Affirm's earnings per share of 20 cents for the quarter was almost double what Wall Street expected.

Zhang Hao@sleeeeeepyz - Lunar New Year is upon us and its coming up on February 10th, 2024! As this is the year of the dragon, we couldnt miss the opportunity to host Caras first art challenge of the year with something so mythical and fun. Want to join in? Read on for details! Year of the Dragon Challenge #LNY2024 Unleash your imagination based on the theme of Asian dragons. (This is the year of the wood dragon, if you are curious about the element!)If you need a little inspiration, scroll down for an assortment of past dragons and lunar new year celebration art from the Cara community. How to ParticipateInclude the #LNY2024 hashtag when posting your work on CaraAny media, style, finishsketches and WIPs posts are always a joy to see! Submit as many entries as you like Date: Ends on Feb 25th, 2024 Join our Discord server to chat about history, lore, research, and WIPs!The #LNY2024 hashtag will be a featured tab on Caras Explore page through February 2024.We will also conclude with an editorial feature at the events conclusion! Kan Liu@artof666k - Connection About Lunar New YearLunar New Year follows the lunar calendar, which runs in a 12-year cycle of Chinese zodiac animals. Each year is ruled by a specific zodiac sign and element, and 2024 is the Year of the Wood Dragon. In Chinese astrology for yin and yang, this is the year of the Yang-Wood Dragon. Celebrations can start a few days before the new year and last for days after, depending on the region. On Cara, we will start by featuring some past works with an assortment of dragons and lunar new year art for your enjoyment. We look forward to your pieces at the end of the event. We hope you have fun, and wish you a Happy Lunar New Year! The Cara Teamcara | twitter | instagram | buy us a coffee yushan@yushan - Qiwuzu Serpentiform Family, White Dragon Alena N@ymhin - MYTHBOOK 3 Fugurisko@fugurisko - Ruins Exploration Kan Liu @artof666k - WaterSleeves Dance & The Dragon aosma @aosm - cciko @cciko - 5 vosian @vosian - Dragon Amir Borghei @amirdraws - The Dragon's Rest Temple GaoMingze @snowgao - Pi Pei @pipei321 - 23-24 Daria Shestakova @lethendralis - Magical Items Illustrations Penett @penett - Year of the blue dragon kongtiaoxiaotailang @kongtiaoxiaotailang - Alex Kuhn @alexkuhn - Dragon Kevin Glint @kevinglint - The Immortal Podium: Enigmatic Dragon Phil Liu @eclypse - Azure Dragon Audre Schutte @charamath - Fox dragon free sculpt Kuang Hong @noah-kh - Xuan Yuan Gaowen Fu @gfu97 - Old dragon lord YINJIE CEN @infall - 2022.Dragon's Rise: The Forgotten Realms YINJIE CEN @infall - 2022.Dragon's Rise: The Forgotten Realms YINJIE CEN @infall - 2022.Dragon's Rise: The Forgotten Realms Casey Straka @cstraka - Copper King My Hanh @myxhanh - Dragon Bees @paintedbees - Sisu Redesign Vo Trong Hieu @umgj - Girl with the Dragon Chafer @chafer - Happy New Year Nikittysan @nikittysan - BICHIGHU, the History Recorder Dragonfish Russell06h @russell - Cassandra Jean @cassandrajean - Year of the Dragon Rowena Doge @rowenadoge - Beyond the Skies (2021-2022) 8th creation @8thcreation - White dragoness of Eteos Olongtea @olongtea550 - Auspicious Year of the Rabbit~ kongtiaoxiaotailang @kongtiaoxiaotailang - pipi @pipi - LAMP @lamp - Have questions? Join us on Discord!cara | twitter | instagram | buy us a coffee

