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The Internet Reacts To The Original Star Wars

Imagine an alternate universe where the Star Wars movies were released in chronological order - where Episodes I to III were the original, beloved trilogy. How would the internet have reacted to the film that followed? More »
    




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There Are Official Star Wars Zoom Backgrounds Now

The best thing about Zoom is the ability to set a virtual background. It's almost enough to make you forget about all those passwords that were stolen. From faking being paying attention in a meeting to setting a background to an island paradise, people are enjoying making work meetings a little bit more fun. Disney and Lucasfilm have clearly taken notice, because a stack of official Star Wars Zoom backgrounds just got released for free. More »
    




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10 Weird Star Wars Facts You Probably Never Knew About

With the three Skywalker trilogies over and done with for now, what better than to celebrate the made-up Star Wars holiday than to re-examine some weird facts we all glossed over. Here's 10 strange (and some downright freaky) facts you probably didn't know about to celebrate. More »
    




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Aramco IPO Enters Final Phase, Shares to Start Trading Wednesday—Energy Journal

Saudi Aramco’s IPO saga has turned into “A Tale of Two Princes.” As Saudi Arabia’s day-to-day ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has guided the IPO far from public view, his half-brother Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman stepped onto center stage in Vienna last week, presiding over a crucial gathering of OPEC and its oil-producing allies […]




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Liverpool ready to make major Sadio Mane transfer decision as Real Madrid eye star



Liverpool are looking to make Sadio Mane an offer that would tarnish Real Madrid's hopes of signing him.




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Premier League clubs scared 50 players could revolt and put stop to Project Restart plans



Premier League clubs are fearful that a significant number of first-team stars may refuse to return to action if the league's Project Restart plan gets the green light.




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Watford chairman slams Premier League's Project Restart in scathing rant



Watford chairman Scott Duxbury has questioned whether the Premier League should return amid the coronavirus pandemic.




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Two stars colliding in 2083 will outshine all the others in the sky

Two stars in the constellation Sagitta are predicted to smash together in the year 2083, producing an explosion that will outshine every star in the sky




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SpaceX Starlink satellites could be ‘existential threat’ to astronomy

Huge constellations of satellites like SpaceX’s Starlink could make ground-based astronomy impossible, and we’re running out of time to deal with the problem




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A single star has let us put a date on our galaxy’s last cosmic meal

The Milky Way ate another galaxy called Gaia-Enceladus, and the waves passing through a star have shown us that it happened at most 11.6 billion years ago




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Two stars with an odd wobble are stretching space and time around them

Einstein’s theory of relativity predicts that fast-spinning objects stretch space and time around them, and we’ve watched that effect make a pair of stars wobble




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A star exploded into a supernova but it weirdly isn't very bright

Astronomers have spotted a star that is exploding with a brightness 100 times less than expected – and it’s a mystery exactly why the explosion is so dim




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Legal action could be used to stop Starlink affecting telescope images

A group of astronomers has called for legal action to stop the launch of thousands of satellites designed by companies like SpaceX and OneWeb to beam high-speed internet around the world




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Astronomy group finds Starlink satellites will have 'negative impact'

The International Astronomical Union has concluded a review of satellite mega constellations such as SpaceX's Starlink satellites and found they will have a major impact on large telescopes, but not naked eye astronomy




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A wobbling star may explain pattern of weird radio signals from space

We’ve spotted strange blasts of radio waves from space in a pattern that may be produced by a magnetised neutron star wobbling as it spins




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Rocket start-up Astra tries back-to-back launches to win $12 million

A space flight start-up called Astra is about to attempt to launch two small rockets into orbit over a few weeks to win $12 million from the US military




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Weird star was born when two white dwarfs merged instead of blowing up

White dwarf stars are common in the galaxy, but astronomers have found one that doesn't seem to obey the rules. They think it was born when two smaller white dwarfs merged together




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Supermassive stars may have formed by repeatedly eating their siblings

Some black holes are way bigger than we can explain, and they may have come from supermassive stars that formed by devouring the other stars around them




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Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin: The unsung discoverer of star chemistry

Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, who discovered that hydrogen dominates our universe, finally gets the recognition she deserves in a rich biography, What Stars Are Made Of




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The orbit of a star near our galaxy’s black hole proves Einstein right

A star that swoops close to the Milky Way’s supermassive black hole has a strange, looping orbit that proves Einstein was right about the gravity of black holes




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Interstellar comet Borisov came from a cold and distant home star

The interstellar comet Borisov, which flew past Earth in December, is full of carbon monoxide ice that implies its home star is smaller and colder than our sun




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Our nearest star system may have a planet with a colossal set of rings

We know that there is at least one planet orbiting Proxima Centauri, the nearest star to our solar system, and now astronomers may have taken the first picture of a second world




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Stars in the Milky Way's centre often get dangerously close together

About 80 per cent of stars in the Milky Way’s central bulge have relatively close encounters with another star, which can fling off any planets orbiting them




