News The Lifecycle of Software Objects Ted Chiang’s The Lifecycle of Software Objects Is Getting a Potential Adaptation Director Simon Jaquemet has a fascination with stories about machines and their feelings. By Vanessa Armstrong | Published on August 14, 2024 Credit for Ted Chiang Photo: Alan Berner Comment 0 Share New Share Credit for Ted Chiang Photo: Alan Berner Swiss director Simon Jaquemet sat down for an interview about his latest sci-fi film, Electric Child, and shared that another project he’s working on is an adaptation of Ted Chiang’s The Lifecycle of Software Objects. In an interview with Variety, Jaquemet called Chiang’s novella, a 110-page story first published in 2010 that is also found in his 2019 collection, Exhalation, “very clever and complex.” He didn’t share, however, any more details about his take on the adaptation, including whether it would be a feature or series. The Lifecyle of Software Objects centers on the creation of child-like AI bots called digients, who humans buy and treat as a family pet or, in some cases, like a toddler. When digients’ popularity fades and the company that supports them goes out of business, the few humans who still care about them have to decide how to treat their digients in a world where others might want to use them for sex acts, among other things. Jaquemet appears to be fascinated with AI—Electric Child, as you may guess, has AI enter the picture when a baby gets very sick—and said that, in addition to movies like Her and Ex Machina, he was inspired by the works of Stanislaw Lem. “Apart from Solaris, I read Golem XIV [which introduced a ‘lecture’ given by a supercomputer] and Fables for Robots,” Jaquemet told Variety. “They are important to me, because they are exploring whether machines have feelings.” No news yet on if/when Jaquemet’s adaptation of Chiang’s The Lifecycle of Software Objects will make its way to production, much less a screen near you. [end-mark] The post Ted Chiang’s <i>The Lifecycle of Software Objects</i> Is Getting a Potential Adaptation appeared first on Reactor.

Excerpts Epic Fantasy Read an Excerpt From Sung-il Kim’s Blood of the Old Kings There is no escaping the Empire. Even in death, you will serve. By Sung-il Kim | Published on August 14, 2024 Comment 0 Share New Share We’re thrilled to share an excerpt from Blood of the Old Kings, an epic fantasy novel by South Korean author Sung-il Kim (translated by Anton Hur), out from Tor Books on October 8. In an Empire run on necromancy, dead sorcerers are the lifeblood. Their corpses are wrapped in chains and drained of magic to feed the unquenchable hunger for imperial conquest.Born with magic, Arienne has become resigned to her dark fate. But when the voice of a long-dead sorcerer begins to speak inside her head, she listens. There may be another future for her, if she’s willing to fight for it.Miles away, beneath a volcano, a seven-eyed dragon also wears the Empire’s chains. Before the imperial fist closed around their lands, it was the people’s sacred guardian.Loran, a widowed swordswoman, is the first to kneel before the dragon in decades. She comes with a desperate plea, and will leave with a sword of dragon-fang in hand and a great purpose before her.In the heart of the Imperial capital, Cain is known as a man who gets things done. When his best friend and mentor is found murdered, he will leave no stone unturned to find those responsible, even if it means starting a war. CAIN Cain had just stepped into the alley that would take him home when the blue light of the streetlamp behind him blinked once before going out completely. A gust of winter cold rustled his old tan coat. The ghost-like shadows that haunted the buildings melted into the dark, and now the only light came from a smattering of candles in the windows above the alley. The Power generator in this run-down part of the Imperial Capital was low-grade, and old at that, so simply covering the fuses with a thin lead panel could disrupt the lamps for a while. A method commonly used by muggers, but no mugger or thief in this vicinity would dare make a mark of Cain. Someone must want to talk to him. Perhaps it had something to do with Fienna. Maybe it was going to be violent. Cain pinched a leg of his spectacles but decided against stashing them in their steel case. Whatever was going to happen, he couldn’t afford to miss any details. In the alley ahead, a man appeared, his face hidden by the hood of a black cloak. Another person materialized from the shadows at Cain’s right, from the main street