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Who is in it for the right reasons? Will someone’s head turn? Is Tom capable of answering any direct question with anything other than, “I don’t know?” Wait, what is this season’s euphemism for getting, um, handsy? These are all questions that arise when tuning into ‘Love Island UK‘ Season 9. Follow along here as Uproxx (hopefully) answers your questions about the 2023 winter season and decides which couples we think are strong enough to last to the finale.

(WARNING: Spoilers for up to episode 43 of Love Island UK season nine will be found below.)

It appears that we’re in the final stretch of Love Island UK season nine. Three of the last four seasons each lasted 58 or 59 days, and if that remains true for season nine, things should come to an end in a little over two weeks. Most of the islanders at this point in the season are cozy in their couples, which makes for fairly uneventful and straightforward episodes. Though it may be a bit of a chore to get through the daily episodes, it is a balance from the chaos that was brought forth by Casa Amor and Movie Night. Feelings were hurt and trust was broken as a result of both, but Tanya and Martin were the only couple to split because of it.

On Day 40, Martin’s time in the villa came to an end after Tanya decided to return to Shaq just eight days after bringing Martin back from Casa Amor. Martin’s departure was preceded by Keanan and Rosie entering the villa on Day 39. Keanan and Rosie were given the first choice in the recoupling and they selected Claudia and Casey, respectively. This effectively split Casey and Claudia, who were together for over two weeks at this point. While Claudia had her heart set on a relationship with Casey, her feelings weren’t exactly reciprocated as Casey’s head turned towards Rosie as they spent more and more time together. Ultimately, on Day 43, Casey fully to committed to Rosie, effectively bringing his relationship with Claudia to a close. Casey was ridiculed and pied severely for his choice, but hey, the heart wants what it wants, right?

With Casey shaking things up in the villa, allow my fellow Love Island connoisseurs and me to dust off our matchmaking skills and rank the villa’s current couples from least to most compatible. — Wongo Okon

Pied Off: Bottom Tier

8. Keanan & Claudia

As one of the new bombshells, Keanan took Jessie and Samie on his first dates, with neither lady turning their head from their current partners. However, after Casey chose to re-couple with the other bombshell, Rosie, Keanan was left to pick Claudia — with not much chemistry present between them. Truth be told, many have suspected that he actually wanted Rosie, which is why he pushed for Claudia to try a reconciliation. Considering her attempt clearly proved unsuccessful and it’s this late in the game, something wild would have to happen for there to truly be a spark between these two. — Lexi Lane

7. Casey & Rosie

Remember a few weeks ago when I wrote that “Casey seems like the kind of guy to be a committed partner”? Yeah, I’d like formally rescind that statement. Since coming into the villa, Casey has “had connections” with Lana, Claudia, Sanam, Cynthia, and now Rosie. He chose to stick with Claudia during Casa Amor after kissing two girls — making it clear to her that he values their connection — only to turn his head the moment a new girl walked in. Casey did admit it takes him a while to catch feelings for someone, but he also seemed to distance himself from Claudia the moment she signaled she wanted to be exclusive. Time will tell if Casey and Rosie’s connection is actually better, but Tom and Will egging him on probably didn’t help. — Carolyn Droke

My Type On Paper: Mid-Tier

6. Maxwell & Olivia

I don’t know about you, but I couldn’t help but think the islanders let Olivia off the hook a little too quickly after her Movie Night clips showed her talking sh*t about nearly every couple in the villa. Smack talk aside, she and Maxwell do have a good thing going. Olivia has the tendency to take things very personally (and be more than a little hypocritical). And when she’s confronted with something she doesn’t want to hear, her go-to move is to flee the scene rather than stay put to resolve an argument in the moment. Maxwell is the first islander of the bunch who’s actually able to talk through an argument with Olivia, even if it did take two rounds to reconcile. He’s also gotten Olivia (a little) more comfortable with PDA. Holding hands after two weeks of knowing each other? They might as well be married off. But let’s see how long Olivia lasts on Love Island UK Season 9, seeing as she’s far from a fan favorite. — Carolyn Droke

