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The awful Bridgerton ‘ball’ that charged fans $1,000 to watch a pole dancer and eat KitKats
Wed, 25 Sep 2024 11:33:10 GMT
Poundland-level decor, staff in sports jerseys, people having to sit on the floor … might this disastrous Detroit event be the new Willy Wonka Experience?
You would have thought, given the sheer velocity at which Glasgow’s dismal Willy Wonka experience travelled around the world, that people would have wised up. You would have thought that, upon seeing an expensive and unofficial “fan experience” pop up near your home, everyone would give it a wide berth. You would have thought that, as terrible as the Wonka fiasco was, the sole plus side would be the instant death of that entire industry.
And yet last Sunday, a venue in Michigan, US put on an evening called The Detroit Bridgerton Themed Ball, and charged ticket-holders between $150 and $1,000 (£115-£750) to attend. The people who went ended up sitting on the floor, eating KitKats and forlornly watching the evening’s entertainment, which consisted of a solitary pole dancer working the middle of the room. Truly, humanity is cursed by its innate failure to learn from its past mistakes.
Continue reading...Matheus Nunes has admitted that Rodri’s prolonged absence due to a serious knee injury is a “massive loss” to Manchester City but believes he can deputise for the midfielder.
City confirmed on Wednesday morning that Rodi had suffered ligament damage to his right knee during the 2-2 draw with Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday. The 28-year-old has travelled to his native Spain for specialist consultation having undergone initial tests in Manchester. It is possible he will miss the remainder of the season, representing a significant blow for City in their pursuit of a fifth straight Premier League title and second Champions League crown.
Continue reading...PM hopes to meet both candidates on US trip but attempt to see Trump undermined by Home Office minister saying he had emboldened racists in UK
Keir Starmer has said he wants to meet Kamala Harris and Donald Trump before the US election, as he declined to back one of his ministers who said the Republican candidate had contributed to racist rhetoric in the UK.
The prime minister said he was hoping to find time with both candidates as he travelled to New York for the United Nations general assembly – his third trip to the US since taking office.
Continue reading...You don’t have to be a railway buff to enjoy the Station Agent’s House. The restored Georgian gem is a perfect base for exploring the historic Castlefield district
For some, a stately home does it. For others, a converted barn. For me, anything rail-related hits the spot. It’s partly respect for transport and proper jobs. It’s also because I was born and raised 1.2 miles (or a mile and 16 chains in the parlance) south of the world’s first inter-city railway line – the Liverpool and Manchester, which opened on 15 September 1830. Though never a full-blown spotter, I got the transport bug watching 47s and Deltics rumbling along the tracks between St Helens Junction and Newton-le-Willows. Despite the delays and dysfunction that make rail travel so irksome today, I still love trains.
It is then a childish buzz as well as a grown-up, heritage-inspired delight to be spending a couple of nights in the Station Agent’s House, the Landmark Trust’s new property in Castlefield, Manchester. The area, at the southern end of main drag Deansgate, is one of the city’s oldest, though its iron bridges and merchants’ warehouses are now overshadowed by high-rise apartment blocks.
Continue reading...Revealed: a small but growing number of Chinese people are travelling to the Balkans with the hope of getting into the EU
In a sleepy Bosnian town, barely five miles from the border with the European Union, a crumbling old water tower is falling into ruin. Inside, piles of rubbish, used cigarette butts and a portable wood-fired stove offer glimpses into the daily life of the people who briefly called the building home. Glued on to the walls is another clue: on pieces of A4 paper, the same message is printed out, again and again: “If you would like to travel to Europe (Italy, Germany, France, etc) we can help you. Please add this number on WhatsApp”. The message is printed in the languages of often desperate people: Somali, Nepali, Turkish, the list goes on. The last translation on the list indicates a newcomer to this unlucky club. It is written in Chinese.
Bihać water tower was once used to replenish steam trains travelling across the former Yugoslavia. Now it provides shelter to a different kind of person on the move: migrants making the perilous journey through the Balkans, with the hope of crossing into Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s neighbour in the EU.
Continue reading...A subtle bipartisan shift in the language of immigration has opened the door to vilification and dehumanization.
The post You Should Stop Calling Immigrants “Migrants” appeared first on The Intercept.
The pioneering photographer was often inspired by tourist destinations – yet his images never resorted to cliche, as a new exhibition shows
Stoking and exploiting racist fears of immigrants is essentially all that Trump is running on.
The post Trump’s Conspiracy Theory Campaign appeared first on The Intercept.
An Intercept investigation reveals that the Army National Guard has known about poisonous lead dust at armories open to the public for years, but is doing little to respond.
The post The National Guard Knows Its Armories Have Dangerous Lead Contamination, Putting Kids and Soldiers At Risk appeared first on The Intercept.
FBI counterterror officials went in person to Michigan to spy on “Stop Camp Grayling” demonstrators, new documents reveal.
The post They Protested a Military Base Expansion. So the FBI Investigated Them as Terrorism Suspects. appeared first on The Intercept.
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...Israel’s brazen attacks on Hezbollah last week, in which hundreds of pagers and two-way radios exploded and killed at least 37 people, graphically illustrated a threat that cybersecurity experts have been warning about for years: Our international supply chains for computerized equipment leave us vulnerable. And we have no good means to defend ourselves.
Though the deadly operations were stunning, none of the elements used to carry them out were particularly new. The tactics employed by Israel, which has neither confirmed nor denied any role, to hijack an international supply chain and embed plastic explosives in Hezbollah devices have been used for years. What’s new is that Israel put them together in such a devastating and extravagantly public fashion, bringing into stark relief what the future of great power competition will look like—in peacetime, wartime and the ever expanding ...
Paris-based think tank upgrades UK’s growth forecast for this year
Back to Rightmove’s rejection of the third takeover offer from Rupert Murdoch’s REA Group, worth £6.1bn, as too low.
Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, said:
Rightmove is playing hard to get and Rupert Murdoch’s REA Group is going to have to up its game again if it has a chance of winning over the board to accept a takeover offer. The bids so far have been rejected out of hand, and even the improved latest offer is considered to materially undervalue the company and its future prospects.
With the UK government pledging to build 1.5m new homes, interest rate cuts eyed and the property market springing into life again, Rightmove clearly sees significant growth opportunities ahead.
It’s hard to see why 759p is a good enough offer to ignore that potential plus the business’ growth prospects thereon out. On top of which, the structure of the offer is overly complicated – with 55% of it in scrip, which we expect many funds would choose to sell in the event of a deal, thereby complicating the realisation of value by investors.
As a result, we continue to see a low likelihood that a successful deal can be closed, in the absence of some creativity on REA’s part to increase its bid.
Continue reading...From playing Super Mario on a giant control to spotting Pikmin hiding in corners, my visit to this delightful museum in Kyoto offered up experience over education
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Nintendo was founded in 1889 in Kyoto, 100 years before the release of the Game Boy. Long before it was a video game company, it made toys and hanafuda cards adorned with scenes from nature, used to play several different games popular in Japan. By 1969, Nintendo had expanded its business to include western-style playing cards, and the company built a plant to manufacture them in southern Kyoto. Until 2016, the Uji Ogura Plant was a card factory and as a repairs centre for the company’s consoles. It has been turned into a Nintendo Museum, opening on 2 October, where the gaming giant’s entire history will be on display.
Nintendo flew me to Kyoto to see the museum. Along with the Super Nintendo World theme park, at Universal Studios in Osaka, it will be a major draw for video game tourists in Japan. It’s laid out across two floors: upstairs, there is a gallery of Nintendo products, from playing cards through to the Nintendo Switch. Downstairs are the interactive exhibits, where you can play snatches of Nintendo games on comically gigantic controllers that require two people to operate and immerse yourself for a not-entirely-generous seven minutes in a NES, SNES or N64 game in the retro area. Or you can step into a re-creation of a 1960s Japanese home and whack ping-pong balls with a bat (the Ultra Machine batting toy was developed by Gunpei Yokoi, the inventor of the Game Boy, and released in 1967).
Continue reading...Forecast upgrades UK to joint second after US but it is still expected to have highest inflation among G7 countries
The global economy is “turning a corner”, according to the latest outlook from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) as it upgraded the UK’s growth forecast for this year to faster than that of Japan, Italy and Germany.
The OECD ranked Britain joint second among the G7 developed countries, behind the US, in its latest outlook on the global economy, but the UK is still expected to have the highest inflation in the group.
Continue reading...Zhu Hengpeng, who worked for an influential government thinktank, has reportedly not been seen in public since making disparaging remarks on WeChat
A leading Chinese economist at a government thinktank has reportedly disappeared after being disciplined for criticising Xi Jinping in a private chat group.
Zhu Hengpeng, 55, is believed to have made disparaging remarks about China’s economy, and potentially about the Chinese leader specifically, in a private WeChat group. Zhu was subsequently detained in April and put under investigation, according to the Wall Street Journal which cited anonymous sources.
Continue reading...The ICBM, carrying a dummy warhead, was launched by the People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force into the Pacific Ocean
China has publicly acknowledged for the first time that it successfully launched an intercontinental ballistic missile into the Pacific Ocean, in a move likely to raise international concerns about the country’s nuclear buildup.
The ICBM, carrying a dummy warhead, was launched by the People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force at 8:44am Beijing time on Wednesday and “fell into expected sea areas,” the Chinese defence ministry said in a statement, adding it was a “routine arrangement in our annual training plan” and not directed at any country or target.
Continue reading... submitted by /u/MetaKnowing [link] [comments] |
Revealed: a small but growing number of Chinese people are travelling to the Balkans with the hope of getting into the EU
In a sleepy Bosnian town, barely five miles from the border with the European Union, a crumbling old water tower is falling into ruin. Inside, piles of rubbish, used cigarette butts and a portable wood-fired stove offer glimpses into the daily life of the people who briefly called the building home. Glued on to the walls is another clue: on pieces of A4 paper, the same message is printed out, again and again: “If you would like to travel to Europe (Italy, Germany, France, etc) we can help you. Please add this number on WhatsApp”. The message is printed in the languages of often desperate people: Somali, Nepali, Turkish, the list goes on. The last translation on the list indicates a newcomer to this unlucky club. It is written in Chinese.
Bihać water tower was once used to replenish steam trains travelling across the former Yugoslavia. Now it provides shelter to a different kind of person on the move: migrants making the perilous journey through the Balkans, with the hope of crossing into Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s neighbour in the EU.
Continue reading...People’s Bank of China announces support measures including a cut in interest rates but some experts fear they may not be enough
China’s central bank has cut interest rates in an attempt to revive flagging economic growth and prevent scores of debt-laden property owners from going bust in its boldest intervention to boost the economy since the pandemic.
Adopting a suite of measures to reduce borrowing costs, the People’s Bank of China cut interest rates on existing mortgages by 0.5 percentage points and supported new lending by reducing the level of reserves banks must set aside before making loans.
