244 and counting Rocket Report: ULA has a wild idea; Starliner crew will stay in orbit even longer ULA's Vulcan rocket is at least several months away from flying again, and Stoke names its engine. Stephen Clark Dec 20, 2024 2:40 pm | 0 Stoke Space's Zenith booster engine fires on a test stand at Moses Lake, Washington. Credit: Stoke Space Stoke Space's Zenith booster engine fires on a test stand at Moses Lake, Washington. Credit: Stoke Space Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreWelcome to Edition 7.24 of the Rocket Report! This is the last Rocket Report of the year, and what a year it's been. So far, there have been 244 rocket launches to successfully reach orbit this year, a record for annual launch activity. And there are still a couple of weeks to go before the calendar turns to 2025. Time is running out for Blue Origin to launch its first heavy-lift New Glenn rocket this year, but if it flies before January 1, it will certainly be one of the top space stories of 2024.As always, we welcome reader submissions. If you don't want to miss an issue, please subscribe using the box below (the form will not appear on AMP-enabled versions of the site). Each report will include information on small-, medium-, and heavy-lift rockets as well as a quick look ahead at the next three launches on the calendar.Corkscrew in the sky. A Japanese space startup said its second attempt to launch a rocket carrying small satellites into orbit had been terminated minutes after liftoff Wednesday and destroyed itself again, nine months after the companys first launch attempt in an explosion, the Associated Press reports. The startup that developed the rocket, named Space One, launched the Kairos rocket from a privately owned coastal spaceport in Japan's Kansai region. Company executive and space engineer Mamoru Endo said an abnormality in the first stage engine nozzle or its control system is likely to have caused an unstable flight of the rocket, which started spiraling in mid-flight and eventually destroyed itself about three minutes after liftoff, using its autonomous safety mechanism.0-for-2 ... The launch failure this week followed the first attempt to launch the Kairos rocket in March, when the launcher exploded just five seconds after liftoff. An investigation into the failed launch in March concluded the rocket's autonomous destruct system activated after detecting its solid-fueled first stage wasn't generating as much thrust as expected. The Kairos rocket is Japan's first privately funded orbital-class rocket, capable of placing payloads up to 550 pounds (250 kilograms) into l0w-Earth orbit. (submitted by Jay500001, Ken the Bin, and EllPeaTea)A fit check for Themis. ArianeGroup has brought the main elements of the Themis reusable booster demonstrator together for the first time in France during a "full-fit check," European Spaceflight reports. This milestone paves the way for the demonstrators inaugural test, which is expected to take place in 2025. Themis, which is funded by the European Space Agency, is designed to test vertical launch and landing capabilities with a new methane-fueled rocket engine.According to ESA, the full-fit check is one of the final steps in the development phase of Themis.Slow progress ... ESA signed the contract with ArianeGroup for the Themis program in 2020, and at that time, the program's schedule called for initial low-altitude hop tests in 2022. It's now taken more than double the time officials originally projected to get the Themis rocket airborne. The first up-and-down hops will be based at the Esrange Space Center in Sweden, and will use the vehicle ArianeGroup is assembling now in France. A second Themis rocket will be built for medium-altitude tests from Esrange, and finally, a three-engine version of Themis will fly on high-altitude tests from the Guiana Space Center in South America. At the rate this program is proceeding, it's fair to ask if Themis will complete a full-envelope launch and landing demonstration before the end of the decade, if it ever does. (submitted by Ken the Bin) The Ars Technica Rocket Report The easiest way to keep up with Eric Berger's and Stephen Clark's reporting on all things space is to sign up for our newsletter. We'll collect their stories and deliver them straight to your inbox.Sign Me Up!Baguette One is going critical.French launch startup HyPrSpace has announced that it has completed preliminary design reviews for its Baguette One and Orbital Baguette One (OB-1) rockets, European Spaceflight reports. Baguette One will be a suborbital demonstrator for the OB-1 rocket, designed to use a hybrid propulsion system that combines liquid and solid propellants and doesn't require a turbopump. With the preliminary design complete, HyPrSpace said it is moving on to the critical design phase for both rockets, a stage of development where detailed engineering plans are finalized and components are prepared for manufacturing.Heating the oven ... HyPrSpace has previously stated the Orbital Baguette One rocket will be capable of delivering a payload of up to 550 pounds (250 kilograms) to low-Earth orbit. Last year, the startup announced it raised 35 million euros in funding, primarily from the French government, to complete the critical design phase of the OB-1 rocket and launch the Baguette One on a suborbital test flight. HyPrSpace has not provided an updated schedule for the first flight of either rocket. (submitted by Ken the Bin)A new player on the scene. RTX weapons arm Raytheon and defense startup Ursa Major Technologies have completed two successful test flights of a missile propelled by a new solid rocket motor, Breaking Defense reports. The two test flights, held at Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake in California, involved a Raytheon-made missile propelled by an Ursa Major solid rocket motor measuring less than 10 inches in diameter, according to Dan Jablonsky, Ursa Major's CEO. Details about the missile are shrouded in mystery, and Raytheon officials referred questions on the matter to the Army.Joining the club ... The US military is interested in fostering the development of a third supplier of solid rocket propulsion for weapons systems. Right now, only Northrop Grumman and L3Harris's Aerojet Rocketdyne are available as solid rocket vendors, and they have struggled to keep up with the demand for weapons systems, especially to support the war in Ukraine. Ursa Major is one of several US-based startups entering the solid rocket propulsion market. "There is a new player on the scene in the solid rocket motor industry," Jablonsky said. "This is an Army program that weve been working on with Raytheon. In this particular program, we went from concept and design to firing and flight on the range in just under four months, which is lightning fast." (submitted by Ken the Bin)SpaceX's rapid response. In a mission veiled in