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Meet the real voice behind Spotify's first AI DJ

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:53:45 GMT

Big changes are coming to the Spotify app, including a brand-new home feed that looks a lot more like social media, plus the first AI DJ will be spinning a personalized playlist for you.Spotify announced the changes at a recent event in Downtown Los Angeles called Stream On."It’s a little wild because it’s so big and it’s blowing up, but I’m honored and humbled to be the voice," said Xavier "X" Jernigan, Spotify's Head of Cultural Partnerships and now, the voice of the company's first AI DJ.Xavier "X" Jernigan, Spotify's Head of Cultural Partnerships and AI DJ"I’m giving you fun facts about how the music, I’m giving you fun facts about how you listen, I’m giving you context," said Jernigan, who spent time in an audio booth saying words and phrases in a variety of emotions and emphasis.Now, Spotify writers can simply type what they want him to say, and the AI brings his voice to life."Once my mamma said it sounded like me, I knew it was legit," quipped Jernigan.Spotify is also redesi...

Animal Sex: The Strange, Brutal Reproductive Habits of the Animal World

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:53:45 GMT

We already know that kink-shaming isn’t a good thing. Even if some forms of eroticism can be questionable, you’d be surprised to know how “vanilla” we, humans still are compared to other animals. Because some animal sex behaviors can be quite — animalistic! From overly clingy guys and crazy girlfriends, you’ll have another reason to say “damn nature, you scary!”Crazy Animal Sex Behaviors and AnatomyCannibal CompanionPerhaps the most widely known practitioner of sexual cannibalism is the animal kingdom’s femme fatale herself, the Black Widow — and they do, in fact, have a knack for wanting to be a widow; as their name suggests, they kill and eat their male counterparts while they’re having sex! But it’s not just the women who do this.There are other murderous male spiders who also kill their lovers — such as a certain type of wolf spider and ant spiders would also eat their female partners. But they typically only murder the older female spiders of their species.“I said ‘send nudes’ ...

The Day the Music Died: The Buddy Holly Legacy Lives on

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:53:45 GMT

Feb. 3 marked the 24-year anniversary of the Texas singer-songwriter. Today, the Buddy Holly legacy lives on. It typically takes a long, illustrious, and well-documented career for a musician or band to see just how much of an influence they had on the masses. But one person whose life tragically ended in 1959 made quite an impression on those musical legends we admire — and that’s Buddy Holly. The death of Buddy Holly is often referred to as “The Day the Music Died” when he, along with Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper, died in a plane crash in Clear Lake, Iowa.But just how big of an influence was Buddy Holly’s music in the past and present?The Life and Death of Buddy HollyBuddy Holly, or Charles Holley, was born on September 7, 1936 in Lubbock, Texas. Early in his life, he had already been exposed to music and learned to play various musical instruments at a young age along with his siblings. He grew up playing and listening to gospel, folk, and country music. It didn’t take long ...

Meet Colors of Freedom Artist Delbar Shahbaz

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:53:45 GMT

Painter and mixed media artist Delbar Shahbaz embraces vibrant colors in symphonic palettes as an emblem of freedom and a gesture of courage—like nature emerging from a winter of revolution into a spring of power and liberty. Her lively visual language of abstraction, nature, and the figure grows from a holistic vision of connection, motion, and the world’s constant cyclical process of change. Rivers run, dancers spin, birds fly, light sparkles, fades, and returns; creatures part human and part animal explore the boundaries of our real and poetic dream worlds as symbols and carriers of the spirit; suffering gives way to restoration and power. Much of Shahbaz’s work exists in a place of global feminism, overlapping with her experiences first in Iran and later as an immigrant to America, and focuses on resisting the erosion of women’s rights at home and around the world. At the same time, her symbolism advancing a deeper sense of peace and liberty, often involving literally laying in ...

Persian New Year recipe: Tahchin (Iranian Savory Crispy Saffron Rice “Cake”)

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:53:45 GMT

If Oakland’s Helia Sadeghi had to eat one dish for the rest of her life, it would be crispy, buttery, comforting tahchin. In Sadeghi’s childhood home in Iran, the golden domed rice “cake” layered with saffron-tinged yogurt and chicken made an appearance for special occasions. Birthdays. Getting good grades. Sometimes, tahchin was the occasion.“My mom worked two jobs, so if she had a day off, she would ask me what I wanted her to make, and I always asked for tahchin,” she says. “Hers was the best.”This recipe, which is featured on Sadeghi’s Big Dill Kitchen website and requires a large nonstick pot with a lid — would be the perfect centerpiece for a Nowruz meal, she says. While the traditional Persian New Year meal is herbed rice with fish to represent rebirth and fertility, Sadeghi says you should make what feels special to you. For her, that’s tahchin.“It is a celebration food, a showstopper,” she says. &...