Continue reading...Former diplomat Michael Kovrig, who was taken into custody in December 2018, says he spent months in solitary confinement and was interrogated daily
A former Canadian diplomat detained by China for more than 1,000 days said he was placed in solitary confinement for months and interrogated for up to nine hours every day, treatment he said amounted to psychological torture.
Michael Kovrig, speaking to the Canadian Broadcasting Corp in his first major interview since his release, also said he had missed the birth of his daughter and met her for the first time when she was two-and-a half years old.
Continue reading...No papaya or kohlrabi? Granny smiths will do the job in this crunchy Thai som tam salad. Plus a Bengali-style sweet-sour dal side and an unashamedly traditional apple and blackberry pud
Our orchards offer a bounty of apples in the autumn. Last year, I went apple picking and returned home with bags full of different varieties, each with their own nuanced flavour, texture and unique history, and I made industrial amounts of apple compote, which I froze to eat throughout the year. And I can’t resist fresh apples sliced into crunchy matchsticks and thrown into a salad, especially with something earthy such as kohlrabi. I have also discovered that tart fruit, such as bramley apples, are an excellent foil for a spicy dal, too. No apologies for yet another apple pudding – you simply can’t beat cooked apples, sponge and custard.
Continue reading...We are raiding the Guardian Long Read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors.
This week, from 2021: In 2018, Indian police claimed to have uncovered a shocking plan to bring down the government. But there is mounting evidence that the initial conspiracy was a fiction – and the accused are victims of an elaborate plot. By Siddhartha Deb
Continue reading...A subtle bipartisan shift in the language of immigration has opened the door to vilification and dehumanization.
The post You Should Stop Calling Immigrants “Migrants” appeared first on The Intercept.
South Korean pistol shooter Kim Yeji, whose skill and nonchalance won the internet at the Paris Olympics, has landed her first acting role – as an assassin.
The 32-year-old took silver in the women’s 10m air pistol in July and her ultra-calm demeanour, combined with her wire-rimmed shooting glasses and baseball cap, turned her into a worldwide online sensation.
Continue reading...The FBI has shut down a botnet run by Chinese hackers:
The botnet malware infected a number of different types of internet-connected devices around the world, including home routers, cameras, digital video recorders, and NAS drives. Those devices were used to help infiltrate sensitive networks related to universities, government agencies, telecommunications providers, and media organizations…. The botnet was launched in mid-2021, according to the FBI, and infected roughly 260,000 devices as of June 2024.
The operation to dismantle the botnet was coordinated by the FBI, the NSA, and the Cyber National Mission Force (CNMF), according to a press release dated ...
Researchers develop grain with lower glycaemic index and more protein that ‘could have big impact in Asia and Africa’
Scientists in the Philippines have created a new variety of rice that could help reduce the growing burden of diabetes.
More than 537 million adults worldwide are living with the chronic disease – a number that is expected to grow to 783 million by 2045. Being overweight, genetics and a lack of exercise contribute to type 2 diabetes, which is the most common form. Type 2 occurs when the pancreas fails to produce enough of the insulin hormone, leaving too much glucose in the blood, and cells develop a resistance to insulin.
Continue reading...JVP leader has positioned himself as opposite to political elites but not all have greeted his win with optimism
As he was sworn in as Sri Lanka’s new president on Monday morning, Anura Kumara Dissanayake heralded a “new era of renaissance” for the country. Many believe Dissanayake’s election marks a significant political pivot for Sri Lanka, which has been ruled by a rotation of the same few parties and families for decades, leading to a continuing economic recession and deep-rooted mistrust of traditional political leaders.
Swathes of the population said it was the promise of change that brought them to vote for the leftist leader for the first time last weekend.
Continue reading...Second-round victory viewed as widespread rejection of the old political elite amid economic crisis
The Marxist leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake has won Sri Lanka’s presidential election, in what was viewed as a widespread rejection of the old political elite who are blamed for the country’s ongoing economic woes.
For the first time in Sri Lanka’s history, the election went into a runoff on Sunday after no candidate managed to get more than 50% of the votes. However, after second-choice votes were counted, Dissanayake was declared the winner in the evening. “This victory belongs to all of us,” he said, writing on X.
Continue reading...Jagtar Singh Johal is being arbitrarily detained and targeted for his human rights activism, say campaigners
Delhi’s high court has denied bail to the British activist Jagtar Singh Johal, who has been imprisoned in India for nearly seven years, in seven cases brought against him by the country’s National Investigations Agency.
The ruling has shocked family and supporters who claim it should jolt the British government into recognising that Johal is not receiving justice at the hands of the Indian legal system.
Continue reading...Personally, I would not accept an endorsement from a world-historic war criminal.
The post Do Kamala Harris’s Neocon Supporters Just Hate Trump, or Is There Something More to Her Appeal? appeared first on The Intercept.
We would like to hear about the impact of the job cuts on workers and their families, as well as the local community and businesses
The steel manufacturer Tata Steel is to cut 2,500 jobs at the Port Talbot steelworks despite a taxpayer-backed deal securing the long-term future of the plant.
The business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, has agreed a deal under which the government will provide £500m towards the construction of a new, greener electric arc furnace at the site, with the plant’s Indian owners paying £750m. However, the deal fell short of job guarantees for current employees.
Continue reading...Samara Weaving excels in post-apocalyptic horror where humanity has renounced words – which might have been useful to decipher what’s going on
Here is a post-apocalyptic feature that works well as an exercise in tension-release horror-movie mechanics and features an admirably expressive, athletic, and entirely wordless lead performance from rising genre fare “it” girl Samara Weaving.
Text splashed on screen before the title explains that this is all taking place sometime after “the Rapture” has thinned the world population, and some of those who remain have renounced the “sinful” use of speech. Weaving’s protagonist, who is apparently called Azrael, is living in a forest with her beau (Nathan Steward-Jarrett), surviving on who knows what and living in patched rags, when they are captured by similarly silent zealots. Those guys, who still have cars in the Mad Max tradition, tie Azrael to a chair as sacrifice for hominid-like zombie-demon-monsters with charred skin and no eyes that smell blood, but somehow she escapes.
Continue reading...An Intercept investigation reveals that the Army National Guard has known about poisonous lead dust at armories open to the public for years, but is doing little to respond.
The post The National Guard Knows Its Armories Have Dangerous Lead Contamination, Putting Kids and Soldiers At Risk appeared first on The Intercept.
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
Imagine a world in which you can do transactions and many other things without having to give your personal information. A world in which you don’t need to rely on banks or governments anymore. Sounds amazing, right? That’s exactly what blockchain technology allows us to do.
It’s like your computer’s hard drive. blockchain is a technology that lets you store data in digital blocks, which are connected together like links in a chain.
Blockchain technology was originally invented in 1991 by two mathematicians, Stuart Haber and W. Scot Stornetta. They first proposed the system to ensure that timestamps could not be tampered with.
A few years later, in 1998, software developer Nick Szabo proposed using a similar kind of technology to secure a digital payments system he called “Bit Gold.” However, this innovation was not adopted until Satoshi Nakamoto claimed to have invented the first Blockchain and Bitcoin.
A blockchain is a distributed database shared between the nodes of a computer network. It saves information in digital format. Many people first heard of blockchain technology when they started to look up information about bitcoin.
Blockchain is used in cryptocurrency systems to ensure secure, decentralized records of transactions.
Blockchain allowed people to guarantee the fidelity and security of a record of data without the need for a third party to ensure accuracy.
To understand how a blockchain works, Consider these basic steps:
Let’s get to know more about the blockchain.
Blockchain records digital information and distributes it across the network without changing it. The information is distributed among many users and stored in an immutable, permanent ledger that can't be changed or destroyed. That's why blockchain is also called "Distributed Ledger Technology" or DLT.
Here’s how it works:
And that’s the beauty of it! The process may seem complicated, but it’s done in minutes with modern technology. And because technology is advancing rapidly, I expect things to move even more quickly than ever.
Even though blockchain is integral to cryptocurrency, it has other applications. For example, blockchain can be used for storing reliable data about transactions. Many people confuse blockchain with cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ethereum.
Blockchain already being adopted by some big-name companies, such as Walmart, AIG, Siemens, Pfizer, and Unilever. For example, IBM's Food Trust uses blockchain to track food's journey before reaching its final destination.
Although some of you may consider this practice excessive, food suppliers and manufacturers adhere to the policy of tracing their products because bacteria such as E. coli and Salmonella have been found in packaged foods. In addition, there have been isolated cases where dangerous allergens such as peanuts have accidentally been introduced into certain products.
Tracing and identifying the sources of an outbreak is a challenging task that can take months or years. Thanks to the Blockchain, however, companies now know exactly where their food has been—so they can trace its location and prevent future outbreaks.
Blockchain technology allows systems to react much faster in the event of a hazard. It also has many other uses in the modern world.
Blockchain technology is safe, even if it’s public. People can access the technology using an internet connection.
Have you ever been in a situation where you had all your data stored at one place and that one secure place got compromised? Wouldn't it be great if there was a way to prevent your data from leaking out even when the security of your storage systems is compromised?
Blockchain technology provides a way of avoiding this situation by using multiple computers at different locations to store information about transactions. If one computer experiences problems with a transaction, it will not affect the other nodes.
Instead, other nodes will use the correct information to cross-reference your incorrect node. This is called “Decentralization,” meaning all the information is stored in multiple places.
Blockchain guarantees your data's authenticity—not just its accuracy, but also its irreversibility. It can also be used to store data that are difficult to register, like legal contracts, state identifications, or a company's product inventory.
Blockchain has many advantages and disadvantages.
I’ll answer the most frequently asked questions about blockchain in this section.
Blockchain is not a cryptocurrency but a technology that makes cryptocurrencies possible. It's a digital ledger that records every transaction seamlessly.
Yes, blockchain can be theoretically hacked, but it is a complicated task to be achieved. A network of users constantly reviews it, which makes hacking the blockchain difficult.
Coinbase Global is currently the biggest blockchain company in the world. The company runs a commendable infrastructure, services, and technology for the digital currency economy.
Blockchain is a decentralized technology. It’s a chain of distributed ledgers connected with nodes. Each node can be any electronic device. Thus, one owns blockhain.
Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency, which is powered by Blockchain technology while Blockchain is a distributed ledger of cryptocurrency
Generally a database is a collection of data which can be stored and organized using a database management system. The people who have access to the database can view or edit the information stored there. The client-server network architecture is used to implement databases. whereas a blockchain is a growing list of records, called blocks, stored in a distributed system. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, timestamp and transaction information. Modification of data is not allowed due to the design of the blockchain. The technology allows decentralized control and eliminates risks of data modification by other parties.
