An X post about a Southwest passenger's kitten was viewed more than 20 million times.The woman said she was kicked off a flight after cleaning up her cat's poop with paper towels.Some replied with messages of support but others were less sympathetic about flying with pets.An airline passenger's tale about a kitten that pooped in its carrier sparked a debate about bringing pets on flights.In an X post last Sunday that racked up more than 20 million views, a user named Alex said she was kicked off a flight and left in "a random city for 12 hours."She said she was on a Southwest Airlines flight when her seven-month-old cat, Oni, got scared during a rough landing and had "an accident."Alex said she took the carrier to the plane's bathroom and cleaned the mess with paper towels, putting them in the trash before asking a flight attendant for a garbage bag.Her connecting flight turned out to be on the same plane, she said.She added that a new crew was on board, and the bathroom was closed off due to the smell.A "hostile" flight attendant then questioned Alex and made her cry, she said, before a Southwest agent escorted her off the plane.The agent sorted another route to Los Angeles for her, involving another layover, and gave her a $200 voucher, Alex said.Southwest Airlines did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.Alex's post about the incident resulted in thousands of responses on X both supporting and criticizing her conduct."They handled that so poorly, I'm so sorry," one user replied. "I hope you and Oni make it to your destination safely."Another reply with 7,000 likes said: "Worse things happen in those bathrooms."Some others were less sympathetic. One repost with more than 1,000 likes said they had "zero sympathy" for people who fly with their pets and "play persecution when something goes awry."An estimated two million pets are taken on commercial flights annually in the US, according to a 2023 research paper published in the academic journal Animals.This isn't the first time that a fecal airline incident has made headlines.Last April, a United Airlines flight was diverted after a dog pooped in the plane's aisle.And in 2023, a transatlantic Delta Air Lines flight had to turn around after a passenger had "diarrhea all the way through the airplane."

