Charlotte & William Bloomberg Medford Public Library / Schwartz/Silver ArchitectsSave this picture! Paul Burk PhotographyLibrary, Community, DetailMedford, United StatesArchitects: Schwartz/Silver ArchitectsAreaArea of this architecture projectArea:44825 ftYearCompletion year of this architecture project Year: 2022 PhotographsPhotographs:Paul Burk PhotographyManufacturersBrands with products used in this architecture project Manufacturers: Fundermax, USG, Armstrong Ceilings, Aurora / MJ Industries, Axis Lighting, Beta-Calco Inc., Englert, Kawneer, Koroseal, McAvoy Brick Company, Milliken, Oldcastle APG, Patcraft, Secto, Sunpower, VT Industries Architectural Wood Doors Lead Architects: Angela Ward Hyatt More SpecsLess SpecsSave this picture!Text description provided by the architects. Backing into a steep slope, the library presents a civic-scaled facade on commercial High Street and a less prominent single story facing the single-family homes uphill. The front and rear entries, both fully accessible, feed into a stacked lobby that connects the primary program elements: Acoustically separated spaces for adults, teens, and children; as well as a suite of flexible spaces including a Multipurpose Room, Maker Room, Tech Lab, and Gallery.Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!Much more than a repository of books, the community-centered library features dedicated areas for programs and events for each age group, complemented by an array of spaces for the public to meet and collaborate. Musicians reserve group study rooms to practice together; local business owners use quiet alcoves to focus, adult learners use the computing resources; teens participate in cupcake decorating contests and poetry slams; children flock to story time, and seniors learn how to record a podcast.Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!The building's wave-like roof forms and plank-lined ceilings are inspired by Medford's rich history as a clipper ship manufacturing hub on the Mystic River. Exterior materials were selected to be responsive to their immediate context: The street faade is clad in red Norman brick while the rear, neighborhood-facing faade is created with horizontal planks of HPL rain-screen cladding. The curved roofs are standing seam metal, with aluminum composite material forming the trim. Inside, the curved ceilings are lined in perforated acoustical planks, giving interior spaces a hull-like character. Pixelated historic maps of Medford adorn the main reading room, and a large cross-section of a clipper ship is featured in the Maker Room.Save this picture!Save this picture!To keep the overall massing of the building within the zoning envelope, the half-acre building footprint was organized into a series of long, repetitive structural bays, each with a wave-shaped roof a nod to the city's shipbuilding past. Although the site's topography and size were significant constraints, a large century-old copper beech tree was carefully preserved so that it could become a feature seen from within the children's room. This tree served as the inspiration for the nature-themed children's spaces, where a row of trees can be lowered by a winch so that the library staff can decorate the limbs for each season.Save this picture!Save this picture!The roof was designed to screen all rooftop mechanical equipment from abutters. Over 600 solar panels cover its curved surfaces, making the all-electric building Massachusetts's first Net-Zero Energy public library, generating enough power on-site to offset its anticipated energy consumption.Save this picture!Library, Community, DetailMedford, United StatesArchitects: Schwartz/Silver ArchitectsAreaArea of this architecture projectArea:44825 ftYearCompletion year of this architecture project Year: 2022 PhotographsPhotographs:Paul Burk PhotographyManufacturersBrands with products used in this architecture project Manufacturers: Fundermax, USG, Armstrong Ceilings, Aurora / MJ Industries, Axis Lighting, Beta-Calco Inc., Englert, Kawneer, Koroseal, McAvoy Brick Company, Milliken, Oldcastle APG, Patcraft, Secto, Sunpower, VT Industries Architectural Wood DoorsProject gallerySee allShow lessAbout this officeMaterialBrickMaterials and TagsPublished on December 24, 2024Cite: "Charlotte & William Bloomberg Medford Public Library / Schwartz/Silver Architects" 24 Dec 2024. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/987376/charlotte-and-william-bloomberg-medford-public-library-schwartz-silver-architects&gt ISSN 0719-8884Save? / Schwartz/Silver ArchitectsYou'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

Most mornings, I stumble out of bed, grab my phone, and crack open some Pokemon packs. Over the last month, I've been consumed by the routine of booting up Pokemon TCG Pocket, a mobile adaptation of the popular card game, and--much like the video games and show encourage--catching 'em all. I've blown through dozens of booster packs by now chasing the thrill of filling my digital library with rare holographic and full-art cards. I know for a fact I'm not alone in this craze, either. Group chats of mine are filled with friends sharing the rewards of their booster packs, and my social media feeds often consist of a handful of screenshots of someone's haul. That's not all that I've seen.Everywhere I looked this year, some kind of card game was killing it and dominating conversations and minds. Balatro grabbed a hold of gamers early into the year and never particularly let go. My favorite part of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth wasn't taking Tifa on a date or watching Nomura and company continue to reinterpret FF7's mythos; it was taking a break from the bloated open world and throwing down the gauntlet in games of Queen's Blood, a territory-based card game within the expansive RPG, and I wasn't the only one who fell in love with it. Everyone I know now plays Magic: The Gathering, and after numerous alluring crossovers and bids from friends, I do too. And by the very end of the year, Pokemon TCG Pocket became a part of all of our day-to-day lives, allowing us to chase the thrilling feeling of filling a digital library with some of our favorite creatures.The point is: In 2024, we proverbially bet big on card games. We went all in, so to speak, and it's fascinating to wonder why this trend has picked up so much steam in recent years. These games vary in complexity and mechanics, but are there some underlying qualities that unify all these examples and make sense of the incredible year that they've enjoyed?Continue Reading at GameSpot

A player scores an accidental double elimination in Halo and more.

