Ukraine war: why Germany dragged its feet over supplying Leopard tanks to Ukraine

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Ukraine war: why Germany dragged its feet over supplying Leopard tanks to Ukraine The decision to provide heavy tanks to Ukraine in significant numbers constitutes a step change in western military support for Ukraine. For the first time, western countries are providing substantial offensive capabilities to support a major campaign to regain lost territory. The decision has been long in coming. But for some months, the German chancellor Olaf Scholz resisted the decision to send German-made Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine. Even the Nato meeting held at the Ramstein US air base in Germany on January 20 to discuss the issue ended without a decision, much to the frustration of Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky and some of Kyiv’s other western allies. Continued here

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Ukraine has a mixed record of treating its citizens fairly - that could make it harder for it to maintain peace, once the war ends Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the dominant Western media narrative has been clear – Russia is the “global villain,” and Ukraine a model country victimized by an unjust war. But while the war may be unjust, Ukraine had its share of problems before the conflict with Russia intensified in 2022. Expert analysis shows that Russia launched an illegal war and has committed the vast majority of the human rights violations in the conflict – such as targeting Ukraine’s civilians. Continued here

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Debates over sacred images in the Byzantine Empire show why it's hard to appease any side An adjunct lecturer at Hamline University recently lost her job for showing an image of Prophet Muhammad in an art history class, which some students and administrators considered to be Islamophobic. The university later retracted the accusation of Islamophobia and said in a statement, “It was never our intent to suggest that academic freedom is of lower concern or value than our students,” but still insisted that “care” does not “supersede academic freedom, the two coexist.” An earlier statement from Hamline President Fayneese Miller had noted, “Students do not relinquish their faith in the classroom,” which suggested that classrooms need to be visually tailored to a specific faith. Continued here

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Nadhim Zahawi tax penalty: accounting expert on what it means when HMRC fines you for being 'careless' Although the news that Tory party chairman Nadhim Zahawi had paid a penalty for failing to file his taxes properly first surfaced during his short tenure as chancellor from July to September 2022, his past tax affairs have come under scrutiny again more recently. In July 2022, the Independent reported that Zahawi’s tax affairs were under investigation by HMRC. More recently, the Sun reported that the ex-chancellor, now Tory party chairman, had paid “several million” to “settle a dispute with HMRC” about whether he had used an offshore company called Balshore Investments to hold shares in YouGov. This the polling company he co-founded with help from his father in 2000 and retired from in 2010. Balshore is registered in Gibraltar and has been linked to Zahawi’s family, but Zahawi denies setting it up or using it. Continued here

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Philosophers have studied 'counterfactuals' for decades. Will they help us unlock the mysteries of AI? Artificial intelligence is increasingly being rolled out all around the world to help make decisions in our lives, whether it’s loan decisions by banks, medical diagnoses, or US law enforcement predicting a criminal’s likelihood of re-offending. Yet many AI systems are black boxes: no one understands how they work. This has led to a demand for “explainable AI”, so we can understand why an AI model yielded a specific output, and what biases may have played a role. Continued here

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Manage AI Bias Instead of Trying to Eliminate It Asking how to prevent such bias is in many ways the wrong question, because AI is a means of learning and generalizing from a set of examples — and all too often, the examples are pulled straight from historical data. Because biases against various groups are embedded in history, those biases will be perpetuated to some degree through AI. Traditional and seemingly sensible safeguards do not fix the problem. A model designer could, for example, omit variables that indicate an individual’s gender or race, hoping that any bias that comes from knowing these attributes will be eliminated. But modern algorithms excel at discovering proxies for such information. Try though one might, no amount of data scrubbing can fix this problem entirely. Solving for fairness isn’t just difficult — it’s mathematically impossible. Hardly a day goes by without news of yet another example of AI echoing historical prejudices or allowing bias to creep in. Even medical science isn’t immune: In a recent article in The Lancet, researchers showed that AI algorithms that were fed scrupulously anonymized medical imaging data were nevertheless able to identify the race of 93% of patients. Continued here

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Australian teachers are dissatisfied with their jobs but their sense of professional belonging is strong Kelly-Ann Allen is a fellow of the Australian Psychological Society and College of Educational and Developmental Psychologists. Teachers around Australia are preparing to head back to the classroom for 2023. But amid excitement about a new school year, there are ongoing concerns about teacher shortages and headlines saying kids are “falling behind” and education strategies are not working. Continued here

