On Friday, four Republican members of the North Carolina Supreme Court issued an order attempting to disenfranchise more than 5,000 of the state’s voters. This order is part of an ongoing effort by Judge Jefferson Griffin, a Republican and the losing candidate in a recent state supreme court race, to overturn Democratic state Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs’ reelection in that race.Four of the state’s Republican justices, in other words, are attempting to unseat one of their own Democratic colleagues and replace her with the Republican who lost his bid to unseat her.Riggs’s victory over Griffin was very close, which is why canceling several thousand votes may be enough to change the result of this election. By official tallies, Riggs beat Griffin by just 734 votes.Griffin’s attempt to steal this election closely resembles an even more famous court case about a contested election: Bush v. Gore (2000). Bush addressed the nail-bitingly close 2000 presidential election in Florida. Initial tallies showed Republican George W. Bush with just a 537 vote lead, and whoever prevailed in Florida would also win a term in the White House.Democrat Al Gore, meanwhile, sought a recount of some Florida ballots in the hopes that this recount would push him over the top. But we’ll never know if Bush or Gore was the proper winner of the 2000 presidential election because the Supreme Court effectively halted that recount in Bush.The stunning thing about the North Carolina Supreme Court’s recent decision, in a case known as Griffin v. North Carolina State Board of Electors, is that the four Republican justices behind that decision somehow managed to recreate the exact same constitutional violation that drove the Supreme Court to shut down the recount in Bush. That’s not easy to do. One reason why Bush is widely criticized as a partisan decision is that the five justices in the majority went to great pains to limit their decision to the “present circumstances” before the Court — implying that Bush’s victory was a good-for-this-ride-only decision involving facts that are unlikely to arise again. But now they have arisen in the Griffin case.The specific legal violation identified in Bush v. Gore was that the Florida Supreme Court ordered just three counties — counties that tended to favor Democrats — to recount their ballots, a problem exacerbated by the fact that each of these three counties used different procedures to conduct this recount. A majority of the justices concluded that this piecemeal procedure was not allowed and the state supreme court had an obligation to “assure uniformity” of election rules throughout the state.In Griffin, meanwhile, the four Republican justices ordered voters disenfranchised in just four North Carolina counties — all of which favor Democrats — while leaving similarly situated voters in other counties untouched. That’s the exact same thing the Florida Supreme Court did in Bush. A state supreme court cannot apply non-uniform rules after an election has already happened.For the moment, the state supreme court’s attempt to steal Riggs’s seat is on hold — a federal judge issued a temporary order forbidding the state from certifying the result of the election until after this case is fully litigated in federal court. But under Bush, there’s only one conclusion the federal courts should reach in this case: that North Carolina’s Supreme Court cannot selectively toss out ballots.Which voters are being disenfranchised?Griffin primarily involves military and overseas voters who cast their ballot using either an online or paper form permitting them to vote absentee. Though North Carolina state law generally requires voters to show a photo ID before they can vote, the state’s administrative code provides that military and overseas voters are “not required to submit a photocopy of acceptable photo identification” when they cast their ballot.Indeed, according to lawyers representing several voters the state supreme court is attempting to disenfranchise, it was impossible for military and overseas voters to submit a copy of their ID even if they wanted to. Many of these voters cast their ballot using an online portal maintained by the state, but that portal neither asked voters to provide ID nor “[provided them] with a means of doing so.”Nevertheless, a majority of the state supreme court ruled on Friday that these voters’ ballots are presumptively invalid because they did not comply with a different provision of state law that requires the state to establish rules governing the use of ID by absentee voters. The state supreme court’s decision does allow these voters to “cure deficiencies arising from lack of photo identification” within 30 days, but it is unclear how this curing process will even work.The state’s decision to hold an election under one set of rules and then change those rules after the election in just four Democratic counties violates the Constitution in at least two ways.The first is that several federal appeals courts have ruled against states that attempted to retroactively change their election rules after an election took place. In Griffin v. Burns (1978), for example, the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit ruled that the Rhode Island Supreme Court could not toss out a stack of ballots “after the results of the election were in,” pointing to the fact that the state’s top elections official had previously “advertised, issued, and sanctioned” the ballot forms that the state supreme court later tried to invalidate.The Supreme Court has not yet ruled on whether a state can retroactively change its election procedures, so it is possible that the justices will break with these appeals court decisions.The second constitutional violation arises under Bush. And because Bush was a decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, its rule clearly should apply to the dispute between Riggs and Griffin. Under Bush, the North Carolina Supreme Court might have been allowed to disenfranchise military and overseas voters throughout the state. But it cannot disenfranchise these voters in just four Democratic counties while counting military and overseas ballots elsewhere. Again, Bush said state supreme courts must “assure uniformity” when they announce a new election rule after the election has already happened.The good news for Riggs is that the Fourth Circuit, the appeals court that oversees North Carolina, has a 9-6 Democratic majority among its active judges. So that court is unlikely to tolerate the state supreme court’s violation of the Constitution. It remains to be seen, however, whether the GOP-controlled US Supreme Court decides to get involved in this case. If it does, it is difficult to predict how it might rule.See More:

