinions. We technically call these spy shots as we're pretty sure they show a vehicle Ford doesn't want you to see just yet. Our photographer snapped a few images of a Bronco Raptor in motion, and as you can see, it's tough to miss. Bright accents on the beadlock-capable wheels and checkered Raptor graphics at the rear appear to be Code Orange in color, contrasting sharply with the dark exterior color believed to be Shelter Green. Bright tow hooks at the front also get the Code Orange treatment, and there are graphics on the hood as well. Of particular interest are the beefy Bronco Raptor fender flares. They aren't textured, unfinished plastic but painted to match the body. This is one of those opinions we mentioned earlier, as there are folks who absolutely adore the unfinished look and others who want body-colored arches. Right now, Ford doesn't offer a painted option for the flares, and we don't see anything on this particular Bronco to suggest it's an aftermarket creation. So perhaps Ford will dish up a new appearance option for the 2024 Raptor. We contacted Ford in hopes of digging up some preliminary info, but at this time, the automaker's official stance is no comment. But a spokesperson did say more details were coming later, so it's quite possible we're getting an unofficial preview of a new appearance package right now. We see nothing different body-wise, and there's no reason to expect any kind of refresh. The Bronco Raptor debuted in January 2022 and didn't reach dealerships until later in the year, so it's still a fresh face in the aggressive off-road market. And with 418 horsepower from its twin-turbochared 3.0-liter V6 driving all four 35-inch tires, it's certainly not lacking for power or capability. Source: https://www.motor1.com/news/670848/2024-ford-bronco-raptor-spied-painted-fender-flares-new-graphics/