5. Shaq & Tanya

With Martin getting dumped from the island, Shaq and Tanya’s Casa Amor mess is officially behind them. If we’re being honest, this couple was never going to be done for good, but considering the true colors that were shown, that’s what makes them a bit more intolerable these days. Shaq’s reasonable anger and frustration towards Tanya in regard to what really went down at Casa Amor was met with her gaslighting him (and Martin) in response to their very reasonable reactions to her behavior. Luckily for Tanya, it somehow worked in her favor as Shaq chose to set aside his feelings to reunite with Tanya and pick up where they left off without even a quarter of an apology from her for Movie Night. At this point, I personally wouldn’t give Shaq and Tanya the season 9 crown, but if they’re happy together, then I guess that’s all that matters. — Wongo Okon

4. Will & Jessie

I had such high hopes in the beginning for these two, but man, have the past few weeks been challenging as an initial Will and Jessie fan. Between his wandering behavior in Casa and her faulty trust in him afterward, even beyond Movie Night, it seems they just haven’t been able to get back on track to how they were… which is disappointing, given they were the world’s frontrunners to win. If they’re able to repair their trust issues, there’s potential, but I have doubts that these two will last outside of the show. — Lexi Lane

Married Off: Top Tier

3. Tom & Samie

It looks like Terrace Tom needs a new nickname! Samie and Tom were off to a rocky start last week when the post-Casa Amor drame put their relationship on uncertain ground. Samie was hurt that Tom got close to Casa newcomer Lydia, and seeing Tom’s moves in action during Movie Night only made matters worse. Thankfully, Tom and Samie were able to reconcile and start rebuilding trust in their relationship. It’s safe to say neither of these two’s heads are turning any time soon. — Carolyn Droke

2. Kai & Sanam

If Love Island had an award for Most Improved Islander, I’d do everything in my power to ensure that Kai Fagan’s name was already inscribed into it. Seriously though, Pre-Casa Amor Kai and Post-Casa Kai might as well be two completely different people. He freed himself from the chaotic shackles of Olivia and opted for Sanam, someone more his speed and flooded with similarities. I’m willing to argue that Kai and Sanam would be more of a favorite to win the show if they had an opportunity to be a couple before Kai’s time with Olivia. These two are fun to watch and practically drama-free – well, that is when Olivia is wreaking havoc in their vicinity. Unfortunately, their brief time together might not be enough to win over the hearts of viewers, at least not more than this next couple. — Wongo Okon

1. Ron & Lana

Despite their slight rollercoaster of a relationship at the show’s start, Ron and Lana have since proven their loyalty to each other — even throughout Casa Amor. This week, viewers saw Ron officially pop the question (not once, but twice) to her, making them the first couple to be “bf and gf” from this season. Or, as Ron cheerfully exclaimed over the balcony, he’s got his Mrs. (We’ll ignore the red flag that she’s apparently his first girlfriend, despite some inconsistent statements about his dating history happening before.) These two are playing their cards almost too perfectly right, but it just might work out in their favor. — Lexi Lane

‘Love Island UK’ airs daily on the ITV2 channel at 9pm GMT/4pm EST/1pm PST.

Xalavier Nelson Jr. (Space Warlord Organ Trading Simulator, An Airport for Aliens Currently Run by Dogs) has thought a lot about how to make game development more sustainable.

Growing up in a military family meant Xalavier traveled around the world depending on where his family was needed. It exposed him to a wide array of experiences that influenced his exuberant personality and unique eye for creating weird, personal worlds in his games. Additionally, Xalavier became accustomed to creating deep friendships with people over the internet, something that would later help him create his indie game studio, Strange Scaffold, where he collaborates with fellow creatives from around the world to make uniquely weird games.

Like many people working in games today, Xalavier found his way into the games industry by being a games journalist first. At the age of 12, he began reviewing games for various outlets, though he jokes that some may have thought he was older than he was. Through his experience as a journalist, he met a variety of people in game development, and he himself started working with others to make small indie titles.

He’s learned a lot from his varied experiences, but the topic that keeps him up at night is how the games industry isn’t set up for sustainability when it comes to developing the games we love. Many studios spend months “crunching” (or working long hours to meet deadlines) and even more so, many creators end up leaving the industry altogether after spending years working on titles that never saw the light of day.

Xalavier believes there is a better, more sustainable way to make games. One that emphasizes the lived experiences of the people making them. He has worked to make Strange Scaffold a welcoming, collaborative studio, where people have more creative autonomy to make games in a more healthy way.

