Looking for help with today's NYT Mini Crossword puzzle? Here are some hints and answers for the ... [+] puzzle.Credit: NYTIn case you missed Tuesdays NYT Mini Crossword puzzle, you can find the answers here:Welcome back, crosswordians! Its another lovely winter Wednesday and we have a crossword puzzle to solve, so lets get right to it!The NYT Mini is a smaller, quicker, more digestible, bite-sized version of the larger and more challenging NYT Crossword, and unlike its larger sibling, its free-to-play without a subscription to The New York Times. You can play it on the web or the app, though youll need the app to tackle the archive.Answers to todays Mini Crossword below . . . .Spoilers ahead!MORE FOR YOUACROSS1- Material made by melting sand GLASS6- It's to your left when facing the sunrise NORTH7- One in a cast ACTOR8- Say "This isn't fair!," say ACTOR9- Look for SEEKDOWN1- Chew like a beaver GNAW2- Scottish bodies of water LOCHS3- "The Sopranos" restauranteur ARTIE4- Object slid across a curling rink STONE5- He tells Donkey "Ogres are like onions" SHREKToday's MiniScreenshot: Erik KainThis was a bit of a tricky Mini, though I pretty quickly got the first couple of ACROSS wordsGLASS and NORTH. I guessed WHINE next and then went for some DOWNs. SHREK was simply enough, and from here everything fell into place...in 1:14.How did you do? Let me know on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook.If you also play Wordle, I write guides about that as well. You can find those and all my TV guides, reviews and much more here on my blog. Thanks for reading!

President Donald Trump, accompanied by (L-R) Oracle CTO Larry Ellison, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, speaks during a news conference at the White House in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 21, 2025.Andrew HarnikGetty ImagesBy Josh Boak and Zeke Miller / APJanuary 21, 2025 10:40 PM ESTWASHINGTON President Donald Trump on Tuesday talked up a joint venture investing up to $500 billion for infrastructure tied to artificial intelligence by a new partnership formed by OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank.The new entity, Stargate, will start building out data centers and the electricity generation needed for the further development of the fast-evolving AI in Texas, according to the White House. The initial investment is expected to be $100 billion and could reach five times that sum.Its big money and high quality people, said Trump, adding that its a resounding declaration of confidence in Americas potential under his new administration.Joining Trump fresh off his inauguration at the White House were Masayoshi Son of SoftBank, Sam Altman of OpenAI and Larry Ellison of Oracle. All three credited Trump for helping to make the project possible, even though building has already started and the project goes back to 2024.This will be the most important project of this era, said Altman, CEO of OpenAI.Ellison noted that the data centers are already under construction with 10 being built so far. The chairman of Oracle suggested that the project was also tied to digital health records and would make it easier to treat diseases such as cancer by possibly developing a customized vaccine.This is the beginning of golden age, said Son, referencing Trump's statement that the U.S. would be in a golden age with him back in the White House.Son, a billionaire based in Japan, already committed in December to invest $100 billion in U.S. projects over the next four years. He previously committed to $50 billion in new investments ahead of Trump's first term, which included a large stake in the troubled office-sharing company WeWork.While Trump has seized on similar announcements to show that his presidency is boosting the economy, there were already expectations of a massive buildout in data centers and electricity plants needed for the development of AI, which holds the promise of increasing productivity by automating work but also the risk of displacing jobs if poorly implemented.Read More: 5 Predictions for AI in 2025The initial plans for Stargate go back to the Biden administration. Tech news outlet The Information first reported on the project in March 2024. OpenAI has long relied on Microsoft data centers to build its AI systems, but it has increasingly signaled an interest in building its own data centers.OpenAI wrote in a letter to the Biden administrations Commerce Department last fall that planning and permitting for such projects can be lengthy and complex, particularly for energy infrastructure.Other partners in the project include Microsoft, investor MGX and the chipmakers Arm and NVIDIA, according to separate statements by Oracle and OpenAI.The push to build data centers predates Trump's presidency. Last October, thefinancial company Blackstoneestimated that the U.S. would see $1 trillion invested in data centers over five years, with another $1 trillion being committed internationally.Those estimates for investments suggest that much of the new capital will go through Stargate as OpenAI has established itself as a sector leader with the 2022 launch of its ChatGPT, a chatbot that captivated the public imagination with its ability to answer complex questions and perform basic business tasks.The White House has put an emphasis on making it easier to build out new electricity generation in anticipation of AIs expansion, knowing that the United States is in a competitive race against China to develop a technology increasingly being adopted by businesses.Still, the regulatory outlook for AI remains somewhat uncertain as Trump on Monday overturned the 2023 order signed by then-President Joe Biden to create safety standards and watermarking of AI-generated content, among other goals, in hopes of putting guardrails on the technologys possible risks to national security and economic well-being.CBS News first reported that Trump would be announcing the AI investment.Trump supporter Elon Musk, worth more than $400 billion, was an early investor in OpenAI but has since challenged its move to for-profit status and has started his own AI company, xAI. Musk is also in charge of the Department of Government Efficiency created formally on Monday by Trump with the goal of reducing government spending.Trump previously in January announced a $20 billion investment by DAMAC Properties in the United Arab Emirates to build data centers tied to AI.AP reporter Matt O'Brien contributed to this report from Providence, Rhode Island.More Must-Reads from TIMEL.A. Fires Show Reality of 1.5C of WarmingHome Losses From L.A. Fires Hasten An Uninsurable FutureThe Women Refusing to Participate in Trumps EconomyBad Bunny On Heartbreak and New AlbumHow to Dress Warmly for Cold WeatherWere Lucky to Have Been Alive in the Age of David LynchThe Motivational Trick That Makes You Exercise HarderColumn: No One Won The War in GazaContact us at letters@time.com