Hong Kong CNN — Every day, countless mopeds criss-cross the congested city of Hanoi, in Vietnam, with commuters traveling to work or motorbike taxis dropping off everything from parcels to cooked food and clients. One of them is Phong, 42, who starts his shift at 5 a.m. to beat the rush hour, navigating the dense swarm of mopeds and drives for over 12 hours a day with little rest. But an unprecedented heat wave that engulfed his country in the past two months has made Phong’s job even more arduous. To get through the heat of the day, he equipped himself with a hat, wet handkerchiefs and several bottles of water – precautions that provided little relief as recorded daytime temperatures soared to more than 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit). The average May temperature in Hanoi is 32 degrees Celsius (90 degrees Fahrenheit). “If I get a heatstroke, I would be forced to suspend driving to recover,” he told CNN. “But I cannot afford it.” Phong, who declined to give his surname, said he carries a tiny umbrella to protect his phone, the main tool he uses for work as a driver for the ride-hailing platform Grab, along with his bike. If the phone breaks, he misses out on much-needed income. “I was worried that the battery would overheat once exposed to the sun,” he said. Nearby in the same city, sanitation worker Dinh Van Hung, 53, toils all day cleaning garbage from the bustling streets of Hanoi’s central Dong Da district. “It is impossible to avoid the heat, especially at noon and early afternoon,” Dinh told CNN. “Extreme temperatures also make the garbage smell more unpleasant, the hard work is now even more difficult, directly affecting my health and labor.” Dinh says “there is no other way” but to change when he starts and finishes his shift. “I try to work early in the morning or afternoon and evening,” he said. “During lunch break when the temperature is too high, I find a sidewalk in a small alley, spread out the cardboard sheets to rest for a while and then resume work in the afternoon.” Phong and Dinh are among millions of drivers, street vendors, cleaners, builders, farmers, and other outdoor or informal economy workers across Southeast Asia who were hit the hardest during what experts called the region’s “harshest heat wave on record.” Workers like them make up the backbone of many societies but are disproportionately affected by extreme weather events, with dangerously high temperatures greatly impacting their health and the already precarious nature of their professions. April and May are typically the hottest months of the year in Southeast Asia, as temperatures rise before monsoon rains bring some relief. But this year, they reached levels never experienced before in most countries of the region, including tourism hotspots Thailand and Vietnam. Thailand saw its hottest day in history at 45.4 degrees Celsius (114 degrees Fahrenheit) on April 15, while neighboring Laos topped out at 43.5 degrees Celsius (110 degrees Fahrenheit) for two consecutive days in May, and Vietnam’s all-time record was broken in early May with 44.2 degrees Celsius (112 degrees Fahrenheit), according to analysis of weather stations data by a climatologist and weather historian Maximiliano Herrera. Herrera described it as “the most brutal never-ending heat wave” that has continued into June. On June 1, Vietnam broke the record for its hottest June day in history with 43.8 degrees Celsius (111 degrees Fahrenheit) – with 29 days of the month to go. In a recent report from the World Weather Attribution (WWA), an international coalition of scientists said the April heat wave in Southeast Asia was a once-in-200-years event that would have been “virtually impossible” without human-caused climate change. Humid heat causes extreme distress and climate change can make it worse Humidity, on top of extreme temperatures, makes it even harder for your body to try and cool itself down. Heat-related illnesses, such as heat stroke and heat exhaustion, have severe symptoms and can be life-threatening, especially for those with heart disease and kidney problems, diabetes, and pregnant people. “When the surrounding humidity is very high, the body will continue to sweat trying to release moisture to cool itself, but because the sweat is not evaporating it will eventually lead to severe dehydration, and in acute cases it can lead to heat strokes and deaths,” said Mariam Zachariah, research associate in near-real time attribution of extreme events to climate change at World Weather Attribution initiative at Imperial College London. “Which is why a humid heat wave is more dangerous than a dry heat wave,” she told CNN. To understand the health risks of humid heat, scientists often calculate the “feels-like” temperature – a single measure of how hot it feels to the human body when air temperature and humidity are both taken into account, sometimes alongside other factors such as wind chill. Perceived heat is usually several degrees higher than observed temperature and gives a more accurate reading of how heat affects people. CNN analysis of Copernicus Climate Change Service data found that between early April and late May, all six countries in the continental portion of Southeast Asia had reached perceived temperatures close to 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) or more every single day. This is above a threshold considered dangerous, especially for people with health problems or those not used to extreme heat. In Thailand, 20 days in April and at least 10 days in May reached feels-like temperatures above 46 degrees Celsius (115 degrees Fahrenheit). At this level, thermal heat stress becomes “extreme” and is considered life threatening for anybody including healthy people used to extreme humid heat. Throughout April and May, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Malaysia all had several days with potential to cause extreme heat stress. Myanmar had 12 such days – until Cyclone Mocha brought relative relief, but severe devastation, when it made landfall on May 14. The April-May heat wave in Southeast Asia caused widespread hospitalizations, damaged roads, sparked fires and led to school closures, however the number of deaths remains unknown, according to the World Weather Attribution report. The study found that, because of climate change, the heat was more than two degrees hotter in perceived temperature than it could have been without global warming caused by pollution. “When the atmosphere becomes warmer, its ability to hold the moisture becomes higher and therefore the chances of humid heat waves also increase,” Zachariah, one of the authors, told CNN. If global warming continues to increase to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), such humid heat waves could occur ten times more often, according to the study. Extreme temperatures hit the poor and vulnerable the most Extreme weather events also expose systemic inequalities. “Occupation, age, health conditions and disabilities, access to health care services, socioeconomic status, even gender – these are all factors that can make people more or less vulnerable to heat waves,” said Chaya Vaddhanaphuti, one of the WWA report’s authors and lecturer at the department of geography at Chiang Mai University in Thailand. Marginalized members of society, those without adequate access to healthcare and cooling systems, and those in jobs that are exposed to extremely hot and humid conditions are most at risk of heat stress. “It’s important to talk about who can adapt, who can cope, and who has the resources to be able to do this,” Emmanuel Raju, also an author and director of the Copenhagen Center for Disaster Research, said in a press conference on May 17. “For those working in the informal economy a lost day means a day lost in wages,” Raju said. More than 60% of the employed po[CENSORED]tion in Southeast Asia work in informal employment, and over 80% in Cambodia and Myanmar, according to a 2018 International Labour Organization (ILO) report. Extreme weather events also expose systemic inequalities. “Occupation, age, health conditions In late April, Thai health authorities issued an extreme heat alert for the capital Bangkok and several other places across the country, warning people to stay indoors and of heat stroke dangers. But for migrant workers like Supot Klongsap, nicknamed “Nui,” who temporarily left his home to work in construction in Bangkok during the pre-monsoon season, staying indoors was simply not an option. He said that this year’s hot season was exceptional, causing him to sweat all the time and feel exhausted. “I started to sweat from 8 a.m., and it was difficult to work. I felt very exhausted from losing so much water.” Nui, who slept at the construction site, said even the nights were unbearable. “Water coming from the pipe even during nighttime remained very hot just like it was boiled. It was difficult to find comfort.” He said the accommodation for construction workers is roofed and walled with corrugated sheets, and it barely protects from heat. Any access to air-conditioned rooms is a luxury Nui couldn’t afford. “We had to rely on buying ice and adding it to our drinks, our simple way to cool down,” he said. A 2021 study found that outdoor workers in developing countries have higher core body temperature than to those working indoors, and they are two to three times more at risk of dehydration, leading to a higher chance of reduced kidney function and other related conditions. disabilities, access to health care services, socioeconomic status, even gender – these are all factors that can make people more or less vulnerable to heat waves,” said Chaya Vaddhanaphuti, one of the WWA report’s authors and lecturer at the department of geography at Chiang Mai University in Thailand. Marginalized members of society, those without adequate access to healthcare and cooling systems, and those in jobs that are exposed to extremely hot and humid conditions are most at risk of heat stress. “It’s important to talk about who can adapt, who can cope, and who has the resources to be able to do this,” Emmanuel Raju, also an author and director of the Copenhagen Center for Disaster Research, said in a press conference on May 17. “For those working in the informal economy a lost day means a day lost in wages,” Raju said. More than 60% of the employed po[CENSORED]tion in Southeast Asia work in informal employment, and over 80% in Cambodia and Myanmar, according to a 2018 International Labour Organization (ILO) report. In Thailand, the government recommends reactive measures, such as staying indoors, hydrating adequately, wearing light-colored clothes, and avoiding certain foods, Chaya told CNN. “But that doesn’t mean that everybody has the same capacity to do so.” The burden of cost often falls on individuals, Chaya said, making it their responsibility to cope with the heat. What is needed, he said, is a cohesive international plan that can protect the more vulnerable po[CENSORED]tions in the face of increasing climate change risks, and proactive measures to prevent potential health issues. Governments need to develop large-scale solutions, such as early warning systems for heat, passive and active cooling for all, urban planning, and heat action plans, World Weather Attribution scientists recommended in their report. Communities adapt to protect livelihoods Intensifying heat waves not only affect individuals’ health, but threaten the environment and people’s livelihoods, worsen air quality, destroy crops, increase wildfire risk, and damage infrastructure – so the need for government action plans on heat waves are vital. In Yotpieng and Phon villages in northeastern Laos, people’s livelihoods are intimately connected with weather patterns. Villagers’ lives here revolve around tea. For centuries, every day at 7 a.m. the tea farmers start collecting leaves, until 11 a.m. when they would bring the harvest back home. The survival of these communities depends on collecting tea leaves to generate income for whole families. But this year’s extreme heat is disrupting their ability to work according to their ancient working habits – they had to change from working in the morning to the afternoon during heat waves, and they are worried the quality and quantity of tea leaves will be affected, members of the local community told CNN. ”[The] weather is extremely hot for everyone this year and farmers are struggling,” according to Chintanaphone Keovichith, management officer at the Lao Farmer Network. “This year the weather is hotter than last year, and the tea leaves are dry,” said tea farmer, Boua Seng. The manager of a 1,000-year-old tea processing factory, Vieng Samai Lobia Yaw, said she is worried this year’s tea leaves have not grown enough, which decreases harvest by almost 50% daily. “It’s so wasteful – we spend more capital on laborers’ fees but getting less product,” she said. For now, tea farmers in Laos have invented solutions to protect their trees. Some have planted large fruit trees, such as peach or plum, to provide shade for tea plantations, while others added more compost to nourish their plants. “The tea [trees] in the shade will have a nice green leaf, but the ones without shade will have yellow leaf,” explained tea farmer Thongsouk. “We also collect additional income by selling fruit products.” But they cannot do it alone. Without a comprehensive international approach to rapidly reduce planet-warming pollution and to address the interconnected impacts of extreme weather events on individuals, communities, and the environment, the health and economic costs from heat waves will only worsen as the climate crisis unfolds. As May turns into June, many are still waiting for some respite. “May was the worst month – that’s when the rain usually comes in, but this year [it] still hasn’t arrived yet,” said Chintanaphone. Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2023/06/06/asia/southeast-asia-heat-wave-humidity-climate-intl-hnk-dst-scn-dg/index.html