secrecy, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off Monday from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, sending a military Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite to a medium orbit about 12,000 miles above Earth, Space News reports.Named Rapid Response Trailblazer-1 (RRT-1), this mission was a US national security space launch and was also intended to demonstrate military capabilities to condense a typical two-year mission planning cycle to less than six months.The payload, GPS III SV-07, is the seventh satellite of the GPS III constellation, built by Lockheed Martin. The spacecraft was in storage awaiting a launch on United Launch Alliance's Vulcan rocket.Tightening the timeline ... "We decided to pull SV-07 out of storage and try to get it to the launch pad as quickly as possible," Col. James Horne, senior material leader for launch execution at the US Space Forces Space Systems Command, told Space News. "Its our way of demonstrating that we can be responsive to operator needs." Rather than the typical mission cycle of two years, SpaceX, Lockheed Martin, and the Space Force worked together to prep this GPS satellite for launch in a handful of months. Military officials decided to launch SV-07 with SpaceX as ULA's Vulcan rocket faced delays in becoming certified to launch national security payloads. According to Space News, Horne emphasized that this move was less about Vulcan delays and more about testing the boundaries of the NSSL programs flexibility. This is a way for us to demonstrate to adversaries that we can be responsive, he said. Because SV-07 was switched to SpaceX, ULA will get to launch GPS III SV-10, originally assigned to SpaceX. (submitted by Ken the Bin and EllPeaTea)An update on Butch and Suni. NASA has announced that it is delaying the SpaceX Crew-10 launch, a move that will keep astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williamswho already had their stay aboard the International Space Station unexpectedly extendedin orbit even longer, CNN reports. Williams and Wilmore launched to space in June, piloting the first crewed test flight of Boeings Starliner spacecraft. Their trip, expected to last about a week, ballooned into a months-long assignment after their vehicle experienced technical issues en route to the space station and NASA determined it would be too risky to bring them home aboard the Starliner.Nearly 10 months in orbit ... The astronauts stayed aboard the space station as the Starliner spacecraft safely returned to Earth in September, and NASA shuffled the station's schedule of visiting vehicles to allow Wilmore and Williams to come home on a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft with two crewmates to end the Crew-9 mission in February, soon after the arrival of Crew-10.Now, Crew-10 will get off the ground at least a month later than expected because NASA and SpaceX teams need "time to complete processing on a new Dragon spacecraft for the mission," the space agency said. (submitted by Ken the Bin)Stoke Space names its engine. Stoke Space, the only other company besides SpaceX developing a fully reusable orbital rocket, has revealed the name of the methane-fueled engine that will power the vehicle's booster stage. "Say hello to Zenith, our full-flow staged-combustion booster engine, built to power Nova to orbit," Stoke Space wrote in a post on X. The naming announcement came a few days after Stoke Space said it hot-fired the "Block 2" or "flight layout" version of the main engine on a test stand in Moses Lake, Washington.Stoked by the progress ... "As we build towards the future of space mobility, were building on top of the pinnaclethe zenithof rocket engine cycles: full-flow staged combustion," Stoke Space said. Only a handful of rocket engines have been designed to use the full-flow staged combustion cycle, and only one has actually flown on a rocket: SpaceX's Raptor. Seven Zenith engines will power the first stage of the Nova rocket when it takes off from Cape Canaveral, Florida. A hydrogen-fueled propulsion system will power the second stage of Nova, which is designed to launch up to 5 metric tons (11,000 pounds) of payload to low-Earth orbit.Upgrades coming for Vega. The European Space Agency (ESA) has signed 350 million euros in contracts with Avio to further evolve the Vega launcher family," Aviation Week & Space Technology reports. The contracts cover the development of the Vega-E and upgrades to the current Vega-Cs ground infrastructure to increase the launch cadence. Vega-E, scheduled to debut in 2027, will replace the Vega-C rocket's third and fourth stages with a single methane-fueled upper stage under development by Avio. It will also offer a 30 percent increase in Vega's payload lift capability, and will launch from a new complex to be built on the formed Ariane 5 launch pad at the European-run Guiana Space Center in South America.Adaptations ... The fresh tranche of funding from ESA will also pay for Avio's work to "adapt" the former Ariane 5 integration building at the spaceport in French Guiana, according to ESA. "This will allow technicians to work on two rockets being assembled simultaneouslyone on the launch pad and one in the new assembly buildingand run two launch campaigns in parallel," ESA said.(submitted by Ken the Bin and EllPeaTea)New Glenn coming alive. In a widely anticipated test, Blue Origin will soon ignite the seven main engines on its New Glenn rocket at Launch Complex-36 in Florida, Ars reports. Sources indicated this hot-fire test might occur as soon as Thursday, but it didn't happen. Instead, Blue Origin's launch team loaded cryogenic propellants into the New Glenn rocket on the launch pad, but stopped short of igniting the main engines.Racing the clock The hot-fire is the final test the company must complete before verifying the massive rocket is ready for its debut flight, and it is the most dynamic. This will be the first time Blue Origin has ever test-fired the BE-7 engines altogether. Theoretically, at least, it remains possible that Blue Origin could launch New Glenn this yearand the company's urgency certainly speaks to this. On social media this week, some Blue Origin employees noted that they were being asked to work on Christmas Day this year in Florida.China begins building a new megaconstellation. The first batch of Internet satellites for China's Guowang megaconstellation launched Monday on the country's heavy-lift Long March 5B rocket, Ars reports.The satellites are the first of up to 13,000 spacecraft a consortium of Chinese companies plans to build and launch over the next decade. The Guowang fleet will beam low-latency high-speed Internet signals in an architecture similar to SpaceX's Starlink network, although Chinese officials haven't laid out any specifics, such as target markets, service specifications, or user terminals.No falling debris, this time China used its most powerful operational rocket, the Long March 5B, for the job of launching the first 10 Guowang satellites this week. The Long March 5B's large core stage, which entered orbit on the rocket's previous missions andtriggered concerns about falling space debris, fell into a predetermined location in the sea downrange from the launch site. The difference for this mission was the addition of the Yuanzheng 2 upper stage, which gave the rocket's payloads the extra oomph they needed to reach their targeted low-Earth orbit.