Our list of the 10 most underrated Kinks songs presents a wide variety of tracks from the band that have flown under the radar. Of course, nothing flies under the radar for hardcore Kinks fans, as everyone who is a huge fan of the band knows all the material. However, The Kinks have a vast catalog of music, and there are likely many songs that the general public has missed. The Kinks were first formed in 1963 by brothers Ray and Dave Davies. The two had a tumultuous relationship over the years. When the group first came together, the original The post 10 Most Underrated Kinks Songs appeared first on ClassicRockHistory.com.

Books book recommendations Five SFF Stories Featuring Uneasy Homecomings There’s no place like home… but that’s not necessarily good news for protagonists of speculative fiction. By James Davis Nicoll | Published on August 13, 2024 Comment 0 Share New Share They say you can’t go home again. That isn’t always true. Sometimes going home is as easy as booking a flight or setting sail. Which isn’t to say going home is always a good idea. Just see how going home worked out for these five protagonists… “Jeffty Is Five” by Harlan Ellison (1977) (Originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction; collected in The Essential Ellison) Grudgingly admitting progress in certain fields such as medicine and transportation, the unnamed narrator laments the loss of so many other features of his childhood. Favorite shows are long gone, the traditional household products have been replaced by ersatz copies, and worst of all, candy bars are smaller and cost a whole twenty cents. These are all grim developments that all adults of a certain age must face. But not Jeffty. Jeffty is five. Jeffty is always five. It takes time and several sojourns away from and returns to his hometown for the narrator to grasp how bizarre Jeffty truly is. Not only is Jeffty ageless, the world in his immediate vicinity appears to be trapped in amber. How wonderful Jeffty’s gift, to make available an otherwise lost moment in time to those in his proximity… although Jeffty’s parents might disagree. I would like at this time to complain that 95 cents is far too much for a paperback. Lycanthia, or The Children of Wolves by Tanith Lee (1981) The home to which Christian Dorse returns is not one he himself has ever lived in. Lost to creditors by his improvident grandfather, the mansion has only recently been required by Christian. Nevertheless, it is the Dorse homestead, a suitable estate where Christian can languish before he perishes of the illness from which he insists he is suffering. The chateau is a meagerly staffed, half-ruined shambles. Its neighbors are a handful of suspicious, unfriendly peasants…and the de Lagenay siblings, about whom wild rumors featuring wolves and shape-shifting swirl. Revelations await Christian! Not least of which is what a terrible person Christian can be, given the opportunity. This Tanith Lee gothic tale is a succession of discoveries, each one more alarming than the last. The Apple-Tree Throne by Premee Mohamed (2018) Major-General Theodore Wickersley vaingloriously led his men into an avoidable slaughter. Wickersley’s battlefield demise alongside his unfortunate subordinates did not redeem him in the eyes of fellow Britannians. Survivor Braddock, however, was willing to speak on Wickersley’s behalf, which endeared him to Wickersley’s family. Wickersley family gratitude proves a lucky break for Braddock, who is otherwise without means or prospects. Braddock finds himself stepping into the life his former commander so foolishly lost. The one minor complication? Wickersley is dead but his ghost is not merely active, but increasingly enraged as Braddock is embraced by the family and the fiancée that Wickersley believes is still his. The Greater Republic of Britannia does not appear to object to an officer promoted to a position far beyond his competence getting himself and a lot of soldiers needless