Grab the PS5 cheap while you can (Sony Interactive Entertainment) SHOPPING – Contains affiliated content. Products featured in this Metro article are selected by our shopping writers. If you make a purchase using links on this page, Metro.co.uk will earn an affiliate commission. Click here for more information. If you’re looking to pick up a Sony PS5 before the price increase, several UK retailers have deals on a cheap Astro Bot bundle. Amid looming US tariffs and ‘fluctuating exchange rates’, Sony has announced another price increase for the PlayStation 5 in the UK. This increase only applies to the digital edition console without a disc drive, with the price set to go up by £40 from £389.99 to £429.99. The standard edition with a disc drive and the PS5 Pro remain unaffected, priced at £479.99 and £699.99 respectively. While this price hike is live now on PlayStation Direct, many UK retailers are still selling the digital console on the cheap – so it’s perhaps the best time to pick one up. At the time of writing, the best deal right now is on EE.co.uk, which has a digital edition console with the excellent Astro Bot for £329.00. That’s £100 cheaper than the newly revised price, and comes with a game that usually costs £60, so it’s a pretty huge steal. More Trending The same bundle is also available on Very.co.uk, albeit at the slightly higher price of £339. How to save money on a Sony PS5 amid price rises If you’re simply after the digital PS5 console before it jumps up in price, other retailers have unchanged listings you can take advantage of. PlayStation 5 digital edition with Astro Bot – £329 (EE.co.uk) PlayStation 5 digital edition with Astro Bot – £339 (Very.co.uk) PlayStation 5 digital edition – £344 (Amazon) PlayStation 5 digital edition – £389.99 (Argos) PlayStation 5 digital edition – £389.99 (John Lewis) If you’re looking to pick up a disc drive, Sony has said it is dropping the price to £69.99 to ease the increased cost of the console itself, so you’re better off waiting until the reduction comes into effect. The PlayStation 5 might be somewhat short on exclusives when compared to its predecessor, but Death Stranding 2: On The Beach and Ghost of Yōtei are both set to launch on the console this year. Astro Bot is one of the best PS5 exclusives (Sony Interactive Entertainment) Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our newsletter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. GameCentral Sign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy

Halloween Ends alum Rohan Campbell is donning the slasher Santa hat for the new Silent Night, Deadly Night.

