All posts tagged: Playground

UK’s ‘most joyless playground’ is used as a ‘dog toilet’ | UK | News

UK’s ‘most joyless playground’ is used as a ‘dog toilet’ | UK | News

Pictured: The ‘joyless’ playground in Stockport (Image: Manchester Evening News) Residents living close to a so-called children’s play area consisting only of a bin have labelled it ‘pointless,’ claiming that the spot serves merely as a ‘dog toilet. ‘ The inconspicuous park, nestled at the intersection of two bustling streets in the densely populated Edgeley neighbourhood of Stockport, near its boundary with Cheadle Heath, has long perplexed locals due to its utter lack of playground fixtures — or any other facilities. Positioned on the corner of Avondale Road and St Lesmo Road, the site, recognised as Scholars Green 1, is defined as a Local Area of Play (LAP) by Stockport Council documents, intended as ‘small landscaped areas designed for young children’. Signage indicates that it caters to kids up to six years of age, yet it curiously boasts only a small, well-trodden patch of astroturf shaped like a cloverleaf, adorned with barely discernible coloured figures likely intended for hopping games. Enclosed by lofty trees, the green space features prominent ‘No ball games’ signs, with one …

Playground by Richard Powers – A Dive in Humanity’s Next Frontier

Playground by Richard Powers – A Dive in Humanity’s Next Frontier

You ever have one of those dreams where you’re swimming underwater and suddenly realize you can breathe? That’s what reading Richard Powers’ “Playground” feels like—a breathtaking plunge into the depths of human experience, where the impossible becomes not just possible, but inevitable. A Masterful Confluence of Streams Richard Powers, known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning “The Overstory” and the mind-bending “Bewilderment,” has outdone himself with “Playground.” It’s a sweeping, ambitious novel that weaves together four seemingly disparate lives into a tapestry as vast and mysterious as the ocean itself. The Players in Powers’ Grand Game Evie Beaulieu: A 12-year-old girl who discovers a whole new world beneath the surface of a Montreal swimming pool in the 1950s. Ina Aroita: An artist adrift, raised on naval bases across the Pacific, searching for a place to call home. Rafi Young: A literature-loving, game-playing prodigy from Chicago’s South Side. Todd Keane: Rafi’s unlikely friend and future tech mogul, whose AI breakthrough will change everything. These four lives converge on Makatea, a tiny atoll in French Polynesia with a tumultuous …

How Zero Bond Became Postpandemic New York’s Celebrity Playground of Choice

How Zero Bond Became Postpandemic New York’s Celebrity Playground of Choice

Then there was the Adams campaign. The future mayor hung out with James Harden and La La Anthony one night, Strauss and Tepperberg until 1:30 a.m. the next, and Charli and Dixie D’Amelio the next. And each time, he was brought to the club by member Ronn Torossian, the controversial PR maven who’s repped the Eric Trump Foundation and Girls Gone Wild founder Joe Francis. Torossian’s close with Sartiano too. “I’ve known him more than 20 years, and in many ways he’s one of these quiet geniuses you never see coming,” Torossian told me. Zero Bond has quite the legit collection of art on the walls. Andy Warhol and Keith Haring were easy choices, given the NoHo connection: The Andy Warhol Foundation is a block away, and the Keith Haring Foundation is housed in his former studio on the fifth floor of 676 Broadway—the building directly next to Zero Bond. But Sartiano went a step further and asked Gagosian sales and artist liaison Sophia Cohen, daughter of Mets owner and hedge fund billionaire Steve Cohen, …

I Took Google’s Instrument Playground for a Spin, Here’s How It Works

I Took Google’s Instrument Playground for a Spin, Here’s How It Works

Key Takeaways Google’s Instrument Playground lets you generate unique audio samples of various instruments with AI. The tool provides a hands-on experience allowing users to play with snippets and create music. While not perfect, the samples have depth and charm, offering a fun and accessible way to explore music creation. Ever dreamed of playing the sitar, a cello, or a funky electric guitar but lack the instrument or the skill? Google’s Instrument Playground puts a world of musical sounds at your fingertips. This AI-powered tool lets you type in an instrument, add a mood, and generate unique samples to play with and build upon. What Is Google’s Instrument Playground? Google’s Instrument Playground is a web-based tool that lets you type in the name of an instrument and an optional descriptive word. Then, you hit a button, and the tool conjures a unique 20-second audio sample based on your request. Where most AI music tools like Suno AI generate songs from a prompt, Google’s tool provides a more hands-on experience by letting you play the instrument …

Back to black? Amy Winehouse, Camden Town and the survival of London’s perennial music playground | Amy Winehouse

Back to black? Amy Winehouse, Camden Town and the survival of London’s perennial music playground | Amy Winehouse

Of all the ­musicians who have lived, worked or performed there, none has a stronger connection with Camden Town than Amy Winehouse. But the release of the Winehouse biopic, Back to Black, is a useful reminder of both the ­fragility of cultural moments and how Camden has been robust enough to survive a series of them, remaining a desirable location for musicians and fans through several generations, going all the way back to the ­opening of the Roundhouse as a concert venue in 1966. Usually, the moment a London borough announces itself as fashionable, it’s all over. House prices rocket, all but the most successful artists are priced out, new residents start complaining about the late-night noise and young musicians move on. Camden has avoided that for decades, the area playing a central role in the development of psychedelic rock, ska, Britpop and whatever we’re going to call Winehouse and Pete Doherty’s revivalist sound of the early 2000s. Throughout this time, it has remained largely unchanged, the borough’s superficially scuzzy ­surface holding developers at bay …

