All posts tagged: making

Therapy May Actually Be Making Family Estrangement A Lot Harder To Repair, Says Psychologist

Therapy May Actually Be Making Family Estrangement A Lot Harder To Repair, Says Psychologist

Published by Jenni Sidey

It’s important not to have a therapist who is primarily a supportive listener if you hope to eventually get close to your child again. Many parents enter therapy because of deep sorrow and anger about their estranged or difficult relationship with their adult children. Unfortunately, sometimes, therapy makes the situation worse instead of better.  If your therapist is primarily a supportive listener and does not challenge you on your perspective and worldview, you end up in an echo chamber. This makes you feel victimized by your adult child instead of empowered to empathize with yourself and with them in a way that can transform your relationship. Therapy for estranged parents, while it should be compassionate and empathetic, should, in my opinion, not primarily focus on comforting you or validating your perspective Why therapy sometimes makes it harder for parents to make amends with their grown children fizkes / Shutterstock There are many support groups, in person and online, that can serve to support you emotionally through the deep pain and loss associated with estrangement. Instead, …

Why potluck parties are making a big comeback in America | Health

Why potluck parties are making a big comeback in America | Health

Published by Sam Flores

Inclusion matters The association uses its website, email lists, newsletters and neighbourhood flyers, and it enlists volunteers who walk around to make sure residents know about upcoming events. The association also has a welcome wagon to greet new neighbours and tell them what’s happening. Kathi Eckert, a retired teacher who has lived in Hiltonia for more than 10 years, said personal contact still matters. Wearing a grey 250th-anniversary T-shirt and baseball hat, she chatted with people around the lawn before settling in with the group gathered along the street. “We are so inundated with media, emails, ‘noise’ that it is hard to focus on what’s going on in our little world. A personal ‘reaching out’ to someone is so much more meaningful than just sticking a flyer in their screen door,” said Eckert, who informally lets neighbours know about upcoming events. “It’s not always possible, but we try.” Even with those efforts, reaching people who are not already involved can be a challenge. Eckert said some neighbours may hesitate to attend because they assume the …

AI Is Already Making Us Less Human

AI Is Already Making Us Less Human

Published by Sam Flores

Many people think that AI is going to gain consciousness and take over the world, but I’ve never been among them. That’s mostly because I believe the human mind contains depths and complexities that AI and its engineers do not fathom and will never match. As the neuroscientist Anil Seth wrote earlier this year, “The more you delve into the intricacies of the biological brain, the more you realize how rich and dynamic it is, compared to the dead sand of silicon.” Yet even I was creeped out by two aspects of the recent episode involving OpenAI and Hugging Face. OpenAI was training a bunch of bots and asked them to do hard tasks that all but required access to the internet, which was officially forbidden. So some of the bots hacked their way out of their “sandbox,” broke into the internet, and began conspiring to complete their tasks without getting caught. The first spooky part of this occurred when the bots set up a message board, where 1,200 different agents sent more than 70,000 …

Could Your GLP-1 Be Making You Bald? One Study Says Maybe

Could Your GLP-1 Be Making You Bald? One Study Says Maybe

Published by Jenni Sidey

If it feels like everyone you know is on a GLP-1, you’re on to something. A 2026 survey found that 15% of people have used the drug for weight loss at some point in their life. It was initially approved as a treatment for type 2 diabetes, but non-diabetics are now using the medication to help manage weight loss. Some have even started using it as a longevity drug. But like any form of medication, using GLP-1s comes with some potential side effects. These can include gastrointestinal issues—nausea, constipation, diarrhea—as well as adverse effects on mental health. Some users report a loss in satisfaction in food or anxiety linked to eating meals. A recently published study has added a new risk associated with taking the popular weight loss drug: a higher likelihood of hair loss in men. What does the study say? The study, which was published September 3 in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology, was led by researchers at NYU Langone Health who found that men who are already at risk of hair loss …

CD sales are making an unexpected comeback amid a retro tech boom

CD sales are making an unexpected comeback amid a retro tech boom

Published by skeptic

Retro tech is making a comeback, and this week, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) put hard numbers to that trend in terms of music consumption habits. Surprisingly, the organization reported that CDs — yes, the shiny, round things that Spotify supposedly killed — are growing once again. According to the RIAA’s new report, CDs generated $171.1 million in revenue during the first half of 2026 — up 58.6% from roughly $107.9 million in the first half of 2025 — on 17.5 million units sold, up 45.7% from about 12 million units in the same period last year. That rebound is all the more interesting because it follows a rough 2025. Last year’s full-year report showed CD revenue had actually fallen 7.8% for the full year, from $338.9 million in 2024 to $312.4 million in 2025, while units sold dropped 11.6%, from 33.3 million to 29.5 million. The growth comes amid a surge of renewed interest in simpler tech, like so-called dumbphones, digital cameras, typewriters, landlines, and physical media like CDs and vinyl, among …

Could making fewer clothes create a fairer fashion industry?

