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Spin Class Gear to Level Up Your Ride, WIRED-Tested (2025)
Sun, 16 Feb 2025 14:02:00 +0000
Spin class is intimidating, but your gear shouldn't be. Clip in and conquer your next session with these WIRED-approved picks.
Match ID: 0 Score: 35.00 source: www.wired.com age: 0 days
qualifiers: 35.00 fitness
From Swipe to Sweat: How Athletic Clubs Replaced Dating Apps
Fri, 14 Feb 2025 11:00:00 +0000
Post-pandemic, fitness clubs have emerged as the best place to find romance IRL. No profile required.
Match ID: 1 Score: 35.00 source: www.wired.com age: 2 days
qualifiers: 35.00 fitness
‘I don’t know whether it’s sustainable’: climate crisis and TikTok change face of mountain rescue work in Lake District
Fri, 14 Feb 2025 06:00:07 GMT
There may be less snow but the number of callouts has surged, and often involve ill-prepared novice hikers
When Neil Barrow first volunteered with mountain rescue 40 years ago, for weeks on end the Lake District fells would be capped with snow.
Winters with the Patterdale mountain rescue team, of which he is now deputy leader, would involve big and complicated rescues, during which he would bring down the experienced hikers who had become injured or ill tackling the national park’s famous peaks in snow and ice.
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“What he’s done is testing the limits of his power in a way we have never seen in this country,” says retired federal Judge Nancy Gertner.
The post Constitutional Crisis Looms appeared first on The Intercept.
In the span of just weeks, the US government has experienced what may be the most consequential security breach in its history—not through a sophisticated cyberattack or an act of foreign espionage, but through official orders by a billionaire with a poorly defined government role. And the implications for national security are profound.
First, it was reported that people associated with the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) had accessed the US Treasury computer system, giving them the ability to collect data on and potentially control the department’s roughly ...
CoreCivic CEO Damon Hininger could barely contain his excitement about the Laken Riley Act and Trump’s anti-immigration executive orders.
The post Private Prison CEO on Trump Deportation Surge: “One of the Most Exciting Periods in My Career” appeared first on The Intercept.
And that’s how he wants to keep it, his executive orders and memos from Attorney General Pam Bondi show.
The post Trump Is Saying the Quiet Part Out Loud: Federal Prisons Are Purposely Inhumane appeared first on The Intercept.
The government’s attempt to court Reform voters by penalising asylum seekers who arrive by the wrong route could backfire
Last Monday, the government quietly added a few short lines to Home Office guidance that amount to a huge change in refugee policy. By amending the “good character” guidance for immigration staff processing asylum applications, ministers have effectively removed the right of refugees to apply for British citizenship if they arrived in the UK illegally or via a dangerous route, such as in a small boat or stowed away in a lorry.
This cruel change means that refugees fleeing conflict, torture and human rights abuses, and who have long been granted protection and the right to live and work in the UK, will no longer be able to become British citizens. There is no justification for it. Although the government has said that the home secretary retains the discretion to grant citizenship on an exceptional basis, that is likely to be highly unusual. While immigration caseworkers have the discretion to disregard illegal entry for refugees who arrived in the UK as children, there is far from any guarantee that this will happen, and, given the high citizenship application fee, this measure will ensure that even child refugees are penalised as adults for their method of arrival. The immigration lawyer Colin Yeo has said these changes amount to a contravention of the 1951 Refugee Convention, to which Britain was a founding signatory.
Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 250 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at observer.letters@observer.co.uk
Continue reading...50501 group gained national force with Musk as a target and is now working globally to thwart Trump administration
When protesters showed up at state capitols around the country and at a host of federal agencies this month, they carried signs with messages about the unelected billionaire running a slash-and-burn government-cutting campaign that moved them to action.
As liberal protesters find their footing in the second Donald Trump era, Elon Musk is proving a potent target.
Continue reading...For some members of the WhatsApp group, speaking out for Palestine and criticizing Israel are tantamount to supporting Hamas.