Blockchain has a wide spectrum of applications and, over the next 5-10 years, we will likely see it being integrated into all sorts of industries. From finance to healthcare, blockchain could revolutionize the way we store and share data. Although there is some hesitation to adopt blockchain systems right now, that won't be the case in 2022-2023 (and even less so in 2026). Once people become more comfortable with the technology and understand how it can work for them, owners, CEOs and entrepreneurs alike will be quick to leverage blockchain technology for their own gain. Hope you like this article if you have any question let me know in the comments section
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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
In the rapidly advancing landscape of AI technology and innovation, LimeWire emerges as a unique platform in the realm of generative AI tools. This platform not only stands out from the multitude of existing AI tools but also brings a fresh approach to content generation. LimeWire not only empowers users to create AI content but also provides creators with creative ways to share and monetize their creations.
As we explore LimeWire, our aim is to uncover its features, benefits for creators, and the exciting possibilities it offers for AI content generation. This platform presents an opportunity for users to harness the power of AI in image creation, all while enjoying the advantages of a free and accessible service.
Let's unravel the distinctive features that set LimeWire apart in the dynamic landscape of AI-powered tools, understanding how creators can leverage its capabilities to craft unique and engaging AI-generated images.
This revamped LimeWire invites users to register and unleash their creativity by crafting original AI content, which can then be shared and showcased on the LimeWire Studio. Notably, even acclaimed artists and musicians, such as Deadmau5, Soulja Boy, and Sean Kingston, have embraced this platform to publish their content in the form of NFT music, videos, and images.
Beyond providing a space for content creation and sharing, LimeWire introduces monetization models to empower users to earn revenue from their creations. This includes avenues such as earning ad revenue and participating in the burgeoning market of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs). As we delve further, we'll explore these monetization strategies in more detail to provide a comprehensive understanding of LimeWire's innovative approach to content creation and distribution.
LimeWire Studio welcomes content creators into its fold, providing a space to craft personalized AI-focused content for sharing with fans and followers. Within this creative hub, every piece of content generated becomes not just a creation but a unique asset—ownable and tradable. Fans have the opportunity to subscribe to creators' pages, immersing themselves in the creative journey and gaining ownership of digital collectibles that hold tradeable value within the LimeWire community. Notably, creators earn a 2.5% royalty each time their content is traded, adding a rewarding element to the creative process.
The platform's flexibility is evident in its content publication options. Creators can choose to share their work freely with the public or opt for a premium subscription model, granting exclusive access to specialized content for subscribers.
As of the present moment, LimeWire focuses on AI Image Generation, offering a spectrum of creative possibilities to its user base. The platform, however, has ambitious plans on the horizon, aiming to broaden its offerings by introducing AI music and video generation tools in the near future. This strategic expansion promises creators even more avenues for expression and engagement with their audience, positioning LimeWire Studio as a dynamic and evolving platform within the realm of AI-powered content creation.
The LimeWire AI image generation tool presents a versatile platform for both the creation and editing of images. Supporting advanced models such as Stable Diffusion 2.1, Stable Diffusion XL, and DALL-E 2, LimeWire offers a sophisticated toolkit for users to delve into the realm of generative AI art.
Much like other tools in the generative AI landscape, LimeWire provides a range of options catering to various levels of complexity in image creation. Users can initiate the creative process with prompts as simple as a few words or opt for more intricate instructions, tailoring the output to their artistic vision.
What sets LimeWire apart is its seamless integration of different AI models and design styles. Users have the flexibility to effortlessly switch between various AI models, exploring diverse design styles such as cinematic, digital art, pixel art, anime, analog film, and more. Each style imparts a distinctive visual identity to the generated AI art, enabling users to explore a broad spectrum of creative possibilities.
The platform also offers additional features, including samplers, allowing users to fine-tune the quality and detail levels of their creations. Customization options and prompt guidance further enhance the user experience, providing a user-friendly interface for both novice and experienced creators.
Excitingly, LimeWire is actively developing its proprietary AI model, signaling ongoing innovation and enhancements to its image generation capabilities. This upcoming addition holds the promise of further expanding the creative horizons for LimeWire users, making it an evolving and dynamic platform within the landscape of AI-driven art and image creation.
Sign Up Now To Get Free Credits
Upon completing your creative endeavor on LimeWire, the platform allows you the option to publish your content. An intriguing feature follows this step: LimeWire automates the process of minting your creation as a Non-Fungible Token (NFT), utilizing either the Polygon or Algorand blockchain. This transformative step imbues your artwork with a unique digital signature, securing its authenticity and ownership in the decentralized realm.
Creators on LimeWire hold the power to decide the accessibility of their NFT creations. By opting for a public release, the content becomes discoverable by anyone, fostering a space for engagement and interaction. Furthermore, this choice opens the avenue for enthusiasts to trade the NFTs, adding a layer of community involvement to the artistic journey.
Alternatively, LimeWire acknowledges the importance of exclusivity. Creators can choose to share their posts exclusively with their premium subscribers. In doing so, the content remains a special offering solely for dedicated fans, creating an intimate and personalized experience within the LimeWire community. This flexibility in sharing options emphasizes LimeWire's commitment to empowering creators with choices in how they connect with their audience and distribute their digital creations.
After creating your content, you can choose to publish the content. It will automatically mint your creation as an NFT on the Polygon or Algorand blockchain. You can also choose whether to make it public or subscriber-only.
If you make it public, anyone can discover your content and even trade the NFTs. If you choose to share the post only with your premium subscribers, it will be exclusive only to your fans.
Additionally, you can earn ad revenue from your content creations as well.
When you publish content on LimeWire, you will receive 70% of all ad revenue from other users who view your images, music, and videos on the platform.
This revenue model will be much more beneficial to designers. You can experiment with the AI image and content generation tools and share your creations while earning a small income on the side.
The revenue you earn from your creations will come in the form of LMWR tokens, LimeWire’s own cryptocurrency.
Your earnings will be paid every month in LMWR, which you can then trade on many popular crypto exchange platforms like Kraken, ByBit, and UniSwap.
You can also use your LMWR tokens to pay for prompts when using LimeWire generative AI tools.
You can sign up to LimeWire to use its AI tools for free. You will receive 10 credits to use and generate up to 20 AI images per day. You will also receive 50% of the ad revenue share. However, you will get more benefits with premium plans.
For $9.99 per month, you will get 1,000 credits per month, up to 2 ,000 image generations, early access to new AI models, and 50% ad revenue share
For $29 per month, you will get 3750 credits per month, up to 7500 image generations, early access to new AI models, and 60% ad revenue share
For $49 per month, you will get 5,000 credits per month, up to 10,000 image generations, early access to new AI models, and 70% ad revenue share
For $99 per month, you will get 11,250 credits per month, up to 2 2,500 image generations, early access to new AI models, and 70% ad revenue share
With all premium plans, you will receive a Pro profile badge, full creation history, faster image generation, and no ads.
Sign Up Now To Get Free Credits
In conclusion, LimeWire emerges as a democratizing force in the creative landscape, providing an inclusive platform where anyone can unleash their artistic potential and effortlessly share their work. With the integration of AI, LimeWire eliminates traditional barriers, empowering designers, musicians, and artists to publish their creations and earn revenue with just a few clicks.
The ongoing commitment of LimeWire to innovation is evident in its plans to enhance generative AI tools with new features and models. The upcoming expansion to include music and video generation tools holds the promise of unlocking even more possibilities for creators. It sparks anticipation about the diverse and innovative ways in which artists will leverage these tools to produce and publish their own unique creations.
For those eager to explore, LimeWire's AI tools are readily accessible for free, providing an opportunity to experiment and delve into the world of generative art. As LimeWire continues to evolve, creators are encouraged to stay tuned for the launch of its forthcoming AI music and video generation tools, promising a future brimming with creative potential and endless artistic exploration
Four years after accusations of a toxic workplace culture torpedoed her talkshow, the star once dubbed ‘the most hated woman in America’ is attempting a comeback via Netflix. If you want humility, look elsewhere
Ellen DeGeneres begins as she means to go on in her new – and supposedly final – standup special. Her journey from dressing room to stage is cast as a memory lane, past clips of her first appearance on the Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, snapshots of the furore when she came out as gay in 1997, and then a recap of her more recent brush with controversy – when, four years ago, accusations of a toxic workplace culture torpedoed her daytime talkshow. For Your Approval is DeGeneres’s reckoning with that cancellation, and her being deemed “the most hated woman in America”. And, like its opening sequence, it frames that reckoning solely in terms of our host’s journey, and her victimhood. Anyone looking for apologies, or humility, must look elsewhere.
As a study in evasion, self-mythologising – and world-beating servility on the part of her audience – For Your Approval takes some beating. If, like me, you can’t bear standup that courts affirming cheers rather than laughter – well, getting to the end of this will require considerable forbearance. Clearly, the scandal that saw off her TV vehicle has not sullied the ardour of DeGeneres’s many fans, who whoop and applaud her every utterance here; not just the ones that address healing after being “kicked out of showbusiness”, but the middling jokes about butterflies and parallel parking too. It slows the gig down terribly. Quit clapping, I shouted at the screen, and let the comedy crack on.
Continue reading...Three candidates – Russell Findlay, Meghan Gallacher and Murdo Fraser – vie for top job in contest ending on Friday
“We’ve used opposition to independence as a crutch,” says Shane Painter, the Scottish Tories’ youngest candidate in the recent, disastrous general election.
“People are fed-up hearing about the constitution,” he says. “They want to know what we’ll do about farming, housing, oil and gas.”
Continue reading...Appointee was a climate chief at the World Bank and will lead UK’s return to high-level environmental diplomacy
A former climate chief of the World Bank has been appointed to lead the UK’s efforts to forge a global coalition on climate action, the Guardian can reveal.
Rachel Kyte, who previously served as special representative for the UN and a vice-president of the World Bank, will take up the role of climate envoy to lead the UK’s return to the front ranks of global climate diplomacy.
Continue reading...An Intercept investigation reveals that the Army National Guard has known about poisonous lead dust at armories open to the public for years, but is doing little to respond.
The post The National Guard Knows Its Armories Have Dangerous Lead Contamination, Putting Kids and Soldiers At Risk appeared first on The Intercept.
SEMrush and Ahrefs are among
the most popular tools in the SEO industry. Both companies have been in
business for years and have thousands of customers per month.
If you're a professional SEO or trying to do digital
marketing on your own, at some point you'll likely consider using a tool to
help with your efforts. Ahrefs and SEMrush are two names that will likely
appear on your shortlist.
In this guide, I'm going to help you learn more about these SEO tools and how to choose the one that's best for your purposes.
What is SEMrush?
SEMrush is a popular SEO tool with a wide range of
features—it's the leading competitor research service for online marketers.
SEMrush's SEO Keyword Magic tool offers over 20 billion Google-approved
keywords, which are constantly updated and it's the largest keyword database.
The program was developed in 2007 as SeoQuake is a
small Firefox extension
Features
Ahrefs is a leading SEO platform that offers a set of
tools to grow your search traffic, research your competitors, and monitor your
niche. The company was founded in 2010, and it has become a popular choice
among SEO tools. Ahrefs has a keyword index of over 10.3 billion keywords and
offers accurate and extensive backlink data updated every 15-30 minutes and it
is the world's most extensive backlink index database.