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People blame and judge parents for children's heavier weights Americans stigmatize parents of heavier children, specifically blaming them for their children’s weights, according to experiments conducted by our team of psychologists. The more a person views parents as responsible for a child’s excess weight, the more likely they are to view such parents as bad parents who are lazy, overindulgent and incompetent. Continued here

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JWST captures Chariklo's rings and more: Understand the world through 8 images The James Webb Space Telescope captured a never-before-seen feature far out in our Solar System the week of January 18–25, as researchers probed the causes of a rare form of cancer and heart failure. Continued here

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'Wolf Pack' review: Proof that supernatural teen shows can still be bad Wolf Pack, Paramount+’s latest teen supernatural drama, comes from an esteemed pedigree. Not only is the werewolf series created by Teen Wolf mastermind Jeff Davis, it stars Sarah Michelle Gellar, the patron saint of the subgenre thanks to her star turn in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Continued here

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Overheard in New York: Auditing Exchanges in FiDi Sign up for the Daily Humor newsletter and get The New Yorker cartoons and Shouts—plus more funny stuff—every day in your in-box! Continued here

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Why labour strife at universities should concern us all In smaller cities and towns, universities are often among the largest employers in addition to serving as important community hubs. Perhaps nowhere has this impact become more apparent than Sudbury, Ont., where — as the province of Ontario’s auditor-general reported — mismanagement at Laurentian University led to significant job losses and disruption to the local economy. Given the public significance of the university sector, the increasing labour unrest that we are seeing there should be of concern to all citizens. Continued here

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What's effective altruism? A philosopher explains Effective altruism is an intellectual and charitable movement that aspires to find the best ways to help others. People dedicated to it rely on evidence and rational arguments to identify what they can do to make the most progress toward solving the world’s most pressing problems, such as reducing malnutrition and malaria while increasing access to health care. A group of intellectuals, including the Oxford University philosophers William MacAskill and Toby Ord, coined the term in 2011. The movement was inspired in part by the philosopher Peter Singer, who has argued for an obligation to help those in extreme poverty since the 1970s. Continued here

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Ukraine: why supply of US and German tanks echoes cold war The decision that Germany and the US will allow the export of M1 Abrams and Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, alongside the British Challenger 2 tanks promised in mid January is the culmination of Nato’s policy to assist Ukraine and an important symbolic step in the west’s response to Putin’s aggression. The export of German and US tanks to Ukraine is not without risk, both real and symbolic. In purely military terms, well-trained, well-led and motivated Ukrainian tank crews operating the Leopard 2 or M1 Abrams will be better protected, have better firepower and be more manoeuvrable than their Russian counterparts. Provided the Ukrainians can cope with the fact that they will need different ammunition, spare parts and possibly fuel they can make a difference, significantly enhancing Ukraine’s capability to defend its territory. Continued here

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The Holocaust: remembering the powerful acts of 'ordinary people' “The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there,” the British author LP Hartley once wrote, hinting at the mystique of history – the idea that people in the past were somehow different to us in the 21st century. As many historians will tell you, it’s not particularly useful to project modern values onto the past, or to judge historical figures by contemporary ideals. But the idea that the past far away in space and time, is also flawed. It encourages people to overlook the fact that those involved in seismic past events were real human beings, just like ourselves. Continued here

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Four possible consequences of El Nino PhD Candidate in Climate Science, Barcelona Supercomputing Centre, University of Leeds Every two to seven years, the equatorial Pacific Ocean gets up to 3°C warmer (what we know as an El Niño event) or colder (La Niña) than usual, triggering a cascade of effects felt around the world. This cycle is called the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) because every El Niño is naturally followed by a La Niña and vice versa, with some months of neutral conditions in between events. The change in sea surface temperature associated with ENSO events might seem marginal, but it is more than enough to disrupt weather patterns globally and even the large-scale circulation of air in the polar stratosphere 8km above the Earth. Continued here

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4 Ways to Optimize Your Marketing Strategy With Data Understand your audience and target more effectively. Continued here

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Is This the Real Reason Google, Amazon, Facebook and Microsoft Are Having Layoffs? Are 51,000 people losing their jobs because their employers want to shift the balance of power? Continued here