Vista Alegre House / LEIVA arquiteturaSave this picture!© Lucas FrankHouses•Santo Antônio da Patrulha, Brazil Architects: LEIVA arquitetura Area Area of this architecture project Area:  240 m² Year Completion year of this architecture project Year:  2024 Lead Architect: Nathana Serena More SpecsLess Specs Save this picture! Text description provided by the architects. Designed for a couple who dream of living a more relaxed lifestyle in retirement, the Vista Alegre house stands out as the focal point of a 4-hectare site, which will eventually include other structures, such as a vegetable garden, leisure areas, a deck on the lake, a chicken coop and a greenhouse, all of which were already planned in the masterplan project, so that the site is functional and productive.Save this picture!The name "Vista Alegre" was chosen because it’s the name of the street where the couple met, which tells us a lot about the type of work carried out on the site: everything was carefully thought out. The house was designed to be built in two phases: the first as a weekend home, as it is now; and the second as a permanent home, which will include an extension with two suites and a laundry room.Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!In the Vista Alegre house, we prioritized practical, economical, connected architecture with great thermal comfort. The structure functions as a modulated grid of concrete and exposed bricks, divided into two sectors: A narrow strip facing south, where the service areas are concentrated, such as the external tank, the kitchen counter, the access, the gourmet area and the external shower. This configuration centralizes the plumbing installation, making it more economical;Save this picture!And the social use area is supported by the previous one, with its exposed roof, where the living areas are located, all facing north. This provides thermal comfort and takes advantage of the best views, including the guest room, living room, dining room and gourmet area.Save this picture!Because it is in the south of Brazil, where the seasons are well defined, the eaves that extend on the north front are reduced, allowing the winter sun to illuminate the entire interior of the house, while protecting it from the summer sun. An important strategy used in this project was the decision not to make topographical changes, taking advantage of the considerable unevenness of the terrain to position the swimming pool in a suspended position, strategically positioned to offer a privileged view of the sunset, passively heating the water. The remaining space was used to create a storage area for tools and equipment, optimizing the construction and respecting the terrain. The exposed wooden trusses and the ceiling, which follow the slope of the roof, contrast with the brutality of the concrete and exposed bricks, as well as the tile details and the choice of furniture. The result is a low-maintenance house with a rustic and cozy country house feel.Save this picture! Project gallerySee allShow less About this officeLEIVA arquiteturaOffice••• Published on April 14, 2025Cite: "Vista Alegre House / LEIVA arquitetura" [Casa Vista Alegre / LEIVA arquitetura] 14 Apr 2025. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1028730/vista-alegre-house-leiva-arquitetura&gt ISSN 0719-8884Save世界上最受欢迎的建筑网站现已推出你的母语版本!想浏览ArchDaily中国吗?是否 You've started following your first account!Did you know?You'll now receive updates based on what you follow! Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors, offices and users.Go to my stream

In this tutorial, I’ll walk you through how to render your characters and environment separately in Unreal Engine 5 using Stencil Layers, giving you more control during post-production inside Nuke. This technique is essential for artists looking to enhance their cinematic shots, perform isolated color grading, defocus backgrounds, and composite like a pro. What you’ll learn: 1- How to activate and configure Movie Render Queue 2- Exporting in EXR format and why it's useful 3- Setting up Stencil Layers for subject-background separation 4- Using Nuke to composite and tweak individual elements 5- Benefits of disabling tone mapping for linear workflow Assets used in this video: 🔗 Tokyo Environment: https://www.bigmediumsmall.com/tokyo-back-alley 🤖 Robot Character (FAB): https://www.fab.com/listings/bc38ffb5-9ddb-4b29-a565-cdfc59758b8c https://www.fab.com/listings/69240f43-d821-4d4c-b5bd-e51eb28cac5c Watch Next: 🎥 My Render Settings for Movie Render Queue in UE5: 🔗 https://youtu.be/s10HJSkwJks 👍 Like the video if you found it helpful and don’t forget to subscribe for more Unreal Engine cinematic and technical breakdowns! #UnrealEngine5 #UE5Tutorial #MovieRenderQueue #NukeCompositing #RenderPasses #StencilLayers #PostProduction #CinematicRendering #VFXPipeline #Cyberpunk

