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CEO Picks - The best that international journalism has to offer!

S69
Here's What You Need to Know Before Jumping Into Phantom Liberty's Dogtown    

In three years, Cyberpunk 2077 has gone from a broken mess to one of the must-play RPGs of the generation, and a big part of that is the massive expansion Phantom Liberty. This standalone story takes heavy inspiration from spy thrillers like Mission Impossible and features a set of new characters, including sleeper agent Solomon Reed, played by Idris Elba. As you might expect from a CD Projekt Red game, Phantom Liberty is a lengthy adventure that you’ll need to set aside time to play through. Here’s how long you can expect to take with Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty.

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S1
Open AI Founder on Artificial Intelligence's Future | Exponentially    

Open AI’s Sam Altman sits down with Azeem Azhar to give his perspective on the evolution of artificial intelligence and its impact on politics, education and inequality.

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S2
D.H. Lawrence on the Hypocrisies of Social Change and What It Actually Takes to Shift the Status Quo    

“We have created a great, almost overwhelming incubus of falsity and ugliness on top of us, so that we are almost crushed to death. Now let us move it.”

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S3
Center of the Universe: Non-Speaking Autistic Poet Hannah Emerson's Extraordinary Poem About How to Be Reborn Each Day    

“Please try to go to hell frequently because you will find the light there.”

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S4
How CEOs Can Navigate the Emotional Labor of Leadership    

Although the CEO role comes with power, pay, and privilege, it also involves emotional labor, as leaders feel the toll of making divisive and unpopular decisions. This aspect of the job has become more challenging the last few years. This article offers leaders four tools to help cope with the pressure.

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S5
Generative AI Has an Intellectual Property Problem    

Generative AI, which uses data lakes and question snippets to recover patterns and relationships, is becoming more prevalent in creative industries. However, the legal implications of using generative AI are still unclear, particularly in relation to copyright infringement, ownership of AI-generated works, and unlicensed content in training data. Courts are currently trying to establish how intellectual property laws should be applied to generative AI, and several cases have already been filed. To protect themselves from these risks, companies that use generative AI need to ensure that they are in compliance with the law and take steps to mitigate potential risks, such as ensuring they use training data free from unlicensed content and developing ways to show provenance of generated content.

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S6
How to Have Better Strategy Conversations About Monetizing Data    

Our special report on innovation systems will help leaders guide teams that rely on virtual collaboration, explores the potential of new developments, and provides insights on how to manage customer-led innovation.Our special report on innovation systems will help leaders guide teams that rely on virtual collaboration, explores the potential of new developments, and provides insights on how to manage customer-led innovation.Companies can’t manage what they don’t measure. They also can’t manage what they can’t discuss. Take the term data monetization: Definitions range from the narrowly focused “selling data sets” to the overly broad “creating benefits from data.” Too little consistency among curricula in academia and too much siloed business thought leadership only add to the proliferation of data babel. When leaders try to have productive conversations about a data monetization strategy within a complex business environment, they often reach an impasse. They need a simple, common language to break through.

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S7
'Shrinkflation' isn't a trend - it's a permanent hit to your wallet    

If you've noticed you're getting less while your bill at the till stays the same, it's not just you.'Shrinkflation' – reducing a product's size or quantity while keeping its price stable – is rampant. As the global economy grapples with issues including rising raw material costs, supply chain backlogs and higher post-pandemic labourer wages, consumers are bearing the brunt of spiking production expenses.

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S8
UAW auto strike: Why US Automotive CEOs make more than global competition    

At 23:59 on 14 Sept, roughly 13,000 workers at three of the largest automakers in the US went on strike. After eight weeks of unsuccessful negotiations among the United Auto Workers union (UAW) and the companies – General Motors (GM), Ford and Stellantis – workers walked off the job when contracts expired. Thousands more workers have since joined the strike in 38 locations across 20 states, and President Biden is expected to show support by walking the picket line this week.At the top of the UAW's demands is a 40% pay increase across four years (that number was lowered to 36% a few days after the strike began, after ongoing negotiations). Union president Shawn Fain has made the canyon-like gap between CEO and worker pay the foremost banner of the strike.

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S9
India's beloved mosur dal    

The everyday dish of simmered lentils known as dal is more than just food to most Indians; it is comfort, it is nourishment and very often, it is the taste of home."For me, dal is comfort food and I have it every day. When I am tired, or when I'm having a bad day, dal with rice uplifts my mood in a way that nothing else can, not even coffee or chocolate," said cookbook author Archana Pidathala.

