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Millions of American whites prefer a dictatorship

Rather than exist in a society where members of all ethnic groups have an opportunity for success, millions of American whites would approve of a dictatorship.

Ten million would restore Donald Trump to the presidency by force.

Recent polls show that Biden and Trump are tied in the presidential race even though Trump said he would suspend parts of the Constitution and construct an all-powerful executive branch with him as the head.

world

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What countries will heat up the most in a 2°-warmer world: the need for air conditioning will skyrocket, with Africa and Europe hit hardest.

One of the more threatening aspects of climate change is its potential to unleash feedbacks, or situations where warming induces changes that drive even more warming. Most of those are natural, such as a warmer ocean being able to hold less carbon dioxide, resulting in even more of the greenhouse gas in the atmosphere.

But at least one potential feedback has a very human element: air conditioning.

A lot of the carbon dioxide we emit comes from the production of electricity. The heat those emissions generate causes people to run air conditioning more often, which drives more electricity use, which drives further emissions. It's a feedback that will remain a threat until we manage to green the electrical grid.

europe

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Paris to bring back swimming in Seine after 100 years

Banned for a century because of the filthy water, city swimming is set to be one of the major legacies of the Games thanks to a €1.4bn (£1.2bn; $1.6bn) regeneration project universally hailed as a success.

Not only are three Olympic events - triathlon, marathon swimming and paratriathlon - scheduled to take place in the Seine in central Paris, but by 2025 three open-air swimming areas will be accessible from the quayside.

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GM ditches Apple CarPlay: a smart drive or a dead end?

The real reason seems to be clear: data and revenue. Like other automakers, GM is looking to monetize data-driven add-on features and services. They're hoping to achieve profit margins of over 20% on "new businesses" by 2030, and the all-new subscription-based infotainment system will play the central part.

This is a familiar approach; every automaker now wants to be the next Netflix of the auto industry, where your car becomes another subscription service.

GM's competitor, Ford, is also vying for a slice of this pie, aiming to create a "software-defined vehicle" with over-the-air updates and paid features.

world

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Japan records steepest population decline while number of foreign residents hits new high

Japan’s population declined in all of its 47 prefectures for the first time in a record drop, while its number of foreign residents hit a new high, reaching almost 3 million people, according to government data released Wednesday, highlighting the increasing role that non-Japanese people play in the shrinking and aging country.

The population of Japanese nationals fell by about 800,000 people, or 0.65%, to 122.4 million in 2022 from the previous year, falling for a 14th straight year.

android

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Sony Xperia 5 V review

Pros

  • Classic design, compact, lightweight, grippy, well-protected.
  • Excellent OLED screen with immersive aspect, 120Hz, HDR10.
  • Outstanding battery life.
  • Superb speakers.
  • The latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset.
  • Great photo quality across all cameras, day and night.
  • Dependable video quality, great sound, top-notch stabilization.
  • No-nonsense launcher based on Android 13.
  • Plenty of professional camera apps.
  • 3.5mm jack, microSD expansion, physical camera shutter key.

Cons

  • No charger and no cable in the box.
  • No dynamic refresh rate for the screen.
  • No telephoto camera, no macro capabilities.
  • Throttles under heavy loads.
  • 128GB storage is the only built-in storage option.
science

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New Player in Human Aging: Neural activity emerges as a factor in longevity.

A new character has stepped onstage in the story of human aging: neural excitation.

The brain’s neural activity, long implicated in disorders ranging from dementia to epilepsy, plays a role in human aging and life span, according to research led by scientists in the Blavatnik Institute at Harvard Medical School.

The study, published on 16 Oct. in Nature, is based on findings from human brains, mice and worms and suggests that excessive activity in the brain is linked to shorter life spans, while suppressing such overactivity extends life.

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The living things that feast on plastic

Scientists are scouring garbage sites around the world for bacteria, fungi and even insects that harbor enzymes that could be harnessed for breaking down various polymers. It’s early days, but if the efforts can be efficiently scaled-up, such biological recycling could put a dent in the plastic waste problem.

europe

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Now what? National election leaves Spain in a labyrinth

The parliament that emerged from the national election held in Spain this Sunday and which will begin a new term on August 17 will be the closest thing to a political labyrinth.

Together, the two right-wing parties did not win enough seats to form an absolute majority (for which 176 seats are needed), and the possibility that the Popular Party (PP) and the far-right Vox could make pacts with other parties to reach it can be completely ruled out given Vox’s unwillingness to work nationalist formations.

The left-wing bloc that has carried Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s government for the past four years did not win the necessary 176 seats either. For the Socialist Party (PSOE) and Sumar (a grouping of 15 small leftist parties) to form a new coalition government, they would have to come to some kind of agreement with Junts, a Catalan nationalist party.

europe

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Italian man crushed to death under falling cheese wheels

An Italian man has been crushed to death under thousands of wheels of a Parmesan-style cheese, authorities said.

Giacomo Chiapparini, 74, was buried when a shelf broke in his warehouse in the Lombardy region on Sunday, firefighter Antonion Dusi told AFP.

The collapse created a domino effect bringing down thousands of wheels, which weigh about 40kg (84lbs) each.