Every weekday morning, across the country, parents fall into the same routine. A line of SUVs and minivans snakes around the school. Engines idle as mothers and fathers inch forward, phones in one hand, coffee in the other. Kids sit in the back seat scrolling on their own phones, waiting for their turn to be unloaded by a staff member in a reflective vest. One by one, the doors open, backpacks are lifted, and the vehicle pulls away. The factory-like process is orderly, efficient, and utterly dehumanizing.The school drop-off ritual is a powerful curriculum, teaching kids that they are packages to be delivered and picked up, and that they require constant adult supervision.In 1969, about 48% of children walked or biked to school. By 2009, that number had dropped to just 13%, according to Walk, Bike & Roll to School statistics. Today, the figure hovers around 11%, largely unchanged for a decade, per Rutgers University. Even among children who live within a mile of school, walking or biking has fallen from nearly 90% in 1969 to just 35% in 2009.Whats going on?The shift didnt happen because children stopped being born with legs or because they stopped wanting independence.Schools were moved to the edges of town, often on cheap land surrounded by parking lots and wide arterial roads.Roads were engineered to maximize long-distance automobile throughput and minimize short-distance walking and cycling.Parents were persuaded that it was unsafe to let kids walk or bike, even though most child fatalities happen while they are passengers in vehicles.Logistics managementLine up, inch forward, unload. It looks like logistics management because it is logistics management. We have turned the beginning of a school day into a miniature supply-chain operation. This logistical worldview carries profound consequences.Physical health: Walking and biking to school once provided children with reliable daily exercise. Today, U.S. teenagers walk about 5 miles less per week than teens did in the 1990s, The Wall Street Journal reports, and rates of childhood obesity have tripled since the 1970s, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Mental health: Independent mobility builds confidence. A child who can walk to school learns to navigate space, manage risk, and take pride in independence. A child chauffeured twice a day learns dependence, passivity, and helplessness.Safety paradox: Parents believe driving is a safe way to get around, but an average of three children are killed and another 445 injured every day in traffic crashes, National Highway Transportation Administrations traffic safety data shows.Packages dont talk back, dont take detours, dont linger to climb a tree, dont stop to pet a dog, and dont notice the smell of honeysuckle on the way to class. Car dependency trains kids to be passive and dependent cogs in a machine. The irony is that the very efficiency parents cravefaster lines and predictable behaviorincreases congestion, frustration, and risk to everyone on the roads.The alternativesWe dont need a time machine in order to reintroduce childhood independence to our culture:Walking school buses are groups of kids who walk together, accompanied by one or two adults. This approach offers safety in numbers while teaching kids independence.Bike buses or bike trains do the same with cycling, helping to normalize two-wheeled commutes for kids.School siting reform could reanchor school construction back in neighborhoods, instead of exiling buildings to distant parcels accessible only by car.The morning line is more than a nuisance; its a ritual of indoctrination. Every inch forward in that queue trains children to see themselves as cargo, delivered by others, rather than as capable individuals navigating their world.But if we flip the script, if we give kids back some autonomy, the benefits ripple outward. Parents reclaim sanity. Communities reclaim healthier, calmer streets. And children reclaim one important thing the car line strips away: freedom.

Now that video games rival TV shows and movies as entertainment, so too has product placement crept into them. The in-game ads have been suitably gamer-targeted: Monster energy drinks, Subway sandwiches and Cup Noodles have featured in games like "Final Fantasy XV," "Death Stranding" and "Uncharted 3."Now Japanese consumer products company Kaobasically the Procter & Gamble of Japanhas created their own video game, expressly to advertise their cleaning products. While the concept sounds insane, the execution is both clever and timely. The company has capitalized on both the #CleanTok trend, whereby TikTokkers deep-clean filthy bathrooms and the like, and the current appetite for the horror genre.In "Silent Cleaning," you inherit an abandoned old house in the Japanese countryside from a deceased relative. Your mission is to sell itbut first you have to clean the filthy house up, by locating and using Kao's cleaning products.The twist is that as you clean the dark, creepy house up, you're being stalked by a resident monster who responds to the sound of scrubbing. This puts you in an odd bind: "The game constantly tests player's compulsion to clean by making them have to choose between leaving some cleanser only half-rinsed or dying a horrible death," writes Japanese news website SoraNews24. "Our writer Saya Togashi tried the game and found that choice more difficult than you might expect, while dying about 50 times in the process." Additionally, during the cleaning tasks, you uncover hidden codes. This prompts you to search for more codes beneath the grime; accessing them allows you to solve puzzles.The game is now up on Steam for free, though it's Japanese-language only. If Procter & Gamble is smart, they'll create their own version in English.

Some on-air claims about Dominion Voting Systems were false, Fox News acknowledges in statement after deal is announced

The term, which was popularized by a Star Wars show and is rooted in real frustrations with technology, has become a go-to slur against artificial intelligence and robots.