Planets outside our solar system can be wild, weird places. Astronomers have discovered exoplanets shaped like a rugby ball, or where it rains gems, or which have one hemisphere covered in lava. And now theres a new oddity to add to the catalog: a planet with winds that are faster than the speed of sound.WASP-127b is a huge, puffy sphere which is one of the least dense planets ever discovered. It is larger than Jupiter, but has less than a fifth of Jupiters mass, making it unlike anything in our solar system. And its oddity has made it a favorite target for study, with astronomers observing clouds there in 2022, making it one of the few detections of clouds on a planet outside our solar system.Recommended VideosNow, astronomers have gone back to study the planet again using the European Southern Observatorys Very Large Telescope (ESOs VLT), and they observed winds reaching incredible speeds of up to 20,000 mph. For reference, the fastest winds ever observed in our solar system are on Neptune, and had a speed of 1,120 mph nowhere even close to these speeds.Please enable Javascript to view this contentThe astronomers were able to identify these extreme winds by looking at the movement of the planets atmosphere. Part of the atmosphere of this planet is moving towards us at a high velocity while another part is moving away from us at the same speed, explained lead researcher Lisa Nortmann of the University of Gttingen, Germany. This signal shows us that there is a very fast, supersonic, jet wind around the planets equator.The winds move far faster than the planet is rotating, at six times the speed, which has not been seen before and which creates a jetstream whipping around the planet. The extreme nature of the weather on this planet may be because researchers think that it is tidally locked, meaning one side of the planet always faces its star, while the other side always faces out into space. One side of the planet therefore gets hotter than the other, and the temperature difference between these two hemispheres may contribute to the very high winds which flow around the planet.However, the researchers also discovered another noteworthy feature about the planet it has poles which are cooler than the rest of the planet. This shows that the planet has complex weather patterns just like Earth and other planets of our own System, said fellow researcher Fei Yan of the University of Science and Technology of China.In the future, the researchers want to use instruments like the upcoming Extremely Large Telescope to study the planets weather in even greater detail. This means that we can likely resolve even finer details of the wind patterns and expand this research to smaller, rocky planets, said Nortmann.The research is published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.Editors Recommendations