Features
Direct Comparisons: Ahrefs vs SEMrush
Now that you know a little more about each tool, let's
take a look at how they compare. I'll analyze each tool to see how they differ
in interfaces, keyword research resources, rank tracking, and competitor
analysis.
User Interface
Ahrefs and SEMrush both offer comprehensive information
and quick metrics regarding your website's SEO performance. However, Ahrefs
takes a bit more of a hands-on approach to getting your account fully set up,
whereas SEMrush's simpler dashboard can give you access to the data you need
quickly.
In this section, we provide a brief overview of the elements
found on each dashboard and highlight the ease with which you can complete
tasks.
AHREFS
The Ahrefs dashboard is less cluttered than that of
SEMrush, and its primary menu is at the very top of the page, with a search bar
designed only for entering URLs.
Additional features of the Ahrefs platform include:
SEMRUSH
When you log into the SEMrush Tool, you will find four
main modules. These include information about your domains, organic keyword
analysis, ad keyword, and site traffic.
You'll also find some other options like
Both Ahrefs and SEMrush have user-friendly dashboards,
but Ahrefs is less cluttered and easier to navigate. On the other hand, SEMrush
offers dozens of extra tools, including access to customer support resources.
When deciding on which dashboard to use, consider what
you value in the user interface, and test out both.
If you're looking to track your website's search engine
ranking, rank tracking features can help. You can also use them to monitor your
competitors.
Let's take a look at Ahrefs vs. SEMrush to see which
tool does a better job.
The Ahrefs Rank Tracker is simpler to use. Just type in
the domain name and keywords you want to analyze, and it spits out a report
showing you the search engine results page (SERP) ranking for each keyword you
enter.
Rank Tracker looks at the ranking performance of
keywords and compares them with the top rankings for those keywords. Ahrefs
also offers:
You'll see metrics that help you understand your
visibility, traffic, average position, and keyword difficulty.
It gives you an idea of whether a keyword would be
profitable to target or not.
SEMRush offers a tool called Position Tracking. This
tool is a project tool—you must set it up as a new project. Below are a few of
the most popular features of the SEMrush Position Tracking tool:
All subscribers are given regular data updates and
mobile search rankings upon subscribing
The platform provides opportunities to track several
SERP features, including Local tracking.
Intuitive reports allow you to track statistics for the
pages on your website, as well as the keywords used in those pages.
Identify pages that may be competing with each other
using the Cannibalization report.
Ahrefs is a more user-friendly option. It takes seconds
to enter a domain name and keywords. From there, you can quickly decide whether
to proceed with that keyword or figure out how to rank better for other
keywords.
SEMrush allows you to check your mobile rankings and
ranking updates daily, which is something Ahrefs does not offer. SEMrush also
offers social media rankings, a tool you won't find within the Ahrefs platform.
Both are good which one do you like let me know in the comment.
Keyword research is closely related to rank tracking,
but it's used for deciding which keywords you plan on using for future content
rather than those you use now.
When it comes to SEO, keyword research is the most
important thing to consider when comparing the two platforms.
The Ahrefs Keyword Explorer provides you with thousands
of keyword ideas and filters search results based on the chosen search engine.
Ahrefs supports several features, including:
SEMrush's Keyword Magic Tool has over 20 billion
keywords for Google. You can type in any keyword you want, and a list of
suggested keywords will appear.
The Keyword Magic Tool also lets you to:
Both of these tools offer keyword research features and
allow users to break down complicated tasks into something that can be
understood by beginners and advanced users alike.
If you're interested in keyword suggestions, SEMrush
appears to have more keyword suggestions than Ahrefs does. It also continues to
add new features, like the Keyword Gap tool and SERP Questions recommendations.
Both platforms offer competitor analysis tools,
eliminating the need to come up with keywords off the top of your head. Each
tool is useful for finding keywords that will be useful for your competition so
you know they will be valuable to you.
Ahrefs' domain comparison tool lets you compare up to five websites (your website and four competitors) side-by-side.it also shows you how your site is ranked against others with metrics such as backlinks, domain ratings, and more.
Use the Competing Domains section to see a list of your
most direct competitors, and explore how many keywords matches your competitors
have.
To find more information about your competitor, you can
look at the Site Explorer and Content Explorer tools and type in their URL
instead of yours.
SEMrush provides a variety of insights into your
competitors' marketing tactics. The platform enables you to research your
competitors effectively. It also offers several resources for competitor
analysis including:
Traffic Analytics helps you identify where your
audience comes from, how they engage with your site, what devices visitors use
to view your site, and how your audiences overlap with other websites.
SEMrush's Organic Research examines your website's
major competitors and shows their organic search rankings, keywords they are
ranking for, and even if they are ranking for any (SERP) features and more.
The Market Explorer search field allows you to type in
a domain and lists websites or articles similar to what you entered. Market
Explorer also allows users to perform in-depth data analytics on These
companies and markets.
SEMrush wins here because it has more tools dedicated to
competitor analysis than Ahrefs. However, Ahrefs offers a lot of functionality
in this area, too. It takes a combination of both tools to gain an advantage
over your competition.
When it comes to keyword data research, you will become
confused about which one to choose.
Consider choosing Ahrefs if you
Consider SEMrush if you:
Both tools are great. Choose the one which meets your
requirements and if you have any experience using either Ahrefs or SEMrush let
me know in the comment section which works well for you.
A subtle bipartisan shift in the language of immigration has opened the door to vilification and dehumanization.
The post You Should Stop Calling Immigrants “Migrants” appeared first on The Intercept.
This live blog is now closed. You can read all our latest US politics coverage here:
Minutes after Joe Biden finished addressing the UN general assembly, Donald Trump’s campaign released a statement warning, in apocalyptic terms, of the consequences of electing Kamala Harris.
“Under President Donald J Trump, Iran was weak, ISIS was eliminated, Hamas was cut off, historic peace was descending on the Middle East, Russia was under control and there hadn’t been a US service member killed in Afghanistan in 18 months,” the lengthy email read.
Continue reading...Democrats were fooled by their social media echo chamber in 2016. Now Republicans may be falling into the same trap
In the aftermath of Donald Trump’s shock victory in 2016, one common explanation for why the Democrats had not seen it coming was that they had succumbed to the social media echo chamber. The fact that many digital platforms, such as Twitter (now X), tended to be dominated by liberals had lured Democrats into a false sense of security. This, so the explanation went, made them complacent, leading to inconsiderate gestures that alienated sections of the electorate: Hillary Clinton’s infamous jab at Trump’s supporters as “deplorables” was often cited as a prime example.
With the internet ever more captive to the caprices of timeline algorithms, the risk of echo chambers is even greater in this election cycle. However, it is now Trump and the broader political right that is – to use the internet lingo – “too online”.
Continue reading...Stoking and exploiting racist fears of immigrants is essentially all that Trump is running on.
The post Trump’s Conspiracy Theory Campaign appeared first on The Intercept.
The source of the quote corrected Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, but they kept accusing the Palestinian House representative of antisemitism anyway.
The post CNN Anchors Won’t Stop Lying About Something Rashida Tlaib Never Said appeared first on The Intercept.
Three candidates – Russell Findlay, Meghan Gallacher and Murdo Fraser – vie for top job in contest ending on Friday
“We’ve used opposition to independence as a crutch,” says Shane Painter, the Scottish Tories’ youngest candidate in the recent, disastrous general election.
“People are fed-up hearing about the constitution,” he says. “They want to know what we’ll do about farming, housing, oil and gas.”
Continue reading...PM hopes to meet both candidates on US trip but attempt to see Trump undermined by Home Office minister saying he had emboldened racists in UK
Keir Starmer has said he wants to meet Kamala Harris and Donald Trump before the US election, as he declined to back one of his ministers who said the Republican candidate had contributed to racist rhetoric in the UK.
The prime minister said he was hoping to find time with both candidates as he travelled to New York for the United Nations general assembly – his third trip to the US since taking office.
Continue reading...Mike Johnson unveiled legislation after original measure with non-citizen voting proposal failed to pass last week
The US House will vote Wednesday on a three-month government funding package, with just days left to avert a shutdown set to begin next Tuesday.
The stopgap funding measure, known as a continuing resolution or CR, is expected to pass the House despite opposition from some Republicans. Republican House speaker Mike Johnson unveiled the legislation on Sunday after his original funding proposal failed to pass last week.
Continue reading...Delegates at party conference back motion by Unite union calling for government to reverse introduction of means-testing allowance
In an interview with Sky News, Wes Streeting said waiting lists would be “demonstrably lower” than they are now. He said:
By the next general election, waiting lists will be demonstrably lower because I know that’s how I will be judged, how the prime minister will be judged, how the government will be judged - people will judge us by our actions, not just our words ultimately.
Advances in genomics and data mean the healthcare of the future will be more predictive, more preventative and more personalised than ever before.
Detecting from birth a child’s risk of disease so we can act to keep them well; spotting cancer earlier, saving countless lives; treating patients with targeted medicines.
If the wealthy are told to wait months for treatment, they can shop around. But working people can’t.
And if they pay top dollar, the wealthy can be treated with cutting-edge equipment and technology. But working people can’t.
Continue reading...We are all now so desensitised to Trump that it can be easy to forget he lacks the ability to string a sentence together. Yet he’s frighteningly close to being back in charge
Ladies, are you DEPRESSED and UNHAPPY? Do you feel POORER and LESS HEALTHY than you did four years ago? Do you pray one day your little woman brain will NO LONGER BE THINKING ABOUT ABORTION all the time? Well, don’t worry, Donald Trump is going to FIX ALL OF THAT.
So he says, anyway. At 11.42pm on Friday night Trump flexed his fingers, hit the all-caps key, and ranted on Truth Social about how UNHAPPY women are under the Biden administration. What happened at 11.41pm to prompt this, I wonder? Did he get a preview of some new polls which show him trailing Kamala Harris, partly thanks to a historic gender gap that sees Harris leading among women 58% to 37%? Did Trump decide, in his infinite wisdom, that the best way to fix this was an all-caps rant? Because I am not sure that is a winning strategy.
Continue reading...Calling south Beirut a militant “stronghold” makes it sound like a giant military base, rather than a dense and vibrant urban area.
The post Beirut Suburbs or “Hezbollah Stronghold”? U.S. Media Parrots Israeli Propaganda to Justify Bombing Civilians appeared first on The Intercept.
Ryan Routh, 58, accused of plotting to kill Republican presidential nominee in West Palm Beach last week
A man accused of lurking outside Donald Trump’s south Florida golf course on 15 September with a gun – and allegedly writing about his desire to kill him – was charged on Tuesday with attempting to kill the Republican presidential candidate.
Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, was indicted on five counts in south Florida federal court: attempted assassination of a major political candidate, possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, assaulting a federal officer, felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. He was first charged with federal firearms crimes after his arrest.
Continue reading...Judge Tanya Chutkan grants Jack Smith’s request to file 180-page motion on presidential immunity in federal case
Special counsel Jack Smith can file an oversized, 180-page motion on presidential immunity in Donald Trump’s Washington DC federal court election interference case, a judge ruled Tuesday.
Judge Tanya S Chutkan’s decision stems from prosecutors’ 21 September request to exceed the typical 45-page limit for opening motions and oppositions. Smith’s motion must be filed by Thursday and will include both legal arguments and evidence and could provide additional insight into Trump’s efforts to throw out election results, though it is unclear when the public might be able to see the material given that it will initially be filed under seal.
Continue reading...Until the government changes its stance on the environment and the war in Gaza and Lebanon, there is nothing to celebrate
On Monday morning, we walked into the main hall of Labour’s annual conference in Liverpool, before the keynote speech of the chancellor, Rachel Reeves. What we did next, you might have seen.
Shortly after Reeves began her address, two of us stood to speak out on Labour’s complicity in suspected Israeli war crimes, and the party’s ties to climate-wrecking corporations. We were there on behalf of Climate Resistance, a group campaigning to end the cosy relationship between politics and the fossil fuel industry. Just like arms manufacturers, oil companies have been guilty of hindering democratic processes with donations and lobbying, putting human lives on the line for their own profits.
Jack McGinn is a climate activist with Climate Resistance
Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
Continue reading...The far right demands a pure ‘Irishness’. But our island story has long been interwoven with other ethnicities and diasporas
When lecturing on Irish immigration history, I usually start by asking: in which decade was the first footage of people of colour in Ireland filmed? Some students guess the 1960s. Others reach back to the 30s when the singer, actor and activist Paul Robeson performed in Dublin. The answer? The first filmed footage depicting an African diaspora gathering in Ireland is older than the independent Irish state.
The film, a silent black-and-white British Pathé reel, shows members of the Southern Syncopated Orchestra, an early jazz band, at Dublin port in October 1921. The men and women were survivors of a shipwreck. After their safe arrival on another vessel, the band performed for Dublin audiences. In the same month that Dubliners enjoyed the orchestra’s music, Irish republican leaders negotiated national independence with the British government. The footage provides a visual metaphor: Ireland’s history of diversity predates the state itself.
Maurice J Casey is an Irish historian based in Queen’s University Belfast. He is the author of Hotel Lux: An Intimate History of Communism’s Forgotten Radicals
Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
Continue reading...A crackdown on welfare and pensioner benefits signals that Labour will prioritise the interests of those in work over other sections of society
There was something striking about Sir Keir Starmer’s defiance of conventional wisdom. There he was addressing his party’s annual conference – the first Labour prime minister to do so in 15 years – facing growing public unease over gifts from rich donors, internal disquiet over welfare cuts, and warnings from pollsters that his chances of re-election were dwindling. Instead of an apologetic tone, the prime minister was unrepentant about his decisions. Despite a sometimes rambling and disjointed speech, he caught the audience’s mood and received numerous standing ovations. Remarkably, he didn’t yield an inch on his domestic agenda to his critics.
Sir Keir did hit some high notes – and a few bum ones. It was music to delegates’ ears in Liverpool to have a Labour prime minister promising to enact a “Hillsborough law” that required state bodies and private firms to truthfully assist public investigations; backing homes for veterans, young carers and victims of domestic abuse; and saying that students would be “touched by art” by being able to study creative subjects at school. Since 2010, the number of pupils taking arts GCSEs has dropped by 47%.
Continue reading...Second-round victory viewed as widespread rejection of the old political elite amid economic crisis
The Marxist leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake has won Sri Lanka’s presidential election, in what was viewed as a widespread rejection of the old political elite who are blamed for the country’s ongoing economic woes.
For the first time in Sri Lanka’s history, the election went into a runoff on Sunday after no candidate managed to get more than 50% of the votes. However, after second-choice votes were counted, Dissanayake was declared the winner in the evening. “This victory belongs to all of us,” he said, writing on X.
Continue reading...Former senator Rex Patrick claims ‘massive win for transparency’ in case dating back to 2020 ‘sports rorts’
The full federal court has rejected the Commonwealth’s attempt to keep ministerial documents beyond the reach of freedom-of-information requests after their authors leave office.
Three judges dismissed a federal government appeal against a single judge’s ruling made earlier this year in favour of former independent senator Rex Patrick. The self-described “transparency warrior” had challenged an FOI refusal that spanned four years, three attorneys-general and two governments.
Continue reading...The movement counts among its ranks many disillusioned Arab and Muslim voters in the key swing state of Michigan.
The post Kamala Harris Refused to Meet With Uncommitted About Gaza — and Uncommitted Refused to Endorse Her appeared first on The Intercept.
Vote calling on ministers to reverse cuts came after union leader said UK needed investment, ‘not austerity mark II’
The Labour leadership has lost a highly anticipated motion at the party’s conference that called on ministers to reverse the cuts to winter fuel payments.
The defeat will come as a blow to Downing Street, as the prime minister and his ministerial team repeatedly said throughout the party conference that the move demonstrated they could be trusted with taxpayers’ money.
Continue reading...The limit was introduced by George Osborne and has pushed whole households into poverty. Why isn’t the Labour government ditching it?
The news that rich donors have bought thousands of pounds’ worth of clothes for the prime minister and the chancellor has a particular sting for Saira. The single mother of three girls, aged from five to 17, she has been struggling to clothe them this month because of the two-child benefit limit, the rule that means most benefit recipients don’t get extra universal credit payments for third and subsequent children. Labour has so far chosen not to repeal this austerity-era initiative, which the Conservatives introduced in 2017.
In early September, with a new school term starting, Saira bought a waterproof coat for each of the girls (£150 in total), two sets of school uniforms and a PE kit each for the two younger ones, plus one pair of school shoes and one pair of trainers each. She took out an advance budgeting loan from the benefits office and spent well over £400.
Continue reading...From anger over the winter fuel allowance to a row over freebies, Labour’s first conference in power for 15 years started under a cloud. Did the prime minister’s speech lift the gloom? With Jessica Elgot
As the Labour party conference kicked off in Liverpool, the rain clouds gathered. Drenched delegates should have been celebrating at their first conference in power for 15 years. Instead, the mood was subdued after weeks of ministers hammering home their message that the Conservative party had left the country in a terrible economic state. Anger from voters about a decision to cut the universal winter fuel allowance and a row over donations of clothes and free football and concert tickets did nothing to dispel the gloom.
Arriving at the conference centre at the Royal Albert docks, Helen Pidd went in search of hope. She spoke to delegates who explained that they were trying to balance a message that there will be tough decisions ahead with celebrating the changes Labour had already made. Manchester’s mayor, Andy Burnham, provided a more upbeat outlook, insisting not only were there reasons to be cheerful about the changes Labour had begun to make in the country but that the mood at the conference was “really buoyant, really positive”.
Continue reading...Keir Starmer has made his first conference speech as prime minister, hoping he can persuade the country there is light at the end of the tunnel. But did it work? John Harris talks the Guardian’s political editor, Pippa Crerar, and political correspondent Kiran Stacey after the speech
Continue reading...Police stationed across territory and curfews tightened over concern of new outbreaks of violence after months of deadly unrest
New Caledonia was on edge on Tuesday, with fears tensions could spill over into fresh unrest as the territory marked the anniversary of the French takeover – and some independence figures prepared to issue calls for sovereignty.
September 24 is a symbolic day in New Caledonia, long regarded as a day of mourning among the Indigenous Kanak population. This year the anniversary comes after months of deadly unrest and heightened tensions in the French Pacific territory between pro-independence Kanak people and the communities loyal to Paris.
Continue reading...Weapons used in earlier Israeli strikes into Lebanon that have killed civilians have been found to be U.S.-made.
The post Israel Bombed Lebanon Today, Killing Hundreds. The U.S. Is Sending More Bombs. appeared first on The Intercept.
In a show at Cambridge’s Fitzwilliam museum, the leading US artist highlights how identity, culture and history in art is contingent on who is doing the looking
When Glenn Ligon was first invited to create a show of his text paintings, drawings and neon sculptures at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, he took a walk through the museum’s lofty neoclassical galleries. In the Italian Renaissance room, there was a rehang in progress and one bare wall caught the leading US artist’s eye. “It was gold burlap wallpaper that had faded to coppery brown, except where paintings had been removed,” he recalls. “You saw the original gold. I thought, that’s an exhibition in itself right there.” These ghostly traces of previous displays ruptured what’s meant to be a neutral backdrop to works of art. “A museum’s job is to present objects as if they’re in an icebox, unchanged forever,” he says. “You can make other choices. There are other possibilities.”
That identity, culture and history are contingent on who is doing the looking has long been central to Ligon’s work. One of his origin stories as an artist is how, in 1984, he realised his studio mate had never even heard of his literary idol, the gay black novelist and activist, James Baldwin. He began quoting directly from Baldwin and marginalised writers like Jean Genet and Zora Neale Hurston in what would become his signature: paintings that wed abstraction to identity politics. His work often features stencilled text in blurred black pigment and coal dust pushing the words into illegibility, partly to convey their cultural invisibility. This year is Baldwin’s centenary and, Ligon says, “there’s a lot of Baldwin in this show”, including a text painting that directly quotes his 1953 essay Stranger in the Village where he muses on being the lone black man in a Swiss backwater.
Continue reading...Researchers find minuscule difference in the amygdala – a region of the brain linked to threat perception
Where does our personal politics come from? Does it trace back to our childhood, the views that surround us, the circumstances we are raised in? Is it all about nurture – or does nature have a say through the subtle levers of DNA? And where, in all of this, is the brain?
Scientists have delved seriously into the roots of political belief for the past 50 years, prompted by the rise of sociobiology, the study of the biological basis of behaviour, and enabled by modern tools such as brain scanners and genome sequencers. The field is making headway, but teasing out the biology of behaviour is never straightforward.
Continue reading...To ensure less privileged students are not put off, a more progressive system for repayment of loans is also urgently needed
England’s universities have reached an inflection point. Financial pressures are severe and worsening. With a new government in office, there is an opportunity to undertake a thorough reappraisal, and the education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, has signalled she is ready to do so. She rightly recognises the economic value and social importance of our world-leading university sector. But universities must not be complacent. The new government cannot resolve all of their problems. As universities are autonomous institutions, the onus is on the sector as much as on ministers to offer up solutions, and the new blueprint report from Universities UK, due to be released this week, embraces this responsibility.
I want to see a proper widening of access to Britain’s highest-ranking universities. As well as providing a first-rate teaching deal to their students, they must be powerhouses of social mobility if they are to retain political and public support. A disproportionate number of privileged students from well-off backgrounds are represented at our highest-tariff institutions when we know there are many others with real potential who do not manage to overcome the disadvantages of birth and upbringing to get to university. Those who do succeed from the state school sector often do so because their parents with the means can, and do, game the system by moving closer to the best-performing state schools.
