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Posted by Lori Dorn

“Snow Bear” by award-winning illustrator Aaron Blaise is a touching, hand-drawn animated short about a lonely polar bear who builds a new friendship after being rejected by other species. Blaise spent the better part of three years creating the 11,000 animations that resulted in this beautiful message of friendship, loneliness, and the plight of polar bears

Snow Bear is a hand-drawn animated short film by Oscar-nominated director Aaron Blaise. Featuring over 11,000 traditional drawings, the film blends classic 2D animation with a modern cinematic story.

‘Snow Bear’ Card Game Kickstarter

Blaise is also raising funds through Kickstarter to make a card game based on his short film.

Aaron created all new, original artwork for this game. His goal is to put a little more beauty and kindness into the world… and to bring people closer together around the table.

via Kraftfuttermischwerk

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The post A Lonely Polar Bear Builds a New Friendship in the Touching Hand-Drawn Animated Short ‘Snow Bear’ was originally published on Laughing Squid.

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Posted by Lori Dorn

Puddles Pity Party, the velvet throated clown, performed a tender cover of the classic Yazoo song “Only You” as a straight-faced marionette with a heart that glowed whenever a “flower ballerina” was present. Tim DeLaney arranged the song for Puddles and the marionettes were provided by Bob Baker Marionette Theatre.

Not long ago, Tim DeLaney and I were discussing musical gems of our salad days. I mentioned Yazoo and Alison Moyet. He said lay it on me. So I did. He banged out a treatment on piano and here we are. Sometimes it just goes like that. Special thanks to Bob Baker Marionette Theatre for “Flower Ballerina”

Puddles PIty Party Only You Marionette

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The post Puddles Pity Party Performs the Yazoo Song ‘Only You’ as a Straight-Faced Marionette With a Glowing Heart was originally published on Laughing Squid.

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Posted by Hayden Vernon (now) and Jakub Krupa (earlier)

Bart De Wever will also discuss migration, security and economy ahead of coalition of the willing meeting and EU summit next week

Russia’s central bank said it was suing the Belgium-based Euroclear financial group, which holds Moscow’s frozen international reserves, as the EU moves closer to using the funds to support Ukraine, AFP reported.

The bank said it was filing “a lawsuit against Euroclear in the Moscow Arbitration Court” due to what it called “the illegal actions” of the institution.

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Posted by Deepa Parent and agencies

Mohammadi ‘violently’ detained along with other activists at memorial event in Mashhad, her foundation says

There are fears for the wellbeing of the 2023 Nobel peace prize winner Narges Mohammadi after she was detained by Iranian security forces at a memorial ceremony for a human rights lawyer in the eastern city of Mashhad.

Mohammadi, 53, who was granted temporary leave from prison on medical grounds in December 2024, was newly detained along with several other activists at the memorial for Khosro Alikordi, who was found dead in his office last week.

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Posted by Andy Hunter

  • Egyptian’s exile ends following talks with Arne Slot

  • Unknown if he apologised to Liverpool’s head coach

Mohamed Salah will be back in Liverpool’s squad for Saturday’s Premier League home game against Brighton following talks with Arne Slot.

Slot revealed on Friday morning that Salah’s involvement against Brighton rested on the outcome of a conversation he would have with the forward at the club’s training ground later in the day. Details of their conversation remain private, so it is unknown whether Salah apologised to Liverpool’s head coach for the highly-critical interview he gave at Leeds last Saturday, but the 33-year-old has been included in the squad for the match at Anfield.

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Posted by Lucy Campbell (now) Shrai Popat and Hayden Vernon (earlier)

Release includes photos of Donald Trump, Bill Clinton and Richard Branson as top Democrat says images raise questions about financier’s relationship with high-profile figures

The admiral in charge of US military forces in Latin America will retire two years early, AP reports, amid rising tensions with Venezuela that include Wednesday’s seizure of an oil tanker and more than 20 deadly strikes on suspected drug-smuggling boats.

Three US officials and two people familiar with the matter told Reuters that Admiral Alvin Holsey was pushed out by defense secretary Pete Hegseth. Two officials said Hegseth had grown frustrated with Southern Command as he sought to flex US military operations and planning in the region.

