When Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 C.E.‚ it buried entire cities in volcanic materials. While Pompeii is the most famous site affected by the natural disaster‚ the nearby villa of Herculaneum was also laid to waste—including over 800 precious scrolls found inside Herculaneum’s library‚ which were carbonized by the heat‚ making them impossible to open and recover their contents. Which brings us to the Vesuvius challenge‚ started by computer scientist Brent Seales and entrepreneurs Nat Friedman and Daniel Gross in March 2023. The contest would award $1 million in prizes to whoever could use machine learning to successfully read from the scrolls without damaging them.On February 5‚ the prize-winning team was announced.The team consisted of three savvy college students— Youssef Nader in Germany‚ Luke Farritor in the US‚ and Julian Schilliger in Switzerland—working with each other from across the globe.Each student had a prior individual accomplishment in the challenge before teaming up. Farritor first deciphered a word from the scroll ((ΠΟΡΦΥΡΑϹ‚ or “porphyras‚” which means “purple” in ancient Greek)‚ after which Nader was able to read multiple column from the scroll‚ in addition to Julian Schilliger creating 3D map renderings of the papyrus.Nader‚ Farritor and Schillinger eventually combined their talents to train machine-learning algorithms to decipher more than 2‚000 characters. Contest organizers estimated a less than 30% success rate for even less characters.So‚ what exactly did the scrolls say? Turns out‚ the ancient cultures were just as curious about what makes us truly happy in life as we are today.The translated text‚ thought to be written by Epicurean philosopher Philodemus‚ appears to be a philosophical discussion on pleasure‚ and how it’s affected by things like music and food. And quite possibly “throwing shade” as stoicism by calling it “an incomplete philosophy because it has ‘nothing to say about pleasure.”“We can’t escape the feeling that the first text we’ve uncovered is a 2‚000-year-old blog post about how to enjoy life‚” the Vesuvius Challenge website writes.The first Vesuvius Challenge resulted in 5% of one scroll being read. For 2024‚ the goalpost has been moved to being able to read 90% of all four scrolls currently scanned‚ and to lay the foundation to read all 800 scrolls‚ and possibly other texts found at the Herculaneum library. “Some of these texts could completely rewrite the history of key periods of the ancient world‚” Robert Fowler‚ a classicist and the chair of the Herculaneum Society‚ told Bloomberg. “This is the society from which the modern Western world is descended.”Using artificial intelligence to create a future has been a prime topic of conversation as of late‚ but this story is a great example of how AI can give us rare glimpses into the past as well. It's pretty incredible to think about how many ancient mysteries could be solved as technology continues to advance in the years to come. But no matter how much knowledge we gain‚ it feels safe to say that pleasure might always an enigma.

You always hear about a "bad dog‚" giving the furry goofballs a reputation for getting into mischief‚ but what about bad cats. Not all cats are angels just lounging around the house until someone gives them food while fanning them with a giant palm leaf. Some cats have a sketchy "catigree" and every once in a while they let that wild streak show. When that happens‚ what is a cat owner to do?A cat mom that goes by the user name Lambo Licia on Instagram posted a video showing exactly how she gets her cat in line when he's misbehaving. No‚ it's not with a spray bottle. She shows him what life is like in "the trenches." You know‚ the area of town where homeless cats roam and cat burglars have real whiskers and thumbs that don't work‚ leaving a strange fish smell wherever they lurk. If Scared Straight: Cat Edition was an actual thing‚ Mega‚ the orange tabby would be the first to turn his life around. He looks absolutely petrified from all of the unruly cat behavior he sees out the window and his mom's commentary."You be in the kitchen begging me for food. You see those cats over there? They ain't eat at all‚ they ain't eat at all. There's cats out here struggling and you stressing me at home like I don't feed you‚" Licia pretends to cry to the cat. Commenters can't get enough of Mega being shown the bad side of cat town and share their own ungrateful cat stories."I take pictures of the less fortunate cats to show mine how good she really has it. Another cat got in our house and played in her toy bin and she was pissed! I told her some cats don't have toys and she needs to share idc if the neighborhood cat came over. She's been an indoor cat since‚" one cat mom writes."Scared Straight: Cat Edition!!! I’m here for it. You is a Cat of God in a black household… you know better. Now stop this foolishness and be great. My speech to my orange tabby‚ Toby Jawan Walker‚" someone else laughs."Cat: Wait‚ they really out here living like this!!! Oh no‚ take me home now‚" another commenter jokes. One thing is for sure‚ Mega will never forget his ride to the wrong side of town and hopefully will start having a more grateful attitude. Watch the entire video below: View this post on Instagram A post shared by Lambo Licia (@lambo.licia)