The post The Columbia Network Pushing Behind the Scenes to Deport and Arrest Student Protesters appeared first on The Intercept.
At least some sightings of unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) may relate to non-human intelligence, says Prof Michael Bohlander. Plus, letters from Andrew Robinson and Aideen Carty
Much as in the US, with the recent congressional hearings on unidentified anomalous phenomena, the UK government is apparently less than transparent in its handling of UAP sightings (formerly called UFOs) – as your article about the Calvine photo shows (What really happened in Calvine? The mystery behind the best UFO picture ever seen, G2, 11 February). And, as in the US, any hope for imminent and trustworthy disclosure about what these objects may be is probably futile.
Those who do not a priori consider this topic ludicrous, or exploit it in a sensationalist manner, are increasingly taking a more nuanced and independent approach. If there are such phenomena, it stands to reason that they can and should be studied with the necessary rigour.
Continue reading...Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s chaotic approach to reform is upending government operations. Critical functions have been halted, tens of thousands of federal staffers are being encouraged to resign, and congressional mandates are being disregarded. The next phase: The Department of Government Efficiency reportedly wants to use AI to cut costs. According to The Washington Post, Musk’s group has started to run sensitive data from government systems through AI programs to analyze spending and determine what could be pruned. This may lead to the elimination of human jobs in favor of automation. As one government official who has been tracking Musk’s DOGE team told the...
Musk has emerged as Trump’s far-right-hand man, creating some awkwardness for the president’s Democratic foes.
The post Democrats Swear They’ll Fight Elon Musk. But What About the Cash They Took From SpaceX? appeared first on The Intercept.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is trying to eliminate all Defense Department DEI efforts. It hasn’t been entirely successful.
The post Pentagon Official: Hegseth’s Campaign to Scrub DEI History Is a “Dumb” Distraction appeared first on The Intercept.
ICE wants to hire contractors to monitor social media for threats. Those who criticize the agency could be pulled into the dragnet.
The post ICE Wants to Know If You’re Posting Negative Things About It Online appeared first on The Intercept.
Even with Jordan and Egypt refusing to take in expelled Palestinians, Trump is charging on with his real estate development plan.
The post Trump Is Bullying Jordan and Egypt to Help in Ethnic Cleansing of Gaza. It Isn’t Working. appeared first on The Intercept.
The Washington Post is reporting that the UK government has served Apple with a “technical capability notice” as defined by the 2016 Investigatory Powers Act, requiring it to break the Advanced Data Protection encryption in iCloud for the benefit of law enforcement.
This is a big deal, and something we in the security community have worried was coming for a while now.
The law, known by critics as the Snoopers’ Charter, makes it a criminal offense to reveal that the government has even made such a demand. An Apple spokesman declined to comment...
In South Africa, a 36-year-old living with HIV since childhood fears she will lose access to treatment due to Trump’s policy.
The post Global HIV Care Thrown Into Chaos by Trump: “I Will Be Sick and Maybe Die” appeared first on The Intercept.
If the State Department takes over USAID, experts fear foreign assistance will stop unless it has a perceived benefit for Trump.
The post Trump’s Attacks on USAID Spark Fear That Lifesaving Care Will Become “Transactional” appeared first on The Intercept.
Betar U.S. said it has shared with the Trump administration a list of the “names of hundreds of terror supporters.”
The post The Far-Right Group Building a List of Pro-Palestine Activists to Deport appeared first on The Intercept.
Everyone hopes that they will get happier and wiser as well as older. And you know what? Sometimes they do
I met my younger self for coffee. She wore a crisp white Agnès B shirt and patent ballet pumps; I wore H&M elastic waisted trousers and the T-shirt I wore to the gym the day before. She ordered … hang on, hang on. First, isn’t this a time-travel no-no? And if it’s OK, I have questions. Say I met my 20-year-old self – is it 1995, meaning weak filter in the hippy cafe with cakes that taste like horse food? Or 2025, when every second shop serves violently acidic espressos? (Either way, I need to prepare my stomach.) And how have I lured her out? Because she may be naive, but no way would she agree to coffee with “your future self”. That’s plainly a trap.