A fix is on the way, possibly as soon as early June. KeePass password manager users may want to be extra vigilant for the next several weeks or so. A newly discovered vulnerability allows retrieval of of the master password in plaintext, even when the database is locked or the program is closed. And while a fix is in the works, it won’t arrive until early June at the soonest. (Update, 6/5/2023: KeePass version 2.54, which patches this vulnerability, is now available.) As reported by Bleeping Computer (which covers the issue in full technical detail), a security researcher known as vdohney published a proof-of-concept tool that demonstrated the exploit in action. An attacker can perform a memory dump to gather most of the master password in plaintext, even when a KeePass database is closed, the program is locked, or the program is no longer open. When pulled out of the memory, the first one or two characters of the password will be missing, but can then be guessed to figure out the entire string. For those unfamiliar with memory dumping vulnerabilities, you can think of this scenario a bit like KeePass’s master password as loose change in a pants pocket. Shake out the pants and you get nearly the whole dollar (so to speak) needed to buy entry into the database—but those coins shouldn’t be floating around in that pocket to begin with. The proof-of-concept tool demonstrates this issue in Windows, but Linux and macOS are believed to be vulnerable, too, as the problem exists within in KeePass, not the operating system. Standard user accounts in Windows aren’t safe, either—dumping the memory does not require administrative privileges. To execute the exploit, a malicious actor would need either access to the computer remotely (gained through malware) or physically. All existing versions of KeePass 2.x (e.g., 2.53.1) are affected. Meanwhile, KeePass 1.x (an older edition of the program that’s still being maintained), KeePassXC, and Strongbox, which are other password managers compatible with KeePass database files, are not affected according to vdohney. A fix for this vulnerability will come in KeePass version 2.54, which is likely to launch in early June. Dominick Reichl, the developer of KeePass, gave this estimate in a sourceforge forum along with the caveat that the timeframe is not guaranteed. An unstable test version of KeePass with the security mitigations is available now. Bleeping Computer reports that the creator of the proof-of-concept exploit tool cannot reproduce the issue with the fixes in place. However, even after upgrading to the fixed version of KeePass, the master password may still be viewable in the program’s memory files. To fully protect against that, you’ll have to wipe your PC completely using the mode that overwrites existing data, then freshly reinstall the operating system. That’s a pretty drastic move, however. More reasonably, don’t let untrusted individuals access your computer, and don’t click any unknown links or install any unknown software. A good antivirus program (like one of those among our top recommendations) helps, too. When the fixed version of KeePass launches, you can also change your master password after upgrading—doing so should make the previous password irrelevant if it’s still lurking in your memory files. You can also reduce your exposure by restarting your PC, clearing your hibernation and swap files, and temporarily accessing your KeePass database in a safe alternative like KeePassXC instead. Device encryption can also help against a physical attack on your PC (or if you think someone could mine this info after you donate or junk the PC). There are ways to stay protected—and fortunately, this appears to be only a proof-of-concept concern, rather than an active exploit. Editor’s note: This article was originally published on May 19, 2023, and was updated on June 5, 2023 with a link to KeePass version 2.54, which patches this vulnerability. Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/1923963/an-exploit-can-reveal-your-keepass-master-password-in-plaintext.html

The fastest consumer PCIe 5.0 SSD gets even quicker. Nvidia's latest GeForce 535.98 Game Ready driver ushered in support for Diablo IV and fixes for some general bugs. Among the improvements, the driver also brought a significant uplift in GPU compression, boosting performance on PCIe 5.0 SSDs, such as the Crucial T700, one of the best SSDs. DirectStorage, which substantially decreases loading times in games, leverages GPU compression. Game assets come in a packaged format that requires decompression during playtime. Typically, the processor is in charge of decompressing the game assets. GPU compression takes the load off the processor by having the graphics card process the decompression, so driver-based optimization can significantly improve GPU compression. Gamers don't necessarily need an SSD to take advantage of DirectStorage. The technology works fine even on old platter drives. However, SSDs get the most performance benefits from DirectStorage. Compusemble discovered a GPU compression performance uplift when comparing the previous GeForce 535.03 driver with the 535.50 beta driver. The latest GeForce 535.98 driver already includes the optimizations. Compusembler employed the T700 and an undisclosed PCIe 4.0 SSD for its comparison. It uses the typical avocado benchmark to evaluate the performance between the two SSDs and Nvidia GeForce drivers. Admittedly, the list of PC games with DirectStorage support is extremely short, but it would have been nice to corroborate the avocado benchmark results with real-world results from Forspoken. SSD: -Crucial T700, GeForce 532.03 Driver (Seconds) - 0.24, GeForce 535.05 Beta Driver (Seconds) - 0.20, GeForce 532.03 Driver (GB/s) - 28.09, GeForce 535.05 Beta Driver (GB/s) - 33.12 -PCIe 4.0 SSD, GeForce 532.03 Driver (Seconds) - 0.30, GeForce 535.05 Beta Driver (Seconds) - 0.29, GeForce 532.03 Driver (GB/s) - 22.26, GeForce 535.05 Beta Driver (GB/s) - 22.80 The GeForce 535.05 beta driver boosted the bandwidth on the T700 from 28.09 GB/s to 33.12 GB/s, amounting to an 18% improvement. Meanwhile, the same driver did little for the PCIe 4.0 SSD, only increasing the bandwidth by 2%. So, how much impact does more bandwidth have on loading times? According to Compusemble's results, the T700's loading dropped to 0.20 seconds from 0.24 seconds. The first impression may not be exciting since PCIe 5.0 SSDs are already very fast. However, the math shows that the newer driver decreased the T700's loading time by 17%, aligning with the increase in bandwidth. On the contrary, the PCIe 4.0 SSD only enjoyed 3% lower loading times. The evidence reveals that the PCIe 4.0 SSD has seemingly reached its maximum potential. Unfortunately, the drive is at a dead-end, receiving minimal enhancements from the later GeForce driver. On the other hand, there still seems to be untapped performance for PCIe 5.0 SSDs. The T700's performance is testimony to this. DirectStorage has a bright future for PC gaming. Microsoft has been hyping up the technology for threes year now. We just need more games to support it. Source: https://www.tomshardware.com/news/nvidia-driver-boosts-gpu-decompression-by-17-percent-on-pcie-50-ssds

Name of the game: Dead Island 2 Price: 70$ to 56$ Link Store: https://www.xbox.com/en-US/promotions/sales/deals-unlocked Offer ends up after X hours: Ends in 13 days. Requirements: Dead Island 2 Minimum System Requirements OS: Windows 10 CPU: AMD FX-9590 or Intel Core i7-7700HQ Memory: 10GB of RAM GPU: AMD Radeon R9 390X (with 8192MB of VRAM) or Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 (with 6144MB of VRAM) DirectX: Version 12 Available Storage: 70GB Dead Island 2 Recommended System Requirements OS: Windows 10 CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600X or Intel Core i9-9900k Memory: 10GB of RAM GPU: AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT (16384MB of VRAM) / Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super (8192MB of VRAM) DirectX: Version 12 Available Storage: 70GB

Nickname: CrimeBOSS Video author: Total Gaming Name of the game: Garena Free Fire Link video: Rate this video 1-10: 10-8 (My opinion)