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S10
Why Aperol Spritz is the drink of the summer    

This summer, Aperol Spritz has been flowing from the counters of the most enchanting venues in New York City, from the rooftop of the Independent Art Fair in Tribeca to the flamingo-themed new bakery on my Brooklyn block. In Singapore, you can take an Aperol Spritz bar crawl, and in Paris, it's now a fixture at most cafes next to the local pastis and kir.It seems that aperitivo (Italy's cherished pre-dinner drink) has become the new happy hour. And yet, the current popularity of Aperol Spritz leaves us Venetians slightly perplexed. How did a drink that, until 20 years ago could only be found in our region's humble osteria (tavern) and cheap local bars, conquer the world?

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S11
Sheikh el mahshi: Aubergines filled with ground beef    

In the Levant, there's a diverse array of dishes called mahshi (stuffed vegetables), including kousa bil labn (stuffed courgette cooked with yoghurt), beitenjan mahshi (aubergine simmered in a rich tomato sauce), malfouf (rolled cabbage leaves) that resemble delicate fingers, and waraq einab (grape leaves) that are similar to dolma eaten in Turkey, Greece, the Balkans and Iraq.What all these mahashi (the plural of mahshi) share in common is that they are filled predominantly with rice then layered inside a big pot to be covered in steaming broth or sauce and cooked on the stove until tender.

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S12
Trump's mugshot to Burning Man: Six of the most striking images of 2023 so far    

It was the mugshot heard around the world. The booking photo of Donald Trump, taken at an Atlanta jail after the former US president was indicted for conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Georgia, was released moments after it was taken on 24 August. The portrait's penetrating stare instantly seared itself into cultural consciousness, and Trump made the most of it, with his campaign website selling mugshot-branded mugs, t-shirts and drink coolers within hours. The mugshot in the US has a mystique all its own and an arresting allure that Andy Warhol seized upon almost 60 years ago in a series of 13 super-sized portraits he fashioned from the New York Police Department's list of most-wanted individuals, which the Pop Artist provocatively plastered to the side of a pavilion in the New York State Fair in 1964, causing a scandal. It was quickly painted over.About shadows they were never wrong, the Old Masters. If the 16th-Century Italian painter Caravaggio were alive today, perhaps he would have found intriguing the conspiracy of darkness and light in a photo caught on the floor of the US House of Representatives in January. Here, the controversial Republican congresswoman and ally of former President Trump, Marjorie Taylor Greene, attempts to persuade a colleague, Matt Rosendale from Montana, to speak to Trump, whom she has on hold on her smartphone. The gadget's glow, Greene's outstretched arm, Rodendale's raised hand in refusal and rumples of dark fabric that frame the scene echo the contours and contrasts of Caravaggio's own chiaroscuro canvases.

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S13
An entry fee may not be enough to save Venice from 20 million tourists    

Venice’s history, art and architecture attract an estimated 20 million visitors every year. The city, a Unesco World Heritage site, is often crammed with tourists in search of special memories. But for the people who actually live there, this level of tourism has become unsustainable. So from 2024, day-trippers will be charged a €5 (£4.31) fee as part of an attempt to better manage the flow of visitors.

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S14
Online safety bill: why making the UK the 'safest place to go online' is not as easy as the government claims    

Among the bill’s key aims is to ensure it is more difficult for young people (under the age of 18) to access content that is considered harmful – such as pornography and content that promotes suicide or eating disorders. It places a “duty of care” on tech companies to ensure their users, especially children, are safe online. And it aims to provide adults with greater control over the content they interact with, for example if they wish to avoid seeing sexual content. The legislation puts the onus on service providers (such as social media companies and search engines) to enforce minimum age requirements, publish risk assessments, ensure young people cannot access harmful content (while still granting adults access) and remove illegal content such as self-harm and deepfake intimate images.

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S15
Queer film in Africa is rising - even in countries with the harshest anti-LGBTIQ+ laws    

Yes, the last decade has seen a proliferation of these films. Nigeria’s Nollywood has produced a considerable body of films portraying queer lived experiences. Although most of these experiences remain largely formulaic and moralistic, there have been films like the 2020 lesbian love story Ife which offer positive images of queerness in Nigeria. With its long history of queer representation in film, South Africa continues to produce work that highlights the diversity of LGBTIQ+ experiences. Christiaan Olwagen’s coming-of-age war musical Kanarie appeared in 2018. The following year saw Moffie by Oliver Hermanus, set in the apartheid army. And Bonnie Sithebe’s 2022 lesbian drama Valley of a Thousand Hills is set in traditional rural South Africa.