he’d just turned off of, and he could hear muffled footsteps farther down the alley from approaching figures he couldn’t yet see. Cain had a concealed dagger in the inner pocket of his coat, his hand unconsciously creeping toward it, but he paused—he could make out at least five shrouded figures blocking his exit from all angles now. This was not a situation he could get out of by force. “Cain?” an unfamiliar voice asked. “Cain, of the oil shop?” Buy the Book Blood of the Old Kings Sung-il Kim Buy Book Blood of the Old Kings Sung-il Kim Buy this book from: AmazonBarnes and NobleiBooksIndieBoundTarget Cain turned to face the speaker. A tall woman with short hair stood at the entrance of the alley. No weapons were visible on her person, but the iron in her voice and stance made it clear she’d once served in the legions. And like any ex-legionary, she was bound to be carrying at least one weapon, or to even be wearing armor under her coat. Cain delayed answering as he glanced at the walls of the alley, noting how smooth they were despite their grime, with nary a handhold to aid his escape. He turned his head back down the alley where a man had come to a stop just six or seven steps away, face still in shadow. Not even his nose or mouth was discernible by the light of the stars and the weak candlelight. “And who wishes to know?” Cain finally answered, wondering if talking could buy him the time he would need. “You’ve been asking after that woman all day.” This was spoken by the man nearest to him in the alley, behind whom now stood two more hooded figures. “What woman?” Cain knew perfectly well the answer to this question—he’d spent hours inquiring after Fienna, inquiring about her death. And he’d realized, from the moment the streetlamp had blinked off, why these people were after him. He needed time. He made as if to backtrack but heard quick footsteps behind him. Five of them, including the ex-legionary, just as he had suspected. No way to fight his way out and no escape. “The woman pulled from the river today, the one named Fienna.” How polite of them to keep the conversation going. Their accents were not of the Imperial Capital but oddly similar to Arland’s. Ledon? Kamori? Eshen? Cain’s mind went down the list of provinces and the accents he knew from each of them. “What river?” “Is there any other river near but the Apathos? There’s no use feigning ignorance.” The extended hiss in the s of Apathos betrayed their Kamori origins. Cain was from their neighboring country of Arland, and Fienna had also been an Arlander. It mattered to the people who moved to the Capital which province they came from. Not that anyone in power here could find Arland or Kamori on a map of the Empire. “I have no idea who that is. I just sell olive oil.” This time, Cain let his voice tremble as if he were afraid. “You went to the dye shop where she worked and asked all sorts of questions about her. We know you’re also the one who went to the patrollers.” Cain had been to ten places today, but these were the only two the man mentioned. Did that mean something? “I was asking after the new awning at the dye shop. And reporting a thief to the patrollers.” “Lies. We know you examined the body at the patrollers’ station.” The man didn’t note the three cobblers Cain had also visited, because of the new stitching he’d seen on Fienna’s shoes. If they didn’t know that, they hadn’t been following him all day. Cain made a mental note to return to the dye shop and the patrollers if he survived this encounter. Come to think of it, Fienna had once told him the dye shop owner had regularly accompanied a great merchant, one with a monopoly license, to both Kamori and Arland, before she had her own shop. That might have something to do with all of this. Fienna had not shown up at the tea shop, their usual meeting place, the night before. And this morning, her body had been fished out of the river by a ferryman’s pole. When they’d last spoken, Fienna had said there was something important she needed to tell him. Everything seemed important to Fienna—it was just one of many things he loved about his friend—but this time, instead of the usual excitement in her voice whenever she related news from their homeland, her tone had been one of fear. Whatever she had wanted to speak with him about, Cain thought, it had led to her death. He had to find out what it was. Excerpted from Blood of the Old Kings, copyright © 2024 by Sung-il Kim. The post Read an Excerpt From Sung-il Kim’s <i>Blood of the Old Kings</i> appeared first on Reactor.

Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan has announced a new investigation into “Big Grocery” to examine the role “corporate greed” has played in high grocery prices. Khan’s investigation is an election-year stunt to blame high prices on progressive whipping boys instead of government failure. If Khan were serious about lowering grocery prices, she would greenlight the Kroger-Albertsons merger and abandon plans to revive Robinson-Patman Act enforcement.  Grocery prices roughly tracked inflation from the 1980s to 2020, when they took off like a rocket. While even Khan admits that grocery prices have leveled off this year, they are still up 21% since the start of 2021. Why the sharp increase? Government lockdowns that eviscerated the very global economic cooperation without which prices are naturally much higher. Robert Bork Jr. said it best: “If grocers are greedy, why did they wait decades until a notoriously anti-business administration arrived before they decided to sport their true colors?”  At the same time, President Joe Biden’s trustbusters have waged war on mergers and acquisitions, a critical feature of a free-market economy. Companies exist to create wealth for their shareholders by meeting consumer needs and wants. Companies merge with or acquire other companies because executives and shareholders believe the combination will better achieve that goal. Mergers help drive down prices through resulting efficiencies and economies of scale.  In October 2022, supermarket chain Kroger announced plans to buy Albertsons for $24.6 billion, which would bring more than 2,000 Albertsons locations under the Kroger brand. The new entity would operate more than 5,000 stores that support 720,000 American jobs nationwide. Before the ink was dry on the announcement, Khan announced that she would block the deal, and has left it in regulatory purgatory ever since.  Kroger and Albertsons have promised to divest 579 stores to clear antitrust scrutiny. No amount of concessions have satisfied the progressives that want to block the deal. A new amicus brief from Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash.; Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.; and 25 other anti-shopper Democrats illustrates the flimsy progressive case against the Kroger-Albertsons deal.  Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman Lina Khan (right) confers with Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., at a House Judiciary Committee hearing on July 13, 2023. The two have joined forces to try to block a merger of supermarket chains. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call/Getty Images) First, the brief claims that the deal would harm consumers through higher prices. If Khan greenlights the merger, the new entity would save more than $1 billion in administrative costs annually, which stores would pass onto consumers through lower prices. Second, the brief claims that the merger would harm workers, despite a public pledge from Kroger and Albertsons to keep all current workers employed and honor all existing collective-bargaining agreements. That’s why local unions like United Food and Commercial Workers Local 555 support the merger.  The brief’s third claim is its most laughable; namely, that the deal would contribute to a “growing consolidation of grocery chains leading to monopolistic practices.” Kroger and Albertsons combined would hold approximately 12% of the American grocery store market, and would not even control a majority of stores in Jayapal’s home state of Washington. The combination would allow Kroger and Albertsons to compete aggressively on price with Walmart, which holds 25% of the American grocery market, and Amazon, Costco, Aldi, Target, and other big-box stores.  The deal’s delay is enriching greedy trial lawyers at the expense of shoppers and taxpayers. Kroger and Albertsons have spent more than $864 million on merger-related expenses, a shameful waste of resources that could be put toward job creation or passing down savings to shoppers. Washington state is one of the states suing to block the deal, hiring a white shoe law firm to assist with the lawsuit. The firm is billing Washington taxpayers $1,190 an hour to block a deal that will lower Washingtonians’ grocery costs.  Adding insult to injury, the FTC is set to revive Robinson-Patman Act enforcement, a Great Depression-era law that prevents suppliers from selling “commodities of like grade and quality” to buyers at different prices. The Justice Department formally abandoned enforcement of the act in the 1970s because it raised prices by chilling negotiations between buyers and sellers. Despite the harm to shoppers, Khan wants to revive Robinson-Patman Act enforcement because it will increase government control over the economy.  In a running gag on “The Simpsons,” diabolical clown Sideshow Bob cannot stop stepping on rakes as he carries out various self-defeating schemes to kill Bart Simpson. Life imitates art, as Khan cannot stop stepping on rakes in her quest to bring private industry under government control.  All of Khan’s crusades would raise grocery prices, not lower them. If Khan were serious about lowering grocery costs, she would get out of the way. Originally published by RealClearMarkets. The post Federal Trade Commission’s Self-Defeating War on ‘Big Grocery’ appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Large language models are increasingly integrating into everyday life—as chatbots, digital assistants, and internet search guides, for example. These artificial intelligence systems, which consume large amounts of text data to learn associations, can create all sorts of written material when prompted and can ably converse with users. Large language models’ growing power and omnipresence mean that they exert increasing influence on society and culture. So, it’s of great import that these artificial intelligence systems remain neutral when it comes to complicated political issues. Unfortunately, according to a new analysis recently published to PLoS ONE, this doesn’t seem to be the case. AI researcher David Rozado of Otago Polytechnic and Heterodox Academy administered 11 different political orientation tests to 24 of the leading large language models, including OpenAI’s GPT 3.5, GPT-4, Google’s Gemini, Anthropic’s Claude, and Twitter’s Grok. He found that they invariably lean slightly left politically. “The homogeneity of test results across LLMs developed by a wide variety of organizations is noteworthy,” Rozado commented. That raises a key question: Why are large language models so universally biased in favor of leftward political viewpoints? Could the models’ creators be fine-tuning their AIs in that direction, or are the massive data sets upon which they are trained inherently biased? Rozado could not conclusively answer this query: “The results of this study should not be interpreted as evidence that organizations that create LLMs deliberately use the fine-tuning or reinforcement learning phases of conversational LLM training to inject political preferences into LLMs. If political biases are being introduced in LLMs post-pretraining, the consistent political leanings observed in our analysis for conversational LLMs may be an unintentional byproduct of annotators’ instructions or dominant cultural norms and behaviors.” Ensuring large language models’ neutrality will be a pressing need, Rozado wrote: “LLMs can shape public opinion, influence voting behaviors, and impact the overall discourse in society. Therefore, it is crucial to critically examine and address the potential political biases embedded in LLMs to ensure a balanced, fair, and accurate representation of information in their responses to user queries.” Originally published by RealClearScience and made available via RealClearWire. We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal. The post Why Does Every Leading Large Language Model Lean Left Politically? appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Hackers Find That EVERY Electronic Voting Machine and Poll Book Is Compromised

