Ulver continue to drop new songs from their upcoming, as-yet-untitled album, despite losing their long-serving keyboardist/producer last month

5 Tips for Shaping Your Workplace Culture

When Rob Schneider calls you from the car, you can’t help but wonder where he’s going. The set of Happy Gilmore 2? A Los Angeles comedy club? One of the few bars on the West Coast where they still let David Spade drink for free? I never did learn where Schneider was headed during our conversation — we had bigger things to talk about. Things like the First Amendment, Saturday Night Live, the Khmer Rouge, vaccine mandates, Alexis de Tocqueveille, and Shane Gillis. If you think that’s a random smattering of topics, you may not be ready for Schneider’s new book. “You Can Do It!: Speak Your Mind, America,” is equal parts memoir, historical survey, and political polemic, all wrapped up in Schneider’s trademark irreverent humor. At times it feels like Schneider is trying to make the case for free speech through sheer force of will: his stream-of-consciousness narrative plows forward at a breakneck pace, flitting from childhood reminiscence to an exploration of Soviet propaganda and back to a funny Chris Farley anecdote all before you can say “makin’ copies!” That the book is funny isn’t surprising. After nearly a decade on Saturday Night Live, Schneider moved to the big screen, starring in hit films like “The Hot Chick” and “The Benchwarmers,” and making countless memorable appearances alongside his close friend and former SNL cast mate, Adam Sandler. The humor is a given. It’s everything else that’s shocking. Schneider is hardly the first celebrity to get political, nor the first to get in trouble for doing so. That he moved from left to right is a bit more shocking, but not without precedent. What’s truly strange about Schneider is just how seriously he’s taking his political turn. “You Can Do It!” doesn’t just have arguments — it has information. It has citations and statistics and digressions on Stanley Milgram and Mikhail Bulgakov. At times it feels more like a college lecture hall than a 30 Rock soundstage. What made Deuce Bigelow get so serious? “I got into show business to avoid having to do stuff like writing a book,” Schneider told The Daily Wire, adding that doing so was “a pain in the ass.” It was after witnessing the “egregious attack on our civil liberties and the attack on free speech” perpetrated by Democrats and their media allies that Schneider decided to pick up the pen. But even then, he didn’t lose his sense of humor. “We’re kind of f***ed as a country,” Schneider said. “And so I do feel a responsibility, even though it cost me money and cost me work, I feel like it is my comedic-patriotic duty to at least bring these things to attention.” The importance of protecting free speech may be the stated focus of “You Can Do It!” But Schneider’s understanding of this “comedic-patriotic duty” is perhaps the most essential — and certainly the most interesting — thread of the book. “As de facto intellectuals, comedians are the cultural rearview mirrors,” Schneider writes. “Our jokes reflect the essence of a particular time, place, and attitude, to remind us of the context of where we just came from.” This is why it felt so wrong when, following Donald Trump’s election in 2016, and then the coronavirus pandemic 2020, comedians by and large abandoned their craft and began echoing liberal talking points. “I think the low watermark of comedy in the 21st century was late night television, with these hosts who all had interchangeable monologues,” Schneider told The Daily Wire. “Nothing to me was more egregious than the dancing syringes on Colbert’s show. That to me, it wasn’t cringe. It was Soviet bloc. It seems like something out of the Khmer Rouge.” Schneider says the preservation of free speech in America depends in a large part on the flourishing of comedy — honest, equal-opportunity, no-holds-barred comedy. “If you can get people to see the absurdity” of a given figure or issue, Schneider told The Daily Wire, “and mock it and laugh at it, it is the best way to move its natural path towards tyranny so that it collapses. “When the public is comfortable laughing at the government, then they are no longer in fear of the government,” he said. This is what makes Schneider’s activism so refreshing. Unlike many celebrities who jump in the arena, he doesn’t think his fame entitles him to serve as a moral arbiter for the rest of us. Rather, he sees himself as a member of the comedian class, a role that comes with a certain obligation to challenge authority and speak truth to power. “I’m not saying I’m 100% right in these things,” he says, “but the fact is we need to have discourse, we need to not shout each other down.” That humility doesn’t mean Schneider is pulling punches. He says that “the Democratic Party needs to lose this election — and maybe two or three more — so that they can regroup and become a political party that isn’t undemocratic and authoritarian.” Republicans, he tells The Daily Wire, “are going to have to put on their big boy pants and change legislation” should they win in November. If this doesn’t happen — if Democrats keep power and continue their assault on free speech, or if Republicans win but resort to ad hominem attacks — Schneider worries about what will come next. “Western civilization is committing suicide,” Schneider tells The Daily Wire, adding that “the United States is the last bastion of freedom in the world.” “If we go, so goes the world,” he says. “There will be no Marines to rescue the United States from another country, there will be no food drop. There is no Marshall Plan for the United States. We are it.” Dire as that sounds, Schneider has hope for the future of the country. His spirits are buoyed by, among other things: Mark Zuckerberg’s recent admission that the Biden-Harris administration pressured Facebook to censor content (“I don’t think Zuckerberg’s a bad actor”); Saturday Night Live’s decision to have Shane Gillis host after firing him for politically incorrect jokes (“How great was Lorne Michaels to do that?”); and The Daily Wire’s own Matt Walsh (“The one, rightful heir to Sacha Baron Cohen. I think Matt Walsh is a genius. I really do”). But more than anything, Schneider is optimistic because he believes in America. “This imperfect union was founded under God with a belief that we have done something special,” he says. “It is a union deserving of our forgiveness and deserving of our thanks, deserving of our gratitude and deserving of every attempt we can [make] for its preservation.” To do that, “we must call out injustice. But in that call…we should have a reconciliation.” “We have to be generous, and if our fault is that we are too generous, that is the price that we must pay, that is what this great nation calls upon us now to do,” Schneider says. Before we spoke, I was ready for Schneider to go deep on all sorts of subjects — I had read the book, after all — but I wasn’t expecting such a serious meditation on American democracy. Thoroughly impressed and hoping for a good kicker, I asked Schneider if he had any parting thoughts he wanted to share. He didn’t even hesitate. “The book’s also pretty funny.”

