That probably assisted their evolutionary diversification

Whether it is a negotiating ploy remains to be seen

By Matt Novak Published January 22, 2025 | Comments (0) | Blackrock's Larry Fink at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 22, 2025. Screenshot: Bloomberg / YouTube Blackrock CEO Larry Fink thinks bitcoin, which is currently priced at around $104,200, could go as high as $700,000. But thats only if people get really nervous about the stability of their own currencies around the world. And while its anyones guess whether Finks logic is sound and people would indeed flock to crypto in times of crisis (that extremely common thesis hasnt yet been proved), its certainly true that the election of Donald Trump has the potential to inject plenty of instability into the global economic landscape. Fink made the prediction about bitcoins future price on Wednesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, while discussing the outlook of technologies like artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency with Bloomberg. Fink had previously been a skeptic of crypto in the late 2010s, saying back in 2017 that, Bitcoin just shows you how much demand for money laundering there is in the world. But the billionaire changed his mind in more recent years, becoming a true believer in the promise of crypto by 2021. Fink seems to not only believe that crypto is now a positive thing, but that this reliance on fear is actually an asset. The billionaire thinks people can make a lot of money from instability or at least the worries over instability around the world. As I became a student of crypto, it was very clear to me that crypto is a currency of fear. And thats okay, Fink during the panel Wednesday thats available on YouTube. Fink was sharing the stage with Peng Xiao, the CEO of AI company G42, who interjected with to some extent on Finks contention that fear drives bitcoin. But Fink just doubled down on the idea that it was okay for bitcoins fortunes to rely on fear.If youre frightened of your debasement of your currency or youre frightened of your economic or political stability of your country, you could have an internationally-based instrument called bitcoin that will overcome those local fears. And so Im a big believer in the utilization of that as an instrument, said Fink. Fink went on to say that bitcoins price could reach $500,000, $600,000, $700,000 per Bitcoin while emphasizing Im not promoting that, by the way.Fink also said that he believed bonds and stocks should be tokenized. Why? That part isnt clear, since it makes no fucking sense. But why not? We went through this same bullshit hype cycle a few years ago when everyone jumped on the NFT bandwagon and tokenizing things that didnt need to be tokenized may very well have another resurgence. The fact that we are not moving forward in tokenization, every bond and stock is crazy, said Fink. We should be moving towards that frontier. Obviously, theres winners and losers and all that. But we need to be prepared for the tokenization. And it would democratize more finance if we tokenized bonds and stocks. Fink also discussed the power needs of the enormous data centers that continue to be built around the world to serve the needs of AI. Those data centers require a great amount of power, which Fink addressed by talking about nuclear power as a potential fix. We need a lot of energy partners to be able to make this a viable global undertaking, Fink said. And hopefully this raises a conversation about what role nuclear play in the energy mix.Fink gave a nod to renewables, saying they would be part of the mix, but said that unless fusion actually works and we have new sources of power, theres a need to work with whats available. There are some big questions about the future of the U.S. economy that are currently getting hashed out at Davos and beyond. Inflation, for instance, doesnt seem to be something the ruling class is too scared about anymore, despite the 2024 U.S. presidential election essentially hinging on whether a new president would be able to get prices down. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon was asked about Trumps plans for across the board tariffs against Mexico and Canada, which are expected to get implemented around Feb. 1. And Dimon, whos worth $2.7 billion, seemed very chill about the prospect.If its a little inflationary, but its good for national security, so be it. I mean, get over it, Dimon told CNBCs Andrew Ross Sorkin on Wednesday. That does sound like a good mantra for the wealthy in this new era of Trump: So be it, get over it. Were probably going to be hearing that a lot if Trump manages to torpedo the economy. Thats probably not what most Trump supporters thought they were signing up for when they cast a vote for the 47th president. But thats certainly what theyre going to get.Daily NewsletterYou May Also Like By AJ Dellinger Published January 22, 2025 By Todd Feathers Published January 16, 2025 By Matt Novak Published January 9, 2025 By Matt Novak Published December 13, 2024 By Matthew Gault Published December 12, 2024 By Matt Novak Published December 5, 2024

