Last week, Donald Trump announced the creation of the Department of Government Efficiency, which promises to "dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies." And to run the new cost-cutting department, Trump tapped the businessman he calls the world's "greatest cutter" Elon Musk.If you're looking to take a chainsaw to the federal government, Musk seems perfectly suited to the job. At Twitter, he eliminated a staggering 80% of the staff over 6,000 people. At Tesla, he cut 10% of the workforce, saying the company needed to be "absolutely hardcore about headcount and cost reduction." He also laid off 10% of employees at Space X, insisting his teams need to be scrappy and nimble. Cutting, for Musk, is generally Job No. 1.For the most part, Musk's slash-and-burn tactics have paid off. Twitter usage, according to Musk, is at an all-time high. Tesla's stock is up 28% over the past year. And SpaceX now valued at $250 billion is grabbing rockets out of the sky with giant chopsticks. In the world of business, fewer workers often translate into higher profits.The question is: Can the cost-cutting tactics Musk has employed in the private sector work to corral waste and bloat in the federal government? Musk and his DOGE cochair, the biotech billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy, have said they're looking to hire "super high-IQ small government revolutionaries" to help make $2 trillion in cuts about a third of all federal spending and to slash the federal workforce by as much as 75%. It's a dream that has eluded every Republican administration since Ronald Reagan and it's one that may prove elusive even for Musk, the man now anointed as America's cost-cutter in chief.There's certainly no shortage of waste and inefficiency in the federal government that cries out to be streamlined. In 2019, the Defense Department forked over $22 million for lobster tails. In 2020, the IRS sent $1.4 billion in tax refunds to dead Americans. Millions of square feet in federal buildings sit unoccupied.In theory, a bold, outside figure like Musk could be the very thing needed to downscale an operation as vast and intractable as the federal government. Large organizations need a force of "creative destruction" to change, says Michael Morris, a professor at Columbia Business School. "Things don't go away on their own. You have to have somebody with a willingness to deliberately dismantle things if you're going to have innovation." And when a new figure institutes a massive shock to the system whether at the government or private level "it often backfires," says Morris. "There's often very fierce, active resistance to change."Even if Musk had the right idea for things, it's not so clear he could implement any of them.Andy Wu, associate professor at Harvard Business SchoolAs CEO, Musk has the latitude to push past that resistance and overhaul company culture. But things are going to be different with DOGE. Despite its branding as a "department," the new outfit will operate only in an advisory capacity: Congress holds the ultimate responsibility for authorizing spending and eliminating agencies. Government, by design, is an intensely collaborative process, intended to hammer out the competing needs of different constituencies. Musk, by contrast, is accustomed to ruling by fiat."Musk certainly exercises a great deal of control in his companies that he won't have in the environment of the federal government, where we have checks and balances," says Andy Wu, an associate professor of business administration at Harvard Business School. "Even if Musk had the right idea for things, it's not so clear he could implement any of them."The federal government is infamous for holding on to past practices, even when they no longer make sense. Linda Bilmes, a senior lecturer in public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, cites the continued minting of the penny, each of which costs three cents to produce. Last year, in an economy that has largely moved away from cash, the government spent $179 million forging pennies and nickels. Yet past calls to get rid of the penny haven't amounted to one red cent."The danger is if Elon Musk were to somehow think he is the first person who has ever looked at cost cutting in government," says Bilmes. "Many people who know a lot about government have proposed many good ideas. The potential for usefulness would be if he could take some already reasonably good ideas and help them get implemented."The Government Accountability Office and inspectors general have already recommended a variety of potential targets. They aren't always flashy: This year, the GAO recommended agencies use predictive models to schedule maintenance, saying they could save $100 million or more. It also urged the IRS to focus on collecting