Source: SPPARCSource: SPPARCSource: SPPARCSource: SPPARCSource: SPPARCSource: SPPARCSource: SPPARC1/7show captionSPPARC has completed the restoration and redevelopment of Greycoat Stores, a former Army & Navy Cooperative Society warehouse in Westminster, into a seven-storey workspace, with a ground floor restaurant unit.Originally built in the 1890s and designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield, the warehouse was one of several facilities commissioned by the Army & Navy Cooperative Society to supply goods to military families. It was converted into offices in the 1950s, during which its original Victorian street elevation was obscured by cement rendering.The project, located at 10 Greycoat Place, includes a reimagined primary street elevation, inspired by the original Victorian faade and two new penthouse floors. The building totals 90,000 sq ft, with 5,000 sq ft of leisure and retail at lower ground in addition to the 4,000 sq ft restaurant unit.Trevor Morriss, Principal at SPPARC, said: This former warehouse has sat as a shadow of its former self for over six decades, with restoration works in the 1950s stripping it of its historic visual relationship to wider Westminster Our sensitive, yet ambitious restoration will allow Greycoat Stores to stand as a focal point on this important Westminster junction once again.Source: SPPARCSource: SPPARCSource: SPPARCSource: SPPARCSource: SPPARCSource: SPPARCSource: SPPARCSource: SPPARCSource: SPPARCSource: SPPARC1/10show captionThe new faade, inspired by the original red brick design, includes double-height oval windows with bronze frames and a zinc and glass roof extension housing the two floors of penthouse workspaces. Internally, exposed steel beams and brickwork are intended to emphasise the warehouses industrial past.The redevelopment retained over 80% of the buildings original materials, including its primary steel and brickwork structure. According to the architect, the project achieved a 50% reduction in carbon emissions compared to a new-build alternative and has been certified BREEAM Excellent and WiredScore Platinum.>Also read:SPPARC adds hive-like extension to Fitzrovia townhouseSource: SPPARCSource: SPPARCSource: SPPARCSource: SPPARCSource: SPPARCSource: SPPARC1/6show captionProject detailsGross internal floor area: 10,229m / 110,105ftGross (internal + external) floor area: 11,084m / 119,308ftForm of contract or procurement route: Design and BuildArchitect: SPPARCExecutive architect: VeretecClient: LaSalle Investment ManagementStructural engineer: MNPM&E consultant: NDYQS: QuantemFaade consultant: EOCPlanning consultant: Brunel PlanningHeritage consultant: The Heritage PracticeLandscape consultant: Peak EcologyAcoustic consultant: VentaProject manager: Meridian Project ManagementCDM co-ordinator: Baynham MeikleApproved building inspector: SocotecMain contractor: BHCLCAD software used: Revit

Looking forthe most recentMini Crossword answer?Click here for today's Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands and Connections puzzles.I'm a pop-culture junkie, and co-wrote two books about the lost toys, tastes and trends of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. So 1 Across and 5 Across, pop-culture clues smack out of those times, were easy for me. I admit though, I struggled with 7 Across. The puzzle writers threw in a red herring there, making us think the clue referred to college degrees, not the 50, nifty United States. That's a hint, of course.Need some more help with today's Mini Crossword? Read on. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.The Mini Crossword is just one of many games in the Times' games collection. If you're looking for today's Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visitCNET's NYT puzzle hints page.Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini CrosswordLet's get at those Mini Crossword clues and answers. The completed NYT Mini Crossword puzzle for Jan. 8, 2025. NYT/Screenshot by CNETMini across clues and answers1A clue: Word on the front door of the Midvale School for the Gifted, in a famous "Far Side" cartoonAnswer: PULL5A clue: Classic TV squad featuring B.A., Faceman, Hannibal and MurdockAnswer: ATEAM7A clue: MA or MS, but not BA or BSAnswer: STATE8A clue: Like the letter J, alphabeticallyAnswer: TENTH9A clue: Butt, to BritsAnswer: ARSEMini down clues and answers1D clue: Food you might cook al denteAnswer: PASTA2D clue: DownrightAnswer: UTTER3D clue: What the Tower of Pisa doesAnswer: LEANS4D clue: Milky coffee orderAnswer: LATTE6D clue: "I've seen better"Answer: MEHHow to play more Mini CrosswordsThe New York Times Games section offers a large number of online games, but only some of them are free for all to play. You can play the current day's Mini Crossword for free, but you'll need a subscription to the Times Games section to play older puzzles from the archives.