President Donald Trump said he would be open to Elon Musk or Larry Ellison buying TikTok.Trump previously floated a joint venture, saying that the US should own half of the app.Trump has signed an executive order that gives TikTok another 75 days to figure out a new game plan.A day after his inauguration, President Donald Trump said he'd be on board with Tesla CEO Elon Musk or Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison buying TikTok.In a Tuesday press briefing announcing a $500 billion artificial intelligence joint venture with Oracle, Trump said he was open to the idea of Ellison or Musk buying TikTok.When asked by a reporter if he would be open to Musk buying the app, he said, "I would be, if he wanted to buy it, yes.""I'd like Larry to buy it, too," he added.While Musk has not directly expressed interest in buying TikTok, he said on X on Sunday that he has "been against a TikTok ban for a long time" because it "goes against freedom of speech."A handful of big-name investors have shown interest in buying the app. "Shark Tank" investor Kevin O'Leary has said that he, in collaboration with former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt, would be interested in purchasing the app.YouTuber MrBeast also said in an X post on January 13, "Okay fine, I'll buy Tik Tok so it doesn't get banned." Bloomberg reported on Tuesday that the YouTuber was joining a group of investors led by tech entrepreneur Jesse Tinsley, who have expressed interest in buying the app.But in 2024, ByteDance, TikTok's Chinese owner, said it would rather shut down TikTok in the US than sell it.For now, TikTok's fate in the US hangs in the balance after the Supreme Court on Friday upheld the divest-or-ban law. This law requires ByteDance to divest from the platform in the US, or stop operating in the country.TikTok went dark for its 170 million US users on Saturday. But hours later, its operations were restored.Shortly after his inauguration, Trump signed an executive order to pause the ban, which gives TikTok another 75 days to figure out a game plan.Trump also suggested on Monday that the US should own half of TikTok."So I think, like a joint venture, I think we would have a joint venture with the people from TikTok. We'll see what happens," Trump added, without specifying who he wanted to have as TikTok's US partner.Trump's order to delay the TikTok ban has prompted some opposition from within the GOP.Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas who sits on the and Sen. Pete Ricketts of Nebraska wrote in a joint statement on Sunday that there is "no legal basis" for TikTok to get an extension.In the statement, the senators also lauded"President Trump said he signed the executive order to 'make a deal to protect our national security,'" Ian Swanson, Ricketts' press secretary, told BI."Senator Ricketts agrees that protecting our national security is paramount and that can only be done by ridding TikTok of all ties with Communist China," Swanson added.Representatives for Musk, Oracle, and Trump did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider, sent outside regular business hours.

Ukrainian paratroopers said a North Korean soldier they captured ran into a pillar to knock himself out.They said they found him alone on the battlefield with a grenade, a knife, and some food.Their prisoner closely resembles one of the two North Koreans Ukraine said it captured.Ukrainian paratroopers in Kursk said they captured a North Korean soldier who tried so hard to evade capture that he intentionally ran into a concrete pillar to knock himself out.Three members of the 95th Separate Air Assault Polissia Brigade spoke of the encounter in a video published on Tuesday, describing how one of their drones found a lone North Korean on the battlefield after an assault had ended.The clip was published by the brigade's press service on its YouTube, Facebook, and Telegram accounts.The paratroopers said they enveloped the North Korean with guidance from drone operators and found that he didn't respond to commands in Ukrainian, Russian, or English."With gestures, we showed him what to do," one of the paratroopers said.The soldier was carrying a grenade, a knife, and a sausage, the paratroopers said.They said the North Korean was also visibly wounded, with his jaw bandaged and one of his hands appearing to be injured.One paratrooper said the injured soldier appeared calm at first but grew agitated when he saw a vehicle coming to pick him up."When we brought him near the road, suddenly he ran headfirst into a concrete pillar at full speed. He hit it very hard and probably passed out," he said.But the paratrooper also suspects it might have been a ploy by the North Korean soldier, because the latter fell backward, not forward, as one might expect when a charging person faints."I think he was faking it, trying to get us close so he could grab a weapon and attack us," he said.The paratroopers said they eventually hauled the North Korean into a vehicle and took him away from the front lines, after which he received food and watched romance films upon request.An older paratrooper said in the video that the North Koreans' tactics appeared to mimic Russia's Soviet-era fighting, with frontal assaults where "they try to crush simply with massive numbers."But he added that while Russian forces in Kursk tend to attack in groups of two or three, the North Koreans would conduct assaults with groups of at least six.The paratroopers said that Pyongyang's forces would fight to the end if cornered, adding that their brigade reported instances where wounded North Koreans blew themselves up to avoid capture."They are not in a mood to surrender," one of the paratroopers said.The man they captured appears to be one of two North Korean soldiers whom Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced had been seized from the battlefield in early January. One of the North Korean soldiers presented by Zelenskyy closely resembles the man seen in the video posted by the paratroopers. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's Social Media / Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images One was captured by Ukraine's special forces, while the other was found by the Polissia brigade.The paratroopers posted a clip of their prisoner on January 11, which they referenced when recounting the events of his capture in their Tuesday video.Another North Korean soldier, separate from the pair shown by Zelenskyy, was captured in December, but South Korea's intelligence service said he died of his injuries shortly after.Western and South Korean intelligence estimate that 12,000 North Korean soldiers have been sent to Russia, where they've been deployed to fight a Ukrainian incursion in the Kursk region.Their presence in the war is a significant sign of Pyongyang and Moscow strengthening an economic and military partnership spurred by Russia's isolation since the war began.North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is believed to have received food, financial assistance, and Russian expertise in space and weapons technologies in return for his troops and guns.Meanwhile, the West fears that North Korean troops are gaining valuable combat experience from fighting in Russia.A captured North Korean soldier's documents obtained by The Washington Post discusses guidance related to the six-man frontal assaults the paratroopers spoke of."In modern warfare, where real-time reconnaissance and drone strikes are conducted, failing to disperse combat teams into smaller units of two to three members could lead to significant casualties from enemy drones and artillery," one document read, per The Post.