killed out of pure arrogance. The Greater Republic isn’t some sort of meritocracy. They object to his having publicly embarrassed the Greater Republic. The Mask of Mirrors by M. A. Carrick (2021) Dissatisfied by gang leader Ondrakja’s sadism-based management philosophy, Ren provided a gentle rebuke in the form of fatal poison in Ondrakja’s food. Ren and sister of circumstance Tess then prudently decamped from Nadežra. Now, however, greed outweighs prudence. All Ren need do to get her hands on House Traementis’ vast wealth is to convince House Traementis that Ren is Letilia Traementis’ daughter. But Ren is not Letilia’s daughter. She is Letilia’s former maid. Long estranged from her family, Letilia is not present to confirm or deny the claim. The odds appear to favor Ren’s confidence game… but House Traementis has many enemies. In order to victimize House Traementis, Ren will first have to save it. Who doesn’t like stories with morals? The Mask of Mirrors has a number of morals, the most important of which seems to be “make sure someone is actually dead before making plans dependent on their being too dead to interfere.” Nadežra seems to house all too many people who are not nearly as dead as they should be. The Master of Samar by Melissa Scott (2023) The product of a marriage of which his grandfather disapproved, Gilmyssin Irichels di Samar left both Samar House and the city of Bejanth. A magical adept in a demon-haunted world, Irichels had no problem establishing himself as a cursebreaker. He never expected to return to Bejanth, let alone return as the new Master of Samar. No last-minute grandfatherly repentance is responsible for Irichels’ elevation to heir. Rather, it’s the fact that Irichels is the only living Samar left to lead Samar House. The deaths of every other Samar could be simply be chalked up to a surprisingly large number of exceedingly unlikely accidents. More likely, there’s a plot in which Irichels is now the sole remaining target. Alas, knowing someone wants one dead does not mean one can avoid assassination. Bejanth is a secondary-world Venice, with the very important difference that the dangers from which it must protect itself include demons. Are Bejanth’s ambitious rich people any better at maintaining vital infrastructure when profit motive gets in the way than the rich and powerful of our world are? Read and find out! As a theme or a plot point, the idea of a homecoming offers so many possibilities to authors that it is not surprising that the five works above are only a small sample of the many stories that feature homecomings. No doubt many of your old favorites were overlooked, not always because I’ve used them in previous essays. Feel free to remind me of them in comments below…[end-mark] The post Five SFF Stories Featuring Uneasy Homecomings appeared first on Reactor.

Vice President Kamala Harris’ choice of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate shows how radical she is, Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., tells The Daily Signal. Scott spoke at Erick Erickson’s The Gathering conference in Atlanta on Saturday. He joined The Daily Signal Podcast to discuss Walz’s military record, expectations for the 2024 election in the state of Florida, and what to expect from a Harris-Walz Democratic ticket. “I don’t know one veteran who’s been to war who’s a socialist,” Scott said, “and this guy is clearly a radical socialist,” referring to Walz. The former Florida governor served in the Navy during the Vietnam War, though he was not deployed to Vietnam. His father fought in the Battle of the Bulge in World War II. “It’s a big deal to make sure you are honest with your military record,” Scott said. Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance has accused Walz of exaggerating his military record. Listen to the full interview here: The post ‘Most Radical Ticket We’ve Ever Had’: Sen. Rick Scott Weighs In on Harris-Walz Campaign appeared first on The Daily Signal.

