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https://www.pcgamer.com/nzxt-bld-kit-gaming-pc/ NZXT is now offering full gaming PCs, which straddle the line between pre-built and home-made, in a line it's calling BLD Kits. The company is packaging together everything that goes into a full NZXT gaming PC into one box, with full, clear, super damned cute instructions on how to put everything together so you can enjoy the satisfaction of putting your rig together with your own two hands. Now, there's probably a part of you that's wondering why you'd bother doing that instead of either buying a standard pre-built machine—where the professionals have done all the hard work for you—or going out and picking your own components to totally customise your PC experience. But in these stock starved times finding every part for your prospective PC is almost impossible, so having someone ready to package everything together—with 100% confidence that those parts will play nicely together—means you get to enjoy the building process with a chunk of the 2021-based hassle removed. And yes, that includes sending you a new RTX 30-series GPU, too. Building a gaming PC can be a daunting task for the beginner, despite the fact that it's become more and more straightforward over the years. But it's also hugely rewarding, and you learn a hell of a lot doing so. And that means, when it comes to upgrading down the line, you're not so scared about pulling the side panel off, and plucking out the SSD. NZXT is offering two different BLD Kits, the Starter Pro and the Streaming Plus. Both of these are also available as fully built systems if you prefer, though you do actually save $200 opting for the home-build version of the more expensive Streaming Plus. Sadly it looks like the Starter Pro is the same cost no matter which one you choose, though the pre-built option is currently out of stock. Which kinda answers the question for you anyways. The difference between the Starter and Streaming BLD Kits is the choice of motherboard and CPU—the Starter uses an Intel Core i5 11400F CPU and ASRock B560 board, while the Streaming option features the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X CPU and an MSI B550 board. The pricier build also comes with liquid cooling for the processor, though it is an all-in-one CPU cooler, so doesn't require an engineering degree to put together. Otherwise the systems are the same, each coming with the excellent RTX 3060 Ti, likely in whichever flavour NZXT is able to get hold of at the time. No matter which processor and motherboard pairing you go for the Nvidia GPU provides for a quality gaming experience at both 1080p and 1440p. The AMD CPU is a slightly better option for general processing duties, hence its appearance in the Streaming Plus option, but the six-core, 12-thread Core i5 11400F is no budget slouch itself. The final interesting piece of the puzzle is the warranty backup NZXT is offering. With a BLD Kit you get a full two year warranty on all the parts to give you full peace of mind.

https://blog.playstation.com/2021/10/20/the-birth-of-deathloops-powerful-kick/ Our team at Arkane has always loved a good kick. In fact, we’ve been looking for ways to get it back into our games for a while. We liked the Dark Messiah kick very much, but there was no real need for it in Dishonored as other systems were serving the same purpose. Finally, in Deathloop, we had our chance to resurrect it. We decided with this game we were going to expand on the melee combat by adding new tools and moves. Thus, we revived the kick. The kick has gone through a lot of testing and evolution. I remember our earliest discussions were all about which kind of kick is the best kick. Dinga [Bakaba, game director] and I both practice different martial arts, so our coworkers would often see us talking about and performing front, back and rotating kicks. (No one was harmed in the process.) The first code implementation was done by Gameplay Programmer Pierre-Adrien Branche. When we finally got it into the game, we did a lot of testing with animators to have the kick look good in both first- and third-person. We tried different legs, size, leg orientation… You name it, we probably tried it. We experimented with different kicks, like a low kick when aiming below the horizon and a (very cool) flying kick, but that one became useless when we decided that the regular kick would just shove an NPC. First early development Deathloop kick implementation Here to help explore Colt’s calamitous kick with me is Jérôme Braune, game systems designer. Braune: In these comparison images, you can see that in an early version of the kick the foot orientation was different and the leg was displayed more in the center of the screen. To free some space and prevent visual noise around the crosshair, the leg position and foot orientation was later moved further to the right. Foudral: When we were finally happy with the visuals of the kick, a lot of work was put into making it responsive and easy to use in all situations. We had a lot of rules in place: it should never block the player controls; It should be powerful without being overpowered; etc. There was a lot of back-and-forth between the programmers and animators to make it work. (A lot of NPCs were harmed in the process.) Braune: There was a whole balancing act when we were working on making sure the kick wasn’t too powerful. We didn’t want the player to get rid of enemies too easily in combat, so we established a new rule. On unaware enemies, one kick will make them fly away, but on aware enemies a single kick will simply knock them off their balance. Then a second kick performed within a short timeframe would make the enemy go flying. We love that the kick also gives a bit of an incentive for stealth as a cool “you didn’t see this coming” bonus attack. If you played Dishonored and Dishonored 2, you know we love playing with ragdoll physics. The kick feature really emphasizes this love. Animation Director Damien Pougheon made some great ragdoll kick poses and animations that could be driven nicely by physics. Gameplay Programmer Emile Jonas provided a way to edit data easily for the impact on NPCs. To achieve the perfect results, we applied some linear velocity (for the strength of the impact) and angular velocity (to make the body spin a bit). With animations and impulses tweaked, it all came together to make the kick super dramatic.

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/10/19/politics/donald-trump-january-6-suing/index.html (CNN)On Monday, former President Donald Trump sued the congressional committee investigating the January 6 riot at the US Capitol in an attempt to keep the committee from getting its hands on roughly 40 documents. Because of course he did. There have been very few consistent threads throughout the life of Trump but one of them is this: He sues and sues and sues. He uses litigation as a smokescreen and a way to slow-walk issues in hopes of coming to some sort of settlement that leaves him less exposed or simply to muddle up a problem in the eyes of the public. Trump sued John Bolton to stop the the publication of a book about the former national security adviser's time in the White House. He threatened to sue CNN because a poll showed him trailing Joe Biden by 14 points. He threatened to sue The New York Times after the newspaper published an article detailing allegations by two women that Trump had inappropriately touched them. He threatened to sue if members of his campaign were not allowed into satellite election offices in Philadelphia. He threatened to sue special counsel Robert Mueller. There's more. A LOT more. But, you get the idea. Trump uses lawsuits -- and even more frequently the threat of litigation -- as a favorite tool in his public relations toolbox. Do something he doesn't like or he thinks makes him look bad? Lawsuit! "For nearly half a century, Trump ... has used lawsuits as cudgels and prods and publicity stunts. He and his wingmen have used them, or threats of them, to harass, to deflect and delay, to punish opponents and protect his brand, his money, his image, himself. Even in the face of losses, he has used them to find a way to wins. "The difference now is that Trump's legal arsenal includes not just an array of personal attorneys but the vast resources of the Department of Justice—which at times he has hoped would serve the same role as his most bare-knuckled advocates." According to an exhaustive database maintained by USA Today, Trump and his business have been involved in more than 4,000(!) lawsuits over the past three decades -- a stunning number that serves as a testament to how the President, even before he was president, used the legal system to fight back when times were hard for him. "Does anyone know more about litigation than Trump?" Trump said of himself on the campaign trail in 2016. "I'm like a Ph.D. in litigation." (Sidebar: I'm like the mayor of Dunkin'.) The truth is that Trump loses -- a lot -- in the legal realm. Or never even really fights. Think back to that 2016 campaign when more than a dozen women came forward alleging that Trump had sexually harassed them. "Every woman lied when they came forward to hurt my campaign," Trump said in October 2016. "Total fabrication. The events never happened. Never. All of these liars will be sued after the election is over." He has filed a total of zero lawsuits against the women. The point of all this litigiousness -- and the threat of litigiousness -- isn't, really, to win. It's to distract and delay. It's to show that he is fighting back and taking it to the various people, places and things who have wronged him. What he's hoping is that very few people dig beyond the surface of these many lawsuits because, of course, he knows that his legal position -- in almost every case -- is incredibly precarious. It's all a house of cards; take a closer look and it collapses. Will Trump win this latest case to keep documents from the January 6 select committee? If past is prologue, probably not. But that's not really the point. All Trump is trying to do is use the legal system to muddy the waters and change the conversation around him and what he did -- and didn't do -- on that fateful day.