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AI Agents Startle Researchers With Unexpected Hide-and-Seek Strategies

The OpenAI project demonstrated "emergent behavior" by the AI players, including surfing



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  • robotics/artificial-intelligence

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This Startup Is Building Giant Robots to Grow Our Food

FarmWise is using AI and robotics to enhance farming efficiency by taking care of each plant individually




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From Mainframes to PCs: What Robot Startups Can Learn From the Computer Revolution

In their search for killer apps, robotics companies should look at the amazing evolution of computers




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Predicting the Future with AI and Sound, Starting With Robots in Space

Bosch SoundSee combines deep learning with mobile microphone arrays to identify problems on the ISS before they happen



  • robotics
  • robotics/artificial-intelligence

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Star Wars Character Hydrating Beauty Masks

These are the Star Wars hydrating face masks from Japanese beauty product manufacturer Isshin Do. They come in Darth Vader, Stormtrooper, Darth Maul, C-3PO and Chewbacca varieties, and each contains water, glycerin, hyaluronic acid, collagen, and vitamin C to make your face feel softer than a baby Yoda's butt. For those living in Japan, you can pick up the masks for around $4 apiece from a variety of beauty retailers. For those of us not living in Japan, you can buy a 3-pack of any character for $31 from the Japan Trend Shop which, I wouldn't even kid myself, my face is not worth. I don't even buy sunscreen, I just use old spray paint I find in the garage. Also, how long you think it'll take before these are being used by couples for lewd sex acts? "Already happened." FACT. Keep going for a shot of each while I try to pretend I didn't just imagine some Chewbacca on C-3PO bedroom role playing.




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I'll Take The Stairs: Elevator Starts Ascending Before Man Is Fully Inside

This is a terrifying elevator cam gif from Korea of an elevator that begins ascending before a man enters, tripping him and almost creating a classic horror movie death scene in real life. Thankfully he was able to escape. And this is exactly why I don't take elevators -- or escalators. "So you're a stair guy?" Please *jiggling belly* jetpack or grappling gun only. Thanks to PK, who agrees they always say use the stairs in case of emergency, and what's 2020 if not a nonstop emergency? Besides, how do you social distance in an elevator? I mean if somebody farts everyone smells it.




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Fortnite Party Royale Premiere UK Start Time, How to Watch, Neon Wings and more



Epic will be hosting its latest in-game event in Fortnite this weekend, featuring the talents of Dillon Francis, Steve Aoki and deadmau5




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GTA 6 release date: Rockstar debate splits opinion of gaming's trusted insiders



A public disagreement between a trusted games journalist and the GTA community is showing Rockstar just how eager people are for a GTA 6 announcement




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Fortnite Party Royale Event COUNTDOWN: Start time, Epic Games Rewards and more



Fortnite Party Royale event starts soon. Here's everything you need to know including start times for Deadmau5, Dillon Francis and Steve Aoki - PLUS how to claim the many live event rewards available from Epic Games as they celebrate 350 million players.




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RPGCast – Episode 254: “Who Needs Kickstarter?”

Class of Heroes decides to do a physical version after all. The Big Huge Games folks get more bad news. Quin teaches us about fictional...




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RPGCast – Episode 263: “Starlight RPGCast”

There’s peanut butter in my chocolate in this week’s RPG Cast. We figure out how to solve the JRPG problem. Nintendo announces every RPG ever....




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RPGCast – Episode 390: “Star Ocean 5: It Could Be Worse”

E3 is over but SGDQ has yet to start. How can you fill the time better than with an RPG Cast? Alice, Anna Marie, Chris,...




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RPGCast – Episode 419: “The Star Trek V of Mass Effect”

Digimon has a new case. Nintendo has a new Limited Edition. Radiant Historia has a new remake. World of Warcraft has a new patch. You...




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Czech Airlines to restart some flights after coronavirus grounding




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Can Taika Waititi revive the cosmic sweep of classic Star Wars?

Excellent film-maker that he is, Watiti seems to fit the Marvel blueprint far more easily than he does Star Wars’ more venerable, old-school template

When entertainment reporters play Hollywood roulette, the practice of attaching directors and stars to forthcoming movies based on little more than rumour, their little white balls nearly always seem to land on Taika Waititi’s number. If you’ve been keeping a close eye on this column over the past year, you’ve probably spotted the white-hot Kiwi director being touted for a remake of Flash Gordon and the next Deadpool movie among other projects, neither of which have yet come to fruition.

Waititi’s next film, according to reports this week, will be a Star Wars episode. Will he end up making it to the first day of production on this one? The chances seem better, as Disney has officially confirmed the appointment via the space saga’s official website, with 1917 co-writer Krysty Wilson-Cairns helping deliver a script. But this is Star Wars we are talking about – Colin Trevorrow, Josh Trank, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, David Benioff and DB Weiss are among the numerous film-makers who have cheerily signed up to try to bring back the glory days of the long-running series in recent times, only to ultimately fall foul of Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy’s merciless Force choke.