taxes owed by sole proprietors, which could generate hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue. If the government implemented all 5,480 of its suggestions, the GAO estimated, it would "produce measurable financial benefits" of up to $208 billion.But so far, Musk has seemed more interested in the kind of flashy, small-bore proposals that attract clicks on X. He's taken to resharing what he sees as examples of waste everything from $3 million spent on drug research that involved watching "hamsters fight on steroids" to a $20,000 grant that funded drag shows in Ecuador and crowdsourcing them on the platform. Those sorts of items might generate outrage on Fox News, but eliminating them won't do much to trim the federal government's $6,200,000,000,000 in annual spending.Then there's the politics of budget cutting. The last time Republicans succeeded at slowing government spending, under Ronald Reagan, they made deep cuts to areas of government that proved unpopular including social welfare programs, student loans, and job training. Musk may see plenty of areas he'd like to slash, but a wide range of constituencies will inevitably push back against cuts to programs they consider essential. When it comes to federal spending, one person's waste is another person's bread and butter."People support the idea of improving how the government delivers services," says Joel Friedman, the senior vice president for federal fiscal policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a progressive think tank. "I think people would take a different view if you end up gutting programs they depend on and care about." Efficiency always sounds like a good thing, until it comes for something you love.Beyond the question of where to cut, Musk will face intense scrutiny over why he's targeting certain areas of government. His role at DOGE is rife with the potential for conflicts of interest. SpaceX, for example, has received nearly $20 billion in federal contracts since 2008, and Musk has been sharply critical of the Federal Aviation Administration, viewing it as an obstacle to launching his powerful Starship. And his massive investments in electric vehicles and social media are dependent on all sorts of federal spending and oversight. When it comes to how the government interacts with the marketplace, the world's richest man inherently has a lot of skin in the game. Musk's companies did not respond to requests for comment. But Brian Hughes, a spokesperson for Trump's transition team, says it plans to ensure that those involved with DOGE "are compliant with all legal guidelines related to conflicts of interest."Those concerns also touch on the larger question of what Trump and his allies hope to accomplish by reducing the size of government. Calls for reducing "inefficiency" and "bureaucracy" have long been a euphemism for Republicans eager to reduce or eliminate federal oversight of everything from industrial pollution to airline safety. Less government is not necessarily better government, and there are plenty of federal agencies that remain so understaffed and underfunded, from the IRS to the Veterans Administration, that they're unable to perform even their most basic functions. The GOP's aim of cutting spending, a leading Reagan ally once acknowledged, is to shrink government to the size where conservatives can "drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub." On Friday, Ramaswamy directly linked DOGE to the Reagan-era dream of smaller government, promising that the new agency will finish its work by July 4, 2026 the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.And even when conservatives have succeeded at cutting costs, it's done nothing to slow the pace of government spending. Reagan slashed $22 billion in social welfare programs during his first two years in office savings that were more than offset by his tax cuts and military spending, which nearly tripled the national debt. And in 1981, when a deep recession hit, carving up the safety net left the millions of Americans who were mired in poverty with even fewer resources to get by.It's alsoMusk has acknowledged that Americans will feel "hardship" as a result of the cuts he wants to see implemented. But that doesn't mean he won't be able to juice more performance out of fewer resources, as he did at his own companies. When Musk slashed the workforce at Twitter, critics predicted that the app would collapse without enough staff to maintain it. Two years later, after a few initial glitches, it works much the same as before at a far lower cost. Doubting Musk, even when he seems to be operating at his most extreme, can be a fool's game.Amanda Hoover is a senior correspondent at Business Insider covering the tech industry. She writes about the biggest tech companies and trends.