(submitted by Ken the Bin and EllPeaTea)Elon Musk's security clearance under review. A new investigationfrom The New York Times suggests that SpaceX founder Elon Musk has not been reporting his travel activities and other information to the Department of Defense as required by his top-secret clearance, Ars reports. According to the newspaper, concerns about Musk's reporting practices have led to reviews by three different bodies within the military: the Air Force, the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security, and the Defense Department Office of Inspector General. However, none of the federal agencies cited in the Times article has accused Musk of disclosing classified material.It won't matter Since 2021, Musk has failed to self-report details of his life, including travel activities, people he has met, and drug use, according to the Times. The government is also concerned that SpaceX did not ensure Musk's compliance with the reporting rules. Musk's national security profile has risen following his deep-pocketed and full-throated support of Donald Trump, who won the US presidential campaign in November and will be sworn into office next month. After this inauguration, Trump will have the power to grant security clearance to whomever he wishes.ULA's CEO has a pretty wild idea. Ars published a feature story last week examining the US Space Force's new embrace of offensive weapons in space. In the story, Ars discusses concepts for different types of space weapons, including placing roving "defender" satellites into orbit, with the sole purpose of guarding high-value US satellites against an attack. Tory Bruno, CEO of United Launch Alliance, wrote about the defender concept in aMedium post earlier this month. He added more detail in a recent conversation with reporters, describing the defender concept as "a lightning-fast, long-range, lethal, if necessary, vehicle to defend our assets on orbit." And guess what? The Centaur upper stage for ULA's own Vulcan rocket could do the job just fine, according to Bruno.Death throes or a smart pivot? A space tug or upper stage like the Centaur could be left in orbit after a launch to respond to threats against US or allied satellites, Bruno said. These wouldn't be able to effectively defend a spacecraft against a ground-based anti-satellite missile, which can launch without warning. But a space-based attack might involve an enemy satellite taking days or weeks to move close to a US satellite due to limitations in maneuverability and the tyranny of orbital mechanics. Several launch companies have recently pitched their rockets as solutions for weapons testing, including Rocket Lab and ABL. But the concept proposed by Bruno would take ULA far from its core business, where its efforts to compete with SpaceX have often fallen short. However, the competition is still alive, as shown by a comment from SpaceX's vice president of Falcon launch vehicles, Jon Edwards. In response to Ars's story, Edwards wrote on X: "The pivot to 'interceptor' or 'target vehicle' is a common final act of a launch vehicle in its death throes." (submitted by Ken the Bin)Vulcan is months away from flying again. Speaking of ULA, here's an update on the next flight of the company's Vulcan rocket. The first national security mission on Vulcan might not launch until April 2025 at the earliest, Spaceflight Now reports. This will be the third flight of a Vulcan rocket, following two test flights this year to gather data for the US Space Force to certify the rocket for national security missions. On the second flight, the nozzle fell off one of Vulcan's solid rocket boosters shortly after liftoff, but the rocket successfully continued its climb into orbit. The anomaly prompted an investigation, and ULA says it is close to determining the root cause.Stretching the timeline The Space Force's certification review of Vulcan is taking longer than anticipated. "The government team has not completed its technical evaluation of the certification criteria and is working closely with ULA on additional data required to complete this evaluation," a Space Force spokesperson told Spaceflight Now. "The government anticipates completion of its evaluation and certification in the first quarter of calendar year 2025." The spokesperson said this means the launch of a US military navigation test satellite on the third Vulcan rocket is now slated for the second quarter of next year. (submitted by Ken the Bin and EllPeaTea)Next three launchesDec. 21: Falcon 9 | "Astranis: From One to Many" | Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida | 03:39 UTCDec. 21: Falcon 9 | Bandwagon 2 | Vandenberg Space Force Base, California | 11:34 UTCDec. 21: Electron | "Owl The Way Up" | Mhia Peninsula, New Zealand | 13:00 UTCStephen ClarkSpace ReporterStephen ClarkSpace Reporter Stephen Clark is a space reporter at Ars Technica, covering private space companies and the worlds space agencies. Stephen writes about the nexus of technology, science, policy, and business on and off the planet. 0 Comments

deep thoughts OpenAI announces o3 and o3-mini, its next simulated reasoning models o3 matches human levels on ARC-AGI benchmark, and o3-mini exceeds o1 at some tasks. Benj Edwards Dec 20, 2024 2:31 pm | 10 Credit: Benj Edwards / Andriy Onufriyenko via Getty Images Credit: Benj Edwards / Andriy Onufriyenko via Getty Images Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreOn Friday, during Day 12 of its "12 days of OpenAI," OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced its latest AI "reasoning" models, o3 and o3-mini, which build upon the o1 models launched earlier this year. The company is not releasing them yet but will make these models available for public safety testing and research access today.The models use what OpenAI calls "private chain of thought," where the model pauses to examine its internal dialog and plan ahead before responding, which you might call "simulated reasoning" (SR)a form of AI that goes beyond basic large language models (LLMs).The company named the model family "o3" instead of "o2" to avoid potential trademark conflicts with British telecom provider O2, according to The Information. During Friday's livestream, Altman acknowledged his company's naming foibles, saying, "In the grand tradition of OpenAI being really, truly bad at names, it'll be called o3."According to OpenAI, the o3 model earned a record-breaking score on the