You can’t turn back the hands of time and so it’s impossible to avoid being labeled “old” by younger generations‚ no matter how hard you try. For many of us‚ our names are tied to the times when we were born and can start to sound really dated‚ no matter how fashionable they were at one point.TikTokker Amber Cimotti found this out the hard way when her daughter noted that she has an “old” person's name. “My daughter told me the name Ashley or Amanda — or my name is Amber — are like old people names and I never thought about it this way‚” Amber explained in a video with over 3 million views.“She's like‚ ‘Yeah‚ my teacher's names are like Miss Erica‚ Miss Samantha‚ there's Amandas and Ashleys‚ and she's like‚ ‘Those are just old people's names.’ Whereas young people names like my daughter is Scarlett‚ there's Charlotte‚ there's Olivia‚ there's Penelopes‚ there's Isabellas‚ there's Bellas‚ there's Ellas‚ those are young people names‚” she continued. @ciaoamberc TikTok · Ciao AmberC The mom realized what was once young and hip is now just a big red flag that screams “Millenial” to the younger kids.“So basically‚ ‘Ashley’ is always going to be my friend from elementary‚ so it just seems like a kid name to me but it's not. Ashley‚ Amanda‚ Amber — all of these names are like basically the new Margaret or Barbara‚” she continued."If you got a shout-out in Mambo Number 5‚ congrats you now have a granny name lol‚" Christina commented‚ making a reference that most Gen Zers will never get‚ but Millenials and Gen Xers know instinctively.Sorry‚ Ashleys‚ but the facts don’t lie‚ according to Mama Natural‚ Ashley was the 3rd most popular name for American babies between 1991 and 1996. In 2021‚ it was ranked 154.

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment announced the debut of 'Steel Magnolias' on 4K Ultra HD for April 23 to celebrate the anniversary of this star studded release.

His first arrest was in 2020.

WASHINGTON — The first question isn’t why special counsel David C. Weiss charged longtime informant Alexander Smirnov with making false claims about President Joe Biden and his son Hunter. The question is: Why now? In 2024‚ an election year. READ MORE: Make Biden Own His Weaknesses On Thursday‚ Weiss unsealed a 37-page indictment that charged Smirnov with making “a materially false‚ fictitious‚ and fraudulent statement” in June 2020 to an FBI agent about the Bidens seeking $5 million each from a Ukrainian energy concern‚ Burisma. A second count involves making a false entry on an FBI form. The revelation gave oxygen to the legal defense team representing the president’s son. Smirnov‚ who should be presumed innocent‚ was arrested at Harry Reid International Airport on Wednesday and has a hearing Tuesday before Magistrate Daniel Albregts in Las Vegas. In March 2017‚ according to the indictment‚ Smirnov told his FBI handler about a call with a Burisma official and mentioned that Hunter Biden was a Burisma board member. It wasn’t until June 2020 that Smirnov reported two earlier meetings that ostensibly occurred in 2015 and 2016. Travel records suggested they didn’t happen‚ Weiss asserted. Hence these charges against a small-change witness. It’s “really hard for prosecutors to charge perjury‚” University of Virginia law professor Saikrishna Prakash told me. While pundits say the Smirnov charges make House Republicans look bad‚ the FBI looks worse. Smirnov had been a “confidential human source” involved in cases going back to Oct. 1‚ 2010‚ and‚ the indictment noted‚ he was “authorized to engage in criminal activity as part of an on-going criminal investigation.” I want to learn more about that. Smirnov was feeding the feds so much dirt that he was admonished that he had to provide “truthful information” at least 20 times‚ according to the indictment. In short‚ Smirnov worked as a “snitch.” Snitches have a reputation for playing law enforcement to their advantage‚ while law enforcement has a reputation for looking the other way. I have trouble believing that any FBI agent would consider going after a vice president’s son based on the word of a career informant. Indeed‚ the FBI didn’t find the accusations credible. Hence the lack of action‚ until now. To the average voter‚ the real scandal is that Burisma recruited Biden to serve on its board for a position that‚ according to the New York Times‚ paid him more than $800‚000 in 2013 and more than $1.2 million in 2014‚ while his father was vice president and Ukraine was part of the veep’s portfolio. At the time‚ the New York Times reported‚ Hunter Biden “was a Yale-educated lawyer who had served on the boards of Amtrak and a number of nonprofit organizations and think tanks‚ but lacked any experience in Ukraine and just months earlier had been discharged from the Navy Reserve after testing positive for cocaine.” And still he earned that kind of money. Weiss also has charged Hunter Biden with making false statements — for lying about his drug use while he possessed a gun. Weiss clearly takes perjury seriously. It’s downright refreshing. Contact Review-Journal Washington columnist Debra J. Saunders at dsaunders@reviewjournal.com. Follow her @debrajsaunders on X. COPYRIGHT 2024 CREATORS.COM The post Special Counsel Indicts Hunter Biden — And Informant appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.