'You told 'em to come, Mayor Adams'

'The specifics of this incident are being examined'

'How dare you!'

'Censorship, lockdowns, and medical coercion'

Businesses like to talk about the concept of a closed loop or circular economy, but often they’re trying to close small loops. Releaf Paper takes dead leaves from city trees and turns them into paper for bags, office supplies, and more—which is to say they are striving to close one heck of a big loop. […] The post This Startup Is Using Dead Leaves to Make Paper Without Cutting Trees appeared first on Good News Network.

Books book announcement Galloping Romance: Announcing M. Stevenson’s Behooved A charming slow-burn romantasy publishing in Spring 2025. By Reactor | Published on August 15, 2024 Photo credit: Anna Simonak Comment 0 Share New Share Photo credit: Anna Simonak A duty-bound noblewoman with a chronic illness, a prince who would rather be in a library than on a throne, and a magical ride through a world of cozy enchantment… We’re thrilled to announce Behooved, a romantic fantasy from author M. Stevenson—available May 2025 from Bramble in the US and from Hodderscape in the UK. Bianca knows her duty comes before her heart. So when the threat of war looms, she agrees to marry the neighboring kingdom’s heir. But not all royal weddings are a fairytale, and Prince Aric, Bianca’s betrothed, is cold, aloof, and seems to hate her on sight.To make matters worse, on their wedding night, an assassination attempt goes awry—leaving Aric magically transformed into a horse. Bianca does what any bride in this situation would do: she mounts her new husband and rides away to safety.Sunset returns Aric to human form, but they soon discover the assassination attempt is part of a larger plot against the throne. Worse, Bianca has been framed for Aric’s murder, and she’s now saddled with a husband who is a horse by day and a frustratingly attractive man by night.As an unexpected romance begins galloping away with their hearts, Bianca and Aric must rely on each other to unravel the curse and save the throne. Buy the Book Behooved M. Stevenson Buy Book Behooved M. Stevenson Buy this book from: AmazonBarnes and NobleIndieBoundTarget From author M. Stevenson: Tor and Hodderscape are an absolute dream team, and my books couldn’t be in better hands! Behooved is my love letter to romantic fantasy, fairy tales, and girls with chronic illnesses who deserve to have their own fun magical adventures. I’m beyond thrilled that it will be joining the Tor and Hodderscape herds next summer! From editor Calah Singleton: I’m beyond thrilled to be working on such a delightfully original project with Marina and Lindsey! Behooved is an absolute romp: twisty, witty, full of heart and endlessly romantic. Everyone at Hodderscape is so excited to bring UK readers along for the ride.  From editor Lindsey Hall:  Behooved galloped straight into my heart from the first page with its humor, heart, and sincerity. The whole team here at Bramble are chomping at the bit to share this very special story with fans of fantasy and romance alike. Working with Marina and Calah on this one of a kind enemies-to-lovers, slow-burn romantic adventure has been a joy, and we’re delighted to welcome Marina to the Tor/Bramble team. M. Stevenson (she/her) is a writer, educator, and naturalist with degrees from Brown University (B.A., Geology-Biology) and the University of Idaho (M.Ed., Environmental Education). An avid swing dancer, she’s often found dancing lindy hop or wandering the woods talking to plants and birds. She is a dual US/Irish citizen and is based in the Fingerlakes region of New York. The post Galloping Romance: Announcing M. Stevenson’s <i>Behooved</i> appeared first on Reactor.