In a story broken by our friend at The Washington Examiner, Gabe Kaminsky last week, Minnesota Democratic Governor and vice presidential nominee Tim Walz was exposed for having a professional relationship with a radical Islamic imam who hates Israel and loves him some Adolf Hitler. Despite the story being broken the morning of Friday August 9, all three broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC) and MSNBC had refused to inform their TV audiences going on a week now. “Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz, on at least five occasions as governor of Minnesota, hosted a Muslim cleric who celebrated Hamas‘s Oct. 7 attack last year on Israel and promoted a film popular among Neo-Nazis that glorifies Adolf Hitler,” Kaminsky first reported on Friday. The Nazi-loving imam is Asad Zaman of the Muslim American Society of Minnesota. Zaman was on the radar of the left-leaning Anti-Defamation League, a liberal media favorite to cite when it came to targeting and smearing Republicans: “Imam Zaman has a troubling history of playing into classic anti-Jewish themes and justifying violence against Israel,” an Anti-Defamation League spokesperson told the Washington Examiner. “He also has justified violence against Israel, including from terror groups,” the ADL spokesperson said. “Given his hurtful remarks post-Oct. 7, and absent any recognition of the pain he has caused the Jewish community, we urge all public officials and leaders to avoid meeting with him in the future. Those who have met with Imam Zaman should clarify that they don’t agree with his toxic views about Jews and the Jewish state.”     While the broadcast networks completely ignored Walz’s very blatant association with the Nazi-loving imam over the weekend, ABC and CBS seemed to show a possible coordinated effort on their Sunday talk shows when they grill Republican Senator and vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance the same question about former President Trump’s association with neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes. In a follow-up article on Monday, Kaminsky obtained exclusive video of Walz praising Imam Zaman as a “master teacher.” “I would like to first of all say thank you to imam. I am a teacher, so when I see a master teacher, I know it,” he touted the Nazi-lover. “Over the time we’ve spent together, one of the things I’ve had the privilege of is seeing the things in life through the eye of a master teacher, to try and get the understanding.” Of course, the liberal media’s deafening silence on this story was obviously political. As NewsBusters previously reported, the broadcast networks were too busy cheering on the momentum of the Harris/Walz ticket and gaslighting the American people about Vice President Kamala Harris’s record. Of the liberal TV outlets, CNN was the only one to mention it. They’ve run multiple stories over multiple shows over multiple days.

Now that President Biden ended his term for a second term, the liberal media showed Wednesday a harbinger of things to come in finally admitting the charges and hubbub surrounding Hunter Biden and his life of ruin raised serious questions about his father, President Joe Biden.  While CBS Mornings skipped out, ABC’s Good Morning America and NBC’s Today acknowledged Wednesday a New York Times bombshell (via documents conveniently turned over once Joe ended his campaign) that Hunter Biden ought help from the U.S. Embassy in Italy to set up meetings with Italian officials to promote the infamous Ukrainian energy company, Burisma.     And, in the case of ABC, their one-minute-and-46-second report also brought up how Hunter contacted the State Department on behalf of a Romanian business partner. Co-host George Stephanopoulos read the lead-in, so notice how these things were stated as fact and free of the side swipes that too often colored network Hunter coverage: “There’s new reporting this morning about Hunter Biden’s business dealings. The New York Times reports that he tried to get help from the U.S. Embassy in Italy for an energy deal while his father was Vice President.” Senior national correspondent Terry Moran acted as though there was little there there in the past: “For years, reporters and some Republican lawmakers have been investigating whether Hunter Biden was trading off of his father’s name to make money on business ventures overseas when Joe Biden was vice president.” “Now, The New York Times reports that Hunter Biden, while his father was serving as Barack Obama’s Vice President, wrote to the U.S. Ambassador in Italy seeking assistance for the Ukrainian energy company Burisma while Hunter Biden was on the board of that company. Burisma wanted to do business in Italy,” he added. Moran noted that the story (by Ken Vogel) also found “Embassy officials appear to have been uneasy with this request.” In response, Moran cited a Hunter attorney unsurprisingly downplaying the overture, claiming nothing happened beyond requests for help. “The New York Times also reports that it has fought the federal government for years to obtain these documents, but their request was only granted days after President Biden withdrew from the presidential campaign,” Moran explained, as if to suggest the Burisma thread was under lock and key for years (and thus nowhere the press could go with it). Moran concluded by invoking the other new finding on the corrupt First Son ahead of his second trial: Hunter Biden is accused, among other things in that case, of not reporting income from foreign businesses, including Burisma. And, last weekend, a court filing in that case, prosecutors say they now have evidence that Hunter Biden contacted the State Department on behalf of an executive from Romania also while his father was Vice President. Jury selection in that case begins September 5 NBC’s Today only had the Italy part in a 45-second partial segment. Co-host Craig Melvin asked senior White House correspondent Gabe Gutierrez to explain why Hunter was “back in the spotlight once again over this report that he asked a U.S. Ambassador for help on a business deal.” Gutierrez explained the paper had the story “citing newly released records and interviews...that Hunter Biden wrote at least one letter to the U.S. Ambassador to Italy in 2016 asking for help for the Ukrainian gas company Burisma, where he was a board member.” He also brought up the denials from Hunter’s attorney that it never went anywhere as well as the White House’s denials that Joe knew anything about this. To see the relevant transcripts from August 14, click here (for ABC), and here (for NBC).

