All posts tagged: bring

Reverence for the sacred waters of the Ganga and belief in its power to wash away sins bring millions to India’s Maha Kumbh festival

Reverence for the sacred waters of the Ganga and belief in its power to wash away sins bring millions to India’s Maha Kumbh festival

(The Conversation) — Millions of people have been visiting Prayagraj, a city in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, to take part in the Maha Kumbh festival – a six-week-long event that began on Jan. 13, 2025. Called the world’s largest religious gathering, the event has already drawn 148 million people. Attendance is expected to exceed 400 million by the time it ends on Feb. 26, and surging crowds have already claimed dozens of lives at the sacred site. Attendees range from Indian business tycoons and members of parliament to social media personages, film stars and celebrities, including the philanthropist billionaire Laurene Powell Jobs, widow of Apple founder Steve Jobs, who is a member of an ashram in Prayagraj. As a historian of the Ganga and its ecology, I am captivated by the enduring power of unwavering devotion that continues to drive pilgrims to this sacred site, despite the dangers posed by surging crowds and the spread of contagion. At least 30 people have been trampled to death and 60 have been injured in …

Trump’s Plan for Elon Musk to Bring the ‘Stranded’ Astronauts Home ASAP Is a Headache for NASA

Trump’s Plan for Elon Musk to Bring the ‘Stranded’ Astronauts Home ASAP Is a Headache for NASA

For reasons that were not immediately clear, SpaceX founder Elon Musk took to his social media site X on Tuesday evening to make a perplexing space-based pronouncement. “The @POTUS has asked @SpaceX to bring home the 2 astronauts stranded on the @Space_Station as soon as possible. We will do so,” Musk wrote. “Terrible that the Biden administration left them there so long.” Now generally, at Ars Technica, it is not our policy to write stories strictly based on things Elon Musk says on X. However, this statement was so declarative, and so consternation-inducing for NASA, it bears a bit of explication. First of all, the most plausible explanation for this is that Elon is being Elon. “He’s trolling,” said one of my best space policy sources shortly after Musk’s tweet. After all, the tweet was sent at 4:20 pm in the central time zone, where SpaceX now has its headquarters. Even if it is trolling, it will still cause headaches within NASA. Foremost, NASA has gone to great lengths to stress that the two astronauts …

Want your own AI double? Digital clones could bring big benefits — and risks

Want your own AI double? Digital clones could bring big benefits — and risks

“I’m a digital clone,” says a young man. He smiles and blinks. “If you’re curious about how this all works or have any questions, feel free to ask.” This clone represents Dara Ladjevardian. He co-founded Delphi. This company assists people in creating their own virtual doubles. If the real Ladjevardian is too busy for a meeting, no biggie. Anyone can video call or chat with his clone online any time. Right now, those conversations are a bit glitchy and repetitive. But the tech is improving all the time. Meta, the company that operates Facebook and Instagram, announced its own clone-creating tool in September. Influencer Don Allen Stevenson III helped demo this new tech at a Meta event. Stevenson, who is based in Los Angeles, Calif., explores creative uses of new technology. He had already been using AI to represent himself in text-based chats. Now, he informed the crowd, “I’ve trained it on how I respond and how to engage with my audience.” His clone has a voice and a smiling face. Influencer Don Allen Stevenson …

11 Best Rugs to Bring Your Sad Floors to Life

11 Best Rugs to Bring Your Sad Floors to Life

Look up, close your eyes, and ask the heavens: Is it even possible to write about the best rugs without dropping the line from The Big Lebowski? (Evidently not.) Luckily, that doesn’t really matter. What does matter is finding you, dear reader, the best area rugs, bath mats, runners, rug mats, and shag carpets in the game. If you’ve never gone rug shopping before, you might be in for a little sticker shock, but rest assured that you’re paying for quality. (Plus, we popped in some great affordable options, too.) We skipped the dubious materials that comprised the gnarly dorm-room rugs of yesteryear and swapped in some of our favorite pieces from across the web. We’ve got washable rugs, living room rugs, kitchen rugs, dining room rugs, stain-resistant rugs, and everything in-between. So, join us on our quest to dress your floors in sweet, sweet fabric and at long last, tie the room together. The Best Rugs, At a Glance Looking for Something Specific? AccordionItemContainerButton Best Bedroom Rug: Nordic Knots Grand Rug “Prior to owning …

Biden wants Americans to “bring down the temperature” — but MAGA will not let that happen

Biden wants Americans to “bring down the temperature” — but MAGA will not let that happen