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What are universities for? Canadian higher education is at a critical crossroads These profound changes are encapsulated by the statements of former Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, who said his government was “trying to retool the education system.” It is unsettling to consider the long-term trajectory and the consequences of narrowing universities in their scope to more closely emulate technical and training colleges and the manner in which they serve the current labour market and industry. Continued here

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You need to watch the weirdest monster movie on HBO Max ASAP Before Tyler Posey made millennial teens feel some type of way about werewolves, Gen Xers were swooning over a furry Michael J. Fox navigating young adulthood. Werewolves have been beleaguered by a reputation that dates back to Ancient Greece. The full moon damns those affected to an eternity of painful nights, uncontrollable rage, and a tendency to get into hairy situations with silver swords and bullets. But in 1985, Rod Daniel’s Teen Wolf made the fuzzballs adorable, not abominable. Continued here

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Teaching the Holocaust through literature: four books to help young people gain deeper understanding A survey commissioned in 2019 revealed the shocking result that over half of Britons did not know that at least six millions Jews had been murdered during the Holocaust. This result was all the more surprising given the fact that the Holocaust, as a topic, has been part of the national curriculum in England and Wales since its creation in 1991. The 2014 iteration of the national curriculum has the Holocaust as a firm part of key stage 3 history – compulsory for all 11 to 14-year-olds in state schools. Additionally, many secondary school pupils may encounter the Holocaust as a topic in English or religious education lessons. Continued here

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This election year, NZ voters should beware of reading too much into the political polls With a new prime minister sworn in and a cabinet reshuffle imminent, it’s no exaggeration to say the election year has begun with a bang. Already the punditry and speculation are ramping up, with anticipation building for the first opinion polls. There will be more polls to come, of course, but a word of caution is in order: don’t treat them as gospel, and try not to let them become self-fulfilling prophecies. At this point, we can’t predict who will form New Zealand’s next government, and it could yet be a tight race. Continued here

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Colette: The most beloved French writer of all time "How long Colette has lived, even after her death!" wrote the journalist Janet Flanner in 1967. More than half a century later, Colette lives on still, and this week sees the 150th anniversary of her birth. To mark the occasion, NYRB Classics has published a new translation of her twin masterpieces, Chéri (1920) and The End of Chéri (1926), translated by Paul Eprile – and this seems like a good opportunity to explore the life and work of this uniquely beloved of French writers. More like this:-       America's greatest living writer?-       Why the most difficult novel is so rewarding-       The shocking memoir of the 'lost generation' Continued here

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Prince Harry: early leaks came from a Spanish translation, causing confusion about what was really said Eight days before Prince Harry’s memoir Spare hit shelves elsewhere, copies went on sale prematurely in Spain. Over the next few days the UK media, scrambled to acquire Spanish copies of the book, having been unable to get English versions for themselves. Their reporting on the story was initially based on these Spanish versions. Continued here

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13 years ago, one sci-fi game revolutionized RPGs forever Video games are inherently power fantasies, but Mass Effect 2’s opening completely strips that power away, forcing you to watch helplessly as Commander Shepard slowly suffocates in the void of space. It’s a startling and unsettling beginning that brilliantly sets the stage for a game that consistently bucks tradition, and doesn’t ever pull its punches. Mass Effect 2 is a rare sequel that takes the foundations of the previous game, but strips away everything that didn’t work, replacing it with bold new ideas. BioWare took chances, both mechanically and narratively, and it paid off wildly to create one of the most mesmerizing RPGs ever made. The stakes are already set ridiculously high in Mass Effect 2, with the mysterious Collectors taking Commander Shepard out. After being brought back to life by the criminal organization Cerberus, you’re set to the task of gathering a crew for a suicide mission to infiltrate the Collector base. It’s a pretty grim setup that lets you know that survival is not guaranteed — for anybody. Continued here

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Is 'Toadzilla' a sign of enormous cane toads to come? It's possible - Last week, the world met “Toadzilla”, a cane toad the size of a football and six times larger than average. The rangers who found her – female toads are bigger than male – were stunned. Weighing in at 2.7 kilograms, Toadzilla may be the largest cane toad ever recorded. But there’s another possibility too. Last year, we found toads in urban areas have smaller parotid (toxin) glands than those in rural areas. That might be because bush toads experience higher predation, selecting for more toxins. In nature, an easy way to select for larger toxin glands is to make the whole animal bigger. Continued here

