President Jimmy Carter died on December 29 at the age of 100. And though it has been decades since the 39th president lived in the White House, it is worth looking back at how his single term, from 1977 to 1981, shaped the famous home. White House residents leave aesthetic legacies that tend to last but an instant, their decors admired for four years or eight years, and then erased. Some are widely known and broadly emulated, such as the French-style interiors that Stphane Boudin wrought for President and Mrs. John F. Kennedy. Others are little known and make no impact beyond the White House and its four walls. Arguably, such is the case of the interior decoration that was installed at the White House under Carter.Marking their territory is a presidential prerogative, and the Carter legacy was downhome: Im your good friend, salt of the earth, says Patrick Phillips-Schrock, the author of The White House: An Illustrated Architectural History (McFarland & Company, 2013), during a FaceTime conversation from his home in Lisbon, Portugal, where he and his husband retired. That doesnt mean that the former president and his wife, Rosalynn, didnt appreciate the grandeur that they had inherited, electorally speaking. The state rooms on the main floor of the White House, which had been decorated during the Nixon Administration, under the dictatorial direction of White House curator Clement Conger, were still in fine condition when the Carters took up residence. Thus, Mrs. Carter didnt see the need to change much in those spaces, Phillips-Schrock explains, other than moving paintings and shifting objects to different positions, ones that pleased her eye more. She saw to the good maintenance of the rooms, and the fact that Conger had ordered double amounts of fabric when the rooms were redone for the Nixons made her job easier. Interestingly, though, Nancy Reagan, who became the next first lady, thought the house was very dirty and needing cleaning. That was a very political statement, to my mind.Carter with his daughter Amy in the Oval Office in 1978.Photo: Katherine Young/Getty ImagesSurprisingly, similarly uncomfortable comments and actions cast a bit of a pall over the Carters early days as president and first lady. As Scott Kaufmans 2007 biography of Rosalynn Carter recounts, The New York State Historical Association wanted back its portrait of Abigail Adams that had hung in the Red Room for fifteen years, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art repossessed some other paintings. Then, in mid-1977, Senate Majority Leader Robert Byrd asked to move the second-floor Treaty Room chandelier to one of his offices. Conger refused, Byrd fumed, and, ultimately, the chandelier issue sparked so many irritable feelings that Mrs. Carter gave in and sent the light fixture to Capitol Hill. As for household illumination, a Washington Post profile of the Carters and their decors noted that the first lady is a woman who notices and cares about small housekeeping details. On a tour of the private quarters, she was annoyed to find a bulb burned out in the hall. And she was really unhappy when she saw someone had plopped a Ping-Pong table top over the pool table [in the solarium] without removing the pool table cover.As with most White House occupants, the Carters personal taste was almost entirely felt in the so-called residence, the private spaces that first families occupy on the second and third floors: bedrooms, bathrooms, sitting rooms, studies, and the like. The work was overseen by E. Wayne Dean, an award-winning Georgia decorator, alumnus of Floridas Ringling School of Art, and former corporate designer for a mobile home manufacturer. (He would also decorate a house for President Carters sister Ruth Stapleton.) At the White House, Dean often found himself discussing the projects with the presidents daughter-in-law Annette Carter, who had degreed in interior design at the University of Georgia and was married to the Carters son Jeff. When interviewed about landing the White House commission, Dean admitted, I didnt get the full magnitude or importance of it until my minister said, Do you realize this woman could have anyone in the world do this? Then I think I got it in proper perspective.The Carter family in front of the Christmas tree in the Blue Room in 1977.Photo: Karl Schumacher - White House via CNP/Getty ImagesMost PopularAD-it-YourselfThese 17 Midcentury Modern Bathrooms Will Sell You on a Retro-Chic MakeoverBy Rachel DaviesMagazineA Historic House in the Heart of Paris Gets a Dose of Practical MagicBy Alice CavanaghMagazineTadao Ando Realizes a Fashion Mavens Architectural DreamBy Mayer RusMany observers remain impressed by the Carters decision to install solar panels on the roof of the White House as a symbol of his clean-energy initiativethey also installed a wood-burning stove in the private quartersbut some domestic decisions still rile others, largely on personal-taste grounds. One was to rusticate a third-floor guest bedroom, paneling one wall with knotty wood planks from an old barn on a farm that had been owned by Mrs. Carters grandfather. That