The Semantic Telemetry Project aims to better understand complex, turn-based human-AI interactions in Microsoft Copilot using a new data science approach.  This understanding is crucial for recognizing how individuals utilize AI systems to address real-world tasks. It provides actionable insights, enhances key use cases , and identifies opportunities for system improvement. In a recent blog post, we shared our approach for classifying chat log data using large language models (LLMs), which allows us to analyze these interactions at scale and in near real time. We also introduced two of our LLM-generated classifiers: Topics and Task Complexity.  This blog post will examine how our suite of LLM-generated classifiers can serve as early indicators for user engagement and highlight how usage and satisfaction varies based on AI and user expertise. The key findings from our research are:  When users engage in more professional, technical, and complex tasks, they are more likely to continue utilizing the tool and increase their level of interaction with it.  Novice users currently engage in simpler tasks, but their work is gradually becoming more complex over time.  More expert users are satisfied with AI responses only where AI expertise is on par with their own expertise on the topic, while novice users had low satisfaction rates regardless of AI expertise.  Read on for more information on these findings. Note that all analyses were conducted on anonymous Copilot in Bing interactions containing no personal information.  Classifiers mentioned in article:  Knowledge work classifier: Tasks that involve creating artifacts related to information work typically requiring creative and analytical thinking. Examples include strategic business planning, software design, and scientific research.  Task complexity classifier: Assesses the cognitive complexity of a task if a user performs it without the use of AI. We group into two categories: low complexity and high complexity.  Topics classifier: A single label for the primary topic of the conversation. User expertise: Labels the user’s expertise on the primary topic within the conversation as one of the following categories: Novice (no familiarity with the topic), Beginner (little prior knowledge or experience), Intermediate (some basic knowledge or familiarity with the topic), Proficient (can apply relevant concepts from conversation), and Expert (deep and comprehensive understanding of the topic).  AI expertise: Labels the AI agent expertise based on the same criteria as user expertise above.  User satisfaction: A 20-question satisfaction/dissatisfaction rubric that the LLM evaluates to create an aggregate score for overall user satisfaction.  What keeps Bing Chat users engaged?  We conducted a study of a random sample of 45,000 anonymous Bing Chat users during May 2024. The data was grouped into three cohorts based on user activity over the course of the month:  Light (1 active chat session per week)  Medium (2-3 active chat sessions per week)  Heavy (4+ active chat sessions per week)  The key finding is that heavy users are doing more professional, complex work.  We utilized our knowledge work classifier to label the chat log data as relating to knowledge work tasks. What we found is knowledge work tasks were higher in all cohorts, with the highest percentage in heavy users.  Figure 1: Knowledge work based on engagement cohort Analyzing task complexity, we observed that users with higher engagement frequently perform the highest number of tasks with high complexity, while users with lower engagement performed more tasks with low complexity.  Figure 2: High complexity and low complexity tasks by engagement cohort+  Looking at the overall data, we can filter on heavy users and see higher numbers of chats where the user was performing knowledge work tasks. Based on task complexity, we see that most knowledge work tasks seek to apply a solution to an existing problem, primarily within programming and scripting. This is in line with our top overall topic, technology, which we discussed in the previous post.  Figure 3: Heavy users tree diagram  In contrast, light users tended to do more low complexity tasks (“Remember”), using Bing Chat like a traditional search engine and engaging more in topics like business and finance and computers and electronics. Figure 4: Light users tree diagram  Novice queries are becoming more complex  We looked at Bing Chat data from January through August 2024 and we classified chats using our User Expertise classifier. When we looked at how the different user expertise groups were using the tool for professional tasks, we discovered that proficient and expert users tend to do more professional tasks with high complexity in topics like programming and scripting, professional writing and editing, and physics and chemistry.  Figure 5: Top topics for proficient/expert users  Figure 6: Task complexity for proficient/expert  Figure 7: Top topics for novices  In contrast, novice users engaged more in professional tasks relating to business and finance and education and learning, mainly using the tool to recall information. Figure 8: Task complexity for novices  However, novices are targeting increasingly more complex tasks over time. Over the eight-month period, we see the percentage of high complexity tasks rise from about 36% to 67%, revealing that novices are learning and adapting quickly (see Figure 9).  Figure 9: High complexity for novices Jan-Aug 2024  How does user satisfaction vary according to expertise?  We classified both the user expertise and AI agent expertise for anonymous interactions in Copilot in Bing. We compared the level of user and AI agent expertise with our user satisfaction classifier.  The key takeaways are:  Experts and proficient users are only satisfied with AI agents with similar expertise (expert/proficient).  Novices are least satisfied, regardless of the expertise of the AI agent.  Figure 10: Copilot in Bing satisfaction intersection of AI expertise and User expertise (August-September 2024)  Conclusion Understanding these metrics is vital for grasping user behavior over time and relating it to real-world business indicators. Users are finding value from complex professional knowledge work tasks, and novices are quickly adapting to the tool and finding these high value use-cases. By analyzing user satisfaction in conjunction with expertise levels, we can tailor our tools to better meet the needs of different user groups. Ultimately, these insights can help improve user understanding across a variety of tasks.   In our next post, we will examine the engineering processes involved in LLM-generated classification. Opens in a new tab

