The Irresistible Pull of the Sun Belt: Why People Continue to Move

When the temperatures rise in the South, it’s not uncommon for young children to suffer second-degree burns from the scorching concrete beneath their bare feet. Falling on the blistering pavement can even result in skin grafts. With the intense heat, kids are forced to stay indoors all day, just trying to survive. The extreme conditions …

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Supporting the Act of Screaming at Concerts

A few months ago, a devoted fan named Sydnee Tallant used her phone to record BTS rapper Suga performing on a Jumbotron at the Kia Forum near Los Angeles. However, Tallant’s own wailing drowned out Suga’s singing in the footage she posted on TikTok. When I asked her about it later, she admitted, “I sound …

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The Unique Formula of Second Life is Impossible to Reproduce

The other night, I had an intriguing conversation with ChatGPT. It was made even more peculiar by the fact that the AI appeared as a humanoid rabbit casually sipping from a juice box. The rabbit stood alone in a virtual novelty store in Second Life, where it had recently been demoted from a clerk to …

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