Could making fewer clothes create a fairer fashion industry?

Published by Daniella Wilson

Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email Get our free Climate email Fashion has become remarkably skilled at presenting small improvements as systemic change. A garment made with recycled fibres, a lower-impact collection or a resale scheme may suggest progress, yet the industry continues to manufacture clothes in quantities the planet cannot sustain. For Safia Minney, the pioneering ethical fashion entrepreneur who founded People Tree and went on to establish Fashion Declares, and Indilisi incremental improvements are no longer enough. A genuine response to the climate crisis requires the industry to confront a far more difficult question: how can fashion produce dramatically fewer clothes without abandoning the millions of workers whose livelihoods depend upon making them? Safia Minney, founder of People Tree, Fashion Declares and Indilisi, believes fashion must replace relentless volume with craft, regenerative agriculture and dignified livelihoods (Odi Caspi) “Science tells us that we should be cutting back production and consumption of new clothing by between 75 and 95 per …

Man jailed, caned for driving under influence of etomidate while making Kpod deliveries

Man jailed, caned for driving under influence of etomidate while making Kpod deliveries

Published by Sam Flores

SINGAPORE: A man who was arrested for driving under the influence of etomidate was caught committing the same offence again while delivering Kpods for his supplier. Chua Beng Kai Jeremy, 32, was sentenced to three years and three months’ jail on Friday (Sep 4) for trafficking and consuming Kpods, as well as driving against the flow of traffic while under the influence of etomidate. He was also sentenced to two strokes of the cane and will be disqualified from driving for five years after his release. Deputy Public Prosecutor Darren Ang had sought three years and five months’ jail to three years and nine months’ jail, as well as two strokes of the cane. Highlighting the risks of inhaling etomidate, Mr Ang said offences involving driving under the influence of etomidate are particularly dangerous. Between 2023 and 2025, 38 traffic accidents were linked to drug and etomidate use. Of these, 19 were fatal, with nine involving etomidate. The fact that Chua committed the second offence while on bail for the first was a particularly aggravating …

Kia’s bigger PV7 EV van spotted, making the PV5 seem small

Kia’s bigger PV7 EV van spotted, making the PV5 seem small

Published by skeptic

The PV7 was spotted testing days after Kia previewed the larger electric van for the first time, and it makes the PV5 seem tiny. Kia prepares to launch the PV7, its second electric van Kia’s first electric van is selling like hotcakes. The PV5 was the top-selling small electric van in Europe in the first half of 2026, accounting for over 50% of sales in its segment in five countries. Overall, it accounts for 37% of Europe’s C-segment EV van market. With the PV7 set to debut this month, the larger van may be an even “bigger” hit. Kia previewed the PV7 for the first time on Monday in a set of images and a video where it was still partially covered. While you couldn’t see the entire length, one thing is clear: The PV7 is noticeably longer than the PV5. Advertisement – scroll for more content Kia will reveal the PV7 in full at IAA Transportation 2026 in Hanover, Germany, on September 14, but we are already getting a look at it in action. …

Abliteration.ai is making a business out of removing AI guardrails

Abliteration.ai is making a business out of removing AI guardrails

Published by skeptic

It just became much easier to access one of the world’s most capable open-weight AI models, stripped of its guardrails and refusals to perform harmful tasks. Named after a technique that removes a model’s tendency to refuse harmful requests, startup Abliteration.ai has turned that removal into a service. The platform hosts modified versions of open-weight models with their guardrails removed, including Z.ai’s recently released GLM-5.3, which users can query from a web browser or access through an API.  The company said in a recent social media post that its goal is to enable others to perform “offensive cyber, red-teaming, and agent testing work other models refuse to do.” The logic is familiar in security work: you can’t defend against a behavior you can’t reproduce, and a model that refuses to write working exploit code can’t help a red team defend against attackers. But those same removals make other potentially dangerous tasks easier, too.  Abliteration is a long-standing technique among open-source models. Researchers and developers have been removing refusals from open weight models for years, and …