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Eliminating neglected diseases in Africa: there are good reasons for Monique Wasunna is the director of the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative Africa Regional Office. Togo had reason to celebrate in 2022 when it became the first country in the world to eliminate four neglected tropical diseases. The west African nation stamped out Guinea worm disease in 2011, lymphatic filariasis in 2017, sleeping sickness in 2020, and trachoma last year. Continued here

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Beavers and oysters are helping restore lost ecosystems with their engineering skills - podcast Associate Science Editor & Co-Host of The Conversation Weekly Podcast, The Conversation Science + Technology Editor & Co-Host of The Conversation Weekly Podcast, The Conversation Continued here

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2 Daily Habits That Will Make You Super Focused and Productive All Day Be more productive during the day without exposing yourself to burnout. Continued here

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29 years ago, one pivotal sci-fi series got a second chance One year after its slightly inauspicious pilot, Babylon 5 was back. And this time, things were different. While the 1993 pilot movie “The Gathering” set the tone for the series, the real first episode of the series — “Midnight on the Firing Line” — aired on January 26, 1994. This episode gave Babylon 5 the second chance it needed and, 29 years later, still holds up as a fine hour of sci-fi television. In almost every conceivable way, “Midnight on the Firing Line” was a reboot for Babylon 5. Several characters from “The Gathering” were suddenly new people. Dr. Ben Kyle (Johnny Sekka), and Lt. Commander Laurel Takashima (Tamlyn Tomita) were replaced by Dr. Franklin (Richard Biggs) and Lt. Commander Ivanova (Claudia Christian). And, somewhat hilariously, resident telepath Lyta Alexander (Patricia Tallman) was replaced by Talia Winters (Andrea Thompson), although Lyta would later return in Season 2 and replace Talia. But, the rest of these changes stuck, including a massive aesthetic overall for the pivotal character of Ambassador Delenn (Mira Furlan). In 1997, series creator J. Michael Straczynski took a refreshingly organic view of Babylon 5’s canon, saying, “My feeling is that fiction, like life, is open changes, and let’s use that to our benefit.” Continued here

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'Season: A Letter to the Future' explores a beautiful but aimless apocalypse I tip over the edge, letting gravity take over and pull me down the long, winding road ahead. I fix my eyes on the sky, taking in its vivid purples and oranges in the feeling of peace before pulling over to snap a quick photo of the horizon and record the sounds of nature around me. In moments like this, Season: A Letter to the Future shines. Developed by Scavengers Studio, Season is an extremely chill game about leaving home for the first time, touring the world on a bike, and recording the wonders you find along the way. Also, the world might be ending, but no one is letting that ruin their day. While it’s filled with scenes of beauty, Season’s awkward pace and muddled message leave it feeling a little undercooked. Continued here

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How California's ambitious new climate plan could help speed energy transformation around the world California is embarking on an audacious new climate plan that aims to eliminate the state’s greenhouse gas footprint by 2045, and in the process, slash emissions far beyond its borders. The blueprint calls for massive transformations in industry, energy and transportation, as well as changes in institutions and human behaviors. These transformations won’t be easy. Two years of developing the plan have exposed myriad challenges and tensions, including environmental justice, affordability and local rule. Continued here

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ChatGPT: why education should embrace the AI chatbot, not shun it Just under two months ago, the US artificial intelligence company OpenAI introduced a program called ChatGPT. Essentially an advanced chatbot, it has been the subject of much debate. Some commentators have described its answers as very impressive, while others have drawn attention to factual errors in its output. Nevertheless, the product has been hailed as a potentially disruptive innovation for many different industries. Continued here

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Corey Stoll has the chops to make a live-action M.O.D.O.K. work Marvel's bigheaded megalomaniac needs to strike the difficult balance between silly and scary in his upcoming MCU debut. “M.O.D.O.K. never compromises!,” as Marvel’s most infamous Mental Organism Designed Only For Killing has confidently asserted many times in trippy comic book panels. So it stands to reason that the MCU shouldn’t be expected to compromise on the floating megalomaniac in question, either, in his upcoming live-action debut. Continued here

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Prince Harry's kill count revelation could spark important discussions about war's effects on soldiers When Prince Harry revealed in his new book, “Spare,” that he killed 25 Taliban fighters as an Apache helicopter pilot, he compared their deaths to “chess pieces removed from the board.” His comments have drawn ire from critics, such as Anas Haqqani, a member of the Haqqani Network, which is an Afghan Sunni Islamist militant organization and part of the Taliban government of Afghanistan. Haqqani shot back that those slain fighters “were not chess pieces, they were humans; they had families who were waiting for their return.” But others have questioned whether Prince Harry should have spoken about his body count at all. Here, L. William Uhl, an assistant professor of philosophy at the United States Air Force Academy, provides insight on what airmen are taught and told when it comes to the sensitive topic of taking lives in the line of duty. Continued here

