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6 days ago | 
boingboing.net | Rob Beschizza
LONDON (AP) — English actress Tilda Swinton, known for her eclectic portrayals of ethereal and androgynous characters. has been named as the next James Bond, the new incarnation of Doctor Who, and, in a surprise move, selected by the College of Cardinals as the 267th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church.
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6 days ago | 
boingboing.net | Rob Beschizza
Embattled Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth may soon have more time to spend with a plastic bottle of Highland Mist, if NPR's anonymous official is right. Hegseth was exposed by the New York Times this weekend as having shared "war plans" online in a second chatroom—this one lacking even the veneer of professional purpose provided by participants in the first chatroom to be exposed.
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6 days ago | 
boingboing.net | Rob Beschizza
Racist, sexist, antisemitic or homophobic? Bigots gotta catch 'em all. Prejudices are becoming more intercorrelated, according to a study published in Social Pschological and Personality Science.
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6 days ago | 
boingboing.net | Rob Beschizza
Faced with the contemporary choice between healthy carbs or healthy fats, some take the road more-traveled: a diet high in fat and sugar. If we already know the most delicious strategy is a bad one, new research from the University of Sydney has found something else to think about beyond weight management and fitness problems: the double whammy impairs cognition too.
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6 days ago | 
boingboing.net | Rob Beschizza
Chroma is a colorblindness simulator Ubisoft uses in game development, and the company has made it available for public use after "several years of internal use and development." It depicts using filters. "Over the past few years, Chroma has proven to be a highly efficient tool for us at Ubisoft," says David Tisserand, Director of Accessibility. "It has allowed us to assess the accessibility of our games for colorblind players much faster and more comprehensively than ever before.
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6 days ago | 
boingboing.net | Rob Beschizza
A study published in Political Psychology—now there's a name for a journal—found that authoritarian people are "primed" for conspiracy beliefs. Bearing in mind that not all conspiracy theories are false, a "rich literature" of research connects such beliefs to stable personality traits and psychological needs. But what comes first: the authoritarianism or the conspiracism? There are widespread concerns that conspiracy theories undermine democracies.
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6 days ago | 
boingboing.net | Rob Beschizza
Bipedal robots ran 13.1 miles alongside human runners at a half-marathon in Beijing on Saturday. A divider seperated the two on parallel courses, but it was not apparently necessary. The day went well for meat and machine athletes, though many did not make it to the finish line. While flesh-and-blood participants followed conventional rules, the 20 teams fielding machines in the Humanoid Robot Half-Marathon competed under tailored guidelines, which included battery swap pit stops.
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6 days ago | 
boingboing.net | Rob Beschizza
The first latin American to lead the Catholic Church is dead at 88. Pope Francis, lately ailing but who only yesterday addressed crowds for an Easter Sunday service, died at 07:35 local time. The BBC collects accolades and tributes as mourners gather at the Vatican. The bells are ringing here in St Peter's Square, announcing the death of Pope Francis. A crowd of hundreds of thousands of people fell silent – the atmosphere is one of palpable shock and sadness.
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6 days ago | 
boingboing.net | Rob Beschizza
Pete Hegseth shared operational details of a forthcoming attack on Houthis in Yemen in a Signal chatroom—a scandal that made a fool of him and exposed the insecure and evasive communication preferences of Trump officials. But that was just one of the chatrooms he was blathering in, and the New York Times has found another. Unlike the chat in which The Atlantic was mistakenly included, the newly revealed one was created by Mr. Hegseth.
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6 days ago | 
boingboing.net | Rob Beschizza
After the election, Target joined other retailers in making a show of ditching the "DEI" programs aimed at improving employment prospects and conditions for black people, women, the disabled, veterans and other minorities. But Target isn't Tractor Supply, and its shoppers haven't taken happily to finding out their favorite grocery store is as Trump-tastic as all the others. CNN reports that foot traffic is down 40%.