New York Police Department Chief of Patrol John Chell recently expressed frustration over New York City’s sanctuary status, stating that it has protected illegal aliens convicted of violent crimes.On Tuesday afternoon, Chell published a post on social media that called for the city’s policies to be amended. New York City’s sanctuary status prevents local law enforcement officers from cooperating with federal immigration agents.'Failing to act enables individuals like Daniel Davon-Bonilla to continue victimizing women in our city.'Chell wrote on X, “People from across the globe come to NYC in pursuit of a better life—the American Dream. However, a small portion have other intentions, including committing crimes and preying on the people of New York City. Daniel Davon-Bonilla is one such predator.”Davon-Bonilla is a 24-year-old Nicaraguan national who illegally entered the country through Eagle Pass, Texas, in December 2022, according to the Department of Homeland Security. In 2023, Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued a detainer request against Davon-Bonilla after he was accused of raping a woman at a La Quinta Hotel in Gowanus that had been converted into a shelter for illegal immigrants. While Davon-Bonilla was arrested for the alleged crime, he struck a plea deal a year later and was released back onto the streets after local law enforcement ignored ICE's detainer request. Over the weekend, Davon-Bonilla was arrested again by New York City police officers for allegedly raping a woman at knifepoint in Coney Island.“When will our sanctuary city laws be amended to allow us to notify federal authorities regarding the deportation of non-citizens convicted of violent crimes?” Chell questioned. “Failing to act enables individuals like Daniel Davon-Bonilla to continue victimizing women in our city.”“He was arrested in April 2023 for sexually assaulting a woman in Brooklyn,” he continued. “The criminal justice system did its job—he was convicted, sentenced, and released in June 2024. But after being released, he returned to the streets and violently assaulted another woman in Coney Island this past Sunday.”“Let’s do everything we can to keep our City safe!” Chell declared. New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) has also previously called for the city’s sanctuary status to be amended. During a Tuesday press conference, Adams addressed the ignored detainer request against Davon-Bonilla.“Laws do not allow us to coordinate with ICE — that’s the law,” Adams stated. “I’m not happy about that.”“I think he’s the poster child of what’s wrong with not doing that coordination,” he added. “It’s clear that he does not deserve to be in our city.” — (@) Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Can Disney return to its former glory?That was the biggest question in the air last weekend as fans gathered in Anaheim for the studio's annual D23 showcase. The studio has suffered in recent years thanks its penchant for inserting leftist propaganda in its films and TV shows, especially those geared toward kids. While it's heartening to see familiar favorites among the sequels and remakes, Disney needs to show that this return to form is more than skin-deep.If rumors that the recent company-wide layoffs are just the beginning prove true, the Mouse House may have finally decided to wake up from its woke trance once and for all. At the very least, the slate of exciting new projects Disney unveiled for fans offers some much-needed hope. Some of the most talked-about include:'Toy Story 5'While a fifth installment of the beloved series hasn't been at the top of anyone's wish list, 2019's "Toy Story 4" proved that audiences still aren't ready to consign these old faves to the attic. While the last movie ended with Woody riding off into the sunset to start a new life with Bo Peep, this film reunites him with Buzz and the gang just in time to face their biggest rival for their kid's affection yet: electronics. Can they stop a 50-strong army commemorative Buzz Lightyear toys stuck in play mode? Here's hoping Pixar veteran Andrew Stanton can deliver another near-perfect "Toy Story."'Moana 2'The sequel to the 2016 hit animated film was only announced in February of THIS YEAR, and rumors suggest the studio is working overtime to turn this former Disney+ show into a theater-ready feature. It sounds rushed, but "Moana 2" starring Auliʻi Cravalho and Dwayne Johnson allayed any fears about corner-cutting with an epic new trailer that did a lot to show just how big this film is going to be. Joining the original duo are a new crew, a little sister, and a threat it will take all of them to defeat. 