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Posted by Pippa Crerar, Peter Walker and Kiran Stacey

Conservative insiders say the party and the public are warming to Kemi Badenoch after a difficult first year

At a Conservative donors event last week, Kemi Badenoch was asked for a selfie by the former Spice Girl Geri Horner. The Tory leader was, her allies say, a little bemused by the approach. But they were clear about what it meant: cut-through.

Badenoch’s leadership got off to a poor start. Still reeling from the Tories’ worst general election defeat, she took over a diminished and disheartened party, which was languishing in the polls and facing an existential threat in the form of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.

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Posted by Philip Cornwall

Fifa’s demand that the most fervent supporters cough up a minimum of £5,000 in advance just for tickets is scandalous

It was not mathematically confirmed until the Latvia game a month later, but as I watched Ezri Konsa turn in the third goal away to Serbia in early September I smiled to myself in the Stadion Rajko Mitic, knowing England were going to the World Cup. But immediately, a key question surfaced: was I? The answer came on Thursday, with the announcement of the ticket prices that the most loyal supporters of international football would have to pay. And that answer, emphatically, was no, as it will be for countless supporters worldwide. If you had asked me as a hypothetical what seeing England in a World Cup final was worth, I might have said: “Priceless.” But $4,185 – £3,130 – just for the match ticket? No, no, no.

As a fan, I have been to 14 tournaments – nine European Championships and five World Cups – dating back to Euro 92. I have the money, or at least could get it by dipping into my pension pot, which I was braced to do for hotels and flights. But, in a sentiment being echoed across England, Scotland and all the other qualifying nations, I’m not spending a minimum of about £5,000 simply on match tickets, the price Fifa has put on watching your team from group stage through to the final (the exact total will vary, depending on where a country’s group matches are).

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Posted by Lori Dorn

Researchers at the Istituto Italiano Di Tecnologia in Genoa, Italy, in partnership with Centro E. Piaggio at the University of Pisa, created the SoftFoot Pro, an extremely flexible, motorless artificial foot that adapts easily to different terrains, both indoors and outdoors.

A motorless, flexible prosthetic foot inspired by the anatomy of the human extremity and waterproof is the new SoftFoot Pro bionic foot prototype, designed by the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT-Italian Institute of Technology) in Genoa in collaboration with Centro E. Piaggio of University of Pisa

This incredibly innovative prosthetic, modeled after the human foot, allows the wearer to do things that others often take for granted. This includes climbing stairs, tying a shoe, walking barefoot in the grass or on the beach without having to switch to action specific prostheses.

Because of its flexibility, SoftFoot Pro perfectly reproduces the natural positions assumed by the human feet and allows for performing simple everyday actions, such as bending down to tie a shoe, or picking something up from the ground, improving also the walking experience on stairs. Finally, being waterproof makes SoftFoot Pro also adequate to be used outdoor, on meadows, beaches, and slippery terrain, avoiding the need for the user to eventually switch to prostheses specifically designed for specific activities.

SoftFoot Pro can also be used on humanoid robots.

Its design is unique on an international level and aims to serve both as a flexible technological prosthesis for people with limb-loss and as a solution for the humanoid robots of the future.

SoftFoot Pro artificial foot

via The Awesomer

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The post SoftFoot Pro – An Extremely Flexible Artificial Foot That Easily Adapts to Different Terrains was originally published on Laughing Squid.

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Posted by grrmminion

On the road to greatness, they’ll take the long way…

We’re So excited for some Dunk and Egg goodness next year!

AND the official preview

ALSO,

Have you heard of this contest??

Maybe you know a real-life knight or someone who you think should be?

You could win a trip to attend the LA Fan Premiere for HBO’s A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms to see your nominee knighted by George R.R. Martin.

Using #KnightChallenge on TikTok, tag someone you know who embodies courage, valor, honor & sacrifice to nominate them.

No pur nec. Ends 12PM ET on 1/2/26. Open to Entrants/Nominees in 48 contig. US/DC, 18+ (19+ in AL&NE, 21+ in MS).