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S16
Lithium-ion battery fires are a growing public safety concern - here's how to reduce the risk    

In today’s electronic age, rechargeable lithium-ion batteries are ubiquitous. Compared with the lead-acid versions that have dominated the battery market for decades, lithium-ion batteries can charge faster and store more energy for the same amount of weight.These devices make our electronic gadgets and electric cars lighter and longer-lasting – but they also have disadvantages. They contain a lot of energy, and if they catch fire, they burn until all of that stored energy is released. A sudden release of huge amounts of energy can lead to explosions that threaten lives and property.

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S17
This Christian text you've never heard of, The Shepherd of Hermas, barely mentions Jesus - but it was a favorite of early Christians far and wide    

People usually think about the Bible as a book with a fixed number of texts within its pages: 24 books in the Jewish version of the Bible; 66 for Protestants; 73 for Catholics; 81 if you’re Ethiopian Orthodox.Writings that didn’t make it into the Bible, on the other hand, are often called “apocrypha,” a Greek term that refers to hidden or secret things. There are hundreds of apocryphal Jewish and Christian texts that, for one reason or another, were not included in different versions of the Bible. Some simply fell out of use. Some caused theological headaches for later Jews or Christians, and some were rejected because of their author – for supposedly not having really been written by an apostle, for instance. (When used with a capital “A,” Apocrypha refers to a handful of books included in the Catholic and Orthodox versions of the Old Testament, but not most Protestant ones.)

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S18
Microphone check - 5 ways that music education is changing    

Music education – which traditionally has been heavily reliant on large ensembles and classical music – is changing with the times. Not since the introduction of the school wind ensemble in the 1920s or the growth of marching band in the 1950s has music education undergone such a transformation.The changes occurring now have been developed to bring more students into school and community music classes at all levels of education, from kindergarten to college.

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S19
Remote workers are more aware of cybersecurity risks than in-office employees: new study    

Workers who telecommute tend to be more aware of cybersecurity threats than those who spend most of their time in a physical office and are more likely to take action to ward them off, according to our new peer-reviewed study. Our findings are based on Amazon Mechanical Turk survey data collected from 203 participants who recently switched to full-time remote work, as well as from 147 in-office workers, across multiple organizations within the United States. We didn’t collect data on hybrid workers.

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S20
What are APIs? A computer scientist explains the data sockets that make digital life possible    

APIs, or application programming interfaces, are the gateways to the digital world. They link a wide array of software applications and systems. APIs facilitate communication between different software systems, and so power everything from social media – think of the share buttons on webpages – to e-commerce transactions. At a simple level, APIs are like electrical sockets. A software application that you’re using, say the playback controls for a video on a webpage, is like an appliance. The system that provides data or services that the application needs, say YouTube, is like the electrical grid. The API, in this example the YouTube Player API, is like the standard electrical outlet that lets any appliance plug in to the grid.

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S21
Why separating fact from fiction is critical in teaching US slavery    

Of all the debate over teaching U.S. slavery, it is one sentence of Florida’s revised academic standards that has provoked particular ire: “Instruction includes how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.”Does this sentence constitute “propaganda,” as Vice President Kamala Harris proclaimed, “an attempt to gaslight us?”

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S22
Loud sounds at movies and concerts can cause hearing loss, but there are ways to protect your ears    

Ever go to the movies or a rock concert and been blasted by the sound? You may not realize it while it’s happening, but ongoing exposure to loud sounds at these venues can damage your hearing.Our ears are highly sensitive to loud noise. Even very short exposures to high-level sounds – that’s anything above 132 decibels – can cause permanent hearing loss for some people. That’s true even if it’s just a brief blast; a single gunshot or fireworks explosion can cause immediate damage to the ear.

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S23
On Sukkot, the Jewish 'Festival of booths,' each sukkah is as unique as the person who builds it    

Sukkot is a Jewish festival that follows right on the heels of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, Judaism’s High Holy Days. The harvest holiday, which begins on Sept. 29, 2023, lasts for seven days when celebrated in Israel and eight days when celebrated elsewhere.Like many Jewish rituals and traditions, from lighting Friday night candles to hosting Passover seders, Sukkot is primarily celebrated in the home – or rather, in the yard. Translated as the “Festival of Booths,” Sukkot is celebrated in an outdoor structure called a sukkah, which is carefully built and rebuilt each year.

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S24
The family home in South African townships is contested - why occupation, inheritance and history are clashing with laws    

During apartheid, black South Africans could not own land – and therefore their homes – in what were classified as “white” cities. In racially segregated townships, living in “family houses” and passing them on depended officially on a range of permits. These were usually to rent from state authorities, but in some cases confusingly to build or buy a house without owning the plot underneath it, which was owned by the state.A crucial measure in undoing apartheid was transferring ownership of township houses to their long-term residents. In 1986, a few years before apartheid’s end, the law changed to enable outright ownership for black people in urban areas. Subsequently, processes for transfer on a large scale were established.