https://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/life-positive/dont-confuse-success-with-excellence-ken-burns-7580118/ “Let me speak directly to the graduating class. Watch out. Here comes the advice. Look. I am the father of four daughters. If someone tells you they’ve been sexually assaulted, take it seriously. And listen to them! Maybe, some day, we will make the survivor’s eloquent statement as important as Dr. King’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail. Try not to make the other wrong, as I just did with that ‘presumptive’ nominee. Be for something. Be curious, not cool. Feed your soul, too. Every day,” documentary filmmaker Ken Burns said at Stanford University. “Remember, insecurity makes liars of us all. Not just presidential candidates. Don’t confuse success with excellence. The poet Robert Penn Warren once told me that ‘careerism is death.'” he stated. “Do not descend too deeply into specialism either. Educate all of your parts. You will be healthier. Free yourselves from the limitations of the binary world. It is just a tool. A means, not an end. Seek out – and have – mentors. Listen to them. The late theatrical director Tyrone Guthrie once said, ‘We are looking for ideas large enough to be afraid of again.’ Embrace those new ideas. Bite off more than you can chew. Travel. Do not get stuck in one place. Visit our national parks. Their sheer majesty may remind you of your own ‘atomic insignificance,’ as one observer noted, but in the inscrutable ways of Nature, you will feel larger, inspirited, just as the egotist in our midst is diminished by his or her self-regard. Insist on heroes. And be one,” he stated.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-58911911 Image caption,Food aid (above) is often dropped by planes to people in remote villages "You need to reach the po[CENSORED]tion and make sure they come within the time frame. Based on their availability, you have to wait," said Dr Nay. Coordinating the entire operation, getting the timing right, and hoping for good weather, are key to success, though things don't always work out perfectly. "It's not an easy thing given that our health system is not strong. Most health workers are not well paid," said Dr Victoria Majur, a senior official at the Ministry of Health She said they had to be given "incentives" to inoculate people. Vaccines 'dumped in Africa' While logistics is a problem, there is also a shortage of supply for South Sudan's 11 million people. The country has so far received two consignments of AstraZeneca vaccines. The first one arrived on 25 March. It had 132,000 doses. "The deployment was informed by the ease of reaching counties. There were challenges of logistics and the motivation of health workers as well as insecurity and the weather," said Dr Rumunu. But just 60,000 doses were used. It was decided to send the remaining 72,000 doses to neighbouring countries in July. "We thought rather than they expire here, we distribute to other countries and let them use it and hope that when we are ready, we will be given an equivalent amount of vaccines to protect our people," added Dr Nay. A second consignment of 60,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines, donated by France through Covax, arrived on 31 August. It had a much shorter shelf-life of just four weeks but they were all used within that time. The World Health Organization's Dr Richard Mihigo said the short period to expiry was lowering people's confidence in the vaccines. "It's like dumping products to Africa when other people have used the majority of them," he told the BBC. The Covax facility was intended to ensure countries like South Sudan got a good chance of receiving vaccines. But so far, out of 470 million doses promised to African countries by the end of 2021, only around 89 million doses have been delivered, according to Dr Mihigo. India's decision to shut down supply due to a severe wave of Covid 19 earlier this year affected supply. In addition to this, "most of the wealthier countries grabbed most of the supply in the market, leaving the Covax facility facing shortages of vaccines that had been promised by manufacturers", said Dr Mihigo. On 8 October, South Sudan launched a new vaccination campaign following the arrival of about 60,000 Johnson & Johnson vaccines donated by the US government. Performers dressed in brightly coloured costumes, feathered headgear and dried gourds cut in half led the crowd, just outside Juba, in celebrating their arrival. As it is a single-dose vaccine, it will ease the huge logistical challenges of getting jabs into arms. But many more will be needed. REALITY CHECK: More than 50 nations have missed a target PERSONAL STORY: 'Fifteen in my family have died' EXPLAINER: What is the Covax scheme Update: This article has been amended after Unicef clarified that air-dropping vaccines was not currently being considered.

¤ Nickname: @YEEZUZ tr ¤ Video author: PlayStation ¤ Name of the game: Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 ¤ Video link: ¤ Short description of the video: -

https://gadgets.ndtv.com/cryptocurrency/news/new-york-governor-urged-to-deny-permits-for-crypto-bitcoin-mining-2580850 New York businesses have reached out to governor Kathy Hochul asking for a ban on crypto mining, citing environmental concerns. In a letter the business owners and labour groups requested Hochul to deny permits to the conversion of NYC's fossil fuel plants into crypto mining centres. Crypto mining is the process of generating new tokens. In the case of “proof of work” style cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, this is done by solving complex mathematical problems using advanced computers and the process has been criticised for consuming too much energy while adding to carbon emissions. Two former fossil fuel power plants, the Greenidge Generating Station and the Fortistar North Tonawanda, located in New York's tri-state area are being considered for transformation into crypto mining facilities. This idea has garnered backlash from many local businesses worried about electricity usage and environmental impact. “Proof-of-Work cryptocurrency mining use enormous amounts of energy to power the computers needed to conduct business – should this activity expand in New York, it could drastically undermine New York's climate goals established under the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act,” the letter said. Global Crypto Market Is Now Worth $2.5 Trillion, Overtaking Apple, Microsoft Further, the letter suggested that repowering defunct fossil-fuelled power plants would seriously jeopardise the state's progress on and meeting mandates for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Hochul's response to the request remains awaited as of now. As per a research report, cryptocurrency mining hardware is constantly running, hence consuming energy. Between January 1, 2016, and June 30, 2018, the mining operations for four major cryptocurrencies released up to an estimated 13 million metric tons of carbon dioxide. Bitcoin Is 'Better Gold Than Gold,' Dogecoin Is 'Fun': Mark Cuban The massive energy consumption required by mass-level crypto trading and its effects on the greenhouse gas emissions have been concern-worthy for many nations including China, Russia, and Morocco among others. In fact, last month China criminalised crypto activities with its massive energy consumption being a major reason of concern. “Part of it may actually be due to electricity shortages in many parts of China. A lot of South China right now is having random power outages because the power demand is higher than expected. Crypto mining might be playing a role in that,” Elon Musk had said commenting on China's move at the time. In recent times, however, crypto-mining activities are being linked with clean energy resources so that the process becomes decarbonised. For instance, the central American country of El Salvador is also is powering its Bitcoin mining facility using geothermal volcanic energy. Francis Suarez, the mayor of US' Miami town has also proposed setting up a Bitcoin-mining facility near a nuclear power plant in Florida state. As per news website Latest News Today, nuclear energy is on the brink of being recognised as a true environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) solution in terms of energy. Despite opposition from major nations like China and Russia, the crypto-space is registering rapid global expansion.

