All posts tagged: kill

KT Tunstall: ‘I was a totally crap pop star… It’s important to kill your idea of what you should be’ | Ents & Arts News

KT Tunstall: ‘I was a totally crap pop star… It’s important to kill your idea of what you should be’ | Ents & Arts News

Published by skeptic

Twenty years on from her breakout hit Suddenly I See, KT Tunstall is refreshingly candid about her early career: “I was a totally crap pop star,” she tells Sky News. The Scottish singer-songwriter may have a Brit and Ivor Novello to her name – won the year after she outsold every other female artist in the UK – but she’s not taking any prisoners. Image: KT Tunstall performing in 2023. Pic: AP Images “You have an idea of what you should be as an artist, I think it’s really, really important to kill that.” She goes on: “The whole point of being an artist is that you never know what you’re going to be, and you should never assume that you know. “I think there’s something much more divine in the kind of growth of yourself as an artist that it’s not your place to know what’s going to be.” Image: Emma Flynn plays Cher. Pic: Pamela Raith Photography Sharing a private thought, she admits: “I don’t think I’ve ever said it out loud, but …

This Modular Phone Concept Is Xiaomi’s Plan to Kill the Camera Bump

This Modular Phone Concept Is Xiaomi’s Plan to Kill the Camera Bump

Published by skeptic

Key to its success is Xiaomi’s LaserLink technology. This is a proprietary optical communication module, apparent as a small dot on the back of the phone and the lens where data is transferred as light (near-infrared laser) at speeds of up to 10 Gbps. It’s fast enough to work in concert with Xiaomi’s AI and computational photography on the phone in a way that traditional external lenses cannot. The lens has two pins that connect on the back to draw power from the phone, and Xiaomi says the power draw of the lens is comparable to a built-in camera system. It’s portable enough to slip in a bag or pocket and the simple plug-and-play nature makes it easy to use. This system could allow for a whole range of specialist lenses for photographers, though you’ll have to remember to take them with you, which negates one of the big advantages of regular phone cameras. Photograph: Simon Hill Considering the LaserLink technology and power transfer, it seems like this system could allow for a whole range …

Trump Said We Should Kill Drug Dealers. Then He Appointed One as Health Secretary

Trump Said We Should Kill Drug Dealers. Then He Appointed One as Health Secretary

Published by José

Image by Tom Brenner for The Washington Post / Scott Olson via Getty / Futurism When announcing his 2024 candidacy, now-president Donald Trump called for the United States to execute drug dealers — but that was before he appointed one to run the country’s highest health agency. “We’re going to be asking everyone who sells drugs, gets caught selling drugs, to receive the death penalty for their heinous acts,” Trump said in November 2022 during a speech at his Mar-a-Lago mansion in Palm Beach, Florida. “Because it’s the only way.” Before even beginning his second presidency — which also saw him pardoning the world’s most influential drug dealer, Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, on his second day back in the Oval Office — Trump contradicted his own barbaric stance by promising to nominate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). As the onetime presidential hopeful now sits for his Senate confirmation hearings, it feels pertinent to bring back up that the anti-vax kook slated to lead HHS not only …

Armed groups kill at least 40 farmers in Nigeria’s Borno State | Boko Haram News

Armed groups kill at least 40 farmers in Nigeria’s Borno State | Boko Haram News

Published by Sam

Officials say Boko Haram and ISWAP groups suspected of being behind the attacks on farmers in the Dumba region. At least 40 farmers have been killed in an attack by armed groups in Nigeria’s northeastern Borno State, according to government officials. Fighters from the Boko Haram group and ISIL (ISIS) affiliate in West Africa Province (ISWAP) were suspected of carrying out the attack, Borno State Governor Babagana Umara Zulum and State Information Commissioner Usman Tar said on Monday. Tar said the groups rounded up dozens of farmers in Dumba on the shores of Lake Chad and shot them dead late on Sunday. “Initial report indicates about 40 farmers have been killed while the whereabouts of many who escaped the attack are being traced for reunion with their families,” Tar said. The state government has ordered soldiers battling rebel fighters in the region “to track and obliterate the insurgent elements” operating around Dumba and their enclaves in the wider Lake Chad area, Tar added. The farmers “strayed off” the safe limit set by the armed forces …

Attempts to create synthetic ‘mirror’ bacteria must be stopped as it could kill off humans, scientists warn | Science, Climate & Tech News

Attempts to create synthetic ‘mirror’ bacteria must be stopped as it could kill off humans, scientists warn | Science, Climate & Tech News

Published by skeptic

A leading group of scientists has said research aimed at developing synthetic bacteria should be halted because it could pose an existential threat to humanity. The coalition of 38 scientists across nine countries warned that the creation of so-called mirror bacteria – a form of life built with biological molecules in shapes that are the opposite of those found in nature – could end up being “catastrophic”. The experts said that some researchers “driven by curiosity” had started looking into developing the organisms, which they said were probably at least a decade away from becoming a reality. However, they said they should stop because of the “unprecedented and largely overlooked risks”. The findings, published in the journal Science, said: “Our analysis suggests that mirror bacteria would likely evade many immune mechanisms… potentially causing lethal infection in humans, animals, and plants…. “We cannot rule out a scenario in which a mirror bacterium acts as an invasive species across many ecosystems, causing pervasive lethal infections in a substantial fraction of plant and animal species, including humans. “Even …

