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'Barbie World': All things Barbie happening around Austin ahead of movie release

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:57 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Austin may not have a ginormous Barbie Dreamhouse Airbnb to celebrate the upcoming release of the "Barbie" movie, but it does have plenty of pink-themed parties and plans ahead of the premier. The highly-anticipated film follows Barbie and Ken leaving Barbieland to traverse into the "real world," but the closer the premier draws to theaters, the more the "Barbie World" bleeds into ours. It started with the famous "I love you so much" mural on South Congress Avenue being "dedicated" by Ken to Barbie on Friday. The mural now reads, “Barbie, I love you so much. -Ken.” This sweetly destructive defacement is only temporary because it’s part of a push to promote the film. SEE IT: Ken adds to ‘I love you so much’ mural ahead of ‘Barbie’ movie release Here are a few ways fans can step into their own Barbie Dreamland in Austin: Barbie PartiesSeveral businesses in Austin are hosting themed events to celebrate the movie's release: Taquero Mucho is holding a Barbie Brunch on...

Review | Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour dazzles in Denver

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:57 GMT

Taylor Swift called, and they answered.Sparkling from head to toe, clutching their phones at all times, and belting out well-memorized lyrics, more than 70,000 of her fans showed up Friday for Swift’s Eras Tour. The July 14 concert — the first of two dates at Empower Field at Mile High — prompted rapture from the opening moments.See more photos of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour show, night one.With spectacle and emotion tightly braided, Swift megadosed the faithful at the sold-out show with songs from across her catalog while gracefully navigating costume and set changes against a massive LED screen. It was a feat on par with her “Reputation”-era tour stop at Empower Field more than five years ago. Granted, that was a necessarily more focused and (relatively) edgy concert, but both found an ideal balance of ferocity and all-ages, rainbow-hued smiles that spoke directly to the mostly female, mostly young crowd.Taylor Swift performs during night one of Th...

A tech checklist for the dark side of summer weather

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:57 GMT

Summer is in full swing now, but along with vacation trips, camp and lazy days, extreme weather has arrived for many parts of the country. If you live in an area that’s prone to such conditions, it helps to be ready. Here are some tips to help you use your tech through major meteorological moments — sometimes even when power and cell service are shaky.Stay UpdatedGetting accurate local weather information helps you stay ahead of nearby threats like hurricanes, flash floods, tornadoes or wildfires. Setting up alerts on Apple’s default Weather app, the Google app or a specialized weather app keeps you notified. Bookmarking government webpages in your browser — like those for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Hurricane Center or the U.S. Air Quality Index — is good for manual checks of current conditions.Your phone can also receive wireless emergency alerts from authorized federal, state, local, tribal and territorial authorities. Check your ...

Elevation Community Land Trust opens door to home ownership for forever renters

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:57 GMT

Denver resident Charlene Taylor found herself in a bind after her daughter died in a car accident in 2020 while in the middle of a home sale.Her three grandchildren, who ranged from 13 to 21 years of age at the time, needed to find a new place to live and Taylor’s one-bedroom apartment was way too small to host everyone.After obtaining assistance from Denver for a few years for an affordable townhome that allowed the family to stay together, Taylor and her oldest granddaughter, Chantie, purchased a home in Montbello last month through the Elevation Community Land Trust. (ECLT)“You feel safe when you own. You don’t have to worry about the rent going up on you. You pay your mortgage and you do what you are supposed to do,” Taylor said.A community land trust pools private and public funds, using the money to acquire real estate assets, typically homes. Community land trusts, which got their start during the civil rights era, are becoming more popular in Colorado and o...

Black artists say AI shows bias, with algorithms erasing their history

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:57 GMT

The artist Stephanie Dinkins has long been a pioneer in combining art and technology in her Brooklyn-based practice. In May she was awarded $100,000 by the Guggenheim Museum for her groundbreaking innovations, including an ongoing series of interviews with Bina48, a humanoid robot.For the past seven years, she has experimented with artificial intelligence’s ability to realistically depict Black women, smiling and crying, using a variety of word prompts. The first results were lackluster if not alarming: Her algorithm produced a pink-shaded humanoid shrouded by a black cloak.“I expected something with a little more semblance of Black womanhood,” she said. And although the technology has improved since her first experiments, Dinkins found herself using runaround terms in the text prompts to help the AI image generators achieve her desired image, “to give the machine a chance to give me what I wanted.” But whether she uses the term “African American woman” or “Black woman,” machine dis...