Emirates wants to hire airline pilots from the US to fly its widebody jets from Dubai.The pay and benefits are good, but Emirates pilots must be ready for mostly long-haul flying.Emirates pilots can get unique perks like company-provided housing and chauffeur transfers to work.It can be difficult for US airline pilots to jump into a foreign flight deck, but Emirates has programs to entice potential hires to make the leap. Flying for the UAE-based carrier has significant differences compared to US counterparts, including a unique scheduling system and other benefits. But the work-life balance, pay, and benefits are nothing to balk at. In an interview, six-year Emirates Boeing 777 pilot Richard Vellinga explained how pay, benefits, visas, and training at the state-owned carrier. High pay and company-provided housingVellinga said new first officers can make between $7,000 and $9,000 per month, tax-free, based on experience.Captains make between $11,000 and $13,000 a month. On the lower end, those paychecks equal a minimum of $84,000 for first officers and $132,000 for captains annually.First officers and captains can earn more money as they gain more years of flight experience. Pay is the same regardless of aircraft type. Richard Vellinga flies the Boeing 777 for Emirates. Before, he flew as a US airline pilot. AP For every "block" hour above their monthly minimum flying target, they earn about $145 and $200, respectively. A block hour is the time between when an aircraft leaves the departure gate and arrives at the destination gate.For example, if an Emirates captain hits their minimum and picks up an eight-hour block trip, that will equal around $1,600 in extra pay.Emirates also offers other allowances to complement pilot basic salaries, including profit-sharing, company-provided housing allowance, flight benefits, education allowance for dependents, and medical coverage."We also enjoy chauffeur-driven transport to and from work, and laundry services," Vellinga said.Pilot salaries are calculated differently than at US airlines In the US, pilot pay is dependent on aircraft type.The lowest-paid first officers of narrow-body planes at Delta, United, and American make about $111,000 a year, while the highest-paid widebody captains make more than $400,000 a year.Similar to Emirates, US pilots can make more from additional monthly flying and any potential profit-sharing with many making over half a million annually.US pilots typically don't receive housing benefits or car service from their homes to work.Emirates mostly flies long-haulVellinga said Emirates pilot schedules differ from the US. He is on a "reserve" period every 10 months meaning he doesn't know his trips ahead of time.Otherwise, he holds a "line", meaning he has preplanned flights. He said the schedule is based on rotating seniority, so lower-year pilots can get their preferred schedule during certain months.In the US, new pilots have to work their way up the ladder to earn enough seniority to get the trips and time off they want. Some are on reserve for years before they hold a line.Vellinga said the long-haul flying at Emirates, which can range from one to five days of consecutive flying, can be difficult given the time changes."Work-life balance can be atypical given frequent time-zone changes and being away from family," Vellinga said, adding Emirates pilots need to be flexible and adaptable, but he prefers ultra-long-haul flying. Emirates operates the world's largest fleet of Airbus A380 double-decker jets. kamilpetran/Shutterstock He said the company offers 42 days of leave a year, with at least eight days off a month. The latter is not uncommon in the US. Vellinga said he spends his time off with family and enjoys the expat community and sporting events in Dubai.Vellinga said he also uses his flight benefits, which include access to free or discounted flight tickets for pilots and their friends and family. When available, their family can access business or first class."Our most recent vacation with benefits was to Tenerife in the Canary Islands," he said. "We spent a week exploring the islands and had a wonderful time."Training and qualificationsEmirates training will be similarly long and vigorous to what US airline pilots experience, but Emirates pilots are trained according to the standards of the UAE's aviation authority rather than the Federal Aviation Administration.Vellinga said new-hire training takes between three and four months, including ground and simulator work. Line training, meaning operating actual flights, takes another six weeks."I started training in the first week of August [2018] and had my first flight by mid-November," he said, adding Emirates took care of his visas and licenses to fly in the UAE. Pilots are trained on Emirates' fleet of Airbus A380, Airbus A350, and Boeing 777 planes. Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto First officers and captains must have specific minimum flight hours to be hired, and making it into an Emirates cockpit is dependent on passing training checks.Direct-entry captains or those who are already captains in the US and want to captain an Emirates plane need at least 7,000 multi-crew flying hours, with nearly half of that on widebody planes like the Airbus A330 or Airbus A350.Reaching 7,000 hours for a US airline pilot can take a decade or more.Pilots without captain experience or enough hours of experience can be hired at Emirates as long as they meet minimum hourly flight requirements and have operated heavy enough aircraft.Vellinga said captains flying narrow-body planes like the Airbus A320 or the Boeing 737 with 6,000 total hours and 2,000 in command can be hired as first officers at Emirates. They can become a captain after about a year and a half.Otherwise, pilots upgrading from a first officer to a captain takes between two and four years, depending on how quickly a pilot earns enough qualifying hours.

