With updates to materiality, accessibility, and user experiences, the Superdome in New Orleans is finally flourishing, albeit within a hard-bitten city still germinating after decades of convalescence.ow.ly/pJ6A50U8iCm

A new bill that does away with broker fees for renters in New York passed today. The Fairness in Apartment Rentals (FARE) Act was approved by the New York City Council this afternoon.The Fairness in Apartment Rentals (FARE) Act, shepherded by City Councillor Chi Oss of Brooklyn, was approved by the New York City Council this afternoon. Now, property owners looking to rent out their units will have to shoulder the brokers fees, not the tenants.

New study challenges social media's mental health impactLearn morehttps://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/11/241106132656.htmImage: Setia Abadi Art/Shutterstock.com

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The promise of a new and authentic Indiana Jonesadventure has been made a few times over the years, and at least with the last couple of movies, that promise hasnt been fulfilled. WhetherIndiana Jones and the Great Circleis going to be able to step in and fill that void is anyones guess, but based on everything that weve seen so far, it certainly seems like the game is taking great shape, and that fans of the IP may finally have something to be excited about without caveats. We certainly are, which is why were going to go over a few of the things that we cant wait to experience ourselves whenIndiana Jones and the Great Circlelaunches a month from now.PUNCH NAZIS IN THE FACEIf theres one thing MachineGames games never fail to miss the mark with, its having a blast killing Nazis, so anIndiana Jonesgame is sort of the perfect match for the studio, because boy does Indy love getting into it with Nazi scum. Whats particularly interesting about The Great Circleis that MachineGames has designed it to very muchnotbe a shooter, which means first-person melee combat is going to be central to the experience. That, in turn, means were going to be socking plenty of Nazis right in their faces, which we can get on board with any day of the week.MESS AROUND WITH INDYS WHIPIndiana Jones never goes anywhere without his iconic whip, and sure enough, its looking like itll be a crucial part of his toolset inThe Great Circle. MachineGames has confirmed that the game features a fully simulated physics, so naturally, were excited to get our hands on it and mess around with its physics. The idea of using it in combat to slash at foes or even grab them from a distance is an intriguing one, and one that, if implemented correctly, can meaningfully help elevate the gameplay, while using the whip for traversal and platforming purposes also soundspotentiallyfun, at the very least.CHECK OUT INDYS JOURNALWhats been revealed ofIndiana Jones and the Great Circleso far has suggested that the game is going to place heavy emphasis on puzzles and exploration, an area where Indys journal will also play an important role. True to the movies, the famous archaeologist will frequently be pulling out his journal to jot down things of importance or help navigate a variety of different environmental puzzles as he makes his way through one historical mystery after another. From the looks of it, the game is doing a great job capturing theIndiana Jones, and the journal is looking like an important part of that- so were definitely curious to dive deeper into it.EXPLORE THOROUGHLYThe Great Circleis going to have plenty of linear sections where players will be moving through prescribed, narrative-driven sequences, but MachineGames has also confirmed that the game will also have plenty of larger, much more open-ended areas as well, where players will have the freedom to explore at their own pace. With the game promising a variety of different locations to explore across its globe-trotting journey, and promising to cram each of those locations with plenty of side content, were definitely going to be taking our time as we comb through each area.BE EXPERIMENTAL WITH THE STEALTHWhere theWolfensteingames were pretty focused in how they allowed players to approach adversarial scenarios,withIndiana Jones and the Great Circle, MachineGames is placing much great emphasis on player agency and freedom. Stealth was, of course, an important part of theWolfensteingames as well, but this approach means its going to be even more prominent in The Great Circle. Whats caught our interest, however, is the promise of a web of mechanics that allows players to improvise and approach situations in a variety of different ways, something that were excited to experiment with and push the limits of as much as we can.CHECK OUT THE SOCIAL STEALTH MECHANICSSpeaking of different stealth options, while conventional stealth will obviously be a viable way to go in many situations, certain circumstances will call for different methods, which is whereThe Great Circlessocial stealth mechanics will come into play. No, were not expecting the game to give us anything too extensive on this front certainly not on the level of something like, say, Hitman but wearecurious to find out how it leverages those mechanics nonetheless. Fans of theIndiana Jonesmovies will know that the Professor is no stranger to sneaking into enemy territories while dressed as one of their own, so yes, were absolutely down for some of that in gameplay form.EXPERIMENT WITH THE IMMERSIVE SIM SYSTEMSWe were certainly taken by surprise when we found out that MachineGames had injected a healthy dosage of immersive sim elements intoIndiana Jones and the Great Circle,especially since most were probably just expecting anUncharted-style linear swashbuckling adventure. Now that we know that thats going to be an important part of the gameplay experience, however, it only makes us more excited for the game. Exploring those aforementioned semi-open world areas,The Great Circlewill afford players the freedom to tackle situations in a variety of different ways, and you can be sure well be pushing against the boundaries of those systems every chance we get to see just how much the game lets us get away with.EXPERIENCE THE SET PIECESOf course, this being anIndiana Jonesgame, the linear, cinematic, scripted action we alluded to earlier is obviously going to be a crucial part of the experience, so yes, while weareexcited to play around with the games immersive sim elements, were just as excited to get a tase of its scripted, cinematic offerings. Big, bombastic set piece sequences have been a mainstay ofIndiana Jonesfilms for as long as they have been a thing, and now were excited to be able to experience that in a game. Of course, theUnchartedseries has obviously delivered that in spades over the years, but now, we get to play as Henry Jones Jr. in that style of explosive sequences, and we couldnt be more thrilled.ENJOY TROY BAKERS PERFORMANCEThere is no Indiana Jones without Harrison Ford, though funnily enough, The Great Circleis only going to abide by that tosomedegree. Fords likeness is obviously being used, which means Indy will look the way he should, but the actor isnt playing the role himself, with Troy Baker stepping in with his best Harrison Ford impersonation. That specifically is a part of the game that has piqued our interest. Its difficult to imagine anyone being able to play the role of Indiana Jones better, but by all accounts, Baker does seem to be doing a great job of emulating Harrison Ford. Whether that remains true for the entirety of the game remains to be seen though.EXPERIENCE A (HOPEFULLY) AUTHENTIC INDIANA JONES STORY AT LONG LASTIts been three and a halfdecadessince we got the last unequivocally goodIndiana Jonesfilms. Sure,Kingdom of the Crystal SkullandDial of Destinymay have some fans out there, but the overwhelming consensus is that we havent had a legitimately greatIndiana Jonesfilm in a very, very,verylong time.The Great Circleis obviously not a movie, but everything that we have seen of it so far seems to be suggesting that its shaping up to deliver that authenticIndy experience so many have been desperate for for so long. Thats admittedly a tough ask, but were optimistic based on everything weve seen so far.