3 Unique Ways To Use CBD

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:57 GMT

View the original article about Unique Ways To Use CBD at Real Tested CBD.CBD has taken the health and wellness words by storm. It can be found in a variety of forms from oils and tinctures to edibles and inhalables. With all the different products on the market these days it can be easy to find your preferred method of use and form of CBD. Even so, there are a ton of unique ways to utilize CBD.From cooking or crafting a cocktail to spicing up your skincare routine, let’s take a closer look at some different ways to use CBD in your day to day. Here are three unique ways to use CBD:What Is CBD?First, let’s do a quick breakdown of what CBD is. CBD, also known as cannabidiol, is one of over 100 naturally occurring compounds found in cannabis and hemp plants called cannabinoids. Cannabidiol is a major cannabinoid, meaning plants are rich with it.CBD can be extracted and turned into different products for use. Many people turn to CBD for its potentially therapeutic properties that range ...

As the Bay Area’s open-air drug markets are targeted, does this pilot program hold any promise?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:57 GMT

As a push to clear open-air drug markets from city streets gains momentum across the Bay Area, it’s raising a crucial question — what happens to those arrested for dealing and using illegal substances?The quagmire at the center of this highly contentious debate is being played out across California. City leaders are bombarded with quality-of-life and safety complaints from residents and businesses frustrated about public drug crimes — a dire situation that often overlaps with homelessness — but there is deep concern about a repeat of the failed policies of the nation’s decadeslong war on drugs.In the South Bay, a pilot program for a small cohort of low-level drug dealers and users — which promises the dismissal of charges for those who meet certain requirements, such as going to treatment — is showing moderate success in Santa Clara County.Started last year, 17 out of 26 people initially enrolled in the program have graduated — that...

Exclusive: Warriors owner Joe Lacob on Poole-for-Paul trade, WNBA expansion, A’s departure and more

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:57 GMT

LAS VEGAS — Warriors owner Joe Lacob again found himself trying to set the record straight once and for all.“There’s no such thing as the two timelines,” Lacob told the Bay Area News Group. “There never was and still isn’t and never will be. There’s only one timeline, and the timeline is every year to put the best product on the floor, to have the best team, to compete the best you can to win a championship.”And that’s exactly what the Warriors are trying to accomplish amid a pivotal offseason of change.The Warriors are swapping out some of their developmental projects for more seasoned players. That’s part of the reason why new general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. executed a blockbuster trade that brought Chris Paul in and sent Jordan Poole, Patrick Baldwin Jr. and Ryan Rollins to the Washington Wizards.But was trading a 24-year-old with star potential for a 38-year-old future Hall of Famer with an injury history the solution...

Borenstein: 37% raise for Oakland Mayor Thao is excessive and tone deaf

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:57 GMT

The Oakland city administrator’s recommendation of a 37% raise for Mayor Sheng Thao is excessive, an insult to taxpayers and tone deaf to the city’s fiscal plight.At a time when Oakland officials should be looking to control costs, City Administrator Jestin Johnson proposes that Thao receive a pay boost that’s completely out of proportion with other mayors across the state.Thao, who has been mayor just six months, nominated Johnson for his $340,000-a-year post. Then, less than four weeks after he started his job, he signed off on a recommendation that the City Council increase Thao’s salary from $203,000 annually to $277,975.City Council members are expected to consider the mayor’s salary hike Tuesday. Most disturbing are the misinformation and questionable rationales they have received from Johnson to justify it.Oakland is the eighth most populous city in California, far behind the top four — Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose and San Francisco. But the raise would make Thao th...

Opinion: Common sense says build BART to downtown San Jose

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:57 GMT

Common sense says that a generational transit investment with multiple strong public approvals and that has been thoroughly studied time and again by independent experts at local, state and federal transportation funding authorities is finally ready to be built.One of the most remarkable aspects of completing BART to San Jose is the strong public support the project has enjoyed over the past two decades. At three separate elections in 2000, 2008 and 2016, Santa Clara County voters have overwhelmingly approved taxing themselves to bring regional mass transit to the South Bay, most recently with 72% of the vote.No other major civic improvement in our area has received such an endorsement — not the 1988 election that barely approved the San Jose Arena with 53%, not even the comprehensive improvements to San Jose parks, libraries and fire and police facilities voters approved by at least 67% in 2000 and 2006 when I was mayor.Asking for another study now is magical thinking by crit...