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The VR experience in ‘The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners’ prevents it from being just a zombie cliche

It's difficult to count the number of video games in which someone is standing around a corner clutching a weapon and waiting for their mortal enemy to pass. But until recently it wasn't possible to physically experience that scenario.




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Fan conventions are being postponed amid covid-19 concerns — but Comic-Con is still a go

Big fan-culture events in Florida and California have just been postponed. May's Awesome Con D.C. takes a wait-and-see approach.




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Ring lights, loved by influencers and YouTubers, are now being snatched up by work-from-home employees for Zoom calls and video chats

  • Millions of people have quickly had to adapt to working from home during the pandemic, leading some to scramble to look presentable over video chats with colleagues.
  • One strategy workers have used is the purchase of a ring light, a product that can be used in your video set-up to to improve lighting of your face on-camera.
  • Right lights have already been popular buys for influencers, vloggers, and TikTok creators who adopt various tools to produce professional-quality videos uploaded online.
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The ring light is beloved by YouTubers and aspiring TikTok creators for casting a flattering, even glow across anyone's face. Now, ring lights are seeing widespread interest among people tuning into Zoom work calls from their poorly lit homes during the pandemic.

Video conferencing software has exponentially grown in use in recent months, and employees now find themselves in situations online creators have been dealing with for years: Looking their best in front of the camera while in the comfort of their own homes.

Lockdown orders have coincided with a recent surge of interest in ring lights, especially in the U.S. where work-from-home rolled out to non-essential employees starting in early March. Twitter users have been sharing with followers their recent ring light purchases for classes, work meetings, and happy hours taking place over Zoom and FaceTime.

Ring light set-ups provide the benefits of a professional photo studio without the cost, casting your face in a shadow-free, flattering hue while you're in front of the camera. Ring lights on Amazon go for between $60 and $150, depending on how powerful of a light or complicated of a set-up you want. Many of these ring-lights come with tripods and pieces to hold your phone or camera.

Although newly work-from-home employees may just be discovering ring lights for the first time, they've long been a trick for creators whose bedrooms have doubled as their studios. While ring lights have been especially vital for makeup tutorials and beauty vloggers, they've since become commonplace to set-ups for young people starting out on YouTube and TikTok. Now, they're just one of the products with appearance-adjusting features catered to influencers, such as specific camera models that come with skin-smoothing filters.

As dates for returning to the office continue to get pushed back at some companies, sales will likely continue to rise for ring lights. However, it's probably on the more expensive side of simple tips and tricks to implement to look for presentable on your video calls. For those that don't want to splash out cash for a ring light, Zoom has a little-known filter on its platform that users can apply to give their faces a softer look and minimize imperfections. The "touch up my appearance" can be turned on directly within the Zoom app (you can find the steps for activating it on Business Insider).

SEE ALSO: WhatsApp is touting steps taken to cut the viral spread of coronavirus misinformation, but experts question whether it's done enough

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: What makes 'Parasite' so shocking is the twist that happens in a 10-minute sequence




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Perhaps Sanders and Warren are the ones being politically expedient

It’s been frustrating to watch more moderate positions be characterized as solely driven by political calculations.




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The 2020 elections are being driven by health care. That’s good news for Democrats.

Republican incompetence and heartlessness are again coming to Democrats’ rescue.




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News24.com | US rocked by another unarmed black man being shot dead

Politicians, celebrities and people speaking out on social media are angrily demanding the arrest of two white men in the shooting death of an unarmed black jogger in Georgia.




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Iceland and the Wellbeing Economy




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Episode 15: The Perks of Being a Wallflower/Beasts of the Southern Wild

  • The Perks of Being A Wallflower Review
  • Beasts of the Southern Wild Review
  • What We Watched
Download Episode 15 here. (right click to save)

Next episode is our Caveman episode. We will be discussing Quest For Fire, 10,000 B.C. and Ice Man.




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Being on the Cutting Edge

Cutters of diamonds and other gemstones have a high-pressure job with conflicting demands: Flaws must be removed from rough stones to maximize brilliance but done so in a way that yields the greatest weight possible. Because diamonds are often cut to a standard shape, cutting them is far less complex than cutting other gemstones, such as rubies or sapphires, which can have hundreds of different shapes. By coupling geometry and multivariable calculus with optimization techniques, mathematicians have been able to devise algorithms that automatically generate precise cutting plans that maximize brilliance and yield. The goal is to find the final shape within a rough stone. There are an endless number of candidates, positions, and orientations, so finding the shape amounts to a maximization problem with a large number of variables subject to an infinite number of constraints, a technique called semi-infinite optimization. Experienced human cutters create finished gems that average about 1/3 of the weight of the original rough stone. Cutting with this automated algorithm improved the yield to well above 40%, which, given the value of the stones, is a tremendous improvement. Without a doubt, semi-infinite optimization is a girl.s (or boy.s) best friend.