You son of a gun, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts — I’m back in. Consider me as shocked as anyone to be genuinely excited for more Transformers movies after the disappointing-at-best Age of Extinction and The Last Knight. The one-two combo of Bumblebee and Rise of the Beasts is a course correction that unites beloved Transformer clans, introduces decent human characters, and spotlights metal-crunching action that’s an upgrade from the nondescript animated slop we’ve been served in Michael Bay’s last few movies. It’s certainly not going to win over the Academy (outside a possible special effects nomination), but director Steven Caple Jr. executes Rise of the Beasts as a get-the-job-done summer crowd-pleaser that makes me feel like a kid watching Saturday morning cartoons again, only on a grander and more exciting scale. Picking up the story after 2018’s Bumblee, Rise of the Beasts sticks to the ancient era of 1994, giving it some comfortable distance from the stink of Transformers movies we try not to talk about anymore. Anthony Ramos stars as Brooklyn electronics wiz and ex-soldier Noah Diaz, who acts as the Autobots’ human correspondent, and as he comically grapples with the reality of mechanized aliens driving Earth’s highways, the irreplaceable voice of Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime reveals a new artifact of the day that must be recovered before it falls into the hands of the world-eating, planet-sized villain Unicron. It’s exactly as cookie-cutter a plot as you’d expect from a movie like this. The animal-themed Maximals aren’t the first non-Autobot or Decepticon faction to appear in these Transformers movies, but they certainly make a more impactful entrance (I’d already forgotten about the Dinobots in Age of Extinction). Ron Perlman’s guttural bellow as lowland gorilla bot Optimus Primal meets the character’s barrel-chested imposition, while Michelle Yeoh soothes as the wise and majestic peregrine falcon bot Airazor. There’s a clear distinction between Optimus Primal’s connection with nature and Earth’s inhabitants versus the untrusting and more militant Optimus Prime, and it goes beyond the visual contrasts of Maximal robotics layered with fur and feathers against Autobot detailing with vibrant Pimp My Ride designs. They took me right back to my days watching the early morning cartoon Beast Wars: Transformers before-school with a bowl of cereal, and Rise of the Beasts effectively pays off that nostalgia (even if my chatty favorite Rattrap is sorely missed). Rise of the Beasts effectively pays off of nostalgia. The Maximals are given the opportunity to shine because we aren’t bombarded with the headache-inducing Michael Bay action sequences that tanked the later Transformers films. Cinematographer Enrique Chediak holds the camera steady as Autobots, Maximals, and Unicron’s Terrorcon henchmen engage in their vehicular slaughters, allowing clean and crisp animation to showcase what exciting Transforms fight choreography looks like. Liza Koshy’s Autobot Arcee is a guns-akimbo Ducati 916 that darts around like a seasoned assassin, while Optimus Primal employs a thunderous ground-and-pound ferocity. An array of fighting techniques from the Terrorcons keeps violent altercations fresh, whether that’s tow truck Battletrap swinging his chain weapon or neon-pink-detailed Nightbird’s aerial maneuvers that scare the engine oil out of Mirage. Rise of the Beasts might keep its battles more contained, but that allows both combatants and move combinations to shine – no more of Bay’s constant cutting that makes action scenes feel like they’ve been run through a junkyard blender. What We Said About Transformers: The Last Knight Michael Bay has now been making Transformers films for more than ten years. In that time, the series has moved on very little and The Last Knight is the loudest and most explosively dull instalment yet. A recycled plot told through an overly on-the-nose script, read by a confusing parade of characters, and muddled action scenes does nothing to justify its epic length. – Gav Murphy, June 20, 2023 The voice cast behind rubber-burning heroes and villains are suitably fitted, especially Pete Davidson’s wisecracking Mirage. He’s the Autobot with the most personality, dropping Wu-Tang references and juvenile jokes like Davidson would in reality on stage. Peter Dinklage is the most unrecognizable as Unicron’s right-hand henchman Scourge – not to say he’s not good, but Scourge is a boilerplate baddie with a Robotic Mean #1 vocal range that might be a selection in a generic video game character creator. Otherwise, you can hear Coleman Domingo’s intense sternness behind Unicron’s threats as much as the gleeful good-heartedness when Cristo Fernández basically recreates his Ted Lasso performance as Dani Rojas, this time as a Volkswagon van in Wheeljack. Names like Michaela Jaé Rodriguez might not be first fan-casting choices for Terrorcons like Nightbird, but she makes it known why she was selected with the way she personifies a robot made of cold steel and whirring gears. Mirage is the Autobot with the most personality. Not everything can be celebrated with the same enthusiasm, however. While Diaz and Dominique Fishback (as brainy museum artifact researcher Elena Wallace) provide sustainable enough performances as Transformer allies, their characters feel like cogs in a machine. Diaz and Davidson share humorous lines of bromanship as the new Charlie and Bumblebee duo, but the Transformers are more entertaining alone than with their fleshy tour guides. Noah’s connection to his sickly brother Kris (Dean Scott Vazquez) gives Diaz more to chew on as a sibling who fights to show his lil’ bro how to conquer adversity, but that’s shelved for a bit once the landscape changes from New York City to Peru. Should Diaz and Fishback return for a sequel to Rise of the Beasts, I hope their characters feel less typical as Transformers tagalongs. As for the animation required to bring planet-devourers and Autobot saviors to life, it’s mainly exhilarating outside of interactions where Transformers and human actors engage with one another physically. Maybe that’s Optimus Prime picking Noah up like a nervous hamster or a bodysuit scene where Transformers technology covers an actor aside from his still-visible face. There’s an inorganic Cyborg in Justice League or Robocop remake vibe to it that looks somewhat unfortunate. Luckily, these are minor interruptions in the action, which sees fiery explosions backdrop laser blaster shootouts and limb-severing Transformer swordplay. Verdict Transformers: Rise of the Beasts proves that Bumblebee wasn’t a fluke, and that the Transformers series is finally accelerating in the right direction. Steven Caple Jr. oversees a solid balance between paint-by-numbers intergalactic doomsday storytelling and entertainment-first Transformers action, even though it never achieves the epic scope it’s aiming for and the human side of the story can’t keep up with the robots. There’s a focus on a story with heart and heroics, and that’s never lost thanks to reigning in Michael Bay’s brand of sensationalist chaos. Rise of the Beasts returns to Transformers basics on a larger scale than Bumblebee, but never gets too big for its britches. It feels like playing with Autobots and Maximals action figures in your backyard on a weekend, lost in a smashy-fun adventure that might not save the galaxy, but is a good enough excuse to watch robots turn into cars and fight for a few hours. Source: https://www.ign.com/articles/transformers-rise-of-the-beasts-review