https://www.techradar.com/news/windows-11-home-and-pro Microsoft has now released Windows 11 as a free upgrade for people running Windows 10, and on this page you'll find out everything you need to know about the new operating system. From the Windows 11 price and release date, to how to download it and what the best Windows 11 features are, we answer all of your burning questions. If you'd like to try it out, we have a guide on how to download and install Windows 11. As with any operating system launch, there are some issues, so make sure you check out our how to fix common Windows 11 problems guide if you encounter any. From what we’ve seen during our Windows 11 review, this new operating system brings numerous improvements, such as an attractive, modern design, better security and new ways to find and download apps. So far, it’s shaped up to be a promising operating system, even if there are still opportunities for deeper improvements. And, if you’re currently using Windows 10, you’ll be happy to know that you'll be eligible for a free upgrade to Windows 11, provided that your laptop or PC meets the strict minimum system requirements that Microsoft has put into place in the name of future security. Just bear in mind that there's still some confusion as to what these system requirements are due to a component called TPM (Trusted Platform Module). Right now, it looks like Microsoft isn't going to budge on its requirement that your device is equipped with a TPM 2.0 in order to run a fully supported version of the new OS. Now that Windows 11 has been released, let’s take a look at what the new operating system has on offer, from its updated features to the benefits it has for users over Windows 10. Windows 11: Cut to the chase What is it? Windows 11 is the successor to Windows 10 When is it out? October 5 How much does it cost? Free (if you already have Windows 10) Windows 11 release date Microsoft launched Windows 11 on October 5 as a free upgrade, though some people were able to install it a day early on October 4.

https://www.pcgamer.com/revil-hackers-hijacked/ Rampant hacker group REvil—known for using ransomware to extort companies for millions and selling data on the dark web when it doesn't get its way—has gone silent after finally receiving some penance, it would seem. According to reports (via Tech Crunch), the group's Tor payment portal and data leak blog have been hijacked, leaving the group crippled and platformless. A recent post from one threat actor associated with REvil, 0_neday, notes the attack not only took down 'Happy Blog,' it also deleted the path to the Tor service config files, replacing it with a malicious one to catch out the miscreants. REvil had been gaining heat from the US government over it's misconduct for some time before the blackout. Not long ago, the group targeted Acer, attempting to extort the company for approximately $100 million, and the group's backlog of victims doesn't stop there. Apple supplier Quanta Computer, and thousands of organisations using Kaseya IT management solutions have also been affected by REvil's wrongdoings. It isn't clear who carried out the attack on the group—whether it was a revenge hack or a preventative takedown from the government itself. At this point we can only speculate, but a report from The Washington Post reveals the government had managed to obtain a key that could've shut the group down back in September. However, they decided to hold off for whatever reason, only to notice the Happy Blog went offline of its own volition. That only lasted a while before the group resurfaced, though. So perhaps the government did decide to execute a takedown after all. Bleeping Computer says other whispers suggest a mutiny is underway, with a former group member who didn't join the resurfacing potentially staging a takeover. Either way, it's a win for the tech industry and the cyber-conscious. Lets hope that's the last we see of them. And as always, let this be a warning to keep your cybersecurity knowledge up to scratch. Hackers are all around us, and they don't often let up easy.

https://blog.playstation.com/2021/10/19/sensing-your-surroundings-in-heavenly-bodies-coming-in-2021/ Hello! Alex here, I’m a designer and the technical lead at 2pt Interactive. As many of you may know, we’re the little indie studio making the challenging, physics-based game Heavenly Bodies. Ahead of our fast-approaching 2021 release (put it in your diaries, folks), I wanted to take some time to share why we’re so excited to be working with the PS5 to make our passion project. A quick refresher For those who aren’t as familiar with it, Heavenly Bodies is a game about cosmonauts, the body, and the absence of gravity. You move the limbs of a weightless, physically simulated space engineer (or two, in local co-op) to assemble and maintain structures and systems aboard a rickety space station. Your assigned tasks will often appear straightforward, but without gravity to keep you grounded, even the most mundane requests will require wit and willful coordination to perform. Make sense? Okay, Welcome aboard. Why we love using the DualSense wireless controller At its heart, Heavenly Bodies has been created with the love for rich detail, physicality, and tactility. We’ve engineered a uniquely challenging movement scheme which lets you mani[CENSORED]te each limb of your weightless body. While (very) tricky at first, these flexible controls paired with physically simulated environments make for a world that begs to be tinkered with. With a game that quite literally requires you to feel your way through the environments, you can only imagine our excitement with the opportunity to use the features of the DualSense controller. With the triggers used to grasp your cosmonaut’s hands and a chaotic, zero-g environment where bumps and thumps are inevitable, it made so much sense for us to use the adaptive triggers and haptic functions to transport you into the floppy suit you see on screen. Feel the palms of your hands… at your fingertips The best way to play Heavenly Bodies is by using your cosmonaut’s hands. You’ll need to grip with the triggers to grab onto objects and to push yourself off walls. The DualSense controller’s adaptive triggers are remarkable at communicating what objects and surfaces are within your cosmonaut’s grasp. For example, when doing some weeding in the oxygen garden, you’ll feel the delicate stalkiness of dry plants compared to the thick, hard metal framework of the station.

¤ Nickname: @YEEZUZ tr ¤ Video author: PlayStation ¤ Name of the game: Riders Republic - Trial Week Trailer ¤ Video link: ¤ Short description of the video: -