Uproxx spoke with Xalavier recently to talk to him about sustainability in the games industry. In the wake of countless examples of burnout, layoffs, and crunch, I was curious to examine how his studio, Strange Scaffold, is attempting something wildly different.

Strange Scaffold describes itself as a weird, sustainable game studio. What does sustainability mean for what you all are building?

There are a lot of different vectors for discussing sustainability. Personally, I believe sustainability is founded upon the idea of building machines, systems, and processes, that organize and support the needs of the people who make the games we love. We work in an industry that is built around things like ‘systems design.’ ‘How is the player impacted by this combination of abstract meters and numbers on a screen?’ But within the medium, there’s very little discussion of how we’re creating those systems for ourselves.

Strange Scaffold is my effort to put into the world an example of how, right now, the technology and the systems of distribution available to us let us build unique systems for supporting our goals and needs as individuals. I want to create systems within how me and my collaborators work that uniquely satisfy who we are as creators, and nurture people who join us in our endeavor for however long we work with each other.

That’s interesting, and I think an aspect to thread into this conversation about sustainability in game development is crunch and overwork.

I love that you brought up crunch because I talk to a lot of students and early-stage game developers these days. Almost always, the first questions that come up are about if a studio has crunch. To me, this is a bit of an indictment of the secrecy around game development processes, including the many factors that result in burnout. At Strange Scaffold, we consider crunch to be the beginning of a much larger conversation.

I’ve worked on projects where I was doing 60-hour weeks and felt fulfilled and able to live a good life mentally and physically. I’ve also worked on projects where I was part-time working 5-10 hours–and nearly left the games industry altogether. I’m attempting to use my experience and the collective knowledge of others to unpack the factors alongside crunch that assist in burnout.

Between those two examples, what do you think that says about the state of the industry right now in relation to crunch?

A big factor I’ve seen is the cancellation of games and, in turn, the inability to show the work you’ve done on those projects publicly. I’ve known people who have worked in the industry for over 20 years and have one shipped project to their name because of these practices. So as a principle, Strange Scaffold hasn’t canceled a single game. The human impact of knowing that your best work is trapped behind a lead box is not just heartbreaking, it’s disrespectful to the time, energy, and human effort that is represented by a canceled project.

Another thing that Strange Scaffold actively thinks about and plans around is the space that we occupy inside the lives of our collaborators. We intentionally design production pipelines that can move around the fact that you have a huge upcoming deadline in your day job or a thing that is going to burden you as a human being. I don’t particularly care how much money a Strange Scaffold game makes, as much as I would love for every project to continue to be profitable and sustainable for the studio. Whether a title sells 100 copies or 1 million, I care most that our processes are human-centric and continually refined.

There’s nothing more heartbreaking than looking at a project that by all outward release metrics is a success and knowing that the people behind it suffered or are suffering as a result of what brought it into being.

Strange Scaffold has so many games in production, and you’ve already released a fair amount of projects. I’m curious how you judge success for the studio.

It really affects your creativity when the game you’re making is going to determine the success and failure of your entire career. Unfortunately, the games industry is organized in a way that most studios operate within a mentality of: ‘If this game does not sell above a certain threshold, we don’t survive.’

Every Strange Scaffold game is designed and developed with the intention that everyone gets to walk away, including me, if a game doesn’t sell enough copies. And I cannot tell you how much we have seen people bloom within this kind of environment, where the game that they are making and the creative goals that they are reaching are focused on execution and growth rather than results.

We want to make games better, faster, cheaper, and healthier than the industry assumes is possible and that starts with identifying different goals and processes. If everyone is making games the same way or under the same conditions, you end up with games that feel the same because they’re invisibly calculated to suit the same pipelines, production timelines, and ideals.

Two of your upcoming games are so vastly different in gameplay and aesthetics. Sunshine Shuffle is a cute, poker game and El Paso Elsewhere is your Max Payne-inspired action shooter.

I don’t want to sell people one game: I want to sell them five. I want to take players on an ongoing, evolving journey of creativity, and seeing that already happens across our titles keeps me going.

When someone comes up to me and says, ‘Hey we’re trying something different with our studio because of the results you’ve seen with Strange Scaffold’ or when someone tells us that one of our games saved them or affected them in some way, it makes the difficulty of standing by and advocating for a different model worth it. When you make more, different games, you can affect people in more ways.