This whimsy, you may not be surprised to hear, is a TikTok trend. Based on a poem by Jennae Cecelia, it has been enthusiastically adopted by the youth (how are you dewy-faced babies meeting your younger selves – what are they, foetuses?). The formulaic videos are set to the kind of acoustic crooning that makes my husband instantly switch the radio to Capital Dance and wow, are they earnest about their lost, hurting youthful selves and self-actualised current incarnations. Aren’t gen Z supposed to be jokey nihilists? “We hugged and I told her I am becoming everything she had ever wanted me to be,” goes TikToker @earthtoapryl’s version (2m views). “I told her she’s full of purpose and has taught 10 million people to love themselves,” says another, and if you aren’t cringing your entire body inside out reading that, you’re probably not a gen X cynic.
Continue reading...Walking and cycling tours, family holidays, great places to stay, blockbuster exhibitions and more launching this year
The Cilento coast in Campania has long attracted Italian holidaymakers, but overseas visitors tend to head further north to the better-known Amalfi coast. That is starting to change – the Natural Adventure Company reports that UK Google searches for the Cilento coast are up 110% over the past 12 months. The company has run a self-guided walking holiday there since 2022 (from £915 for eight nights’ B&B and three dinners).
Continue reading...Jonathan Reynolds says Britain has not given up on persuading the US to allow Ukraine to join Nato
The UK hopes to act as a bridge between Europe and Donald Trump’s US, the business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, has said before what could be a crucial week of diplomacy in deciding Ukraine’s future.
With Keir Starmer expected to travel to Paris on Monday for an emergency summit of European leaders, in advance of a possible trip to Washington the following week, Reynolds said the UK had still not given up on persuading the US to allow Ukraine to join Nato.
Continue reading...Some 400 million devotees will attend this year’s Kumbh Mela festival. Pilgrims and politicians explain why it’s bigger than ever
They sat quietly together on the banks of the Ganges river, heads bowed in sombre meditation. Some men were naked, their bodies smeared grey with ash. Others had a simple saffron cloth tied around their waist. Nearby, barbers balanced on their haunches, shaving the head of each man clean with a flick of their knives, save for a small strand at the back.
This ceremony, in which millions of pilgrims seek to cleanse their sins to break the cycle of reincarnation has been taking place at the Kumbh Mela festival for centuries. It is mandatory for thousands of sadhus – Hindu holy men who live an austere life of strict spiritual discipline. Among the most sacred events in the Hindu calendar, the festival occurs every 12 years across four sacred locations in India where it is believed the Hindu god Vishnu once spilled drops of the nectar of immortality.
Continue reading...A bakery by day and a bistro by night, Don’t Tell Dad is sheer bliss for the lotus eaters of Queen’s Park
Don’t Tell Dad, 10-14 Lonsdale Road, London NW6 6RD. Snacks and small plates £5-£14, large plates £18-£29, desserts £9, wines from £36
Don’t Tell Dad in London’s Queen’s Park is a self-declared neighbourhood restaurant in a knowingly dishevelled neighbourhood. It sits on a part-cobbled, mews-style lane which was once home to stable blocks and very much looks like it. If you want to snoop at the red-rust frontage on Google Street View, however, you can’t. It’s a private street, through which Google’s cars may never pass. Lonsdale Road, once the property of the Church Commissioners, is now owned by a single landlord, Feldberg Capital, which is gently turning it into an ever-so-random-on-purpose leisure destination. Josh Katz’s Middle Eastern-influenced grill restaurant Carmel is here, as is the Australian-inspired Milk Beach and an outpost of Pizza Pilgrims, alongside a micro-brewery, a yoga studio, co-working spaces and a macrobiotic deli where they crochet their own fermented sea-vegetables. Perhaps I made the last one up.
Continue reading...Rush broke out as travellers scrambled to board trains in India’s capital to go to world’s largest religious gathering
At least 18 people have died in a crush at a railway station in India’s capital when surging crowds scrambled to catch trains to the world’s largest religious gathering, officials have said.