ARC-AGI benchmark, a visual reasoning benchmark that has gone unbeaten since its creation in 2019. In low-compute scenarios, o3 scored 75.7 percent, while in high-compute testing, it reached 87.5 percentcomparable to human performance at an 85 percent threshold.OpenAI also reported that o3 scored 96.7 percent on the 2024 American Invitational Mathematics Exam, missing just one question. The model also reached 87.7 percent on GPQA Diamond, which contains graduate-level biology, physics, and chemistry questions. On the Frontier Math benchmark by EpochAI, o3 solved 25.2 percent of problems, while no other model has exceeded 2 percent.During the livestream, the president of the ARC Prize Foundation said, "When I see these results, I need to switch my worldview about what AI can do and what it is capable of."The o3-mini variant, also announced Friday, includes an adaptive thinking time feature, offering low, medium, and high processing speeds. The company states that higher compute settings produce better results. OpenAI reports that o3-mini outperforms its predecessor, o1, on the Codeforces benchmark.Simulated reasoning on the riseOpenAI's announcement comes as other companies develop their own SR models, including Google, which announced Gemini 2.0 Flash Thinking Experimental on Thursday. In November, DeepSeek launched DeepSeek-R1, while Alibaba's Qwen team released QwQ, what they called the first "open" alternative to o1.These new AI models are based on traditional LLMs, but with a twist: They are fine-tuned to produce a type of iterative chain of thought process that can consider its own results, simulating reasoning in an almost brute-force way that can be scaled at inference (running) time, instead of focusing on improvements during AI model training, which has seen diminishing returns recently.OpenAI will make the new SR models available first to safety researchers for testing. Altman said the company plans to launch o3-mini in late January, with o3 following shortly after.Benj EdwardsSenior AI ReporterBenj EdwardsSenior AI Reporter Benj Edwards is Ars Technica's Senior AI Reporter and founder of the site's dedicated AI beat in 2022. He's also a tech historian with almost two decades of experience. In his free time, he writes and records music, collects vintage computers, and enjoys nature. He lives in Raleigh, NC. 10 Comments

The orange fur on the underside of Nepenthes pongoides leaves is why the pitcher plant was named after orangutansAlviana DamitA newly described species of pitcher plant, one of the largest and furriest ever found, has been identified on a wild mountain in Borneo, Malaysia.The underside of the leaves of Nepenthes pongoides are covered in thick, rust-coloured fur, inspiring the team who found the plant in May 2023 to name it after the local Borneo orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus) who share the Meliau range in central Sabah. AdvertisementAdmittedly its not quite as hairy as an orangutan, its more like a really hairy-chested man, says Alastair Robinson at the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria in Melbourne, Australia. But the colour is almost the same as orangutan fur.He is proposing that the plants have the common name of orangutan pitcher plants. Robinson and his colleagues found just 39 plants over two expeditions, making it extremely vulnerable to extinction if it isnt protected from poaching by collectors.Robinson says even before they reached the site, there was evidence that poachers had been into the area and stolen specimens because plants had been posted online for sale. Unmissable news about our planet delivered straight to your inbox every month.Sign up to newsletterNepenthes is a genus of carnivorous pitcher plants, found throughout the tropics of South-East Asia and in parts of the Pacific, comprising over 160 species. They are highly sought after by the black-market horticultural industry because their leaves form spectacular containers of water. In the wild, animals fall into these pitchers and drown before being consumed by digestive enzymes produced by the plants.Robinson says the mountain is essentially a pile of boulders so there is no running water above 300 metres, which means the pitcher plants are often the only source of water for local wildlife.Their pitchers can reach lengths of 45 centimetres and hold well over 2 litres of water. They are like a little ecosystem of their own, says Robinson.The new species had first been photographed in 2004, but was misidentified as a known variety. I have been studying Nepenthes in Borneo for years and this particular species is the hairiest I have ever encountered, says team member Alviana Damit at the Forest Research Centre in Sandakan, Malaysia. Naming it after the orangutan is a perfect tribute.Journal referenceAustralian Journal of Botany DOI: 10.1071/BT24050Topics:plants/endangered species

President-elect Donald Trump has called on Congress to raise or eliminate the debt ceiling.He said doing so before he takes office would put the onus on outgoing President Joe Biden and avoid a fight early in his term.Going over the debt ceiling could lead to a default and deep recession.The debt ceiling is the unexpected debate in Washington this week after President-elect Donald Trump threw the annual holiday-season government funding talks into disarray.Trump wants to raise or eliminate the limit on how much the federal government can borrow. Doing so now would mean the much-debated move would happen on President Joe Biden's watch and be resolved before Trump takes office when he'll want to implement his agenda without a fight over borrowing limits."Congress must get rid of, or extend out to, perhaps, 2029, the ridiculous Debt Ceiling," Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Friday. "Without this, we should never make a deal. Remember, the pressure is on whoever is President.'"This all comes amid a chaotic scramble to reach a funding deal for the US government and avoid a shutdown at midnight on Friday. The debt ceiling was one of the sticking points Trump used to scrap a bipartisan deal to keep the government funded through March. Now he's revisiting a much-used political tool."Trump is right to identify that he doesn't want his fingerprints on increasing the debt ceiling, and he doesn't want to have to deal with it in six months while he's trying to pass what he considers a must-pass tax extension bill," Elizabeth Pancotti, the director of special initiatives at the left-leaning Roosevelt Institute think tank told BI.A debt ceiling breach has become a political tool one that Trump is trying to wield for the last timeThe debt ceiling limits the amount of money the federal government is allowed to borrow to pay for its programs and operations. If it's not regularly raised or suspended, the US government risks defaulting on its debt and failing to pay its bills.This could compromise everyday Americans' access to crucial government programs like Social Security, Medicaid, and housing vouchers. Len Burman, a fellow at the think tank Urban Institute, told BI that a default could also cause interest rates to rise drastically if investors no longer view the US government as a creditworthy borrower. That means Americans could face higher rates on mortgages and credit cards, potentially leading to a broader financial crisis and deep recession.Due to these widespread consequences, the debt ceiling has evolved into a political bargaining chip, and the US has repeatedly come close to breaching it due to partisan disagreements, most recently in 2023. That's why some Democrats have long advocated abolishing the ceiling, arguing that Republicans weaponize it to push spending cuts. Sen. Elizabeth Warren capitalized on Trump's recent comments, writing on X on Thursday morning that she agrees with him on terminating the debt limit.During recent debt ceiling standoffs, various plans to sidestep the limit were floated. Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin told BIOther ideas to eliminate the debt ceiling have included minting a $1 trillion platinum coin, which some economists have said would allow the treasury secretary to deposit the coin to pay off debts.In an interview with Fox News Digital on Thursday, Trump warned that Republicans who don't support repealing the debt limit could face primary challenges; many Republicans have historically opposed getting rid of it, arguing that it's a check on borrowing. Trump told NBC News that Democrats have signaled they want to get rid of the debt limit and that he would "lead the charge" to do so.The country will technically hit the debt ceiling at the start of next year, but the Treasury Department can hold off default and keep paying the bills through various accounting tricks, likely until late spring or early summer.

When I was on TLC's "Say Yes to the Dress," I was surprised by a few things.The show isn't scripted, and I still receive fan mail years later.I thought Randy Fenoli was nice and caring and I liked that we share a Louisiana connection.Back in 2016, I was on a special episode of TLC's "Say Yes to the Dress" (season 15, episode six).I planned to get married earlier that year, but when my Louisiana home flooded and my gown was destroyed, it looked like my dream wedding was ruined. As my fianc and I considered pushing the date back, "Say Yes to the Dress" posted an online request for brides-to-be who were affected by the flood.A friend nominated me and I was selected to be on the show. Here are five surprising things I learned from my "Say Yes to the Dress" episode.I'm one of few people if not the only bride who received a free dress on 'Say Yes to the Dress' I chose a Mark Zunino gown and jewelry from Kleinfield's collection. TLC Normally, the "Say Yes to the Dress" team starts by breaking down your budget, but because my original wedding gown was destroyed, I received a free dress.My episode highlighted the tragedy of the flood that took most of my belongings and I was offered the best care by bridal designer Randy Fenoli and his team. "Say Yes" flew my husband and me to New York, where we stayed in a lavish hotel right by Times Square.My family lost everything in the flood, so it was a huge contrast to go from watching all of our stuff wash away to wearing a Mark Zunino gown, Jimmy Choo shoes, and Kleinfield's own collection of jewelry.Fenoli was so kind, and we even shared a personal connection Randy Fenoli was attentive and caring as I prepared for my weddding. TLC As we filmed, I could feel Fenoli had a strong bond with the people who he worked with to tell my story. I'm still so grateful to have been chosen to share my experience about planning a wedding that felt as if it would never happen, and I cannot thank that team enough for helping me feel the most beautiful and cared for.During the process, I learned that Fenoli actually grew up in Louisiana, and he's also dealt with natural disasters. He was trapped in a two-story apartment in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina in 2005.I think my experience touched him because it was a story that was so close to home.I still talk to Fenoli to this day, and he featured my story in a special season-17 episode where he discussed his most memorable brides.The show isn't scriptedThe crew captured my genuine reactions.And if I said something funny, cute, or cool, I quickly learned to expect to see that footage over and over again.Unfortunately, I didn't get any of the footage of my own wedding I was surprised that I wouldn't get any footage of my wedding. TLC I was so excited to have such an enormous film crew and producers record my wedding because I thought I would receive some of the footage. I also didn't hire my own videographer to capture the details of my entire wedding, so sadly, I don't have the day's events on film.Still, the "Say Yes" production team gave me five minutes of absolute fabulousness.Hindsight is 20/20, but I still wish I would've known the footage wouldn't be available to me because I definitely would've hired a videographer.I still receive fan mail about our episode every so oftenPeople may not know that my husband and I have split up since our episode aired.Still, every time fans contact me, I don't really know what to say other than, "Thank you."This story was originally published on July 14, 2022, and most recently updated on December 20, 2024.

Party City's CEO told employees the specialty retailer is "winding down" operations, CNN reports.The company was impacted severely by the COVID-19 pandemic and never fully recovered.The company spent much of the past two years in bankruptcy proceedings and has closed 80 locations.Party City's balloon is out of air.CEO Barry Litwin, who took the job in August, told Party City's corporate employees on Friday that operations were "winding down" immediately, CNN reported.The news follows reports last week that the company was contemplating a second bankruptcy in two years as debt continued to weigh on profitability.A spokesperson for Party City did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.Litwin told employees the company had done what it could to avoid shutting down but that, "unfortunately, it's necessary to commence a wind-down process immediately," CNN reported.Party City navigated a pre-pandemic shortage of helium for balloons, securing a new supply source.It was impacted severely by the COVID-19 pandemic, when lockdowns and social distancing ended many celebratory gatherings, and other mass retailers like Amazon, Walmart, and Target stepped up their party supply offerings.The company spent much of 2023 in bankruptcy proceedings and reportedly closed 80 locations, or roughly a tenth of its store fleet.It exited bankruptcy in September 2023, after a judge canceled $1 billion of its debt. Litwin was appointed CEO a year later.