room really speaks to Carters downhome persona, and to their determination to create a space that meant something deeply personal to them but which would surely be removed by a later president and first lady, says Phillips-Schrock, who posted photographs of the earth-tone bedroom on the White House by Design page on Facebook. Indeed, the board bedroom vanished in just a couple of years, removed by Nancy Reagan and her interior decorator, Ted Graber.Carter changes were made to the West Bedroom, too, a space that is traditionally used by first ladies, but which would be shared by the Carters, as well as the Fords before them. Much of the bedrooms Nixon decor was returned, the most significant change being the replacement of the Fords king-size bed with a historic canopy bed from the White House collection. As for the East Bedroom, typically designated for the slumber of the serving president, it became President Carters personal study, after having been used by the Fords as a sitting room. First daughter Amy Carter, the youngest of the Carters four children, used her bedroom and sitting rooms existing Nixon decor until 1979, when she became a teenager and a sprightlier settinga color scheme of blue, toast, and melon, patterned and plain chintzes, ruffled curtains and shams, and a scalloped coverletwas required. Even then, Phillips-Schrock points out, Amys furnishings consisted largely of borrowed pieces from various rooms, such as a sofa once used by Caroline Kennedy.Rosalynn Carter in the White House solarium.Photo: Bettmann/Getty imagesMost PopularAD-it-YourselfThese 17 Midcentury Modern Bathrooms Will Sell You on a Retro-Chic MakeoverBy Rachel DaviesMagazineA Historic House in the Heart of Paris Gets a Dose of Practical MagicBy Alice CavanaghMagazineTadao Ando Realizes a Fashion Mavens Architectural DreamBy Mayer RusIndeed, much of the existing residential decor was simply refreshed or thoughtfully augmented by the cost-conscious Carters, except for the solarium, an octagonal rooftop retreat with a sweeping view of Washington, DC. That space became a family room, as Scott Kaufmans biography recounts, with an octagonal Lucite table at its center, an assortment of Spanish chairs painted blue, and striped faille upholstery. Described in a news report as a seven-foot breakfront-type piece, made from moldings collected in South Carolina, the television cabinet was custom-made by the White House carpentry shop. As We stay here so much. The children the most, Rosalynn Carter told The Washington Post. We come up here on Saturdays and Sunday afternoons. Sometimes Jimmy and I eat up here. But not much. The children eat here when we have guests on the second floor. And by children, she meant some of her grandchildren, who lived in the White House with their parents, as well as Amy.Shop Open DoorLove celebrity homes? Shop some of our favorites from Diplo, Sofa Vergara, Sienna Miller and more.SHOP THE EDITDownhome, cozy, recycled, and sensitive are terms that pretty much describe the Carters approach to their temporary digs in the nations capital. That being said, Rosalynn Carter, with curator Conger, did spearhead a White House endowment fund to raise $10 million that would go toward restoration projects. She also acquired a number of treasures for the permanent collection, such as a Jean-Antoine Houdon bust of Benjamin Franklin and a portrait of Andrew Jackson, adding them to a White House collection of such breadth and depth that she once described it as a post-graduate course for me, because we had a major collection of antiques in the Governors Mansion in Atlanta.Carter with President-elect Ronald Reagan (left) and Nancy Reagan in the Oval Office in 1980.Photo: Arnie Sachs/CNP/Getty ImagesMost PopularAD-it-YourselfThese 17 Midcentury Modern Bathrooms Will Sell You on a Retro-Chic MakeoverBy Rachel DaviesMagazineA Historic House in the Heart of Paris Gets a Dose of Practical MagicBy Alice CavanaghMagazineTadao Ando Realizes a Fashion Mavens Architectural DreamBy Mayer RusPhillips-Schrock points out a particularly regal Carter acquisition: the return and restoration of two Pierre-Antoine Bellang gilded-beech sofas that were part of a 53-piece Bellang order for the Blue Room by President James Monroe in 1817. (They had been sold off by President Buchanan in 1860.) During the refurbishment of the White House by first lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy and Paris decorator Stphane Boudin, one of the Bellang sofas had been offered on loan by its owner, but Boudin had rejected it, saying there was no room, Phillips-Schrock says. The Carters got it, after which it took several years to conserve, and in 1981, the Reagans added it to the state-room decors. That Bellang sofa and its seating mates were exactingly restored by the White House Historical Associationthe work started during the Obama Administration and was completed during the Trump yearsand unveiled to the public in 2018. They are prime examples of how presidents may come and go, but what they bring to the White House remains forever a part of its fabric. At least, until the next redecoration.

