Jeep Wrangler sets the bar for off-roading capability Larger Ford Bronco has a more modern suspension Both SUVs have removable doors and tops When Ford relaunched the Bronco for the 2021 model year, it had one target in its sights: The Jeep Wrangler. The Wrangler has been the American benchmark for off-roading capability in the 80-plus years since...

Want a pickup truck but don’t want the hangups of a full-size truck? Ford has you covered with two compelling pickup options. The Ford Ranger midsize pickup truck has a crew cab and 5-foot bed like the F-150, and it also has a Raptor off-road model. With a 7,500-pound towing capacity, it can’t tow or haul as much as an F-150, but...

Amazon has a few good TV deals ahead of Black Friday

"Human vs. Hamster," a very real reality show, premieres November 21 on Max.

Live stream Sinner vs. Fritz in the 2024 ATP Finals online for free from anywhere in the world.

Over the past several weeks, there has been significant discussion about Verisign and its management of the .com top-level domain (TLD) registry. Much of this discussion has been distorted by factual inaccuracies, a misunderstanding of core technical concepts, and misinterpretations regarding pricing, competition, and market dynamics in the domain name industry. Billions of internet users […]

The post Setting the Record Straight – Myths vs. Facts about .com appeared first on Verisign Blog.

Israel faces a choice: Pursue diplomatically fradulent West Bank annexation or focus on Iran and regional security threats.

The warnings from the United Nations and from anti-nuclear activists are increasingly ominous: the world is closer to a nuclear war—by design or by accident—more than ever before. The current conflicts—and the intense war of words—between nuclear and non-nuclear states—Russia vs. Ukraine, Israel vs. Palestine and North Korea vs. South Korea—are adding fuel to a […]

The world has seen QAnon before. It was called Nazism.

Title: Thyroid Storm vs Thyrotoxicosis: Differences
Category: Diseases and Conditions
Created: 7/8/2022 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 7/8/2022 12:00:00 AM

Title: Toppling TVs, Furniture Sending Many Young Children to ERs
Category: Health News
Created: 8/27/2021 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 8/27/2021 12:00:00 AM

Title: Gabapentin vs. Tramadol
Category: Medications
Created: 3/22/2018 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 7/22/2022 12:00:00 AM

Title: Does Hot Chocolate Have Caffeine? Hot Chocolate vs. Coffee & Tea
Category: Health and Living
Created: 8/26/2022 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 8/26/2022 12:00:00 AM

Title: Statins vs. Niacin
Category: Medications
Created: 10/6/2017 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 6/14/2022 12:00:00 AM

Title: Lyrica vs. Gabapentin
Category: Medications
Created: 10/31/2017 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 8/24/2022 12:00:00 AM

Title: Lamisil (terbinafine) vs. Lotrimin (clotrimazole)
Category: Medications
Created: 6/10/2019 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 8/10/2022 12:00:00 AM

Title: Ketoconazole cream vs. clotrimazole cream
Category: Medications
Created: 5/29/2019 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 8/25/2022 12:00:00 AM

Title: Metronidazole (Flagyl) vs. Fluconazole (Diflucan)
Category: Medications
Created: 11/27/2018 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 8/24/2022 12:00:00 AM

Title: MS (Multiple Sclerosis) vs. ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis)
Category: Diseases and Conditions
Created: 6/16/2017 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 8/4/2022 12:00:00 AM

Title: Yeast infections vs. STDs in Men and Women
Category: Diseases and Conditions
Created: 1/8/2020 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 7/29/2022 12:00:00 AM

Title: Ondansetron (Zofran) vs. Dramamine
Category: Medications
Created: 7/24/2019 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 8/2/2022 12:00:00 AM

Title: Tramadol vs. Hydrocodone
Category: Medications
Created: 4/24/2017 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 8/5/2022 12:00:00 AM

Title: Cyclobenzaprine vs. Xanax (alprazolam)
Category: Medications
Created: 6/6/2019 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 8/25/2022 12:00:00 AM

