'Girl' trends are sticky and fun. But they can also be problematic.

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'Girl' trends are sticky and fun. But they can also be problematic.     In July, the "lazy girl job" took over social media. In a TikTok video, 26-year-old creator Gabrielle Judge, who coined the term, described this kind of role as "basically something you can just quiet quit" while making a comfortable salary and having excellent work-life balance.If it sounds like an ideal job that anyone can do, it is – yet Judge wrapped it as a "girl" phenomenon. It was one of the reasons the term went viral. Continued here

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Can I Train My Cat To Use The Scratching Post? A Veterinarian Reveals An Ideal Solution     It’s a situation many a cat owner is familiar with: You buy your feline an elaborate, expensive scratching post only for them to completely ignore it and sink their claws into your couch instead.While a cat’s fussy diva quirks are often tolerated, even adored by the humans who love them, scratching is not one of them. According to a 2019 analysis by the American Veterinary Medical Association, destructive scratching accounts for 15 to 24 percent of behavioral complaints owners have against their cats. A 2020 report that studied a Texas-based animal shelter discovered that around 11 percent of adopted cats were surrendered because of "destructive tendencies." Continued here

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A Genetic Snapshot Could Predict Preterm Birth     Doctors are trying out a simple blood test to screen for some common pregnancy complications.For expectant parents, pregnancy can be a time filled with joyful anticipation: hearing the beating of a tiny heart, watching the fetus wiggling through the black-and-white blur of an ultrasound, feeling the jostling of a little being in the belly as it swells. Continued here

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You Need to Watch the Most Surprising Cannibal Thriller on Amazon Prime ASAP     Bones and All is the kind of all-consuming love story that only comes around once a decade.So speaks Michael Stuhlbarg’s unsettling cannibal nomad Jake in Luca Guadagnino’s Bones and All, as he describes the sensation one can get from devouring a whole person down to their bones. Doing so would be a point of no return for young cannibals Maren and Lee, who are still trying to taper their flesh-eating urges after fleeing their old lives. But it also describes the sensation of watching Bones and All, a yearning, sensuous, bitterly beautiful road drama that finds the lovely, gory medium between Guadagnino’s swooning romances and grotesque horror flicks. Continued here

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Gamescom Just Exposed a Huge Games Industry Problem     It’s December 2022. Geoff Keighley is interrupted on stage by someone shouting about Bill Clinton.It’s August 2023. Geoff Keighley is interrupted on stage by someone shouting about Bill Clinton. Continued here

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Amazon Keeps Selling Out of These 40 Clever Things That Make Your Home So Much Better     These days, a true testament as to whether something is worth buying (or not) is if it’s constantly selling out online. This likely means that the item is not only popular, but also extremely clever — potentially even offering solutions to problems you never thought could be solved. These ridiculously brilliant items, including everything from a lamp that doubles as charging station to Wi-Fi extenders, will make your home much better, so it’s no wonder that Amazon keeps selling out of them. To get your hands on 40 of most clever items, keep reading and strike while the iron is hot before they sell out... again.Rather than waste tons of aluminum foil or parchment paper each time you use your oven, try these reusable baking mats you can use over 3,000 times each instead. They’re made from nonstick silicone that can withstand temperatures of up to 400 degrees and that’s super easy to wipe down (or pop in the dishwasher) when it’s time to clean up. Continued here

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'Ahsoka' Proves Star Wars Is Learning the Wrong Lesson from the MCU     It’s easy to forget now, but when The Mandalorian premiered in 2019, it wasn’t clear what the future of Lucasfilm’s Disney+ originals was. At the time, The Mandalorian seemed like nothing more than a fun but unimportant space Western about a bounty hunter. But once its Season 1 finale aired and viewers saw Moff Gideon emerge from his crashed ship holding the Darksaber, it became clear The Mandalorian would incorporate important Star Wars lore into its story.Four years later, The Mandalorian has launched two spin-offs, The Book of Boba Fett and Ahsoka, and become one of several Star Wars shows dedicated to fleshing out the franchise’s New Republic era. It was also revealed earlier this year that the stories of The Mandalorian, Boba Fett, and Ahsoka will culminate in a Dave Filoni-directed crossover film. If reading that makes you think of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, you’re not alone. Continued here

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Some Coral Reefs Could Weather Climate Change Better Than We Thought     Unprecedented ocean temperatures are triggering mass coral bleaching events across the worldUnprecedented ocean temperatures are triggering mass coral bleaching events across the world. This year, the world’s third-largest barrier reef, in Florida, is already being hit hard. Continued here