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‘Of course I smoked marijuana!’ Elliott Gould on stardom, Streisand and Elvis Presley

The star of M*A*S*H, The Long Goodbye – and more recently, Friends – talks about drugs, his fiery marriage to Barbra Streisand and getting his best reviews from Groucho Marx and Muhammad Ali

The best review ever received by Elliott Gould – renowned actor and star of M*A*S*H and The Long Goodbye; not to mention, Ross and Monica’s dad on Friends – was from Groucho Marx. The two of them had become close in the comedian’s latter years – so close, Gould says, “he used to let me shave him”. One day Marx asked Gould to change a lightbulb in his bedroom. Gould took off his shoes, stood on the bed and replaced the broken bulb. Marx told him: “That was the best acting I’ve ever seen you do.”

Gould, now 81, has been telling the story for decades – but it is clear even in our pixelated video call that it still delights him. “Isn’t that great?” he says, his distinctive nasal, New York baritone now deepened with age. As we speak he is sitting at a computer at a friend’s house in Los Angeles, relaxed in a blue hoodie, with a seemingly bottomless mug of coffee before him. In isolation on either side of the Atlantic, neither of us has anywhere to be. And after more than half a century in Hollywood, in which he went from leading man to exile and, eventually, fixture – Gould could fill days, not just hours, with his stories. Even without his eight-year marriage to Barbra Streisand.

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Gwyneth Paltrow said starring in Shallow Hal was a 'disaster' – here’s why she is right

The actor said wearing a fat suit for the 2001 movie taught her what it is like to be humiliated as an obese person. Why are TV and film characters so rarely treated with dignity and respect?

‘Disaster” is how Gwyneth Paltrow has summed up her role in the 2001 film Shallow Hal, which will surprise few people who have actually seen it. Jack Black plays Hal, a man so shallow he has to be hypnotised in order to date a fat woman, who, through his boggled eyes, he sees as a very thin woman.

The nastiness of Shallow Hal, which has long appalled critics and fans alike, was front and centre in the trailer, where Hal’s friend attempts to “rescue” him from speaking to a fat woman, Rosemary, who is, in fact, willowy Paltrow dressed in a fat suit. But because he cannot see what she looks like, he falls for her “inner beauty”. It is an uncomfortable mix – a film that pretends to preach body acceptance while simultaneously inviting laughter at bodies that don’t fit into jeans size six and under. Take the scene where she is called a “rhino”, or the one where she cannonballs into a swimming pool causing a tidal wave. The message built into the script’s DNA is simple: fat is funny; it is OK to laugh at fat people.

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Journeyman pilloried, superstar adored

Go ahead and applaud taking down a group of boorish hockey “bros” for their despicable behaviour. But you might want to hold off on a full-fledged victory lap. Brendan Leipsic said ...




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Apple’s iPad Pro and Magic Keyboard Are a Good Start — But I Can’t Wait for the Next Version

The Magic Keyboard isn't perfect, but it pushes the iPad toward the inevitable future of computing, writes TIME's tech critic




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Video Games Are a Great Way to Pass the Time and Keep You Connected. Here’s How to Get Started

Tips and game suggestions for gaming first-timers and veterans alike




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VCs see opportunities for gaming infrastructure startups and incumbents

As the infrastructure for developing games becomes more advanced, studios have turned to buying best-in-class technology from others instead of building everything from scratch (often with inferior quality). This shift underpinned Unity’s rise as the most popular game engine. The current focus on games as ever-evolving social hubs that can remain popular for a decade […]




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Aviation Sector in India Stares at Rs 25,000 Crore Loss Due to COVID-19 Crisis: Crisil

The report by Crisil also added that the losses will climb if travel restrictions last longer in hubs such as Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata.





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The hunt for patient zero: Where did the coronavirus outbreak start?

Growing evidence suggests the covid-19 outbreak may not have started at Wuhan’s Huanan Seafood Market in December after all. Finding its origins may help us stop it happening again




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Why countries should start weekly covid-19 testing for key workers

Many countries are focusing coronavirus testing on people who have covid-19 symptoms. But regularly testing all essential workers would have more of an impact




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Arsenal loan star Ceballos uses Trump GIF to respond to transfer rumour

The Real Madrid midfielder got creative as he denied a report claiming that he would be included in a swap deal that would see him join Sevilla





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Pulisic forever grateful to Klopp as USMNT star recalls 'unreal' moment training with Aubameyang & Mkhitaryan

The United States international, who is now on the books at Chelsea, was given his break at Borussia Dortmund by the current Liverpool manager





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Van Dijk sounds ominous warning to rivals as Liverpool star claims he can get even better

The Netherlands international has become a talismanic presence for club country, but the commanding centre-half believes there is more to come