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A major new exhibition in Nairobi reveals the history of east African art traditions Mwili, Akili na Roho (Body, Mind and Spirit) – on in Nairobi, Kenya – is a major international exhibition presenting east African painters who are key players in the modernist art of the region. Modernism in the fine arts refers to a period of experimentation from the late 1800s to the mid 1900s, a break from the realism of the past and a search for new forms of expression. The exhibition features a group of artists from different generations who vary in backgrounds, as well as in the themes and forms of their art. They represent 50 years of east African art – from 1950 to 2000. They are: Sam Joseph Ntiro (1923-1990), Elimo Njau (1932-), Asaph Ng’ethe Macua (1930-), Jak Katarikawe (1940-2018), Theresa Musoke (1942-), Peter Mulindwa (1943-), Sane Wadu (1954-), John Njenga (1966-1997), Chelenge van Rampelberg (1961-) and Meek Gichugu (1968-). Continued here

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Ukraine recap: supply of German and US tanks to make Kyiv 'a real punching fist of democracy' For the past several days the focus of war news has been squarely on Germany’s Olaf Scholz. The chancellor has been battling with his conscience over whether to accede to Volodymyr Zelensky’s plea to supply Ukraine with his country’s fearsome Leopard 2 tanks. The Ukrainian president has been hammering the message that with much of the fighting in the east of the country bogged down in a bloody and attritional battle around the city of Bakhmut in the eastern Donbas region while Russia is reportedly conscripting and training up hundreds of thousands more troops for a spring offensive, his country is desperate for the sort of increased firepower these tanks can provide. Continued here

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COVID booster vaccines: how a third dose may help vulnerable people 'level up' their immunity COVID vaccines call our immune systems to action, generating antibodies which fight against any contact we have with the virus. Antibodies help to reduce the effects of an infection or even prevent it altogether. Scientists have estimated that vaccination has averted millions of COVID deaths worldwide. Studies have also shown the chances of having long-term or ongoing symptoms (“long COVID”) are significantly reduced for anyone who does catch COVID after being vaccinated. Continued here

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The Trump Enablers Dance On With Donald Trump, there is nothing new, only new iterations of old scams. In 2019, the legendary sports journalist Rick Reilly wrote a book about Trump’s apparent epic knack for cheating at golf, noting that a plaque at Trump International Golf Club at West Palm Beach listed Trump as having won the club golf championship three times—including in 1999, seemingly before the club had opened. At his New Jersey golf club, Reilly reported, Trump once declared himself the winner of the senior golf championship after playing the “winning” round at a different course, eighty-seven miles away. This past Sunday, Trump repeated the feat, announcing that he had been victorious in his West Palm Beach club’s senior championship over the weekend, despite not playing in the first round. Trump had been in North Carolina that day, but apparently decided to give himself a lead in the tournament anyway by using a score he recorded before the tournament started. In revealing the “win” on his Truth Social social-media network, Trump cited it as proof of the exceptional “strength and stamina” he would bring back to “govern.” Continued here

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Can this new artificial skin transform touch screens and video games? If you had to rank the most powerful sense, which would you choose? Over 88 percent of participants in a 2016 survey ranked vision as their most important sense, followed by hearing in a distant second. In fact, taste, smell, and touch are often overlooked entirely. But touch matters a lot — in ways most people don’t always recognize. For instance, it helps us steer clear of hot stoves, figure out an object’s weight and composition, and, of course, tap away at our smartphones and tablets. In fact, scientists are paying close attention to touch when developing futuristic robots and other electronics. Continued here

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The public or the state: who calls the shots at the BBC? Richard Sambrook worked for the BBC for thirty years, finally as Director of Global News and the World Service. What’s the difference between a state broadcaster and a public broadcaster? The dispute over the close relationship between the BBC chairman, Richard Sharp and the former prime minister Boris Johnson, has seen some people – including on one occasion a BBC presenter – refer to it as a “state broadcaster”. The BBC is usually called a public service broadcaster (PSB) – and other PSBs around the world still look to the UK model as an example of good practise. The difference is significant and matters. Continued here