MacworldIf youve ever pointed your iPhone at the night sky and wished you could see more than just blurry dots, meet Hestia, the first-eversmartphone-powered telescope. Imagine navigating the night sky and capturing stunning images and videos with 25x magnification and 5x sharper resolution than your iPhone. Save $60 for a limited time, making Hestia $239.99 with free shipping (MSRP $299).Hestia makes stargazing incredibly simple for both adults and kids. Just mount your iPhone on the included tripod, line it up with Hestias lens, and open the Gravity app. It even has modes for daytime and scenery use, so youre not limited to just starry nights.The Ultimate Pack makes it even better: youll get a solar observation kit for safely viewing the sun, a premium tripod for stability, a glare-cutting visor, and a rugged travel case to bring Hestia on the road. Yeah, no need to buy accessories elsewhere because this kit brings everything you need.Order yourHestia smartphone telescopehere for $239.99 with free shipping through September 7 at 11:59 p.m. PT. You wont find a better price anywhere else!Hestia: First Ever Smartphone-Based Telescope (Ultimate Pack)See DealStackSocialprices subject to change.

Poor Apple customers in the UK willsuffer what they mustas politically driven regulators make the sameexistential threatsagainst Apple and Google as thosemade by the EU.Apple has warned that the rules proposed by the UKsCompetition and Markets Authority (CMA) will cause numerous harms to the user experience its customers enjoy.Bad for one and bad for allWere concerned these EU-style rules the UK is advancing are bad for users and bad for developers, an Apple spokesperson said in a statement provided toComputerworld. This approach undermines the privacy and security protections our users have come to expect, hampers our ability to innovate, and forces us to give away our technology for free to foreign competitors. We will continue to engage with the regulator to make sure they fully understand these risks.The regulator argues that because Apple and Google between them hold almost 100% of the UK mobile OS market, they should face additional oversight. The CMA earlier this year laid out a host of different ways it thought it might be able to improve mobile platforms in the UK.That means regulators from the CMA will be able to make similar demands of Appleas those made in Europe, including support for third-party app stores, steering to third-party stores and payment services, and a free-for-all to use and exploit certain system features.(It is interesting to note that the last item is precisely what Meta wants for its own business.)There is no evidence these measures will workApple points out that the proposals being put forward by the CMA lack supporting evidence and would effectively force it to give away its innovations for free.The Roadmap absent any evidence also prioritises interoperability interventions.While the exact nature of the Roadmaps proposal is unclear, the CMA is clearly considering whether to impose DMA-like obligations on Apple that require it to hand over its innovations and intellectual property free of charge to businesses that have in some cases made it their sole mission to copy Apple.The European experiment of using regulation to gut the intellectual property rights of an American company is not one the CMA should mimic. Such an approach would not constitute proportionate or evidence-led regulation in action, Apple said in a statement of opposition to the CMAs plans.The company also argues that a regulatory taking of Apples innovations and intellectual property (including the exclusionary rights they confer) without compensation would represent a significant infringement of Apples fundamental property rights.12 disciples of doomWhats annoying the company is not just the fact that it would effectively be forced to open up tech it has invented to others for no charge. Apple also sees significant threats to privacy and security as less salubrious firms abuse that access, warning that the proposals will inevitably nurture the evolution of fraud across its platforms. It also complains that the demands undermine Apples integrated approach and is most furious that the actions the CMA has set out have been proposed with no evidence and no proportionality.In part, this is because the interventions were developed during a closed-door session with input from just 12 developers and one trade group.Given the tens of thousands of developers that exist, the decisions made in that closed meeting cannot be seen by any stretch of imagination as representative of anything more than the opinions of those who were invited to that room.Apple also argues that the way evidence has been assessed has led to perverse preliminary conclusions and proposed interventions. Many findings are derived from a CMA-commissioned survey with a response rate of only 7.6% that contains findings thatdirectly contradictthe conclusions it reaches.Other findings are based on views expressed by a minority of third parties, with no evidence of widespread harm or dissatisfaction, Apple said. This is not consistent with evidence-led regulation.On an islandBut perhaps when it comes to a lost island nation facing terminal decline, struggling to stay relevant by emulating its larger neighbors with damaging directives aimed at the leading tech firms of its closest ally, evidence doesnt matter.Some might say the UK is engaged in magical thinking, assuming for itself an importance it no longer has on the world stage, imagining as it does that the US will not respond forcefully against any punitive measures it takes against the iPhone company.In doing so it is clearly making a mistake, given the explicit warnings against such actions that haveemerged from the Trump administration. Those statements should have been understood to mean there will be reprisals if regulation is seen to have gone too far and Apple says the regulation is most definitely going too far. Based entirely on visible results, it is doubtful that flailing UK leader Keir Starmer has any of the proven diplomatic skills possessed by Apple leader Tim Cook.In response, Apple warns that it may need to slow down the rate at which it introduces new features in the UK. It may also slow introduction of platform security patches in response to other half-baked UK regulation, even as it potentially continues to fight for the data privacy of its US and international customers in thesurveillance-happy state.None of this is good, most of this is political, and there will be very little benefit, if any, for any Apple (or Google) customer, including the many businesses that make use of their devices.The UK regulator of course denies that people will be left vulnerable. Driving greater competition on mobile platforms need not undermine privacy, security or intellectual property, and as we carefully consider UK-specific steps, we will ensure it does not, it said.The road to nowhereWhat it doesnt say is how that can be achieved.Its almost as if the regulators, while claiming to be attempting to form a level playing field for tech, are in fact designing an environment in which to hobble some businesses in favor of nothing at all. Thats despite the chief regulator in the case, Sarah Cardell, herselfwarningthat regulation must not create protracted uncertainty that could chill investment and innovation. Which is precisely what the UK regulations threaten to do.But while this reckless misuse of power takes place, one thing is for sure. It will be Apples UK customers who suffer what they must in exchange for wisp-like fantasies of potential market benefits, none of which truly reflect their needs or desires. You can follow me on social media! Join me onBlueSky, LinkedIn, andMastodon.