Obidoxime chloride is an antidote for nerve gas intoxication. As an emergency medicine, it is being stored by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) scattered throughout Israel in depots without a controlled environment (field conditions), thus being exposed to high and fluctuating temperatures. These conditions do not meet the manufacturer’s requirements. In addition, due to possible supply shortages, the utilization of expired batches was suggested. The current work investigated these matters. Long-term (15 years) storage under different conditions was initiated. Chemical stability and toxicity in rats were assessed. No difference was found between field conditions vs the controlled environment. The obidoxime assay remained >95% for 5 years and >90% for 7 years. The pH remained above the lower specification limit for 7–8 years. The major degradation product, 4-pyridinealdoxime, surpassed the allowed limit at 5 years. The content of total unknown impurities reached its maximum allowed by the IDF limit at 4–5 years. Threefold higher than clinically utilized doses of valid-to-date Toxogonin batches administered to rats did not cause any abnormality. However, expired batches produced significant toxic effects. Although no difference was found between storage of obidoxime ampoules when adhering to manufacturer’s recommendations vs field conditions, accumulation of degradants over the limit allowed by the IDF at 4–5 years of storage and the toxicity of the expired batches observed in rats led the IDF to a decision to shorten the shelf-life of this product from 5 to 4 years when stored in an uncontrolled environment of the Mediterranean climate.

Here we see data representing the sales through to consumers and change in sales performance of the three current platforms (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch) and two legacy platforms (PlayStation 4 and Xbox One) over comparable periods for 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024. Also shown is the market share for each of the consoles over the same periods.

Year to Date Sales Comparison (Same Periods Covered)

Market Share (Same Periods Covered)

2021 – (January 2021 to October 2021)

2022 – (January 2022 to October 2022)

2023 – (January 2023 to October 2023)

2024 – (January 2024 to October 2024)

"Year to date" sales for 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 sales are shown in series at the top of the table and then just below a comparison of 2024 versus 2023 and 2024 versus 2022 is displayed.  This provides an easy-to-view summary of all the data.

Total Sales and Market Share for Each Year

Microsoft

• Xbox Series X|S
• 0.09 million units sold year-to-date
• Down year-on-year 0.03 million units (-23.2%)

Nintendo

• Nintendo Switch
• 2.47 million units sold year-to-date
• Down year-on-year 0.75 million units (-23.4%)

Sony

• PlayStation 5
• 1.16 million units sold year-to-date
• Down year-on-year 0.94 million units (-44.9%)
• PlayStation 4
• 0.01 million units sold year-to-date
• Down year-on-year 0.05 million (-77.2%)

Note: VGChartz 2024 estimates through October includes 44 weeks, while 2023, 2022, and 2021 estimates includes 43 weeks.

A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.

Full Article - https://www.vgchartz.com/article/463009/ps5-vs-xbox-series-xs-vs-switch-2024-japan-sales-comparison-charts-through-october/

The VGChartz sales comparison series of articles are updated monthly and each one focuses on a different sales comparison using our estimated video game hardware figures. The charts include comparisons between the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch, as well as with older platforms. There are articles based on our worldwide estimates, as well as the US, Europe, and Japan.

This monthly series compares the aligned Japanese sales of the PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4.

The PlayStation 5 launched in November 2020 in Japan, while the PlayStation 4 launched in February 2014. This does mean the holiday periods for the two consoles do not lineup.

PS5 Vs. PS4 Japan:

Gap change in latest month: 277,262 - PS4

Gap change over last 12 months: 300,542 - PS4

Total Lead: 234,400 - PS4

PlayStation 5 Total Sales: 6,121,649

PlayStation 4 Total Sales: 6,356,049

October 2024 is the 48th month the PlayStation 5 has been available for. In the latest month, the gap grew in favor of the PlayStation 4 when compared to the aligned launch of the PlayStation 5 by 0.28 million units.

In the last 12 months, the PS4 has outsold the PS5 by 0.30 million units. The PS5 is currently behind the PS4 by 0.23 million units.

The 48th month for the PS5 in Japan is October 2024, while for the PS4 it is January 2018. The PS5 has sold 6.36 million units, while the PS4 sold 6.12 million units during the same timeframe.