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S25
Environmental disasters and climate change force people to cross borders, but they're not recognised as refugees - they should be    

University of Johannesburg provides support as an endorsing partner of The Conversation AFRICA.As our planet warms, we’re experiencing more frequent and severe weather events, rising sea levels, prolonged droughts and altered ecosystems. These environmental shifts directly affect people’s livelihoods by destroying crops and depleting water sources. They make once-inhabitable areas uninhabitable.

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S26
How to make a perfect romcom - an expert explains the recipe for romance    

Picture the scene: it’s a dreary weeknight evening, you’re tired from work, and you want to watch something that will pick you up. My guess is that some of you – perhaps more than would admit it – would pick a romantic comedy. Over the years the romcom has been designated as “chick flick”, dismissed at awards ceremonies (the best picture Oscar primarily goes to drama films) and frequently panned by critics. Yet, critics are not the only ones buying cinema tickets or watching streaming services.

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S27
The rich history of black British fashion is explored in an exciting new exhibition    

The story of black people is often told through a narrow lens, explained curator Andrew Ibi, at the private viewing of his new exhibition at Somerset House. Looking to widen that lens, The Missing Thread tells the rich history of black British Fashion. With designs by Bruce Oldfield, Ozwald Boateng, Bianca Saunders, Saul Nash and the late Joe Casely-Hayford, the show presents a fusion of black British culture through displays on fashion, music and art from the 1970s to the present.

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S28
How rape myths and unconscious biases prejudice the judicial system against women -- and rape survivors in particular    

It is well documented that women who are sexually assaulted, or raped, rarely report the crime to the police. The US charity, the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, has shown that one in six women in the US has been the victim of rape or attempted rape, yet two in three rapes go unreported. For women under 25, that figure drops to one in five. In the UK, these figures are similarly bleak. The Victims’ Commissioner for England and Wales notes that, in the year to December 2021, the police recorded 67,125 rape offences. And yet the charity Rape Crisis says five in six women who are raped don’t report it.

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S29
World's biggest bat colony gathers in Zambia every year: we used artificial intelligence to count them    

Everybody who visits Kasanka National Park in Zambia during “bat season” agrees that the evening emergence of African straw-coloured fruit bats from their roost site is one of the wildlife wonders of the world. The bats (Eidolon helvum) arrive at Kasanka every year around October. The numbers swell rapidly until they peak in November. By January they are gone again.Once they recover from the shock of the breathtaking spectacle, everyone also converges on the same question – how many bats are there? So many fly out so fast, it seems impossible to count them. Past estimates based on visual counts have ranged from 1 million to 10 million, a sign of how difficult the task is.

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S30
Tyson Fury's Netflix series highlights the mental health challenges faced by Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities    

The Netflix documentary series, At Home With The Furys, provides a fascinating look at the day to day life of Tyson Fury, family man and heavyweight boxing world champion. A particular source of pride for Tyson is his heritage as a member of the Traveller community, his boxing moniker being “The Gypsy King”. Yet despite the glitz and glamour that comes with being a millionaire celebrity, Fury has had his internal, as well as external, battles to fight. These include a long history of anxiety and depression, bipolar disorder, substance abuse and suicidal thoughts.

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S31
Fossil fuel workers have the skills to succeed in green jobs, but location is a major barrier to a just transition    

As the U.S. shifts away from fossil fuels to cleaner energy sources, thousands of coal, oil and gas workers will be looking for new jobs. We analyzed 14 years of fossil fuel employment and skills data and found that, while many fossil fuel workers could transfer their skills to green jobs, they historically have not relocated far when they changed jobs.

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S32
Rishi Sunak has ripped up decades of cross-party consensus on climate change    

The acclaimed 1990 film Awakenings tells the story of a neurologist who discovers a drug which rouses catatonic patients from decades of “sleep”. It’s a true story, based on Oliver Sacks’ 1973 memoir of the same name. Sadly, the awakening doesn’t last. The drug wears off. The mirage fades. After a brief window of hope, the patients return to their catatonic state.

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S33
How stereotyping increases during economic crises    

It’s been almost exactly 15 years since Lehmann Brothers declared bankruptcy, marking the height of the financial crisis. Since then, we’ve entered the era of the “polycrisis” – where several catastrophic events are happening at once. We’re dealing with the aftermath of a pandemic, a war in Ukraine, extreme weather events, rising inflation and a food and energy crisis.These events can be described as economic “shocks”, though the consequences may be drawn out for years. The key point about a shock is that it puts us out of equilibrium. And as we show in our recent paper, published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, such shocks often lead to an uptick in negative stereotyping – making life even more miserable for millions.