Winter Wildcard is back in EA FC 25, and there are a whole host of cards, including new versions of Erling Haaland, Vini Jr, Declan Rice and plenty moreTech18:00, 20 Dec 2024Haaland and City have been out of form(Image: Getty Images)I know we keep saying we're getting excited about EA FC 25 promos, but this latest one is colossal.Yes, Winter Wildcards is back, and there are FORTY-TWO (42!) amazing new cards for players to work towards with plenty of Premier League stars among them.Not only does Erling Haaland get a 94-rated ST card, but the fun of wildcards is that he's got an alternative card that's also 94 but it makes him a pacy center-back.Elsewhere Barcelona duo Frenkie De Jong and Caroline Graham Hansen get upgrades, while Vinicius Jr. has a 93 rated LW card and a ST one.The event will run alongside the Mode Mastery event, and runs for two weeks given the development team is likely to be on break for Christmas.Don't forget the latest Team of the Week is also in packs right now.Prepare for a Vini Jr Winter Wildcard(Image: Icon Sport via Getty Images)Winter Wildcards is a weekly promo, meaning it arrives now, Friday, December 20 at 6pm GMT.It'll run for two weeks.Haaland as a CB is a surprising inclusionI really hope you've been saving your coins, as this squad is incredible. If two positions are listed below, there are two positions available.CB/ST: Erling Haaland (Manchester City) - 94RW: Caroline Graham Hansen (Barcelona) - 93ST/LW: Vinicius Jr (Real Madrid) - 93CM/CDM: De Jong (Barcelona) - 91CDM: Rice (Arsenal) - 90RB: Pedro Porro (Spurs) - 89ST: Lacazette (Lyon) - 89LM: Al Dawsari (Al Hilal) - 89CAM: Lookman (Atalanta) - 89LB: Lavelle (OL Reign) - 89Delap and Guehi also join the Premier League lineupCB: Parejo (Villarreal) - 88ST: Icardi (Galatasaray) - 88CAM: Tillman (PSV) - 88CB: Janssen (Manchester United) - 88CB: Guehi (Crystal Palace) - 87ST: Undav (Stuttgart) - 87LB: Sergio Gomez (Sociedad) - 87CDM: Orban (RB Leipzig) - 87CB: Vivian (Bilbao) - 87ST: Delap (Ipswich Town) - 86CDM: Van den Boomen (Ajax) - 86RM: Dinkci (Freiburg) - 86LM: Sahraoui (Lille) - 86Ronaldo, Carlos Alberto and Xavi? What a lineupBelieve it or not, there are Icons and Heroes, too. Here are the Icons:ST: Ronaldo - 95 (There's another Ronaldo card that's 90-rated)CDM/CB: Carlos Alberto - 92CM: Xavi - 91CM: Scholes - 89CAM: Hagi - 89Article continues belowHere are the Hero cards:LM: Eden Hazard - 91CDM: Yaya Toure - 90ST/LW: Di Natale - 89CDM/CB: Mascherano - 89RW: Al OwairanFor the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters.RECOMMENDED

By Thomas Maxwell Published December 20, 2024 | Comments (0) | OpenAI has debuted o3, its latest AI reasoning model. Mike Coppola/Getty Images The final day of OpenAIs 12 Days of Shipmas has arrived with the unveiling of o3, a new chain-of-thought reasoning model that the company claims is its most advanced yet. The model is not yet available for general use, but safety researchers can sign up for a preview starting today. OpenAI and others hope that reasoning models will go a long way toward solving the pernicious problem of chatbots frequently producing wrong answers. Chatbots fundamentally do not think like humans and different techniques are needed to try and create the best simulacrum of a human thought process.When asked a question, reasoning models pause and consider related prompts that could help produce an accurate answer. For example, if you ask the o3 model, can habaneros be grown in the Pacific Northwest, the model might lay out a series of questions it will research to come to a conclusion, such as where do habaneros typically grow, what are the ideal conditions for growing habaneros, and what type of climate does the Pacific Northwest have. Anyone who has used chatbots knows you sometimes have to prompt a chatbot with additional follow-ups until it finally gets the right result. Reasoning models are supposed to do this additional work for you. o3 is the successor to o1, OpenAIs first chain-of-thought reasoning model. Reps said they decided to skip the o2 naming convention out of respect for the British telecommunications company, but it certainly doesnt hurt that it makes the product sound more advanced. The company says the new model comes with the ability to adjust its reasoning time. Users can choose low, medium, or high reasoning time; the greater the compute, the better o3 is supposed to perform. OpenAI says it will spend time red-teaming the new model with researchers to prevent it from producing potentially harmful responses (since again, it is not a human and does not know right versus wrong).Reasoning is the buzzword of the day in the field of generative AI, as industry insiders believe it is the next unlock necessary to improve the performance of large language models. More compute eventually does not offer equivalent performance gains, so new techniques are needed. Google DeepMind recently unveiled its own reasoning model called Gemini Deep Research, which can take 5-10 minutes to generate a report that analyzes many sources across the web in order to come to its findings. OpenAI is confident in o3, and offers impressive benchmarksit says that in a Codeforcing testing, which measures coding ability, o3 got a score of 2727. For context, a score of 2400 would put an engineer in the 99th percentile of programmers. It gets a score of 96.7% on the 2024 American Invitational Mathematics Exam, missing just one question. We will have to see how the model holds up in real-world testing, and it is still generally not a good idea to rely too much on AI models for important work where accuracy is necessary. But optimists are confident that the problem of accuracy is being solved. Hopefully so, because as it stands, Googles AI Overviews in search are still the subject of frequent social media ridicule.AI model companies like OpenAI and Perplexity are in a race to become the next Google, collecting the worlds knowledge and helping users make sense of it all. They even have search products now that are meant to more directly replicate Google with access to real-time web results. All of these players seem to leapfrog one another with every passing day, however. The feeling is somewhat reminiscent of the late 90s when there were a myriad of search engines to choose fromGoogle, Yahoo, and AltaVista, Ask Jeeves, just to name a few, all hoovering up the internets data and presenting it just with a different UX. Most of them disappeared after one came along that was supremely better than the restGoogle.OpenAI clearly has a strong lead right now with hundreds of millions of monthly active users and a partnership with Apple, but Google has received a lot of plaudits recently for advancements in its Gemini models. The Verge reports that the company is going to soon integrate Gemini more deeply into its search interface.Daily NewsletterYou May Also Like By Thomas Maxwell Published December 18, 2024 By AJ Dellinger Published December 16, 2024 By Thomas Maxwell Published December 12, 2024 By Thomas Maxwell Published December 12, 2024 By Thomas Maxwell Published December 11, 2024 By Thomas Maxwell Published December 9, 2024