From the playground to politics, it’s the bullies who rule. But it doesn’t have to be this way | George Monbiot

From the playground to politics, it’s the bullies who rule. But it doesn’t have to be this way | George Monbiot

A large and impressive study of children’s progress into adulthood found that those who display bullying and aggressive behaviour at school are more likely to prosper at work. They land better jobs and earn more. The researchers claim to be surprised by their findings, but is it really so remarkable? The association of senior positions with bullying and dominance behaviour will doubtless come as a shock to many. This is not to suggest that all people with good jobs or who run organisations are bullies. Far from it. It’s not hard to think of good people in powerful positions. What this tells us is that we don’t need aggressive people to organise our lives for us. Neither good leadership, nor organisational success, nor innovation, insight or foresight, require a dominance mindset. In fact, all can be inhibited by someone throwing their weight around. Whether in game theory or the study of other species, you quickly discover how the dominance behaviour of a few can harm society as a whole. For example, a study of cichlid …

‘Extreme cold is the Russians’ natural playground. We have to be up to par’

‘Extreme cold is the Russians’ natural playground. We have to be up to par’

Kneeling in a “combat hole” dug in the snow and covered with heat-shielding netting to conceal their thermal footprint, two French Alpine hunters scanned the grayish horizon above Suolovuopmi, a Norwegian hamlet close to the Arctic Circle. Their mission was to slow down the advance of enemy armored vehicles so that the Italian Alpinis accompanying them could prepare the defense of Masi, a village of 350 inhabitants located a little further south. A soldier from the Seventh Bataillon of Alpine Hunters (BCA) in his camouflaged firing position near Masi, Norway, on March 6, 2024. LAURNDENT VAN DER STOCKT FOR LE MONDE “We have Eryx anti-tank missiles, but their range is only 600 meters. We have to remain invisible right up to the last moment if we don’t want to come under fire ourselves,” said Corporal Guillaume of the Seventh Bataillon of Alpine Hunters (BCA) from Varces in southeastern France. The position, located on a snow-covered hill battered by a polar wind, would be held all night by the French section, using night vision goggles, in temperatures …

The 13 Rudest Playground Behaviours You Or Your Kid May Be Guilty Of

The 13 Rudest Playground Behaviours You Or Your Kid May Be Guilty Of

If you’ve got a restless child on your hands, getting to a playground can be a welcome relief. Your kid can run off some steam and find other kids to play with, and you may even get a moment to yourself to sit on a bench and relax. But the peace of playgrounds depends on a delicate ecosystem in which all the adults tacitly agree to the same codes of conduct, both for their children and themselves. One person’s rude behaviour can sour the experience for everybody — and no one wants to be that parent. We asked readers on the HuffPost Parents Facebook page and elsewhere about the rudest behaviours they’ve seen at the playground. Here’s what they had to say: Climbing Up The Slide “Too many times I’ve seen collisions between kids going down while another is climbing up. It’s also just not fun for kids trying to use the slide how it’s supposed to be used! I established the rule of ‘go up the stairs and down the slide’ at an early …

Groq launches dev playground GroqCloud w/ Definitive Intelligence

Groq launches dev playground GroqCloud w/ Definitive Intelligence

Groq, the Mountain View, California-based startup that caught the attention of the AI community with its own microchips designed specifically to run large language models (LLMs) quickly and efficiently, is making more waves this week. Today, it announced the acquisition of another startup, Definitive Intelligence, and a new product built atop their prior and ongoing collaboration: GroqCloud, what the two joined companies now describe as a “developer playground with fully integrated documentation, code samples and self-serve access.” The big sell: LPU access for running AI inferences But the big sell of the GroqCloud is probably what it allows AI developer users to access: the Groq Language Processing Unit (LPU) Inference Engine. Groq’s LPUs have recently enjoyed viral attention from AI developers for delivering near-instantaneous results, propelling Groq into the spotlight even as rival Nvidia’s earnings have surged to new heights based on the strength of demand for the latter’s graphics processing units (GPUs). VB Event The AI Impact Tour – NYC We’ll be in New York on February 29 in partnership with Microsoft to discuss …

‘First of its kind’ playground for disabled children opens in UK | UK News

‘First of its kind’ playground for disabled children opens in UK | UK News

Playgrounds across the country are failing to cater to the needs of disabled children, campaigners have told Sky News. The Fair Play Barnet playground in north London is being described as the first of its kind in the UK. It cost £500,000 – most of it raised through a group of independent funders. Deborah Gundle, whose son has special needs, led the campaign to create the playground. “What we’re trying to do with this playground is showcase a model so that all councils and public landscape developers across Britain can see how to design a playground for accessibility,” Ms Gundle said. Co-founder Natalie Esfandi told Sky News local government leaders have a big role to play. Barnet Council committed £100,000 to the project – and Ms Esfandi says other local authorities should take note. “Councils have a responsibility to foster inclusion within their communities, and drive that for the wellbeing of everyone in society,” she said. “It’s not just people with disabilities, it’s just the general wellbeing of society would benefit from that. “I’m hoping …