The Kumbh Mela attracts tens of millions of Hindu faithful every 12 years to the northern city of Prayagraj, and has a history of crowd-related disasters – including one last month, when at least 30 people died in another crush at the holy confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati rivers.
Continue reading...Train workers claim Fair Work Commission win as rail union warns of more potential delays and disruptions across network
Sydney commuters have been urged to work from home or check travel apps before leaving on Monday to avoid being caught up in potential public transport chaos amid rail unions’ ongoing standoff with the New South Wales government.
The warning comes as the Fair Work Commission on Sunday ruled high rates of sick leave by Sydney train drivers and guards on Friday did not constitute industrial action.
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Continue reading...Indian photographer Sayan Bose celebrates the cultural heritage of Bengal in this striking image of a young farmer
Sayan Bose had travelled two hours from his home in Kolkata, India, for a day of documentary photography in Sangrampur, West Bengal. “I was roaming around the village, capturing the local people’s lifestyle, asking about their daily lives and jobs and struggles,” Bose says. “I got talking to a 17-year-old called Ariful Alam. He was a farmer at a large sunflower garden. He was youthful and fun-loving, and agreed to pose in the field for me.”
Alam wears a Chou, or Chhau, mask. “They hold a significant place in Bengal’s rich cultural heritage,” Bose says. “They’re used in a traditional folk dance, the Purulia Chhau, which narrates mythologies and folklores, and also as decorative pieces. I chose to use the mask that depicts a character named Mahisha, from Mahishasura Mardini, a 21-verse stotra from Hindu mythology.”
Continue reading...When the contractor started a two-month job in the Persian Gulf, he said it was his final lengthy posting. Six weeks later, he was dead, and a co-worker charged with his murder. Now his partner is struggling to make sense of what happened
In October 2022, Robbie Robson, 38, a British offshore worker, travelled to Qatar for an eight-week contract in the oilfields of the Persian Gulf. Robson was handsome, ambitious, and determined to do well by his family. The job was an attractive opportunity: after years working on vessels, and as a pipelayer, he was pursuing safer and more lucrative positions piloting the remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) that are used to monitor underwater structures. It was a long stint away, but at least he’d be back to enjoy Christmas in South Tyneside with his partner, Kristie Graham, 39, her daughter Willow, 10, and Sefa, their 17-month-old son, in the new house they’d just bought.
Until then, his home would be the Seafox Burj, a three-legged jack-up rig planted in the shallow waters of the Al-Shaheen oil field, 80km from land. Robson hated being away, but stayed connected to Graham and his friends over WhatsApp. From his vantage point in the middle of the Gulf, he’d take photos of dramatic sunsets and send them to Graham. It was a window into the strange world of offshore workers and a sign, for her, of the way he could always find the positive in any situation.
Continue reading...In a tweet announcing his attack on the Climate Justice Alliance, EPA head Lee Zeldin linked it to the group’s protected speech about Palestine.
The post Trump’s EPA Kills Grant to Climate Nonprofit Over Its Support for Palestine appeared first on The Intercept.
Palestinians from Gaza responded with outrage to Trump’s proposal to expel them from their homes.
The post “You Don’t Own Gaza, Donald Trump”: Palestinians Vow to Remain and Rebuild appeared first on The Intercept.
In South Africa, a 36-year-old living with HIV since childhood fears she will lose access to treatment due to Trump’s policy.
The post Global HIV Care Thrown Into Chaos by Trump: “I Will Be Sick and Maybe Die” appeared first on The Intercept.
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A group of volunteers is spending two months lying in bed—with their feet up and one shoulder always touching the mattress—even while eating, showering, and using the toilet. But why? This extreme bedrest study is helping scientists understand how space travel affects the human body and how to keep astronauts healthy on long missions.