Horror movies have long centered their stories around female charactersthink The Exorcists demon-plagued mother and daughter duo, Halloweens fierce babysitter, or Black Christmas determined sorority sisters. But in 2024 we got a particularly notable crop of women placed in terrifying situations, including a new sci-fi badass in Alien: Romulus, a kind-hearted crook battling a vampire ballerina in Abigail, and trapped Mormon missionaries in Heretic. But there were a few special standouts among this years class of fearsome, fearless, and fearful femalesperformances we admired that brought to life a unique array of characters. Here are the most remarkable female characters we met in 2024s horror films. Lee Harker, Longlegs Neon We think we have a handle on young FBI agent Lee Harker from the start: quiet but brilliant in the vein of The Silence of the Lambs Clarice Starling, but with an unusually developed intuition that makes her well-suited to chase after unpredictable criminals. However, as Osgood Perkins Longlegs digs into its twisty crime narrative, we realize Lee is in her own vein entirelyand is tied to the movies titular maniac in ways that surprise even her. Maika Monroes deeply reserved performance (the ideal contrast to co-star Nicolas Cages over-the-top turn) proves that an actor doesnt need a lot of dialogue to create a full, expressive character. Elisabeth Sparkle and Sue, The Substance Mubi Demi Moore has been a symbol of Hollywood glamor for decades; at age 62, she perfectly channels that real-life status into her vanity-free portrayal of Elisabeth Sparkle in Coralie Fargeats The Substance, a movie that happens to have vanity as a major theme. Fired from her TV gig because the old white dudes in charge think shes too old to be sexy, Elisabeth dips into weird science to create a younger version of herselfMargaret Qualley as Suewith complications that result in some of the most eye-popping body horror to ever grace the screen. Because Elisabeth and Sue are the same person, the battle between them puts a gruesome but darkly hilarious spin on the idea that your greatest enemy is always yourself. When they come together as the mutated Monstro Elisasue, its equal parts repulsive and empoweringnot a combination you come across every day, and a surprisingly satisfying one. Skye Riley, Smile 2 Paramount Pictures Shes an international pop superstarbeautiful, talented, rich, and beloved by her zillions of fansbut Skye Riley (Naomi Scott) is in hell. First its more of a personal hell; a year after a car accident killed her boyfriend and left her severely injured, shes still dealing with addiction issues and mental and physical scars. But after an impulse decision to pick up some black-market painkillers, she comes face to face with the demonic curse horror fans met in Parker Finns first Smile movie.From there, Skyes downward spiral reveals a much worse level of hell, as her reality becomes completely warped by the entitys creeping, mockingly gleeful invasion of her sanity. On paper Skye is a hard character to root for, but Scotts performance makes her a character whos believable in her desire to right all the wrongs shes causedbut feels increasingly helpless as the pressure (both show-biz and supernatural) begins to pile on. Margaret, The First Omen Fox Somebody had to give birth to Damien, the kid from The Omenand while that 1976 horror classic suggested he was the product of a jackal and Satan, in The First Omen we meet his actual birth mother, an aspiring nun who gets unwittingly tangled in an occult conspiracy. Arkasha Stevensons prequel justifies its existence by being an artistically dynamic film with a twist-packed script (and actual scares!); the heart of the film, though, is Nell Tiger Frees Margaret, a genuinely good human being whose life takes an apocalyptically dark turn. Honorable mention in the Antichrist horror pregnancy realm for 2024though given current events, you can certainly expect more pregnancy horror themes in future moviesgoes to another performance in a different horror prequel. Natalie Erika James Rosemarys Baby-inspired Apartment 7A didnt get as much acclaim as The First Omen, but Julia Garner held its center as Terry, a character you briefly meet in Rosemarys Baby who has a fascinating backstory of her own. Maxine Minx, MaXXXine A24 She survived the Texas porn-set massacre in 2022s X, and with the ambition of her would-be killer, Pearl (whose vintage dreams of stardom are explored, quite vividly, in 2022s Pearl), Maxine Minx finally stomps her way into Hollywood. As we find her in MaXXXine, shes seeking mainstream success beyond her X-rated fameand nothing, not even a serial killer who might be the Night Stalker, a creepy private detective, actual LAPD detectives, and an ominous specter from her blood-stained past, is going to get in the way.Mia Goth, who plays both Pearl and Maxine across Ti Wests trilogy, brings us a more mature yet still ruthless take on Maxine here, and the characters mid-1980s silver-screen journey brings her to famous backlots (Maxine in the Psycho house is one of 2024s most unforgettable cinematic mash-ups) and sleazy back rooms, and explores the price of fame from a lurid perspective thats never not entertaining. Halley, V/H/S/Beyond Shudder Kate Siegels contribution to the latest V/H/S anthology film, Stowaway, introduces us to Halley (Alanah Pearce), a woman whose troubled backstory is made perfectly clear with just a few asides, and whose current ambition is to make a documentary on UFOspreferably by having her own close encounter. When her moment miraculously arrives one lonely night in the Mojave Desert, were thrilled for hershes been through some messy stuff, its implied, but her weird obsession has finally found its reward.Those thrills turn to sheer terror, however, when Stowaway makes good on its title and Halley sneaks aboard an alien craft only to find the wonders she discovers snowball into a body-horror nightmare that gives The Substances Monstro Elisasue some seriously ghastly competition. Its an astonishing arc, made even more impressive by the fact that its compacted into the space of a short film. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, whats next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