Pre-registration for the new title SpongeBob Adventures: In a Jam, which is coming to iOS and Android, has been opened by Tilting Point, a top publisher of free-to-play games worldwide, and game developer Whaleapp, under license from Nickelodeon and Paramount Consumer Products. The entire town of Bikini Bottom is covered in jellyfish jam in this humorous mobile building game, leaving SpongeBob to once again save the day. Players will experience an epic adventure under the sea as they help SpongeBob in SpongeBob Adventures: In a Jam Players will embark on an exciting underwater journey in SpongeBob Adventures: In a Jam! as they assist SpongeBob, Patrick, Sandy, and other fan favorites in bringing peace back to Bikini Bottom after Plankton‘s latest failed effort to steal the Krabby Patty recipe. They will visit other well-known places like Jellyfish Fields, New Kelp City, and Atlantis in order to reconstruct Bikini Bottom. To aid SpongeBob in his journey, they will farm and gather crops, make products like Krabby Patties and jelly jars, and farm. Players will encounter both new and old acquaintances along the route, like Kevin C. Cucumber, King Jellyfish, Squidward, and Mr. Krabs. They will also unlock and engage with animal buddies like Gary and Pete the Pet Rock. We’re absolutely thrilled to continue our longstanding relationship with Nickelodeon, Paramount Consumer Products and Whaleapp by bringing another SpongeBob game to mobile players, after the wildly successful SpongeBob: Krusty Cook-Off, we’re looking to recreate that magic with SpongeBob Adventures: In a Jam! We can’t wait to hear fans’ thoughts about the game and see how high thatpre-registration number reaches. KEVIN SEGALLA, CEO AND FOUNDER OF TILTING POINT With over 17 million pre-registrations and over 50 million downloads, SpongeBob: Krusty Cook-Off, the previous SpongeBob SquarePants game developed by Tilting Point under license from Nickelodeon and Paramount Consumer Products, was a huge hit. In its first week of operation, the mobile game attracted 2.2 million daily active players and won the Players’ Choice Award at the 2021 Mobile Games Awards. With a retail release this past February 2023, the game made its digital debut on the Nintendo Switch in 2021. To help players get a head start in the game at launch, Tilting Point and Whaleapp are offering in-game launch rewards if player registration numbers hit specific milestones: One million – 10 Gems Five million – 150x Energy 10 million – 300x Energy and 1 Exploding Pie 15 million – 20 Gems, 400x Energy, and 2 Exploding Pies SpongeBob Adventures: In a Jam! is the newest game in Tilting Point’s world-class portfolio of games, which includes WhaleApp-developed games Doctor Who: An Unlikely Heist and Hidden Hotel: Miami Mystery. Interested fans can access the game, SpongeBob Adventures: In a Jam through the Google Play and iOS platforms, Source: https://gamingonphone.com/news/spongebob-adventures-in-a-jam-is-now-open-for-pre-registration/

Just a day after Rob2628 became the first Diablo 4 player in the world to reach level 100 at normal difficulty, former StarCraft 2 and Dota pro cArn_ has claimed the Hardcore crown as the first to accomplish the task in the unforgiving permadeath mode. Normally, death in Diablo 4 is not a big deal: Your equipment loses a bit of durability (which can be repaired by your local blacksmith) and life generally goes on. In Hardcore mode, however, life decidedly does not go on: When you die, you stay dead, and you have to start over from square one. Caution is therefore vital, although it's not always enough: As many players have learned (to their great frustration, no doubt), If you glitch out, you're gone. That makes progress to level 100, the maximum level in Diablo 4, slower than it is in the standard mode—you can't just hammer your way to the top, after all. But not that much slower, as it turns out. And with a surprise winner, too: Less than 24 hours ago, Ashava solo-killer Wudijo was in the lead at level 87, with streamer ben_ in second at level 85. But according to Twitch tracker D4race.com, both have been left in the dust by cArn_ and his "team," who he thanked for supporting his effort: Zizaran, Steelmage, and Nugiyen, all of whom are right behind him on the leaderboard. The win means cArn_ will have his name carved into Blizzard's Lilith statue—as required by the rules, he's already submitted his claim to the official Diablo 4 Twitter account, which has been acknowledged by Diablo global community development director Adam Fletcher. Diablo 4 is new, but cArn__ comes to it with valuable experience in the genre: His Twitch page says he now mainly plays the action RPG Path of Exile, "in all [competitive] Gauntlets and other events that come up." It's an undeniably impressive feat, and one that I personally would never even think about trying—I don't have the patience to be careful for extended periods of time. If you'd like to play Diablo 4 the cArn_ way, he recently shared a video breaking down his powerful Rend Thorns Barbarian build. It seems to work pretty well. Source: https://www.pcgamer.com/diablo-4-already-has-its-first-level-100-hardcore-character-and-its-not-who-you-think/

Boxing star Ryan Garcia and his promoter, Hall of Fame fighter Oscar De La Hoya, reignited their war of words via Twitter on Thursday in the aftermath of Garcia's megafight with Gervonta Davis in April, the first loss of Garcia's career. There has been on-and-off public acrimony for years between Garcia and De La Hoya -- a partnership that began in November 2017 at 18 fights and counting -- but it all seemed to wash away when the then-21-year-old signed an extension with Golden Boy Promotions in September 2019. Garcia referred to the new deal as one of the most lucrative in boxing history for a prospect, and the bad blood appeared to stop then and there. "Actions speak louder than words," Garcia said of the new deal at the time. "I'm here today to show everybody that I consider Golden Boy my family and that we're going to be in this together as I fulfill my dreams. Just like I have all the capabilities to become a big star, Golden Boy has all the tools to get me there." But over the years, Garcia and De La Hoya have occasionally traded barbs on Twitter and through the media. Years ago, De La Hoya said in an interview that Garcia, one of boxing's top stars, wasn't ready for Gervonta Davis. And when they finally met in the ring on April 22, Davis floored Garcia in Round 2 and finished him with a body shot in Round 7, the first loss of Garcia's career. The fight generated monster business with $22.8 million in gate receipts, making Garcia a wealthy young man. But all wasn't OK -- De La Hoya was missing from the postfight news conference. So, too, was Bernard Hopkins, an executive at Golden Boy. Golden Boy Promotions president Eric Gomez was present, but Garcia's trainer, Joe Goossen, also wasn't on hand. Shortly after the fight, Garcia shook up his corner and parted ways with Goossen, replaced by ESPN's 2022 trainer of the year, Derrick James. And now, Garcia is once again going at it with De La Hoya on Twitter: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cs-Ut6hu1ot/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=936cf439-2e20-4638-8d1d-924d320d1ab5 Can Garcia and De La Hoya resolve their problems again? After the financial windfall that was Davis-Garcia, it's unlikely money will be the elixir this time around. Garcia is on a quest to win a title at 140 pounds, and hopes that bout comes against Rolando Romero, but first, he'll have to sort his issues with the Golden Boy. Source: https://www.espn.com/boxing/story/_/id/37781122/ryan-garcia-fighting-again-social-media-own-promoter-oscar-de-la-hoya