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S34
What's the carbon footprint of owning pet fish? An expert explains    

While the environmental impact of having dogs and cats as pets has been examined to some extent, the impact of keeping pet fish has remained unexplored – until now. Dogs in particular have a significant carbon “pawprint”. An average-size dog (weighing 10-20kg) in Europe is responsible for between 349 and 1,424kg of CO₂-equivalent emissions per year – compared with between 150kg and 251kg of CO₂-eq for an average-size cat (weighing 2kg-6kg).

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S35
Nagorno-Karabakh: crisis in the Caucasus could destabilise the whole of Eurasia    

In the past few days there has been a steady stream of ethnic Armenians fleeing the contested region of Narogno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan launched a 24-hour assault on the Armenian enclave, which is surrounded by Azerbaijani territory, on September 19 and, following a ceasefire brokered the following day, refugees have been allowed to leave via the narrow Lachin corridor, which connects the enclave with Armenia. As of September 27, it was estimated that nearly 30,000 people had made the crossing since it was opened on September 24. It is expected that many of the estimated 120,000 Karabakhi Armenians will leave for Armenia. Meanwhile, at least 68 people were killed and about 350 injured in an explosion at a petrol station in the enclave’s main highway out of Stepanakert, its capital.

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S36
Israel-Palestine: the legacy of Oslo and the future of a two-state solution - podcast    

Despite the promise of the Oslo accords in the early 1990s, the negotiations that followed never cemented an Israel-Palestine peace deal. What lessons do they hold for the future? In the third and final part of Inside the Oslo Accords, a special series from The Conversation Weekly podcast, we assess the legacy of the Oslo peace process, 30 years on. And we ask two insiders to the negotiations: Palestinian political and civil society leader, Hanan Ashrawi, and Israeli former deputy foreign minister and minister of justice, Yossi Beilin, what future they see for the two-state solution.

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S37
Breathing through your nose when you exercise may make your runs easier    

Breathing is subconscious. We don’t have to think about it – it just happens. But when we exercise, many of us become more aware of it than we normally are – sometimes thinking about every breath we take.During low and moderate-intensity exercises (such as walking and cycling), the majority of us breathe in through our nose and out through our mouths. But the more intense the exercise becomes, the more we tend to breathe entirely through our mouths.

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S38
Online abuse could drive women out of political life - the time to act is now    

It is becoming increasingly evident that life in modern politics is presenting women with a stark choice – endure almost constant online threats and abuse or get out of public life. Jacinda Ardern, the former prime minister of New Zealand, and Sanna Marin, the former prime minister of Finland, are the two highest profile cases, but the problem is widespread.

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S39
NZ's Green Party is 'filling the void on the left' as voters grow frustrated with Labour's centrist shift    

The gain seems to have come from voters unimpressed by Labour’s centrist shift under leader Chris Hipkins, which leaves the Greens to fill a wider void on the left. The party can claim policy success in several areas – environment and climate, housing quality, family and sexual violence prevention. But has it achieved the social and economic changes required for the climate resilient society it campaigns for? The answer has to be a categorical no.

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S40
Supreme Court supermajority will clarify its constitutional revolution this year, deciding cases on guns and regulations    

The first Monday in October, the traditional date for the beginning of the U.S. Supreme Court’s term, is almost here: On Oct. 2, 2023, the court will meet after the summer recess, with the biggest case of the term focused on the limits of individual gun rights. The other core issue for the coming year is a broad reassessment of the power of the administrative state.

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S41
Canada's House speaker quits: What the Hunka scandal reveals about Second World War complexities    

Anthony Rota, the speaker of Canada’s House of Commons, has resigned from his post after inviting “war hero” Yaroslav Hunka to Parliament to take in the recent appearance of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.That invitation — and the two subsequent standing ovations Hunka received from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, MPs of all parties and Zelenskyy — ignited an international uproar.

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S42
Wildland firefighters face a huge pay cut without action by Congress - here's how physically demanding this lifesaving job is    

Radios crackle with chatter from a wildfire incident command post. Up the fireline, firefighters in yellow jerseys are swinging Pulaskis, axlike hand tools, to carve a fuel break into the land.By 10 a.m., these firefighters have already hiked 3 miles up steep, uneven terrain and built nearly 1,200 feet of fireline.

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S43
Playful whales can use seaweed as a hat - or exfoliant. This "kelping" behaviour is more common than we realised    

If you’re a whale, there’s often not too much to see out in deeper water. Perhaps that’s why so many whales get playful with kelp and other seaweed. Once might have been chance. But we’ve collected over 100 examples on social media of whales playing with seaweed, known as “kelping”. It’s not just one species –  gray whales, southern and northern right whales, and humpback whales all do it.