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Innovation in Data-Driven Health Care - SPONSORED CONTENT FROM ROCHE     Innovative uses of data in health care are helping solve the most challenging problems in patient health and operational efficiency. Today, many health care organizations understand that a data-driven approach can improve patient health outcomes, enable faster clinical decisions, and improve treatment and hospital workflows. Continued here

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Bertrande de Rols     It’s not that he scared me, exactly, just that he didn’t see me, back then. There were ghosts in the marriage and I learned to keep my distance. When he went, I left the windows open for weeks. I left the windows open and I was alone, keeping my own counsel, and company, the child, yes, but all grew toward a kind of freedom, there were the gardens, yes, and the animals, there was enough, and time, I grew rich with days, and, you see, I didn’t miss him at first, or then. Continued here

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You Need to Play 2022's Buzziest Indie Before It Leaves Xbox Game Pass     The “are games art” debate has long been settled (they are), but it doesn’t change the fact that we often miss the forest for the pixels. Hardware is sold on the strength of visual fidelity, so it's no surprise graphics are such a dominant part of the conversation. But what if a game skipped being a game and went right into being a movie? What if it looked as good as anything you’d see in real life? How would you know what the game was?Immortality, from Sam Barlow of Her Story fame, was one of the hottest indie titles in 2022, and for good reason. It tasks players with reviewing archival film footage of actress Marissa Marcel to piece together the mystery surrounding her sudden disappearance (and reappearance). A horror/thriller/mystery with point-and-click roots and one of the most innovative takes on what a game could and should be, Immortality deserves your attention. Continued here

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The Jacksonville Killer Wanted Everyone to Know His Message of Hate     Much is already known about the gunman who killed three Black customers at a Dollar General shop in Jacksonville, Florida, yesterday. He was in possession of an AR-15-style weapon and a handgun; he left manifestos about his hatred toward African Americans; he was wearing a tactical-style uniform as if going to war. There are still questions about how he acquired the guns, his mental state, and whether he had accomplices. But the basic storyline is written. He made it easy. He wanted us to know.His actions yesterday were not just a hate crime. They were a performance for all the world to see. This is the age of mass shooting as production. And we misunderstand what is happening if we see this as a play with only one act at a time. Continued here

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Microplastics Have Been Discovered in Whale and Dolphin Body Tissue     Marine mammals — animals including whales, dolphins, seals, sea lions, sea otters, dugongs, and manatees — are threatened by an array of human activities. Species such as the North Atlantic right whale, Rice’s whale, and Vaquita porpoise have been pushed to the brink of extinction.Plastic debris poses a particularly significant problem. Marine mammals mistakenly eat items such as plastic bags, food wrappers, ropes, and abandoned fishing gear, or they become entangled in plastic items, including fishing nets. Both scenarios can lead to injury and, in many cases, death. Continued here

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50 Cool Things for Your Home That Are So Freaking Cheap on Amazon     If you’re looking for ways to upgrade the look and function of your home but don’t want to spend a ton of money, Amazon has a bunch of unique items that range from super useful and practical to fun and a bit quirky. They’re all budget-friendly and are small touches that pack a huge punch. Plus, they’re all quick and easy to use, and reviewers are impressed by how much they’ve improved their day-to-day living.Create the illusion of floating books along your wall with these clever shelves that feature a bottom panel designed to hide inside your book cover — making it look like there’s nothing underneath. The durable metal shelves can hold up to 15 pounds each, come in either gray or white, and would look great in practically any room. Continued here

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The Source of TV as We Now Know It     This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here.Good morning, and welcome to The Daily’s new Sunday culture edition. Every weekend, one Atlantic writer will reveal what’s keeping them entertained. Continued here

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An Old Technology Could Reveal New Insights About Venus' Core     Seismology has been ubiquitous on Earth for decades, and missions such as InSight have recently provided the same data for the inside of Mars. Understanding a planet’s inner workings is key to understanding its geology and climate. However, the inner workings of Venus, arguably our closest sister planet, have remained a mystery. The sulfuric acid cloud and scorching surface temperatures probably don’t help. But Siddharth Krishnamoorthy from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Daniel Bowman of Sandia National Laboratory think they have a solution — use seismometers hanging from balloons.As we reported previously, the idea has been around for a while. However, it might seem counter-intuitive — don’t seismometers usually have to sit on the ground to detect something? Typical seismometers do, yes. However, another type of seismometer is only now becoming more accepted. An infrasound seismometer monitors infrasound pressure waves created by seismic activity transmitted through a medium other than the ground – like an atmosphere. Continued here