submitted by /u/ControlCAD [link] [comments]

Second Jeju Air plane experiences landing gear malfunction, same Boeing model involved Published: 30 Dec. 2024, 10:08 Updated: 30 Dec. 2024, 10:22 Jeju Air's Boeing 737-800 [YONHAP] A day after a Jeju Air passenger plane crashed at Muan International Airport in South Jeolla, another Jeju Air airplane, also a Boeing 737-800, experienced a landing gear malfunction. Jeju Air Flight 7C 101, which departed from Gimpo International Airport at 6:37 a.m. on Monday with 161 passengers, reported a landing gear malfunction shortly after takeoff and was forced to return to the airport, according to airline industry sources on Monday. Related Article The passengers were transferred to another aircraft anddeparted for Jeju Island at 8:30 a.m. The aircraft involved was a Boeing 737-800, the same model as the one in Sunday's crash, one of the deadliest aviation disasters on Korean soil. Jeju Air Flight 7C 2216, a Boeing 737-800 returning from Bangkok, Thailand, with 175 passengers and six crew members, veered off the runway after a crash landing at 9:03 a.m. on Sunday. The plane collided with a perimeter fence at the airport and exploded upon impact. Fire authorities confirmed 179 fatalities as of 9 p.m. Sunday, with two crew members injured. Initial investigations suggest a malfunction in all three landing gear systems was the primary cause of the tragic accident. A bird strike is also suspected to have caused the landing gear to fail. Jeju Air currently operates 39 Boeing 737-800s out of its fleet of 41. "The turnaround was a necessary measure for safe operation," a Jeju Air official said. "We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience caused to our passengers." BY WOO JI-WON [[emailprotected]]

While I generally feel like acquisitions are almost always bad for consumers, with Digital Eclipse and Nightdive Atari really did a great job pulling together developers that were kind of naturally aligned to what modern Atari was attempting anyway.I'm really impressed with their recent projects, especially the Karateka and Llamasoft collections, along with Tetris Forever. They definitely are bringing a refreshing take to retro collections lately and I am here for it!

Image: ConcernedApeWe all know Stardew Valley has been a runaway success ever since it released on PC in 2016. But it continues to sell gangbusters across multiple platforms, and as of December 2024, has reached an absolutely huge milestone.The farming sim has now sold 41 million copies, ConcernedApe announced on the official Stardew Valley press site. While most of those copies are on PC 26 million, even the Switch got a special shoutout, where a further 7.9 million copies have been purchased.Let's put those numbers into context for a second. Back in February, ConcernedApe confirmed that the game had sold over 30 million copies. That means, in 2024 alone, Stardew Valley has sold around 10 million copies.That also means that, over the past 12 months, Stardew Valley has overtaken the likes of Mario Kart Wii, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Tetris (on Game Boy), Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and Wii Sports Resort. It's now the 15th best-selling game of all time.Of course, it's available on just about every console out there, and it's also extremely cheap at under USD $15, but 41 million copies in 8 years is extremely impressive.Subscribe to Nintendo Life on YouTube790kWatch on YouTube Part of the big uptick in sales in 2024 may be down to the latest free update, which landed on Switch in November 2024. 1.6 adds new events, a new farm layout, new pets, a whole new skill system, and tons more. It's probably the biggest update yet, and that says a lot when 1.5 added Ginger Island. Oh, and it's free.ConcernedApe could be sitting back and relaxing at this point, but he's hard at work on his next game, Haunted Chocolatier, which is coming out... at some point!Are you one of the many who have played Stardew Valley? Let us know what you think of these sales in the comments. Back to the farm we go[source stardewvalley.net]Related GamesSee AlsoShare:02 Alana has been with Nintendo Life since 2022, and while RPGs are her first love, Nintendo is a close second. She enjoys nothing more than overthinking battle strategies, characters, and stories. She also wishes she was a Sega air pirate. Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...Related Articles161 Games You Should Pick Up In Nintendo's 'Hits For The Holidays' eShop Sale (North America)Every game we scored 9/10 or higher54 Games You Should Pick Up In The Nintendo Switch eShop Holiday Sale (Europe)Every game we scored 9/10 or higherMultiple Cartoon Network Games Have Been Removed From The Switch eShopMerry Christmas!Nintendo Reveals Japan's "Top 30" Most Downloaded Switch eShop Games Of 2024Suika Game takes out the top spotLevel-5 CEO Shares Another Update About Its 2025 Switch Game ScheduleThe CEO hopes 2025 will be a "breakthrough year"

