Month: January 2025

Heroes, villains, and childhood trauma in the MCEU and DCU

“This study somewhat refutes the idea that villains are a product of their experiences.” At least in fiction.

Are superheroes and supervillains the product of their childhood experiences? Not if they belong to the Marvel Cinematic Extended Universe or DC Universe, according to a new paper published in the journal PLoS ONE. Canadian researchers watched many hours of those movies and looked at which characters suffered considerable childhood trauma. They concluded that those traumatic experiences were not significant factors in whether those characters turned out to be heroes or villains.

Prior studies have looked at the portrayal of trauma in superheroes, most notably the murder of Batman's parents and Spider-Man's uncle, as well as the destruction of Superman's home planet, Krypton. There has also been research on children sustaining injuries while pretending to be superheroes, as well as on the potential for superhero themes to help children overcome trauma and build self-esteem.

According to co-author Jennifer Jackson of the University of Calgary in Canada, two nursing students (since graduated) came up with the idea during a lab meeting to look at adverse childhood experiences and superheroes. It might seem a bit frivolous as a topic, but Jackson pointed out that Marvel and DC films reach audiences of hundreds of millions of people worldwide. "We also know that things we see in films and other media affects life in the real world," she said. "This influence could be used as a positive factor when supporting children's mental health and wellbeing. There may be shame or fear associated with some of the ACEs, and superheroes may be an effective ice breaker when broaching some difficult topics."

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RedNote may wall off “TikTok refugees” to prevent US influence on Chinese users

Rumors swirl that RedNote may segregate Chinese users as soon as next week.

Just a few days after more than 700 million new users flooded RedNote—which Time noted is "the most apolitical social platform in China"—rumors began swirling that RedNote may soon start segregating American users and other foreign IPs from the app's Chinese users.

In the "TikTokCringe" sub-reddit, a video from a RedNote user with red eyes presumably swollen from tears suggested that Americans had possibly ruined the app for Chinese Americans who rely on RedNote to stay current on Chinese news and culture.

"RedNote or Xiaohongshu released an update in the greater China region with the function to separate out foreign IPs, and there are now talks of moving all foreign IPs to a separate server and having a different IP for those who are in the greater China area," the Reddit poster said. "I know through VPNs and other ways, people are still able to access the app, but essentially this is gonna kill the app for Chinese Americans who actually use the app to connect with Chinese content, Chinese language, Chinese culture."

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Milk-V Oasis development has been paused indefinitely (RISC-V mini ITX computer)

The Milk-V Oasis was supposed to be a mini ITX motherboard featuring a Sophgo SG2380 processor featuring 16 SiFive P670 RISC-V processor cores, Imagination AXT-16-512 graphics, and an NPU with up to 20 TOPS of AI performance. First unveiled in October,…

The Milk-V Oasis was supposed to be a mini ITX motherboard featuring a Sophgo SG2380 processor featuring 16 SiFive P670 RISC-V processor cores, Imagination AXT-16-512 graphics, and an NPU with up to 20 TOPS of AI performance. First unveiled in October, 2023 the board was supposed to ship in mid-2024 for $120 and up. But that […]

The post Milk-V Oasis development has been paused indefinitely (RISC-V mini ITX computer) appeared first on Liliputing.

AT&T kills home Internet service in NY over law requiring $15 or $20 plans

AT&T pulls 5G home Internet from New York to protest state affordability law.

AT&T has stopped offering its 5G home Internet service in New York instead of complying with a new state law that requires ISPs to offer $15 or $20 plans to people with low incomes.

The decision was reported yesterday by CNET and confirmed by AT&T in a statement provided to Ars today. "While we are committed to providing reliable and affordable Internet service to customers across the country, New York's broadband law imposes harmful rate regulations that make it uneconomical for AT&T to invest in and expand our broadband infrastructure in the state," AT&T said. "As a result, effective January 15, 2025, we will no longer be able to offer AT&T Internet Air, our fixed-wireless Internet service, to New York customers."

New York started enforcing its Affordable Broadband Act yesterday after a legal battle of nearly four years. Broadband lobby groups convinced a federal judge to block the law in 2021, but a US appeals court reversed the ruling in April 2024, and the Supreme Court decided not to hear the case last month.

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Two lunar landers are on the way to the Moon after SpaceX’s double moonshot

The landers were developed by Texas-based Firefly Aerospace and a Japanese startup named ispace.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida early Wednesday and deployed two commercial lunar landers on separate trajectories to reach the Moon in the next few months.

The mission began with a middle-of-the-night launch from Kennedy at 1:11 am EST (06:11 UTC) Wednesday. It took about an hour and a half for the Falcon 9 rocket to release both payloads into two slightly different orbits, ranging up to 200,000 and 225,000 miles (322,000 and 362,000 kilometers) from Earth.

The two robotic lunar landers—one from Firefly Aerospace based near Austin, Texas, and another from the Japanese space company ispace—will use their own small engines for the final maneuvers required to enter orbit around the Moon in the coming months.

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