Man armed with hand gun allegedly threatened to kill everyone at a live nativity scene in Fort Wayne, Ind. – OpentheWord.org

Man armed with hand gun allegedly threatened to kill everyone at a live nativity scene in Fort Wayne, Ind. – OpentheWord.org

Published by skeptic

Fort Wayne, Indiana SkylineCredit: Momoneymoproblemz, Wikipedia, Public Domain Police have charged a man who allegedly threatened to kill everyone attending a live nativity event in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Central Ministries Church was holding the nativity celebration, that included live animals, in the church parking lot on Saturday, Dec 7, 2024. Approximately, 100 members of the congregation including children were still at the event that had come to an end, WPTA-TV reports. As church members were dismantling the scene, a 40-year-old man, Tyler Leavitt, drove up in a truck with a passenger, that court documents stated was his wife. An off-duty police officer who was working security at the function approached Leavitt and his passenger. At this point Leavitt allegedly pulled out an semi-automatic handgun and pointed it at the officer, and shouted that he wanted to kill everyone. It’s alleged that Leavitt then tried to drive further into the event where family and children were still milling about. Fortunately, security and others stopped the truck from entering the crowd. At this point, Leavitt decided to …

Kill Yours Kill Mine by Katherine Kovacic—Book Review by TBE

Kill Yours Kill Mine by Katherine Kovacic—Book Review by TBE

Published by skeptic

In Katherine Kovacic’s latest thriller, “Kill Yours, Kill Mine,” the ancient Greek myth of the Pleiades intertwines with a modern tale of revenge, justice, and sisterhood. The novel presents a dark, thought-provoking exploration of what happens when the legal system fails victims of domestic violence and those left behind decide to take matters into their own hands. The Plot: A Web of Calculated Vengeance At the heart of this gripping narrative is Mia, a trauma counselor whose practice, The Pleiades, serves as more than just a therapy center. Named after the seven sisters from Greek mythology, it becomes a gathering place for five women united by a tragic commonality: each has lost a sister to domestic violence, and in each case, the perpetrator has escaped justice through legal loopholes or insufficient evidence. The story gains momentum when Naomi joins the group, completing Mia’s carefully orchestrated ensemble. What begins as conventional group therapy evolves into something far more sinister—a calculated plan where each woman agrees to eliminate another’s sister’s killer, creating an intricate web of seemingly …

Trump’s transition team aims to kill Biden EV tax credit: Reuters

Trump’s transition team aims to kill Biden EV tax credit: Reuters

Published by Sam

U.S. President Joe Biden answers questions from reporters after driving a Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Xe around the White House driveway following remarks during an event on the South Lawn of the White House on Aug. 5, 2021, in Washington, D.C. Biden delivered remarks on the administration’s efforts to strengthen American leadership on clean cars and trucks. Win Mcnamee | Getty Images News | Getty Images President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team is planning to kill the $7,500 consumer tax credit for electric-vehicle purchases as part of broader tax-reform legislation, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters. Ending the tax credit could have grave implications for an already stalling U.S. EV transition. And yet representatives of Tesla — by far the nation’s largest EV seller — have told a Trump-transition committee they support ending the subsidy, said the two sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Elon Musk, one of Trump’s biggest backers and the world’s richest person, said earlier this year that killing the subsidy might slightly hurt Tesla sales but would devastate its U.S. EV competitors, which include …

Israeli strikes kill dozens in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, medics say : NPR

Israeli strikes kill dozens in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, medics say : NPR

Published by Sam

Lebanese Red Cross volunteers and other rescuers search for victims at a house that was hit in an Israeli airstrike in Baalchmay village east of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. Hassan Ammar/AP hide caption toggle caption Hassan Ammar/AP DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli airstrikes killed at least 46 people in the Gaza Strip in the past day, including 11 at a makeshift cafeteria in an Israeli-declared humanitarian zone, medics said. In Lebanon, warplanes struck Beirut’s southern suburbs and killed 33 people elsewhere in the country on Tuesday. The latest bombardment came as the United States said it would not reduce its military support for Israel after a deadline passed for allowing more humanitarian aid into Gaza. The State Department cited some progress, even as international aid groups said Israel had failed to meet the U.S. demands. In Lebanon, large explosions shook Beirut’s southern suburbs — an area known as Dahiyeh, where Hezbollah has a significant presence — soon after the Israeli military issued evacuation warnings for 11 houses there. There was no immediate …

Scientists kill 192 million lab mice each year. Is there a better way?

Scientists kill 192 million lab mice each year. Is there a better way?

Published by skeptic

Sign up for the Smarter Faster newsletter A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people Notice: JavaScript is required for this content. Scientists stress out lab mice, a lot. Inducing chronic stress and anxiety in these furry critters is how scientists explore the bodily and cognitive effects of stress and discover anti-anxiety medications for humans. There are two primary ways researchers stress out a lab mouse: immobilization and restraint. As described in the Encyclopedia of Stress (Second Edition), immobilization involves “taping the four limbs of a rat or mouse to mounts secured to a metal frame using hypoallergenic tape. A pair of metal loops attached to the frame limits the range of motion of the animal’s head…The duration of a single episode of immobilization usually varies from 5 to 120 min or more. In addition, animals in chronic stress protocols may be immobilized each day for many weeks even months.” Psychologist Richard McCarty described the effects in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology. “The struggling that is typical of the first several minutes of an …