To bring us back around to what we were talking about in regard to sustainability and creating an environment where people feel valued: something I’ve learned through my experience building Strange Scaffold with sustainability in mind is that the one thing you can invest in time and time again and always get a return on is people.

If the priority of your processes is the growth and safety of the people you work with, your games can only get better, too.

The Weeknd is stretching his creative muscles. The Toronto singer has not only secured his first-ever lead role in a feature film but he also wrote and produced it. It hasn’t been titled yet, but it already has an award-winning pedigree; director Trey Edward Shults (best known for It Comes At Night and Waves) is signed on as director, co-producer, and co-writer, while Barry Keoghan (from Eternals and The Banshees Of Inisherin) and Jenna Ortega (Scream, Wednesday, X) are billed as The Weeknd’s co-stars. The score is being composed by The Weeknd and Oneohtrix Point Never, who produced the singer’s last album, Dawn FM, as well as scoring Uncut Gems, in which The Weeknd appeared as himself.

The Weeknd is also due to show off his acting chops in the HBO series The Idol, which was co-created by The Weeknd, Reza Fahim, and Euphoria creator Sam Levinson and is set to air later this year. The show was recently re-tooled to embrace a “new creative direction,” which just might give the rookie producer some valuable experience that could serve him well as he takes the reins of his first feature film, which is currently shooting in Los Angeles.

Meanwhile, The Weeknd’s music career continues to flourish; he recently released an Ariana Grande-featuring remix of his 2016 hit “Die For You” after TikTok resurrected and launched it into the Hot 100 top ten and his Live From SoFi Stadium special is now streaming on HBO Max.

Even though Jon Hamm is effectively America’s husband, it seems like he is actually going to get married for real, to someone else who isn’t you. Sorry, but you had your shot.

Hamm is reportedly engaged to fellow Mad Men star Anna Osceola. The couple met on the set of the final season of the series when Osceola appeared as a receptionist named Clementine at the spiritual retreat that Don Draper went to when things were starting to — okay, continuing to — get weird. They began dating in 2020 and made their red carpet debut at an Oscars afterparty last year, where all of the greatest love stories begin: in front of a bunch of sweaty photographers and intoxicated actors.

In addition to starring alongside each other in Mad Men, Osceola also had a small role in Hamm’s 2022 whodunit Confess, Fletch, which doubled as a mini Mad Men reunion in other ways, too. The actress also appeared alongside Edie Falco in 2017’s Law and Order: True Crime.

Next up, Hamm will star in the fifth season of Fargo with Jennifer Jason Leigh, Joe Keery, and Lamorne Morris. He will also appear on the upcoming season of Apple TV’s The Morning Show after bullying them to cast him in a show last year. Marketing works!

Now that Hamm is off the market, we, as a society, need to decide how to proceed. Will Pedro Pascal continue his takeover as the adorable middle-aged goofball who steals the hearts and minds of people everywhere? He already kinda does that anyway.

(Via EW)

Each year, the NFL Scouting Combine is an opportunity for teams to assess the physical ability of college football’s best talent and determine where they should go in the draft. It’s also an opportunity for teams to establish a new identity by focusing on a specific positional group or physical attribute. Maybe a team wants to get taller in the secondary or reshape its defensive front or build out a new offensive line.

The Combine provides that opportunity for a fresh start, especially if a team has a new general manager. At his press conference on Tuesday in Indianapolis, new Titans GM Ran Carthon used an interesting metaphor for the football identity he wants to build.

Carthon isn’t the first NFL GM that wants to build on tough defense and running football, but using the Warriors as a contrast for that identity is completely missing the point. Sure, the Warriors are a poor defensive team this season, but they’ve won four titles in eight seasons and were an elite defense for the majority of those years. If he wants an example of an NBA team that performed well early in the season but fails in the playoffs because of their offensive approach, the James Harden-led Rockets would be more apt.

When you trade away AJ Brown for relatively nothing and Derrick Henry is your only real offensive weapon, building on tough defense and running the ball is the only option. But if they like winning championships, Tennessee should want Golden State Warriors football as well.

Anyone who has lived in the U.S. with a nontraditionally American name knows how hard it can be to get some people to pronounce your name correctly.