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S44
New study shows we can create value from food waste by turning it into a highly desirable material - nanocellulose    

Food waste is a global problem with approximately 1.3 billion tonnes of food wasted each year throughout the food lifecycle – from the farm to food manufacturers and households.Across the food supply chain, Australians waste around 7.6 million tonnes of food each year. This costs our economy approximately A$36.6 billion annually.

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S45
What do we know about long COVID in kids? And what do I do if I think my child has it?    

While COVID in children has generally been milder than in adults, there are concerns long COVID may be a major consequence for children and young people arising from the pandemic.Long COVID, also known as “post-COVID condition” is an umbrella term for a range of symptoms that can persist for months after the initial acute phase of COVID. Long COVID may include fatigue, post-exertional malaise, disordered sleep, cognitive difficulties, pain, anxiety and depression. These symptoms can impact people of any age, including children.

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S46
Why the Voice could be a xxxxxx against Trumpism gaining a stronger foothold in Australia    

Bruce Wolpe is a non resident Senior Fellow at the United States Studes Centre at the University of Sydney. He has worked with the Democrats in the US Congress and served on the staff of former Prime Minister Julia Gillard. He is not a member of any political party.As former Labor minister Barry Jones has wisely noted, the Voice referendum feels like 2016 all over again.

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S47
Millie Bobby Brown's debut novel is a bestseller. Does it matter that the 19-year-old actor didn't write it?    

Stranger Things actor Millie Bobby Brown’s debut novel, Nineteen Steps, revolves loosely around true events. In 1943, the Bethnal Green tube disaster claimed the lives of 173 Londoners, due to faulty stairs in the station used as an air raid shelter.This tragedy, the UK’s largest loss of civilian life in the second world war, was one Brown’s own grandmother survived. Brown describes her novel as a “really special project” inspired by her family’s WWII history.

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S48
7 ways to look after yourself and your community before and after the Voice referendum    

The lead-up to the Voice referendum is already affecting the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. These impacts will likely worsen during and after the vote.A quick search of any social media platform about the Voice referendum reveals a range of strong perspectives on voting “yes” or “no”. But in the loosely regulated world of social and news media, many conversations are becoming toxic and racist, and turning into hate speech.

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S49
Are seniors being pressured into retirement homes by lack of community services?    

Ads for retirement homes often feature an older couple relaxing in comfortable surroundings, playing a board game or enjoying a meal with friends. They look well — and young for their age — with broad smiles and perfect silver hair. These ads offer worry-free, active retirement living at its fullest, complete with delicious and nutritious food. It looks like a wonderful lifestyle choice.

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S50
Reclaiming Dada women's art history shouldn't mean amplifying orientalism and sexism    

Digital archives have become powerful platforms for women artists who were excluded from official art history, allowing them to claim their rightful place posthumously. However, amid the legitimate excitement of bringing overlooked female artists into the foreground through archival work, there are problems when digital copies of archives proliferate and aren’t critically contextualized.

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S51
Family vlogs can entertain, empower and exploit    

YouTube channels belonging to American content creator Ruby Franke were recently scrubbed from the site after the YouTuber was charged with child abuse. Franke was known for making parenting videos on her YouTube channel, 8 Passengers. Her videos frequently featured content on the family and her six children.Police in Utah said the charges were laid after Franke’s 12-year-old son climbed out of the window of a home and went to a neighbour to ask for food and water. Police said the boy and his younger sister were found emaciated and required hospitalization.

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S52
Ruapehu has had a great ski season - but we need to reimagine the future of NZ's iconic volcano    

Holidaying with my family last week, we fell in love with the natural terrain of both the Whakapapa and Tūroa fields – the latter enjoying the biggest snow base in the world at the time.We were not alone. A strong winter season has seen many thousands making the most of the great conditions: 5,614 guests on Whakapapa’s busiest day of July 15, and 3,500 at Tūroa on July 28.

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S53
Citizen scientists collect more nature data than ever, showing us where common and threatened species live    

Citizen science isn’t new anymore. For decades, keen amateur naturalists have been gathering data about nature and the environment around them – and sharing it. But if anyone can contribute data, how do you know it’s reliable? Was it really an antechinus, or was it a black rat? Despite the growing success in collecting data, there has long been scepticism over how reliable the data are when used to, say, estimate how abundant a threatened species is.

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S54
Nobody knows how consciousness works - but top researchers are fighting over which theories are really science    

Science is hard. The science of consciousness is particularly hard, beset with philosophical difficulties and a scarcity of experimental data. So in June, when the results of a head-to-head experimental contest between two rival theories were announced at the 26th annual meeting of the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness in New York City, they were met with some fanfare.

