gytrash

"Regarding body and cosmic horror influences, no piece of media is more prolific than John Carpenter’s 1982 masterpiece, The Thing. Between Carpenter’s multifaceted craftsmanship and special effects wizard Rob Bottin’s grotesquely creative mind, The Thing would leave an indomitable mark on the next 50 years of horror. From a monster design standpoint, what made The Thing remarkable was the creature’s knack for treating the human body like meaty playdough. While assimilating itself with its victim, the creature would contort, mesh, and tear flesh while attempting to replicate its victim’s appearance. Should the monster’s transformation be interrupted, it would often retain a distorted semblance of its victim’s original form to horrifying effects.

As with anything, creatives across all disciplines have attempted to replicate the magic of Carpenter’s film, but sadly, many took the wrong lessons from it. Much in the way that adaptations of H.P. Lovecraft’s work often result in “It’s Lovecraft because there are tentacles,” body and cosmic horror have been misinterpreted to no end over the decades. While emphasizing the horrifying exterior of characters and monsters alike, the best examples of body and cosmic horror examine the inner workings of characters who we come to care for, emphasizing the inherent horror of it all..."

"High street chains forced to shutter their doors, medicine shortages, no phone network, international shipping routes blocked, and the UK’s critical national infrastructure under constant threat. This is not the plot of a disaster movie, but rather the very real potential consequences if China invaded Taiwan.

Tension in the Taiwan Strait is increasing, and experts are now in general agreement that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) will attempt to take Taiwan using force. 67 per cent of US experts polled in January by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said they expected a crisis in the Taiwan Strait in the next six months..."

"Controlling methane provides our best, and perhaps only, lever for shaving peak global temperatures over the next few decades. This is because it’s cleansed from the air naturally only a decade or so after release. Therefore if we could eliminate all methane emissions from human activities, methane’s concentration would quickly return to pre-industrial levels. Essentially, humans have released in excess of 3bn tonnes of methane into the atmosphere in the past 20 years. Quashing those emissions within a decade or two would save us 0.5C of warming. No other greenhouse gas gives us this much power to slow the climate crisis..."

"A UK satellite to support military operations successfully launched into space last night.

Named Tyche, the satellite is UK Space Command’s first satellite which can capture daytime images and videos of the Earth’s surface. 

The satellite will strengthen the UK’s Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities.  

As the conflict in Ukraine has shown, the use of space is crucial to military operations. Tyche is the first satellite to be launched under the Ministry of Defence’s space-based ISR programme, which will deliver a constellation of satellites and supporting ground systems by 2031.  

These satellites will not only support military operations, but also contribute to other government tasks, including natural disaster monitoring, the development of mapping information, environmental monitoring and tracking the impact of climate change around the world..."

"Over the past few years Leeds has emerged as a go-to destination for British institutions looking to venture beyond the M25.

Since 2018 Channel 4, the Bank of England, the Financial Conduct Authority and the UK Infrastructure Bank have all opened hubs or expanded their presence in the city, adding hundreds of new jobs and millions of pounds to the local economy.

While “North-shoring”—the practice of companies relocating from London to Northern England—isn’t a new trend, the recent surge of firms choosing Leeds over larger nearby cities like Manchester marks a shift.

So how is the West Yorkshire city holding its own?

The answer, according to the chief executive of Northern Powerhouse Partnership, Henri Murison, could lie nine miles west in the neighbouring city of Bradford..."

"We’re in the midst of a historic heat wave across Canada’s Far North as the region roasts beneath some of North America’s hottest temperatures.

Several communities in the Northwest Territories recorded their all-time highest readings this week. This is only the second true heat wave observed in Inuvik, where temperatures are nearly double where they should be for this point in August..."

"... research has now found that the vast majority of data stored in the cloud is “dark data”, meaning it is used once then never visited again. That means that all the memes and jokes and films that we love to share with friends and family – from “All your base are belong to us”, through Ryan Gosling saying “Hey Girl”, to Tim Walz with a piglet – are out there somewhere, sitting in a datacentre, using up energy..."

"Modern consumers have come to imagine the internet as something unseen in the atmosphere – an invisible “cloud” just above our heads, raining data down upon us. Because our devices aren’t tethered to any cables, many of us believe the whole thing is wireless, says Starosielski, but the reality is far more extraordinary..."

"Signal is being blocked in Venezuela and Russia. The app is a popular choice for encrypted messaging and people trying to avoid government censorship, and the blocks appear to be part of a crackdown on internal dissent in both countries..."

"The United Nations approved its first international cybercrime treaty yesterday. The effort succeeded despite opposition from tech companies and human rights groups, who warn that the agreement will permit countries to expand invasive electronic surveillance in the name of criminal investigations. Experts from these organizations say that the treaty undermines the global human rights of freedom of speech and expression because it contains clauses that countries could interpret to internationally prosecute any perceived crime that takes place on a computer system..."

"Earlier this year, Russia’s foreign intelligence service stole internal emails and data on individuals from the UK government. The news was first reported by Recorded Future News, which obtained an official description of the incident report.

The description of the report was obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, it revealed that the incident follows an attack carried out by a nation-state actor on a supplier of the department’s corporate systems, and linked the security breach to Microsoft’s January announcement.

In January, Microsoft warned that some of its corporate email accounts were compromised by a Russia-linked cyberespionage group known as Midnight Blizzard. The company notified law enforcement and relevant regulatory authorities.

Microsoft also announced that the Russia-linked APT Midnight Blizzard that hit the company in late November 2023 has been targeting organizations worldwide as part of a large-scale cyberespionage campaign..."

"The UK's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has announced a provisional decision to impose a fine of £6.09M ($7.74 million) on Advanced Computer Software Group Ltd (Advanced) for its failure to protect the personal information of tens of thousands when it was hit by ransomware in 2022.

Advanced, an IT service and hosting provider contracted by the United Kingdom's National Health Service (NHS), was compromised by threat actors on August 4, 2022.

The incident impacted hundreds of public and private entities, including NHS 111, and various healthcare products such as Adastra, Caresys, Odyssey, Carenotes, Crosscare, Staffplan, and eFinancials.

As a result of the breach, the personal information of nearly 83,000 people was exposed, including instructions on how to access homes for 890 people receiving care at home..."