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Being Knotty: Part 1

Colin Adams talks about knot theory




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My Domain is not being recognized by website




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CBD News: Statement by the Executive Secretary Mr. Ahmed Djoghlaf on "Biological Diversity, Well-being and Sustainable Society" at the Sixth International Conference on Science and Technology for Sustainability 2008, 12 September 2008, Tokyo, Ja




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CBD News: Statement by Dr. Ahmed Djoghlaf, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, at the occasion of the DPI Briefing for the Community of Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) on Biodiversity - The Basis for Human Well-Being: Cele




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CBD Press Release: Biodiversity: The Foundation of Human Well-Being and Global Prosperity - Celebrating the International Day for Biological Diversity.




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CBD Communiqué: Regional Workshop on updating National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans Being Held in Congo




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CBD News: Articles are presently being sought from members of civil society (including NGOs, social movements, indigenous organizations and representatives, local communities) for the eighth issue of the CBD newsletter for civil society, [square brackets]




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CBD News: Articles are presently being sought from members of civil society (including NGOs, social movements, indigenous organizations and representatives, local communities) for the ninth issue of the CBD newsletter for civil society, [square brackets],




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CBD News: Islands and their surrounding near-shore marine areas constitute unique irreplaceable ecosystems often comprising many plant and animal species that are found nowhere else on Earth. They are also key to the livelihood, economy, well-being and cu




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CBD News: This year, declared International Year of Family Farming by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, International Mountain Day is being celebrated under the theme of "Mountain Farming". Mountain agriculture, which




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CBD News: The Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity will hold a session on 19 March 2015 at the Americana 2015 International Environmental Technology Trade Show and Conference, being held in Montreal, Canada, on why biodiversity matters fo




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CBD News: Statement by Mr. Braulio F. de Souza Dias, CBD Executive Secretary, at the opening of the Regional Forum on Solutions for Oceans, Coasts and Human Well-Being in Latin America and the Wider Caribbean Region, Cancun, Mexico, 14 - 17 April 2015




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CBD News: Oceans are essential for supporting life on Earth and for human well-being. The oceans cover more than 70 per cent of our planet, and over 40 per cent of the world's population (almost 3 billion people) lives within 100 kilometres of the coa




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CBD News: As governments from around the world prepare to adopt the sustainable development goals and targets later this year, it is particularly fitting that this year's World Environment Day is being celebrated under the theme of resource efficiency




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CBD News: Articles are presently being sought from members of civil society and indigenous peoples and local communities for the tenth edition of the CBD newsletter for civil society, [square brackets], being prepared to coincide with the nineteenth meeti




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CBD News: Articles are presently being sought from members of civil society and indigenous peoples and local communities for the tenth edition of the CBD newsletter for civil society, [square brackets], being prepared to coincide with the twentieth meetin




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CBD News: It gives me immense pleasure to extend a warm welcome to you all to this Capacity-building Workshop for Africa on achieving Aichi Biodiversity Targets 11 and 12. This workshop is the fourth in a series being organized by the CBD Secretariat in c




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CBD News: Fundamental to human well-being, water resources can help create paid and decent jobs. But water is a finite and irreplaceable resource. It is only renewable if well managed. All freshwater ultimately depends on the continued healthy functionin




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CBD News: Biological diversity underpins ecosystem functioning and the provisioning of ecosystem services essential for human well-being.




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CBD News: With its focus on mainstreaming biodiversity and issues being discussed at SBSTTA-20 and SBI-1, the May 2016 edition of [square brackets], the CBD newsletter for Civil Society, is now available online.




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CBD News: It is my pleasure to welcome you all to this Technical Workshop on Monitoring of Marine and Coastal Biodiversity, being held on the margins of the twentieth meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice.




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CBD News: This year's World Day to Combat Desertification shows the importance of being inclusive as we cooperate to restore and rehabilitate degraded land. It also points to the convergence of international action and landmark agreements recently ado




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CBD News: As we have just heard from the delegation of Mexico, the UN Biodiversity Conference, Cancun, Mexico, 2016 recently took place with the theme of "mainstreaming biodiversity for well-being".




