An irresistible video title: Army of Crabs Protect Spy Robot From Stingray. “A 4-meter stingray can eat 50 crabs a day.”
“Ugh, this kid is so sweaty!” my son exclaimed as he came under attack in some game he was playing. This was a few years ago; my ears perked up and I asked him what he meant. He explained that “sweaty” was a derogatory term for gamers who were trying super hard to win. Such players were referred to as “sweats”.
Recently I read something — can’t remember what — and came across the word “swot”. I hadn’t heard that before, so I looked it up. “Swot”, a dialect variant of “sweat”, is a derogatory word in informal British English meaning “a person who studies hard, especially one regarded as spending too much time studying”.
I wonder if these two meanings evolved independently from each other; that would be super interesting. Know Your Meme traced “sweaty” back to its use among those who played the FIFA game series in 2014. It’s possible that British gamers smuggled “swot” into gaming terminology and it quickly evolved into “sweat”. I’m not sure how common “swot” is in Britain…or if “sweat” is used interchangeably with “swot”. But if I had to guess, I’d say they weren’t related. If any etymologists out there are looking for a challenge…
Tags: language · video games
Een gevoelig wetsvoorstel van D66 en VVD haalt in de nieuwe Tweede Kamer een meerderheid als het CDA dat steunt. Die partij lijkt daartoe genegen, maar wil wel extra garanties.
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Gartner found only 20% of customer service leaders have cut human agents because of AI
The world’s smallest digital violin is playing for AI chatbots, which are having a hard time elbowing out their human counterparts for jobs in customer service, according to a Gartner study.…
Rights holders had better buckle up for years of legal wrangling, IP lawyer tells The Reg
You don't have to be smarter than a fifth grader (or even a first grader) to commit potential copyright infringement using AI tools. One IP attorney watched over the weekend as his young son built a bedtime story generator that used copyrighted characters without permission. …
It’s not surprising that there are two sets of lush arrangements in Mason Pott’s Chicago studio. Photographing live bouquets of bright sunflowers, daisies, and waxy apples or magenta orchids at their peak is the first step in the artist’s layered process. Post photoshoot, he translates these floral bunches into hyperrealistic paintings, with particular care in accurately capturing their textures and the interplay of light and shadow.
Pott is known for his impeccable attention to detail, painting large-scale works in oil that immerse the viewer in fields of foliage. He often creates moody still lifes that approach such classic, timeless subject matter through a contemporary lens. In keeping with that mode of working, his latest series moves from the canvas to custom-cut aluminum panels, which trace the organic edges of each arrangement. The depth and diversity of the source matter appear to pop from Pott’s compositions as he tenderly defines each leaf and petal.
If you’re in Miami, Pott’s work is on view with VSG Contemporary at NADA through December 6. Find more from the artist on Instagram.
Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Mason Pott’s Bold Bouquets Take a Hyperrealist Approach to the Still Life appeared first on Colossal.
MOSKOU (ANP/RTR/AFP/BELGA) - Rusland heeft de toegang tot Roblox geblokkeerd. Volgens communicatiewaakhond Roskomnadzor verspreidt het Amerikaanse onlinegamingplatform extremistische inhoud en "LGBT-propaganda". Kinderen zouden seksueel worden lastiggevallen en er zouden intieme foto's van hen worden afgetroggeld.
Rusland heeft al herhaaldelijk gedreigd buitenlandse sites te verbieden, wat volgens mensenrechtenactivisten deel uitmaakt van een bredere poging van de autoriteiten om het internetgebruik te controleren en te monitoren. De Russische toezichthouder kondigde vorige week nog aan dat het overwoog WhatsApp te verbieden, omdat het platform bepaalde informatie niet zou willen delen met de Russische overheid.
Roblox wordt wereldwijd dagelijks door ongeveer 100 miljoen mensen gebruikt. Een groot deel is jonger dan 13 jaar, bleek eerder. Het platform is niet onomstreden. Ook in andere landen zoals Qatar, Irak en Turkije is het verboden, voornamelijk vanwege zorgen over de veiligheid van kinderen.
WASHINGTON (ANP/RTR) - President Donald Trump heeft een urenlange ontmoeting van zijn gezant Steve Witkoff en schoonzoon Jared Kushner met zijn Russische ambtgenoot Vladimir Poetin "een redelijk goede ontmoeting" genoemd en zei dat "Poetin de oorlog wil beëindigen". Maar Trump zei geen idee te hebben wat er nu gaat gebeuren. Hij zei niet te weten wat hieruit voortkomt: "We gaan het zien".
Witkoff en Kushner hebben in het Witte Huis verslag uitgebracht van hun ontmoeting met Poetin en spraken van "een grondige en productieve ontmoeting". Bij de gesprekken in Rusland waren ook de Russische diplomaten Kirill Dmitriev en Joeri Oesjakov, melden Russische media. De gesprekspartners hebben volgens media beloofd de inhoud van hun gesprek niet openbaar te maken.
Rusland en de VS hebben vooralsnog geen overeenstemming over alle punten uit het vredesinitiatief van Trump. Er zou volgens een Kremlinwoordvoerder niet zijn gesproken over een wapenstilstand ter gelegenheid van de naderende feestdagen.
HBO Max's 4K debut of Mad Men was botched after Lionsgate reportedly supplied the wrong file, leading to visible crew members where someone is seen pumping a vomit hose. Ars Technica reports: Mad Men ran on the AMC channel for seven seasons from 2007 to 2015. The show had a vintage aesthetic, depicting the 1960s advertising industry in New York City. Last month, HBO Max announced it would modernize the show by debuting a 4K version. The show originally aired in SD and HD resolutions and had not been previously made available in 4K through other means, such as Blu-ray.
However, viewers were quick to spot problems with HBO Max's 4K Mad Men stream, the most egregious being visible crew members in the background of a scene. The episode was "Red in the Face" (Season 1, Episode 7), which was reportedly mislabeled. In it, Roger Sterling (John Slattery) throws up oysters. In the 4K version that was streaming on HBO Max, viewers could see someone pumping a vomit hose to make the fake puke flow.
The Hollywood Reporter, citing an anonymous source, said that the error happened because Mad Men production company Lionsgate gave HBO Max the wrong file. The publication reported that Lionsgate "was working on getting HBO Max the correct file(s)" and was readying to provide them at approximately 10 a.m. PT today. The blunder is likely to be fixed for all viewers soon. There were no problems with the HD versions of HBO Max's Mad Men stream.
However, viewers were quick to spot problems with HBO Max's 4K Mad Men stream, the most egregious being visible crew members in the background of a scene. The episode was "Red in the Face" (Season 1, Episode 7), which was reportedly mislabeled. In it, Roger Sterling (John Slattery) throws up oysters. In the 4K version that was streaming on HBO Max, viewers could see someone pumping a vomit hose to make the fake puke flow.
The Hollywood Reporter, citing an anonymous source, said that the error happened because Mad Men production company Lionsgate gave HBO Max the wrong file. The publication reported that Lionsgate "was working on getting HBO Max the correct file(s)" and was readying to provide them at approximately 10 a.m. PT today. The blunder is likely to be fixed for all viewers soon. There were no problems with the HD versions of HBO Max's Mad Men stream.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.