https://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2021-10-18/no-standing-room-or-bathrooms-inside-spains-pod-hotels.html They look more like spaceships than hotels. White walls, neon lights, strange architectural shapes on the walls but above all the capsule-shaped rooms measuring two meters wide by one meter long. These are the so-called capsule or pod hotels, a business model that originated in Japan and which has been imported to Europe with companies now trying to break into the Spanish market. But it will not be easy. To begin with, there are the cultural differences between Japan, an island with 126 million inhabitants where space is at a premium, and Spain, a country where there is a strong social culture. Such contrasts pose a significant challenge to entrepreneurs. Further complicating their introduction to Spain are regulatory issues, given that some regions lack a legal framework for these types of establishments. The experts consulted by EL PA?S insist that strictly speaking, this type of accommodation cannot be called “hotels” – under Spanish law they can only be described as hostels, as they do not have individual bedrooms or bathrooms. On the other hand, they lack many other features characteristic of a hostel, as there are no views, standing room or closets, though guests do have access to a locker and shared bathroom. In the summer of 2019, the first pod hostel, Optimi Rooms, opened in the center of the Basque city of Bilbao, a few minutes from the bus station, with an initial investment of €400,000. Two years on, a night in Optimi Rooms, costs €27 for a single pod and €38 for a double. The driving force behind the project, I?aki Zabala, insists that the pods are larger than those found in Japan. Not only have they been adapted to the Spanish market and the physical dimensions of a typical Western physique, but the aim is to try to win over those who might think they are too small for comfort. “We have patented this large capsule model in Spain and have brought them from China exclusively for our hotels,” says Zabala, who plans to open a pod hostel on Madrid’s Gran V?a with his partner this October. After the pandemic, people are strangely more interested in sleeping in mini-rooms Ildefonso Moyano, professor at EADA Business School The Madrid pods will share Optimi Rooms’ futuristic aesthetic. The capsules come with a flat-screen TV, air conditioning, Wi-Fi and a coffee maker, while the walls of the pod itself are made from a combination of glass and ABS panel boards that seal the guest off from the outside world. “We are not a hostel, nor are we a room, but we are more comfortable than some hotels,” says Zabala. Optimi Rooms has a total of 48 capsules with a capacity for 60 people. In Madrid, there will be 82 capsules. “This is a qualitative leap and the experience in Bilbao has been fundamental to this,” explains Zabala. The space problem in Japan prompted the hotel market to come up with this innovative solution. Tokyo alone is home to more than nine million people, aside from those who commute to the city every day to work. This factor, together with high hotel prices, saw the pod hotel emerge, as a more affordable alternative, with many popping up close to train and Metro stations. The first pod hotel was designed by architect Kisho Kurokawa in the opulent Ginza district in Tokyo. His intention was to accommodate workers who spent the week in the city. It was the beginning of a trend that has produced more than 300 such establishments in Japan, accommodating travelers from all over the world. Entrepreneurs marketing these capsules tried to introduce them to Spain some years back, but, according to EADA Business School professor, Ildefonso Moyano, “The market was not yet ready for this type of rest station.” Consequently, a pod hostel in Barcelona closed just months after opening. The business, Moyano explains, is something that is specifically suited to Japanese society and culture with its dedicated work ethic, something that is not so intrinsic in the West. However, in the past year as the coronavirus pandemic subsides, pod hostels have gained momentum in Spain. Two are on the verge of opening in Madrid and another has opened in Spain’s Canary Islands, off the coast of northwestern Africa. Other pod hostels have opened up in countries such as Mexico and Colombia, and their owners say they are already profitable. Fernando Constante, 50, has been working in the hotel industry for 18 years. Last May, he decided to open his own pod hostel in Puerto de la Cruz on the Canary Island of Tenerife. “Our goal is to open new markets in a sector where it seems everything has already been invented,” says Constante, who has modified the rooms to provide a view and is charging €32 for a single and €41 for a double. “We spent three years getting ready and here we are with our Europeanized capsules.” Pods in Colombia and Mexico On the other side of the Atlantic, in Mexico City, José Mart?n has opened three pod hostels in recent years – two at the airport and one in the financial heart of the capital. “The operation aims for simplicity, as travelers usually arrive tired and often with very little time to sleep,” he says. “The idea is to provide the basics for a clean and safe rest.” After evaluating short-stay lodging concepts in various parts of the world, he opted for the Japanese model. In Colombia, Caps Future Rooms opened its first low-cost pod venture in Bogot? in September. “After the pandemic, people are strangely more interested in sleeping in mini-rooms,” says Moyano. “It makes a lot of sense. It is much easier to disinfect the cubicles, the air is filtered and, with a sliding glass door, the person is completely sealed off from the outside, something that would not be possible in a hostel where there’s a chance that if your roommate coughs, you’ll be hit by particles of saliva.” Then there is the novelty factor. As Eduardo Irastorza, professor at OBS Business School, points out, “People are now looking for experiences. They want to experience things so they can talk about them and share them on social networks. People want to sleep in pods for the original experience, not out of necessity, which is why they have been made bigger and more comfortable.” Coré Mart?n, head of investment at Christie & Co, a specialist advisor for buying and selling businesses, is also optimistic about the future of the pod hostel in Spain. “From an economic point of view, these hostels are a very efficient way to economize on space and, if they are sold as something fun, they have all the criteria to succeed,” he says, adding that it will remain a niche market with a client profile to match those seeking hostel accommodation, a sector which is also moving toward a hybrid model for the sake of increased privacy. “Many [hostels] still haven’t opened after the health crisis because people are not ready to sleep with strangers in the same room,” he explains. In Spain, each region has a different set of regulations for this type of business. But in the Madrid region, as there is still no market, no regulations have been drawn up as yet, making their future unclear. “A law should be passed to prevent them from becoming a trend,” says José Manuel Calvo, from Madrid’s City Hall. “It is very risky to give media coverage to this type of initiative as it paves the way for the pod hotel to become established as one more model of accommodation. There is no place for a business like this in Western law and in our own regulations because it is not an appropriate form of accommodation. This only responds to yet one more demand in a low-cost market that is expanding into every sphere.” On the other hand, the Madrid Hotel Business Association welcomes all types of hotels as long as they are regulated and comply with the law.