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S55
China's new anti-espionage law is sending a chill through foreign corporations and citizens alike    

Earlier this year, China updated its anti-espionage law amid an intensifying rivalry with the US and growing distrust of the Western-led international order. The law broadens the scope beyond what it originally sought to prohibit – leaks of state secrets and intelligence – to include any “documents, data, materials, or items related to national security and interests.”

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S56
Who is Jacinta Allan, Victoria's new premier?    

With the sudden announcement that Daniel Andrews will be stepping down as premier of Victoria at 5pm today, the Labor Party has been working to find the best replacement. Deputy Premier Jacinta Allan, from the Socialist Left faction, was widely tipped to become the next premier, especially as she had Andrews’ endorsement. But some late challenges from the Right made it more complicated, with Transport Minister Ben Carroll also throwing his hat in the ring.

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S57
Is TikTok right - will eating three carrots a day really give me a natural tan?    

A beauty trend gaining popularity on TikTok, dubbed the “carrot tan”, claims eating three carrots a day will give you a natural tan. Carotenoids are natural pigments that give red, orange and yellow colours to fruits and vegetables. Think of them as nature’s paint.

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S58
Word from The Hill: Assessing Daniel Andrews, the extraordinary Pezzullo story, senators give Qantas chiefs a hard time    

As well as her interviews with politicians and experts, Politics with Michelle Grattan includes “Word from The Hill”, where she discusses the news with members of The Conversation’s politics team.In this podcast Michelle and politics editor Amanda Dunn discuss Victorian premier Daniel Andrews’ exit, as well as the revelation of extraordinary texts from leading public servant Mike Pezzullo promoting his views to the Coalition government through a Liberal insider.

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S59
Does AI have a right to free speech? Only if it supports our right to free thought    

The world has witnessed breathtaking advances in generative artificial intelligence (AI), with ChatGPT being one of the best known examples. To prevent harm and misuse of the technology, politicians are now considering regulating AI. Yet they face an overlooked barrier: AI may have a right to free speech.Under international law, humans possess an inviolable right to freedom of thought. As part of this, governments have a duty to create an environment where people can think freely.

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S60
Furious Rupert Murdoch Returns to Fox After Network Accidentally Broadcasts Fact    

NEW YORK (The Borowitz Report)—An irate Rupert Murdoch has returned to the helm of Fox News after the network accidentally let a fact slip into its evening programming.Speaking to reporters, the visibly seething mogul refused to identify the alarming nugget of reality that set him off, but said that it was “truthful enough” to make him reverse his week-old decision to retire.

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S61
Rethinking the Luddites in the Age of A.I.    

On December 15, 1811, the London Statesman issued a warning about the state of the stocking industry in Nottingham. Twenty thousand textile workers had lost their jobs because of the incursion of automated machinery. Knitting machines known as lace frames allowed one employee to do the work of many without the skill set usually required. In protest, the beleaguered workers had begun breaking into factories to smash the machines. “Nine Hundred Lace Frames have been broken,” the newspaper reported. In response, the government had garrisoned six regiments of soldiers in the town, in a domestic invasion that became a kind of slow-burning civil war of factory owners, supported by the state, against workers. The article was apocalyptic: “God only knows what will be the end of it; nothing but ruin.”The workers destroying the lace frames were the group who called themselves Luddites, after Ned Ludd, a (likely fictional) knitting-frame apprentice near Leicester who was said to have rebelled against his boss by destroying a frame with a hammer. Today, the word “Luddite” is used as an insult to anyone resistant to technological innovation; it suggests ignoramuses, sticks in the mud, obstacles to progress. But a new book by the journalist and author Brian Merchant, titled “Blood in the Machine,” argues that Luddism stood not against technology per se but for the rights of workers above the inequitable profitability of machines. The book is a historical reconsideration of the movement and a gripping narrative of political resistance told in short vignettes.

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S62
Joe Biden’s Visit to a U.A.W. Picket Line Was a Powerful Political Gesture    

At lunchtime on Tuesday, Joe Biden became the first sitting U.S. President to join a picket line. Outside General Motors' Willow Run Redistribution Center, in Belleville, Michigan—not far from Detroit—Biden greeted a group of striking members of the United Auto Workers union. He told the workers that they had saved the automobile industry during the economic crisis of 2008-09 and made a lot of personal sacrifices. (These included taking wage cuts.) Now that the auto industry was doing "incredibly well," Biden said through a bullhorn, "you should be doing incredibly well, too."It wasn't a new message. The day the strike began, Biden said that record profits at the Big Three U.S. automakers—Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis—should mean record pay contracts for the U.A.W. workers. But it's one thing to deliver remarks sympathetic to a union from behind a White House lectern. Flying on Air Force One to Detroit, taking a Presidential limousine to the Willow Run facility, standing alongside the striking employees, and appealing to the Big Three to "step up"—that is something else completely.