For children and adults alike, curiosity has been linked with psychological, emotional, social, and even health benefits. “Why?” That’s the question parents and teachers both dread and love to hear from kids. We dread it because, well, sometimes we don’t know the answer—or we’re too lazy or harried to come up with a good one. But we usually do our best, understanding that curiosity is key to learning. But did you know that the benefits of curiosity are not limited to the intellectual? For children and adults alike, curiosity has been linked with psychological, emotional, social, and even health benefits. Here are six of them! 1. Curiosity helps us survive. The urge to explore and seek novelty helps us remain vigilant and gain knowledge about our constantly changing environment, which may be why our brains evolved to release dopamine and other feel-good chemicals when we encounter new things. 2. Curious people are happier. Research has shown curiosity to be associated with higher levels of positive emotions, lower levels of anxiety, more satisfaction with life, and greater psychological well-being. Of course, it may be, at least partially, that people who are already happier tend to be more curious, but since novelty makes us feel good (see above), it seems likely that it goes the other direction as well. 3. Curiosity boosts achievement. Studies reveal that curiosity leads to more enjoyment and participation in school and higher academic achievement, as well as greater learning, engagement, and performance at work. It may seem like common sense, but when we are more curious about and interested in what we are doing, it’s easier to get involved, put effort in, and do well. 4. Curiosity can expand our empathy. When we are curious about others and talk to people outside our usual social circle, we become better able to understand those with lives, experiences, and worldviews different than our own. Next time you have the chance to talk with a stranger, especially someone who may be quite dissimilar to you, try engaging with them on a personal level (respectfully, of course) and showing them that you are interested in what they have to say. 5. Curiosity helps strengthen relationships. One study asked strangers to pose and answer personal questions, a process scientists call “reciprocal self-disclosure.” They found that people were rated as warmer and more attractive if they showed real curiosity in the exchange (while other variables like the person’s social anxiety and their levels of positive and negative emotions did not affect the partner’s feelings of attraction and closeness). This implies that demonstrating curiosity towards someone is a great way to build your closeness with them. 6. Curiosity improves healthcare. Research suggests that when doctors are genuinely curious about their patients’ perspectives, both doctors and patients report less anger and frustration and make better decisions, ultimately increasing the effectiveness of treatment. Source: https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/six_surprising_benefits_of_curiosity

A new phase in the American tussle between state and local powers Conservative dogma once taught that local government reigned supreme. Politicians closest to constituents were best equipped to govern them, the argument went, and far-off centralised authority did nothing but meddle. Today, however, a Goldilocks principle of government has taken its place among Republicans, says Bennett Sandlin, the head of the Texas Municipal League, an advocacy group. “The federal government is big and bad, cities are small and bad, and somehow state government gets it just right.” In the latest legislative session, which in many states is coming to a close, Republican statehouses have sought to bolster state power and undercut the role of cities in local politics. Two sweeping new bills that illustrate this shift await governors’ signatures in Texas and Florida. The Texas Regulatory Consistency Act bars municipal governments from enacting policy that goes beyond state law in eight areas: agriculture, business and commerce, finance, insurance, labour, natural resources, occupations and property. Any local laws that currently do, such as tenant and worker protections, will be voided. Business leaders are celebrating the change. Main Street shops have suffered enough from the pandemic and inflation, they argue; reducing the burden of arduous local policies should help. Florida’s new legislation will also chill city lawmaking. Local Ordinances—as the bill is, ironically, called—authorises businesses to sue municipal governments over any law they deem “arbitrary or unreasonable” (no definition of these terms is laid out in the text). While a speedy “rocket-docket” court deliberates the case, in most circumstances the government will have to suspend the rule in question. And if the challenger wins, the city must repeal the ordinance. Last year Ron DeSantis, Florida’s governor, vetoed a previous version of the bill, arguing that it would lead to an onslaught of costly litigation. But legislators and business lobbyists think they have a better shot of securing the governor’s signature this time, as Mr DeSantis cultivates his conservative credentials in his push for the presidency. Such wholesale gutting of local authority—called “super-pre-emption” by academics and “death-star pre-emption” by progressives—is new. But for decades state politicians of all stripes have chipped away at specific local ordinances to retain consistency across jurisdictions. A dozen or so years ago the nature of pre-emption started to change, as Republicans weaponised these powers to kill progressive initiatives in big cities, says Richard Briffault of Columbia Law School. Plastic-bag bans, gun controls, paid sick-leave mandates and minimum-wage rises were all axed by Republican legislatures or conservative courts. Model pre-emption bills were drafted by the American Legislative Exchange Council, a conservative group, and passed from state to state. More recently pre-emption bills have started to proliferate, many targeting lgbtq folk, progressive prosecutors and abortion-seekers. According to non-profit groups, there were 140 in 2017. That number grew to 475 in 2021 and over 1,000 in 2022. Midway through this year’s legislative season the tally was already 650. The assault is driven in part by changing demographics that jeopardise conservative dominance in the South. In recent years Democratic cities in Republican states have been flooded by new residents. Texas and Florida stand out. In the year to July 2022 seven of America’s ten fastest-growing big cities were in these two states. That feeds a nasty political tension. State Republicans in both Texas and Florida emerged mightier from last year’s midterm elections. But many metropolitan areas leaned further left. In Texas Beto O’Rourke, a Democratic candidate for governor, received more votes in Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio than the previous challenger to the Republican incumbent did in 2018. Last month a Democrat clinched an upset win to become mayor of Jacksonville, Florida’s largest city. Republican state politicians see liberal cities as a threat. Urban hubs generate large shares of state gdp, and economic power tends to beget political influence. The legal jousting extends beyond Texas and Florida. But in some states, rather than merely blunting local authority, some lawmakers are stepping in to govern directly. In April Tate Reeves, Mississippi’s Republican governor, signed two bills that, respectively, increase the number of state cops patrolling the streets of Jackson, the state capital, and create a new state-run court district in the city. The naacp, a civil-rights group, sued, alleging that the laws violate the 14th Amendment by imposing a “separate and unequal” justice system on the city’s mostly black residents. “They are looking to colonise Jackson,” the mayor told the Associated Press. The representative who proposed the bill lives two-and-a-half hours’ drive from the city. Legislators in Georgia, meanwhile, have passed a law authorising a state commission to remove locally elected district attorneys from their posts. (Some suspect this will allow the state to punish Fani Willis, Fulton County’s chief prosecutor, for going after Donald Trump.) And on the national stage, in March Congress struck down a bill passed by the council of Washington, dc, for the first time in three decades. Andrew Clyde, a Republican from Georgia who proposed the scrapping, wants to dissolve the dc mayor’s office. Some new laws could get tied up in court if critics claim they breach state constitutions. But, says Courtnee Melton-Fant of the University of Memphis, since local governments were granted no powers by the founding fathers, states are well within their rights to designate authority as they see fit. With super-pre-emption laws on the books, many cities and towns will struggle to function as laboratories of democracy. They risk becoming forums of frustration instead. Source: https://www.economist.com/united-states/2023/06/03/republicans-intensify-their-assault-on-city-governments