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Horror comedy 'The Menu' delves into foodie snobbery when you're dying for a cheeseburger The Disney+ release of horror/comedy The Menu marks the beginning of what is already shaping up to be a reckoning year for the world of fine dining. The film, released this past fall, is directed by Mark Mylod, known for producing and directing the acclaimed series Succession, and satirizes the culture of high-end dining. Continued here

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'Dead Space' review: 2023's first GOTY contender revives a horror masterpiece The wide-open Hydroponics section of the USG Ishimura is deeply familiar, and yet, I’m frozen in terror. I’m almost overwhelmed as the eerie, piercing sound of Necromorphs flood in, one after another. Thankfully, my trusty Plasma Cutter is enough to fend them off … at first. Then, a repulsive Pregnant Necromorph approaches, and my worst fear is realized: I’m completely out of ammo, and my health is low. Continued here

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It'll take 150 years to map Africa's biodiversity at the current rate. We can't protect what we don't know The African continent is bursting with biodiversity. In a 2016 report, the United Nations Environment Programme wrote: Africa’s biomes extend from mangroves to deserts, from Mediterranean to tropical forests, from temperate to sub-tropical and montane grasslands and savannas, and even to ice-capped mountains. Continued here

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Xbox Game Pass January 2023: 'Hi-Fi Rush' and 8 more games coming soon Xbox Game Pass added a small but excellent batch of games to start January 2023. The end of the month brings a bigger selection with even more incredible games among them. Continued here