My husband’s name is Javad, which is only two syllables and objectively not hard to say (juh-VAHD), but I’ve watched many people mutilate it over the years even after being given the correct pronunciation. I remember one time watching him introduce himself to a man clearly and slowly—twice—and the man still called him “Bob,” like he couldn’t even digest this name he’d never heard before, much less pronounce it.

As a kid, at the beginning of every school year or every time a substitute teacher came around, it was common for my husband to have to correct the pronunciation of his name. Not the end of the world, but annoying. I can’t imagine how much more annoying it is for people with longer names that aren’t familiar to many American ears.

A video of a teacher mispronouncing every student’s name has gotten a huge response on Reddit, presumably for the humor of it. The names she reads off the attendance list are ones that are common enough in the U.S. that pronunciation normally wouldn’t be an issue—Luke, Jacob and Hunter, for example. But she manages to bungle them anyway—yes, even Luke—and it is genuinely funny.

But saying Luke as “Luck” and Hunter as “Hoonter” did more than just give her students a giggle. It also puts every student on the same playing field. If there were students in her class with less common names that might easily be mispronounced, they now find themselves in the same shoes as all of their classmates. They no longer stand out as “the kid with the name the teacher didn’t know how to pronounce.”

If every kid has to correct the teacher, then doing so is no big deal. No one is “othered” by it. It’s just a funny thing they all do. And it also gives the teacher a chance to hear each kid’s name from their own mouth instead of trying to read it off a list without ever hearing it.

The only risk here is accidentally pronouncing an unfamiliar name correctly the first time, but that seems unlikely. And it actually would probably just add another layer of humor to the already light atmosphere. Because a teacher mispronouncing a student’s name can have a lasting impact, it’s important to do what we can to keep it from happening.

The thing about unfamiliar names is that they usually aren’t as hard to pronounce as people make them out to be. They’re simply unfamiliar.

I mean, if we can pronounce Beethoven (which doesn’t look like it sounds), Tchaikovsky (which has all those consonants) and Dostoyevsky (which has four syllables) without even thinking about it, we can learn to pronounce any name. In fact, Nigerian actress Uzo Aduba illustrated this exact point in a story about how her last name always made her the first kid in roll call and she was concerned that no one knew how to pronounce her name right. Her mother reassured her, “If they can learn to say Tchaikovsky and Michelangelo and Dostoyevsky, they can learn to say Uzoamaka.”

It might take some practice, and we might have to ask people’s forgiveness if it takes us a while, but it’s not impossible.

Some people in the comments on Reddit pointed out that the teacher’s roll call was an innovative way of making every student feel equally welcomed in the classroom. But even more said it reminded them of a hilarious Key & Peele skit about a hard-nosed substitute teacher mispronouncing students’ names and getting angry when they corrected him.

A bit of a language warning in case you have little ones around, but it’s great if you haven’t seen it. You’ll never see the name “Blake” the same way again.

This story originally appeared on 03.08.22

There are some people who live under the illusion that everything they say is deeply interesting and have no problem wasting your time by rambling on and on without a sign of stopping. They’re the relative, neighbor or co-worker who can’t take a hint that the conversation is over.

Of all these people, the co-worker who can’t stop talking may be the most challenging because you see them every day in a professional setting that requires politeness.

There are many reasons that some people talk excessively. Therapist F. Diane Barth writes in Psychology Today that some people talk excessively because they don’t have the ability to process complex auditory signals, so they ramble on without recognizing the subtle cues others are sending.

It may also be a case of someone who thinks they’re the most interesting person in the conversation.

For others, it’s a symptom of a disorder. Michelle C. Brooten-Brooks, a licensed marriage and family therapist, writes that excessive talking can also be a symptom of, among other things, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or anxiety.

“Anxiety can cause someone to speak excessively,” Brooten-Brooks writes at Very Well Health. “While many with social anxiety may avoid social interactions, some may inadvertently talk excessively when in social situations out of nervousness and anxiety.”

So what do we do when we’re stuck in a situation where someone just keeps talking? A Reddit user by the name of Spritti33 asked for some advice about how to “politely end a conversation with a person who won’t stop talking” and received some very practical and funny responses from members of the online forum.

A lot of folks pointed out that it’s not impolite to walk away from a person who is incessantly talking because they are being rude by disrespecting your time. Others shared how, in some cultures, there are ways of shutting down a conversation while allowing both parties to save face.