Using WrapIt in Blender.Shops:blendermarket.com/creators/blenderguppygumroad.com/blenderguppyPatreon:patreon.com/blenderguppy#b3d #patreon #blender3d #blenderaddon #blendermarket

Nature, Published online: 20 January 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00179-zA type of microRNA seems to revitalize old mice. Plus, the influence of US president Donald Trump on science in the United States, and on health and climate globally.

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Back in November 2024, the gaming community discovered that Blizzard Entertainment was working on a new open-world shooter (not to be mistaken with a rumored StarCraft third-person shooter), shrouded in complete secrecy, with the companys job board serving as the sole source to even confirm its existence.Recently, the industrys most reliable insider, the developers own Careers website, offered a small but dependable update on the shooters state, confirming that the project hasnt been canceled and offering some intriguing details about the upcoming game.BlizzardAccording to a currently-opened job posting from Blizzard, the company is seeking an Associate Design Director to help develop re-playable game modes for its open-world shooter, described simply as an Unannounced Project in the vacancy.The job description specifies that they are looking for someone with a passion for RPG games that hold player interest for hundreds of hours through systemically generated content to work on the projects highly re-playable modes that efficiently use authoring tools and assets created for the campaign in a manner that engages players and keeps them coming back again and again, while also encouraging them to pursue long-term progression goals.The combination of qualities required for the job position strongly suggests that Blizzard is leaning toward a live-service model for its upcoming game, which might sound concerning if you are a Blizzard fan, considering how Sonys decision to focus on live-service titles ultimately turned out.When it comes to the technical qualifications and skills, candidates for the role must have at least 12 years of experience in a design role or equivalent in work/education experience with a minimum of five years of experience leading and mentoring teams, one or more shipped AAA titles in a leadership or director-level position, and experience with engines like Unreal Engine, Unity, CryEngine, or Source. In other words, definitely not a position suited for just anyone.So, what do you think about Blizzards upcoming shooter? Is it going to be yet another live-service title? Share your thoughts down in the comments!Dont forget to join our80 Level Talent platformand ournew Discord server, follow us onInstagram,Twitter,LinkedIn,Telegram,TikTok, andThreads,where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.Source link The post Blizzards Mysterious Shooter Will Likely Feature Hundreds of Hours of Systemically Generated Content appeared first on CG SHARES.

As the developer explained, this effect, ideal for recreating those iconic Matrix-style bullet scenes, is not a screen-space one, meaning it remains in position even when the camera moves. It also runs entirely on the GPU and can be used with any object.Here, you can see how the effect follows specific points on the main structure, as well as the same effect applied to a different mesh:Ash then continued his experiments by applying the effect to animated objects and adding the controls to offer more customization options for the trails:Follow Ash Thornton on X/Twitter for more updates on this project and join our80 Level Talent platformand ournew Discord server, follow us on Instagram,Twitter,LinkedIn,Telegram,TikTok, andThreads,where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.Source link The post Slow-Motion Sword Trail Effect Recreated With Three.js appeared first on CG SHARES.