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The UK authorities and the media either willing to or feeling pressure to take their cues from the government, continue to assert that the root cause of the serious rioting that hit the country this month is to be found on – social media. This, in turn, makes for a convenient excuse to ramp up police surveillance of online content. Special police teams are now going through social sites in order to identify those said to have “incited” the riots, and there’s a special name for them – “hate influencers.” The said teams consist of what reports refer to as “specialized” officers, those investigating serious crimes (i.e., murder and the like) and terrorism, as well as local units whose job is normally to investigate organized crime. “Other” national-level teams are also mentioned as taking part in scouring the internet, and what they might be doing is suggested by the goal of this exercise being gaining “a clear intelligence picture,” as one article put it, citing the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC). A statement on the NPCC site said that the search for “online offenders” is being led by regional organized crime units (ROCUs) and that the offense is spreading hate and inciting violence on the internet. NPCC Chief Constable Chris Haward is quoted as saying that the large number of people taking part in protests and riots “did not mobilize spontaneously.” “It was the result of dozens of so-called influencers, exploiting the outpouring of grief from the tragic loss of three young girls in Southport,” Haward said, referring to the knife attack that resulted in the three murders. Still talking about “hate influencers,” Haward added: “They knowingly spread misinformation, stoked the flames of hatred and division, and incited violence from the comfort of their own homes – causing chaos on other people’s doorsteps. (…) Online crimes have real-world consequences and you will be dealt with in the same way as those physically present and inflicting the violence.” Thus far, the NPCC has said that it is investigating hundreds of leads. The content targeted by law enforcement and intelligence units is reportedly spread across a range of unnamed social sites and platforms, according to the press release. It is also revealed that “hate influencers” as the British legacy press calls them will not be held responsible simply for using the internet to allegedly incite real-world violence – but also for something separate NPCC calls “violence online.” “A senior investigator” will have the last word on whether any of this can be treated as a crime – and if so, people behind the accounts and/or content will be identified and arrested. If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post Specialist UK Police Teams Target “Hate” on Social Media appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

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The world’s largest 3D-printed neighborhood is quickly nearing completion, one layer at a time. Wolf Ranch is a community of 3D-printed houses found alongside the San Gabriel River in the hills of Georgetown, Texas, around 48 kilometers (30 miles) north of Austin.Construction of the settlement began in 2022 with the project planning to build 100 homes, making it the largest community of 3D-printed homes. Just two years on, Wolf Ranch is now nearing completion, with the last few homes being printed this summer according to a recent report by Reuters.The town is a collaboration between ICON, a Texas-based start-up specializing in large-scale 3D printing, and Lennar, one of the biggest homebuilders in the US.Giant 3D printers in action at Wolf Ranch.Image credit: ICONEach building is constructed using a giant 3D printer that layers concrete and other materials in a pre-programmed design, building the house from the ground up. The legacy of this method is left within the houses’ walls, which are ribbed like corduroy. A standing seam metal roof is then placed on top of the building, adorned with solar panels to help power the home’s electricity. According to ICON, 3D printing allows their homes to be delivered at speed and scale in a way that’s energy efficient and minimizes material waste. It also, in their words, creates buildings that are “technologically advanced, environmentally sustainable and architecturally striking.”“For the first time in the history of the world, what we’re witnessing here is a fleet of robots building an entire community of homes. And not just any homes, homes that are better in every way… better design, higher strength, higher energy performance and comfort, and increased resiliency,” Jason Ballard, co-founder and CEO of ICON, said in a 2022 statement when building began.“In the future, I believe robots and drones will build entire neighborhoods, towns, and cities, and we’ll look back at Lennar’s Wolf Ranch community as the place where robotic construction at scale began. We still have a long way to go, but I believe this marks a very exciting and hopeful turn in the way we address housing issues in the world,” explained Ballard.Inside one of the 3D printed homes at Wolf Ranch.Image credit: ICONAs the community approaches its completion, residents have already started moving in. There are eight different models of homes at Wolf Ranch. As of August 2024, the cheapest starts at around $430,000, offering 146 square meters (1,574 square feet) of space with three bedrooms and two bathrooms. Larger (and more expensive) models are up for grabs too.Along with a bunch of other Earth-bound projects in the works, ICON also has bold ambitions to eventually build “off-world” communities on the Moon and beyond. In 2022, the company received a $57.2 million contract from NASA to develop construction technologies that could help build 3D-printed infrastructure – like landing pads, roads, and houses – to the lunar surface and our planetary neighbor Mars.“To change the space exploration paradigm from ‘there and back again’ to ‘there to stay,’ we’re going to need robust, resilient, and broadly capable systems that can use the local resources of the Moon and other planetary bodies. We’re pleased that our research and engineering to-date has demonstrated that such systems are indeed possible, and we look forward to now making that possibility a reality,” said Ballard in an announcement of the NASA contract in 2022.