Continue reading...Labour peer says costs should rise in line with inflation but that universities would still have ‘tough choices’
Peter Mandelson has said that tuition fees paid by students in England must rise to stave off the “severe and worsening” financial pressures facing universities.
Mandelson, a Labour peer and a candidate to be Oxford University’s next chancellor, said raising domestic undergraduate fees from £9,250 to £9,480 a year would provide stability before the government embarked on further reforms to higher education and student funding.
Continue reading...Appointee was a climate chief at the World Bank and will lead UK’s return to high-level environmental diplomacy
A former climate chief of the World Bank has been appointed to lead the UK’s efforts to forge a global coalition on climate action, the Guardian can reveal.
Rachel Kyte, who previously served as special representative for the UN and a vice-president of the World Bank, will take up the role of climate envoy to lead the UK’s return to the front ranks of global climate diplomacy.
Continue reading... submitted by /u/trs1470 [link] [comments] |
Exclusive: Education secretary to launch callout for empty classrooms to be converted as part of free childcare plan
Three hundred new state nurseries will open in England’s schools by next September, the education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, has promised, as the government hurries to find places before the introduction of free childcare.
Phillipson’s department is under extraordinary pressure before next September, when 30 hours of free childcare begins for eligible parents of children from the age of nine months. Labour has said it would fulfil the promise by the previous government, despite warnings about the demands on staff and nursery places.
Continue reading...PM to give speech on international issues as team hopes to set up talks with both presidential candidates
Keir Starmer is heading to the US for his third trip in three months, with aides pressing for meetings with the presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.
Fresh from his speech at the Labour conference, the prime minister headed to the United Nations general assembly in New York where the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, will be pushing for a deal on the use of Storm Shadow missiles against Russia.
Continue reading...In response to an article on planning approvals falling to a 10-year low in England, Kate Henderson argues for a big increase in social housing funding while Jon Barker points to the large number of unbuilt planning permissions
The new government is right to set ambitious housebuilding targets when housing need in England is at an all-time high (New home planning approvals in England fall to lowest level in a decade, 19 September). However, initial government data on housebuilding indicates that we only built 153,800 homes last year – half of Labour’s 300,000 target. This shortfall and our worsening housing crisis are the result of decades of underinvestment in social housing and short-term, piecemeal approaches to housing and planning.
The recent changes to planning policy announced by the new government will help unlock more land and increase build rates, but alone they won’t be enough to ramp up delivery to 1.5m homes in this parliament. The only way to increase build figures to this level is through a significant increase in funding for social housing and specific social rent, which does not rely on market conditions.
Continue reading...Israel’s brazen attacks on Hezbollah last week, in which hundreds of pagers and two-way radios exploded and killed at least 37 people, graphically illustrated a threat that cybersecurity experts have been warning about for years: Our international supply chains for computerized equipment leave us vulnerable. And we have no good means to defend ourselves.
Though the deadly operations were stunning, none of the elements used to carry them out were particularly new. The tactics employed by Israel, which has neither confirmed nor denied any role, to hijack an international supply chain and embed plastic explosives in Hezbollah devices have been used for years. What’s new is that Israel put them together in such a devastating and extravagantly public fashion, bringing into stark relief what the future of great power competition will look like—in peacetime, wartime and the ever expanding ...
Former diplomat Michael Kovrig, who was taken into custody in December 2018, says he spent months in solitary confinement and was interrogated daily
A former Canadian diplomat detained by China for more than 1,000 days said he was placed in solitary confinement for months and interrogated for up to nine hours every day, treatment he said amounted to psychological torture.
Michael Kovrig, speaking to the Canadian Broadcasting Corp in his first major interview since his release, also said he had missed the birth of his daughter and met her for the first time when she was two-and-a half years old.
Continue reading...Protest had been planned against alleged disappearances and killings of government critics by security forces
Police in Tanzania have arrested three leaders of the main opposition party in a series of detentions to prevent a planned anti-government protest, the latest in a string of events that analysts and rights groups say erode hopes of a new style of politics under President Samia Suluhu Hassan.
Freeman Mbowe, the chair of the Chadema party, was arrested on Monday in the commercial capital, Dar es Salaam, while speaking with journalists. The party’s deputy chair, Tundu Lissu, was taken from his home in the city in a fleet of 11 vehicles, the party said. Godbless Lema, a central committee member, was also arrested, police said.
Continue reading...Requiring key sectors to switch to clean energy by specific times could trigger benevolent cascades, report claims
In the terminology of the climate and ecological crises the phrase “tipping point” is loaded with dreadful implications.
It evokes a climate breakdown supercharged by the mass escape of methane locked in Siberian permafrost, or the great currents of the oceans smothered by freshwater melting from the Greenland ice sheet, or the Amazon turning from great rainforest to parched savannah after the felling of one too many trees.
Continue reading... submitted by /u/MetaKnowing [link] [comments] |
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre to introduce motion of non-confidence in long-shot bid to force an election
Canada’s Conservative party will make its first bid to unseat prime minister Justin Trudeau this week, the latest attempt in its decade-long aim of restoring the Tories to power.
Buoyed by favourable polls, a cost of living crisis and an increasingly unpopular prime minister, the Conservative leader, Pierre Poilievre, will introduce a motion of non-confidence in the minority government: a long-shot bid to force the government to call an election.
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JVP leader has positioned himself as opposite to political elites but not all have greeted his win with optimism
As he was sworn in as Sri Lanka’s new president on Monday morning, Anura Kumara Dissanayake heralded a “new era of renaissance” for the country. Many believe Dissanayake’s election marks a significant political pivot for Sri Lanka, which has been ruled by a rotation of the same few parties and families for decades, leading to a continuing economic recession and deep-rooted mistrust of traditional political leaders.
Swathes of the population said it was the promise of change that brought them to vote for the leftist leader for the first time last weekend.
Continue reading...For the first time in more than 30 years, the Council of UC Faculty Associations filed a formal complaint against the UC system.
The post California Professors Fight Back Against Violent Repression of Palestine Protest appeared first on The Intercept.
Personally, I would not accept an endorsement from a world-historic war criminal.
The post Do Kamala Harris’s Neocon Supporters Just Hate Trump, or Is There Something More to Her Appeal? appeared first on The Intercept.
Ethiopia fears weapons could worsen security situation amid regional rows over water, territory and Red Sea access
Egypt has sent a second arms shipment to Somalia’s federal government in the space of a month, drawing criticism from its longstanding rival Ethiopia, amid concern about rising tensions in the Horn of Africa.
Egypt’s foreign ministry confirmed that a shipment had been sent, which it said was intended to “build the capabilities of the Somali army” to “achieve security and stability, combat terrorism, and uphold its sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity”.
Continue reading...After weeks of arguments over the format and rules, the first presidential debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris took place in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a key swing state. Both candidates went into the event virtually tied in the polls, in search of a campaign-altering moment
‘They’re eating the cats’: Trump rambles falsely about immigrants in debate
Harris’s powerful abortion stance and Trump’s fact-checks: key takeaways from the debate
Harris slams Trump for falsehoods on abortion and immigration in fiery debate
We are raiding the Guardian Long Read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors.
This week, from 2021: In 2018, Indian police claimed to have uncovered a shocking plan to bring down the government. But there is mounting evidence that the initial conspiracy was a fiction – and the accused are victims of an elaborate plot. By Siddhartha Deb
Continue reading...As the state keeps details around the death penalty hidden, an investigation into its execution team raises questions about how incarcerated people are treated in their final moments.
The post In Alabama, Officers Accused of Violence and Misconduct Carry Out Secretive Executions appeared first on The Intercept.
Faye Carruthers is joined by Suzanne Wrack, Robyn Cowen and Sophie Downey to discuss all of the games on the opening weekend of the WSL
On today’s pod, the panel discusses the opening weekend of fixtures in the WSL as Vivienne Miedema makes headlines, scoring against her former club as Manchester City draws with Arsenal.
The panel also talk about the excitement around Brighton & Hove Albion as they and their new signings hammer Everton, with Kiko Seike becoming the first player to score a hat-trick on her WSL debut.
Continue reading...Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Ben Fisher and Sanny Rudravajhala to roundup the latest stories from across the Football League
Rate, review, share on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Audioboom, Mixcloud, Acast and Stitcher, and join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and email.
On the podcast today; It’s an EFL pod but we’ll start with two big stories from the Premier League. Everton’s takeover looks close to completion, who are the new owners and can fans start to feel optimistic? At the top of the league Rodri could be out for the season, how do Manchester City fill that gap?
Continue reading... submitted by /u/a_Ninja_b0y [link] [comments] |
Rag’n’Bone Man joins Grace for a new serving of Comfort Eating. Rag’n’Bone Man, AKA Rory Graham, shot to fame in 2016 with his song Human. A couple of albums later, he’s collaborated with an incredible roster of stars, from Gorillaz to P!nk, and his back catalogue has been streamed billions of times. He and Grace discuss how oven chips are always either too burnt or raw, his dreams of opening a pub, and the day Shania Twain asked him out for lunch
New episodes of Comfort Eating with Grace Dent will be released every Tuesday
Continue reading...Madeleine Finlay speaks to Dr Saul Newman, an interdisciplinary researcher at University College London and the University of Oxford, who has just won an Ig Nobel prize – given to scientific research that ‘first makes people laugh, and then makes them think’ – for his work showing that many claims of people living extraordinarily long lives come from places with short lifespans, no birth certificates, and where clerical errors and pension fraud abound. He tells Madeleine what happened when he went looking for the world’s centenarians, and how his work has been received by the longevity research community
Ig Nobel prize goes to team who found mammals can breathe through anuses
Continue reading...Trump always wants to cast himself as a victim. Delaying his sentencing until after the election makes that harder.
The post It’s Good Trump Won’t Be Sentenced Until After the Election appeared first on The Intercept.
An Intercept investigation reveals that the Army National Guard has known about poisonous lead dust at armories open to the public for years, but is doing little to respond.
The post The National Guard Knows Its Armories Have Dangerous Lead Contamination, Putting Kids and Soldiers At Risk appeared first on The Intercept.
The platform agrees to appoint a legal representative in Brazil, pays fines and takes down user accounts that the court had ordered removed
Elon Musk fought the law. The law appears to have won.
X, Musk’s social media platform, has backed down in its fight with the Brazilian judiciary, after complying with court orders that had blocked users in the country from accessing X.
Continue reading...So far, no one has been able to hold the notorious Israeli spyware firm accountable for complicity in human rights abuses.
The post These Human Rights Defenders Were Hacked by Pegasus. Now They Want Police to Charge the Spyware Maker. appeared first on The Intercept.
Since 2021, Israeli soldiers have met weekly protests in the West Bank village with deadly force.