Experts offer tips on how to make a home for the beloved bioluminescent insects in your own backyard—from creating a microhabitat to keeping your lights off. Few sights induce nostalgia like the flickering glow of fireflies at night. But these beloved, bioluminescent insects, also known as lightning bugs, are in trouble. Their po[CENSORED]tions are declining around the world as the threats against them pile up. In the U.S., 18 species face extinction—and experts say global species are endangered too. “Do you want to live in a world where this experience is lost to your grandchildren?” says Sara Lewis, co-chair of the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Firefly Specialist Group. You might not have to. Here’s what you can do to ensure that fireflies will continue to light up our backyards for generations to come. Create a firefly habitat The biggest threat facing fireflies today is the loss of their habitats. But with about 2,000 different species of fireflies, there’s a wide variety of environments in which they thrive—including wetlands, forests, and even city parks—which is why some species are more threatened than others. In any habitat, however, Lewis says to start by thinking about their lifecycle. Although people most commonly see fireflies as adults, these insects undergo four stages of metamorphosis: eggs, larvae, pupae, and adults. Throughout most of these stages, fireflies live underground or in moist soil where they can prey on earthworms, their favorite food. (See fireflies magically light up this national park.) You can recreate those conditions in your own backyard simply by leaving some woody debris and leaf litter around the edges of your property. “That’s a good microhabitat for baby fireflies,” Lewis says. You could also plant native shrubs and trees and let your grass grow long—all of which will help soil retain the moisture that fireflies love. Fireflies flash and streak through a Tennessee summer night, putting on a spectacular light show to seduce prospective mates. To find their mates, fireflies need to be able to see those flashes—which is increasingly difficult as city and suburban lights outshine them. Turn off your lights The same glow that makes fireflies so remarkable also makes them especially vulnerable to the rise in light pollution. Flashing lights are an important part of the firefly mating ritual. As the sun fades each night, male fireflies flutter around while flashing their lights to signal their interest. If a nearby female is interested, she flashes back from her perch on the ground, and the males fly down to find her. “All of that has to happen for the next generation to survive,” says Becky Nichols, an entomologist at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, home to a particularly dazzling species called synchronous fireflies. City and suburban lights make those cues much harder to see. One recent study showed that excess light at night—no matter how dim—reduces the amount of flashing among males, as well as the female response rate. “It's like cutting a phone line,” Lewis says. “It really quashes the romance.” (Want to help wildlife? Turn off your lights.) Fortunately, there are some solutions. You can install motion sensors, timers, or dimmers on any lights outside your home, draw your curtains shut at night to prevent light from seeping out the window—and turn off the lights completely when possible. Shielded coverings for street lamps and outdoor lights also help. (For more tips, check out the Xerces Society’s firefly-friendly lighting guide.) What about colored lights? Although red light has long been considered okay for fireflies, Lewis says that thinking is changing. Whenever possible, darkness is the answer. Left: Firefly larvae glow from their home on a termite mound in Emas National Park, Goias, Brazil. These insects typically spend most of their lives developing underground or in moist soil—where they're at risk from everything from pesticides to trampling. PHOTOGRAPH BY EDSON VANDEIRA, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION Right: A species of bioluminescent firefly, Photuris quadrifulgens, photographed in Holston River, Tennessee. Experts say there are easy steps you can take to ensure your own yard has the soil conditions that fireflies need to survive. Stop using pesticides Spraying your yard with pesticides and insecticides also poses an existential threat to fireflies—which are insects after all. Lewis points out that most of the pesticides marketed to home gardeners are broad-spectrum chemicals that will kill firefly larvae just as swiftly as they kill ants, wasps, and other less-beloved insects. Scientists are researching alternatives to chemical pesticides that could target specific species, like mosquitoes, while leaving other insects unharmed. Practice good firefly tourism Fireflies are so enchanting that they’re now the main attraction at tourist sites across the world—from the Great Smoky Mountains in the U.S. to Nanacamilpa in Mexico and the Daan Forest Park in Taiwan. Research has shown this can be a double-edged sword, encouraging an appreciation for fireflies while also disrupting their life cycles and habitats. (How fireflies are keeping this tiny Mexican town alive.) When visiting firefly habitats, watch where you’re walking to avoid trampling on mating adults—or their developing larvae. If a firefly-watching destination has installed raised walkways to protect fireflies, don’t stray from it. These destinations may also allow you to bring a flashlight to help you find your way to the perfect firefly viewing spot. If you do, make sure to cover it with a dark red filter—but Lewis points out that it’s better to arrive early when it’s still light out so you don’t need a flashlight at all. Get involved in firefly conservation There are a number of other ways you can help fireflies beyond your backyard—from supporting a national conservation organization like Xerces Society to working with your community to establish a firefly sanctuary. (For inspiration, Lewis points to a firefly sanctuary and walking trail built on 6.5 acres of land in New Canaan, Connecticut.) If you live in a North American region that’s home to threatened firefly species, you can also contribute to a citizen science project. In late March, the Xerces Society and IUCN Firefly Specialist Group launched the Firefly Atlas to track and learn more about the lives of the 13 most endangered species. Lewis says the IUCN group is working to assess the conservation status of fireflies in other parts of the world beyond the U.S. and Canada. But, she adds that we already know enough about the environmental threats facing the most at-risk species, and protecting fireflies from these threats can benefit the entire ecosystem they depend on. “Every one of those species has a particular niche that it fits into,” she says. “Here is an amazing portal to the miraculous that’s worth protecting.” Source: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/fireflies-tips-to-protect-from-threats

NEW YORK, June 5 (Reuters) - With an emphasis on diversity in content and storytellers, New York's Tribeca Film Festival kicks off on Wednesday, with highlights including documentaries about actor Rock Hudson and news anchor Dan Rather. Running from June 7 to June 18, nearly 70% of the competition feature films are directed by women. The festival is showcasing 43 first-time filmmakers, including many from traditionally underrepresented communities. Tribeca Film Festival was co-founded in 2001 by American actor Robert De Niro to help revitalize lower Manhattan following the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center. "One of the things about Tribeca is we have such a diverse offering of stories and filmmakers," co-creator Jane Rosenthal told Reuters ahead of the festival launch. "I think a lot of that has always stemmed from Bob (De Niro), always looking for those interesting, interesting untold stories." Biopics and biographical documentaries will be big this year. Rosenthal highlighted a film about baseball player Bucky Dent directed by actor David Duchovny and the documentary about Hudson - one of the first public figures to die from AIDS complications - which uses archival footage and is "beautifully, beautifully told." "They're just good human stories, good personal interest stories," she said. An Immersive program, meanwhile, seeks to tell stories with social impact, including an exhibit on the sexual exploitation of female political prisoners and an augmented reality (AR) experience on Black communities that built New York. Seven video games also have their world premiere at the festival, including "The Expanse: A Telltale Series" - a prequel to the hit sci-fi Amazon TV series, which will allow players to take on the role of Camina Drummer. There will also be a festival-wide celebration of hip-hop to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the musical genre, including the premiere of "All Up in the Biz," a documentary about New York hip-hop legend Biz Markie. In total, the festival is featuring more than 600 events. Over 130,000 people are expected to attend. Source: https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/new-yorks-tribeca-film-festival-seeks-tell-untold-stories-2023-06-05/