Here are 19 of the best responses to Spritti33’s question, “How does someone politely end a conversation with a person who won’t stop talking?”

1. 

“In Flanders we have a word for it, ‘bon,’ and then you say something ‘I have work to do,’ ‘It’s time to go home,’ ‘It’s time to get drinks.’ And people realize the other person wants to leave without being mean,” — ISuckAtRacingGames

2. 

“In Ireland we do like a little clap/slap our thigh/clap the person’s shoulder and say ‘Right! Shur look, I’ll let you go…’ as if we’re being polite and letting the other person off the hook, but actually, it’s like get me the fuck out of here haha!” —funky_mugs

3.

“If they keep talking over polite cues, I have found there really isn’t a polite way to exit the conversation,” — Binder_Grinder

4. 

“This is so true. People that do this don’t care whether you’re into the conversation or not, they’re talking simply because they want to. I’ve gotten better at just interjecting (even mid-sentence if I’ve already tried everything else) with, ‘I’m sorry, I have to go. (start walking away at this point) It was nice talking to you.’ Don’t give any excuses or reasons for leaving, just do it otherwise they’ll try to talk about your reasons.” — PSSaalamader

5. 

“As a teacher, I have learned how to interrupt people who do not leave any pauses when they’re speaking: start nodding and verbally agreeing with them, ‘Uh huh, uh huh, uh huh…’ You can’t interrupt these people, but you can start agreeing while they speak, then raise your voice and say, ‘Yeah, wow, excuse me but I must go,'” — Janicegirlbomb2

6. 

“Remember that it is them who is being impolite by talking incessantly about things of no interest to their audience,” — Orp4mmws99

7. 

“Source: am a therapist. What you do is recap their last story and in the same breath add a goodbye.

I.e. ‘Sounds like you guys found a bunch of great deals at the mall, that’s awesome! Thanks for meeting with me, you’ll have to tell me more next time we run into each other. It was great to catch up!'” — pikcles-for-fingers

8. 

“Just start coughing these days it’ll clear a whole room in seconds,” — Sinisterpigeon

9. 

“People who are like this expect folks to just walk away from them while they are talking because that’s the only way the conversation ends. It’s not rude to them, it’s normal. So, it’s entirely okay to say, ‘all right this has been great, see you later,’ and then just walk away smiling,” — Underlord_Fox

10. 

“If you can practice this, start to train one of your eyeballs to slowly drift off whilst the other eye remains locked on theirs. That should do the trick,” — The-Zesty-Man

11. 

“At 62, I just walk away. My bullshit filter has disappeared,” — Negative_Increase

12. 

“You gotta realize that everyone else they talk to just walks away. They’re used to that. They think a conversation is you just talk at someone til they walk away. It’s not weird to them,” — DelsmagicFishies

13. 

“I don’t know why some people are so afraid of this. It is not rude. You don’t need to lie. ‘We can speak more other time. Goodbye,’ is fine,” — Kooky-Housing3049

14. 

“On a more serious note, I typically do an ‘oh shit’ type of face like I’ve just remembered I had something important scheduled. I say ‘Sorry, what time is it? check the time Ah crap, I hate to cut you off but if I don’t head out now I’m going to be late for ____.’ Then I scurry away like I’m really in a rush. If you’re in a situation where you can’t straight up leave, I swap ‘gotta head out’ for ‘I told someone I’d call them at [time] and they’re waiting on my call’ and then make a fake phone call,” — teethfairie

15. 

“‘Wow, you have a lot of opinions about this subject…’ and then never stop angling the conversation back to how weird it is that they’re still talking,” — Ordsmed

16. 

“Had a friend who would put his hand gently on your shoulder and kindly say, ‘I love you , but I just don’t care, good (night/day),'” — Think-Passage-5522

17. 

“While not exactly polite, my Aunt Sophie had a great way of ending a conversation. When the monologue got too much she would nod her head like she was listening and then at the slightest pause she would go, ‘The end.’ And walk away.

She mostly did it with kids who didn’t realize they were yabbering on about Thundercats too long. (It was me, I was yabbering on about Thundercats too long.)” — theslackjaw727

18. 

​”Change your stance, instead of facing them head on turn 90° your body language will end the conversation quickly without being rude,” — Zedd2087

19. 