The Sherwood Valley Rancheria of Pomo Indians (Sherwood Valley) has declared its opposition to Assembly Bill 831 (AB 381), making this the third Tribe to do so publicly.AB 381 has faced setbacks from parties in the state that disagree with the measures in the legislation, which seek to outlaw sweepstakes and social games if it were to pass.Third Tribe voices opposition to AB 381We reported that both the Kletsel Dehe Wintun Nation and the Big Lagoon Rancheria were in opposition to Bill 831.They joined the chorus of criticism spearheaded by the Social Gaming Leadership Alliance (SGLA), making it clear that their position was that the potential change to social games and sweepstakes would have a detrimental impact on the tribes.On behalf of the Sherwood Valley Band of Pomo Indians, we respectfully oppose AB 831. This bill lacks the alleged unanimous support among California tribes, has advanced without meaningful consultation of broader tribal interests, and threatens our inherent right to create legitimate revenue streams to support our people. Buffey W. Bourassa, Sherwood Valley Band of Pomo Indians SecretaryThe addition of Sherwood Valley Rancheria of Pomo Indians to the growing opposition underscores what weve said from the beginning: AB831 is a rushed, flawed bill that lacks broad tribal consensus, said Jeff Duncan, Executive Director of SGLA in a press release seen by ReadWrite.Further to this discord, the SGLA has conducted research that highlighted the possible loss of earnings across the state. The data produced by the body indicated that Californias economy would incur a loss of $1 billion per year.Letters to Chair CaballeroTribal Chairperson of Big Lagoon Rancheria, Virgil Moorehead, took steps to contact Chair Caballero, the leader of the bills progression, penning a letter that outlined the Tribes stance.AB 831 was advanced in the Senate without the meaningful, government-to-government consultation that is owed to all California tribes under both federal and state policy commitments, wrote Moorehead.Sherwood Valley, a key member of the California Nations Indian Gaming Association (CNIGA), added its voice to the conversation. Buffey W. Bourassa,Secretary of the Tribe wrote his own letter to Chair Caballero and the committee presiding over the bill.Bourassa said they (Sherwood Valley), respectfully oppose AB 831. This bill lacks the alleged unanimous support among California tribes, has advanced without meaningful consultation of broader tribal interests, and threatens our inherent right to create legitimate revenue streams to support our people.It remains to be seen whether these direct letters to Chair Caballero will cause the representative to pause the progress of AB 831, but they do show that the Tribes are asking for serious consideration of their rights before the bill goes any further.Bourassa concluded his letter saying, We urge the Committee to reject AB 831 and instead support policy solutions that empower all tribes to diversify economically, address systemic challenges, and chart a path toward sustainable self-governance and prosperity.Featured image: Sherwood Valley Rancheria of Pomo IndiansThe post Third California Tribe declares open opposition to Assembly Bill 831 appeared first on ReadWrite.

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