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The Marshall Star for June 18, 2024
Tue, 18 Jun 2024 21:58:59 +0000
California Teams Win $1.5 Million in NASA’s Break the Ice Lunar Challenge By Savannah Bullard After two days of live competitions, two teams from southern California are heading home with a combined $1.5 million from NASA’s Break the Ice Lunar Challenge. Since 2020, competitors from around the world have competed in this challenge with the […]
Match ID: 0 Score: 10.00 source: www.nasa.gov age: 0 days
qualifiers: 10.00 school
“Utterly Dismayed”: Air Force Engineer Resigns as Dissent Against Gaza War Slowly Spreads Within Military
Tue, 18 Jun 2024 10:00:00 +0000
“I don’t want to be working on something that can turn around and be used to slaughter innocent people."
The post “Utterly Dismayed”: Air Force Engineer Resigns as Dissent Against Gaza War Slowly Spreads Within Military appeared first on The Intercept.
The task force revealed its plans not in a communiqué to faculty and students — but instead in an Israeli newspaper article.
The post Columbia Task Force Finally Weighs In: Yes, Anti-Zionism Is Antisemitism appeared first on The Intercept.
Public polling is a critical function of modern political campaigns and movements, but it isn’t what it once was. Recent US election cycles have produced copious postmortems explaining both the successes and the flaws of public polling. There are two main reasons polling fails.
First, nonresponse has skyrocketed. It’s radically harder to reach people than it used to be. Few people fill out surveys that come in the mail anymore. Few people answer their phone when a stranger calls. Pew Research reported that 36% of the people they called in 1997 would talk to them, but only 6% by 2018. Pollsters worldwide have faced similar challenges...
The board had proposed appending a statement that would have undermined a Palestinian scholar’s article. The students rejected it.
The post Columbia Law Review Is Back Online After Students Threatened Work Stoppage Over Palestine Censorship appeared first on The Intercept.
At least eight Filipinos were reportedly injured in the South China Sea clashes, including one who reportedly lost a thumb
At least eight Filipino navy personnel were injured this week – including one who lost a thumb – in a confrontation with the Chinese coast guard while, delivering food and other supplies to a military outpost at a disputed South China Sea shoal, Philippine security officials said.
The Philippine foreign ministry denounced what it described as China’s “illegal and aggressive” actions, adding that “dialogue and consultation” could not be achieved if “China’s words do not match their actions on the waters.”
Continue reading...UAVs continually kill civilians, but the U.S. military wants to expand its arsenal with an army of new, mass-produced kamikaze AI drones.
The post Cheap and Lethal: The Pentagon’s Plan for the Next Drone War appeared first on The Intercept.
South Korea says 10,000 containers carry suspected North Korean arms for Russia; claim that Russians beheaded captured defender. What we know on day 847
A Ukrainian defence source confirmed a drone attack was used to blow up oil storage tanks near the town of Azov in Rostov, southern Russia. Agence France-Presse said the defence source described it as a “successful” attack and said it caused “powerful fires in the installations”. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) “will continue to impose ‘drone sanctions’ on Russia’s oil refining complex and reduce the enemy’s economic potential, which provides the aggressor with resources to wage war against Ukraine”.
Video published by Russia’s emergencies ministry showed thick smoke and flames billowing out of what appeared to be multiple oil storage tanks over a large area. About 200 Russian firefighters and emergency personnel were sent in. The Rostov region sits directly across the border from Ukraine and is home to the operational headquarters overseeing Russia’s invasion.
A Russian drone attack left a man, 70, in hospital and damaged a multi-storey residential building in Lviv city, Andriy Sadovyi, the mayor, said on Wednesday. It hit the village of Malekhiv within the city district and damaged many windows in other residential buildings, he said. The city is the administrative centre of the Lviv oblast in western Ukraine, on the border with Nato member Poland.