Turo is an app that allows people to rent out their cars to other drivers.The app was used to rent the vehicles used in two deadly incidents on New Year's Day.Since it was founded in 2009, it has grown into the largest car-sharing app of its kind.Turo is the car-sharing app used to rent the vehicles involved in deadly New Year's Day incidents in Las Vegas and New Orleans.It's like an Airbnb for cars, allowing people to get paid for leasing their vehicles to other drivers.Users get easy access to short-term rentals, while owners can rent out their vehicles as a side hustle or even a full-time business.Compared with conventional car rental companies, Turo can sometimes offer lower prices or more convenient locations. It makes a commission on rentals and doesn't have to run a fleet of cars.Turo lists a very wide variety of vehicles, with some 1,600 makes and models on offer, including the CEO's own Porsche 911 Carrera S. The platform also lists campervans and more exotic vehicles such as the Cybertruck to rent.Turo was called RelayRides when it was founded in 2009 by Shelby Clark, an entrepreneur and investor. The company changed its name to Turo in 2015 as it began to focus on longer-term rentals over quick trips. That year it was included on Forbes' list of "hottest on-demand startups," with a valuation of $311 million.It's now the largest car-sharing app in the US, ahead of competitors such as Getaround and Car Shair. Turo had 360,000 cars listed on its platform at the end of 2023, and about 3.7 million bookings were made that year, according to a March 2024 filing. It is available in Canada, France, the UK and Australia as well as the US.Turo says it aims to put the world's 1.5 billion vehicles to better use and aspires to "fundamentally change car ownership," per its website."The goal for us is to continue to grow the business as fast as possible for the next many many years," Andre Haddad, CEO of Turo, told CNBC in September. Andre Haddad has been CEO of Turo since 2011. Lea Suzuki/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images Haddad is a former eBay executive who was born in Lebanon. His company bio states that he helped grow eBay revenue from $750 million to $11.7 billion, before joining Turo as CEO in 2011.Turo reported nearly $880 million in revenue in 2023, up 18% year-on-year. It posted $14.7 million in profits, down from $154.7 million in 2022. Losses and high costs are common for fast-growing tech companies, especially those that are not yet public.Turo has close to 1,000 employees and was valued at $1.5 billion in 2020, per PitchBook. The company registered for an IPO in 2021 but has not yet gone public.In September, Turo announced a partnership with Uber that will give users access to Turo rentals on the Uber app."By joining forces with Uber, Turo is well positioned to penetrate a massive $150B-plus total addressable market," Andro Vrdoljak, Turo's business and corporate development VP, said in a press release.How Turo vets usersTo book a car on Turo, users need to set up an account with their email, phone number, credit card and driver's license.In most cases, approval is instant but can take up to 48 hours if additional information, such as an insurance score or criminal background check is needed, according to the company's website. "Every Turo renter is screened through a proprietary multi-layer, data-science-based trust and safety process. We utilize over 50 internal and external data sources to build, maintain, and improve on our best-in-class Turo Risk Score," a Turo spokesperson told Business Insider.The men involved in both incidents had valid driver's licenses and clean background checks, they added. After 12 years of operation and 27 million trips booked, fewer than 0.1% of Turo rentals ended with a serious incident such as vehicle theft, the spokesperson said.The company was working with law enforcement to support investigations into both incidents.Employees from Turo's trust and safety team have interrupted vacations and returned to work to help monitor and respond to the aftermath of the incidents, Bloomberg reported.In the March 2024 filing, Turo said that it has no control over or ability to predict the actions of car renters, who it calls guests."We cannot conclusively verify the identity of all guests, nor do we verify or screen third parties who may be present during a trip using a vehicle booked through our platform," Turo stated. "Our trust and safety processes focus primarily on guests to reduce the risk of vehicle theft and motor vehicle accidents."CybertrucksMost major car rental companies don't offer Cybertrucks, so drivers who want to try one out but aren't willing to shell out nearly $100,000 to buy one have turned to platforms like Turo.Last January, about a month after Tesla's launch event for the Cybertruck, some owners were already listing their vehicles on Turo for about $1,000 per day.Some Turo hosts bought Cybertrucks specifically to rent them out to those curious about the model, InsideEVs reported in August.Rental rates appear to have come down since then. On Thursday, for instance, Business Insider saw the option on Turo's website to book a Cybertruck for $174 a day in the Washington, DC area.In November, Tesla started offering leases for Cybertrucks. A three-year lease runs $1,249 a month.Tesla first unveiled the Cybertruck in 2019, though production didn't start until 2023. The model has attracted attention from renters and buyers for its distinct shape, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk has billed the Cybertruck as tough enough to survive an apocalypse.In the past year, Tesla has issued six recalls for the model, the latest of which warned that the Cybertruck could lose drive power.What's your experience hosting or renting with Turo? Contact these reporters at pthompson@businessinsider.com and abitter@businessinsider.com

In architectural design, materials convey narratives, shaping how spaces are perceived and experienced. Weathering steel, often known by its genericized trademark name, Corten steel, stands out for its ability to evolve, transforming into a medium that tells its own story. It represents a group of steel alloys that form a stable external layer of rust that replaces the need for paint to protect the steel while allowing it to develop in time. Its weathered patina serves as more than a functional shield; it becomes an aesthetic language, a testament to the interplay between architecture and nature. This ever-changing surface bridges the ephemeral and the enduring, offering architects a material that grows richer with age.

In this tutorial, I'll show you how to master the use of Constraints in Unreal Engine 5.5's Sequencer to create dynamic and seamless animations. Using the example of a robotic concert scene, we'll animate a microphone transitioning between the right and left hands of a vocalist robot during a performance. This workflow involves working with Parent Constraints, keyframing transitions, and fixing rotation/translation issues using the Curve Editor.Constraints are a powerful tool for creating realistic animations with complex interactions, and I'll guide you step-by-step through the process, explaining tips and solutions for common issues you may encounter. Download the Robot Assets: https://www.fab.com/listings/69240f43-d821-4d4c-b5bd-e51eb28cac5c Scene Columns: https://www.artstation.com/pikakostudio Stay tuned for more Unreal Engine tips and tricks, and don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe if you found this video helpful!