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. Psychologist and author Jordan Peterson has announced that Canada’s Supreme Court refused his appeal against undergoing social media re-education (“remedial”) training. The case stems from the demand of the Ontario College of Psychologists (which licenses practicing clinical psychologists) for Peterson to be subjected to media training. The ruling now means he is to pay court costs to the organization seeking to impose this measure on him. According to Peterson, the demand was spurred by his negative stance regarding what’s known as “gender-affirming care,” the doomsday climate change narrative (that he spoke about on Joe Rogan’s podcast), and criticism of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. In a video posted on YouTube, Peterson said the court’s “terrible decision” not to consider his appeal was yet another “blow to free speech” in his country – and could well result in the revoking of his license to practice, while the ultimate goal of the social media re-education would be to get “something approximating a public apology” for his opinions and for expressing them. Peterson previously mentioned his criticism of social service workers and police “threatening to apprehend the children of the Trucker Convoy protestors” as another reason for the Ontario College of Psychologists wanting to get him “reeducated” – though he did not speak about this in the YouTube video. In a post on X, Peterson said that the Supreme Court ruling amounted to admitting that “mid-level bureaucrats who rule the professional colleges and regulatory boards” have more power than the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In another post, he criticized Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s government which he said was “overseeing the commissars” standing in the way of conservatives’ free expression, including “perhaps” Ford himself. Peterson is also critical of the way Canada’s CBC covers the case (including his remarks on the Rogan podcast), referring to the broadcaster as “paid lackeys.” But Peterson has received support from other corners, including Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) International, who said they were willing to work with him “to see if he wants to take the case international” – which he seems to be open to. And Canadian Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre lambasted the decision as an attempt to impose forced political reeducation, noting that this came after “another government bureaucracy threatened to ban a Canadian from practicing his profession because he expressed political opinions the state doesn’t like.” If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post Court Denies Jordan Peterson’s Appeal as Free Speech Fight Heats Up in Canada appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. “Categorically unconstitutional” – that is how the US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled about the use of geofence warrants. The part of the Constitution that this type of warrant, that enables dragnet-style mass surveillance, violates is the Fourth Amendment, the court found. This amendment is meant to protect citizens from unreasonable searches or seizures – but, said the court of appeals, what geofence warrants do is allow for the opposite: “General, exploratory rummaging.” We obtained a copy of the ruling for you here. Geofencing works by essentially treating everyone who happens to be in a geographic area during a given time as a suspect, until established otherwise. And, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a digital rights group, an outspoken critic that often gets involved in legal cases to argue against this method of investigation, welcomed the court’s decision, noting that people should not have to fear having their phone with them in public because that could turn them into a criminal suspect. The Circuit Court’s stance on geofence warrants came as it deliberated the United States v. Smith case, revolving around the police in Mississippi in 2018 resorting to obtaining this type of warrant to investigate an armed robbery and assault that took place in a post office. Google, which is who law enforcement turns to with these warrants most of the time, obliged, turning over data from the phones to the police, who then managed to produce two suspects, later defendants. But – even though it decided not to suppress the evidence, because it found the police were acting “in good faith” while geofencing was still a new phenomenon – the Fifth Circuit Court doesn’t think the warrants are inherently lawful, i.e., in compliance with the Constitution. One problem cited by the judges is that police access to sensitive location data collected during the process of geofencing is “highly invasive” since it can reveal a lot about a person, including their associations, and, also lets the police “‘follow’ them into private spaces,” EFF explained the court’s decision. Another is that the warrants never specify that they apply to a particular person, as law enforcement “have no idea who they are looking for, or whether the search will even turn up a result.” If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post Court Slams Geofence Warrants as Unconstitutional Overreach appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

Surprise! Fourth 'Poison Ivy' President Resigns

A worm larva dating back half a billion years has got a group of scientists very excited, and with good reason. Sitting right at the beginning of the arthropods, its body may contain insights into the evolution of a vast range of animal groups, including insects, arachnids, crabs, and centipedes.The fossil has been named Youti yuanshi, taken from the Pinyin yòut, meaning larva, and yuánsh, which means primitive. It’s a hat tip to the young age of the animal when it was preserved, locked for the rest of time in an early developmental stage, and the significance it holds in revealing the origins of the euarthropod body plan.Youti dates back 520 million years, landing it in the Cambrian Explosion, which was a bumper bonanza of species diversification. It was at this time that the key animal groups we see on Earth today first emerged, including the arthropods.This group of invertebrates is characterized by hard exoskeletons and versatile body plans, and they include things like arachnids, crustaceans, and insects. They’re among the most successful animals on the planet due to their adaptability to the environment, but they don’t always preserve so well in the fossil record.A rendering of the worm's head.Image credit: Smith et al., Nature, 2024 (CC BY 4.0) cropped by IFLScience“Hold my beer,” said one poppy-seed-sized worm from the Yu’anshan Formation in Yunnan Province, China, because it was found in an almost perfect state of preservation. Using synchrotron X-ray tomography, a team of scientists were able to create 3D images of the fossil, revealing preserved brain regions, digestive glands, a primitive circulatory system, and remnants of nerves.Suffice to say, they were pretty amazed by what they saw.“When I used to daydream about the one fossil I’d most like to discover, I’d always be thinking of an arthropod larva, because developmental data are just so central to understanding their evolution,” said lead researcher, Dr Martin Smith of Durham University in a statement.“But larvae are so tiny and fragile, the chances of finding one fossilised are practically zero – or so I thought! I already knew that this simple worm-like fossil was something special, but when I saw the amazing structures preserved under its skin, my jaw just dropped – how could these intricate features have avoided decay and still be here to see half a billion years later?”The team hope further investigation of their remarkable miniature find could yield insights into the steps evolution had to take to get us from this poppy seed to the incredible diversity of arthropods we see alive today. That includes the development of specialized antennae, mouthparts, and eyes that have enabled them to be so successful.Not bad, for a wee worm.The study is published in Nature.