Ancient weaponsmiths combined bronze and iron to fashion swords during the early Iron Age – but modern forgers glue together elements from different weapons, making it difficult for researchers to study the ancient technology

The upcoming US presidential election will determine how the country regulates tech, combats the climate crisis and decides on access to abortion

A type of mathematical problem that was previously impossible to solve can now be successfully analysed with artificial intelligence

Adding blade-like sails to tankers could reduce their annual fuel consumption by up to 30 per cent, slashing the climate impact of the shipping industry

Google DeepMind has been using its AI watermarking method on Gemini chatbot responses for months – and now it’s making the tool available to any AI developer

A researcher who underwent dozens of brain scans discovered that the volume of her cerebral cortex was 1 per cent lower when she took hormonal contraceptives

Large language models can be used to scam humans, but AI is also susceptible to being scammed – and some models are more gullible than others

The recent surge in warming led to fears that climate change may be accelerating beyond model projections, but a fall in how much heat Earth is gaining makes this less likely

A specialised algorithm could help autonomous vehicles track hidden objects, such as a pedestrian, a bicycle or another vehicle concealed behind a parked car

Scientists used AI to transform tourist photos into a 3D digital map of Antarctic penguin colonies – even as researchers debate whether to harness or discourage tourism in this remote region

In support of their AI ambitions, tech companies are rapidly expanding US data centres, and this growth is on track to significantly increase US gas demand by 2030

Just under 5 per cent of the Wikipedia pages in English that have been published since ChatGPT's release seem to include AI-written content

A bird flu virus that has been circulating in dairy cattle for months has now been found in a pig in the US for the first time, raising the risk of the virus evolving to become more dangerous to people

Chronic pain has increased among adults in the US since 2019, which could be due to a rise in sedentary lifestyles or reduced access to healthcare amid covid-19 restrictions

Blood tests have shown that about 7 per cent of workers on dairy farms that had H5N1 outbreaks had antibodies against the disease

The brain pathway that causes hairy mammals like mice and dogs to shake themselves dry appears to have more to do with pressure than temperature

Four-legged robot dogs learned to perform new tricks by practising in a virtual platform that mimics real-world obstacles – a possible shortcut for training robots faster and more accurately

Seven major datasets used to train audio-generating AI models are three times more likely to use the words "man" or "men" than "woman" or "women", raising fears of bias

Chain will still accept payments via JCB/American Express cards or other means

3D arena fighting game slated for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, PC in early 2025

David Wald claims Crunchyroll opened his private mail, threw away letters, gave away contents to staff

Anime airs Mondays through Thursdays at 7:30 p.m. EST

Hinata, Veldora, Milim join cast of game

B-Komachi performs 'Shining Song' for December 20 film

Saori Hayami plays mysterious girl Hisui, performs ending song 'Kisekiralink' with Rie Takahashi, Yui Horie

Namikawa appears as young Count Piast in 8th episode on Saturday

Both anime screen N. American premieres at Anime Frontier on December 7

Manga by Yonemura, Fudeno Saki launches in English on January 29, 2025

Series launched on June 17

Manga about sales representative who likes condom researcher Musubu-san launched in 2017

Keiga Ōsawa's Rokunin no Usotsuki no Daigakusei: Plus One manga launched in 2022

"Better fare hard with good men than feast it with bad."

[Morley Kert] had a problem. He’s a big fan of the lovely Fortune Chair from Heller Furniture. Only, he didn’t want to pay $1,175 for a real one. The solution? …read more

Sheltered under beckoning spires  Prismatic windows spin fire Onto cold stone Taking a pew, he sits alone.  Votives burn and flicker   Incense ghosts’ bicker A monstrance gleams  Nothing is what it seems.  Sacerdotalism misplaced  Prayers gone to waste  Hearing sermons unwritten Gospel footfalls unbidden.  Indelible markings,   Infinity’s shores harkening,  Gathered not in twos and threes […]

The post Thoughts In A Lyonnaise Church appeared first on Waiter Rant.

Every tear wiped away, But not in Isreal Not in Gaza. Where’s your Messiah now?  Ukraine’s sunflowers weep, Unable to follow the sun Attrited by Third Rome’s janissaries, Iconostases rubbled By eyes in the sky weeping ruin.  Iron beasts, slain Litter desert, forest,  By isotopic arrows despoiled, Cancerous, ravenous, patient.  Empty hearths.   Children’s questions.  Abba? […]

The post Jerusalem Can Wait  appeared first on Waiter Rant.

(note: this was actually a twitter thread that i wrote this morning... rather than copy paste and chunk this thing out to the other services... duh, post it as a rant and link it :) I've been hesitant to post anything like this, so i'll keep it vague. Lets face it, the last YEAR has been awful. About a year ago, Sarah started to feel sick and it wasn't long before we knew her cancer was back. It was a hard year, but she beat it and we got thru it....

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This or any DORK TOWER strip is now available as a signed, high-quality print, from just $25!  CLICK HERE to find out more! HEY! Want to help keep DORK TOWER going? Then consider joining the DORK TOWER Patreon and ENLIST IN THE ARMY OF DORKNESS TODAY! (We have COOKIES!) (And SWAG!) (And GRATITUDE!)