Microgravity causes muscle and bone loss, fluid shifts, and other physiological changes similar to those experienced by bedridden patients on Earth. By studying volunteers here on Earth, researchers can develop better countermeasures for astronauts and even improve treatments for medical conditions like osteoporosis.
In this study, participants are divided into three groups: one stays in bed with no exercise, another cycles in bed to mimic astronaut workouts, and a third cycles while being spun in a centrifuge to simulate artificial gravity. Scientists hope artificial gravity could become a key tool in protecting astronauts during deep-space missions.
From biking adventures to city breaks, get inspiration for your next break – whether in the UK or further afield – with twice-weekly emails from the Guardian’s travel editors. You’ll also receive handpicked offers from Guardian Holidays.
From biking adventures to city breaks, get inspiration for your next break – whether in the UK or further afield – with twice-weekly emails from the Guardian’s travel editors.
You’ll also receive handpicked offers from Guardian Holidays.
Continue reading...Reports reveal the true harm done by incarcerating women under the guise of protecting them
Every now and then I learn something about the world today that sticks into me like a fish hook and I find myself asking friends, colleagues, “Wait, did you know this? Did you know this was happening?” The most recent felt like a horror-movie trope. It’s the part of the film, about a third of the way in, where a woman is locked up with the lie that the incarceration is for her own good.
It’s not just films, of course, not just fiction – countless women were institutionalised in the 19th century for “abnormal” behaviours, like disagreeing with their husbands, or following “unnatural” sexual impulses. Some were locked up for postnatal depression, some alcoholism, some “moral insanity”, which meant, somehow, infidelity. But what shocked me even more than historical reports on women like Elizabeth Packard, who was incarcerated by her husband in 1860 (the doctor’s reasons included her refusal to shake his hand and the fact that she was above the age of 40), what got me asking, saying wait, was the knowledge that something similar is still happening daily, in prisons across the country.
Continue reading...Renée Zellweger’s Bridget faces new challenges in parenting and love, but it’s the familiar faces around her who deliver heart and humour in this unexpectedly poignant fourth outing
There is something rather affecting about growing up and growing older alongside a fictional character. Particularly when, unlike the aspiration Barbies of Sex and the City, that character is permitted to show the inevitable wear-and-tear of being a middle-aged mum of two. Checking in with familiar faces – Jesse and Céline from Richard Linklater’s Before movies, for example; or in this case, Bridget Jones and her disreputable band of booze buddies – feels somehow more cherishable when those faces reflect the same rough patches and tough times we all endure.
It has been nearly a quarter of a century since Renée Zellweger first stumbled on to our screens as the gauche, accident-prone klutz Bridget Jones. And, in common with the core friendships that define us, our relationship with the character has evolved and deepened. The 2001 Bridget of Bridget Jones’s Diary was an insecure hot mess fuelled by vat-sized glasses of house white (or “party petrol” as Sally Phillips’s Shazza pithily describes it). Today’s Bridget achieved her happy-ever-after fairytale ending. She married Mark Darcy (Colin Firth), had two adorable kids and moved barely a yoga mat’s distance from Hampstead Heath, only to have it all snatched away. Mark, we learn, was killed while on a humanitarian mission in Sudan.
Continue reading...
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are the most popular digital assets today, capturing the attention of cryptocurrency investors, whales and people from around the world. People find it amazing that some users spend thousands or millions of dollars on a single NFT-based image of a monkey or other token, but you can simply take a screenshot for free. So here we share some freuently asked question about NFTs.
NFT stands for non-fungible token, which is a cryptographic token on a blockchain with unique identification codes that distinguish it from other tokens. NFTs are unique and not interchangeable, which means no two NFTs are the same. NFTs can be a unique artwork, GIF, Images, videos, Audio album. in-game items, collectibles etc.
A blockchain is a distributed digital ledger that allows for the secure storage of data. By recording any kind of information—such as bank account transactions, the ownership of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), or Decentralized Finance (DeFi) smart contracts—in one place, and distributing it to many different computers, blockchains ensure that data can’t be manipulated without everyone in the system being aware.
