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Slingsby puts Aussies in SailGP lead; former F1 champ Vettel takes German boat for a spin

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:48:42 GMT

Three-time defending SailGP champion Tom Slingsby and Team Australia navigated through a tight course and marginal conditions to take the lead of the Oracle Los Angeles Sail Grand Prix with finishes of first, second and fourth Saturday in fleet races on the Port of L.A.’s Outer Harbor.Minutes after racing ended, four-time Formula One champion Sebastian Vettel hopped aboard the Germany SailGP Team’s foiling 50-foot catamaran and took the wheel for some speed runs. Vettel is an investor in the new team that is skippered by two-time Olympic medalist Erik Heil.“Obviously, yes I had the wheel and did some turns, but it takes a lot more than just having the wheel in your hand,” Vettel told The Associated Press. “Very impressive, and all without an engine, you know, to have that much power and speed building up.”Vettel, who retired from F1 last year, estimates the catamaran, powered by a wingsail, hit roughly 65 km/h, or about 40 mph. “On the water it’s a very different f...

“Casi duplicó nuestra carga de trabajo”: se supone que la IA facilitaría el trabajo. Estos trabajadores no están de acuerdo

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:48:42 GMT

(CNN) — Una nueva cosecha de herramientas de inteligencia artificial promete simplificar las tareas, mejorar la eficiencia y aumentar la productividad en el lugar de trabajo. Pero esa no ha sido la experiencia de Neil Clarke hasta ahora.Clarke, editor del sector editorial, dijo que recientemente tuvo que cerrar temporalmente el formulario de envío en línea para su revista de ciencia ficción y fantasía, Clarkesworld, después de que su equipo se vio inundado con una avalancha de envíos generados por IA “consistentemente malos”.“En realidad, son algunas de las peores historias que hemos visto”, dijo Clarke sobre los cientos de piezas de contenido producido por IA que él y su equipo de humanos ahora deben analizar manualmente. “Pero es más un problema de volumen, no de calidad. La cantidad nos está sepultando”.“Casi duplicó nuestra carga de trabajo”, agregó, describiendo las últimas herramientas de inteligencia artificial como “una espina clavada en nuestro costado dur...

Sabally, Howard and Ogunbowale each score at least 25, Wings beat Sparks 98-84

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:48:42 GMT

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Arike Ogunbowale scored 12 of her 25 points in the third quarter as Dallas pulled away from the Los Angeles Sparks and the Wings won 98-84 Saturday night for their fifth victory in a row. Satou Sabally added 26 points, 11 rebounds and six assists while Natasha Howard had 28 points and 11 rebounds. She also had four steals for the Wings (13-9), who have won seven of their last eight games.Los Angeles (7-15) has lost a franchise record eight consecutive games since back-to-back wins over the Wings on June 23 and 25. The Sparks lost their first seven games, and 12 of 14, to open the 2015 season before eventually making the playoffs. The Wings shot a season-high 53.9% (41 of 76) from the field and scored 26 points off 12 Los Angeles turnovers. Los Angeles took a 57-56 lead when Ogwumike hit a wide-open 3-pointer almost three minutes into the third quarter but Ogunbowale answered with a step-back 3 as the shot clock expired to spark a 12-3 run that gave Dallas the...

Do you know the difference between UV index and air quality?

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:48:42 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) -- This summer, Colorado has seen ozone action days, air quality alert days and high UV indexes.Each of those are measurements of our atmosphere, but do you know what they mean? What is ozone, and is it bad for your health? It all has to do with the quality of the air we are breathing.UV Index"Essentially, when we're talking about the UV index, that's the harmful radiation, so that's where you can get a sunburn and sunburn can just be the start of the problems," FOX31 Pinpoint Weather meteorologist Liz McGiffin said.Air Quality Index"Simply put, it's how clean or polluted our air is within a certain area," McGiffin said.Ozone Action Day"Ozone action days here in Colorado essentially mean that our air quality is unhealthy or unhealthy for sensitive groups, so you probably want to limit your time outside," McGiffin said. Here’s how you can check the air quality for where you live What is ozone?Ozone is three oxygen atoms joined together, and, depending on where you f...

Zimmerman: Do we really need long summer breaks from school?

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:48:42 GMT

Our long summer vacation is a relic from an agricultural past when kids were needed for seasonal work on farms — or so we’ve been told. Since that’s no longer the case, we should lay the three-month summer break to rest, right?We’ve heard that argument over and over again from politicians and other critics of summer vacation and all its parental and educational discontents. The COVID-19 pandemic, which spawned dramatic learning losses for America’s students, only heightened concerns about long summer breaks. Our kids need more school, the reasoning goes, and summer is an obvious time to start.They might be right about that, but the oft-repeated folk history is wrong. When our common school system began, in the early 19th century, students actually went to school in the summer. And if we want to bring them back today, we’ll need new ways to teach them.When most Americans lived and worked on farms, the busy seasons were spring and fall — for planting and harvesting, respectively. So k...