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Spotify CEO Daniel Ek's Memo to Laid off Workers Is a Textbook Example of Why Toxic Positivity Is So Harmful Experts panned Daniel Ek's memo to laid off workers as a classic example of toxic positivity. Continued here S35 Voluntary assisted dying will be available to more Australians this year. Here's what to expect in 2023 Katrine Del Villar has been involved (with colleagues) in writing the legislatively-mandated training for doctors involved in voluntary assisted dying in Western Australia and Queensland. By the end of 2023, eligible people in all Australian states will be able to apply for voluntary assisted dying as the final three states’ laws will become operational this year. Continued here S37 What happens to our data when we no longer use a social media network or publishing platform? Postdoctoral Fellow, Critical Digital Humanities Initiative, University of Toronto The internet plays a central role in our lives. I — and many others my age — grew up alongside the development of social media and content platforms. Continued here S33 Molly Meldrum at 80: how the 'artfully incoherent' presenter changed Australian music - and Australian music journalism The Australian music industry would not be where it is today without his work as a talent scout, DJ, record producer, journalist, broadcaster and professional fan. His legacy has been acknowledged by the ARIAs, APRA, the Logies, an Order of Australia and even a mini-series. Continued here S64 'Fire Emblem Engage': How to unlock all 35 characters, including the 6 missable ones It’s time to assemble an army. Fire Emblem Engage is here, and as the latest entry in Nintendo’s tactics franchise, there are plenty of different characters that players can add to their roster. Different classes abound, and there are 35 characters in total that you can command across the 26 different chapters of Fire Emblem Engage, with six of these party members being optional. The remaining 29 are mandatory party members who join during the main storyline. To make things easier, we’ve organized the characters alphabetically by their faction/homeland. You don’t want to miss out on anyone, so use our guide and you can avoid stress by knowing exactly who is unlockable and when they’ll become available. Continued here S56 Tucker Carlson Has No Filter Follow @newyorkercartoons on Instagram and sign up for the Daily Humor newsletter for more funny stuff. © 2023 Condé Nast. All rights reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. The New Yorker may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast. Ad Choices Continued here S40 Canada's $2.8 billion settlement with Indigenous Day Scholars is a long-time coming Eleven years. That’s how long it took the federal government to agree with 325 First Nations over the collective loss of language and culture suffered by Day Scholars in the Residential School system in Canada that existed between the mid 1800s until 1996. Day Scholars were forced to live in Residential Schools but attended school during the day in nearby white communities. Continued here S67 'Succession' Season 4 trailer reveals release date and a Roy civil war Succession predicted the “rich people are terrible but also interesting” trend that gave us 2022’s biggest hits Triangle of Sadness, The Menu, and Glass Onion. It also gave us countless classic memes, and it looks like Season 4 of the hit HBO series isn’t going to stop anytime soon. In fact, the action is about to heat up now that there’s a rift between the Roys. Season 3 ended with Logan making a deal that cuts out his kids, and now in Season 4 Connor, Shiv, Kendall, and Roman are all trying to make their own way without L to the OG. In the Season 4 teaser trailer, we see just where these complex loyalties lie. Continued here S36 Disabled people were Holocaust victims, too: they were excluded from German society and murdered by Nazi programs When Dominic Perrottet admitted to wearing a Nazi uniform to his 21st birthday party, he apologised to Jews and veterans – but not to the other groups who were persecuted by the Nazis, including disabled people. However, disabled people were the first victims of the Holocaust. They were murdered in a number of Nazi programs specifically targeting them, as well as those that targeted Jews, Sinti, and Roma. Continued here S47 Asteroid 2023 BU just passed a few thousand kilometres from Earth. Here's why that's exciting There are hundreds of millions of asteroids in our Solar System, which means new asteroids are discovered quite frequently. It also means close encounters between asteroids and Earth are fairly common. Some of these close encounters end up with the asteroid impacting Earth, occasionally with severe consequences. Continued here S66 'Attack the Block' sequel will take a page from the two greatest sci-fi sequels, director says Before Star Wars, John Boyega took up arms against aliens in Attack the Block, still one of the best sci-fi monster movies ever made. Finally, there’s movement on the long-awaited sequel, and based on what director Joe Cornish has said, fans may be in for another instant classic. In an interview with Fangoria’s Stephen King podcast The Kingcast, writer/director Joe Cornish gave an update to his gestating Attack the Block sequel. In short, the story has been figured out but there’s still work to be done before cameras can start rolling. Continued here S49 Magnesium: what you need to know about this important micronutrient There’s been a lot of chat on social media over the past few months about the importance of magnesium supplements. Many suggest that symptoms such as trouble sleeping, tense muscles and low energy are all signs you’re deficient and should be taking a magnesium supplement. Magnesium is one of the many micronutirents the body requires to remain healthy.It’s essential for helping more than 300 enzymes carry out numerous chemical processes in the body, including those that produce proteins, support strong bones, control blood sugar and blood pressure and maintain healthy muscles and nerves. Magnesium also acts as an electrical conductor that helps the heart beat and contracts muscles. Continued here S51 The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is now an opera - the case for adaptating the book that the Auschwitz Museum said 'should be avoided' Irish novelist John Boyne published his novel The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas in 2006. The protagonist, eight-year-old German boy Bruno, has no idea that his father is the kommandant of a concentration camp during the second world war. Bruno and his family are sent to live with their father as he carries out his work. Bored and lonely, Bruno ventures out to the perimeter of the camp where he meets and befriends a young Jewish camp inmate called Shmuel, the eponymous “boy in the striped pyjamas”. Continued here S54 Earwax removal no longer available at GP surgeries - leaving many struggling to hear Each year, more than 2 million people in the UK have troublesome earwax that needs to be removed. However, more people are