Happy new year everyone — and happy public domain day! That's right: as of today, works from 1926 are now officially in the public domain in the US, and that means it's time for the latest public domain game jam: Gaming Like It's 1926, presented by Techdirt and Randy Lubin of Diegetic Games. Just like in past years, we're calling on game designers of all stripes and levels of experience to create games that make use of, or are based on, material from newly-public-domain works. The jam starts today and runs until the end of the month: just sign up for the jam on itch.io and submit your game by January 31st.
As always, the jam is open to both digital and analog games (be sure to read over the full requirements on the jam page). There are lots of interesting works entering the public domain this year, including:
Novels, short stories, and poems by Agatha Christie, Ernest Hemingway, Langston Hughes, T. E. Lawrence, A. A. Milne, and Dorothy Parker
If you're new to the jam, you might want to check out the winners of past jams focusing on works from 1923, 1924 and 1925 for inspiration. Whether you're an experienced game designer or just someone who wants to try their hand at the craft, we encourage you to join the jam and start working on your game! The submissions in past years have been truly amazing, and we can't wait to see what you come up with this time around.
theorkneynews posted: " A FLOOD ALERT has been issued for Orkney. A combination of spring tides, a surge, wind and waves could cause coastal flooding impacts around Orkney on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Potential impacts could include localised flooding of land and roads, "
Chicago veteran DeMar DeRozan hit a buzzer-beating, game-winning 3-pointer for the second consecutive night on Saturday, leading the Bulls to a victory over the Wizards in Washington, their seventh straight victory.
Ivan Barbashev, Torey Krug and the St. Louis Blues made the most of their national stage on Saturday night, outlasting the Minnesota Wild, 6-4, on a frigid night at Target Field, home of the Minnesota Twins, during the league's annual Winter Classic.
Kevin Durant was frustrated after the Nets lost their second straight Saturday night, this time to the severely undermanned Clippers, and called out his team's lack of intensity.
Ace Worldwide News Group posted: " #AceNewsReport - Jan.02: Many didn't have time to prepare for a gas outage right as a winter storm arrived, let alone a devastating and historic fire that destroyed an wariness 600 to 1,000 homes. #AceDailyNews says according to CBSLocal News Report: "
#AceNewsReport - Jan.02: Many didn't have time to prepare for a gas outage right as a winter storm arrived, let alone a devastating and historic fire that destroyed an wariness 600 to 1,000 homes. #AceDailyNews says according to CBSLocal News Report: Hundreds of families in Boulder County have tragically lost their homes to the Marshall […]
Jane Simon Ammeson posted: " There's a lot of stress and anxiety cycling around the world right now, and you need a break. Sure, you don't venture out much, and you take precautions to protect your family and others from the spread of coronavirus. But being cooped up in your home is"
There's a lot of stress and anxiety cycling around the world right now, and you need a break. Sure, you don't venture out much, and you take precautions to protect your family and others from the spread of coronavirus. But being cooped up in your home isn't doing a lot of good for your well-being.
Sound about right? Well, the good news is that you can do something about it. You can go on a safe family vacation that won't blow your budget. Lisa Walker, our guest blogger, has suggested five budget-friendly tips for traveling during the pandemic.
Take a car
Though flying is an option, you must ask yourself if you're comfortable sitting in close quarters with a bunch of strangers for hours on end. The safer option may be to drive. You can still have an exciting and relaxing vacation by taking a road trip to a destination that's closer to home. Not only is driving safer than flying right now, but it's also the cheaper option, even with the cost of fuel included. Just remember to give your car a little TLC before the trip, such as changing the oil or brake pads before your journey.
Stay safe if you're flying
If you're fully vaccinated and you've had a booster, flying is reasonably safe, especially with mask-wearing and the precautions airlines are taking. And these days, there are many discounted flights available. Make sure you have a contingency plan in place if you travel abroad and hit a snag. There are low-cost ways to receive funds from the U.S. if you have your valuables stolen. For example, if you're vacationing in the Dominican Republic, you can have money sent from home in a matter of minutes for as low as $4.99 if you use a service like Remitly.
It's also a good idea to purchase international health insurance during your trip just in case you get sick or injured. For instance, if you're traveling to Brazil, you can purchase this insurance through companies like American Visitor Insurance to ensure you're safe.
Visit people you know
There are still a lot of unknowns about coronavirus, and it has many different effects on different people. Therefore, it's safest to avoid catching it. And the best way to do that is to avoid large crowds. Instead of traveling to touristy destinations or other places with a high population, consider visiting loved ones, such as friends and family.