Ukraine said Russian forces were fighting to enter the outskirts of Chasiv Yar in the Donetsk region. “The enemy keeps trying to advance to the micro-district Novy in the town of Chasiv Yar,” a Ukrainian military official said in a briefing.
Farther south, the military said Moscow’s forces were also pushing towards Pokrovsk, threatening a key road, which could complicate Ukrainian supply lines.
Ukraine’s air force said it downed 10 Shahed attack drones launched by Russian forces over Monday night into Tuesday.
Ukraine’s prosecutor general accused Russian forces of beheading a Ukrainian serviceman in the eastern Donetsk region. “The fact of decapitation of a Ukrainian defender was recorded in the Donetsk region,” said Andriy Kostin. He said Ukraine had documented nearly 130,000 war crimes committed by Russia.
National grid operator Ukrenergo said Ukraine would face rolling electricity blackouts throughout Wednesday after Russian strikes on Ukrainian power plants.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said China’s support for Russia’s defence industry was prolonging the Ukraine war and “has to stop”. Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian earlier urged Nato to “stop shifting blame” over the Ukraine war after the alliance’s chief, Jens Stoltenberg, accused Beijing of worsening the conflict through support of Russia.
The South Korean defence minister, Shin Wonsik, told Bloomberg News that South Korea had identified at least 10,000 shipping containers suspected to be containing artillery ammunition and other weapons sent from North Korea to Russia. Those containers could contain up to 4.8m shells, Shin said. Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, is visiting North Korea. “Putin is expected to seek closer security cooperation with North Korea, especially military supplies such as artillery shells that are necessary to seize a chance to win,” Shin told Bloomberg.
Ukrainian officials have already started preparatory work to organise a second peace summit, the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, has said after the first conference led by Ukraine was held over the weekend in Switzerland. Yermak said a joint plan needed to be figured out by member states first, a process he expected to take several months.
Continue reading...Donald Trump’s military ran a covert campaign to discredit China’s Sinovac vaccine at the height of the pandemic
In July 2021, Joe Biden rightly inveighed against social media companies failing to tackle vaccine disinformation: “They’re killing people,” the US president said. Despite their pledges to take action, lies and sensationalised accounts were still spreading on platforms. Most of those dying in the US were unvaccinated. An additional source of frustration for the US was the fact that Russia and China were encouraging mistrust of western vaccines, questioning their efficacy, exaggerating side-effects and sensationalising the deaths of people who had been inoculated.
How, then, would the US describe the effects of its own disinformation at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic? A shocking new report has revealed that its military ran a secret campaign to discredit China’s Sinovac vaccine with Filipinos – when nothing else was available to the Philippines. The Reuters investigation found that this spread to audiences in central Asia and the Middle East, with fake social media accounts not only questioning Sinovac’s efficacy and safety but also claiming it used pork gelatine, to discourage Muslims from receiving it. In the case of the Philippines, the poor take-up of vaccines contributed to one of the highest death rates in the region. Undermining confidence in a specific vaccine can also contribute to broader vaccine hesitancy.
Continue reading...Thaksin appears in court accused of lese-majeste relating to 2015 interview with South Korean media
The former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, a powerful backer of the ruling government, has been formally indicted for allegedly insulting the monarchy almost two decades ago.
One of Thailand’s most influential political figures, Thaksin, 74, appeared at Bangkok’s Ratchada criminal court accused of lese-majeste. The case relates to an interview he gave to South Korean media in 2015. He was granted bail on Tuesday.
Thaksin was ousted by a military coup in 2006 and spent 15 years in self-imposed exile to avoid charges he said were politically motivated. He returned to Thailand last year, arriving back in the country on the same day his party Pheu Thai formed an unlikely coalition with his former enemies from the conservative military establishment – a deal that was in both sides’ interest because it kept a popular, youthful pro-reform party out of power.