Ever since our new president, Donald Trump, temporarily saved TikTok from a nationwide ban, Americans have wondered which deep-pocketed businessman will throw his hat in the ring to buy the popular social media platform. Now, we have a new contender: viral influencer Jimmy Donaldson (aka MrBeast). Okay fine, Ill buy Tik Tok so it doesnt get banned, Donaldson posted on X last week. Unironically Ive had so many billionaires reach out to me since I tweeted this, lets see if we can pull this off, he added. On Tuesday, Donaldsons attorney communicated to CNN that the reality TV star was serious about buying the social media platform, and that Donaldson is now part of a group of U.S. investors who are pushing to procure the site. The Paul Hastings law firm, which is representing the group, has said that the bid comes in response to the Supreme Courts decision to uphold the previously issued law that would force TikTok to be sold or banned in the U.S. It makes total sense that Donaldsonwhose whole business revolves around generating braindead viral contentwould want to own the platform most responsible for distributing braindead viral content. Buying TikTok would effectively hand him an infotainment monopoly which, for the worlds most powerful influencer, is basically the equivalent of winning the lottery. The whole reason were in this mess to begin with is that, last April, Joe Biden signed a bill that would force TikToks Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to either sell its app to a U.S. company or face a nationwide ban. Commentators have noted what a political fumble this was, given how overwhelmingly popular TikTok is with young voters. When he returned to the White House this week, Trump easily took advantage of Bidens unpopular decision. By signing an executive order, Trump gave the TikTok bill a 75-day extension window, during which time ByteDance will be allowed to find a suitable buyer, provided America gets to retain 50 percent ownership of the platform. Trump has already made it known that he would be open to other well-known personalities purchasing the siteincluding fellow billionaires Elon Musk and Larry Ellison. There are signs that Trump could be supportive of the Donaldson deal, however. Bloomberg has reported that Brad Bondi, the brother of Pam Bondi, Trumps pick for Attorney General, is representing the investor group behind Donaldsons push to acquire the platform. Trump and Bondi have a history together. Bondi was part of the legal team that helped merge the presidents struggling Trump Media & Technology Group Corp (which owns his social media platform, Truth Social) with a blank check company last March, Bloomberg writes. The deal was broadly viewed as a bailout for Trump when his legal troubles were at their worst. Bondi also previously represented Elon Musk in 2018 when the tech billionaire was accused of securities fraud by the Securities and Exchange Commission, The Lever previously reported.The reason why the U.S. has so aggressively moved to ban its childrens favorite social media platform isnt fully understood yet. The dominant narrative has been that U.S. officials are worried about the platforms ties to China and wanted to sever a connection between the company and its geopolitical foe. An alternative theory, however, has been that TikTok has served as a popular vector by which pro-Palestinian activists can distribute evidence of Israeli atrocities, thus turning Americas children against its special ally in the Middle East. Mitt Romney said as much last year, when he intimated that the reason there was overwhelming support for us to shut down TikTok was the overwhelming number of mentions of Palestinians, relative to other social media sites. An op-ed in Time last year similarly blamed the plethora of pro-Palestinian content for a rise in anti-semitic incidents on college campuses in the U.S. Ever since TikToks resurrection, rumors have circulated that the platform is now suppressing pro-Palestinian content. Those rumors may be slightly exaggerated, however. A 404 Media investigation published Wednesday found that the site did not seem to be consistently suppressing pro-Palestinian content. The site communicated to journalists that pro-Palestinian content did not violate its terms of service.If the point of bringing TikTok under U.S. control is, indeed, to halt the flow of pro-Palestinian content to U.S. audiences, there would be a certain precedent for it in the behavior of other American tech companies. A recent Human Rights Watch report on Meta found that the company had been practicing systemic censorship of Palestine content on Instagram and Facebook. X and YouTube have also ran into their own controversies involving Israeli-Palestinian content.