It's been a pretty good decade so far for witnessing cosmic events. As well as the total solar eclipse and the Sun approaching its peak in activity, creating stunning auroras on Earth, we will soon see an event first recorded in a medieval manuscript, when T Coronae Borealis goes nova.But look up at the night sky on pretty much any night (clouds and light pollution-permitting) and you will still see a spectacular sight, and stellar objects first witnessed by our ancestors long in the past.But what exactly are you looking at when you gaze up at the sky without a telescope? Stars? Galaxies? Planets?First off, as everybody tells you, when you look up at the sky you are seeing a whole lot of ancient history. The light left the objects you are looking at long ago, and has traversed many light-years to end its journey in your very own eyeballs. But it probably wasn't sent out quite as long ago as you think. The objects you see in the night sky without a telescope are only the brightest objects from our perspective. These are the planets, when they are in the right positions relative to us, and stars within a radius of about 4,000 light-years of us. Occasionally, people will tell you that you are looking at the light from a star that has died. But unless you are using a telescope this is probably not the case, given the enormous lifespan of stars ranging from millions to trillions (when that time has elapsed, of course) of years. You could get extremely lucky and notice one as it vanishes from the night sky, but in all likelihood if you see the light as it was sent out up to 4,000 years ago, the star is likely there today.You can also see our galaxy, the Milky Way, with your naked eye, looking like a sort of river across our sky, though it looks better with long exposure cameras.            So do you not see other galaxies? Well, you can see a few of our closest neighbors. The Large and Small Magellanic Clouds – actually dwarf galaxies – are visible from the Southern Hemisphere, as well as Andromeda.But other galaxies? Not with the naked eye. In fact, it took us until relatively recently to know for sure that there are galaxies other than their own. Evidence had been found pointing towards the idea of "island universes" beyond the Milky Way by measuring the distance to cepheid variable stars in the early 20th century. But it wasn't until Edwin Hubble took a closer look at Andromeda – believed to be a nebula at the time – and found cepheids and measured their distance that we confirmed there was anything beyond our own galaxy. That was in 1924. After thousands of years of looking up at the sky, it was only a century ago that we learned there was anything beyond our galaxy at all. Since then, we have developed better telescopes, including the space one named for Hubble, and can resolve galaxies in much greater resolution. We've even begun to look at galaxies that formed just 400 million years after the Big Bang using the JWST. That's light which has been traversing the universe for almost the entire duration of the universe.But it could have been much worse, and in a way we were lucky(ish) to be placed close enough to Andromeda to realize how much more there is to see. If we were placed in the Boötes Void – an area of space with fewer galaxies than you'd expect – it would have taken us even longer.As astronomer Greg Aldering put it: "If the Milky Way had been in the center of the Boötes Void, we wouldn’t have known there were other galaxies until the 1960s.”So when you look up at the sky, you are enjoying the view of real, likely alive stars nearby, an occasional planet, our own galaxy, and a few galaxies that are close enough to see without the aid of a telescope.All “explainer” articles are confirmed by fact checkers to be correct at time of publishing. Text, images, and links may be edited, removed, or added to at a later date to keep information current. 