A burned section of a large ice age fireplace. CREDIT: Philip R. Nigst. Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 To make it out of the last ice age alive, our ancestors needed a special set of skills. One of which was harnessing the power of fire. However, not many well-preserved fireplaces dating back to the coldest part of the ice age (between 26,500 and 19,000 years ago) remain in Europe.  Evidence from a prehistoric site at the shore of the Dnister river in modern-day Ukraine shows that people living during the most recent ice age built different types of hearths. Wood served as their primary source of fuel, but they may have used fat and bones as well. The findings were published April 1 in the journal Geoarchaeology. Archaeologists believe that Homo sapiens in Europe during the Upper Paleolithic period (between 45,000 and 10,000 years ago) used fire in several different ways.  “Fire was not just about keeping warm; it was also essential for cooking, making tools and for social gatherings,” Philip R. Nigst, a study co-author and archaeologist at the University of Vienna in Austria, said in a statement. Fire was likely a key part of survival for ice age hunter-gatherers in what is now Europe. Yet a lack of evidence from the coldest part of the ice age has prevented scientists from saying how.  “We know that fire was widespread before and after this period, but there is little evidence from the height of the Ice Age,” William Murphree, a study co-author and geoarchaeologist at the University of Algarve in Portugal, said in a statement. In the new study, the team analyzed three hearths unearthed at a prehistoric site in Ukraine. Through microstratigraphic analysis, micromorphology and colorimetric analysis, the scientists identified three simple, flat, wood-fired hearths. Interestingly, the analysis shows that one of these fires reached over 1,112 degrees Fahrenheit (600 degrees Celsius). According to the team, this proves that whoever made these fires had a more sophisticated mastery of pyrotechnics, despite the harsh environments they lived in.   The excavation site, located at the shore of the Dnister river in Ukraine. CREDIT: Philip R. Nigst Humans used wood as their main fuel source during the peak of the ice age. The charcoal analysis indicates that it was specifically spruce wood. However, animal bones or fat may have also been used to keep fires burning.  “Some of the animal bones found at the site were burnt in a fire with a temperature of over 650 degrees Celsius [1,202 degrees Fahrenheit]. We are currently investigating whether they were used as fuel or just accidentally burned,” study co-author and University of Vienna zooarcheologist Marjolein D. Bosch said in a statement.  All three fireplaces are open and flat. The team’s analysis suggests that their use of fire was sophisticated, because the fireplaces were likely to have been constructed and used differently depending on the season. One fireplace is larger and thicker, suggesting that it could reach higher temperatures. “People perfectly controlled the fire and knew how to use it in different ways, depending on the purpose of the fire. But our results also show that these hunter-gatherers used the same place at different times of the year during their annual migrations,” said Nigst. Even with these new findings, numerous questions remain, particularly about why there is such scant evidence of fireplaces dating back to the last ice age.  The large fireplace during the excavation. CREDIT: Philip R. Nigst. “Was most of the evidence destroyed by the ice-age-typical, alternating freezing and thawing of the soil?” asks Murphree.  “Or did people not find enough fuel during the Last Glacial Maximum? Did they not use fire, but instead relied on other technological solutions?” adds Nigst.  The team hopes that understanding more about the role fire plays in human evolution will reveal how it helped our species become dominant. 

News Science & Society Federal cuts put help for mental health and drug addiction in peril Changes to SAMHSA are hitting during an opioid epidemic and a wave of mental health problems The federal agency that helps oversee the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline has undergone an extreme reorganization under the Trump administration. Since its launch in 2022, millions of texts, calls and chats have poured into the Lifeline as people in distress look for help. Patrick T. Fallon/AFP/Getty Images By Laura Sanders 5 seconds ago People in the United States are in the midst of an ongoing opioid epidemic and a wave of mental health problems. So funding and staff cuts to a federal agency that supports mental health care, suicide prevention, and addiction treatment, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, or SAMHSA, has worried people who work on substance use disorders and mental health. “We’ve got some challenges — big ones,” says Keith Humphreys, a psychologist at Stanford University. He has served on the SAMHSA National Advisory Council and as a senior policy adviser at the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. “It seems like a bad time for the government to say, ‘Well, we’re not doing this anymore.’” Sign up for our newsletter We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.

Nature, Published online: 14 April 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-01146-4US global dominance in science was no accident, but a product of a far-seeing partnership between public and private sectors to boost innovation and economic growth.

Just one of those sudden motivation render. submitted by /u/lolororogiri [link] [comments]