Looking forthe most recentMini Crossword answer?Click here for today's Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands and Connections puzzles.So the very first clue today tripped me up. Do ... other people know what Man in Business Suit Levitating is? I had no idea. A Salvador Dal painting? A Wes Anderson movie? An obscure novel translated from the French? Anyway, I know NOW. But it sure slowed me down today. Need some help with today's Mini Crossword? Read on. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.The Mini Crossword is just one of many games in the Times' games collection. If you're looking for today's Wordle, Connections and Strands answers, you can visitCNET's NYT puzzle hints page.Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini CrosswordLet's get at those Mini Crossword clues and answers. The completed NYT Mini Crossword puzzle for Jan. 7, 2025. NYT/Screenshot by CNETMini across clues and answers1A clue: Man in Business Suit Levitating, for oneAnswer: EMOJI6A clue: Took a napAnswer: DOZED7A clue: Flying soloAnswer: ALONE8A clue: Graphic novel style for "One Piece," the best-selling of its kindAnswer: MANGA9A clue: GenuineAnswer: REALMini down clues and answers1D clue: Dutch cheese that's "made backward," per a jokeAnswer: EDAM2D clue: Grinding toothAnswer: MOLAR3D clue: Gas made of three oxygen atomsAnswer: OZONE4D clue: Game that might end if you accidentally bump the tableAnswer: JENGA5D clue: Like the best-case scenarioAnswer: IDEALHow to play more Mini CrosswordsThe New York Times Games section offers a large number of online games, but only some of them are free for all to play. You can play the current day's Mini Crossword for free, but you'll need a subscription to the Times Games section to play older puzzles from the archives.

The Heritage Foundation, a prominent conservative think tank, plans to identify and target Wikipedia editors who it believes are engaged in antisemitism, according to documents obtained by the Forward. Photo by Getty ImagesBy Arno RosenfeldJanuary 7, 2025The Heritage Foundation plans to identify and target volunteer editors on Wikipedia who it says are abusing their position by publishing content the group believes to be antisemitic, according to documents obtained by the Forward.Employees of Heritage, the conservative think tank that produced the Project 2025 policy blueprint for the second Trump administration, said they plan to use facial recognition software and a database of hacked usernames and passwords in order to identify contributors to the online encyclopedia, who mostly work under pseudonyms. Its not clear exactly what kind of antisemitism the Wikipedia effort, which has not been previously reported, is intended to address. But in recent months some Jewish groups have complained about a series of changes on the website relating to Israel, the war in Gaza and its repercussions.RelatedIn June, a panel of Wikipedia editors declared the Anti-Defamation League a generally unreliable source of information about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, limiting when the organization can be cited in Wikipedia articles. And there was an outcry this fall among some Jewish scholars and pro-Israel activists over edits to Wikipedias entry for Zionism to add references to colonization.Forwarding the NewsThoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day. Wikipedia has also recently drawn ire from right-wing figures including Elon Musk, the billionaire who has been by President-elect Trumps side during much of the transition. Musk posted on X (formerly Twitter) in December: Stop donating to Wokepedia.Graphic by Heritage FoundationA Heritage Foundation spokesperson said she was not able to answer questions about the organizations work related to Wikipedia, which editors it was seeking to identify or how it sought to target them. The Wikimedia Foundation, which provides the infrastructure for Wikipedia, declined to comment.The Heritage Foundation sent the pitch deck outlining the Wikipedia initiative to Jewish foundations and other prospective supporters of Project Esther, its roadmap for fighting antisemitism and anti-Zionism. The slideshow says the groups targeting methodologies would include creating fake Wikipedia user accounts to try to trick editors into identifying themselves by sharing personal information or clicking on malicious tracking links that can identify people who click on them. It is unclear whether this has begun.Tamzin Hadasa Kelly, a prolific Wikipedia editor, said that the methods mentioned in the Heritage document were familiar, and that Wikipedia editors know that it can be difficult to maintain their anonymity.Its scary they want to do this, but its not a zero day, Kelly said in an interview, referring to the hacking methods that the intended victim is unaware of before they occur.Allegations of