Continue reading...Coalition names sites at Collie, Mt Piper, Callide, Tarong, Liddell, Northern energy in South Australia and Loy Yang as potential nuclear power station sites. Follow the day’s news live
Sussan Ley says Coalition nuclear policy will be a ‘sensible proposition’
I just wanted to return to Sussan Ley’s appearance on Sky News this morning, where she was asked how a potential future Coalition nuclear policy would circumvent nuclear bans:
We’ll work through all that. We have a sensible proposition to put to the Australian people and I know that when we talk about nuclear people are starting to tune in, understanding that if 19 of the 20 biggest economies in the world are using nuclear, if it makes sense for cleaner baseload power, because it’s zero emissions, if it helps us get to 2050 net zero, if it does all of the things that we want it to do in terms of emissions, and in terms of securing affordable cheaper power for Australians … why would people not consider it? And I believe they will.
Now, the government says it’s renewables only. We can see that that’s actually not going to happen. The government talks about hydrogen, it’s not at scale. It’s not even something they can demonstrate works in that short timeframe and they talk about batteries that aren’t going to provide the storage for their renewables.
So, they are in a complete mess over this, and they need to be put on the sticky paper and asked what they are going to do for families, households and manufacturing businesses.
Continue reading...Australian energy sector and industry groups warn of risk of cost blowouts and destroying private sector investment
The Coalition’s promise to build seven nuclear power plants starting as soon as 2035 has been met with widespread skepticism by Australia’s energy sector and industry groups, who have warned about the risks of cost blowouts and destroying private sector investment.
AGL Energy and Origin Energy, two of Australia’s largest power producers, also reiterated their concerns about the proposed government intervention.
Continue reading...Premier Jacinta Allan acknowledges the state’s education department failed to listen when children spoke out
The Victorian premier has admitted the government failed to keep children safe from sexual abuse at several state schools, including Beaumaris primary school, where an inquiry found four paedophiles allegedly preyed on students in the 1960s and 70s.
Jacinta Allan and the deputy premier and education minister, Ben Carroll, on Wednesday announced the government would accept all nine recommendations of an inquiry into allegations of historical abuse at the school.
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 2020: With 850 million children worldwide shut out of schools, tech evangelists claim now is the time for AI education. But as the technology’s power grows, so too do the dangers that come with it. By Alex Beard
Continue reading...Jury finds 33-year-old drugged and fatally shot Mutten in the Blue Mountains in January 2022
Justin Stein murdered schoolgirl Charlise Mutten before dumping her body in a barrel by a river and trying to pin the killing on the nine-year-old’s mother, a jury has found.
At the time, Stein, 33, was in a relationship with Kallista Mutten, who he maintained throughout a four-week murder trial was the one who murdered the girl.
Continue reading...Jewish MP Josh Burns says attack that saw ‘Zionism is fascism’ graffitied on his Melbourne office was ‘politically motivated’
The federal Labor MP Josh Burns has warned that the “escalation of violence” in Australia over the war in Gaza will “end up in disaster” after vandals smashed, defaced and set fire to the front of his Melbourne electorate office.
“No amount of aggression” is going to “change what’s happening in the Middle East”, the member for Macnamara said, after a group smashed windows and graffitied the outside of his office in red paint with the slogan “Zionism is fascism”.
Continue reading...Abul Rizvi accuses major parties of ‘short-termism’, saying Labor’s approach to immigration is ‘unsustainable’ while Coalition’s would be ‘pure chaos’
The major parties should prioritise calm and rational conversations on net migration to prevent the next federal election from descending into “Trump-style name calling and civil unrest”, the former deputy secretary of the immigration department has warned.
Both Labor and the Coalition have pledged to reduce long-term net migration in the lead-up to the next federal election. The Albanese government’s plan will target international students with a proposal to cap the number each university can enrol from January 2025.
Continue reading...Report finds that religious, historical and cultural references have been removed in crackdown by Beijing
Hundreds of Uyghur villages and towns have been renamed by Chinese authorities to remove religious or cultural references, with many replaced by names reflecting Communist party ideology, a report has found.