Two cats are better than one, so when this pet mom brought home a kitten, she knew she had to adopt the animal’s sister, too! As it turns out, this was the best decision ever. Not only are these two the cutest four-legged siblings you’ve ever seen, but they’re also so happy to be reunited! Their owner shared the sweetest footage from the first time they saw each other after the adoption. In this adorable video, the woman’s little black kitten burst into the room with a loud cry when she saw her sister being released from a cat carrier. These two ran right up to one another as if to say, “long time no see!” They spent a few moments incredulously inspecting one another’s faces before the newest kitten scampered underneath a piece of furniture. @shannyyriee the meow of relief in the beginning #kittensoftiktok #kittens ♬ WILDFLOWER – ??????︎ “When you adopt a kitten and surprise her a few days later with her sister,” wrote the cat mom over the clip. In her caption, she pointed out “the meow of relief” that the first kitten made when she saw her sister again. This beautiful video has received over four million views! Commenters absolutely loved seeing these two kitties reunited in their new home. “Sisters just belong together,” wrote one user. Another added, “Please post more of them they are so cute.” Mom was more than happy to deliver more content of these kitten sisters! She shared another clip of the two pets sitting together in the same bed. In the comments section, she revealed their names: Sundae and Lola. @shannyyriee Replying to @Misoandgreenie heres another video of the girls #kittensoftiktok #sisters ♬ original sound – It’s amazing how similar this kitten and her sister look! Although Sundae is black and Lola has a few white spots, their faces are otherwise almost identical. What a precious pair! We’re so glad that this owner decided to bring both cats home with her. They probably would have been so lonely without each other! You can find the source of this story’s featured image here. The post “When You Adopt A Kitten And Surprise Her A Few Days Later With Her Sister” appeared first on InspireMore.

Imma shoot up the school

Spanish technical archaeologists have identified ancient irrigation ducts in desert regions around the world using AI. The AI was trained to pour through old spy satellite photos taken during the Cold War and look for evidence of underground aqueducts that carried water from highlands or mountains down into baking plains. Unlike the iconic Roman above-ground […] The post AI Trained on Cold War Spy Satellites to Detect Ancient Underground Aqueducts for Archeology appeared first on Good News Network.