https://elpais.com/clima-y-medio-ambiente/ecologia/2021-10-13/el-peligro-de-sobrevolar-los-cielos-de-egipto-como-ave-migratoria.html Las primeras aves migratorias empezaron a aparecer en las costas del norte de Egipto los ?ltimos d?as de agosto. Un gran n?mero de cigüe?as blancas sobrevolando una reserva natural y una zona de lagos cerca de la ciudad balneario de Sharm El Sheij —en la pen?nsula del Sina?— fueron las encargadas de iniciar formalmente una procesi?n anual que convierte los cielos del pa?s en corredores aéreos para millones de aves que viajan desde sus lugares de cr?a, en Europa y Asia, hacia los de invernada, m?s c?lidos y situados en el ?frica subsahariana. M?s informaci?n Las cuatro vueltas al mundo del abuelo de los alimoches Muchas de ellas, sin embargo, no llegar?n a su destino. En la costa mediterr?nea de Egipto y, en menor medida, en los oasis y arboledas interiores, la caza de aves migratorias es una tradici?n milenaria de la que dependen miles de familias. Cuando la actividad se practicaba con métodos tradicionales puede que fuera sostenible, pero grupos ambientalistas locales e internacionales alertan de que ya no lo es. En 2015, un estudio de BirdLife, la organizaci?n l?der en el mundo en conservaci?n de aves, y Nature Conservation Egypt (NCE), la referente en el pa?s, hizo saltar las alarmas al estimar que se capturaban al a?o alrededor de 12 millones de aves. Aunque en realidad la cantidad no se conoce con precisi?n por falta de seguimiento —y el Gobierno egipcio asegura que apenas sobrepasa el mill?n—, se teme que esta caza pueda estar contribuyendo a la disminuci?n de algunas especies, sum?ndose a factores como la degradaci?n de sus h?bitats y cambios en el clima. En la ruta entre Eurasia y ?frica, NCE y BirdLife alertan que el 34% de p?jaros cantores est?n en declive, y han documentado descensos preocupantes de la golondrina com?n, el cuco euroasi?tico y la t?rtola europea. “Hay muchas presiones diferentes, y se puede observar la disminuci?n y el cambio en las poblaciones”, lamenta Sherif Baha El Din, uno de los ambientalistas m?s prestigiosos de Egipto. “El n?mero no es tan importante: sabemos que hay un problema”, se?ala. En el pa?s de los faraones, el origen de la caza de aves migratorias se remonta, al menos, al Imperio Antiguo, hace m?s de 4.000 a?os. Entonces, esta pr?ctica representaba una fuente de alimento b?sica, y también se realizaba con fines comerciales y como un deporte po[CENSORED]r. Hoy contin?a siendo una actividad social y econ?mica central en las comunidades de costa, sobre todo para los sectores m?s humildes y aislados, que se transmite de generaci?n en generaci?n. “La gente no distingue mucho entre caza de aves y pesca”, ilustra Jaled El Nouby, director general de NCE. “La mayor?a son comunidades pescadoras que la mayor parte del a?o se dedican a la pesca y cuando llega el oto?o lo ven como un ingreso adicional”, explica. El principal blanco de entre las aves migratorias es la codorniz, pero también se persiguen palomas, aves cantoras y, en zonas de lagos, a patos y aves acu?ticas, todas ellas de gran valor econ?mico. Aun as?, como las técnicas de caza son en gran medida indiscriminadas, otras especies, algunas amenazadas, quedan igualmente atrapadas, y la mayor?a se acaban destinando a mercados locales o para el consumo propio. Medidas en muchos ?mbitos Todos los actores implicados en su conservaci?n coinciden en que la receta para encontrar un equilibrio no es sencilla. “Es una cuesti?n muy compleja que requiere adoptar medidas en muchos ?mbitos diferentes, como la supervisi?n, la legislaci?n, la aplicaci?n de la ley, la acci?n judicial, la comunicaci?n y la sensibilizaci?n”, nota Amy Fraenkel, secretaria ejecutiva de la Convenci?n sobre las Especies Migratorias, un tratado ambiental de la ONU. “En algunos pa?ses [como Egipto] en los que la captura est? vinculada a medios de subsistencia, también es importante fomentar ingresos alternativos”, apunta. Pocos en Egipto son m?s conscientes de este rompecabezas que Ayman Hamada, el director del Departamento Central de Biodiversidad del ministerio de Medio Ambiente. Hamada explica que el pa?s cuenta con leyes, reglamentos y decretos para proteger su fauna que cubren la caza de aves, y asegura que han intensificado sus esfuerzos en el ?ltimo lustro destinando m?s recursos a estudiar el fen?meno, actualizando regulaciones y cooperando con organizaciones como NCE y particulares. Fraenkel agrega que El Cairo también participa activamente en acuerdos internacionales como el Plan Estratégico de Roma, que une a 25 pa?ses del Mediterr?neo y aspira a reducir un 50% la caza ilegal para 2030. “La raz?n principal de las normativas es dar a las personas que dependen de la caza como principal fuente de sustento e ingresos la oportunidad de cazar de forma razonable y sostenible”, apunta Hamada. El problema es llevarlo a la pr?ctica. “No hay gesti?n para la caza de aves. Hay regulaciones, alg?n esfuerzo, pero en realidad hay muy poco control. Y es que no es un trabajo f?cil”, nota Baha El Din, también doctor en ecolog?a. “Los esfuerzos se centran en esta llamada ‘caza sostenible’, que nadie sabe realmente qué significa porque nadie sabe lo que es un nivel sostenible de caza”, desliza. El Nouby coincide. “La mayor?a de pa?ses se proponen reducir en un 50% la caza ilegal de aves para 2030?, apunta, “pero para poder hacerlo es necesario conocer la escala, el tama?o y poder controlar nuestros progresos, [algo que] ning?n pa?s ha hecho”. Sea cual sea ese umbral, Hamada cree que la ?nica manera de alcanzarlo es colaborando con las comunidades de cazadores, que a instancias del Gobierno se han empezado a integrar en los ?ltimos meses en un sindicato en el que él deposita grandes expectativas. “Una de las mejores formas de proteger el recurso [las aves] es trabajar con aquellos que lo gestionan, principalmente, los cazadores”, insiste, “porque lo consideran su principal medio de vida y quieren que esté all? para siempre”.

https://www.motor.es/formula-1/ferrari-prioridad-tercer-puesto-mundial-f1-202181984.html Con el proyecto del coche de 2022 ya encarrilado, el ?ltimo tramo de la temporada ser? importante para Ferrari como preparaci?n para lo que le espera el a?o que viene: el objetivo es vencer a McLaren en el campeonato de constructores. Durante meses, tanto Mattia Binotto como Carlos Sainz han insistido en que Ferrari deb?a centrarse en ser lo m?s competitivo posible en 2022, dejando de lado su disputa con McLaren por el tercer puesto del campeonato de constructores. Sin embargo, algo ha cambiado en la mentalidad del equipo de Maranello, pues su director afirma que har?n todo lo posible por superar a su hist?rico rival. «Es un objetivo que ya hemos comunicado al equipo. Creo que todo el mundo est? de acuerdo con eso. Ser?a genial terminar tercero. Creo que también es importante para nosotros tener un objetivo claro porque es una forma de trabajar bajo presi?n y estar entrenados para eso». Monta?a rusa Lo cierto es que, en los ?ltimos meses, tanto McLaren como Ferrari se han alternado en el tercer puesto, ya que la igualdad existente propicia que las caracter?sticas de los circuitos desnivelen la balanza en favor de uno u otro. Desde el ?ltimo cero de McLaren en Hungr?a, el equipo de Woking ha sumado m?s puntos que Ferrari en tres Grandes Premios, con los de Maranello haciendo lo propio en otros tres. As?, la clasificaci?n general coloca en este momento a McLaren en la tercera posici?n, aunque s?lo con 7,5 puntos de ventaja. «En Turqu?a éramos m?s r?pidos que McLaren. En Sochi ellos fueron m?s r?pidos que nosotros», recuerda Carlos Sainz. «As? que sigo creyendo que vamos a tener altibajos en lo que queda de a?o. Lo que este motor deber?a darnos es la posibilidad de que en los circuitos en los que estamos detr?s podamos acercarnos un poco m?s. Y en los circuitos en los que estamos delante, quiz? estemos un poco m?s arriba». Recientemente, Ferrari ha introducido un motor actualizado en los monoplazas de Charles Leclerc (Rusia) y Carlos Sainz (Turqu?a), por lo que el déficit de potencia de los italianos deber?a reducirse en este ?ltimo tramo de la temporada. «Es lo que est?bamos buscando desde que se impuls? la actualizaci?n: que nos dé esa peque?a ventaja para tratar de hacer la pelea un poco m?s complicada. En Turqu?a logramos recortar 10 puntos, que es mucho teniendo en cuenta d?nde nos estamos moviendo. Quedan seis carreras, cualquier cosa puede pasar», concluye Sainz.

