All posts tagged: cracks

Harry Styles cracks Taylor Swift joke during third night at Madison Square Garden

Harry Styles cracks Taylor Swift joke during third night at Madison Square Garden

Published by Daniella Wilson

Get the inside track from Roisin O’Connor with our free weekly music newsletter Now Hear This Get our free music newsletter Now Hear This Get our free music newsletter Now Hear This Harry Styles couldn’t resist cracking a joke about Taylor Swift’s wedding at Madison Square Garden, as he performed his latest show at the New York City venue. Towards the end of the third concert of his record-breaking 30-night residency at MSG, the Grammy-winning pop star surveyed his surroundings and observed that it was the home to the New York Knicks, US media reports. “We’re at Madison Square Garden, home of the world champion New York Knicks!” Styles said, acknowledging the team’s first NBA championship win since 1973. He then quipped: “And they also do weddings.” Styles and Swift are believed to have dated between 2012 to 2013, with Swift’s song “Style” from her 2014 record 1989, along with several other tracks, rumoured to have been inspired by him. Swift’s wedding to Kansas City Chiefs tight-end Travis Kelce was one of the most talked-about …

MAGA’s burrito brawl shows cracks in Trump’s economy

MAGA’s burrito brawl shows cracks in Trump’s economy

Published by Sam Flores

Amid weeks of compounding foreign policy failures and an economy that lost a revised 103,000 jobs across May and June, conservatives are grappling online with a brutal realization that the Republican Party as a whole is desperate to ignore: What do you tell working-class voters who are drowning under the weight of unrelenting inflation and sluggish job growth, when your entire economic platform is built on a foundation of gaslighting?  The GOP has spent the better part of the last decade telling Americans it is the party of economic populism. Donald Trump was supposed to be the politician who understood the frustration of people who felt left behind by globalization and stagnant wages. But 18 months into the president’s second term, Republicans have arrived at a remarkable place: running the Biden administrations’ failed playbook on inflation. Now conservatives are fighting with one another over whether a $20 burrito is actually too expensive.  The current food discourse is not about the price of avocado toast or organic eggs, but it is a similarly mundane symbol of …

Does dark energy really exist? Our work identifies cracks in the foundations of today’s cosmological model

Does dark energy really exist? Our work identifies cracks in the foundations of today’s cosmological model

Published by skeptic

According to our best understanding, the universe is expanding – and is doing so at an accelerating rate. This is believed to be caused by something called the “cosmological constant”, which was first proposed by Albert Einstein in his theory of general relativity. In recent decades, it has become better known as dark energy, which is believed to make up about 70% of the universe. Crucial to this realisation were studies of Type Ia supernovae – exploding white dwarf stars. These are thought to emit a specific amount of light, which allows astronomers to determine their distances very accurately and thereby track the expansion of the universe. This work was awarded the 2011 Nobel prize in physics. The accelerating expansion of the universe is thought to be due to negative pressure, an unusual property of dark energy that allows it to overcome the attractive force of gravity. Yet the exact nature of dark energy remains a puzzle. It cannot be explained by our best theory for the fundamental building blocks of the universe – known …

Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Born to Run’ line about Clive Davis cracks up funeral for legendary music exec

Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Born to Run’ line about Clive Davis cracks up funeral for legendary music exec

Published by Daniella Wilson

Get the inside track from Roisin O’Connor with our free weekly music newsletter Now Hear This Get our free music newsletter Now Hear This Get our free music newsletter Now Hear This Bruce Springsteen delivered a moving, heartfelt tribute Monday at the funeral of the late music executive Clive Davis. Davis died last week at the age of 94. He was instrumental in the careers of several generations of music stars. Dionne Warwick, Barry Manilow and Alicia Keys also spoke at the memorial service, and there were performances from Kenny G and Jennifer Hudson. Springsteen brought some levity to proceedings when he described Davis as the man who was “born to run… everything.” He went on to recall the pivotal 1972 meeting where Davis signed him to Columbia Records. Bruce Springsteen pictured at the funeral of music executive Clive Davis (right) (Getty) “On that day, Clive showed a 22-year-old nobody the same warmth, the same kindness, the same respect that he would show me after all my success for the next 50 years,” said Springsteen. …

Cracks in the International Space Station are causing air leaks – how much longer can it remain habitable?

Cracks in the International Space Station are causing air leaks – how much longer can it remain habitable?