For over a decade, vacation rentals have been a popular choice among travelers. Online marketplaces like Airbnb and VRBO make it easy to find various types of homes to rent out by the night, week, or even month. And because hosts rely on good reviews to stay in business, you can expect a clean and attractive environment when you book a rental.
Staying in a vacation rental, rather than a hotel, will provide you with more of a private and "homey" feel. You'll get a full kitchen where you can cook meals, and you'll be safer from the spread of coronavirus since you'll be interacting less with strangers. Furthermore, it's often more cost-effective than staying at a hotel with comparable amenities.
Finally, you can always go camping. This is a perfect option for those who love a little bit of adventure in their travel. You can stay at a remote campground, save money by bringing your own food, and enjoy all kinds of activities like hiking, fishing, canoeing, etc.
There may be a global pandemic, but you can still take a relaxing and eventful vacation with your family. And it doesn't have to compromise your safety or budget. Along with considering the tips above, keep researching ways that you can get the most out of your trip. And plan to have the time of your life!
I Want Your Food posted: "Perfect little rolled tortilla appetizers shaped like firecrackers have a zesty Mexican-inspired flavor, thanks to taco seasoning, guacamole, refried beans, and a wick made from a thin strip of red pepper. "
Perfect little rolled tortilla appetizers shaped like firecrackers have a zesty Mexican-inspired flavor, thanks to taco seasoning, guacamole, refried beans, and a wick made from a thin strip of red pepper.
Ace Worldwide News Group posted: " #AceHealthReport - Jan.02: Researchers working at Belgium's Princess Elisabeth Polar Station in Antarctica have contracted Covid-19, even though all personnel have been inoculated and any new arrival has to follow rigorous safety protocols. #Coronavir"
#AceHealthReport - Jan.02: Researchers working at Belgium's Princess Elisabeth Polar Station in Antarctica have contracted Covid-19, even though all personnel have been inoculated and any new arrival has to follow rigorous safety protocols. #CoronavirusNewsDesk says according to RT News Report: Remote Antarctic station hit with #COVID19 outbreak: Two-thirds of the station's staff of 25 have […]
ivarfjeld posted: " In 2022 we will most likely face the last European empire of fascism. A rematch of 29th of October 1922, when Mussolini set the time to day one of the 1st year. The treaty between the Holy See and Italy, signed on February 11, 1929, by Cardinal Gaspar"
In 2022 we will most likely face the last European empire of fascism. A rematch of 29th of October 1922, when Mussolini set the time to day one of the 1st year. The first was the Roman Empire. The second the Holy Roman Empire of Germany. The third was the empire of Mussolini and Hitler. […]
Cannabis News World posted: "Cannabis.net A body high is usually connected with indicas and depicts a casual, chilled weed feeling. You could feel your muscles unwind, the strain depleting from your body, and finally get a decent night's rest. Science is yet to investigate the det"
Cannabis.net A body high is usually connected with indicas and depicts a casual, chilled weed feeling. You could feel your muscles unwind, the strain depleting from your body, and finally get a decent night's rest. Science is yet to investigate the detailed contrasts between Sativa versus Indica, yet ongoing examinations on CBD and tension distributed in The Permanente Journal announced that nervousness levels diminished more than 90 days for those taking CBD.
Deals, glorious Microsoft software deals! The New year is here and we are delighted to let you walk into 2022 with discounts on Microsoft software of up to a whopping 70%. And yes, you guessed it, we've got all of the information for you right here.
Admin posted: " News Release Canadian Premier League and FC Edmonton Announce Update on Ownership Toronto, ON – The Canadian Premier League (CPL) and the Fath family today announced a transition of operations of FC Edmonton to the League office, effect"
News Release Canadian Premier League and FC Edmonton Announce Update on Ownership Toronto, ON – The Canadian Premier League (CPL) and the Fath family today announced a transition of operations of FC Edmonton to the League office, effective immediately. This is the continuation of a well-planned strategy to develop new ownership for one of the League's Founding Clubs, while […]
Peacemaker explores the continuing story of the character that John Cena reprises from James Gunn's 2021 film The Suicide Squad.
It's a brand new year, and HBO Max has kicked it off with a shiny new red-band trailer for Peacemaker.
As we've reported previously, the eight-episode spinoff series is set after the events of Gunn's 2021 filmm The Suicide Squad—specifically after the post-credits scene, in which we learned that Peacemaker had survived what had appeared to be a fatal shooting. The first teaser dropped in October, showing Peacemaker (aka Christopher Smith) being recruited by Clemson Murn (Chukwudi Iwuji) for another mission in order to avoid going back to prison.