The value of an NFT comes from its ability to be traded freely and securely on the blockchain, which is not possible with other current digital ownership solutionsThe NFT points to its location on the blockchain, but doesn’t necessarily contain the digital property. For example, if you replace one bitcoin with another, you will still have the same thing. If you buy a non-fungible item, such as a movie ticket, it is impossible to replace it with any other movie ticket because each ticket is unique to a specific time and place.
One of the unique characteristics of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) is that they can be tokenised to create a digital certificate of ownership that can be bought, sold and traded on the blockchain.
As with crypto-currency, records of who owns what are stored on a ledger that is maintained by thousands of computers around the world. These records can’t be forged because the whole system operates on an open-source network.
NFTs also contain smart contracts—small computer programs that run on the blockchain—that give the artist, for example, a cut of any future sale of the token.
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) aren't cryptocurrencies, but they do use blockchain technology. Many NFTs are based on Ethereum, where the blockchain serves as a ledger for all the transactions related to said NFT and the properties it represents.5) How to make an NFT?
Anyone can create an NFT. All you need is a digital wallet, some ethereum tokens and a connection to an NFT marketplace where you’ll be able to upload and sell your creations
When you purchase a stock in NFT, that purchase is recorded on the blockchain—the bitcoin ledger of transactions—and that entry acts as your proof of ownership.
The value of an NFT varies a lot based on the digital asset up for grabs. People use NFTs to trade and sell digital art, so when creating an NFT, you should consider the popularity of your digital artwork along with historical statistics.
In the year 2021, a digital artist called Pak created an artwork called The Merge. It was sold on the Nifty Gateway NFT market for $91.8 million.
Non-fungible tokens can be used in investment opportunities. One can purchase an NFT and resell it at a profit. Certain NFT marketplaces let sellers of NFTs keep a percentage of the profits from sales of the assets they create.
Many people want to buy NFTs because it lets them support the arts and own something cool from their favorite musicians, brands, and celebrities. NFTs also give artists an opportunity to program in continual royalties if someone buys their work. Galleries see this as a way to reach new buyers interested in art.
There are many places to buy digital assets, like opensea and their policies vary. On top shot, for instance, you sign up for a waitlist that can be thousands of people long. When a digital asset goes on sale, you are occasionally chosen to purchase it.
To mint an NFT token, you must pay some amount of gas fee to process the transaction on the Etherum blockchain, but you can mint your NFT on a different blockchain called Polygon to avoid paying gas fees. This option is available on OpenSea and this simply denotes that your NFT will only be able to trade using Polygon's blockchain and not Etherum's blockchain. Mintable allows you to mint NFTs for free without paying any gas fees.
The answer is no. Non-Fungible Tokens are minted on the blockchain using cryptocurrencies such as Etherum, Solana, Polygon, and so on. Once a Non-Fungible Token is minted, the transaction is recorded on the blockchain and the contract or license is awarded to whoever has that Non-Fungible Token in their wallet.
You can sell your work and creations by attaching a license to it on the blockchain, where its ownership can be transferred. This lets you get exposure without losing full ownership of your work. Some of the most successful projects include Cryptopunks, Bored Ape Yatch Club NFTs, SandBox, World of Women and so on. These NFT projects have gained popularity globally and are owned by celebrities and other successful entrepreneurs. Owning one of these NFTs gives you an automatic ticket to exclusive business meetings and life-changing connections.
That’s a wrap. Hope you guys found this article enlightening. I just answer some question with my limited knowledge about NFTs. If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to drop them in the comment section below. Also I have a question for you, Is bitcoin an NFTs? let me know in The comment section below
For some members of the WhatsApp group, speaking out for Palestine and criticizing Israel are tantamount to supporting Hamas.
The post The Columbia Network Pushing Behind the Scenes to Deport and Arrest Student Protesters appeared first on The Intercept.
Betar U.S. said it has shared with the Trump administration a list of the “names of hundreds of terror supporters.”
The post The Far-Right Group Building a List of Pro-Palestine Activists to Deport appeared first on The Intercept.
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