“Where possible, I’ve always found it best to tell these people up front that you have somewhere to be 15, 30, 45, etc minutes from now. If that’s not realistic, I’ve found that if you can usually find a gap to say you need to run if you focus on doing only this for 3-5 minutes,” — Pretend_Airline2811

This article originally appeared on 06.22.22

Dr. Daniel Mansfield and his team at the University of New South Wales in Australia have just made an incredible discovery. While studying a 3,700-year-old tablet from the ancient civilization of Babylon, they found evidence that the Babylonians were doing something astounding: trigonometry!

Most historians have credited the Greeks with creating the study of triangles’ sides and angles, but this tablet presents indisputable evidence that the Babylonians were using the technique 1,500 years before the Greeks ever were.

Mansfield and his team are, understandably, incredibly proud. What they discovered is that the tablet is actually an ancient trigonometry table.

Mansfield said:

“The huge mystery, until now, was its purpose – why the ancient scribes carried out the complex task of generating and sorting the numbers on the tablet. Our research reveals that Plimpton 322 describes the shapes of right-angle triangles using a novel kind of trigonometry based on ratios, not angles and circles. It is a fascinating mathematical work that demonstrates undoubted genius.”

u201cAussie mathematician cracks code of famous 3,700-year-old Babylonian clay tablet https://t.co/f7h6oIfBDru201d

— China Xinhua News (@China Xinhua News)
1503639811

“The tablet not only contains the world’s oldest trigonometric table; it is also the only completely accurate trigonometric table, because of the very different Babylonian approach to arithmetic and geometry. This means it has great relevance for our modern world. Babylonian mathematics may have been out of fashion for more than 3,000 years, but it has possible practical applications in surveying, computer graphics and education. This is a rare example of the ancient world teaching us something new.”

The tablet predates Greek astronomer Hipparchus, who has long been regarded as the father of trigonometry. Mansfield’s colleague, Norman Widberger, added:

“Plimpton 322 predates Hipparchus by more than 1,000 years. It opens up new possibilities not just for modern mathematics research, but also for mathematics education. With Plimpton 322 we see a simpler, more accurate trigonometry that has clear advantages over our own.”

“A treasure trove of Babylonian tablets exists, but only a fraction of them have been studied yet. The mathematical world is only waking up to the fact that this ancient but very sophisticated mathematical culture has much to teach us.”

People were understandably excited by the news.

u201cA 3,700 year olf Babylonian tablet revealed as the world’s first trigonometry table https://t.co/AQlpsndM92u201d

— The Conversation (@The Conversation)
1503613440

Some mathematicians actually think studying the Babylonians back then could help us improve the way we do trigonometry today.

u201cBabylonian tablet Plimpton 322 will make studying maths easier, mathematician says https://t.co/s13ReWdD0c | @abcnewsu201d

— ABC Australia (@ABC Australia)
1503644411

u201c”With Plimpton 322 we see a simpler, more accurate trig. (with) clear advantages over our own.”n@n_wildberger: https://t.co/xoZBNxvxZ8n#TOKu201d

— Roo Stenning (@Roo Stenning)
1503658186

Of course, there were the haters…

u201cFind someone who loves you as much as this guy dislikes a hypothesis about Babylonian math: https://t.co/AznQgoYxFPu201d

— Miles Brundage (@Miles Brundage)
1503605001

But all in all, Twitter users were pretty impressed with the Babylonians’ skills.

And they figured it out 3,700 years ahead of me…and counting.— Marty (@Marty) 1503631905

u201c@prophiphop And we’re over here trying to figure out how to do trig with our TI-83s… man I love it when the ancients show what real intelligence is.u201d

— Kenny Hayse (@Kenny Hayse)
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Congratulations to Dr. Mansfield and his team on their incredible discovery… and for making trigonometry exciting!

This article originally appeared on 07.10.21

Imagine deciding to take up a hobby that usually requires many years to perfect at age 35, and three years later ending up in the top 30 in the world at the highest international competition for it.

That’s what happened to a 38-year-old math and physics teacher from Diepenbeek, Belgium. According to Netherlands News Live, Mieke Gorissen has jogged 10km (a little over six miles) a few times a week for exercise for many years. But in 2018, she decided to hire a running trainer to improve her technique. As it turned out, she was a bit of a natural at distance running.