Last summer, when my younger child joined my older child at sleepaway camp for a month for the first time, leaving us unmoored and a little restless, we made a list of restaurants we’d been meaning to try and friends we don’t see enough and took this task on like it was our job. I barely cooked once. By the end of the third week, everything hurt and we realized our template for a child-free life (going out late, cocktails on weeknights, and generally behaving despicably) was based on our age and energy level when we were last child-free, which (I’m sorry as this fact seems to upset you guys as much as it does his actual parents) was almost 15 years ago.

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Barb E. asked for Navy icing:

She got it.

 

Cindy M. just wanted the initial "G" for her 14-year-old daughter - but I guess that was TOO simple?

 

Jen and Pete asked the bakery to include paper plates and plastic silverware.

 

Pauline ordered a cake that said, "I hate you for leaving!"

...but sure, that's close enough.

 

Holli T. wanted the number 10 written as a number: "you know, with double digits."

Part of me hopes Alexis gets a great nickname outta this.

 

Charli C. made the mistake of telling her bakery who the cake was for:

THANKS, GUYS.

 

And finally, Jared C. asked for rainbow sprinkles.

How do you mess up rainbow sprinkles?

Oh, like this:

Thanks to Barb E., Cindy M., Jen & Pete, Pauline R., Holli T., Charli C., & Jared C. for the head bangers.

*****

Let's keep the Failure celebration going! The Bloggess called this book "freaking hilarious," so that's enough for me:

Confessions of a Domestic Failure: A Book About A Not-So-Perfect Mom

*****

And from my other blog, Epbot:

Fall is officially upon us here in Florida, as evidenced by the fact that it's a blustery 78 degrees outside tonight. (Don't worry; I've already broken out the scarves, sweaters, furry boots, and electric blanket, just to be safe.)

The other way you can tell it's Fall, though - besides all the Floridians in snowsuits - is the fall-tastical offerings in our nation's bakeries:

It's a...um...leaf. 

I think.

Theoretically I KNOW this isn't a Can-Can dancer lifting her skirts, but darned if I can see anything else.

Because nothing says, "MMAAAUUUURGGHHH!!!" like a Hay Beast with peek-a-boo breasticles.

 (HAY-O!)

 Well, except maybe the Bell-Bottomed Scare Bear of Perpetual Perplexity:

He's Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh? Stayin' Alive.

Oooh, and if your birthday happens to fall during Fall, then you also have these fun options:

Thanks to this cake and John's alarmingly comprehensive knowledge of slang words, I now know that "nut" is also a verb.

I don't recommend looking it up.

Here's one for our pyromaniac fans:

My deer, you are on FIRE tonight!

Also, I think I'd have that lump checked out. Just sayin'.

And finally, this bakery helpfully reminds us that Fall is "Harevet Time"

  So get those bunnies in for their yearly check-ups ASAP, hear?

Thanks to Kiki, Nancy M., Addie H., Sarah T., Bevin, Tanya S., & Shelley for the nice trips.

OverDrive is the company that provides a lot of digital content to libraries. If you’ve borrowed an ebook or an audiobook in Libby,  or read a magazine in Kanopy, that’s OverDrive. It seems there is some AI weirdness with audiobook narration on OverDrive, and the narrator is only part of the story. On Monday, October 14, librarian Robin Bradford posted on Bluesky that she’d purchased an AI audiobook for her library system and she was … Continue reading AI Audiobook Narrators in OverDrive and the Issue of Library AI Circulation Policy →

Here is a news report that absolutely dropped my jaw: the Tribal Alliance Against Frauds (TAAF) has released a report that debut romance author Colby Wilkens, whose bio says she is of Choctaw and Cherokee descent, has no Native ancestry.  The TAAF “is an intertribal anti-fraud non-profit whistleblower organization comprised of allies and citizens of Tribes whose sovereignty has been formally acknowledged.” Wilkens is the author of If I Stopped Haunting You, which released last week … Continue reading Tribal Alliance Against Frauds Says Colby Wilkens is Not Indigenous →

Amazon has many pages of fantasy and sci-fi novels on sale today! Check out the full list here.

Kim is a longtime SBTB reader. She writes boring professional documents by day to fund her ever-growing TBR pile, which is currently overflowing with T. Kingfisher, mystery thrillers, and MM romance. Everything she knows about hockey, she learned from queer love stories or the Mighty Ducks franchise. … Recently, I’ve been on an M/M hockey romance binge (and let me just say “queer romance” + “professional hockey” is the Reese’s “you got your peanut butter … Continue reading Season’s Change by Cait Nary →

Well. This sucks. Currently I’m sitting with two sets of feelings. I’m already so tired, and scared, and discouraged. And tired. We just did this. I have semi-accurate predictions of how this is going to go, and none of it is good. And on the other hand, I know how resilient and compassionate and loving people can be. How loving and compassionate and resilient you are, and me, and all of us. I can grieve and worry … Continue reading We Will Find Our Daily HEAs →

THE BATTLE SPATULA