Research published on Wednesday by Human Rights Watch and the Norway-based organisation Uyghur Hjelp documents about 630 communities that have been renamed in this way by the government, mostly during the height of a crackdown on Uyghurs that several governments and human rights bodies have called a genocide.
Continue reading...The Legend of Zelda: The Echoes of Wisdom will allow players to play as Princess Zelda, rather than the warrior Link, for the first time
Nintendo surprised fans yesterday by announcing a new chapter in its 40-year-old Zelda saga, one of the Japanese video game titan’s biggest franchises.
During an event broadcast on the web, the firm said The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom is scheduled for release on the Switch console on 26 September.
Continue reading...Robert O’Brien says US should abandon moratorium but experts say proposal would hasten global nuclear arms race
Donald Trump’s former national security adviser Robert O’Brien, widely tipped to play a leading role in a second Trump presidency, has advocated the resumption of nuclear testing, and the possible renewed production of plutonium and weapons-grade uranium.
Arms control experts said O’Brien’s proposals would accelerate the global nuclear arms race and backfire in terms of US security, handing greater advantages to Russia and China.
Continue reading...Justice department charges 24 defendants and says long investigation reveals links between Mexico’s Sinaloa gang and China
The US justice department has accused Chinese “underground bankers” of helping Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel launder more than $50m in drug-trafficking proceeds.
An indictment unsealed in California charged 24 defendants with conspiracy to distribute cocaine and methamphetamine and money-laundering offenses.
Continue reading...This live blog is closed
China has urged Nato to “stop shifting blame” over the war in Ukraine after the western military alliance’s chief accused Beijing of worsening the conflict through support of Russia.
Nato’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, on Monday called for China to face consequences for what US officials have called a major export push to rebuild Russia’s defence industry.
There are reports Putin will be staying at the Kumsusan guesthouse in Pyongyang, which also housed Chinese leader Xi Jinping during a 2019 state visit to North Korea in 2019.
The mansion is located near the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, where Kim Jong-un’s father Kim Jong Il, and grandfather Kim Il Sung, lie in state.
Continue reading...Report finds ‘alarming’ rise in extremism, with Islamist groups and cyber-attacks also posing dangers
A surge in far-right violence, Islamist extremism and cyber-attacks from Russia and China are putting German democracy under “significant” threat, the interior minister, Nancy Faeser, said as she presented a government report on domestic and foreign adversaries.
The wars in Ukraine and Gaza are having strong ripple effects on German security, driving radicalism and attacks, the study by the office for the protection of the constitution (BfV) found.
Continue reading...The Russian president’s visit to Pyongyang signals a deepening relationship between two isolated countries
China accounts for more than 90% of North Korea’s trade and has been its most dependable aid donor and diplomatic ally. But as Vladimir Putin’s imminent visit to Pyongyang proves, the secluded state’s behaviour is being increasingly influenced by its security and economic ties with Russia.
Continue reading...The federal court dismissed the case brought by Save the Children and ruled that the government had no legal obligation to bring them home
If the federal government had “the political will” to repatriate Australian women and children from Syrian detention camps “it would be a relatively straightforward exercise”, the full bench of the federal court has said in a judgment.
But there is no legal obligation on the government to bring its citizens back to Australia, the court ruled.
Continue reading...Threat of EU tariffs may not be enough to slow carmaker in its attempt to challenge Tesla on global stage
Germany’s men kicked off Euro 2024 on Friday in Munich. The city is storied in football terms, but it also occupies an important place in Germany’s self-image for a different reason: Munich is home to BMW, one of the country’s car exporting powerhouses.
Yet it will not be the logos of BMW or German rivals including Volkswagen or Mercedes-Benz plastered on stadiums or television coverage. Instead, China’s BYD is the only carmaker to sponsor Europe’s premier international tournament.
Continue reading...Since 1997 Hong Kong’s highest court has included British judges. But with China changing the laws in the city, they are being urged to resign. Amy Hawkins reports
Since 1997, British and Commonwealth judges have sat in the highest court in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong legal system is derived from English common law and foreign judges, including those from the UK, have been said to add expertise and prestige to its court system.