China recently ended most international adoptions, leaving hundreds of families devastated as all pending applications are suspended.  As of Aug. 28, the Chinese government ceased foreign adoptions in order to be “in line” with international trends, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told Reuters.  The ban affects all international adoptions except for cases where parents are adopting their own children or stepchildren from China. The decision has significant implications, particularly on families who have waited years to adopt children from China.  “We want answers. We wonder what the kids who had pictures of us and videos of us, do they think that, ‘Oh I’ve been abandoned again?’” Laurie Carey from Birmingham, Ala., told NPR.  Three years ago, Carey was set to adopt a little boy from China. She would cherish videos of the 3-year-old boy, who would say “mama” and “baba” while looking at pictures of Carey and her family, according to NPR.  The family expected a delay due to the pandemic, yet after two years, the situation remained unclear.  “‘Just be patient’ is what we were told for four years,” Carey told NPR. “‘Just be patient,’ which is hard when you have a child on the other side of the world and your whole life is … wrapped up in this.”  When word about China’s policy change went out in August, it was the worst form of closure for families who spent years waiting.  Over the last three decades, international families have adopted 160,000 Chinese children—half of whom were adopted by U.S. families. Most adoptees are girls or children with disabilities.  Why China Implemented the Adoption Ban  After China abandoned its 35-year-old “one-child policy,” it is now facing a “demographic crisis,” according to Michael Cunningham, a research fellow specializing in China’s domestic politics and foreign policy at The Heritage Foundation’s Asian Studies Center.    Cunningham told The Daily Signal there are several reasons motivating China’s decision.  “They have a declining birth rate, and they’re coming into a demographic crisis,” Cunningham explained. “They want to keep as many of their children in China as possible.”  Cunningham expects that some Chinese families will step up to “give these disadvantaged children an opportunity,” although he warned that there will likely be many orphans who don’t have the benefit of a loving family to care for them.  Foreign adoption restrictions are changing globally, and Cunningham said international adoption is “controversial everywhere.”   As it pertains to China, Cunningham said the issue is whether a child would be better off being adopted by a foreign family or spending their childhood living in an orphanage.  As of 2022, there were 159,000 orphans in China, according to the Council on Foreign Relations. That data suggests there could be an additional 353,000 orphans in China that live independently or whose extended families cannot care for them.  China’s Population Policies  After more than three decades of enforcing its one-child policy, the Chinese Communist Party is now seeking to incentivize population growth.   Cunningham said the COVID-19 pandemic showed the Chinese that they could implement a ban on international adoptions without facing a population problem. The CCP used the pandemic period to test the impact of cutting international adoptions.   “It was so hard—in most cases impossible—to do the adoptions during the pandemic,” Cunningham said. Cunningham added that China’s decision doesn’t appear to be malicious but rather in its own interest to address its needs. Even with that being the case, Cunningham speculated that China would likely need to offer incentives to Chinese families to encourage adoption.  “There’s no longer a ‘one-child policy,’ but people are still not having babies,” he said. “The cost of living is quite high now. It’s often seen as being too expensive to have more children. The government is trying to get people to have more children now, and they’re failing to do so.”  Cunningham pointed to decades of population control, including the one-child policy, as difficult cultural barriers to overcome.  “Will it be enough to convince families to adopt children after decades of forcing them to abort children, sometimes forcibly ripping children out of the arms of their parents because they weren’t supposed to have another child?” China’s new approach will not only have implications in its own country for years to come, but more immediately on the many U.S. families whose hopes for adoption appear unlikely to happen.  The post Families Left Heartbroken as China Ends International Adoptions appeared first on The Daily Signal.