Once again, he's basically an assassin, but at least he's only killing bad people (maybe). He gets assistance from warden John Economos (Steve Agee) of the Belle Reve penitentiary, NSA agent and former Waller aide Emilia Harcourt (Jennifer Holland), and new team member Leota Adebayo (Danielle Brooks). The cast also includes Robert Patrick (Terminator 2) as Peacemaker's crusty father, Auggie Smith, who thinks his son is a "nancy-boy"; Freddie Stroma as Adrian Chase (aka Vigilante), a district attorney who fights crime and has rapid-healing abilities; and Nhut Le as Judomaster.
Enlarge/ The Tomb of Caecilia Metella is a mausoleum located just outside Rome at the three mile marker of the Via Appia. (credit: ivioandronico2013/CC BY-SA 4.0)
Among the many popular tourist sites in Rome is an impressive 2000-year-old mausoleum along the Via Appia known as the Tomb of Caecilia Metella, a noblewoman who lived in the first century CE. Lord Byron was among those who marveled at the structure, even referencing it in his epic poem Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812-1818). Now scientists have analyzed samples of the ancient concrete used to build the tomb, describing their findings in a paper published in October in the Journal of the American Ceramic Society.
"The construction of this very innovative and robust monument and landmark on the Via Appia Antica indicates that [Caecilia Metella] was held in high respect," said co-author Marie Jackson, a geophysicist at the University of Utah. "And the concrete fabric 2,050 years later reflects a strong and resilient presence."
Like today's Portland cement (a basic ingredient of modern concrete), ancient Roman concrete was basically a mix of a semi-liquid mortar and aggregate. Portland cement is typically made by heating limestone and clay (as well as sandstone, ash, chalk, and iron) in a kiln. The resulting clinker is then ground into a fine powder, with just a touch of added gypsum—the better to achieve a smooth, flat surface. But the aggregate used to make Roman concrete was made up fist-size pieces of stone or bricks
Enlarge/ Actor J.G. Hertzler, dressed as his character Martok from the Star Trek television franchise speaks during the "STLV19 Klingon Kick-Off" panel at the 18th annual Official Star Trek Convention at the Rio Hotel & Casino on July 31, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (credit: Gabe Ginsburg | Getty Images)
Most languages develop through centuries of use among groups of people. But some have a different origin: They are invented, from scratch, from one individual's mind. Familiar examples include the international language Esperanto, the Klingon language from Star Trek and the Elvish tongues from The Lord of the Rings.
The activity isn't new—the earliest recorded invented language was by medieval nun Hildegard von Bingen—but the Internet now allows much wider sharing of such languages among the small communities of people who speak and create them.
Christine Schreyer, a linguistic anthropologist at the University of British Columbia's Okanagan campus in Kelowna, Canada, has studied invented languages and the people who speak them, a topic she writes about in the 2021 Annual Review of Anthropology. But Schreyer brings another skill to the table: She's a language creator herself and has invented several languages for the movie industry: the Kryptonian language for Man of Steel, Eltarian for Power Rangers, Beama (Cro-Magnon) for Alpha, and Atlantean for Zack Snyder's Justice League.
Enlarge/ The physics behind champagne's bubbly delights is surprisingly complex—including the source of its distinctive crackling sound. (credit: Jon Bucklel/EMPICS/PA/Getty Images)
There's rarely time to write about every cool science-y story that comes our way. So this year, we're once again running a special Twelve Days of Christmas series of posts, highlighting one science story that fell through the cracks in 2020, each day from December 25 through January 5. Today: Researchers have uncovered the specific physical mechanism that links champagne's distinctive crackle with the bursting of its tiny bubbles.
There's nothing quite like the distinctive crackling and fizzing sound of a glass of freshly served champagne. It's well established that the bursting of the bubbles produces that sound, but the specific physical mechanism isn't quite clear. So physicists from Sorbonne University in Paris, France, decided to investigate the link between the fluid dynamics of the bursting bubbles and the crackly fizzy sounds. They described their work in a paper published back in January in the journal Physical Review Fluids.
As we've reported previously, the first mention of a sparkling wine dates back to 1535 in the Languedoc region of France. The classic brand Dom Perignon gets its name from a 17th-century monk who had the job of getting rid of the bubbles that developed in his abbey's bottled wine, lest the pressure build up so much they exploded. Legend has it that upon sipping such a bubbly wine, the monk realized the bubbles might not be such a bad thing after all, declaring, "Come quickly, brothers, I am drinking stars!"
"What makes machines, animals, and people smart?" asks the subtitle of Paul Thagard's new book, Bots and Beasts. Not "Are computers smarter than humans? or "will computers ever be smarter than humans?" or even "are computers and animals conscious, sentient, or self-aware (whatever any of that might mean)?" And that's unfortunate, because most people are probably more concerned with questions like those.