Encode, the nonprofit organization that co-sponsored Californias ill-fated SB 1047 AI safety legislation, has requested permission to file an amicus brief in support of Elon Musks injunction to halt OpenAIs transition to a for-profit company.In a proposed brief submitted to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California Friday afternoon, counsel for Encode said that OpenAIs conversion to a for-profit would undermine the firms mission to develop and deploy transformative technology in a way that is safe and beneficial to the public.OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, claim to be developing society-transforming technology, and those claims should be taken seriously, the brief read. If the world truly is at the cusp of a new age of artificial general intelligence (AGI), then the public has a profound interest in having that technology controlled by a public charity legally bound to prioritize safety and the public benefit rather than an organization focused on generating financial returns for a few privileged investors.In a statement, Sneha Revanur, Encodes founder and president, accused OpenAI of internalizing the profits [of AI] but externalizing the consequences to all of humanity, and said that [t]he courts must intervene to ensure AI development serves the public interest.Encodes brief has garnered the support of Geoffrey Hinton, a pioneer in the AI field and 2024 Nobel Laureate, and UC Berkeley computer science professor and director at the Center for Human-Compatible AI Stuart Russell. OpenAI was founded as an explicitly safety-focused nonprofit and made a variety of safety-related promises in its charter, Hinton said in a press release. It received numerous tax and other benefits from its nonprofit status. Allowing it to tear all of that up when it becomes inconvenient sends a very bad message to other actors in the ecosystem.OpenAI was launched in 2015 as a nonprofit research lab. But as its experiments became increasingly capital-intensive, itcreatedits current structure, taking on outside investments from VCs and companies,includingMicrosoft.Today, OpenAI has a hybrid structure: a for-profit side controlled by a nonprofit with a capped profit share for investors and employees. But in ablog post this morning, the company said it plans to begin transitioning its existing for-profit into a Delaware Public Benefit Corporation (PBC), with ordinary shares of stock and the OpenAI mission as its public benefit interest.OpenAIs nonprofit will remain but will cede control in exchange for shares in the PBC.Musk, an early contributor to the original nonprofit entity,filed suit in November requesting an injunction to halt the proposed change, which has long been in the works. He accused OpenAI of abandoning its original philanthropic mission of making the fruits of its AI research available to all, and of depriving rivals of capital including his AI startup, xAI through anticompetitive means.OpenAI hascalledMusks complaints baseless and simply a case of sour grapes.Facebooks parent company and AI rival, Meta, is also supporting efforts to block OpenAIs conversion. In December, Metasenta letter to California attorney general Rob Bonta, arguing that allowing the shift would have seismic implications for Silicon Valley.Lawyers for Encode said that OpenAIs plans to transfer control of its operations to a PBC would convert an organization bound by law to ensure the safety of advanced AI into one bound by law to balance its consideration of any public benefit against the pecuniary interests of [its] stockholders.Encodes counsel notes in the brief, for example, that OpenAIs nonprofit has committed to stop competing with any value-aligned, safety-conscious project that comes close to building AGI before it does, but that OpenAI as a for-profit would have less (if any) incentive to do so. The brief also points out that the nonprofit OpenAIs board will no longer be able to cancel investors equity if needed for safety once the companys restructuring is completed.OpenAI continues to experience anoutflowofhigh-leveltalentdue in part to concerns that the company is prioritizing commercial products at the expense of safety. One former employee, Miles Brundage, a longtime policy researcher who left OpenAI in October, said in a series of posts on X that he worries about OpenAIs nonprofit becoming a side thing that gives license to the PBC to operate as a normal company without addressing potentially problematic areas.OpenAIs touted fiduciary duty to humanity would evaporate, as Delaware law is clear that the directors of a PBC owe no duty to the public at all, Encodes brief continued. The public interest would be harmed by a safety-focused, mission-constrained nonprofit relinquishing control over something so transformative at any price to a for-profit enterprise with no enforceable commitment to safety.Encode, founded in July 2020 by Revanur, describes itself as a network of volunteers focused on ensuring voices of younger generations are heard in conversations about AIs impacts. Encode has contributed to various pieces of AI state and federal legislation in addition to SB 1047, including the White Houses AI Bill of Rights and President Joe Bidens executive order on AI.Updated December 30, 10:10 a.m. Pacific with statements from Revanur and Hinton. TechCrunch has an AI-focused newsletter! Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Wednesday.