https://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/food-wine/maida-adulteration-test-fssai-7574580/ There is always a risk of your kitchen ingredients being adulterated. For instance, the maida or rice flour you use at home may look pure but there are chances of it being adulterated. So, why not test it before consumption? Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) pointed out in a tweet that maida can be adulterated with boric acid, a weakly acidic hydrate of boric oxide. FSSAI recommended the following test to check adulteration in maida: *Take 1 gm of maida in a test tube. *Add 5 ml of water to it. *Shake the contents in the test tube. *Now add a few drops of concentrated HCL (Hydrochloric acid). *Dip a turmeric paper strip to the solution. *No colour change will be observed on the turmeric paper if the maida is unadulterated. However, it will turn red if the maida is adulterated. How about trying this test? Also Read |Simple tips to identify adulterated and fake food items Here are some other adulteration tests that you can do at home: *Test for oil adulteration *Test for colour adulteration in green peas *Test for chilli powder adulteration *Test for turmeric adulteration *Test for black pepper adulteration

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-58959386 Russia is suspending its diplomatic mission to Nato, according to Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. In addition, staff at Nato's office in Moscow will be stripped of their accreditation by November. It comes after Nato expelled eight diplomats from Russia's mission earlier this month, saying they were working as intelligence officers. Relations between Nato and Russia have been strained since Moscow annexed Ukraine's Crimean peninsula in 2014. Mr Lavrov confirmed to Russian media that the move was "in response to Nato's actions", accusing the military alliance of not being "interested in equitable dialogue". "If Nato members have any urgent matters, they can contact our ambassador in Belgium on these questions," Russian media quoted Mr Lavrov as saying. Following the announcement, Nato said it had taken note of Russia's decision. "We regret these steps," Nato spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said. "Nato's policy towards Russia remains consistent. We have strengthened our deterrence and defence in response to Russia's aggressive actions, while at the same time we remain open to dialogue, including through the Nato-Russia council". Nato expels eight Russians it says were spying Russia's move was described by German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas as troubling. "It's more than just regrettable, this decision taken in Moscow will seriously damage the relationship," he said. When Nato expelled eight Russian diplomats this month, it halved the size of Moscow's mission working at its Brussels headquarters to 10. At the time, Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the organisation had seen "an increase in Russian malign activity, and therefore we need to be vigilant". A Nato official said the men were "undeclared Russian intelligence officers". In 2018, Nato expelled Russian diplomats in response to a nerve agent attack in the city of Salisbury in the UK. It also reduced the size of Russia's mission from 30 to 20.

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/intel-alder-lake-specifications-price-benchmarks-release-date Intel's 12th-Gen Alder Lake chip will bring the company's hybrid architecture, which combines a mix of larger high-performance cores paired with smaller high-efficiency cores, to desktop x86 PCs for the first time. Intel has shared many of the architectural details at its Architecture Day 2021, but left out the key details, like pricing and specific models. As per usual, most of the information, including pricing, chip configurations and benchmarks, has leaked through retailer postings and benchmark utilities with online databases. We'll cover all of those details below. Alder Lake represents a massive strategic shift as Intel looks to regain the uncontested performance lead against AMD's Ryzen 5000 series processors. AMD's Zen 3 architecture has taken the lead in our Best CPUs for gaming and CPU Benchmarks hierarchy, partly on the strength of Ryzen's higher core counts. That's not to mention the pressure from Apple's M1 processors that feature a similar hybrid design to Alder Lake and come with explosive single-threaded performance improvements of their own. Intel's Alder Lake brings disruptive new architectures and supports features like PCIe 5.0 and DDR5 that leapfrog AMD and Apple in connectivity technology and also outstrip Ryzen's core counts in mobile designs. It all starts with a new way of thinking for x86 chips by pairing high-performance and high-efficiency cores within a single chip. That well-traveled design philosophy powers billions of Arm chips, often referred to as Big.Little (Intel calls its implementation Big-Bigger), but it's a first for x86 desktop PCs. The Golden Cove architecture powers Alder Lake's 'big' high-performance cores, while the 'little' Atom efficiency cores come with the Gracemont architecture. Intel will etch the cores on its 'Intel 7' Enhanced SuperFin process, marking the company's first truly new node for the desktop since 14nm debuted six long years ago. Intel is going all-in: the company will reunify its desktop and mobile lines with Alder Lake. Intel says it will tune Alder Lake for high-performance, a must for desktop PCs and high-end notebooks. There are also signs that some models will come with only the big cores active, which should perform exceedingly well in gaming. Potent adversaries challenge Intel on both sides. Apple's Arm-powered M1 processors have set a high bar for hybrid designs, outperforming all other processors in their class with the promise of more powerful designs to come. Meanwhile, AMD's Ryzen 5000 chips have taken the lead over Intel's aging Skylake derivatives. Intel's Rocket Lake chips overtook AMD in single-threaded performance, but they still trail in multi-core workloads due to Rocket Lake's maximum of eight cores, while AMD has 16-core models for the mainstream desktop. Intel certainly needs a come-from-behind design to thoroughly unseat its competitors, swinging the tables back in its favor like the Conroe chips did back in 2006 when the Core architecture debuted with a ~40% performance advantage that cemented Intel's dominance for a decade. Intel's Raja Koduri has already likened the transition to Alder Lake with the debut of Core, suggesting that Alder Lake could indeed be a Conroe-esque moment. While Intel hasn't shared many of the details on the new chip, plenty of unofficial details have come to light over the last few months, giving us a broad indication of Intel's vision for the future. Let's dive in. Intel's 12th-Gen Alder Lake At a Glance Alder Lake comes to market in Fall 2021 LGA1700 socket requires new motherboards The Alder Lake SoC will span from desktop PCs to ultramobile devices with TDP ratings from 9W to 125W, all built on the Intel 7 process. The desktop PC comes with up to eight Performance (P) cores and eight Efficient (E) cores for a total of 16 cores and 24 threads and up to 30 MB of L3 cache for a single chip. Alder Lake supports either DDR4 or DDR5 (LP4x/LP5, too). Desktop PC supports x16 PCIe Gen 5 and x4 PCIe Gen 4, while mobile supports x12 PCIe Gen 4 and x16 PCIe Gen 3, Thunderbolt 4, and Wi-Fi 6E. Intel's new hyper-threaded Performance (P) core, which comes with the Golden Cove microarchitecture designed for low-latency single-threaded performance, comes with an average of 19% more IPC than the Cypress Cove architecture in Rocket Lake. It also supports AVX-512 and AMX (a new AI-focused matrix-multiply ISA) for data center variants (both are disabled on consumer chips). Intel's new single-threaded Efficiency (E) core comes with the Gracemont microarchitecture to improve multi-threaded performance and provide exceptional area efficiency (small footprint) and performance-per-watt. Four small cores fit in the same area as a Skylake core and deliver 80% more performance in threaded work (at the same power). A single E core also delivers 40% more performance than a single-threaded Skylake core (at the same power) in single-threaded work (caveats apply to both). Intel's Thread Director is a hardware-based technology that assures threads are assigned to either the P or E cores in an optimized manner. This is the sleeper tech that enables the hybrid architecture. Alder Lake does not support AVX-512 under any condition (fused off in P cores, not supported in E cores) to ensure an even ISA application. Four variants: -S for desktop PCs, -P for mobile, -M for low-power devices, -L Atom replacement, -N educational (probably Chromebooks) Intel will hold the inaugural Intel Innovation event October 27-28. The event is largely thought to be the official unveiling of the Alder Lake processor stack. Intel Alder Lake Release Date Alder Lake will arrive in Fall 2021, meaning the official launch is just around the corner. Given the slew of benchmark submissions, retailer listings, pictures of the chips, and operating system patches we've seen, final qualification samples are obviously already in the hands of OEMs and various ecosystem partners.