Why Life Is Strange: Double Exposure is the worst of the series Readers FeatureGameCentralPublished Nov 17, 2024, 9:00amLife Is Strange: Double Exposure the worst one (Square Enix)A fan of the Life Is Strange franchise is disappointed by latest entry Double Exposure and argues it exacerbates all the lingering faults of the series.I find the Life Is Strange series fascinating. Ive enjoyed the series ever since the first episode of the original Life Is Strange dropped a decade ago, but as much as I appreciate the cosiness and light-heartedness the games can provide in terms of settings and social situations, it can be painfully obnoxious, hard to care about, full of try-hard dialogue, and characters who attention seek and over-exaggerate to facepalming extremities.Can we admit that the dialogue in the Life Is Strange is horrible? Upon recent completion of the latest release, Double Exposure, Ive reminded myself of how many dreadful temper-tampering quips Safi spurts out of her gob throughout the game.I understand theres a comic book-like flare to the dialogue, and these light-hearted remarks offset darker subject matter as you progress, but Life Is Strange isnt Marvel, even though Double Exposure tries ultra hard to make you believe that its donning a superhero mask.In addition, just because Double Exposure is quippy and quirky, that doesnt mean it exudes humour, it means the game is coming across as trying too hard, forcing you to evoke eye-rolling reactions time and again because its really hard to invest in these characters when they dont act naturally.Another nagging realisation Ive happened upon in Double Exposure, is that I feel like Max behaves as nosey and self-righteous; a young woman who interferes in business she isnt involved with and at one point decides to humiliate another character because of certain issues within the story that couldve been handled privately and sensibly. Yet she airs others dirty laundry for crowds to despise at will, and I find her actions in this regard rather disgusting.Im not sure anybody is more obsessed with Life Is Stranges world than developers Deck Nine, because every game is stuffed with drawings, notes, letters, posters, leaflets, figures, comics, and various other objects to read from.The main problem I have is a lot of it is so bland and lacking meaningful substance that its a shame that such hard work fills me with apathy. I struggle to connect, maybe because the Americanisms and accents get to me, or that theres a priority to tell rather than show, which is what games shouldnt be doing because, much like films, we should see whats happening with our eyes rather than reading through reams of text.Perhaps the worst thing I can say about Double Exposure is that it isnt fun. True Colors was vibrant and composed of many of Life Is Stranges qualities, and a few drawbacks, but it was expressive and what happened in Haven Springs felt impactful. Double Exposure, meanwhile, puts you in a gumshoe-like private investigator role, where Max pieces together happenings by finding evidence and linking together the events pertaining to what occurs in the story.There are pleasures to be had here, but walking around interacting with objects and speaking to characters and making A or B decisions is all old hat, even though theres always space for relaxed storytelling experiences. Life is Strange is 10 years old now and still acts the same way it did in 2014, when the first episode of the first game was released.To be brutally honest, Double Exposure double-exposes Life Is Stranges greatest weaknesses as a franchise. If youve had enough of all the quipped-up dialogue and overacting from the previous games then Double Exposure will double down on what you dont like and youll have to either endure it or play something else.I imagine if you also played through Tell Me Why and Twin Mirror, and didnt enjoy the character interactions in those games, then Double Exposure will still feel like too much cringe.By reader James DavieLife Is Strange: Double Exposure nobody likes this one (Square Enix)The readers features do not necessarily represent the views of GameCentral or Metro.You can submit your own 500 to 600-word reader feature at any time, which if used will be published in the next appropriate weekend slot. Just contact us at gamecentral@metro.co.uk or use our Submit Stuff page and you wont need to send an email.MORE : Xbox is a third party publisher and not a console maker any more - Reader's FeatureMORE : 10 good reasons why Im getting a PS5 Pro - Readers FeatureMORE : Why are there no big name video games being released this month? - Reader's FeatureSign up to all the exclusive gaming content, latest releases before they're seen on the site.Privacy Policy This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Black Friday has become a global phenomenon and now its just around the corner. As usual, Amazon is leading the charge with an extended period of incredible deals: while the official Black Friday event is set for November 29, 2024, Amazon has already started its shopping event that rivals and even surpasses Prime Day.See all deals at AmazonThis year, Amazons Black Friday celebration officially runs from November 21 to December 2, and encompasses Cyber Monday. However, you probably have noticed that the online retail giant has been rolling out massive discounts since the beginning of November, giving consumers a head start on their holiday shopping. Below