Apple is allowing anyone to access its Apple TV+ streaming service for free this weekend, from January 3 to 5. The company made the announcement on Monday alongside a short video featuring its most popular TV shows, including Severance, Slow Horses, Shrinking, and more.Its worth noting that this is the first time that Apple has offered something like this. The announcement comes a few days after Apple TV+ began teasing that it was planning to open up its content to non-subscribers.A weekend is enough time to binge-watch some of Apples most popular shows, especially Severance, which is returning for its highly anticipated second season on January 17.Although Apples tweet announcing the promotion says Apple TV+ will be free to stream on January 4 and 5, Apples official press release says it will be available for free from January 3 to 5. By opening up access to its content, Apple is likely hoping that people will explore its TV shows and then eventually sign up for a subscription to keep up with the show or check out the rest of the streaming services library of content. The company says Apple TV+ will be free on any device where Apple TV+ is available, and that all you will need is an Apple ID to access the streaming service.Apple TV+ is priced at $9.99 per month, and allows up to six members of a Family Sharing group to watch content under a single subscription.

Bench, the VC-backed accounting startup that left thousands of customers locked out of their accounts after it suddenly shut down last week, will be acquired by Employer.com for an undisclosed price in a last-minute deal, TechCrunch has exclusively learned.The San Francisco-based HR tech company Employer.com focuses on payroll and onboarding, in contrast to Bench, which specializes in accounting and tax. Employer.coms chief marketing officer Matt Charney told TechCrunch the company will revive Benchs platform and provide instructions for customers to login and obtain their data imminently.Customers will be given the choice to port their data or keep their service under new ownership, Charney told TechCrunch. Benchs previous recommendation to file for a six month extension with the Internal Revenue Service to look for a new bookkeeper is no longer needed if customers decide to stay on, Employer.com confirmed.Benchs website, which is still offline at the time of writing, previously touted more than 35,000 American small business owners on its platform, according to an archived copy. (Post-publication, Employer.com told TechCrunch that Bench has approximately 12,000 customers.) Benchs website currently reads: More information on how to continue your services will be available soon. The startups abrupt shutdown on Friday caused chaos, with customers finding themselves locked out of their accounts right as tax season is set to begin, and emails from TechCrunch to Bench employees bouncing back.TechCrunch confirmed the acquisition with a Bench board member. Neither Bench nor Employer.com would comment on the acquisition price.Employer.com is a new company: Its CEO, Jesse Tinsley announced his acquisition of the domain name in November for about $450,000. Tinsley is behind a host of HR, onboarding, and recruiting-related businesses, including Recruiter.com and BountyJobs. In a post on December 11, Tinsley said that the company is still acquiring companies in the HR space. Employer.com is not VC-backed and is entirely self-funded, Charney told TechCrunch.In a statement announcing the acquisition, Employer.com said Bench customers can expect to continue working with the same expert in-house bookkeepers they know and trust.This acquisition ensures that Bench customers can continue relying on the same high-quality service theyve always received, while also opening the door to future enhancements and capabilities powered by Employer.coms extensive resources, Employer.coms statement said.That may be tricky in practice. Bench employed more than 600 people, according to its website, some of whom posted on LinkedIn after the shutdown notice that they were now looking for work. Bench is now starting to call many but not all of its employees back to work to ensure continuity, Jennifer Bouyoukos, Benchs chief people officer, told TechCrunch.TechCrunch archived Benchs original shutdown notice from December 27 below: A copy of the Bench notice of service closure on December 27, 2024.Image Credits:TechCrunch (screenshot)Topics

Breakdown & ShowreelsIF: Character Breakdown by FramestoreBy Vincent Frei - 30/12/2024 Lets dive back into the magical world of IF! Framestore brings the story to life with an incredible lineup of adorable, intricately designed characters. From their expressive animations to their charming details, these creations will steal your heart!WANT TO KNOW MORE?Framestore: Dedicated page about IF on Framestore website.Chris Lawrence & Arslan Elver: Heres my interview of Chris Lawrence (Production VFX Supervisor) & Arslan Elver (Animation Supervisor) at Framestore. Vincent Frei The Art of VFX 2024

Want More?VDB SimulationsIf you want tons of fire and smoke simulations, but dont want to spend all of the time rendering them procedurally, check out our VDB packs. We did all of the simulating, and you will receive a file that you can drag-and-drop into your project. Theyre much faster to use, much more detailed, and the results are incredible. We have almost 2,000 of them in our store, so check them out!