The PS4 crossed 7 million in month 53, 8 million in month 61, and 9 million in month 72. The PS4 has sold 9.68 million units to date. The PS5 is currently 3.56 million units behind the lifetime sales of the PS4 in Japan.

A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.

Full Article - https://www.vgchartz.com/article/463011/ps5-vs-ps4-sales-comparison-in-japan-october-2024/

Like a plague doctor delicately administering another handful of leeches, Ice Pick Lodge have shared a bit more about the recently announced Pathologic 3, explaining how their plans for the cult epidemic-battling series have progressed since the release of Pathologic 2.

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When nightmarish sci-fi extraction shooter The Forever Winter launched into early access in September it was somewhat messy. Bugs and maddening enemy spawns diminished the tension of being a fleshy human scavenger in a mech battlefield. But one feature annoyed some players much more - fresh water. See, you need to keep your headquarters stocked with water, as it gets steadily used by your settlement's inhabitants. The catch being that this water diminishes even while you're not playing the game. If it runs out completely, then everything you've collected gets wiped. The developers have listened to complaints about this most Farmville of mechanics, and they've answered in an interesting way. Water thieves! Now, on top of the usual downward trickle, burglars will come to steal your H2O as well.

It's not as bad as it sounds.

Read more

Early reactions to Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 multiplayer range from frothing dislike through omnimovement hype to our own Ed Thorn's dead-eyed appraisal that it's "a good one, I think. Not a bad one. If you like Call Of Duty, you will like this. If you don't like Call Of Duty, you will not like this." I feel like we need to emergency-deploy a supply crate of smelling salts, because the sheer OK-ness of Black Ops 6 appears to have tumbled Ed into a stupor.

Perhaps it would be a different story if he'd encountered some of the spawning issues and glitches people are talking about, with players joining games and materialising right into a hail of fire. The players in question include Black Ops 6's developers, who comically note in the latest Black Ops 6 patch notes that "Yes, we saw ourselves in a Killcam before selecting a Loadout too." The latest patch seeks to address this, naturally. As regards the campaign side of things, it also resets your safehouse currency to 5000, if you've had your single player funds stolen (or multiplied) by technical gremlins.

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Warframe developers Digital Extremes have announced a new round of early access for their 2025-bound fantasy action-RPG Soulframe, which I saw a bit of last year and think is pretty promising. They're now adding 2000 players to a Preludes build of the game every week, with each invite email including an additional four invite codes, so you can get your friends involved.

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Warhammer 40,000: Gladius - Relics Of War developers Proxy Studios have just released Zephon, a new 4X strategy game set in a manky, post-apocalyptic world. It's got hexagonal maps, flesh trees, gangly Evangelion-grade giants, "otherworldly hymns of decay", nuclear bombs, and a player-led "blend of magic and cyberpunk" that extends from the city architecture to the research component. All of which is my cup of giblets. Here's the launch trailer.

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Smart TVs from Samsung and LG monitor what you are watching even when you are using the screens to display a feed from a connected laptop or video game console

Video Friday is your weekly selection of awesome robotics videos, collected by your friends at IEEE Spectrum robotics. We also post a weekly calendar of upcoming robotics events for the next few months. Please send us your events for inclusion.

Humanoids 2024: 22–24 November 2024, NANCY, FRANCE

Enjoy today’s videos!

Swiss-Mile’s robot (which is really any robot that meets the hardware requirement to run their software) is faster than “most humans.” So what does that mean, exactly?

The winner here is Riccardo Rancan, who doesn’t look like he was trying especially hard—he’s the world champion in high-speed urban orienteering, which is a sport that I did not know existed but sounds pretty awesome.

[ Swiss-Mile ]

Thanks, Marko!

Oh good, we’re building giant fruit fly robots now.

But seriously, this is useful and important research because understanding the relationship between a nervous system and a bunch of legs can only be helpful as we ask more and more of legged robotic platforms.

[ Paper ]

Thanks, Clarus!

Watching humanoids get up off the ground will never not be fascinating.

[ Fourier ]

The Kepler Forerunner K2 represents the Gen 5.0 robot model, showcasing a seamless integration of the humanoid robot’s cerebral, cerebellar, and high-load body functions.