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An illustration of opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 Public domain via Wikimedia CommonsOn November 17, 1869, the esteemed guests of Ismail Pasha, Ottoman viceroy of Egypt, gathered on the Mediterranean coast for a truly world-shaping event: the official opening ceremony of the Suez Canal.The event was spectacular, meant to impress attendees with the commercial and cultural possibilities of an engineering project designed, in the words of Scottish journalist Alexander Russel, to unite the East and West not only in commerce but ideas, and so greatly bless humanity.As European royalty arrived in their yachts, celebratory cannons thundered forth welcome, till ears were stunned with sound and the atmosphere thickened with smoke, Russel wrote.The 120-mile-long canal had taken ten years to dig and was considered what Russel called the greatest service to the commerce of the world since the discovery of America. Much of the fanfare was reserved for Ferdinand de Lesseps, the French developer who obtained the political and financial support that enabled the canals construction. But de Lesseps was certainly not the first to imagine a canal linking the Mediterranean and Red Seasand, by extension, Europe and Asiathrough the Isthmus of Suez.How the Suez Canal changed the world - Lucia CarminatiWatch on The idea was ancient, likely dating to the reign of the Egyptian pharaoh Senusret III, who envisioned and commissioned a similar project in the 19th century B.C.E. The so-called Canal of the Pharaohs connected the Red Sea to the Nile, which in turn flowed out to the Mediterranean. But its extent is contested by historians, and the canal closed in 767 C.E. in order to cut off trade to the rebellious cities of Mecca and Medina on the Arabian peninsula.In 1798, during Frances brief Egyptian conquest, the French discovered evidence of the ancient canal and sought to reconstruct its path. The strategic and economic advantage of a canal under French imperial control would be immense. But a civil engineering survey wrongly concluded that the sea levels on either side of the isthmus were offset by 30 feet, necessitating a massive system of locks that engineers were not yet equipped to build. The project was abandoned.Over half a century later, the idea came back into vogue with the Suez Canal Company, which would oversee construction of the canal, give 15 percent of profit to the Egyptian state and maintain control over the canal for 99 years, after which Egypt would assume responsibility.To finance the massive and unprecedented engineering project, de Lesseps and the Suez Canal Company courted foreign investors, chiefly from Western Europe. Construction began in 1859, with conscripted Egyptian peasants digging through the earth by hand and pick. Work was hard and slow, beset by poor weather; disease; and a cruel, inefficient labor system.After ten years of digging, the massive Suez Canal finally opened for transit.A procession of ships began the journey, led by a boat whose passengers included the empress of France and de Lesseps. According to one British observer, the ships passed in dignified array acclaimed by teeming multitudes crowding the arid banks of the burning desert.Those masses witnessed the first moments of a narrow yet critical canal that reduced the distance between Europe and Asia by more than 4,000 miles and would become a flashpoint for global conflicts for decades to come.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.