is our list of all the best deals currently available.Top deals for Black Friday:Roborock Q7 Max: $199 down from $599Samsung T9 SSD 4TB: $292 down from $549Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6: $499 instead of $1899Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra: $499 instead of $1499Samsung: $1700 off on bespoke refrigeratorsUp to 70% off on Samsung.com (S24 Ultra, Z Fold 6, TVs)Mac Mini M4 256GB: $549, down from $599Dyson Outsize Origin: $399 down from $599LumiCharge II Lamp at $59 instead of $1204 pack AirTags: $79 down from $99Google Wifi: $39 instead of $169Blink Outdoor Camera: $39 down from $99LG 65 OLED evo C4 TV: $1,386 down from $2,699Fire TV Stick 4k: $21 down from $49NordVPN: $2.99/month (74% off)Lifetime Babbel subscription: $129 instead of $599See all deals at AmazonThe History of Black FridayThe origins of Black Friday can be traced back to the 60s in Philadelphia where it was used to describe the heavy traffic on the day after Thanksgiving. Over time, it evolved into a major shopping event (thanks to Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy, etc.) and it now marks the unofficial start of the holiday shopping season. Retailers began offering huge discounts to attract customers and the tradition spread across the United States and eventually around the world.Amazon has embraced this tradition wholeheartedly and transformed Black Friday into a multi-week event that caters to the diverse needs of its global customer base. This years early deals are terrific with discounts on popular tech brands that are sure to catch the eye of everybody: Apple products which hardly see any price cuts are among the standout deals this Black Friday season: this weekend, you can already enjoy massive discounts on MacBooks, iPads, AirTags, and AirPods.See all deals at AmazonSamsung is another tech giant participating in the Black Friday festivities with deals available both on Amazon and through their official website. From cutting-edge smartphones (Galaxy S24 Ultra, Galaxy Z Fold 6, Galaxy Z Flip 6, etc). to state-of-the-art televisions (QLED, Frame) and home appliances, Samsungs product range is well-represented in the current Black Friday deals.Amazon has also rolled out early Black Friday deals across its extensive range of in-house brands and products: from Echo smart speakers to Blink security cameras, Ring doorbells, Fire TV devices and Kindle e-readers, you can find huge discounts on a large range of popular items. With savings up to 80% on some items, Amazon is ensuring that you have ample opportunity to upgrade you tech at record low prices.As the early Black Friday deals heat up, were already seeing some incredible discounts that are too good to miss: EcoFlow portable power stations are slashing prices by almost 50%; Roborock robot vacuums are experiencing massive price cuts up to 60%; gaming fans can rejoice with 10% discounts on PlayStation, Xbox, and Roblox gift cards and Samsung SSDs are experiencing dramatic price reductions between 40% and 70%. Perhaps most exciting is the newly released Mac Mini 2024 which is already available with a 10% discount using a special coupon.Extended Return Policy at AmazonOne of the most consumer-friendly aspects of Amazons Black Friday event this year is the extended return policy. Many shoppers are buying gifts for the holiday season, thats why Amazon has adjusted its usual 30-day return window: for items purchased from November 1, 2024, the return window extends all the way to January 31, 2025. It means you can shop with confidence, knowing you can return or exchange gifts after the holiday season if necessary. The extended return period is very beneficial for those who like to get their Christmas shopping done early: it eliminates the worry of gifts being non-returnable by the time theyre opened on Christmas Day.Taking advantage of this weekends early deals is a smart move: Amazon is now spreading out its discounts throughout the month rather than concentrating them on a single day. This strategic shift helps manage logistics more effectively but it also means that todays deals may not be available tomorrow or during the official Black Friday. If youre waiting for the main event, it could lead you to miss out on some of the best offers.We now invite you to bookmark this page to stay updated on all the best Black Friday deals in real-time. Our team of deal specialists will be covering the entire event throughout the month so you dont miss out on any big discounts. We have a curated list of top deals available right at the top of this page, youll have everything you need to make informed shopping decisions.See all deals at Amazon