This week, a would-be assassin aimed a rifle at Donald Trump through the fence at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida. A Secret Service agent saw the man and shot at him; he was later arrested. The alleged shooter has a long record of clear-cut, left-wing hatred: He has opined that Trump ought to be killed by Iran, he has donated only to Democrats since 2019, and his truck sports a Biden/Harris bumper sticker. This makes the second assassination attempt on Trump in two months. Trump has now been subjected to as many near-shootings during that period as Kamala Harris has solo interviews. Why? The answer is obvious: America is a large country, with a large number of unstable people. Overheated rhetoric generally appeals to the unhinged; the unhinged may take seriously that rhetoric and attempt violence as a consequence. That doesn’t mean that those who spout such rhetoric are criminally responsible for the actions of the violent. It does mean that when the temperature is raised on the political stove, it becomes more predictable for the pot to boil over. We have now been subjected to a full decade of talk about how Donald Trump is a full-scale threat to the American republic. President Joe Biden has given speeches labeling Trump a danger to the soul of democracy. Harris, his vice president, has said that the very fabric of our country is at stake. Trump has been compared to Adolf Hitler more often than any public figure of our lifetime. Is it an enormous shock that someone with mental issues might think that taking a shot at Trump would be justified—heroic, even? It’s certainly true that overheated rhetoric exists on all sides of the political aisle these days. In understanding just why Trump has been subjected to two separate assassination attempts in eight weeks, it isn’t enough just to blame violent rhetoric, though. Opponents of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris generally disdain them; they understand that neither Biden nor Harris are historic figures, indispensable to the movements they supposedly lead. In fact, there is a baseline understanding that the Democratic Party could easily switch Biden or Harris for a dozen others and that their preferred issue set would maintain apace. The same is not true for Trump. The media and Democratic Party have determined that Trump is a singularly indispensable figure—a sort of bizarre cult leader, who has mesmerized millions into submission. They believe, in fact, that absent Trump, the Americans who vote for him would revert to becoming good little Democrats—reasonable people. That lie springs from a deeper lie: the lie that human beings are inherently good (by which they mean liberal) and that they think differently only if they are bamboozled by a strongman. Dispense with the strongman, and all will be well. The problem here is larger than hatred for Trump. It is a perverse view that those who dissent from Democratic Party politics are themselves zombies in thrall to a madman, rather than fellow Americans who disagree on key issues for good reasons of their own. And so the assassination attempts will likely continue. Trump has dodged a bullet once and avoided a shooting a second time. Americans ought never be asked to experience a third attempt. If, God forbid, something does happen to Trump, the results for the country will be catastrophic. COPYRIGHT 2024 CREATORS.COM We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal. The post Another Month, Another Trump Assassination Attempt appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Remember that worn-out stuffed toy you threw away a few years ago? No? Well, chances are, your dog may still remember them. A new study found that our furry friends have great memory and can actually remember the names of their toys for longer than we might think. In the study, published in journal Biology Letters, the team of researchers, Shany Dror, Ádám Miklósi and Claudia Fugazza, wanted to learn more about dogs and long-term memory since little is known about it. The researchers wanted to know if dogs can retain their associations of objects due to repeated use, or if they’re like us, humans, and are able to store associations in long-term memory. OksanaArtyuhova / Shutterstock.com Results from the study found that some of the smartest of dogs, referred to as gifted word learner (GWL) dogs in the study, can retain object names, even if they haven’t seen the same object for two years. Five GWL dogs (two females, and three males) participated in the study. And the study’s experiment started in December 2020 where the dogs were taught the names of 12 toys in 1 week. The researchers let the dogs, along with their owners, play with the toys for a few months before storing the toys away for two years. Two years later, the researchers brought the dogs out individually, showed them the toys, along with other objects familiar with the dogs, in the room. They then asked the dogs to retrieve the test toys by calling out the toy’s name. After the test, the researchers found that the dogs were accurate in retrieving the toy specified 44% of the time, while some even had a 60% accuracy rate. Tatyana Vyc / Shutterstock.com Dr Claudia Fugazza tells Country Living Magazine, “We know that dogs can remember events for at least 24 hours and odors for up to one year but this is the first study showing that some talented dogs can remember words for at least two years.” “The findings of our current study cannot be generalised to other dogs because we only tested gifted word learners (GWL) dogs, individuals that show a special talent for acquiring object words.” And while the research was only done on smart dogs, it’s still shows that the ability to store associations in long-term memory is not uniquely human. Furthermore, this discovery can further help scientists learn how other species that aren’t human retain their memories in the long term. “GWL dogs provide a unique opportunity to examine whether such correlations may also exist in a species that does not possess language,” the researchers concluded.