The first few weeks of Diablo 2: Resurrected have not gone especially smoothly. At launch, players reported troubles with disappearing or locked-out characters, and some were unable to start the game at all. Three weeks down the road, some players are still struggling to connect to the game's servers: Multiple reports of investigations into, and resolutions of, Diablo 2: Resurrected login problems have appeared on the BlizzardCS Twitter account since October 9, mostly recently just a few hours ago. There are clearly serious problems with the game, and with fans growing increasingly antsy about Blizzard's apparent inability to fix them, community manager PezRadar has posted a lengthy forum update explaining what's gone wrong, what's being done about it, and why it might take some time to get things fully sorted. "On Saturday morning Pacific time, we suffered a global outage due to a sudden, significant surge in traffic," PezRadar explained. "This was a new threshold that our servers had not experienced at all, not even at launch. This was exacerbated by an update we had rolled out the previous day intended to enhance performance around game creation—these two factors combined overloaded our global database, causing it to time out." To help ease the load, Blizzard rolled back the Friday update, but that measure proved inadequate—an even bigger surge in traffic caused another outage on Sunday. Things went sideways yet again on Monday when Blizzard made fixes to Diablo 2's backup global database and then tried to switch to it. After the switch was made, the database continued to run its backup processes instead of servicing requests from remote servers. That issue was fixed on Tuesday, but another high concurrent player count that same day resulted in further "degraded database performance," which database engineers are still working to fix. The situation is dire enough that the Diablo 2: Resurrected team has roped in engineers from other parts of Blizzard to help fix smaller problems while it concentrates on "core server issues." "We reached out to our third-party partners for assistance as well," PezRadar said. Ironically, it seems that Blizzard's desire to maintain an authentic Diablo 2 experience in the remaster is a chief cause of all these headaches. One "legacy service" in particular handles critical functions including "game creation/joining, updating/reading/filtering game lists, verifying game server health, and reading characters from the database." It was upgraded and optimized for Diablo 2: Resurrected but is still rooted in 20-year-old tech, and it's having a difficult time keeping up with "modern player behavior."

https://www.eluniverso.com/noticias/seguridad/nino-murio-en-medio-de-enfrentamiento-entre-policia-y-delincuentes-en-el-barrio-del-centenario-en-el-sur-de-guayaquil-nota/?modulo=lo-ultimo-seccion&plantilla=ampliada&seccion=Noticias&subseccion=Economía Delincuentes que llegaron a asaltar a los usuarios de una heladería, ubicada en el barrio del Centenario, protagonizaron un enfrentamiento a bala con un servidor policial que se encontraba en el mismo sitio, anoche. En medio del hecho, un niño de 11 años que se encontraba con familiares en el lugar murió por una bala pérdida. Jorge Hadathy, jefe policial del Distrito Sur, contó que dos sujetos llegaron en motocicleta y uno de ellos empezó a amedrentan a los usuarios para que le den sus artículos. En ese momento, el servidor policía, que también se encontraba en el local, intentó evitar el hecho y se inició la balacera en ese local esquinero, situado en la intersección de las calles Rosa Borja de Ycaza y Maracaibo. “El delincuente se percata del uniforme del servidor policial y realiza varios disparos, el policía repele el ataque, producto de esto tenemos una persona fallecida, lamentablemente”, corroboró el jefe policial. El padre del menor narró que el antisocial le pidió sus pertenencias y cuando se produjo la balacera pudo poner a salvo en el piso a su hija menor, pero una bala perdida alcanzó a su hijo que había salido corriendo de la mesa. Agentes de unidades especiales de la la Policía levantaron vestigios en el lugar y también pretendían revisar cámaras de seguridad de la zona para identificar a los antisociales que protagonizaron el hecho. Hasta esta mañana, los dos antisociales aún eran buscado por servidores de la institución. (I)

https://www.motor.es/formula-1/fernando-alonso-muestra-apoyo-la-palma-casco-202181985.html Cuatro semanas después del inicio de la erupción del volcán Cumbre Vieja, los habitantes de La Palma siguen inmersos en una pesadilla que no parece tener visos de terminar pronto. Sin duda la vida de los habitantes de La Palma, una de las preciosas Islas Canarias, ha cambiado para siempre. Nadie sabe si en el futuro las cosas serán mejores, pero lo cierto es que actualmente la isla se ha convertido en una pesadilla desde que hace ya un mes el volcán Cumbre Vieja despertara de su letargo. Desde entonces, más de 1000 edificaciones (800 de ellas viviendas) han sido arrasadas por la lava y cerca de 6400 personas han tenido que ser evacuadas, perdiendo su vida por completo y, lo que es peor, siendo incapaces de atisbar un futuro, ayudas económicas gubernamentales a corto plazo o, al menos, un lugar estable en el que subsistir. El volcán Cumbre Vieja no tiene intención alguna de cesar su actividad por el momento y los evacuados esperan con ansia las 93 viviendas que el Gobierno canario espera tener disponibles en mes y medio. Mientras, la isla se ha dividido en varias partes, algunas de ellas inaccesibles a consecuencia de las coladas de lava que han arrasado y aislado poblaciones, plantaciones y lugares de trabajo, además de afectar al suministro eléctrico y de agua potable. Por eso, cualquier ayuda es bienvenida y diversos estamentos y personalidades se han movilizado para conseguir ayuda para las personas afectadas. Fernando Alonso ha anunciado que el próximo jueves ofrecerá más información sobre lo que tiene pensado hacer en relación a este asunto, pero mientras ha dejado entrever un casco en honor a la isla de La Palma y sus habitantes, que será utilizado en el Gran Premio de Estados Unidos que se disputa este fin de semana en Austin. ¿Qué más tendrá preparado Fernando Alonso? Fuente: Fernando Alonso / Fotos: Fernando Alonso