But in 2020 Beijing imposed a strict national security law to clamp down on pro-democracy protests. Since then the number of foreign judges has fallen as fears grow that the judges are lending credibility to a system where basic rights and freedoms are not being respected.
Continue reading...Pyongyang’s trade in wigs and false eyelashes is booming, offering a vital revenue stream to help it pursue its nuclear ambitions
They almost certainly don’t know it, but western owners of shiny new wigs and false eyelashes could owe their look to North Korean slave labour.
In recent years, a booming trade in human hair has helped to sustain North Korea’s isolated economy, softening the impact of international sanctions and providing Pyongyang with vital revenue to pursue its nuclear ambitions.
Continue reading...Jos Buttler’s side has had little batting time before Super Eight clash with hosts who won all four group matches
The daytime starts in this men’s T20 World Cup may be kinder to British newspaper deadlines and, they claim more importantly, the television audience in India. But Twenty20 cricket in the Caribbean is really all about the bacchanal after dark; those sultry, steamy evenings under lights, where the white ball flies into stands that are already pulsing to a soca beat.
After four group games before sunset, England will step into the calypso tent at 8.30pm local time on Wednesday night, 1.30am back home, for their first night game of the tournament. They meet a buoyant, unbeaten West Indies at the ground that carries the name of their head coach and two-time T20 World Cup-winning captain, Daren Sammy. The first outing in the Super Eight phase for both teams, it could rival the street party atmosphere of Gros Islet’s famous Friday night Jump Up if the buzz in Sammy’s native St Lucia is anything to go by.
Continue reading...Marco Longhi, standing for Dudley North, wrote to British-Pakistani voters about Labour’s Sonia Kumar, underlining her surname
A Conservative candidate has been criticised for sending letters to British-Pakistani voters allegedly insinuating they should vote for him instead of his Labour rival because of her Indian surname.
Marco Longhi, the Tory candidate fighting for re-election in Dudley North against Sonia Kumar, has been accused of using dog-whistle politics and attempting to “alienate British Hindus”.
Continue reading...Increasing use of fans, air coolers and air conditioners is placing ‘serious’ strain on grid in north of country
Engineers in India have warned of the possibility of prolonged power outages in the north, where a heatwave has brought misery for millions of people.
Demand for electricity has soared due to fans, air coolers and air conditioners being run constantly, placing a strain on the grid in Delhi and elsewhere in the north. Manufacturers of air conditioners and air coolers report sales rising by 40-50% compared with last summer.
Continue reading...Nikhil Gupta accused of plotting to kill US resident who has advocated for sovereign Sikh state in northern India
An Indian man suspected by the US of involvement in an unsuccessful plot to kill a Sikh separatist on American soil has pleaded not guilty to murder-for-hire conspiracy charges in a federal court in Manhattan.
Nikhil Gupta, 52, has been accused by US federal prosecutors of plotting with an Indian government official to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a US resident who has advocated for a sovereign Sikh state in northern India.
Continue reading...Being beholden to partners could be a necessary restraint on Indian PM – or he could double down on oppressive policies
As Narendra Modi traversed the country during recent months, campaigning for a third term in power, he repeated the same refrain. The past decade “was just a trailer”, the prime minister told crowds, adding: “There is plenty more to come.”
The expectation, among his Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) and most analysts and pollsters, was that India’s election would easily return him to power with the same – if not stronger – supermajority that he has enjoyed over the past decade.
Continue reading...As India concluded the world’s largest election on June 5, 2024, with over 640 million votes counted, observers could assess how the various parties and factions used artificial intelligence technologies—and what lessons that holds for the rest of the world.
The campaigns made extensive use of AI, including deepfake impersonations of candidates, celebrities and dead politicians. By some estimates, millions of Indian voters viewed deepfakes.