Top 10 places to see cherry blossoms around the world

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:53:45 GMT

Sure, tulips are lovely, and roses sublime. But the pale pink froth of sakura — or cherry — blossoms is extraordinary. Tripadvisor recently ranked 13 of the best spots around the world to see these blossoms — and it’s hardly surprising that two Japanese cities top the list. These beautiful cherry trees are native to Japan, where they’ve inspired festivals and celebrations for centuries.Paris and its cherry trees, which are planted throughout the city, from the Champ de Mars to Montmartre, made the list, as did Stockholm, where the King’s Garden is filled with dozens of cherry trees, a gift from Japan to King Carl XVI Gustaf.Of course, you can see beautiful blossoms right here in the Bay Area, too. But if you’re planning a trip to a more far flung location, bear in mind that March and April are peak viewing season for many of these destinations — unless you’re bound for Brazil, where the cherries bloom in July and August. (How did...

Persian New Year Recipe: Homa Dashtaki’s Cake Yazdi

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:53:45 GMT

In her illuminating debut cookbook, “Yogurt & Whey: Recipes of an Iranian Immigrant Life” (W. W. Norton, $40), Iran-born food writer Homa Dashtaki, co-founder of The White Moustache, tells the story of her Zoroastrian upbringing and American assimilation through the lens, so to speak, of smooth, creamy, Old World yogurt. The 100 recipes, both savory and sweet, range from ancient (see-rogh, a Zoroastrian fry bread) to modern (pineapple ginger whey pops).Cake Yazdi, which comes from her family’s native city in central Iran, is moistened with yogurt and flavored with cardamom and rose water. Dashtaki serves it in the weeks following Nowruz, or Persian New Year, when it is customary to visit as well as host family and friends. The cakes are traditionally baked in fluted muffin tins to make individual tea cakes, but you can use standard muffin tins, she says.Cake YazdiMakes 12 individual cakesINGREDIENTS8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted, plus more for ...

Persian New Year recipe: Marzipan Mulberries (Toot)

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:53:45 GMT

Toot is the Persian word for mulberry, and these eye-catching Iranian sweets, which are traditionally served during Persian New Year, are shaped to look like the fruit.According to Tannaz Sassooni, a Los Angeles food writer specializing in Iranian Jewish cuisine, toot is best made from the flour of peeled almonds, otherwise the candies can turn out too dark in color. You can use saffron to tint your toot a yellow hue perfect for spring, says Sassooni, who shares her recipe below. Just make sure to serve with tea and invite friends over. It will make the new year that much sweeter.Marzipan MulberriesMakes 24 to 30 bite-sized piecesINGREDIENTS1 cup almond flour (made from peeled almonds)1 cup powdered sugarPinch of salt3 tablespoons rose water24 to 30 slivered pistachios or almonds¼ cup granulated sugar1/8 teaspoon ground saffron (optional, see note below)DIRECTIONSIn a large bowl, stir together the almond flour, powdered sugar and a pinch of salt until fully mixed. Gradually add rose...

Travel Troubleshooter: 80,000 Bonvoy points go missing. Can we get them back?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:53:45 GMT

DEAR TRAVEL TROUBLESHOOTER: I made reservations at the Residence Inn in Edinburgh, Scotland, for two nights using 80,000 Marriott Bonvoy points. I recently received a notification from Marriott claiming that I had used the points for a stay almost three weeks earlier.Christopher Elliott, the Travel Troubleshooter I called Marriott, and they assigned me a case number. I have been going back and forth with the company ever since.I was on the phone for more than two hours speaking to several agents, one of whom told me, “You’re not going to get these points back until we find out who took them.” I have tried the executive contacts on your website, but have received no reply.It’s been 10 weeks since Marriott took my Bonvoy points. Can you help me get them back?— Celeste Rubanick, Cornville, ArizonaANSWER: Marriott deducted points from your account for someone else’s stay. It should have quickly restored your loyalty points when you pointed out th...

Feds backstop all deposits of failed Silicon Valley Bank, second Bay Area bank plunges

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:53:45 GMT

SANTA CLARA — Federal officials moved to insure all deposits at failed Silicon Valley Bank, hoping to inoculate the banking system against contagion, but shares of another Bay Area regional bank plunged on Monday.The move to protect Silicon Valley Bank depositors arose over fears that tech startups might be forced to shut down or furlough employees due to a cash squeeze if their uninsured deposits weren’t available to tap for their ongoing operations — andas well as to ward off runs against other banks with a high percentage of uninsured deposits.The U.S. Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve Bank and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. teamed up to lead the quest against a banking system contagion in the wake of the collapse and takeover by the FDIC of the insolvent Silicon Valley Bank.“The FDIC today transferred all deposits — both insured and uninsured — and substantially all assets of the former Silicon Valley Bank to a newly created, full-...