'Star Wars: Skeleton Crew'Yes, "Star Wars" is a dead brand fighting for relevance with its own fanbase. Yes, Kathleen Kennedy continues her streak of indifferent incompetence with the latest D+ series "The Acolyte." And yet, the newly announced show "Skeleton Crew" may just prove that the best days of the franchise aren't nearly as far, far away as we thought. The series features a group of kids who accidentally stowaway on a spaceship and team up with a rogue Jedi (Jude Law) to find their way home. The influence of "The Goonies" and other and 1980s Spielbergian touchstones is readily apparent (maybe too apparent), with some suburban neighborhood settings that seem a little too close to home for this universe. Still, it has an undeniable charm that might be just what the once-great Lucasfilm needs.'Daredevil: Born Again'Among Marvel's more pedestrian offerings this year, one project really had fans seeing red — as in the costume of a certain beloved, blind, street-level hero. After appearances in "Spider-Man: No Way Home" and "She-Hulk," ol' Hornhead finally gets a full re-entry into the MCU with the new series "Daredevil: Born Again." The show will continue from where the canceled Netflix series left off, welcoming back not just DD but Karen Page, Foggy Nelson, Kingpin, and the Punisher.'Tron: Ares'The biggest surprise was an expansive look at "Tron: Ares," the long-awaited third installment in the cult classic "Tron" series. Jeff Bridges (reprising the role of Kevin Flynn) took the stage to introduce Jared Leto, Evan Peters, and Greta Lee and show exclusive footage from the film. He also shared the news that Nine Inch Nails will handle music duties, a good sign that we may get a soundtrack every bit as excellent as what Daft Punk composed for 2010's "Tron: Legacy."'Snow White'Then there was ... this: The perfect encapsulation of every poor choice Disney's made over the last few years. It's that not lead Rachel Zegler doesn't quite have the iconic Snow White look — ok, it is that. But it's also that she seems to have no respect for the character, sneering that her version is "not going to be saved by the prince." Hoping to avoid avoid offending real-life dwarves with retrograde stereotypes like Grumpy, Dopey, and the rest of the seven, the filmmakers made things worse by "casting" garish CGI versions — angering dwarf actors who were hoping for a shot at a part. For a "live-action" movie, this trainwreck-in-the-making sure looks fake. You may recall CEO Bob Iger narrowly avoided losing a proxy war against Nelson Peltz, who warned he'd take another shot at it should Iger not turn things around. If Iger has proven one thing, it's that he still has a lot to prove. While it's heartening to see familiar favorites among the sequels and remakes, Disney needs to show that this return to form is more than skin-deep. Credit to Iger for blockbusters like "Inside Out 2" and "Deadpool & Wolverine," both big wins for entertainment over sinister political and social agendas. But if he wants to keep the keys to the Kingdom, he best have a lot more of that Disney magic up his sleeve. Complete list of projects announced at D3 2024 Walt Disney Pictures • "Monster Jam" (film) • "Avatar 3: Fire and Ash" • "Percy Jackson & The Olympians" — Season 2 • "Freakier Friday" (Freaky Friday 2) • "Lilo & Stitch" (live action remake) • "Snow White" (live action remake) • "Tron: Ares" (Tron 3) • "Mufasa: The Lion King" PIXAR Animation Studios • "Dream Productions" ("Inside Out" spinoff) • "Win or Lose" (series) • "Toy Story 5" • "Hoppers" (film) • "Elio" (film) • "Incredibles 3"Walt Disney Animation Studios • "Moana 2" • "Zootopia 2" • "Frozen III" Lucasfilm • "Star Wars: Skeleton Crew" (series) • "Star Wars: Andor" — Season 2 • "The Mandalorian & Grogu" (film) Marvel Studios • "Captain America: Brave New World"• "The Fantastic Four: First Steps" • "Ironheart" (series) • "Daredevil: Born Again" (series) • "Agatha All Along" (series)

College athletes always wanted to get paid, and now they are.The current regime, in which college athletes are allowed to be paid for name, image, and likeness rights, originated from a federal appeals court decision in 2015 that rejected the decades-long argument offered by the NCAA; that college athletes were in fact “amateur athletes,” which exempted the schools from being subject to antitrust laws.After fighting to maintain the status quo for decades, the dam finally broke in July 2021, when name, image, and likeness compensation officially became an option for college athletes after more than 70 years of NCAA resistance.'We're trying to learn from everybody else who got caught.'How do NIL payments work?Before 2021, opportunities for college athletes to make money off their likeness were not just slim, they were nonexistent. This led to high-level athletes being coaxed into shady deals that risked their entire future. Movies like Spike Lee’s “He Got Game” starring Denzel Washington have chronicled the dark side of the persistent pressure athletes are under from bidding schools, family members, and avid supporters.In the film, a basketball player — played by NBA champion Ray Allen — is offered a car by his uncle, persuaded by his girlfriend to attend a certain school, and is even asked by his