But, despite fears of widespread disinformation, for the most part the campaigns, candidates and activists used AI constructively in the election. They used AI for typical political activities, including mudslinging, but primarily to better connect with voters...
People across Ukraine have united in the face of the Russian threat and its Vietnamese community is no exception
When Russia invaded Ukraine two years ago, Tung Nguyen drove his parents from their home, in the city of Chernihiv, to the border with Poland. Then, he returned to Kyiv and began to volunteer, bringing food and medicines to under-siege Chernihiv. Before long, he had decided to sign up and fight in the Ukrainian army.
Nguyen is part of Ukraine’s Vietnamese community, a sizeable but often hidden minority in the country. Some Vietnamese people left Ukraine after the Russian invasion, but others have stayed, particularly those from the younger generation, many of whom were born in Ukraine and are Ukrainian citizens.
Continue reading...For the second time, the IFC is bucking recommendations to offer money as reparations to people hurt at a chain of schools it invested in, Bridge International Academies.
The post World Bank Financing Arm Rejects Calls to Directly Compensate Victims of Harm at Kenya Schools appeared first on The Intercept.
Kuo Chiu, known as KC to his friends, teaches urban design at Tunghai University in Taiwan. He’s also one of many of the country's citizens who practises rifle skills in his spare time, in case of a Chinese invasion.
The population of Taiwan has long grown familiar with Beijing’s pledge to one day ‘unify’ what it claims is a breakaway province. But recently, there has been a significant increase in aggressive and intimidatory acts.
Taiwan’s 160,000 active military personnel are vastly outnumbered by China’s 2 million-member armed forces, leading many civilians to turn to voluntary medical and combat training to protect themselves.
The Guardian's video team spent time with KC to see how he is preparing
Continue reading...Modi becomes second leader in Indian history to win three consecutive terms, but opposition leaders snub ceremony
Narendra Modi has been sworn in as prime minister of India for a historic third term, ushering in a new era of coalition politics for India’s strongman leader.
The ceremony, which took place at the presidential palace on Sunday evening, marked Modi’s return to power, only the second leader in India’s history to win three consecutive terms.
Continue reading...Bring some Caribbean heat to this veggie dish that works great as a standout main or flavour-packed side
Aubergines roasted over fire, glazed with umami-rich miso and the fruity heat of Encona West Indian Original Hot Pepper Sauce – yum! Encona has done a lot of the work already – the sauce has heat and fruitiness from scotch bonnets and tang from vinegar – so you’re building flavour from a really delicious, complex base. Cook a load of these to pile high as a side for guests to feast on, or have them as a quick and tasty midweek dinner.
This recipe is veggie (and can easily be made plant based by replacing the honey with maple syrup or agave nectar), and has loads of flavour, which makes for a deeply satisfying meal.
Continue reading...Ahead of the election in India, the Guardian’s video team travelled through the country to explore how fake news and censorship might shape the outcome.
Almost one billion people are registered to vote. The country's prime minister, Narendra Modi, has been in power for more than 10 years, and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) is seeking a third term.
But critics of Modi and the BJP say his government has become increasingly authoritarian, fracturing the country along religious lines and threatening India’s secular democracy. At the same time, the space for freedom of speech has been shrinking while disinformation and hate speech has exploded on social media.
We know turbulence is a common part of flying – but are some routes more prone? And where is it the worst? Turbulence is the leading cause of in-flight injuries to crew and passengers and after the fatal Singapore Airlines incident and injuries to passengers above Turkey on a Qatar Airways flight, you might be wondering if flights are about to get bumpier. Incidents of severe turbulence are on the rise – increasing by 55% between 1979 and 2020 – and the climate crisis is thought to be a responsible factor
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Continue reading...Ban Khun Samut Chin, a coastal village in Samut Prakan province, Thailand, has been slowly swallowed by the sea over the past few decades. This has led to the relocation of the school and many homes, resulting in a dwindling population. Currently, there are only four students attending the school, often leaving just one in each classroom. The village has experienced severe coastal erosion, causing 1.1-2km (0.5-1.2 miles) of shoreline to disappear since the mid-1950s
Continue reading...“One side or the other is going to win,” Alito told a person he thought was a right-wing activist.