In the wake of Donald Trump’s devastating win last week, Democrats have fallen back on an old habit and are now trying to coax better behavior out of Republicans. In his Rose Garden speech acknowledging the loss, President Joe Biden begged, “Something I hope we can do no matter who you voted for is see each other not as adversaries but as fellow Americans, bring down the temperature.” Striking a similar note in their statement, Barack and Michelle Obama asked people to “listen to each other,” adding that “progress requires us to extend good faith and grace—even to people with whom we deeply disagree.” There are no limits to the faith that modeling good behavior will cause Republicans to shape up, apparently.  You cannot turn down the temperature when one side keeps setting the furniture on fire. Even prominent Trump supporters were making these “unity” and “peace” noises in the aftermath. Podcast host Joe Rogan, who endorsed Trump, appeared not to understand the character of the man he sat with for a three-hour interview. “He’s got …

The Chainsmokers want to bring a different kind of value add to B2B companies

The Chainsmokers want to bring a different kind of value add to B2B companies

The potential value a celebrity investor can bring to a consumer company, beyond just writing a check, is obvious: marketing and promotion. But that value is less clear when it comes to backing B2B startups. Alex Pall and Drew Taggart, also known as the Chainsmokers, think their VC fund Mantis VC can bring a value add traditional VCs can’t. At TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 alongside one of their founders, Dan Lorenc, the co-founder and CEO of cybersecurity startup Chainguard, Pall said that the group initially got into B2B investing because they got tired of feeling like the QVC of startups working with consumer companies that just wanted to work with them for promotion. The duo became increasingly interested in B2B due to the strong market opportunities in that space despite not having much experience with those types of businesses. “It felt like a market opportunity to kind of stand out and maybe provide, you know, a different perspective or different type of value back to those types of companies,” Pall said. “Our strategy and the way …

Bring Back the Fight! | Joseph O’Neill

Bring Back the Fight! | Joseph O’Neill

Vice-presidential debates are notoriously inconsequential. The Vance–Walz back-and-forth will almost certainly make no difference to the outcome of the November election. But Governor Walz’s mostly, and uncharacteristically, emollient performance on Tuesday night, in which he pretended that Vance was a good-faith policy discussant rather than a malevolent threat to American democracy, embodied a significant rhetorical and tactical change in the Harris–Walz campaign. To put it in the terms of mass entertainment—which is what a presidential election campaign essentially is—Harris found herself, back in August, with a smash hit on her hands: Kamala! Costarring Coach Walz, the Democratic ticket exuded box-office appeal. It revived the dejected party base, dominated the national hubbub, and penetrated the crucial, hard-to-reach voter markets containing the apolitical types, disaffected liberals, jaded centrists, and (perhaps most important of all) students. Donald Trump suddenly looked old and irrelevant, never more so than after his debate. That was three weeks ago. Since then, Harris–Walz have more or less absented themselves from the national scene, the better to focus, it seems, on the battleground states …

‘Megastorm’ set to bring six weeks of rain in 12 hours in UK and London

‘Megastorm’ set to bring six weeks of rain in 12 hours in UK and London

Six weeks’ worth of rain is set to pour down in just 12 hours when a so-called “megastorm” hits the UK on Sunday. A 200 mile area across the UK, which includes London, is set to be affected by the deluge, while thunder and lightning have also been forecast. The Met Office weather warning in place with heavy rain to batter much of the country on both Sunday and Monday. “Summer has now officially come to an end, and it ended with a bang for some of us,” Met Office meteorologist Jonathan Vautrey told the Mirror. “We’ve seen some very heavy showers and thunderstorms spreading their way across southern areas of England, into parts of Wales as well during the course of today.” The “megastorm” will be hardest felt on Sunday and comes on the back of balmy weather on September 21. However, a nice day on Saturday led to storms overnight with many Londoners waking up to thunder and lightning. Met Office meteorologist Becky Mitchell said thunderstorms could continue in the days ahead. The …

Couple sparks outrage after asking guests to bring desserts to a black-tie wedding

Couple sparks outrage after asking guests to bring desserts to a black-tie wedding

Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more A couple has sparked outrage online after they asked their guests to bring dessert to their black-tie wedding. In a recent post shared to the popular “Wedding Shaming” Reddit forum, one person revealed how their friend was invited to an event where guests were encouraged to wear their “best black tie ensemble.” In addition to the dress code, guests were also encouraged to bring sweets – one of which included a “pan of Rice Krispy treats to share.” However, the invited guest revealed they were considering skipping the event. Not only did the Reddit user complain that it’s an afternoon wedding, but they also explained that the wedding will be held outdoors in the middle of October in a state where it’s previously snowed …

Bring Me to the Window

Bring Me to the Window

and ask, when does it come to you? Is it a blue mountain or a blushing expanse? Are you most preoccupied with the details or the general shape? In most cases, I am unambiguous. I research from before and wait for movement or light to have a sense. Don’t have a sense. Do you? Yesterday […] Source link