https://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/destination-of-the-week/villa-epecuen-once-thriving-argentine-spa-draws-tourists-to-ghostly-ruins-7575651/ A street dog walks at dusk through the abandoned Villa Epecuen, Argentina. The Argentine spa town was a mecca of tourism for much of the 20th century, until the adjoining lake poured through a broken embankment in 1985 and destroyed hotels, restaurants and other buildings. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko) Cushioned by a soft silence ruffled only by occasional gusts of wind, tourists walk past rubble and metal shards lying in the streets of what was once the bustling resort of Villa Epecuen. Others photograph petrified trees dotting the apocalyptic scene. The visitors stop to read signs pointing out where hotels and restaurants stood before the salty waters of Lake Epecuen broke through a protective embankment during a storm in 1985 and submerged the village for the next two decades. Water finally drained away, leaving the ruins of the town, where rusted vehicles and skeletons of homes that were hastily abandoned offer reminders of what was a mecca of tourism for much of the 20th century. The Argentine spa town was a mecca of tourism for much of the 20th century, until the adjoining lake poured through a broken embankment in 1985 and destroyed hotels, restaurants and other buildings. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko) People once came to relax and bathe in pools of salt water fed by the lake, which is about 500 kilometers (310 miles) southwest of Buenos Aires. Now, the desolation is what is drawing a stream of Argentines, many of whom are beginning to get out again after a long struggle with the coronavirus pandemic. Silvia Sabatelli and Teresa Videla were among the hundreds who came during the country’s Oct. 8-11 holiday to stroll through the bleak remains and observe the still, gray lake from the old municipal spa, where some destroyed pools can still be made out. “It has a special energy. It is gloomy, but at the same time it is picturesque. This is history,” said Sabatelli, who was on her first outing since the pandemic hit Argentina in March 2020. Tourists Graciela Ribot and Mima Rubio rest on a bench as they walk through the abandoned Villa Epecuen, Argentina. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko) The spa town was started in 1921 to take advantage of the waters of Lake Epecuen, which has very high salinity and a high concentration of minerals that are used to treat rheumatological and skin conditions. The lower house of Argentina’s congress adopted a measure in 2019 that could declare the ruins a national historic site, though the Senate still must consider it. Claudio González and Silvina Palacios walked along what was the main avenue of the town with their young daughter, Thais, examining the remains of a school, a bank and the dance halls that decades ago were filled with tourists. Both said they felt a mixture of sadness and melancholy because “ending up like this is unthinkable.” Still, they were happy to be outdoors in a quiet place of unusual nature. A cyclist rests by the lake of the abandoned Villa Epecuen, Argentina. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko) “The pandemic was a difficult time and little by little we are moving to normal, little by little we are going to get out,” said Palacios, who spent a lot of time locked up during the quarantine period. Two students, Camila Molinari and Juan Toscanini, also were enjoying their visit. “We were struck by the place of destruction and abandonment. It’s a scene you can’t see anywhere else,” the young man said while looking at the ghostly tower of the old Villa Epecuen slaughterhouse from 1937.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-58948107 A notorious gang is behind the kidnap of a group of North American missionaries near Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, officials say. The five men, seven women and five children were returning from a visit to an orphanage when they were abducted on Saturday. Officials say they are being held by the 400 Mawozo gang - also blamed for the kidnap of Catholic clergy in April. Haiti has one of the highest rates of kidnapping in the world. This year has been particularly bad, with more than 600 kidnappings recorded in the first three quarters of 2021, compared with 231 over the same period last year, according to a local civil society group. The rise has come in the wake of President Jovenel Moïse's assassination in July, as rival factions fight to gain control of the country in the face of a struggling police force. Why are so many Haitians at the US-Mexico border? Haiti president's assassination: What we know so far The Catholic Church has previously described the situation as "a descent into hell", with gangs taking people from all walks of life, both local and foreign. According to Gedeon Jean, director of the Center for Analysis and Research in Human Rights, based in Port-au-Prince, the vast majority of kidnappings were carried out by the 400 Mawozo gang. Haitian police inspector Frantz Champagne told The Associated Press news agency it was thought the gang was also behind Saturday's kidnap of the missionary group - 16 US citizens and one Canadian. News agency AFP said an unknown number of locals had also been taken. The missionaries - who had travelled to the country with the Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries - were seized shortly after leaving the town of Croix-des-Bouquets, an area controlled by the gang. Mr Jean said it fit with the "type of kidnapping that 400 Mawozo do", telling the Miami Herald that taking an entire bus load of people was known as "a collective kidnapping". The Washington Post said one of those abducted posted a Whatsapp message calling for help. "Please pray for us!! We are being held hostage, they kidnapped our driver. Pray pray pray. We don't know where they are taking us," it said. The 400 Mawozo gang normally demands a ransom. In April, it demanded $1m (£722,000) for the safe return of the Catholic clergy. It is unclear if any demands have been made for the return of the missionaries. Christian Aid Ministries, which supports Haitians largely through donations and supplies shelter, food and clothing to children and helps to fund their education, said in a statement on Sunday it was "praying for those who are being held hostage, the kidnappers, and the families, friends, and churches of those affected".

China's dominance of cryptocurrency mining is over, with the latest statistics from the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index (CBECI) reporting zero activity in the area from July 2021 onwards (via MinedPool). That's not surprising given that the Chinese Communist Party governing the country has declared 'virtual currency-related business activities are illegal activities,' but this is the first time China has not had any place in the bitcoin mining stats. It's also proof positive that China's crackdown has worked, driving mining outfits either out of the country... or underground. Even though the CBECI is reporting that there is zero mining activity in the country, that doesn't mean no-one in China is mining bitcoin, or other cryptocurrencies. The CBECI stats are based on the primary assumption that: "IP addresses of mining facility operators are an accurate indicator of hashrate location." And, given that activity is now deemed illegal in China, it would be surprising if anyone still operating within its borders wasn't using some method of hiding or altering their IP address. The United States is now the proud owner of the largest percentage of bitcoin miners on its land, though is still short of where China was as recently as May of this year, where it still retained 44% of the global hash rate share. The total global hash rate itself has dropped since China took its hard stance this year, but it is slowly growing back up to the same levels we saw at the start of 2021 as nodes come back online in different geographical locations around the world. So, don't worry, the entire bitcoin network is still consuming more power than at any time prior to last year, at around 12 gigawatts right now. That's all on dedicated ASICs, though, what about the GPU-chewing monster that is ethereum mining? Well, that's still going strong, too, in fact the total global hash rate of the ethereum network is higher than it's ever been, no matter what has been going down in China. Again, the US now leads the way in ethereum GPU mining, with China relegated to 10th place in the last 24 hours, with a share of just 0.22%. If you thought the whole China banning crypto thing was going to make it easier to bag a new graphics card at your local Best Buy, I've got some news for you: With everything now shifting to the US, that's likely to actually make it worse. Dave has been gaming since the days of Zaxxon and Lady Bug on the Colecovision, and code books for the Commodore Vic 20 (Death Race 2000!). He built his first gaming PC at the tender age of 16, and finally finished bug-fixing the Cyrix-based system around a year later. When he dropped it out of the window. He first started writing for Official PlayStation Magazine and Xbox World many decades ago, then moved onto PC Format full-time, then PC Gamer, TechRadar, and T3 among others. Now he's back, writing about the nightmarish graphics card market, CPUs with more cores than sense, gaming laptops hotter than the sun, and SSDs more capacious than a Cybertruck.