biasWikipedia has long faced claims from conservatives that it has a liberal bias. Chaya Raichik, the Orthodox former real estate broker behind Libs of TikTok, has assailed Wikimedias spending on diversity programming, for example. And a June study from the right-leaning Manhattan Institute found a mild to moderate tendency for Wikipedia to more negatively describe some conservative public figures.Several prominent Jewish groups have also expressed concern that Wikipedia is tilted against Israel. A World Jewish Congress has released a report in March said the sites articles about the Israel-Hamas war were biased in terminology, framing and lack of context, one-sided sources and critical omissions, while Aish.com, an Orthodox news website, said in November that it had been hijacked by digital jihadists.In May, the Los Angeles Jewish Journal ran a cover story titled Wokepedia? that described seven tactics Wikipedia editors used to spread anti-Israel bias. The article said that the term anti-imperialism had been added to the Hamas page as one of the Palestinian terror groups ideologies, and the term antisemitism removed. Neither term is currently on the Hamas page; editors frequently discuss and change the content of controversial articles.(Wikipedia has an entire entry on the back-and-forth between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian editors of the encyclopedia that it says began in earnest around 2006.)Campaign would be unusualThe Heritage Foundation told prospective donors the project would be led in part by Tom Olohon, a former FBI agent, and noted that he had won a SHIELD award from the ADL in 2015.The ADL did not respond to a request for comment about Wikipedia, the Heritage Foundation project, or the groups mention of its award in fundraising efforts. After Wikipedia declared it an unreliable source on Israel and Zionism in June, ADL rallied more than 40 Jewish groups to oppose the sites decision and stated that Wikipedia is stripping the Jewish community of the right to defend itself.The appeal was directed to the Wikimedia Foundation, which said that it does not interfere in decisions made by Wikipedias volunteer editors.Molly White, a software engineer and longtime contributor to Wikipedia, has criticized the rights war on Wikipedia. Photo by Getty ImagesThe ADL had faced backlash in 2021 after several of its staff members were found to be editing Wikipedia entries on domestic extremism to add information about the organizations research. The sites rules generally discourage editing aimed at promoting an organization the editor works for, but an ADL spokesperson said at the time that its employees had followed the rules by disclosing that they worked for the group.Doxxing, or unmasking the identity of anonymous editors in Wikipedia, violates the sites rules and can result in users being banned, according to the sites guidelines. Kelly, who has been a volunteer editor on the site since 2012 with a focus that includes sexuality and religion, and serves as an administrator, said that in the past, such problems have usually been rooted in interpersonal conflicts or ad hoc online campaignsA well-funded campaign against individual Wikipedia editors by an organization like the Heritage Foundation, which is one of the most prominent conservative think tanks in the country, it seems, would be a first.Molly White, an independent journalist and Wikipedia contributor who wrote an article last week describing the rights war on Wikipedia, said Heritages plan to target editors was concerning: The document is sort of vague about what they would do once they ID a person, she noted, but the things that come to mind are not great.RelatedArno Rosenfeld is an investigative reporter at the Forward covering issues including antisemitism, philanthropy and sexual misconduct. You can reach him at [emailprotected] or message him securely on Signal using a non-work device at 202-677-5462.A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman FeddersenI hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, Id like to ask you to please support the Forwards award-winning, nonprofit journalism so that we can be prepared for whatever news 2025 brings.At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community. Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEOWith your support, well be ready for whatever 2025 brings.$36$500

Update: Here's a closer look at the prototype.The current Lenovo Legion GoA new leak has revealed Lenovo is seemingly following up its 'Legion Go' handheld gaming device with a "larger" model and it will once again take all sorts of design cues from Nintendo's hybrid system.Read the full article on nintendolife.com