The post Israeli Soldiers Killed 15 Protesters in the Same Place They Shot Aysenur Eygi appeared first on The Intercept.
The far-right, anti-immigration Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) is riding a populist wave across Europe’s largest economy.
According to polls conducted this month, the AfD has become the strongest party in Thuringia, a former state of the communist German Democratic Republic (GDR). In Saxony, another former GDR state, the party finished a very close second behind the CDU.
The Guardian's Berlin correspondent, Deborah Cole, explains how the AfD has risen from its eurosceptic origins to a party that is 'managing to set the agenda' in German politics
Success of far-right AfD shows east and west Germany are drifting further apart
Everyone is terrified of a far-right return in Germany. Here’s why it won’t happen
Lila Tamea was one of the worshippers inside Abdullah Quilliam Society mosque in Liverpool when it was targeted by far-right rioters in August. Alongside Imam Adam Kelwick, she went out to speak to them and offer food. In the weeks that followed, Lila took a leading role in trying to rebuild her community after the violence. But now, despite promises of community cohesion in Liverpool, fear and paranoia are still a daily reality for Muslim women
Continue reading...A police shooting that injured three people and one officer is the result of New York Mayor Eric Adams’s enforcement-first mentality.
The post There Are So Many Armed Cops on Subways That Now They’re Shooting Each Other appeared first on The Intercept.
After the AG's meddling, a trial court judge rejected Williams's innocence claim — even though prosecutors mishandled the murder weapon.
The post A Prosecutor Wanted to Spare Marcellus Williams’s Life. Missouri’s Attorney General Got in the Way. appeared first on The Intercept.
In the rapidly advancing landscape of AI technology and innovation, LimeWire emerges as a unique platform in the realm of generative AI tools. This platform not only stands out from the multitude of existing AI tools but also brings a fresh approach to content generation. LimeWire not only empowers users to create AI content but also provides creators with creative ways to share and monetize their creations.
As we explore LimeWire, our aim is to uncover its features, benefits for creators, and the exciting possibilities it offers for AI content generation. This platform presents an opportunity for users to harness the power of AI in image creation, all while enjoying the advantages of a free and accessible service.
Let's unravel the distinctive features that set LimeWire apart in the dynamic landscape of AI-powered tools, understanding how creators can leverage its capabilities to craft unique and engaging AI-generated images.
This revamped LimeWire invites users to register and unleash their creativity by crafting original AI content, which can then be shared and showcased on the LimeWire Studio. Notably, even acclaimed artists and musicians, such as Deadmau5, Soulja Boy, and Sean Kingston, have embraced this platform to publish their content in the form of NFT music, videos, and images.
Beyond providing a space for content creation and sharing, LimeWire introduces monetization models to empower users to earn revenue from their creations. This includes avenues such as earning ad revenue and participating in the burgeoning market of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs). As we delve further, we'll explore these monetization strategies in more detail to provide a comprehensive understanding of LimeWire's innovative approach to content creation and distribution.
LimeWire Studio welcomes content creators into its fold, providing a space to craft personalized AI-focused content for sharing with fans and followers. Within this creative hub, every piece of content generated becomes not just a creation but a unique asset—ownable and tradable. Fans have the opportunity to subscribe to creators' pages, immersing themselves in the creative journey and gaining ownership of digital collectibles that hold tradeable value within the LimeWire community. Notably, creators earn a 2.5% royalty each time their content is traded, adding a rewarding element to the creative process.
The platform's flexibility is evident in its content publication options. Creators can choose to share their work freely with the public or opt for a premium subscription model, granting exclusive access to specialized content for subscribers.
As of the present moment, LimeWire focuses on AI Image Generation, offering a spectrum of creative possibilities to its user base. The platform, however, has ambitious plans on the horizon, aiming to broaden its offerings by introducing AI music and video generation tools in the near future. This strategic expansion promises creators even more avenues for expression and engagement with their audience, positioning LimeWire Studio as a dynamic and evolving platform within the realm of AI-powered content creation.
The LimeWire AI image generation tool presents a versatile platform for both the creation and editing of images. Supporting advanced models such as Stable Diffusion 2.1, Stable Diffusion XL, and DALL-E 2, LimeWire offers a sophisticated toolkit for users to delve into the realm of generative AI art.
Much like other tools in the generative AI landscape, LimeWire provides a range of options catering to various levels of complexity in image creation. Users can initiate the creative process with prompts as simple as a few words or opt for more intricate instructions, tailoring the output to their artistic vision.
What sets LimeWire apart is its seamless integration of different AI models and design styles. Users have the flexibility to effortlessly switch between various AI models, exploring diverse design styles such as cinematic, digital art, pixel art, anime, analog film, and more. Each style imparts a distinctive visual identity to the generated AI art, enabling users to explore a broad spectrum of creative possibilities.
The platform also offers additional features, including samplers, allowing users to fine-tune the quality and detail levels of their creations. Customization options and prompt guidance further enhance the user experience, providing a user-friendly interface for both novice and experienced creators.
Excitingly, LimeWire is actively developing its proprietary AI model, signaling ongoing innovation and enhancements to its image generation capabilities. This upcoming addition holds the promise of further expanding the creative horizons for LimeWire users, making it an evolving and dynamic platform within the landscape of AI-driven art and image creation.
Sign Up Now To Get Free Credits
Upon completing your creative endeavor on LimeWire, the platform allows you the option to publish your content. An intriguing feature follows this step: LimeWire automates the process of minting your creation as a Non-Fungible Token (NFT), utilizing either the Polygon or Algorand blockchain. This transformative step imbues your artwork with a unique digital signature, securing its authenticity and ownership in the decentralized realm.
Creators on LimeWire hold the power to decide the accessibility of their NFT creations. By opting for a public release, the content becomes discoverable by anyone, fostering a space for engagement and interaction. Furthermore, this choice opens the avenue for enthusiasts to trade the NFTs, adding a layer of community involvement to the artistic journey.
Alternatively, LimeWire acknowledges the importance of exclusivity. Creators can choose to share their posts exclusively with their premium subscribers. In doing so, the content remains a special offering solely for dedicated fans, creating an intimate and personalized experience within the LimeWire community. This flexibility in sharing options emphasizes LimeWire's commitment to empowering creators with choices in how they connect with their audience and distribute their digital creations.
After creating your content, you can choose to publish the content. It will automatically mint your creation as an NFT on the Polygon or Algorand blockchain. You can also choose whether to make it public or subscriber-only.
If you make it public, anyone can discover your content and even trade the NFTs. If you choose to share the post only with your premium subscribers, it will be exclusive only to your fans.
Additionally, you can earn ad revenue from your content creations as well.
When you publish content on LimeWire, you will receive 70% of all ad revenue from other users who view your images, music, and videos on the platform.
This revenue model will be much more beneficial to designers. You can experiment with the AI image and content generation tools and share your creations while earning a small income on the side.
The revenue you earn from your creations will come in the form of LMWR tokens, LimeWire’s own cryptocurrency.
Your earnings will be paid every month in LMWR, which you can then trade on many popular crypto exchange platforms like Kraken, ByBit, and UniSwap.
You can also use your LMWR tokens to pay for prompts when using LimeWire generative AI tools.
You can sign up to LimeWire to use its AI tools for free. You will receive 10 credits to use and generate up to 20 AI images per day. You will also receive 50% of the ad revenue share. However, you will get more benefits with premium plans.
For $9.99 per month, you will get 1,000 credits per month, up to 2 ,000 image generations, early access to new AI models, and 50% ad revenue share
For $29 per month, you will get 3750 credits per month, up to 7500 image generations, early access to new AI models, and 60% ad revenue share
For $49 per month, you will get 5,000 credits per month, up to 10,000 image generations, early access to new AI models, and 70% ad revenue share
For $99 per month, you will get 11,250 credits per month, up to 2 2,500 image generations, early access to new AI models, and 70% ad revenue share
With all premium plans, you will receive a Pro profile badge, full creation history, faster image generation, and no ads.
Sign Up Now To Get Free Credits
In conclusion, LimeWire emerges as a democratizing force in the creative landscape, providing an inclusive platform where anyone can unleash their artistic potential and effortlessly share their work. With the integration of AI, LimeWire eliminates traditional barriers, empowering designers, musicians, and artists to publish their creations and earn revenue with just a few clicks.
The ongoing commitment of LimeWire to innovation is evident in its plans to enhance generative AI tools with new features and models. The upcoming expansion to include music and video generation tools holds the promise of unlocking even more possibilities for creators. It sparks anticipation about the diverse and innovative ways in which artists will leverage these tools to produce and publish their own unique creations.
For those eager to explore, LimeWire's AI tools are readily accessible for free, providing an opportunity to experiment and delve into the world of generative art. As LimeWire continues to evolve, creators are encouraged to stay tuned for the launch of its forthcoming AI music and video generation tools, promising a future brimming with creative potential and endless artistic exploration
Are you looking for a new graphic design tool? Would you like to read a detailed review of Canva? As it's one of the tools I love using. I am also writing my first ebook using canva and publish it soon on my site you can download it is free. Let's start the review.
Canva has a web version and also a mobile app
Canva is a free graphic design web application that allows you to create invitations, business cards, flyers, lesson plans, banners, and more using professionally designed templates. You can upload your own photos from your computer or from Google Drive, and add them to Canva's templates using a simple drag-and-drop interface. It's like having a basic version of Photoshop that doesn't require Graphic designing knowledge to use. It’s best for nongraphic designers.
Canva is a great tool for small business owners, online entrepreneurs, and marketers who don’t have the time and want to edit quickly.
To create sophisticated graphics, a tool such as Photoshop can is ideal. To use it, you’ll need to learn its hundreds of features, get familiar with the software, and it’s best to have a good background in design, too.
Also running the latest version of Photoshop you need a high-end computer.
So here Canva takes place, with Canva you can do all that with drag-and-drop feature. It’s also easier to use and free. Also an even-more-affordable paid version is available for $12.95 per month.
The product is available in three plans: Free, Pro ($12.99/month per user or $119.99/year for up to 5 people), and Enterprise ($30 per user per month, minimum 25 people).
To get started on Canva, you will need to create an account by providing your email address, Google, Facebook or Apple credentials. You will then choose your account type between student, teacher, small business, large company, non-profit, or personal. Based on your choice of account type, templates will be recommended to you.
You can sign up for a free trial of Canva Pro, or you can start with the free version to get a sense of whether it’s the right graphic design tool for your needs.
When you sign up for an account, Canva will suggest different post types to choose from. Based on the type of account you set up you'll be able to see templates categorized by the following categories: social media posts, documents, presentations, marketing, events, ads, launch your business, build your online brand, etc.
Start by choosing a template for your post or searching for something more specific. Search by social network name to see a list of post types on each network.
Next, you can choose a template. Choose from hundreds of templates that are ready to go, with customizable photos, text, and other elements.
You can start your design by choosing from a variety of ready-made templates, searching for a template matching your needs, or working with a blank template.