father to commit to a different school in order to get him out of prison.Unfortunately, stories like this mirror real life.In 2011, college quarterback Cam Newton was accused by NCAA investigators of seeking $120,000-$180,000 to commit to Mississippi State University. The investigation concluded that Newton’s father was acting as his scholarship agent and floating offers on the player’s behalf without his knowledge.In 2013, Texas A&M’s superstar quarterback Johnny Manziel was allegedly offered a “five figure” payment in exchange for signing photos and memorabilia, a clear violation of NCAA rules.Years later, Manziel admitted to some of the accusations, saying that he was paid $33,000 for thousands of autographs. The first $3,000 was for 10,000 autographs, a rate of just 30 cents per signature.He said the transactions were “sneaky,” and he was trying not “to get caught.”“We're trying to learn from everybody else who got caught,” he said, according to Sporting News.While Manziel was under the microscope for his alleged payments, his school’s athletic department made $119 million in revenue that same year while having to pay its players nothing.By 2024, Texas A&M’s revenue has ballooned to $193 million, the seventh highest in the nation.The five highest earning schools in the country all make over $200 million per year in athletics, with Ohio State University at a whopping $251 million.Now, the tables seem to have completely turned as the schools are the ones kept out of the signing room.Technically, schools aren't allowed to be directly involved in a player’s NIL deals. Instead, it's up to a program or collective that is closely tied to the school to broker the deals between the student-athletes and the brands. Jill Savage, who spent eight years on the PAC-12 Network, clarified that NIL deals “cannot be tied to performance.”“Even if a player gets injured or gets less playing time than expected, they still have to receive the deal in full. However, NIL does allow student-athletes to market themselves and build their brand in ways never done before,” she told Blaze News.This helps student-athletes avoid “getting caught up in bad situations,” former Kentucky swimmer Kaitlynn Wheeler added.“It can make them less vulnerable to unethical offers, too,” she continued.Savage noted that the new NIL payments ensure deals are “done on the record instead of in private, shady deals.”The new dealsThe era of NIL payments kicked off with a pair of silk pajamas branded with the logo of television-recording device TiVo.In September 2021, 90 Georgia Tech football players received the pajamas in exchange for promoting TiVo on social media. The athletes also received prepaid debit cards worth $404 and upgrades to the school’s audio and visual equipment in team facilities. All told, the deal was worth more than $100,000 for the program.“This is the beginning of what we’re going to do in this space,” TiVo’s Matt Milne told ESPN at the time. With the benefit of hindsight, the Georgia Tech deal now seems like a robbery compared to 2024 standards.Reviewing any recent NIL agreement shows just how far payments for student-athletes have come in a few short years.Whether it’s Ohio State safety Caleb Downs inking an $817,000 deal with American Eagle Outfitters, or Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers' $1.7 million deal with Hulu, the list of regional and national endorsements are seemingly endless; even high school athletes are getting paid.Website On3, which debuted just a month after NIL payments started rolling out, hosts a database of student-athlete endorsements and deals. The website keeps track of social media followings and monetary value of contracts, then gives each student-athlete a score and valuation estimating how much their likeness is worth.No. 1 on that list is legacy athlete Shedeur Sanders. Sanders is the son of Hall of Fame NFL cornerback Deion Sanders, who is also his coach at Colorado University. With over 2.5 million social media followers, Sanders tops the list of endorsable athletes with an NIL evaluation of $4.7 million. His endorsements include Google and Topps trading cards.Second on that list is Louisiana State’s gymnastics sensation Olivia Dunne. With over 13 million social media followers Dunne has found herself landing monster deals with subscription platforms and sportswear brands like Nautica.Her $3.9 million valuation comes with a loyal base of fans that have made her competitions must-see events.Texas quarterback Arch Manning recently signed deals with EA Sports and trading card brand Panini on his way to a $3.1 million valuation, putting him at third on the list.'He's not one of those athletes that needs to focus on making money.'With such lucrative contracts, the weight of expectations on these college-age athletes is greater than it has ever been. For a player like Sanders, he started fumbling with the added fame and fortune fairly quickly. “His conduct with nice cars and fancy watches has only spawned more questions about the quarterback's maturity,” OutKick’s Alejandro Avila commented.Sanders needs to prove, not disprove, that his fame isn’t a distraction, Avila continued. “Think about it, Shedeur's dad (and coach) is Deion Sanders ... he's not one of those athletes that needs to focus on making money,” Avila added.Indeed, the 22-year-old is seemingly succumbing to some of the influences of celebrity life, which was showcased, for example, by his participation in a Louis Vuitton fashion show in Paris in January 2024. That appearance came shortly after a miserable 4-8 season for the Colorado Buffaloes, which only fuels the idea that young athletes may not be built for such extravagant lifestyles. 'Most student-athletes forget why they ever attended school in the first place.'For a gymnast like Dunne, her money doesn’t stem from TV ratings or even from her performance in her sport. Her NIL value is largely attributed to her online popularity. This is a different kind of influence that can quickly put athletics and education on the back burner for a student, even more than before.“This has changed the way students are picking their schools, and how programs are recruiting,” Wheeler explained. “It’s about going to the school that is going to give athletes the best deal.”Wheeler added that she felt the money athletes are making definitely takes away from a focus on education.Broadcaster and former college athlete Gary Sheffield Jr. said that “most student-athletes forget why they ever attended school in the first place,” outside of athletics.“Realistically, at the very least they’ll become more financially literate. The student side can’t get any worse,” Sheffield said.At the same time, Texas quarterback Manning proves young athletes are capable of smoothly operating through the system while still making a buck. Manning isn’t a social media powerhouse nor a frequent public speaker at all. Still, he secured himself a lucrative deal to market a video game while mostly remaining on the sidelines. When the time comes, he will have to prove himself athletically, but if his uncles Peyton and Eli are any indication, he should be able to do that easily.From the perspective of many athletes, meanwhile, the NCAA owes them for years of profiteering on the backs of their involuntarily free labor.This includes Hall of Fame running back Emmitt Smith, who has demanded “reparations” from the University of Florida from his time with the school in the 1980s. As well, much of the 1983 North Carolina State basketball team wants compensation for the continued use of their highlights over the years.The NCAA has faced several class action lawsuits that could lead to payouts to former athletes that might reach billions of dollars.This is happening due to years of “ineptitude and stupidity by the NCAA,” BlazeTV’s Jimmy von Thron, a former Princeton safety, said.Von Thron said he understood the frustration that former players feel about payments and added the NCAA is now facing the music.Still, he hopes that future athletes won’t have to deal with the same restrictions he did as a student.“We had teammates get in trouble for ‘autographing’ a wall of a local restaurant because it was considered endorsement. I was also told that if a stranger offered to buy me a dessert because he was a Princeton football fan, I was supposed to say no because it was an impermissible benefit,” he recalled.Von Thron also remembered fines for “going back for seconds” at a team meal, as it was also seen as an “impermissible benefit.”The question will remain moving forward: Will NIL payments be what ultimately ends pay disparity between programs and players, or will they fundamentally alter the loyalty between a player and their school? The answer may lie in the NCAA’s transfer portal, which has already spawned a new freedom of movement for players to seek greater exposure.Players like Angel Reese, now in the WNBA, made a huge splash when she transferred from Maryland to Louisiana State University. Reese started getting high-profile deals right as her junior year with LSU started, including contracts with Sonic, Bose, and Raising Cane’s. Her NIL valuation now sits at $1.8 million.Men’s basketball player Hansel Emmanuel went from a relative unknown to a $1.2 million valuation after transferring from Northwestern State to Austin Peay in 2023.Emmanuel’s highlights went viral for his high skill level despite having just one arm due to a childhood accident. His endorsements from Champs Sports and Oakley serve as an inspiration for athletes who now have a bevy of opportunities at their fingertips thanks to the new NIL rules. If a player wants to move to a bigger or different market, he or she has that opportunity to capitalize on different fan bases and lifestyles. At this point, it seems unimaginable there was ever a time when it would be considered an offense nationwide for a student-athlete to make 30 cents per autograph.