Published by skeptic

On June 5, 2026, Nasa ordered five astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) to shelter in a docked spacecraft and prepare to abandon ship. The reason was a longstanding, but worsening, air leak in the Russian part of the station. An hour and a half later, the alert was lifted, allowing the crew to resume their work. But the episode reminds us that humanity’s most expensive science experiment – and a remarkable symbol of international cooperation – is showing its age. The ISS was born from a thaw in relations between Washington and Moscow immediately following the cold war. In the early 1990s, the countries decided to merge separate space station projects that each was working on. The air leak, in an older section of the ISS known as the Zvezda PrK transfer tunnel, is a dose of engineering reality. It is caused by fine cracks in the structure of the tunnel, which provides access to a spacecraft docking port. There is no permanent fix and the cracks have already been patched and repatched …

When the Trump administration cracks down on Anthropic, who benefits?

When the Trump administration cracks down on Anthropic, who benefits?

Published by skeptic

Anthropic recently took its two newest AI models offline due to an export control order from the Trump administration, prompting broad debates about AI policy and digital sovereignty. On the latest episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, Sean O’Kane, Rebecca Bellan, and I discussed what actually prompted the administration’s moves against Anthropic, and what this might mean for the broader AI ecosystem. As Sean put it, “Anthropic has not had the best relationship with the Trump administration in a way that stands apart from the other leading AI labs,” so perhaps other Anthropic’s rivals don’t need to worry about a similar crackdown. But Rebecca also noted that leading cybersecurity experts have “signed an open letter to ask Trump to revoke the order, and they say it’s actually dangerous to have to pull these advanced cybersecurity capabilities from network defenders in the U.S.” And we wondered whether this could all end up being good publicity for Anthropic, especially since — in Rebecca’s words — “everybody loves a bad boy.” Keep reading for a preview of our conversation, …

Faceless Creators Take a Hit As YouTube Cracks Down on AI Slop

Faceless Creators Take a Hit As YouTube Cracks Down on AI Slop

Published by Daniella Wilson

They’re getting way more views than I am on YouTube, and they’re contacting me asking for help,” reveals Craig Billings, who is better known as Doctor NOS to his 1.7 million subscribers. What’s at the heart of their angst? It has something to do with what appears on Billings’ science-focused channel: his face. Those dialing Billings make content without revealing their mug. And for these creators, once-large checks from YouTube have dwindled. “The people who do the same content as me without their face in it, most of them are getting demonetized,” he says. As new video-making tools have led to an surge in AI slop, YouTube has hardened its content policies. It’s led some faceless creators — as these channel operators are known — to show face. It just might not be their own. Noah Morris, who currently operates six faceless YouTube channels, says some creators are now hiring cheap hosts to front their videos. “Because these platforms are cracking down, instead of doing everything faceless, you would just instead hire a host, similar …

Trump administration cracks down on ‘super-sponsors’ of immigrants

Trump administration cracks down on ‘super-sponsors’ of immigrants

Published by Sam Flores

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has identified more than 15,000 cases of adults gaining custody of multiple immigrant children who enter the U.S. without a parent, officials said Thursday, signaling a potential push to prosecute prolific child sponsors. The Justice Department highlighted cases against three Guatemalan nationals that they say underscore the dangers of improper vetting of sponsors in a program that seeks to unite kids with relatives or family friends after they enter the U.S. Officials said they are investigating numerous other so-called super-sponsors — those who gained custody of more than three unrelated children — to determine whether the sponsors took the kids in fraudulently. “We will not accept half measures when it comes to securing the border, protecting American lives and saving children from exploitation,” Acting Atty. Gen. Todd Blanche told reporters. Taking custody of multiple unrelated migrant children is not a crime. The sponsors may be caring and well-intentioned, but senior administration officials calling them out suggests that authorities harbor suspicion about them and may subject them to deeper scrutiny. Under former President …

Pacifica pier cracks, another coastal casualty as seas continue to rise

Pacifica pier cracks, another coastal casualty as seas continue to rise

Published by Sam Flores

The Pacifica Municipal Pier was shut down and taped off Thursday after city workers noticed cracks running through the landmark structure and concrete chunks falling into the ocean. It’s just one of many coastal California structures that have recently crumbled under pressure from a rising and relentless ocean. Officials from the small beach city south of San Francisco said the pier was closed due to “cracking, separation, and displacement of the concrete walkway and structural elements.” It will stay closed while structural engineers assess its safety. Photos taken by city employees show a wide crack that runs from top to bottom and across the structure as well. Other photos show a large horizontal crack under the foundation of a small restaurant on the pier, the Chit Chat Cafe. The cafe was also shut down. This is not the first time the 53-year-old pier has shown signs of stress. In 2021, part of it was shut down after handrails along the edge collapsed. And in 2023, after a series of storms pummeled the Central California coast, …