finding that this service is no longer being provided at their GP surgery. In fact, 66% of people seeking these services have been told that earwax removal is no longer available on the NHS. Questions have been raised in parliament about why people are being referred to earwax clinics in hospitals. This results in long waiting times and is not the best use of specialist services. Continued here S42 Bookseller, black belt, 'neon-bright' talent: the unfathomable loss of acclaimed Australian YA author Gabrielle Williams This week, the Australian literary community was devastated to learn of the untimely death of Gabrielle Williams, acclaimed author of books for young adults. Williams suffered a stroke at Readings bookstore where she worked as manager of the Readings Prizes, grants officer for the Readings Foundation, and as a bookseller. She was admitted to the intensive care unit, but the pressure on her heart proved fatal. She died on Saturday January 21, with her family by her side. Continued here S44 Let's dance! How dance classes can lift your mood and help boost your social life If your new year’s resolutions include getting healthier, exercising more and lifting your mood, dance might be for you. By dance, we don’t mean watching other people dance on TikTok, as much fun as this can be. We mean taking a dance class, or even better, a few. Continued here S48 Why Queensland is still ground zero for Australian deforestation Five years ago, bulldozers with chains cleared forests and woodlands almost triple the size of the Australian Capital Territory in a single year. Brazil? Indonesia? No – much closer: Queensland. In 2018-19, truly staggering land clearing, mostly by farmers and cattle graziers, saw around 680,000 hectares of habitat destroyed – more than the preceding 18 years. Even though the state Labor government tightened land clearing rules in 2015, the new rules were riddled with loopholes. If Queensland was a country, it would have been the ninth highest forest destroying nation globally in 2019 – just above China. Continued here S45 Beneath the Alice Springs 'crime wave' are complex issues - and a lot of politics The supposed dimensions of the “crisis” in Alice Springs have been exhaustively portrayed in the media, both nationally and in the Northern Territory. The stories abound: shopfront windows repeatedly broken, groups of young children wandering the streets at night, and defenceless elderly residents struck down during violent robberies of their homes. This week, the respected chief executive of “Congress”, the peak Aboriginal medical body in Central Australia, was on local ABC radio describing her fear when, while she was alone at home, two drunken men violently attempted to enter in search of alcohol. Continued here S39 It shouldn't seem so surprising when the pope says being gay 'isn't a crime' - a Catholic theologian explains “Being homosexual isn’t a crime,” the pope said in an interview with The Associated Press on Jan. 24, 2023, adding, “let’s distinguish between a sin and a crime.” He also called for the relaxation of laws around the world that target LGBTQ people. Francis’ long history of making similar comments in support of LGBTQ people’s dignity, despite the church’s rejection of homosexuality, has provoked plenty of criticism from some Catholics. But I am a public theologian, and part of what interests me about this debate is that Francis’ inclusiveness is not actually radical. His remarks generally correspond to what the church teaches and calls on Catholics to do. Continued here S52 Artificial intelligence in South Africa comes with special dilemmas - plus the usual risks When people think about artificial intelligence (AI), they may have visions of the future. But AI is already here. At its base, it is the recreation of aspects of human intelligence in computerised form. Like human intelligence, it has wide application. Voice-operated personal assistants like Siri, self-driving cars, and text and image generators all use AI. It also curates our social media feeds. It helps companies to detect fraud and hire employees. It’s used to manage livestock, enhance crop yields and aid medical diagnoses. Continued here S53 Jim Chalmers lays out agenda for pursuit of 'values-based capitalism' Treasurer Jim Chalmers has laid out an economic blueprint for pursuing “values-based capitalism”, involving public-private co-investment and collaboration and the renovation of key economic institutions and markets. In a 6000-word essay in The Monthly titled “Capitalism after the crises”, Chalmers declares the Labor government wants “to change the dynamics of politics, towards a system where Australians and businesses are clear and active participants in shaping a better society”. Continued here S43 The 1881 Maloga petition: a call for self-determination and a key moment on the path to the Voice Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains names and images of deceased people. Many people do not know about the early activism undertaken at Victorian Aboriginal missions and reserves in response to colonisation. However, there are countless stories of Aboriginal people across Australia fighting the colonisers. Continued here S41 Liberal hawks versus realist doves: who is winning the ideological war over the future of Ukraine? The recent decision by Olaf Scholz’s German government to supply Ukraine with Leopard 2 tanks – after weeks of clear reluctance to provoke Vladimir Putin – was more than a domestic policy shift. It also demonstrated how Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could prove to be a tipping point in a long-running battle of ideas between two schools of thought in the field of international affairs. Continued here S46 Are your cats fighting or playing? Scientists analysed cat videos to figure out the difference Susan Hazel is affiliated with the Dog & Cat Management Board of South Australia and the RSPCA South Australia. Have you ever worried if the play between your cats was getting too rough? A new study published in Scientific Reports has investigated play and fighting in cats. Continued here S50 Holocaust remembrance: we must beware of well-intentioned mythmaking as events pass out of living memory Robert Eaglestone is a member of the UK Holocaust Memorial Foundation Academic Advisory Board In ancient Rome, the saeculum, or “the age”, was the span of living memory, the telling of an event passed down from the oldest to the youngest. Recognising this profound idea, some have worried that the memory of the Holocaust will fade as the generation of those who survived it near the end of their lives. Continued here Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom) Followers Blog Archive ►  2025 (2) ►  January (2) ►  2024 (4) ►  December (4) ▼  2023 (542) ►  December (2) ►  November (33) ►  October (27) ►  September (37) ►  August (45) ►  July (30) ►  June (73) ►  May (3) ►  April (33) ►  March (17) ►  February (84) ▼  January (158) A Physical Theory For When the Brain Performs Best... January 31, 2023 - Strike action over Macron’s p... 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