Angra House / Arthur CasasSave this picture! Fran ParenteAngra dos Reis, BrazilArchitects: Studio Arthur CasasAreaArea of this architecture projectArea:7535 ftYearCompletion year of this architecture project Year: 2024 PhotographsPhotographs:Fran ParenteManufacturersBrands with products used in this architecture project Manufacturers: Core, Eurocentro, Guandu Mrmores, Marvelar, Uniflex Ipanema, kitchensMore SpecsLess SpecsSave this picture!Text description provided by the architects. By the sea, an architecture combining large openings, raw stones, and mashrabiyas interacts with the surrounding materials to establish full integration with the nature of Angra dos Reis, in Rio de Janeiro.Save this picture!Save this picture!Casa Angra is a renovation project of a summer residence for clients who now reside in an apartment with interiors also designed by Studio Arthur Casas. The aim was to adapt the house to the needs of a family, a couple with two children, who found the original architecture by Fernando Peixoto incompatible with their current needs.Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!From the start, the intention was to rethink the existing structure, preserving the integrity of the original volume while making modifications to the facades to maximize views of the ocean and Ilha Grande, a local landmark. Inside, the focus was on creating greater connection and flow between social areas, as the clients enjoy hosting family and friends, and highlighting the landscape in every possible space. Where this wasn't feasible, solutions like existing raw rocks, internal gardens, skylights, and pergolas were used to reiterate integration with nature, from natural light to greenery. This approach ensures an immersive user experience, with textures to feel, perspectives to observe, and pathways to navigate.Save this picture!Save this picture!The main access is via water. From the pier to the house, a path defined by landscaping proposed by botanist Ricardo Cardim features native species to blend seamlessly with the local Atlantic Forest vegetation. The same initiative applies to the internal gardens, bringing a touch of native forest indoors.Save this picture!Save this picture!The architectural program is distributed over five split levels, accommodating the extensive program without occupying a large area of the land. On the entry level, there are the pool, gourmet space, external terrace, wine cellar, and three guest suites. Half a floor below are the gym, game room, sauna, and massage room. The basement houses a professional cinema with automation and high-performance speakers, which required a complex excavation process, structural reinforcement, and robust retaining walls due to the proximity to the sea and water table.Save this picture!Save this picture!On the upper floor, social, private, and functional areas are distributed throughout the layout. The social area includes the living room, dining room, and an outdoor terrace for al fresco dining. The private area features the master suite with a home office space and the children's suites. The functional area includes the kitchen, laundry room, and part of the staff quarters, which are also complemented by an intermediate floor. Finally, on the highest level of the house, there is access via the condominium with a garage for cars. Solar energy with photovoltaic panels allows for more sustainable water heating.Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!On the facade, rough stones sourced from the region play a crucial role in establishing a dialogue with the rocky hillside. The stones of varying sizes and tones are arranged horizontally and set with mortar. Wood also plays a significant role in the materiality of the house: on the facade with decks, roofing, and mashrabiyas (made of Accoya, providing both privacy and visibility for the rooms); and internally in the flooring of the private area, panels, and carpentry. In the rest of the flooring, a porcelain model developed by the Studio for the Italian manufacturer Refin is used. Large glass panes allow natural light to enter and provide visual permeability. Finally, the traditional ceramic tile roof, a feature of the original project, combined with the straw ceiling, creates a harmonious contrast with the contemporary look of the building.In the interior design, Arthur and his team had great autonomy in selecting pieces. In an attempt to blend external and internal materials, they chose crafts and artworks by renowned Brazilian artisans, such as the Apostle Head by Mestre Nicola, placed in the hall, and materials like wood, ceramics, and straw to complement the designer furniture.Save this picture!Save this picture!Contemporary international pieces (like the Orlando sofa and Rams chaise by Paola Lenti in the pool area, and the Flairo chair by B&B Italia in the gourmet space) and national pieces (like the NR02 coffee table by Lucas Recchia and the Vidigal armchairs by Lattoog in the gourmet living area) are combined with iconic classics (like the Zeca Chair by Jorge Zalszupin at the dining table) and even pieces designed by Arthur himself: the Apache table, Ayahuasca sideboard, Vieira Souto coffee table, and the Quilombo and Lurdes desks.Save this picture!Project gallerySee allShow lessAbout this officeStudio Arthur CasasOfficeMaterialsWoodStoneMaterials and TagsPublished on December 20, 2024Cite: "Angra House / Arthur Casas" [Casa Angra / Studio Arthur Casas] 20 Dec 2024. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1023292/angra-house-arthur-casas&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