House of the Alley / Estdio ArtigasSave this picture!HousesSao Paulo, BrazilArchitects: Estdio ArtigasAreaArea of this architecture projectArea:180 mYearCompletion year of this architecture project Year: 2024 ManufacturersBrands with products used in this architecture project Manufacturers: Amazonas Pedras, Impacta Brasil, MR Marcenaria, Manoel Vieira e equipe, Oficina Tucambira, Pau Pau, Polysistem, utton CompanyMore SpecsLess SpecsSave this picture!Text description provided by the architects. Moving to a house, having contact with the land, enjoying plenty of natural light and ventilation, and being able to accommodate future transformations in life. The Casa da Travessa was born from these requests, which reflect both the period of isolation caused by the pandemic and the deep-rooted desires of its inhabitants. The response we gave to this project came from balancing these desires with what we believe architecture to be at this moment (2023-24). We sought to design a house that breathes, both through its interior/exterior relationship and the use of materials.Save this picture! Pedro KokSave this picture!The basic concept of the project was to insert new wooden elements- structural and sealing- into the internal and external spaces of the house. Where there were new openings, they would be marked with translucent elements.Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!The first decision was to incorporate the old garage as an internal area of the house. The area previously intended for cars was transformed into the access garden, with various species of plants. The structure of this space is made of garapeira wood, wrapped in corrugated alveolar polycarbonate, fixed with aluminum frame sets, providing a space of multiple sensations.Save this picture!In this same area is the staircase leading to the bedroom floor. The transition from the social area to the intimate area is made through an intermediate space, with a mix of solid garapeira wood flooring and perforated metal sheet, which allows you to see the garden on the lower floor and the front door, as well as being permeated by natural ventilation.Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!The bedroom wing is organized by a central wood frame structure that supports the entire technical area of the house, as well as defining the two bathrooms of the smaller bedrooms and the wardrobe of the master bedroom. The bathroom of this master bedroom occupies the roof of the old laundry room, expanding the area of the house. It is fully lit by the double polycarbonate facade.Save this picture!The annex is an extension of the grassy area. Completely open, it was constructed with more weather-resistant materials, using masonry and exposed reinforced concrete. Its roof is a garden, improving the microclimate of the area and beautifying the view from the bedrooms and the building attached to the back of the house. Finally, the exterior part of the house and its relationship with the street: the possibility of seeing a city where houses have no walls. Of course, we are aware of the privileged situation of being in a village, but it still allows us to dream of a less individual and imprisoned future.Save this picture!Project gallerySee allShow lessAbout this officePublished on January 22, 2025Cite: "House of the Alley / Estdio Artigas" [Casa da Travessa / Estdio Artigas] 22 Jan 2025. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1025823/house-of-the-alley-estudio-artigas&gt ISSN 0719-8884Save!ArchDaily?You've started following your first account!Did you know?You'll now receive updates based on what you follow! Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors, offices and users.Go to my stream

Both impersonators admitted to trespassing in the evacuation zone multiple times. Credit: Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department / Popular ScienceShareTrained, professional firefighters like those battling the ongoing Los Angeles wildfires are vital to saving lives and mitigating disastersbut firefighter impersonators? Not so much. Even if they own their very own fire truck.As the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department detailed in its Facebook post on January 19th, law enforcement located two individuals dressed in firefighting gear inside the Palisades Fire evacuation zone. Both wore CAL-Fire t-shirts under actual turnout jackets and helmets, as well as possessed multiple handheld radios. But the biggest prop of all was a bright red fire truck allegedly from Oregon emblazoned with Roaring River Fire Department.According to Jalopnik on Tuesday, however, investigators still felt the pair did not appear to be legitimate. A look into the fire trucks registration information revealed the vehicle not only wasnt in service at the Roaring River Fire Departmentthe Roaring River Fire Department didnt actually exist in the first place. It turned out that the truck had previously been purchased at an auction, presumably then decorated with the fake name.Some of the gear seized by law enforcement from the impersonators. Credit: Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department Both suspects admitted to having unlawfully been inside the Palisades area on January 17th and 18th, one of whom also has a record in Oregon for criminal mischief and arson. Their exact motives for repeatedly visiting the evacuation area remain unclear. Investigators subsequently arrested the trespassers, charged them with impersonating a firefighter and entering an evacuation zone, and impounded the fire truck.ABC News noted that a similar firefighter impersonation incident occurred earlier this month in Malibu, while dozens of others have also been arrested for various other incidents. On January 9th, an unapproved commercial drone flying above the Palisades fires struck the wing of a Canadair CL-415 Super Scoopers operating in Los Angeles. No one was injured, but the aircraft was forced to land and remains out of commission. Only one other Super Scooper plane is currently available to aid firefighting efforts there.The Palisades fire alone has burned through an estimated 23,700 acres and destroyed over 6,000 structures since its outbreak on January 7th. At least 28 people have died as a result of the multiple blazes, while the Palisades fire is currently around 68 percent contained at the time of writing.For verifiable information from actual professionals and community members, thousands of users have recently turned to Watch Duty, a free, crowdsourced wildfire information app. Secret Los Angeles features a resource list to help emergency responders and evacuees.

Nature, Published online: 22 January 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-024-08422-9Analysis of policies for promotion criteria to full professor from academic institutions and government agencies worldwide reveals considerable variation in assessment practices, particularly between the Global North and South.

Nature, Published online: 22 January 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00095-2In certain crystals, quasiparticles called Weyl fermions emerge from the collective quantum behaviour of electrons. However, these quasiparticles typically coexist with undesired conventional electronic states. After a decade-long search, physicists have engineered a crystal without conventional electronic states and with quantum properties governed entirely by Weyl fermions. Such materials could be useful for detecting and generating terahertz light.

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Have a look at this halo made with 3D-looking objects created in Live2D by @sumireno_live2d.Tutorial is on the way: https://80.lv/articles/this-3d-looking-halo-is-actually-made-with-live2d/#Live2D #Live2DWIP