Thagard is a philosopher and cognitive scientist, and he has written many books about the brain, the mind, and society. In this one, he defines what intelligence is and delineates the 12 features and 8 mechanisms that he thinks It's built from,comprise it which allows him toso that he can compare the intelligences of these three very different types of beings.
He starts with a riff on the Aristotelian conception of virtue ethics. Whereas in that case, a good person is defined as someone who possesses certain virtues; in Thagard's case, a smart person is defined as someone who epitomizes certain ways of thinking. Confucius, Mahatma Ghandi, and Angela Merkel excelled at social innovation; Thomas Edison and George Washington Carver excelled at technological innovation; he lists Beethoven, Georgia O'Keeffe, Jane Austen, and Ray Charles as some of his favorite artistic geniuses; and Charles Darwin and Marie Curie serve as his paragons of scientific discoverers. Each of these people epitomizes different aspects of human intelligence, including creativity, emotion, problem solving, and using analogies.
Enlarge/ A 1960s Southern California gas station being restored. (credit: FarukUlay | Getty Images)
On the frosty morning of Dec. 9, 1921, in Dayton, Ohio, researchers at a General Motors lab poured a new fuel blend into one of their test engines. Immediately, the engine began running more quietly and putting out more power.
The new fuel was tetraethyl lead. With vast profits in sight—and very few public health regulations at the time—General Motors Co. rushed gasoline diluted with tetraethyl lead to market despite the known health risks of lead. They named it "Ethyl" gas.
It has been 100 years since that pivotal day in the development of leaded gasoline. As a historian of media and the environment, I see this anniversary as a time to reflect on the role of public health advocates and environmental journalists in preventing profit-driven tragedy.
Enlarge/ Ars staffers picked their favorite must-watch TV shows of 2021. (credit: Aurich Lawson)
Warning: Although we've done our best to avoid spoiling anything too major, please note this list includes a few specific references to You, Midnight Mass, Resident Alien, Post Mortem, Snowpiercer, Lupin, His Dark Materials, and Wellington Paranormal, among others.
Months of lockdown in 2020 meant fewer films but more quality TV content than ever before—much of it from streaming platforms rather than traditional broadcast television. Many of those shows were already in the pipeline, however. We feared the inevitable production shutdowns would result in fewer offerings for 2021, as the industry reckoned with rising production costs and the continued fallout from a pandemic that just keeps dragging on. And on.
Fortunately, while there were indeed some hiccups, we still had plenty of fantastic television on hand to take our minds off the grim daily reality, ranging from established franchises and quirky newcomers to imaginative adaptations and several foreign offerings that proved to be surprise breakout hits. With apologies to the many great series we just didn't have room for on this year's list, here are our favorite TV watches and binges for 2021, in no particular order:
Enlarge/ A gecko perches on a leaf. A September study found that geckos are very good gliders, and their tails help stabilize them when they crash-land into tree trunks. (credit: MPI for Intelligent Systems)
There's rarely time to write about every cool science-y story that comes our way. So this year, we're once again running a special Twelve Days of Christmas series of posts, highlighting one science story that fell through the cracks in 2020, each day from December 25 through January 5. Today: Asian flat-tails geckos gliding in the wild use their tails to stabilize the landing after colliding head-first into tree trunks.
There are plenty of examples of gliding animals: flying squirrels, for instance, as well as certain snakes, lizards, and frogs. Now we can add geckos to that list. Researchers caught Asian flat-tailed geckos gliding in the wild on high-speed video, and found they used their tails to stabilize the landing after colliding head-first into tree trunks, according to a paper published in September in the journal Nature Communications Biology. They verified the biomechanics by building a mini gecko-bot and simulating the gliding behavior in the lab.
As we've reported previously, the diminutive gecko is capable of some extraordinary feats of locomotion, zipping along vertical walls with ease and even running short distances across water. Precisely how they accomplish these feats has long interested scientists. For instance, geckos are known for being expert climbers, able to stick to any surface thanks to the tiny hair-like structures on the bottoms of their feet. The little lizards can also zip along the surface of water at high speeds to elude predators. They can't do it for very long; the energy expenditure required is too great.
Based on various measures, the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine has appeared to be less effective than those based on mRNA technology. It has also been associated with some rare blood clotting complications that recently caused the CDC to revise its endorsement of the vaccine. Still, the vaccine is easy to produce, transport, and store, and there have been some indications that it provides longer-lasting protection than some alternatives. And there have also been indications that at least some of the efficacy differences came from its use as a single-dose vaccine.