You’ve heard of porcupines, you’ve heard of rats, but have you ever seen an animal that’s a confusing mixture of the two… and also looks like someone made it out of the same stuff as a stiff broom? No? Then it’s time to introduce you to the bristle-spined rat.Bristle-spined rats: the basicsAlso known as thin-spined porcupines, bristle-spined rats (Chaetomys subspinosus) are a species of nocturnal rodent that were first reported in the scientific literature back in 1818, the only species belonging to their genus.Their defining characteristic is in the name – they’re covered in short, bristle-like spines that are usually brown, but occasionally grey. As for their size, bristle-spined rats are about the same length as a small cat, and weigh around 1.3 kilograms (2.9 pounds).They’re found in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, where they almost exclusively live up in the trees, chomping away at the leaves. Add to this their solitary nature, and bristle-spined rats can be pretty hard to spot.That could go a long way to explaining why it was thought they might have gone extinct back in the 20th century; no sightings of the rodents were reported for over 30 years, until Brazilian biologist Ilmar B. Santos rediscovered them in a northern region of the forest in December 1986.Classification controversyAs much as we humans like to categorize the world around us, it’s not always so easily done; despite having first been reported over 200 years ago, it’s only recently that the debate over how to classify the bristle-spined rat has been settled.The question – is it a member of the scientific family Erethizontidae, better known as the New World porcupines, or is it in the Echimyidae, the spiny rats?Is it a rat or is it a porcupine?Image credit: Leonardo Mercon/Shutterstock.comOne of the ways that scientists can try to group animals together is by comparing their physical characteristics, but it turns out ol’ spiky is a bit of a mishmash of the two families. Its feet, nose, and tail look like those of erethizontids, but other structures like its teeth have been suggested as closer to that of Echimyidae.After a lot of back and forth, with newer techniques like genetics providing evidence, the argument finally seems to have been resolved: the bristle-spined rat is an erethizontid (although a fresh debate quickly popped up in its place, as is the way of science).But why get so caught up in the classification of it all?Under threatIt might seem like pedantry, but debating the details of classification is actually pretty important – not just to get a better understanding of animals to satisfy scientific curiosity, but because of the real-world applications that has.One of those applications is conservation, which is particularly relevant to the bristle-spined rat as it’s currently considered a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List, with its population decreasing.That’s largely been attributed to widespread deforestation in its habitat, although hunting of the rodents to use them as food or incorporating their spines in traditional medicine has also been identified as a major threat to the population.To help conserve the bristle-spined rat, researchers have identified a need to not only add greater protections against hunting and habitat loss, but also to improve people’s awareness of these bizarre, yet charming animals and their importance to the ecosystem.

The latest gene-edited food tipped to hit the shelves – potentially in a few short months – are new and improved leafy greens. With better taste and higher nutrition than your average lettuce, it could soon be spicing up salads, having recently been licensed by biotech giant Bayer.Last year, food startup Pairwise launched its gene-edited mustard greens: the first CRISPR food to hit the North American market. Engineered for improved flavor and higher nutritional content, the leafy greens were introduced to the food service industry in a select few cities – but should now become available to plenty more consumers thanks to Bayer.The company will be able to develop and commercialize 10 varieties of Pairwise’s gene-edited mustard greens and will be free to breed new varieties, which could see them reaching grocery stores as early as this year.“We hope to have product reaching kitchen and dinner tables in the fall,” Anne Williams, head of protected crops in Bayer’s vegetable seeds division, told Wired.The edited salad leaves are a mixture of multi-use mustard green varieties engineered by Pairwise to have a less intense, bitter flavor, while still retaining their nutritional value. “We think people will really like the taste,” Williams added.To create the greens, Pairwise used a type of gene editing known as CRISPR, which essentially uses “genetic scissors” to snip DNA. As such, it can be used to edit genes by facilitating the removal, addition, modification, or replacement of genetic material. Crucially, gene editing does not involve the insertion of foreign genetic material, which means it is distinct from often-vilified genetic modification (GM).Because gene-edited crops contain no added DNA, in many places – including the US – they are not subject to the same stringent regulations as GM crops. In recent years, we’ve seen all sorts of edited products popping up: from the tomato that debuted in Japan in 2021, becoming the world’s first CRISPR-edited food to go on sale, to genetically engineered pigs, and now salad.“We’re excited to partner with Pairwise on their innovative leafy greens, which deliver a new, great-tasting salad option with high nutrition value,” said JD Rossouw, Head of Vegetables Research & Development at Bayer, in a statement. “The latest deal creates value beyond just selling a product, as it also comes with rights to use the knowledge, intellectual property, and technology going forward.”And why stop there? Pairwise is continuing to use CRISPR to innovate food and agriculture, including creating the first seedless blackberry.