Project Files: https://www.patreon.com/posts/119204142 .Today I am going to start implementing a top down shooter game mode using the ShootLikeMe third person shooter template I have implemented. In the first part of this series, I will focus on implementing how to setup the player controller and the camera manager to support the top down view. And how to give movement inputs to the character that matches with the top down viewpoint. Here, we will add the top down game mode without breaking anything that we implemented for the third person game mode. So, you can use two modes interchangeably without any issue. CodeLikeMe Third-Person shooter series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNTm9yU0zou4HL7SAyIQoCqJRJ5QeQAl8 // ! https://www.patreon.com/codelikeme Patrons will have access to project files of all the stuff I do in the channel and other extra benefitsJoin this channel to get access to perks:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClb6Jh9EBV7a_Nm52Ipll_Q/join Like my facebook page for more content : https://www.facebook.com/gamedevelopersclub/ Follow me on twitter : https://twitter.com/CodeLikeMe2 Follow me on reddit : https://www.reddit.com/user/codelikeme #CodeLikeMe #unrealengine #ue5 #indiegamedev

A dedicated Minecraft player has spent a year and a half building what they describe as a "beginner house," but despite the simple design, this gigantic structure is much more than just a beginner house. While Minecraft is now well over a decade old, the popular sandbox game has endless possibilities that have kept it as one of the most well-loved titles in existence, with players continuing to come up with unique and mind-blowing builds daily.

The Rising of the Shield Hero is one of the most popular anime in recent anime seasons. It brings fans into the unfortunate story of Naofumi and how he goes from hopeful hero to disillusioned renegade. After being summoned to another world along with three other individuals, Naofumi is regarded as the great Shield Hero. Unfortunately, this gives him nothing but regret as he is framed, manipulated, and banished in the course of one night.

Gaming has moved well beyond its humble origins of titles where the sole purpose is to gain 'points' for some kind of vague purpose. Now, people play video games to immerse themselves in an entirely new world, to test their reflexes to the limit, or, simply put, to relax. Genres like the farming sim, from classic titles on the N64 to the monolithic wake of Stardew Valley and the post-pandemic rise of the cozy farmer genre have shown there's an ever-growing place on the shelves for titles that take a slower pace.

Apple is kicking off 2025 with a new wave of updates to Apple Fitness+. This time, the company is not only adding new content to the services yoga, strength training, and meditation programs, but also offering a new integration with another popular fitness app: Strava.If theres any problem with Fitness+s offerings up until this point, its that they primarily cater to beginners. Yoga Peak Poses could be one way that changes. Apple is adding yoga retreat-inspired workshops focused on specific, challenging yoga poses like Dancer or Crow. For each pose, theres a 10-minute prep flow to warm users up, Apple says, followed by a corresponding 10-minute practice session. You can use the workshop to build on your skills and hopefully end up pulling off a tricky pose in the process.If strength training is more your speed, Fitness+ is also getting a new three week-long progressive strength training program Apple has dubbed Three Perfect Weeks of Strength. The program is spread across a dozen 30-minute workouts, with the first week focused on "Progressive Overload," the second on "Time Under Tension," and the third on "Dynamic Power." Apple says its designed the program to be repeatable so you can run through it again with different weights as you grow stronger. Don't expect it to be as in-depth as Pelotons new strength training app, but its nice to have more options.AppleOne of the more interesting new additions in this update is how Fitness+ will integrate with Strava. When you share a Fitness+ workout to Strava, the app will now display things like the Fitness+ workout you performed or trainer who led it, on top of your normal health metrics. Apple is offering Strava subscribers up to three months of Fitness+ at no additional costs in a savvy bit of cross-promotion, too.Alongside these new additions is a grab bag of other new features, like an Intro to Breath Meditation class, a selection of workouts designed around training for pickleball, a new slate of Apple's celebrity-led Time to Walk audio stories, and workout playlists focused on Janet Jackson (on January 13), Coldplay (on January 20), Bruno Mars (on January 27) and Kendrick Lamar (on February 3).This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/apple-fitness-gets-strava-integration-and-new-workouts-120013064.html?src=rss