[ Kepler ]

Diffusion Forcing combines the strength of full-sequence diffusion models (like SORA) and next-token models (like LLMs), acting as either or a mix at sampling time for different applications without retraining.

[ MIT ]

Testing robot arms for space is no joke.

[ GITAI ]

Welcome to the Modular Robotics Lab (ModLab), a subgroup of the GRASP Lab and the Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics Department at the University of Pennsylvania under the supervision of Prof. Mark Yim.

[ ModLab ]

This is much more amusing than it has any right to be.

[ Westwood Robotics ]

Let’s go for a walk with Adam at IROS’24!

[ PNDbotics ]

From Reachy 1 in 2023 to our newly launched Reachy 2, our grippers have been designed to enhance precision and dexterity in object manipulation. Some of the models featured in the video are prototypes used for various tests, showing the innovation behind the scenes.

[ Pollen ]

I’m not sure how else you’d efficiently spray the tops of trees? Drones seem like a no-brainer here.

[ SUIND ]

Presented at ICRA40 in Rotterdam, we show the challenges faced by mobile manipulation platforms in the field. We at CSIRO Robotics are working steadily towards a collaborative approach to tackle such challenging technical problems.

[ CSIRO ]

ABB is best known for arms, but it looks like they’re exploring AMRs (autonomous mobile robots) for warehouse operations now.

[ ABB ]

Howie Choset, Lu Li, and Victoria Webster-Wood of the Manufacturing Futures Institute explain their work to create specialized sensors that allow robots to “feel” the world around them.

[ CMU ]

Columbia Engineering Lecture Series in AI: “How Could Machines Reach Human-Level Intelligence?” by Yann LeCun.

Animals and humans understand the physical world, have common sense, possess a persistent memory, can reason, and can plan complex sequences of subgoals and actions. These essential characteristics of intelligent behavior are still beyond the capabilities of today’s most powerful AI architectures, such as Auto-Regressive LLMs.
I will present a cognitive architecture that may constitute a path towards human-level AI. The centerpiece of the architecture is a predictive world model that allows the system to predict the consequences of its actions. and to plan sequences of actions that that fulfill a set of objectives. The objectives may include guardrails that guarantee the system’s controllability and safety. The world model employs a Joint Embedding Predictive Architecture (JEPA) trained with self-supervised learning, largely by observation.

[ Columbia ]

Here is a full list of titles releasing over the next two weeks on Netflix

Together, Melinda Watpool and Lucas Bahdi add a heavy dose of Canadian content to the undercard of next Friday's megawatt showdown between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul, which could become the most-viewed boxing event in history.

For a lot of folks who have been following Capcom’s fighting games over the years, the Marvel vs Capcom Fighting …

Continue reading "Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics Review – Switch, Steam Deck, and PS5 Covered"

Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics ($49.99) As a fan of Marvel, Capcom, and fighting games back in the …

Continue reading "SwitchArcade Review Round-Up: ‘Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection’, ‘Yars Rising’, & ‘Rugrats: Adventures in Gameland’"

Autumn is here! Curl up with your favorite pumpkin-spiced blog and savor these acorns that we’ve squirrelled away for you:

• Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicines gives a peek inside its $43 billion gross-to-net bubble

• Optum Rx joins the private label biosimilar bandwagon

• Biosimilars boom for provider-administered drugs

• Fresh evidence of how copay accumulators hurt patients

Plus, words of wisdom from Cencora's soon-to-be-former CEO Steve Collis.

P.S. Join my more than 58,000 LinkedIn followers for daily links to neat stuff along with thoughtful and provocative commentary from the DCI community.

There’s still time to request an invite to the inaugural Drug Channels Leadership Forum. Attendance will be highly limited. We have already begun extending invitations, so apply now to be considered. Click here to view the full agenda.

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Reality has again failed to support the spin surrounding the 340B Drug Pricing Program.