HBO’s ‘Last Call’ tracks ’90s killer targeting gay men

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:48:42 GMT

There’s an eerie sense of déjà vu with HBO’s “Last Call: When a Serial Killer Stalked Queer New York.”The four-part true crime series, now streaming, focuses on four victims, gay men in the 1990s, who were murdered, dismembered, their remains found in garbage bags along a New Jersey highway.However the emphasis here is not, as is usual in true crime, on the demented killer but the men who we are vividly brought to see as people with families, loved ones and full lives.Adapted from an Edgar-winning 2021 book also called “Last Call” by director Anthony Caronna and producer Howard Gertler, what ultimately emerges is an unstinting portrait of the violence done not just to a gay quartet but to gays, lesbians, trans people in general.The documentary chronicles police and institutional indifference, if not neglect. That makes the climatic court trial a tense test case of basic gay civil rights.“What we wanted to do was set the table so people understood that in 2005,” Caronna said, “gay ma...

Boston has great ways to enjoy the water and keep cool this season

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:48:42 GMT

It’s hot and you just want to cool off and relax in or near the water. But you don’t have to head out of the city to find that oasis – the Hub’s got you covered.Boston is peppered with amazing spots to cool off and have yourself a water-themed summer day and/or night.Whether you want to be active, master the lounge chair, embrace your inner kid or celebrate your grown up self, you’ve got options all over. Consider these smack-in-the-city choices.Water-level fun: You’ve walked or driven along the Charles River and smiled at the rowers, stand up paddle boarders, sailors and others soaring along that calm waterway. Looks like fun?The Kimpton Marlowe (https://www.hotelmarlowe.com) in Cambridge has just the amenity you need. Check in and you’ve got free access to stand up paddle boards and kayaks (singles and doubles are available) for you to pop into the Charles and take a scenic glide.The L.L. Bean products are built for easy use and cut well though the river. You’ll ...

Apologize for entering home without permission

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:48:42 GMT

Q. The kids are with me every few days. It’s a tough schedule, particularly when the kids are in school. We often forget things. This time their dad forgot to send our son’s teddy bear with him, and he wouldn’t take a nap. I knew his dad never locked his front door and so I just went over there, even though my ex wasn’t home, and went inside to retrieve the teddy bear. When my ex found out I was in his home when he wasn’t there, he was livid. Was I that wrong? What’s good ex-etiquette?A. In a word: Yep.When there is an open-door policy — literally in your case — the transition after moving on can be difficult, especially if you used to live in the home. ”Oh, well, I’ll move quick, and it won’t hurt anyone.”But you disrespected your ex. Walking into his home without his permission is way over the top.If you were really at odds and dad had made a bigger fuss, my law enforcement friends warn that your actions could have been perceived as breaking and entering. Granted, you didn’t “brea...

It’s ‘Time’ to check out Culture Club’s fresh stuff at Xfinity Center show

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:48:42 GMT

The first two thirds of Culture Club’s “Miss Me Blind” belong to Boy George and his seductive pop coo. But guitarist Roy Hay owns the final third. The Top 5 hit closes with Hay laying down an epic guitar solo somewhere between funk champion Eddie Hazel and shredder Eddie Van Halen – although Hay points to someone else.“It was Ernie Isley for me,” Hay told the Herald of his inspiration behind the “Miss Me Blind” solo.Hay isn’t typically associated with big rock guitar the way his idols are. But that’s part of Hay’s genius as a player, songwriter and collaborator.“You play what the band needs,” Hay said ahead of Culture Club’s headline slot at the Xfinity Center on July 25. “Someone asked me who the greatest guitar player is and I said, ‘I don’t know because if you put Dave Gilmour in Led Zeppelin it’s not the right thing.’ It’s all about getting the right player in the right band to create the right sound.”Hay has always been the right player even if the band has gone wrong at times....

Cat treats apartment like his litterbox

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:48:42 GMT

Dear Dr. John,I adopted a cat, Marty, a few months ago from a shelter. He has settled in fairly well. I had another cat named Mick that I had to put to sleep last fall after a protracted illness. Recently, I have found Marty urinating outside of his litter box in various locations around the apartment. I wonder if he does it because of any smells of my previous cat still lingering in the apartment. What could other causes for this new behavior be? I clean out his litter box every day.  Am I doing something wrong? He seems content, has the run of the house, but I need to find a way to stop this from happening. Any suggestions you might have would be appreciated. K.R.Dear K.R.,There is always the possibility that your new cat found some residual odors in your home that has triggered his urinating or marking behavior in the home, but it is not highly likely. I presume that Marty is neutered and the fact that the inappropriate voiding did not start at the beginning makes this less of a ...