Inside the Canva designer, the Elements tab gives you access to lines and shapes, graphics, photos, videos, audio, charts, photo frames, and photo grids.The search box on the Elements tab lets you search everything on Canva.
To begin with, Canva has a large library of elements to choose from. To find them, be specific in your search query. You may also want to search in the following tabs to see various elements separately:
The Photos tab lets you search for and choose from millions of professional stock photos for your templates.
You can replace the photos in our templates to create a new look. This can also make the template more suited to your industry.
You can find photos on other stock photography sites like pexel, pixabay and many more or simply upload your own photos.
When you choose an image, Canva’s photo editing features let you adjust the photo’s settings (brightness, contrast, saturation, etc.), crop, or animate it.
When you subscribe to Canva Pro, you get access to a number of premium features, including the Background Remover. This feature allows you to remove the background from any stock photo in library or any image you upload.
The Text tab lets you add headings, normal text, and graphical text to your design.
When you click on text, you'll see options to adjust the font, font size, color, format, spacing, and text effects (like shadows).
Canva Pro subscribers can choose from a large library of fonts on the Brand Kit or the Styles tab. Enterprise-level controls ensure that visual content remains on-brand, no matter how many people are working on it.
Create an animated image or video by adding audio to capture user’s attention in social news feeds.
If you want to use audio from another stock site or your own audio tracks, you can upload them in the Uploads tab or from the more option.
Want to create your own videos? Choose from thousands of stock video clips. You’ll find videos that range upto 2 minutes
You can upload your own videos as well as videos from other stock sites in the Uploads tab.
Once you have chosen a video, you can use the editing features in Canva to trim the video, flip it, and adjust its transparency.
On the Background tab, you’ll find free stock photos to serve as backgrounds on your designs. Change out the background on a template to give it a more personal touch.
The Styles tab lets you quickly change the look and feel of your template with just a click. And if you have a Canva Pro subscription, you can upload your brand’s custom colors and fonts to ensure designs stay on brand.
If you have a Canva Pro subscription, you’ll have a Logos tab. Here, you can upload variations of your brand logo to use throughout your designs.
With Canva, you can also create your own logos. Note that you cannot trademark a logo with stock content in it.
With Canva, free users can download and share designs to multiple platforms including Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Slack and Tumblr.
Canva Pro subscribers can create multiple post formats from one design. For example, you can start by designing an Instagram post, and Canva's Magic Resizer can resize it for other networks, Stories, Reels, and other formats.
Canva Pro subscribers can also use Canva’s Content Planner to post content on eight different accounts on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Slack, and Tumblr.
Canva Pro allows you to work with your team on visual content. Designs can be created inside Canva, and then sent to your team members for approval. Everyone can make comments, edits, revisions, and keep track via the version history.
When it comes to printing your designs, Canva has you covered. With an extensive selection of printing options, they can turn your designs into anything from banners and wall art to mugs and t-shirts.
Canva Print is perfect for any business seeking to make a lasting impression. Create inspiring designs people will want to wear, keep, and share. Hand out custom business cards that leave a lasting impression on customers' minds.
The Canva app is available on the Apple App Store and Google Play. The Canva app has earned a 4.9 out of five star rating from over 946.3K Apple users and a 4.5 out of five star rating from over 6,996,708 Google users.
In addition to mobile apps, you can use Canva’s integration with other Internet services to add images and text from sources like Google Maps, Emojis, photos from Google Drive and Dropbox, YouTube videos, Flickr photos, Bitmojis, and other popular visual content elements.
In general, Canva is an excellent tool for those who need simple images for projects. If you are a graphic designer with experience, you will find Canva’s platform lacking in customization and advanced features – particularly vectors. But if you have little design experience, you will find Canva easier to use than advanced graphic design tools like Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator for most projects. If you have any queries let me know in the comments section.
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Continue reading...In addition to billions in weapons, the U.S. military is renovating an air base in the south of Israel, according to a new contract.
The post U.S. Army Is Upgrading an Israeli Base to Make Room for New Boeing Jets appeared first on The Intercept.
Delegates at party conference back motion by Unite union calling for government to reverse introduction of means-testing allowance
In an interview with Sky News, Wes Streeting said waiting lists would be “demonstrably lower” than they are now. He said:
By the next general election, waiting lists will be demonstrably lower because I know that’s how I will be judged, how the prime minister will be judged, how the government will be judged - people will judge us by our actions, not just our words ultimately.
Advances in genomics and data mean the healthcare of the future will be more predictive, more preventative and more personalised than ever before.
Detecting from birth a child’s risk of disease so we can act to keep them well; spotting cancer earlier, saving countless lives; treating patients with targeted medicines.
If the wealthy are told to wait months for treatment, they can shop around. But working people can’t.
And if they pay top dollar, the wealthy can be treated with cutting-edge equipment and technology. But working people can’t.
Continue reading...Former senator Rex Patrick claims ‘massive win for transparency’ in case dating back to 2020 ‘sports rorts’
The full federal court has rejected the Commonwealth’s attempt to keep ministerial documents beyond the reach of freedom-of-information requests after their authors leave office.
Three judges dismissed a federal government appeal against a single judge’s ruling made earlier this year in favour of former independent senator Rex Patrick. The self-described “transparency warrior” had challenged an FOI refusal that spanned four years, three attorneys-general and two governments.
Continue reading...IDF says it is carrying out more strikes against Hezbollah in the south of the country
Lebanon’s minister of culture, Judge Mohammad Wissam El-Mortada, has been speaking to Sputnik Radio, and Lebanon’s National News Agency is carrying some quotes from the interview.
In it, he said “Lebanon is engaged in a confrontation in defence of everything that is humane in this world against the enemies of humanity. Israel is exceeding all restrictions.”
Continue reading...Arrest order for Gusttavo Lima, swiftly overturned, shows unregulated betting as criminal headache and health crisis
In less than 24 hours, Gusttavo Lima, one of the most famous Brazilian country singers, sang at a rodeo in rural São Paulo state, watched Akon perform at the Rock in Rio festival, jetted to Miami – and became the target of an arrest warrant on suspicion of money laundering.
A judge issued the warrant late on Monday, saying Lima was suspected of links to illegal online gambling.
Continue reading...Shanel Tofaeono tied up store employee whose hands were ‘shaking so much due to fear’, judge says
A man who pretended to rob a luxury jewellery store and tied up a terrified employee as part of an alleged $2.8m insurance fraud plot has been jailed for his crime.
Shanel Tofaeono, 39, was part of a wider scheme allegedly headed up by jeweller Michel Germani to stage a robbery of his Hilton hotel store in Sydney’s CBD in January 2022.
Continue reading...Judge Tanya Chutkan grants Jack Smith’s request to file 180-page motion on presidential immunity in federal case
Special counsel Jack Smith can file an oversized, 180-page motion on presidential immunity in Donald Trump’s Washington DC federal court election interference case, a judge ruled Tuesday.
Judge Tanya S Chutkan’s decision stems from prosecutors’ 21 September request to exceed the typical 45-page limit for opening motions and oppositions. Smith’s motion must be filed by Thursday and will include both legal arguments and evidence and could provide additional insight into Trump’s efforts to throw out election results, though it is unclear when the public might be able to see the material given that it will initially be filed under seal.
Continue reading...As the state keeps details around the death penalty hidden, an investigation into its execution team raises questions about how incarcerated people are treated in their final moments.
The post In Alabama, Officers Accused of Violence and Misconduct Carry Out Secretive Executions appeared first on The Intercept.
The platform agrees to appoint a legal representative in Brazil, pays fines and takes down user accounts that the court had ordered removed
Elon Musk fought the law. The law appears to have won.
X, Musk’s social media platform, has backed down in its fight with the Brazilian judiciary, after complying with court orders that had blocked users in the country from accessing X.
Continue reading...For the first time in more than 30 years, the Council of UC Faculty Associations filed a formal complaint against the UC system.
The post California Professors Fight Back Against Violent Repression of Palestine Protest appeared first on The Intercept.
Mike Johnson unveiled legislation after original measure with non-citizen voting proposal failed to pass last week
The US House will vote Wednesday on a three-month government funding package, with just days left to avert a shutdown set to begin next Tuesday.
The stopgap funding measure, known as a continuing resolution or CR, is expected to pass the House despite opposition from some Republicans. Republican House speaker Mike Johnson unveiled the legislation on Sunday after his original funding proposal failed to pass last week.
Continue reading...This live blog is now closed. You can read all our latest US politics coverage here:
Minutes after Joe Biden finished addressing the UN general assembly, Donald Trump’s campaign released a statement warning, in apocalyptic terms, of the consequences of electing Kamala Harris.
“Under President Donald J Trump, Iran was weak, ISIS was eliminated, Hamas was cut off, historic peace was descending on the Middle East, Russia was under control and there hadn’t been a US service member killed in Afghanistan in 18 months,” the lengthy email read.
Continue reading...The source of the quote corrected Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, but they kept accusing the Palestinian House representative of antisemitism anyway.
The post CNN Anchors Won’t Stop Lying About Something Rashida Tlaib Never Said appeared first on The Intercept.
A subtle bipartisan shift in the language of immigration has opened the door to vilification and dehumanization.
The post You Should Stop Calling Immigrants “Migrants” appeared first on The Intercept.
Weapons used in earlier Israeli strikes into Lebanon that have killed civilians have been found to be U.S.-made.
The post Israel Bombed Lebanon Today, Killing Hundreds. The U.S. Is Sending More Bombs. appeared first on The Intercept.
So far, no one has been able to hold the notorious Israeli spyware firm accountable for complicity in human rights abuses.
The post These Human Rights Defenders Were Hacked by Pegasus. Now They Want Police to Charge the Spyware Maker. appeared first on The Intercept.
An Intercept investigation reveals that the Army National Guard has known about poisonous lead dust at armories open to the public for years, but is doing little to respond.
The post The National Guard Knows Its Armories Have Dangerous Lead Contamination, Putting Kids and Soldiers At Risk appeared first on The Intercept.
Trump always wants to cast himself as a victim. Delaying his sentencing until after the election makes that harder.
The post It’s Good Trump Won’t Be Sentenced Until After the Election appeared first on The Intercept.
Since 2021, Israeli soldiers have met weekly protests in the West Bank village with deadly force.
The post Israeli Soldiers Killed 15 Protesters in the Same Place They Shot Aysenur Eygi appeared first on The Intercept.
After the AG's meddling, a trial court judge rejected Williams's innocence claim — even though prosecutors mishandled the murder weapon.
The post A Prosecutor Wanted to Spare Marcellus Williams’s Life. Missouri’s Attorney General Got in the Way. appeared first on The Intercept.
In addition to billions in weapons, the U.S. military is renovating an air base in the south of Israel, according to a new contract.
The post U.S. Army Is Upgrading an Israeli Base to Make Room for New Boeing Jets appeared first on The Intercept.
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