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The 'Transcendent Tastelessness' of MySpace     A new oral history explores how the platform pushed a generation of teens to find their loudest selves.During the years when the social-media platform MySpace ruled the internet—roughly 2005 to 2008—it fueled a cultural phenomenon known as the “Scene.” The term encompassed young people who liked to flat iron and dye their hair until their bangs resembled sheafs of carbon fiber. They wore skinny jeans and vampiric eyeshadow; they listened to energetic rock possessed with strident vulnerability (signature bands: Fall Out Boy, Dashboard Confessional, Panic! at the Disco). This movement of disaffected youths was as recognizable, visually and sonically, as the flannel-clad grunge crews of 1990s Seattle, or the two-toned punks of 1970s Britain. But its social construction was unprecedented, a true 21st-century invention. Continued here

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The Low-Stakes Race to Crack an Encrypted German U-Boat Message     On a balmy Saturday in July, at approximately 15:30 hours, the first signals come in over the radio receiver. Its faint dip dip dip is barely detectable as a small team of engineers and scientists scramble to their stations and listen, trying to decipher the message, delivered through Morse code. They have 72 hours and time is ticking. What was once an auxiliary room above a garage in suburban Maryland is now command central.In what sounds like a scene ripped from the movie Oppenheimer, which coincidentally had its premiere the day before, is instead part of the Maritime Radio Historical Society’s Crypto Event. From their own radio station, KPH in Inverness, California, MRHS crypto coordinator Kevin McGrath is transmitting a message based on one sent 81 years ago, by Kapitänleutnant Hartwig Looks, commander of the German submarine U-264. That message was intercepted by the British destroyer HMS Hurricane in the North Atlantic in 1942. Continued here

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America Is Finally Spilling Its Shipwreck Secrets     Historic shipwrecks are under threat from scallop nets. The first step is telling fishermen where they are.The Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary is a busy place. Roughly 21 miles offshore from Boston’s harbor, the waters are a rich fishing ground, a whale migration route, a shipping channel, and a diving locale. Overseeing the sanctuary, which sits at the mouth of Massachusetts Bay, falls to Deputy Superintendent Ben Haskell, along with Superintendent Pete DeCola, 14 support staff, and two boats. Access to MarineTraffic.com also helps. One day in late April 2017, Haskell was checking the website and noticed 70 boats crammed into the northwestern corner of the sanctuary, moving back and forth in a tight configuration. What the hell is going on? he wondered. Continued here

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Disney and Marvel's Biggest Movies Flopped Hard This Summer -- But There's a Silver Lining     The summer movie season is slowly but surely coming to an end. It seems safe to say that the past few months have taken Hollywood on a fairly unpredictable ride, too. On top of the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, which have shut down the industry’s productions on a mass scale, many of the films and franchises that have long been considered “too big to fail” ended up doing exactly that.From Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny to The Flash and Haunted Mansion, several of this summer’s would-be blockbusters turned out to be box office bombs. Massive creative swings like Barbie, Oppenheimer, and even Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse were, conversely, all rewarded at the box office for their artistic boldness. Continued here

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The rival to the Panama Canal that was never built     It is a traffic jam on a colossal scale. More than 200 ships, according to some estimates, float there, just waiting. Some are loaded with containers stuffed full of items including furniture, consumer goods or building materials. Some carry oil or gas. Others are transporting grain. They are all due to travel through one of the world's most famous bottlenecks – a vital gateway for global shipping – the Panama Canal.A highly unusual drought, right in the middle of Panama's supposed wet season, has lowered water levels in two reservoirs that supply the canal. As a result, operators have had to restrict the size and number of ships that pass through its system of locks each day. Continued here

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This Natural Food Product Mimics Ozempic And Other Weight-Loss Drugs      Consider putting the carbs back in their fiber wrappers. It’s hard to improve upon nature’s design.Fiber might just be the key to healthy weight management — and nature packages it in perfectly balanced ratios with carbs when you eat them as whole foods. Think unprocessed fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, nuts, and seeds. Research suggests that carbohydrates are meant to come packaged in nature-balanced ratios of total carbohydrates to fiber. In fact, certain types of fiber affect how completely your body absorbs carbohydrates and tells your cells how to process them once they are absorbed. Continued here

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The mystery of why some people develop ALS     This month, the world received the news that Bryan Randall had died. He was a professional photographer and the partner of the actor Sandra Bullock, who met him on the job while he was taking portraits at a family party. Sadly, three years ago, at the age of 54, he was diagnosed with amyotrophic-lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehring disease after the American baseball player who developed the condition in 1939. Despite claiming numerous high-profile victims over the years – including young, otherwise healthy people – the mystery of what causes ALS remains. However, recent research has uncovered some clues. Could we finally be on track to decoding this devastating condition? Continued here

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This Tool Lets Hackers Dox Almost Anyone in the US     On Wednesday, August 23, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Russian mercenary outfit Wagner Group, was killed after his plane exploded and fell from the sky. While the details of exactly what happened are still scarce, open source information has helped to fill in the gaps.To investigate technology, you need to be able to inspect it. Researchers and journalists have found clever ways to scrutinize Big Tech in the past, but these kinds of digital investigations are becoming increasingly more difficult. Surya Mattu, a data journalist who leads Princeton University’s Digital Witness Lab, makes the case for an inspectability API. Continued here

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We Are Pivoting to Radical Empathy     Good morning, staff. Thank you for attending this all-hands meeting, or, as I prefer to think of it, all-hearts meeting. As you know, I am returning to the office after taking some legally mandated time away to listen to your recent complaints about me and learn from them.After summering contritely in Europe, I spent the past week at the Burning Man festival, consuming a daunting volume of psilocybin mushrooms in an attempt to expand my consciousness. I return to you a changed man. I have achieved an inner tranquility I had never even dreamed of before. For example, I’ve seen the deep inequities in our patriarchal system of marriage and have decided to live a life of ethical non-monogamy, a decision that I will share with my wife, Lisa, at home later tonight. Most important, I now understand the flaws of our capitalist society, and I’m ready to start making changes. Continued here

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29 Years Later, Hideo Kojima's Most Underappreciated Game Deserves More Love     The Metal Gear series built Hideo Kojima’s reputation in the West, establishing him as an idiosyncratic director with a penchant for blending sci-fi and philosophy. But while Metal Gear is Kojima’s most successful and well-known work, his unique style shines through in two important adventure games that haven’t been so widely played outside of Japan.Snatcher, released in 1988, and Policenauts, released in 1994, blend elements of the point-and-click adventure and the visual novel for a cinematic experience quite unlike other games available at the time. Of the two games, only Snatcher ever saw an official English release, leaving Policenauts a mystery to most English-language players — but one that’s still rewarding to explore with a little work. Continued here

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The Cheap Radio Hack That Disrupted Poland's Railway System     Since war first broke out between Ukraine and Russia in 2014, Russian hackers have at times used some of the most sophisticated hacking techniques ever seen in the wild to destroy Ukrainian networks, disrupt the country's satellite communications, and even trigger blackouts for hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian citizens. But the mysterious saboteurs who have, over the last two days, disrupted Poland's railway system—a major piece of transit infrastructure for NATO's support of Ukraine—appear to have used a far less impressive form of technical mischief: Spoof a simple radio command to the trains that triggers their emergency stop function.On Friday and Saturday, more than 20 of Poland's trains carrying both freight and passengers were brought to a halt across the country through what Polish media and the BBC have described as a “cyberattack.” Polish intelligence services are investigating the sabotage incidents, which appear to have been carried out in support of Russia. The saboteurs reportedly interspersed the commands they used to stop the trains with the Russian national anthem and parts of a speech by Russian president Vladimir Putin. Continued here

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You Need to See the Only Blue Moon of 2023 This Week     The Moon’s phases are intrinsic to the human experience. It has a 29.53-day cycle, which creates or coincides with other patterns like the tides, human menstrual cycle, and the calendar months. Naming, counting, and watching Full Moons is an ancient practice that carries into today.When a Full Moon appears at the beginning of a month, as it did on August 1, it leaves wiggle room for another Full Moon to fit into the end of the same month. This is what’s known as a Blue Moon. Continued here

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Nigerians with HIV are stigmatised: study shows support from family and friends is crucial to well-being     University of Johannesburg provides support as an endorsing partner of The Conversation AFRICA.Sub-Saharan Africa is one of the regions most affected by HIV. In Nigeria alone, an estimated 1.8 million people are living with the virus. Continued here

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50 Weird New Things on Amazon That Are So Damn Clever     We live in the weirdest of times. We are well past the invention of the automobile, airplane, spaceship, and bread slicer. Today, everyone with the kind of brain that creates devices to solve problems is either focused on big-picture issues like artificial intelligence or time travel — or they have tuned into small problems like making produce last longer and improving indoor plumbing. These are bright minds and those are real problems, so the results are often brilliant. Take a look at these 50 weird new things on Amazon that are so damn clever and you’ll see.Empower your pup with the ability to clearly communicate when it’s time to go potty by sticking this smart bell near the door. Once they understand that tapping the bell is an easy way to communicate their needs, you can stand down until you hear the potty bell. And your dog won’t have to bark, scratch the door, or whine. Continued here