The quest for immersive experiences in video games is never-ending, and when it comes to racing games, oftentimes that quest leads players to put down the controller in exchange for a wheel.

Beyond Undermine, World of Warcraft is adding several subzones in Patch 11.1, including a corrupted area in the Ringing Deeps called Gutterville and a new Goblin camp in Zuldazar called the KajaCoast. These locations will be added to World of Warcraft in Patch 11.1 when it releases, likely sometime in February, but fans will be able to explore them on the Public Test Realm shortly after the new year.

Spurred on by a New York Post story about Pope Francis opening "five sacred portals" this Christmas, the goofier corners of the social media world are breathlessly sharing warnings that the Pope is planning to open the "Tomb of Lucifer," or the Devil's Tomb this holiday season. The TikTok video below, from GraceXDigital, has been viewed more than 2 million times and explains the whole conspiracy theory. Grace is asking the Pope important questions, like "Why are you doing this this year, in this economy?" While The Pope is opening five portals to close out 2024, I regret to inform you that His Holiness is not planning to open the Tomb of Lucifernothing that awesome ever happens. There is a tomb of Lucifer under the Vatican, but it's not as cool as you'd hope. Nothing in this story is not as cool as you'd hope.What are these portals the Pope is opening?The Pope is actually going to be opening five sacred portals as part of a ritual this year, but "portal" just means "door," and four of the five doors lead to well known basilicas. Despite what some internet cranks are saying, it's not the first time this has happened either: The ritual happens every 25 years, and is meant to usher in a year renewed in hope for Catholics. So basically, it's the Pope doing Pope junk. The only never-happened-before part of the story is Pope Francis putting his own spin on the ritual by opening a fifth door inside the Roman prison Rebibbia on Dec. 26. It's meant to offer prisoners a sign to "look to the future with hope and a renewed sense of confidence." The door opening is symbolic, so the prisoners will not be freed to run rampant in Rome. The Tomb of Lucifer and the Vatican NecropolisThe one slightly cool part of the story: There is a city of the dead under the Vatican that has a tomb of Lucifer, and you can visit it. The Vatican Necropolis lies 15 to 24 feet below Saint Peter's Basilica, near the site of the Circus of Caligula. Originally an open-air cemetery, the necropolis dates back to the Roman Empire and supposedly contains the remains of the Apostle Peter along with the skeletons of various Popes and other prominent early Catholics. Also found here: the Tomb of Lucifer.But it's not the Lucifer, the Morning Star, the fallen angel who became the head of the demons. That Lucifer's ultimate fate is murky. Maybe he's still alive, subtly convincing people to cheat at Monopoly, or maybe he's in Heaven because he found redemption, or maybe he's in Newark. (According to Dante, Lucifer is in the deepest circle of the abyss, frozen in ice and forced to beat his wings for eternity to power Hell, so I'll go with that.) In any case, the angelic Lucifer isn't a person, so he doesn't have a tomb.According to the Vatican's own Necropolis map, Tomb U is labeled "Lucifer." The Vatican says: "The entrance to the tomb has been reduced because of a fault in the architrave. It is possible, however, to glimpse some of the niches with their characteristic red background and several arcosoli." Red backgrounds? It's gotta be Satan. But nah: The construction of this tomb pre-dates the association of the name "Lucifer" with the devil. We don't actually know why it's called the Lucifer tomb. It might be a reference to some graffiti found around there, or a reference to an important Catholic with that name. It's not referring to the devil, though. Why are there so many Catholic conspiracy theories anyway?Why the Pope opening some doors in Vatican City became a conspiracy theory on TikTok is a complex question. America's history of anti-Catholicism dates back to before the United States was even a thing. While those deep cultural and historical biases are probably part of it, I think the main reason people traffic in this sort of conspiratorial thinking is more innocent: the Catholic Church is really old and really weird, and people like a little spice in their Christmas eggnog. People also like putting together puzzles, and the Catholic Church gives you a lot of pieces to play with. The Vatican is an ancient city full of tunnels, crumbling Roman ruins, and a Necropolis under a basilica. The Pope controls a city-state, can speak with God's voice, and wears some very impressive hats. It's the kind of set-up where anything seems like it could be happening at any time, including the Pope digging up Satan's grave, maybe so they can fight. Like many conspiracy theorists, the author Dan Brown, and the developers of the Assassin's Creed video games, I want the awesome things to be real too. I want a flashy showdown in Vatican City between angels and demons (and aliens). But good and evil don't work that way in real life. Even if you dress up the "good guys" in elaborate headgear, they're still fallible old men51% good on a good day. Evil doesn't reside in a tomb and come at you with flaming swords. It would be cool if the Pope could call on the power of his big buddy God to smite those who need smiting, but despite the hats, scepters, and symbolic authority, the best the Pope can do is throw open some old doors in the papal palace and maybe try to get people to maybe think about the plight of prisoners.