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CBD News: Forests and the products they provide have a key role in securing sustainable energy globally, while at the same time being essential for biodiversity, healthy ecosystems, and climate change mitigation.




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CBD News: 10 official working documents and 14 information documents for the twenty-first meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA-21), being held in Montreal, Canada, 11 - 14 December 2017, are now availabl




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CBD News: Biodiversity underpins ecosystem functioning and the provisioning of ecosystem services essential for human well-being.




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CBD News: The Technical Expert Workshop on Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measures for Achieving Aichi Biodiversity Target 11 is being held 6-9 February 2018 in Montreal, Canada.




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CBD News: I call on all governments to send a clear message at COP 14 that safeguarding biodiversity is fundamental to our survival and to the well-being of everybody, everywhere.




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CBD News: Two major pieces of research reveal the clear and present danger biodiversity loss and climate change pose to the health, security and well-being of humanity.




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How relationship app Relish tackles health and wellbeing digitally

The relationship wellness app is seeing a significant uptick in interest as couples are locked down together during the COVID-19 pandemic




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8 ways 3D printing is being used today




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Genetic tests being done on dog

(To watch the whole press briefing with sign language interpretation, click here.)

 

The Agriculture, Fisheries & Conservation Department today said genetic sequencing tests are being carried out on the pet dog of a confirmed COVID-19 patient which could reveal if the virus has mutated or not.

 

The department's Assistant Director (Inspection & Quarantine) Dr Thomas Sit told a press briefing this afternoon that the coronavirus is what is known as an RNA virus which eventually mutates.

 

“That is why the University of Hong Kong School of Public Health needs to do a genetic analysis to compare this dog’s genetic sequencing to the virus isolated from the patient so that they can compare. So if it is totally identical, then there is no mutation. The testing is still ongoing.”

 

Dr Sit reiterated that international experts agreed that the dog has a low level of infection, despite its blood tests not being ready yet.

 

“From the first sample to our last sample tested, it has already (been) six days. The dog’s nasal or oral mechanism, their secretion they should have - if contaminated - they should have a way to clean the virus, it would not stay for that long if it was just a contamination.

 

“I think it will take at least five or seven days for the blood results because it is not an easy test, it is not a quick test. We need to grow a virus and then neutralise the serum, so it takes some time.”

 

He added that it was too early to say whether animal-to-animal transmission was a possibility.

 

“At this stage, we do not have enough data to have a 100% answer as to whether it is infectious to other dogs or not. But if the dog’s owner is positive, it is better to take precautionary measures to prevent onward transmission.”

 

Dr Sit also advised dog owners to wash their hands, wear gloves and try to stop their dogs from licking their surroundings to prevent the virus from spreading further.




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Outsmarting the enemy: Treefrogs rely on illusions to find a mate without being eaten

(Purdue University) Researchers at Purdue University have discovered that male treefrogs reduce their attractiveness to predators and parasites by overlapping their mating calls with their neighbors.




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AI being developed to help cancer patients during the COVID-19 pandemic

A new study led by The Royal Marsden involving Imperial will use artificial intelligence (AI) to help cancer patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.




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Content creators being left out - Online fun and frolic but no royalties

As online parties continue to rise, the question of how artistes and other musicians will get paid from these virtual sessions becomes even more pertinent. During an online forum held by the Jamaica Reggae Industry Association (JaRIA) yesterday...




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Covid-19: Campaigner calls for national guidance to stop DNR orders being made without discussion with patients and families




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Covid-19: Health needs of sex workers are being sidelined, warn agencies




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Michael West - GMC Report On Wellbeing

Michael West is professor of organisational psychology, at Lancaster University, and co-author of a new GMC report into the wellbeing of NHS staff. The review he led together with the clinical psychiatrist Denise Coia, focused on primary interventions related to workplace factors and the systems that doctors work in, rather than secondary...




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Wellbeing - Some advice on working in PPE

Wellbeing might not seem the obvious place to talk about PPE - but lack of appropriate PPE is causing healthcare staff a great deal of stress now. Mary Brindle is a pediatric surgeon and the director of The EQuIS (Efficiency Quality Innovation and Safety) Research platform at Alberta Children’s hospital. In this podcast she reflects on the use...




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Wellbeing - some advice for telehealth in secondary care

We’ve published info on Telehealth in primary care - and have been overwhelmed by the response from GPs who are finding it useful. But it’s not only primary care that is dramatically shifting to remote care - routine hospital care is moving online too, so we’ve asked Rowena McCash - GP and out of hours triage trainer joins us to give some tips...