For 2023, discounted purchases under the 340B program reached a record $66.3 billion—an astounding $12.6 billion (+23.4%) higher than its 2022 counterpart. The gross-to-net difference between list prices and discounted 340B purchases also grew, to $57.8 billion (+$5.5 billion). 340B purchases are now almost 40% larger than Medicaid’s prescription drug purchases.

Hospitals again accounted for 87% of 340B purchases for 2023. Purchases at every 340B covered entity type grew, despite drug prices that grew more slowly than overall inflation.

Lobbyists claim that manufacturers’ 340B contract pharmacy changes are “stripping billions of dollars from the healthcare safety net.” But every year, the data tell a very different story. Only in the U.S. healthcare system can billions more in payments and spreads be considered a cut.

Read on for full details and our analysis, along with fresh details of troubling behavior by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).
Read more »

Eeek! It's time for Drug Channels’ Halloween roundup of terrifying tales to share with your ghoulish fiends. This month’s tricks and treats:

• Spooky! Blue Shield of California frightens away the gross-to-net bubble with its Humira biosimilar strategy

• Vampiric! Prior authorization sinks its fangs into providers’ time

• Wicked! How the IRA will put a stake through specialty physician practices

• Eerie! Google’s monstrous AI podcasts leave me petrified

• Zoinks! Join the vampire hunters at Drug Channels Institute

Plus, Dr. Glaucomflecken tells us a frightening tale of copayments.

P.S. Stretch out your arms and join the ever-growing zombie horde who shamble after me on LinkedIn. You’ll find my ghostly rantings along with commentary from the undead hordes in the DCI community.
Read more »

It is often said that medicine is both an art and a science. In an imperfect world this is both inevitable and desirable. But it is extremely important that the two should not be confused with each other. In particular, because the “science” side of the equation has achieved overwhelming prestige and authority, it is...

Click here to continue reading...

Value-based care contracting is especially difficult for behavioral health providers, Taft Parsons III, chief psychiatric officer at CVS Health/Aetna, pointed out during a conference this week.

The post CVS Health Exec: Payers Need to Stop Making Behavioral Health Providers Jump Through Hoops In Order to Participate in Value-Based Care appeared first on MedCity News.

Mar 28, 2024

We have heard much about the puzzle that US economic performance under President Joe Biden has been much stronger than voters perceive it to be.  But the current episode is just one instance of a bigger historical puzzle:  the US economy has since World War II consistently done better under Democratic presidents than under Republican presidents.  This fact is even less widely known, including among Democratic voters, than the truth about Biden’s term.  Indeed, some poll results suggest that more Americans believe the reverse, that Republican presidents are better stewards of the economy than Democrats.

Edmunds.com�s roundup of new vehicles at the 2014 LA Auto Show

Hi Sir Could I know the difference between Sale Order v. Work OrderHow both works in a practical way Please advise Thanks

Let's say you have a PlayStation, either because it was already in your closet or because you decided to spend ten thousand dollars for one after the virus arrived. How can you get the most out of the console in 2020?

The highly anticipated Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson fight is set to arrive soon, and this has sparked major excitement among fans about its release time. Netflix is bringing this exclusive event to its platform, making it accessible for fans wanting to witness the showdown. In it, boxing legend Mike Tyson will go up against […]

The post What Time Does Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson Fight Release on Netflix? appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More.

It's Bat Appreciation Month, minions, and I'm sure we can all agree: bats of every kind are pretty amazing.

Whether they're long and lumpy:

Or short and girthy:

Whether they have a huge, misshapen head:

Or bend juuuust slightly to the right:

Yep, bats are the bees knees, no matter where you stick them.

[urgent whispers from John]

What's that? I'm celebrating the wrong kind of bat?

OH! Bat bats. The flappy ones. Got it.

Huh.

::pause::

I dunno, after all that, a pumpkin in a bat hat feels a little... anticlimactic?


Well thanks anyway, Paula I., Marlene B., Heidi B., Emily D., Angela K., & Daniel G. I'm sure we'll have much less confusion with next week's hard rock cakes.

*****

Here's my actual contribution to Bat Appreciation Month: I found the prettiest lil' bat necklace for less than $10:

Gothic Bat Necklace

OooOOOOooh.

*****

And from my other blog, Epbot: