TikTok follow-up Lemon8 is flopping in the U.S.

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TikTok follow-up Lemon8 is flopping in the U.S.     In February this year, as U.S. lawmakers debated a ban on TikTok, its Chinese parent company ByteDance quietly launched new social media app Lemon8 in the country. On TikTok, creators eagerly discussed the new app’s arrival through the hashtag #Lemon8, which currently has 3.8 billion views. By the end of March, Lemon8 skyrocketed to the top 10 most downloaded apps on Apple’s App Store in the U.S. But after the initial buzz, Lemon8’s popularity has dipped in recent months. Since April, the app’s daily active users have nearly halved from 11,930 to 6,360, and by the end of May, daily downloads fell to 6.7% of its March peak, according to data intelligence firm Similarweb. Users complain that Lemon8’s content feels repetitive and overly curated, presenting idealized lifestyles that prioritize influencers’ interests over those of ordinary users. Continued here

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As contentious judicial 'reform' becomes law in Israel, Netanyahu cements his political legacy     Israel’s parliament passed a law on July 24, 2023, that limits the Supreme Court’s ability to rein in government actions, part of a broader proposal by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to strengthen the power of the country’s executive branch. The legislation has divided the country for months, sparking massive demonstrations. Opponents say the law threatens democracy; supporters argue it protects the will of the electoral majority. Continued here

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Pope Francis's Peace Envoy Comes to Washington     Last Tuesday, Henry Kissinger, who served as the U.S. Secretary of State half a century ago, met with China's defense minister in Beijing, and President Biden met with Pope Francis's special envoy for Russia's war on Ukraine, in Washington. The first encounter drew wide attention in the American press, the second much less. "Not even a photo op," Massimo Faggioli, an Italian theologian who teaches at Villanova University and who wrote a book on Biden's Catholicism, remarked on Twitter, after calling the meeting one that "means a lot for the Holy See…, not so much for the U.S.A. "Biden's encounter with the envoy, Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi, who is the Archbishop of Bologna, was held at 5 P.M.; it followed a precisely calibrated series of speeches addressing the war in Ukraine at NATO's summit meeting in Lithuania, the week before, and a controversial meeting with Israel's President, Isaac Herzog, at the White House earlier in the day. When it was announced, just the day before, it had the appearance of a handshake welcome—a small act of courtesy on Biden's part. The Vatican had initiated the meeting, which was the third leg of a mission in which Zuppi has met with President Volodymyr Zelensky, in Kyiv, and with Yuri Ushakov, a foreign-policy adviser to President Vladimir Putin, and with Patriarch Kirill, the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, in Moscow. For Francis, then, it was of real significance: the mission is his best chance to help open a space for dialogue pointed toward some sort of peace conference or settlement when the war ends. Continued here

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Ketone drinks: why we're testing the effects of this supplement used by elite athletes on older adults     Ketone drinks are used by elite athletes to improve focus and enhance performance. But could they also help people to live healthier for longer? Considered “super fuels” among some endurance athletes and health enthusiasts, ketone drinks are now being tested in clinical trials for a range of conditions including Parkinson’s disease, type 2 diabetes and heart failure. Continued here

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A Minor Reboot Won't Save Ron DeSantis's Toxic Campaign     Out of Tallahassee, Florida, comes unsurprising news. After being barraged by negative media stories, watching its man's poll ratings plummet downward like a kid on a zip line, and running into an early cash crunch, Ron DeSantis's Presidential campaign is planning a "reboot," NBC News reported last week. On Sunday, the Times followed up NBC's scoop with a dishy story about overspending and infighting inside the campaign, which is a sprawling operation—although a bit less sprawling than it was a couple of weeks ago, before a looming money shortage prompted it to lay off roughly ten people.News of the reboot emerged as the Florida governor found himself at the center of yet more damaging stories. Last week, Florida's Board of Education approved new guidelines for the state's public-school course in African American history, which said, in part: "Instruction includes how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit." When reporters asked DeSantis about the new guidelines on Friday, he said that he hadn't had anything to do with writing them but continued to defend them, remarking that they would probably show some of the enslaved "eventually parlayed, you know, being a blacksmith into doing things later in life." Continued here

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25 Years Ago, Steven Spielberg Made the Greatest War Movie Ever -- And Redefined the Genre     Very few filmmakers have changed the game as many times as Steven Spielberg. The Oscar-winning director has been a revolutionary artistic voice since 1975, when he essentially invented the summer blockbuster with Jaws. Nearly 20 years later, he pulled off a similar feat with Jurassic Park, which redefined how practical effects, CGI, and animatronics could be used on screen.For the most part, it seems like Spielberg has left his trailblazing days behind. Twenty-five years ago, however, he rewrote the language of cinema one last time with Saving Private Ryan. The 1998 drama saw Spielberg return to the landscape of World War II with a very different style and perspective than he’d brought to Schindler’s List and the Indiana Jones films. The result was one of the most viscerally intense war movies ever made. Continued here

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Two Newly-Discovered Saber-Toothed Cat Species Shed Light on the Ancient Past     Paleontologists found the fossils of four extinct saber-toothed cat species, including those of two newly-discovered species. Paleontologists discovered two new species of saber-toothed cats that roamed South Africa more than 5 million years ago. Continued here

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Political staffers can make or break election promises - they deserve better management     Political parties and candidates spend most of their time proposing policies they promise will improve voters’ lives if elected to government. But actually delivering on those promises requires another kind of political operative: staffers.These taxpayer-funded employees or advisers play crucial roles, and yet they are often mismanaged. Staffers can be the hidden heroes – or villains – of the political process. When they occasionally make headlines, it is almost invariably for the wrong reasons. Continued here

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Ken's rights? Our research shows Barbie is surprisingly accurate on how 'men's rights activists' are radicalised     Associate professor Sexualities and Genders / Sociology, Western Sydney University In the Barbie movie, we open with a picture of a perfect Barbieland where (almost) everyone is happy, diversity and sisterhood are embraced, and Barbies hold all positions of power. Continued here

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'Invincible' Season 2 Theory Reveals a Wild Marvel Superhero Crossover     Invincible is back and he’s crossing the multiverse... which may mean a crossover with another multiverse-hopping hero. The second season of Prime Video’s hit animated superhero show just dropped a new trailer. It confirms its long-awaited November release date, and also stokes an intriguing theory: that none other than Spider-Man will appear in Invincible Season 2. That may have you scratching your head since Invincible and Spider-Man don’t share the same publisher (Invincible was published by Image Comics), but there’s some evidence supporting this theory. Continued here

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Visiting the Trinity Site featured in 'Oppenheimer' is a sobering reminder of the horror of nuclear weapons     Christopher Nolan’s 2023 film Oppenheimer is a biopic about the theoretical physicist behind the atomic bomb. After watching the film, I was inspired to write about my visit to the actual Trinity Site, where the first atomic bomb was detonated.The tower that held the bomb is featured prominently in the Oppenheimer film. A small fragment of it exists today, as the rest of it was vaporized. It was deeply unnerving being near the remainder of the vaporized tower. Continued here

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Behavioural 'experts' quietly shaped robodebt's most devilish details - and their work in government continues     Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University By that, I am not referring to the crude system by which hundreds of thousands of Australians on benefits received letters between 2016 and 2019, wrongly demanding they repay Centrelink money they did not owe. Continued here

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Employers will resist, but the changes for casual workers are about accepting reality     The Albanese government’s plan to improve the pathway to permanency for casual workers has employers worried, fearful their ability to employ casual workers will be restricted. Even before the details had been released, there was certainty, in the words of Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox, that there “is simply no justification for further changes to the regulation of casual work”. Continued here

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How citizens could help government with emergency decisions in the next pandemic     The UK’s COVID inquiry is putting pandemic policymaking under the microscope. One of the key questions is who should make decisions in an emergency, and how.In a government committee hearing before the inquiry began, Dominic Cummings, former chief adviser to Boris Johnson, suggested a “kind of dictator” should be in charge in such times of crisis, relying on the guidance of a small group of scientific and mathematical experts. Continued here

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Seven things to read and watch on the 70th anniversary of the movement that sparked the Cuban revolution     It’s been 70 years since the moment that sparked the Cuban revolution. On July 26 1953, an attack on army barracks in eastern Cuba heralded the consolidation of a Cuban national resistance movement against the dictatorship of General Batista. A group of 111 young rebels attacked the army barracks, the Cuartel Moncada and Cuba’s second most important military fortress. The latter contained 1,000 soldiers from Batista’s army.The attack was intended as a diversionary tactic. The hope was that soldiers based at the army headquarters in Havana would be redirected to the east of Cuba, leaving the capital open to occupation by the rebels. The attack was unsuccessful. Many of the young rebels were tortured, killed or imprisoned. Continued here

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What to expect when you're expecting: How will your sex life change during pregnancy and postpartum?     Welcoming a new baby is often a joyous experience for couples. While many couples take time to prepare for the arrival of their bundle of joy, fewer take time to prepare for challenges that can emerge in their sexual and romantic relationships during this period. Sexual challenges during pregnancy and the postpartum are common. Up to 88 per cent of people who give birth and 45 per cent of their partners experience problems with their sex life during this time. Continued here

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Three COVID-era lessons to help support employee wellbeing in times of crisis     The workplace challenges encountered during COVID lockdowns seem like a distant memory. People have since moved on to focus on more immediate crises such as the rising cost of living and the war in Ukraine. But organisations can learn a lot from how they acted during COVID to help protect employee wellbeing. This could help employers deal with future crises such as other viral pandemics, which are expected to occur more often in the future. Companies may even be able to support employee wellbeing better than they did during COVID. Continued here

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Biden says the U.S. would have to invent an Israel if it didn't exist. Why?     During his recent trip to the United States, Israeli President Isaac Herzog gave a speech before the United States Congress. Mainstream media coverage of his speech has focused on two points: the unbreakable “sacred” bond between Israel and the U.S., and the idea that calling Israel a racist state is antisemitic.These two points were on display recently when Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, called Israel a “racist state.” Continued here

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Could the law of the sea be used to protect small island states from climate change?     Climate change will wreak havoc on small island developing states in the Pacific and elsewhere. Some will be swamped by rising seas. These communities also face more extreme weather, increasingly acidic oceans, coral bleaching and harm to fisheries. Food supplies, human health and livelihoods are at risk. And it’s clear other countries burning fossil fuels are largely to blame. Yet island states are resourceful. They are not only adapting to change but also seeking legal advice. The international community has certain legal obligations under the law of the sea. These are rules and customs that divvy up the oceans into maritime zones, while recognising certain freedoms and duties. Continued here

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Every worker is entitled to be safe at work, but casual workers can fall through the cracks     On Monday, Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke flagged the government’s plan to legislate to enable casuals who work regular shifts to convert to permanent work.The move, which has been criticised by business groups who said it would add to costs and red tape, is the latest step by the federal government, as promised during Labor’s election campaign, to empower the so-called insecure workforce. Continued here

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Unskilled Florida Man Regrets Missing Out on Being Enslaved     TALLAHASSEE (The Borowitz Report)—An unskilled Florida man said that he deeply regrets having missed out on the opportunity to be a slave.The man said that his “lack of access to enslavement” had made his acquisition of essential skills “impossible.” Continued here

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Will Biden's Meetings with A.I. Companies Make Any Difference?     On Friday, the Biden Administration announced that seven leading American artificial-intelligence companies had agreed to put some voluntary guardrails around their products. Google, Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, OpenAI, Anthropic, and Inflection pledged to insure that their products are meeting safety requirements before releasing them to the public; that they will engage outside experts to test their systems and report any vulnerabilities; and that they will develop technical mechanisms to let users know when they are looking at A.I.-generated content, likely through some kind of watermarking system. They also said that they were committed to investigating and mitigating the societal risks posed by A.I. systems, including "harmful" algorithmic bias and privacy breaches. There are three ways to greet the announcement: with hope that it could protect people from the most dangerous aspects of A.I., with skepticism that it will, or with cynicism that it is a ploy by Big Tech to avoid governmental regulation of real consequence.The deal was the latest effort by the White House to use what limited power it has to rein in A.I. Over the past ten months, the Administration has issued a Blueprint for an A.I. Bill of Rights, an Executive Order to root out bias in technology, including artificial intelligence, and an updated National Artificial Intelligence Research and Development Strategic Plan, all of which are well-considered but largely aspirational. In that time, OpenAI released ChatGPT, its game-changing chatbot, which is capable of answering queries with striking fluency, and of writing code; Google released Bard, its own impressive chatbot; Microsoft added ChatGPT to its search engine, Bing, and is integrating it into a number of its popular products; Meta, the owner of Facebook, débuted a large language model called LLaMA; and both OpenAI and the startup Stability AI introduced platforms that can generate images from text prompts. Continued here

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Ukraine war: 'joke' about Wagner Group invading Poland highlights regional security fears of rogue mercenaries     Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko reportedly remarked – suppposedly in a joking tone – during a recent meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg that Wagner mercenaries are eager to move into Poland. While Lukashenko may not have been being totally serious about a possible mercenary excursion into Warsaw, the presence of Russian Wagner Group troops in neighbouring Belarus is problematic for a number of reasons. Continued here

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Actors are really worried about the use of AI by movie studios - they may have a point     Film and television actors in the US came out on strike on July 14, causing Hollywood productions to shut down. The action has also had an impact on US films shooting in the UK: director Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice 2 has “paused” and the production of Deadpool 3, filming at Pinewood Studios with stars Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, has been stood down.The dispute is about remuneration for actors, very few of whom enjoy the high income of Hollywood stars. But an additional argument between the union, SAG-AFTRA, and film producers is about the use of artificial intelligence (AI). Actors are fearful of the impact of AI on their careers. Continued here

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A Common Probiotic Could Boost Brain Health in Older Adults     While the benefit was seen only in individuals with mild cognitive impairments, these findings lend more insight into the gut-brain connection.It’s said the way to one’s heart is through the stomach, but it looks like the way to a healthy brain is by dropping a deuce regularly. According to new research presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Amsterdam this week, chronic constipation appears to be linked to worsening cognitive abilities, likely due to an imbalance of gut bacteria causing inflammation. Continued here

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Life in plastic, it's fantastic? How Barbie reimagines a childhood icon through a feminist lens     Barbie is a fabulous spectacle, offering nostalgic delights to audiences, reflexive nods for film buffs and turning a feminist lens on the world’s most famous doll. Most excitingly, Barbie is an intersectional and liberal feminist comedy, sitting alongside mainstream successes Legally Blonde (2001) and Mean Girls (2004). Continued here

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Voice support slips again in national Resolve poll; massive swing in WA puts Libs ahead     Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne A national Resolve poll for Nine newspapers, conducted July 12–15 from a sample of 1,610, had “no” to the Indigenous Voice to parliament leading in a forced choice by 52–48 (51–49 in June). Initial preferences were 42% “no” (up two), 36% “yes” (down six) and 22% undecided (up five). I covered voting intentions and other results from this poll last Friday. Continued here

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Australia is touted as a future clean energy 'superpower' - but research suggests other nations will outperform us     Addressing climate change means enduring some economic pain in the early part of this century to avoid worse outcomes in the long run. But recently the narrative has shifted from pain to opportunity. In Australia, there’s much talk of this nation emerging from the net-zero transition as a clean energy superpower. Continued here

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Nick Fury Deserves Better Than Marvel's 'Secret Invasion'     In the months leading up to Secret Invasion, the Disney+ series was repeatedly sold as the Nick Fury-led Marvel Cinematic Universe adventure that Samuel L. Jackson, one of the franchise’s stalwart stars, has long deserved. Five episodes in, there’s no doubt that Secret Invasion has featured Nick Fury more prominently than any other MCU title to date. Whether or not it’s honored him is another matter altogether.With only one installment left in its six-episode run, Secret Invasion has tried to craft an emotional arc for Jackson’s former S.H.I.E.L.D. leader that has required multiple ill-fitting retcons, flashbacks, and exposition dumps. Even worse, Secret Invasion has failed to discern the difference between making Nick Fury flawed and making him downright incompetent. Nowhere is that more clear than in Secret Invasion Episode 5. Continued here

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Shankari Chandran wins the Miles Franklin with a sophisticated take on racism, cultural erasure and what it means to belong     “Race and racial identity and what it means to be Australian and who gets to decide that … that has been a part of my life here, for my entire life …,” says Western Sydney author Shankari Chandran. “I’ve thought about it a lot but never had the courage to write about it.” Chandran’s third book, Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens, is the project with which she’s found her courage – and the move has paid off. Continued here