We may earn a commission from links on this page.If you're curious about how younger people are celebrating the holiday season this year, I have you covered: They're singing each other Rizzmas Carols, with lyrics like "On the first day or Rizzmas, my gyat gave to me, a toilet, skibidi." They're also decorating their Fortnite avatars with festive Skibidi Toilet skins, and watching MrBeast's new game show, The Beast Games. The rise of Rizzmas CarolsThis year, the kids are marking the holiday by singing "Rizzmas Carols" with lines like "deck the halls with boughs of sigmas." They're basically slang overload, brain rot versions of Christmas carols. Check out "It's Beginning to Look a Gyat like Rizzmas" to see what I mean: For reasons known to no one, this brain rot version of "Last Christmas" ("Last Rizzmas") has a million and a half plays on TikTok: A favorite song to parody if you want to really cram in as many Gen-A references as possible is "12 Days of Rizzmas," in which your rizzler might give you nine sigmas moggings... ...or 10 skibidi toilets. Before you start bemoaning the future of the holidays, ask yourself how many times you sang "Jingle bells, Batman smells, Robin laid an egg" when you were a kid. (If you asked your parents, I bet they'd answer "way too many.") And if you simply don't know what any of these newer slang words mean, I have you covered with my constantly updated guide to Gen Z and Gen A slang. Skibidi Toilet comes to FortniteWhile we're doing brain rot, let's talk about Skibidi Toilet coming to Fortnite. The "Skibidi Toilet Bundle" contains a skin of Skibidi Toilet, two versions of Plungerman, a skibidi backpack, and the Plungerman's plungers, all for 2,200 V-Bucks. But act fast, it's only available until December 28.If none of the above made any sense to you, allow me to translate: Fortnite is a massively popular competitive online game. Skibidi Toilet is a massively popular (among the younger set, anyway) web series on YouTube. Skins allow players to "dress" their in-game avatars, and it all costs V-Bucks, which are the online currency in Fortnite. At the current exchange rate, 2,200 V-Bucks is about $20, so kids can now spend $20 to look like Skibidi Toilet characters while they're playing Fortnite. If you're looking for a last minute gift for the 11 year-old in your life, hold your nose and fork over the V-Bucks. TikTok gets nostalgic with Google MapsFor many, the end of the year is a time for bittersweet reflection, and TikTok denizens are getting into the spirit in an interesting way. The newest trend on social media involves posting videos of virtual time travel: finding familiar places on Google Maps' street view, then virtually going back in time by checking out earlier photos to note who or what is no longer around. For instance, this TikToker misses her grandparents, but somewhere on Google Maps, they're alive, working on the front lawn: People are finding their own chalk drawings on the driveway: People are seeing themselves waiting for the school bus: People are catching themselves on a first date in the driveway: Many people are finding beloved pets, sunning themselves in the yard, with no idea of how little time they have left: Even if no one was captured by Google's map car, just a missing car in a driveway is enough to stop people cold: If you're interested in checking out how your own home has changed over the years, here's how:Open up the google maps app or go to the Google Maps page.Put in your addressClick "View street view"Click Show more datesPick a year and see if it makes you cryMan brings flowers to date, gets flamedX user @Thehullboy posted a photo of himself about to go on a date last week and drew the ire and bile of a countless X users. See if you can guess what he did wrong: This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. If you said, "nothing," congratulations, you're not a bitter cretin. According to man-o-sphere types, incels, and other sentient garbage heaps, though, the dude should not have brought the girl flowers. Some sample comments: This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. To be fair, many commenters on this dude's post support his decision to bring a bouquet on a date, pointing out that it's kind of a nice thing to do on a date, and sort of adorable. In response, angry men are pointing out that those comments are from women, and what do women know about what women like? In other words, something has gone terrible wrong with many, many young men. Viral Video of the Week: The first episode of 'The Beast Games' Mr. Beast has 338 million followers on his YouTube channel, more than anyone else on Earth, but this month he's making the move to more traditional streaming by hosting his own game show on Amazon Prime Video. The Beast Games is like a real life version of Squid Game where 1,000 regular people compete for a prize of $5 million through the kinds of endurance tests and contests that MrBeast made so popular on his YouTube channel. Critics do not like it, dubbing it "$100 million worth of charmless YouTube nonsense" and "about what youd expect from an ever-hustling spectacle merchant like MrBeast." The kids, though, seem to like it: Almost 100 million people viewed the first episode on YouTube in less than a week. For comparison: around 123 million people viewed the last Super Bowl.

Looking for NYT Strands answers and hints? Here's all you need to know to solve today's game, including the spangram.

Looking for NYT Connections answers and hints? Here's all you need to know to solve today's game, plus my commentary on the puzzles.

Looking for Quordle clues? We can help. Plus get the answers to Quordle today and past solutions.