With all vaccines now expected to include a booster significantly after the initial vaccine dose, we're starting to get a sense of how the J&J vaccine performs in more than one dose. Early results indicated that a J&J vaccine boosted by an mRNA dose provides a big increase in protective antibodies. But a J&J/J&J combination didn't look to be as effective.
Recent research preprints, however, may indicate that the protection continues to increase over time, engages non-antibody-producing immune cells, and provides some protection against the omicron variant.
Enlarge/ A Boston Medical Center pediatrician performs a checkup on an 8-month-old while her father provides her comfort in a pediatrics tent set up outside of Boston Medical Center in Boston on April 29, 2020. (credit: Getty | Boston Globe)
The number of children hospitalized with COVID-19 in the US is skyrocketing amid the omicron wave, with new admissions up 66 percent in the last week and now past the all-time record high for the pandemic.
The surge in pediatric hospitalizations comes amid a record-smashing vertical rise in overall cases, which is being driven by the ultratransmissible omicron coronavirus variant. Though preliminary data continues to link omicron waves to milder disease and fewer hospitalizations compared with previous variants, it's still unclear if the variant is intrinsically less virulent in people generally, and specifically children, specifically.
Laboratory studies continue to indicate that omicron causes milder lung disease in rodents than previous variants. But, mild omicron waves in humans have largely been seen in populations with high levels of preexisting protection from prior COVID-19 infection and/or vaccination. Such populations are expected to have less severe disease overall.
Enlarge/ The Blackberry Torch, the company's first touchscreen phone, is held for display during its debut in New York in 2010. (credit: Bloomberg | Getty Images)
BlackBerry, the company that once dominated smart mobile devices, recently announced that it was finally discontinuing key services that support its phones. As of January 4th, the phones will no longer be provided with provisioning services, meaning that they will gradually lose the ability to join networks, including the cellular network.
It may seem difficult to imagine if you weren't using cell phones at the time, but BlackBerry once dominated the smartphone market. Its keyboard-based hardware was widely adopted in corporate settings, in part because the services it provided typically ran through BlackBerry servers, allowing for high levels of security and control. An indication of its importance is that early internal builds of Android looked like a cheap BlackBerry knockoff, rather than the cheap iPhone knockoff that was eventually released.
Unlike the people who developed Android, BlackBerry's leadership was blindsided by the iPhone's popularity. It dismissed on-screen keyboards, and counted on its stranglehold on corporate services to maintain its market. It took over a year after the iPhone's release for the company to come out with its own touch screen phone, and its software remained an awkward mix of old and new for some time after. In the mean time, corporate users fell in love with their Apple and Android phones, and compelled their IT departments to support them.
Tesla is recalling over 475,000 of its vehicles because of a pair of safety issues. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 356,309 Tesla Model 3s covering model years 2017-2020 are being recalled due to problems with the rearview cameras. The 2017-2020 Model S is the other target with 119,009 of those BEVs due to a problem with the front hood latch.
For the Model 3, the NHTSA says that the problem comes from a cable harness for the rearview camera, which "may be damaged by the opening and closing of the trunk lid, preventing the rearview camera image from displaying."
On the Model S, problems with the latch for the front hood may cause the "frunk" to open while the vehicle is in motion and without warning, which would obstruct the driver's visibility, increasing the risk of a crash."
Recently, a network of climate modeling groups showed that it will cost more to overshoot the Paris Agreement temperature goals than it will to stay on a low-temperature trajectory. On the same day, that collaboration also published work showing that additional risks of overshooting come in part via ensuing increases in extreme weather.These studies are two of four published this year; together they provide the most comprehensive projections of the requirements and implications of the path we take to reach our end-of-century temperature targets.
The article focused on the economic aspects of meeting the Paris temperature targets—specifically how much mitigation actions will cost and the impact on the global GDP—wasn't designed to project environmental impacts. In fact, most economic models don't include this level of complexity and, as a result, they underestimate the overall costs. But this additional analysis projects not only how much extreme weather will increase, but also how that will effect crop yields around the world.
"The decarbonization scenarios reviewed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in the last assessment reports do not account for the climate impacts' feedback. The main reason is that [there are] many uncertainties surround the geophysical and economic impacts of climate change, making their integration difficult in the design of decarbonization pathways," wrote first author Dr. Laurent Drouet in an email to Ars Technical. Drouet is a researcher at the RFF-CMCC European Institute of Economics and the Environment, in Milan, Italy. "But, now, [our] research focuses on improving the representation of these impacts and producing results that are easier to integrate into mitigation models."
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