8th January at 9:30 am DubaiVC investments in emerging markets such as the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) plummeted by over 40% compared to 2023, according to a new report. The data mirrors the wider global trend of reduced VC funding in the last two years, especially for non-AI companies.The total raised across the markets surveyed was $9.1 billion in 2024, a 41% decline year-on-year (YoY). Furthermore, there was a 20% drop in deal activity YoY, with the number of deals falling to 1,527. However, there may soon be signs of recovery as interest rates decline globally, bringing with it lower inflation, while early-stage investing showed resilience.The trends are outlined in the 2024 Venture Investment Report from MENA-based research group MAGNiTT. The report covers Aggregate Emerging Venture Markets (EVMs), looking at VC investments in the Middle East, Africa, Southeast Asia, Trkiye, and Pakistan.In the MENA region, startups raised $1.9 billion in 2024, a 29% decline annually, but this was a small decline when set against that seen in Southeast Asia (45%) and Africa (44%).Plus, funding levels in 2024 were still higher than 2020 levels, prior to the 2021 and 2022 boom years, meaning the region continues to grow in the venture space.There was a 7% YoY increase in deal count (571) and the number of investors increased by 18% (to 475).And 47% of all investments were in the $1-5M range, signaling a shift to early-stage investments. However, MENA experienced a significant decline in late-stage deals.Across MENA, Africa, Southeast Asia, Trkiye, and Pakistan, Fintech continues to put in a strong showing, raking in $3.9 billion in funding in 2024, reflecting that FinTech is doing well in emerging markets where more developed financial services are thin on the ground.The report noted that this presents an opportunity for M&A activity across geographies within the region.There was a predictable split where international investors focused more on late-stage deals, such as Insiders $500M round and Tymes $250M Series D. These kinds of investors made up 53% of the 475 investors that backed startups in the region. Meanwhile, local investors tended to stick to early-stage.This is all in the context of global exits dipping by 32% YoY to just 94 in 2024, and late-stage capital becoming harder to come by as public markets stayed closed.Philip Bahoshy, CEO at MAGNiTT, commented in a statement: We anticipate rate cuts to begin boosting capital availability within the next 6-9 months, paving the way for a stronger funding environment in 2025. He said that overall, 2024 was probably the bottom of the curve in terms of the funding downturn.He added that the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar saw increased deal activity year on year despite a slowdown in total capital deployment. The total number of investors also increased significantly in MENA, showing that investors, especially international ones, may have increasing confidence in the regions startups.Topics

The horizontal floor plane carpeted or smooth, wipe-clean or impossible to tidy shapes the life lived aboveI start from the floor. Everything sits ontop of it; it is the surface I am most often in contact with. The floor is key to the pleasure of the room. I am following my sevenmonthold daughter in my enthusiasm for flooring. She has led me to pay more attention to the ground. It is her domain, her knees and hands gripping and sliding as she makes her way across thefloor she is a connoisseur of friction.As soon as she started becoming more ambitious in her movement, we bought a big padded mat. At first it felt uncanny having asoft floor covering on top of the familiar floorboards. I had not expected the mat to take up so much space. Too big to roll away, we now share the cushioning with her. But Ihave come to like it; sometimes I wonder how long I will be able to keep it on the floor, surely not forever. But the soft surface is so generous, so kind to the soles of my feet.The actress Jayne Mansfield carpeted not only the floor of the pink bathroom in her Los Angeles mansion, but also the walls and ceilingCredit:Allan Grant / The LIFE Picture Collection / ShutterstockIt makes me think of deeppile carpets, like the ones in my neighbours house when Iwas a child. But then I was nervous about the impossibly thick shag. I understood from my friend that his mother was very protective of them. The carpets were pale throughout the house, with different colours indifferent places. In the hallways and onthe staircase, they were pale pink, inother rooms an offwhite. The thickest carpet was reserved for rooms we were not allowed to play in: the parents bedroom andthe sitting room. My nervousness about somehow damaging this carpet has made deeppile carpet feel almost embarrassing, perhaps also because of how sensuous it felt in contrast to the floors inthe house we lived in: tired vinyl, paintspattered bricks, wornout cork and motheaten carpet.I like carpet, but I am not sure I am clean enough for itI like carpet, but I am