Apartment in Russafa / Quadrat EstudioSave this picture! Mariela ApollonioRenovation, Apartment InteriorsValencia, SpainArchitects: Quadrat EstudioAreaArea of this architecture projectArea:110 mYearCompletion year of this architecture project Year: 2022 Lead Architects: Ramon Campos Carceller and Hugo Momp Salvador More SpecsLess SpecsSave this picture!Text description provided by the architects. A flat unused for 50 years, located in a corner building in the Ruzafa neighborhood in the city of Valencia. An obsolete and excessively compartmentalized distribution that deprived the property of spatial quality and natural light. An opportunity.Save this picture!The space is stripped bare, eliminating partitions, cladding and false ceilings in poor condition, leaving the original structure uncovered. At the entrance are the common areas through which the rest of the rooms are accessed. The use of the traditional Alicante shutter delimits the public area of the flat and, in addition to resolving the different alignments existing in the central space, provides flexibility and gives the necessary degree of intimacy to each space.Save this picture!The colour white dominates, leaving the spotlight on the spatial richness and the textures of the different materials. Wooden flooring runs throughout the house, except in the bathrooms where the original hydraulic tiles have been recovered.Save this picture!Save this picture!The south-west orientation of the main facade guarantees large thermal gains in winter. In summer, on the other hand, the window openings are protected with external alicantina blinds which protect us from the sun while allowing the cross ventilation so necessary in these Mediterranean areas. The interior shutters are also of great importance as they allow visual privacy to be preserved without impeding the circulation and renewal of air in each room.Save this picture!Project gallerySee allShow lessProject locationAddress:Valencia, SpainLocation to be used only as a reference. It could indicate city/country but not exact address.About this officePublished on November 16, 2024Cite: "Apartment in Russafa / Quadrat Estudio" [Apartmento en Russafa / Quadrat Estudio] 16 Nov 2024. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1023493/apartment-in-russafa-quadrat-estudio&gt ISSN 0719-8884Save!ArchDaily?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

Left 4 Dead 2 is celebrating its 15-year anniversary today, November 17, 2024. Below, we look at how its cast and their interactions set it apart from its contemporaries and modern imitators alike.Left 4 Dead 2 has been rightfully receiving its flowers for the past 15 years. The modding community has come up with everything from visual enhancements like improved blood textures to completely user-made campaigns. The last two DLCs for the game, Cold Stream and The Last Stand, were made by community members and officially endorsed by Valve. At the time of writing, there are over 45,000 players in-game on PC, and (if you somehow still don't own it) you can play it for free during this anniversary weekend. As such, the Steam discussions are filled with dozens of threads about the Good Guy Nick Achievement, which can only be obtained when the game is on a free weekend, something that occurs every couple of years.But there's a special legacy Left 4 Dead has left behind: Valve's shooter has been a catalyst for a new subgenre altogether. Games like Back 4 Blood and The Anacrusis follow the formula closely, which isn't surprising considering the development teams include people who worked on Left 4 Dead. Others, such as Warhammer: Vermintide, Deep Rock Galactic, and Aliens: Fireteam Elite iterate on the concept of a co-op shooter by leaning closer to its own worlds, taking inspiration from existing franchises or coming up with brand-new mechanics to stand out from the rest. Yet, as more developers are taking the genre in interesting new directions, there's one crucial element that is often overlooked in these iterations.Continue Reading at GameSpot

Avowed, the upcoming RPG from Fallout: New Vegas and The Outer Worlds developer Obsidian, will launch on Battle.net, and players can buy it with World of Warcraft's in-game currency, gold.Games on Battle.net can be purchased with Gold, and at the current rates, you'll need around 1.4 million gold to buy Avowed's $70 edition on Battle.net, according to PC Gamer.IGN explained the convoluted process of how it works, but it boils down to how WoW Tokens can be exchanged for a balance credit on Battle.net. WoW Tokens are available for $20, and these can be re-sold through WoW's in-game auction house in exchange for gold. That gold can then be exchanged for $15 worth of Battle.net balance after Blizzard's $5 cut. With the Battle.net balance, you can buy anything from the Battle.net store, including Avowed when it releases in February 2025.Continue Reading at GameSpot

A new leak from Zenless Zone Zero is showcasing all of the game's characters traversing the overworld as part of a new update coming with Version 1.4. The urban action RPG from HoYoverse has introduced a wide variety of characters to its playable roster since its July launch, both through their playstyles and appearance. The developer has introduced everything from human characters like Anby, Nicole, and Lucy to animal-human hybrids like Lycaon and Nekomata. Now, the game's next patch is set to make a major change to its overworld.

After the passing of one of the most influential mangaka of all time, Akira Toriyama, the future of his greatest work, Dragon Ball, remains a mystery. However, it is known that the series is going to continue at some point, though nothing about this continuance has been confirmed yet. Whenever the series does eventually return, however, the storyline is rife with almost innumerable opportunities as to what the future may hold for the heroes.

If I want to implement a templated container supporting methods like find, can I cache the script function like opEquals within the template callback.I've checked the source of official script array add-on. Its template callback only contains logic for validating subtype. The logic for caching methods for comparing subtype is done elsewhere.