The Toyota Yaris Cross in a tuxedo primarily targets Europe but will be sold in other markets. Rumors of a fancier Yaris Cross have been swirling around for years and now the Lexus LBX is officially here. Positioned below the UX and serving as the new entry-level model, the tiny crossover is an indirect replacement for the defunct CT hatchback. It rides on the same GA-B platform as its Toyota sibling but with different styling to better fit Lexus' design language both inside and out. The LBX is 4190 millimeters (165 inches) long, 1825 mm (71.8 in) wide, and 1545 mm (60.8 in) tall, while having a wheelbase of 2580 mm (101.5 in). Riding on 18-inch wheels as standard equipment, the petite Lexus is actually slightly bigger than the Yaris Cross and tips the scales at 1,280 kilograms (2,821 pounds). It will be offered with a choice between front- and all-wheel drive, with all configurations coming exclusively with a continuously variable transmission. 2024 Lexus LBX At the heart of the LBX is a hybrid powertrain based around a three-cylinder, 1.5-liter gasoline engine. It produces a combined output of 134 horsepower (100 kilowatts) and a maximum torque of 185 Newton-meters (136 pound-feet). It's enough electrified punch for a 0 to 62 mph (100 km/h) run in 9.2 seconds and a maximum towing capacity of 750 kilograms (1,653 pounds). All versions of the latest Lexus get a MacPherson strut front suspension while the rear uses a torsion beam for the FWD models and a double wishbone if you opt for AWD. Technical specifications for the latter have yet to be disclosed but we do know it will add an electric motor at the rear. Interestingly, the small crossover has an aluminum hood as well as molded resin wheel arches, rockers, and lower door sections to keep weight down. Stepping inside, the LBX boasts a 12.3-inch fully digital instrument cluster with an optional head-up display joined by a 9.8-inch touchscreen. The infotainment supports both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, but only the former has wireless connectivity. Lexus has once again teamed up with Mark Levinson, which supplies the 13-speaker sound system that comes along with a subwoofer. Stick to the front-wheel-drive model and you get a cargo capacity of 332 liters (11.7 cubic feet) with the rear seats in place. The AWD-equipped LBX is likely to be less practical due to the extra hardware installed at the back. Lexus mentions it hasn't made any compromises in terms of quality and attention even though this is the new entry-level model. The LBX is the company's first model for which development primarily took place in Europe. It's scheduled to enter production by the end of this year and go on sale in Europe along with additional markets in early 2024. Source: https://www.motor1.com/news/670481/2024-lexus-lbx-debut-specs/

Four first responders who arrived at the scene of Sunday’s fatal private plane crash near Raphine, Virginia, told CNN the plane left a “crater,” and they believe it impacted the ground at a very steep angle. The first responders, who spoke on the condition they not be identified, described a grisly scene. There were perhaps four recognizable pieces of wreckage from the plane, they said. “There was nothing really bigger than your arm,” one said. The responders also found signs of human remains. Federal officials are investigating the crash of the unresponsive plane that flew near the US Capitol region on Sunday, prompting military fighter jets to rush to intercept the aircraft before it went down in northern Virginia, leaving no survivors, authorities say. Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board are expected to arrive at the crash site Monday, where they will “begin the process of documenting the scene and examining the aircraft,” the agency said in a statement. The civilian aircraft, which had four people on board, missed its destination by more than 300 miles before plunging to the ground in Virginia Sunday afternoon, sources familiar with the investigation said. The small plane took off from an airport in Elizabethton, Tennessee, and was headed for New York’s Long Island MacArthur Airport, a statement from the Federal Aviation Administration said. No surviving passengers were found at the crash site Sunday night, Virginia State Police said, noting their identities will be released when they become available. The details of why the plane veered so far off course and what caused the crash are still unclear. The US Capitol complex was placed on an “elevated alert” when the plane flew near the area on Sunday afternoon, according to a statement from US Capitol Police. F-16 fighter jets were “authorized to travel at supersonic speeds” as they raced to make contact with the aircraft, a Cessna 560 Citation V, according to a release from the Continental US North American Aerospace Defense Command Region. The jets’ extraordinary speed caused a sonic boom across the Washington, DC, area, officials said, and some residents reported being startled by the sudden and resounding sound. “The house rocked, the windows rattled, and it was done like that. We were obviously freaked out a little bit,” Chuck Martin, who felt the boom in Fairfax County, Virginia, told CNN affiliate WJLA. “I started calling the police. Their nonemergency line was busy forever. When I finally got through, they said, ‘Oh this DOD aircraft went supersonic, which sounded a little bit strange.’” Residents in Maryland also reported hearing the boom. “Our Ring notifications were going crazy with so many different options. Was it the Navy? Or was it a sonic boom? Or was it an earthquake?” Sandy Abuarja, who lives in Gambrills, Maryland, told CNN affiliate WBAL. When the F-16s reached the Cessna around 3:20 p.m., the jet pilots set off flares in an effort to get the pilot’s attention, the release said. “The pilot was unresponsive and the Cessna subsequently crashed near the George Washington National Forest, Virginia,” the release said. “NORAD attempted to establish contact with the pilot until the aircraft crashed.” The F-16s did not shoot down the aircraft, a US official told CNN. The official noted that it is typical for the FAA to call in jets if someone is flying unsafely. State and local police in Virginia searched the area for hours after being notified of a possible crash near the northern city of Staunton, the agency said. No survivors found in the wreckage None of the plane’s passengers were found alive when first responders reached the crash site around 8 p.m. Sunday night, state police spokesperson Corinne Geller confirmed. The private aircraft is registered to Encore Motors of Melbourne, Inc., a company based in Florida, according to FAA records. John Rumpel, whose wife Barbara is listed as the president of the company, told CNN that they own Encore. The husband confirmed Barbara Rumpel is safe, but declined to comment further. John Rumpel told The New York Times that his daughter, a 2-year-old granddaughter and her nanny were onboard the plane. He told the Times that the family was returning home to East Hampton, New York, after a four-day trip to his home in North Carolina. On her Facebook profile, Barbara Rumpel commented, “My family is gone, my daughter and granddaughter,” on an unrelated post in which others were asking if she was on the plane. Plane flew near US capital area As the plane veered off course Sunday afternoon, it passed over Washington, D.C, and was not responding to efforts to make contact, prompting the F-16 fighter jets to respond. US Capitol Police placed the Capitol Complex on an “elevated alert” as the aircraft passed through the region, the agency said. “This afternoon, our officials were working closely with our federal partners to monitor an unresponsive pilot who was flying an airplane near the National Capital Region. The U.S. Capitol Complex was briefly placed on an elevated alert until the airplane left the area,” a statement from the department said. It’s unclear whether the aircraft entered restricted airspace. President Joe Biden was golfing at the Andrews Air Force Base golf course near Maryland’s Joint Base Andrews when the sonic boom resounded through Washington. The US Secret Service said it did not alter its posture for keeping President Biden secure after the fighter jets were scrambled. The president was briefed on the incident, according to a White House official. Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2023/06/05/us/virginia-plane-crash-fighter-jets-investigation-monday/index.html