The post Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito Caught on Secret Audio appeared first on The Intercept.
Muhammad Yunus tells the Guardian charges against him are politically motivated, and expresses concern about personal attacks from politicians
The Nobel peace laureate and microfinance pioneer Muhammad Yunus has said that years of fighting what he calls “dirty” politically motivated attacks on his work to alleviate poverty in Bangladesh have made life “totally miserable”.
Yunus told the Guardian he had come under 20 years of pressure from the Bangladeshi government for his work, which is credited with improving the lives of millions of poor people, particularly women.
Continue reading...The star of La Dolce Vita and A Man and a Woman, who has died aged 92, had a unique screen presence that was at once alluring and forbidding
The superbly aquiline beauty and patrician style of Anouk Aimée made her a 60s movie icon in France, Italy and everywhere else with a presence at once alluring and forbidding. She had something of the young Joan Crawford, or Marlene Dietrich, or her contemporary, the French model and actress Capucine. Aimée radiated an enigmatic sexual aura flavoured with melancholy, sophistication and worldly reserve. Hers was not a face that could simper or pout: it was the entranced men around her who were more likely to be doing that. Hirokazu Kore-eda once wrote an amusing line that all the great French movie actresses have surnames that begin with the same letter as their first names: Danielle Darrieux, Simone Signoret, Brigitte Bardot … and of course Anouk Aimée is absolutely in that brand-identity tradition – although this is a stage name (she was born Nicole Dreyfus) derived from the name of her first movie character and the resonant word “beloved”.
In Jacques Demy’s musicless musical Lola from 1961, Aimée played the title role: a cabaret singer (like Dietrich in The Blue Angel) who stuns men everywhere, but her unattainability is naturally essential to her desirability. In Demy’s later film Model Shop (1969), he revives the Lola character; she is now working at a sleazy “model shop” studio where men can take lurid photos. Other directors found in Aimée that same melodramatic “muse” quality that her air of untouchability perhaps encouraged: Jacques Becker’s 1958 film about Modigliani, Montparnasse 19 had Aimée as the painter’s lover and subject Jeanne Hébuterne.
Continue reading...While once there would be a lone photographer taking pictures of the happy couple, now videographers and ‘content creators’ are also invited to document the big day, and even the clergy have had enough
Hiking to the top of the highest local peak in full wedding dress sounded dramatic, adventurous and romantic. A visual representation of feeling on top of the world; a jaunty juxtaposition between gorgeous wedding finery and the wilds of northern England. The resulting photographs were striking and memorable, recalls the photographer behind this scenario, Scott Johnson. The couple were lovely and it was one of his favourite jobs – but he wonders how their guests felt, having been left for two hours while they went off to hike up a hill. “You’re invited by the bride and groom to spend a day with them and they disappear, so I can see where the angst comes from,” he says. “But it’s what the couple wants, so we have to say yes.”
Johnson, in his 40s, says he is old enough to remember when his wedding photography jobs lasted around three hours – he was there to capture the arrival at the church or register office, shoot the ceremony and take portraits and photographs for an hour or so afterwards. “You didn’t do any bridal preparation, or stay for the party.” Now, he says, couples want coverage from early in the morning until midnight or later. “I used to just take one camera and one lens,” he adds; now he brings a van of equipment. “Couples are much more aware of what can be done than ever before.” And, anecdotally at least, many couples want much more. “Some want the more stylised coverage,” he says. “You see wedding photography online where you’re thinking, that’s not a wedding, it’s like a movie shoot.”
Continue reading...The task force revealed its plans not in a communiqué to faculty and students — but instead in an Israeli newspaper article.
The post Columbia Task Force Finally Weighs In: Yes, Anti-Zionism Is Antisemitism 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
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