See Rules for details at www.hboknightchallenge.com

THIS MESSAGE HAS BEEN BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE MINIONS OF FEVRE RIVER

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Posted by Tom Davies (now), John Brewin and Tom Davies (earlier)

⚽ All the latest updates heading into the weekend’s action
Premier League: 10 things to look out for | Email Tom

Yet more Slot: “Alex [Isak] got a knock in the first half, so let’s see how he recovers from that today and if he is able to start tomorrow.

It’s helpful in the upcoming weeks that we won’t play as many games as we did until now. I wonder if there are more teams that have played three games in seven days this season. We had to do it three times already this season.

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Posted by Staff and agencies

Mohammadi ‘violently’ detained along with other activists at memorial event in Mashhad, according to her foundation

Iranian security forces have “violently” arrested the 2023 Nobel peace prize winner Narges Mohammadi at a memorial ceremony for a lawyer and human rights advocate, her supporters said.

Mohammadi, who was granted temporary leave from prison in December 2024 on medical grounds, was detained along with several other activists at the ceremony for Khosro Alikordi, who was found dead in his office last week, her foundation wrote on X.

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Posted by Shrai Popat (now) and Hayden Vernon (earlier)

Release includes photos of Donald Trump, Bill Clinton and Richard Branson as top Democrat says images raise questions about financier’s relationship with high-profile figures

The admiral in charge of US military forces in Latin America will retire two years early, AP reports, amid rising tensions with Venezuela that include Wednesday’s seizure of an oil tanker and more than 20 deadly strikes on suspected drug-smuggling boats.

Three US officials and two people familiar with the matter told Reuters that Admiral Alvin Holsey was pushed out by defense secretary Pete Hegseth. Two officials said Hegseth had grown frustrated with Southern Command as he sought to flex US military operations and planning in the region.

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Posted by Jonathan Jones

Tate stresses its departing director has ‘diversified’ the collection, but it has hidden its treasures and let its galleries slide into insulting incoherence – and visitors have voted with their absence

In the last nine years Tate has had some hits, but its misses have become embarrassing. Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall is currently occupied by a feeble installation that would be weak in an ordinary-sized art space, let alone this gigantic one. It’s become genuinely hard to understand what Tate’s priorities are when it chooses artists for the annual Turbine Hall commission. And the Turner prize is even more mystifying. Once the stage of shocking, provocative art that engaged – whether they were for or against – a massive public, it has retreated into wilful obscurity, its trips around the UK starting to seem part of a studied wholesomeness. What’s the point of staging it in Bradford when the shortlist just exports the enigmatic tastes of a metropolitan elite?

Is Maria Balshaw, who is quitting her post as director of Tate, solely responsible for this? No, but perhaps she is courageously taking the blame and allowing the institution to reinvent itself as it needs to, fast. The achievements Tate stresses in its announcement of her departure centre on how she has “diversified” the collection, exhibition and audiences. But in that noble quest, there has been a loss of artistic ambition, aesthetic thrills, raw horror and beauty. Sometimes we really do want art for art’s sake and Tate has lost sight of that.

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Posted by Hayden Vernon (now) and Jakub Krupa (earlier)

Bart De Wever will also discuss migration, security and economy ahead of coalition of the willing meeting and EU summit next week

Russia’s central bank said it was suing the Belgium-based Euroclear financial group, which holds Moscow’s frozen international reserves, as the EU moves closer to using the funds to support Ukraine, AFP reported.

The bank said it was filing “a lawsuit against Euroclear in the Moscow Arbitration Court” due to what it called “the illegal actions” of the institution.

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Posted by Guardian community team

We would like to hear from young people who have left the UK in recent months –or are planning to do so

Young people are leaving the UK in high numbers and we’d like to find out more about the reasons why.

Is it about finding a better salary abroad or concerns about rising costs and tax in the UK? How did you choose where to move? How have you found the experience?

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Posted by Sarah Butler

John Vincent on bouncing back after cutting branches, refreshing the menu, and staff learning from martial arts

John Vincent is going back to the future. Four years after selling Leon, the fast food chain named after his father and founded in 2004 with two friends, he has bought it back with hopes of reviving its fortunes.

“In a crisis you need a pilot in full control,” the martial arts fan says, speaking to the Guardian from Leon’s headquarters near London Bridge.

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