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S63
Just Making Sure You Saw My Thing    

Hey, there, just dropping you a note to make sure you saw my thing. It went up last week, my thing did. You may have seen it on my Web site, or in my e-mail blast, or maybe on one of the various content feeds I update regularly with my things and also short, enticing snippets of my things.Real quick: please understand that these thing-snippets don’t do justice to the thing-wholes, but I’m hoping they draw enough viewers and entrant-tier subscribers to justify the time I spend maintaining eleven separate social-media platforms, which each has its own formatting guidelines and vibe.

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S64
20 Years Later, the Most Underrated Final Fantasy Sequel Still Deserves More Credit    

If there’s one thing that defines Final Fantasy, it’s that no two games are quite alike. Mechanics and settings change with every release, giving each installment its own unique character. So when the sequel to Final Fantasy Tactics — a game about class struggle, conflict, and the malleability of history — opened with a group of school kids having a snowball fight, it shouldn’t have been too surprising.Final Fantasy Tactics Advance came to North America on September 8, 2003, six years after Final Fantasy Tactics. In that time, the original game had become a critical darling, and players were already looking forward to a sequel. The game that succeeded the mature RPG couldn’t have looked more like a departure from its predecessor, but the way Final Fantasy Tactics Advance uses its childlike appearance to draw in players and subvert their expectations should garner it a lot more credit.

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S65
'The Creator' Review: A Half-Baked Attempt at Sci-Fi Originality    

The Creator is the embodiment of our originality-starved movie landscape — for better and for worse.When Gareth Edwards first signed on to direct and write The Creator (originally titled True Love), he cited Blade Runner, Akira, E.T., and Apocalypse Now as inspirations. The astonishingly ambitious The Creator certainly wears those comparisons on its sleeves, but those inspirations ultimately become the albatross around the movie’s neck.

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S66
'Loki' Season 1 Deleted Scene Could Reveal a Surprising Season 2 Cameo    

Loki (Tom Hiddleston) has come a long way from his first moments in Marvel’s Cinematic Universe. He may be Marvel’s most loveable anti-hero now, but he started as a tragic foil to his golden boy brother, Thor Odinson (Chris Hemsworth). It’s hard to see one without thinking of the other; they were virtually inseparable throughout Marvel’s Infinity Saga. Wherever Thor was, Loki was never far behind, at least until his untimely demise. While Thor continues his journey in Marvel’s main continuity, Disney+ series Loki has given the God of Mischief a new lease on life. Season 1 went a long way in establishing Loki as a solo player, but as it returns for its second season, it may just reunite Loki with his estranged brother — or, more accurately, one of his variants.

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S67
What to Know About 'Honkai Impact 3rd Part 2' Post-Kiana    

Before the global success of Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail, HoYoverse was known for its action RPG Honkai Impact 3rd. Seven years after the game's initial release in 2016, Honkai Impact 3rd is still going strong, and now a new chapter is on the horizon. After concluding the story of protagonist Kiana, HoYoverse announced Honkai Impact 3rd Part 2 on September 22. While it won’t be an entirely new game, Part 2 will see major changes to the story and combat systems. Here’s everything you need to know about Honkai Impact 3rd Part 2.

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S68
12 Years Later, 'Ahsoka' May Have Sneakily Fixed Star Wars' Strangest Canon Problem    

The Chosen One has always been Star Wars’ major theme. It’s central to the franchise’s original story, it’s integral to the Force’s mythological roots, and later, in the prequels, the idea becomes literal. But if Anakin truly is the Chosen One, then how did he bring balance to the Force? The answer may lie in Ahsoka Episode 5, and Ahsoka Tano herself could play a role. In Episode 5, we see Anakin in a mystical dark realm fans have assumed is the otherworldly plane known as the World Between Worlds, which was introduced in Rebels. But Anakin never actually visited the World Between Worlds. Instead, in The Clone Wars, we see Anakin and Ahsoka on another strange, metaphysical world: Mortis, where three deities ruled over the Force. Is that where Episode 5 took place?

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S70
This Martian Mesa Was Once The Center Of Alien Conspiracy Theories -- The Real Answer Is Weirder     

There's no face on Mars, but the psychology behind the optical illusion may also have helped humans become artists.A nameless mesa in a strange Martian landscape once stood at the center of a swirl of alien conspiracy theories.

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