not sure I am clean enough for it. At the height of 90s deep pile, I was at primary school, and a favourite book was Terry Pratchetts The Carpet People, which imagined an entire society living in the forests and detritus of the furnished floor. This is the advantage of the babys mat it is wipe-clean. The mother of an exgirlfriend had a bathroom with carpet in it, and the carpet was covered by further rugs and mats in a sort of patchwork arrangement. It felt good on my feet to step out of the bath and onto that floor and feel itmould to my soles. It was fun to walk across from one mat to another like a sort ofunstitched quilt laid out on the floor, waiting to be patched together.Nothing can be too soft for my daughter. Ifeel strongly that she must be protected at all costs. But hard surfaces are her current preference. I am writing this from an apartment with hardwood floors: narrow chestnutcoloured strips of wood tightly arranged in parallel strips. A simple parquet design. It has just the right combination offriction and grip to allow her to crawl rapidly across it. Her bare feet get just the right traction she needs to slide herself along. She polishes it as she goes. I think mostly I have lived with wooden floors, but this floor is altogether different from those. Instead of dark whorls, gaps between planks and the occasional exposed nail, this floor lies perfectly flat.In Carpet Furniture (1993) by artist Andrea Zittel, the furniture of daily life is abstracted into two-dimensional CAD block-style plans, projected onto moveable rugsCredit: Andrea Zittel. Courtesy the ArtistI like the perfection of a smooth floor and admire the madness of geometric perfection. In the obsessive house that the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein helped to design forhis sister in Vienna, he insisted on millimetre perfection, driving architects andbuilders to distraction with his total conviction. The floors of the house are madewithout skirting boards and the floors and walls meet in perfect perpendicular agreement. The floor is also used to disguise the window coverings metal shutters are lowered into the floor with a complex system of pulleys. His sister said it was more of ahouse for gods than it was for humans.Rugs can be laid on top of smooth floors, adorned with abstract shapes like the ones that Anni Albers designed. There is a beautiful design from 1928 for a small rug for a childs room. Reds, greys, yellows and pinks alternate in rotating arrangements ina chequerboard pattern that gives the impression of also being striped because ofthe shifting colours. Or the 1958 Drawing fora Nylon Rug, which takes a more sinuous form with a red striped rope appearing to tie itself into one endless knot on a blue background. Rugs are good because you canuse them to cover things up, and you canbeat them outside to get rid of some ofthe carpet people.It is good to have a floor that you can sweep. Parquet floors reveal the shame of anuntidy life, the dust and detritus of your day picked out by sunlight. Not just dead skin and bits of grit brought in on your shoes or shed from your head, but also the little objects that I constantly leave behind: receipts, pennies, the plastic cover of a straw from a juice carton, a piece of hair. Itis easy to see on a hard and smooth floor. A more decorative floor would hide the dirt.The asrotos ikos, or unswept floor, was a type of mosaic that decorated the floors of some ancient Greek and Roman dining rooms, depicting the detritus of a banquet.Credit:Dmitriy Moroz / AlamyIn ancient Rome there was a fashion for mosaics which depicted some of the things that might be left on the floor after a banquet. The motif was referred to with theancient Greek words for unswept floor: asrotos ikos. The best example is in the Vatican Museum, covered in grape stalks, crab legs, animal bones and even a walnut being eaten by a mouse. That would work well for me on my floor, but with receipts, weeksold bits of newspaper, pens, baby toys and tons of dust instead. What heaven to have a floor which is impossible to tidy.On top of the smooth mosaic, depicting allthe detritus of a day, I would like rugs arranged in a sort of patchwork, sometimes piled on top of one another. Some soft, others rougher on my bare feet. And the baby and I will make it our entire world as we crawl across it, knocking over toys and building elaborate train tracks. A perfect plane. I think the floor will be enough.Explore the good rooms series, a collection of domestic spaces made, imagined or described by architects, curators and writersLead image: The parquet planks of London Plain, a 2020 installation by Olu Ogunnaike, were gradually removed by visitors during the course of the exhibition2025-01-08Reuben J BrownShare AR December 2024/January 2025Good rooms + AR HouseBuy Now

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