Three years later, Gorissen found herself running her third marathon. But not just any old marathon (as if there were such a thing)—the marathon at the Tokyo Olympics. And not only did she compete with the world’s most elite group of runners, she came in 28th out of the 88 competing in the race.

With the heat and humidity in Tokyo, even completing the race was a major accomplishment. (Fifteen women competing did not finish the marathon.) But to come in in the top 30 when you just started focusing on distance running three years ago? Unbelievable.

In fact, Gorissen could hardly believe it herself. A video of her reaction upon hearing her results has gone viral for its purity and genuine humility. “No,” she said when a reporter told her she came in 28th in the race. “That’s not possible.”

Then she burst into tears.

Her emotional disbelief is so moving. “I was already happy to finish the race,” she said through sobs. “I do think I have reached my goal and that I can be happy.”

“I also think I lost a toenail,” she added, laughing.

Even after the English translation ends in the video, it’s clear how much this finish meant to her. A remarkable accomplishment for a 38-year-old who knits and reads for fun and who has only run two marathons prior to competing in the Olympics.

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According to her Olympic profile, she’s glad she got started with distance running later in life. “If I started running in my teens, it wouldn’t have been good for me,” she said. “I wasn’t really happy then, I would have been too hard on myself and I would have lost myself in it in a way that wasn’t healthy. It came at exactly the right time.”

Congratulations, Mieke. You’ve given us all the inspiration to set new goals and dream bigger than we ever thought possible.

This article originally appeared on 08.12.21

Once you reach over $100 in Scotch whisky, things start to get really interesting. We’re still a few levels away from the true high-end Scotch whisky that reaches into the 20 years old and above categories. Still, right above $100 per bottle, you’ll find great whisky distilleries putting out subtle peated smoky whiskies, unique oak cask finishings, and ages that reach into the mid-teens. It’s a good mix.

To help you decide which malted barley juice you should buy at this price point, I’m going to list 10 bottles of the good stuff that clock in between $100 and $125. For this list, I’ve ranked the ten bottles according to my professional opinion as a spirits judge and whiskey critic. All of these whiskies have great merit, but some are a little more on the mixing side of things than the “wow!” sipping side.

My advice is to read through my tasting notes and find something that speaks to you, something that excites you, and something that feels fresh. Then click on those price links to see if you can get that bottle in your stomping grounds.

• Johnnie Walker Vs. Chivas: Which Scotch Whisky Brand Will Win Our Blind Test?
• The 50 Best Scotch Whiskies Of 2022, Ranked
• The Best Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whiskies Under $100, Ranked
• World Class ‘Sipping’ Single Malt Whiskies Under $100, Ranked
• The Best Peated Single Malt Scotch Whisky, Blind Tasted And Ranked

10. The Sassenach Blended Scotch Whisky

ABV: 46%

Average Price: $102

The Whisky:

Yes, Scotch whisky has celebrity white-labeled brands too. This one comes from Outlander star Sam Heughan. The whisky’s recipe/build is under wraps so there’s not much more to say besides that Sam Heughan is not simply slapping his name on a bottle. He’s fully involved in the process as a deeply caring whisky fan who wants to put something special on the shelf.

Tasting Notes:

Nose: Lemon drops and Almond Joys drive the nose with a hint of honey, bourbon vanilla, and dried apricot.

Palate: That apricot gets leathery on the palate as the malts arrive with plenty of honey and cinnamon-forward spice next to a hint of eggnog nutmeg.

Finish: The finish is concise with a little cinnamon, honey, and almond rounding things out.

Bottom Line:

This is a classic blended Scotch whisky from top to bottom. I tend to like it over a big rock on a slow afternoon. It also works wonders in a simple whisky-forward cocktail.

9. Auchentoshan Single Malt Scotch Whisky Three Wood

ABV: 43%

Average Price: $100

The Whisky:

Auchentoshan is a great example of a Lowland malt that harkens back to the old days of varied oak aging. In this case, the triple-distilled whisky is aged in ex-bourbon oak for around 12 years and then is finished in Olorosso and Pedro Ximenez sherry casks.

Tasting Notes:

Nose: There’s a fruitiness on the nose that speaks to blue and blackberries with slight tartness next to orange oils and a hint of prune.

Palate: The taste has a toffee-covered-in-almond vibe, next to more of that dark fruit with an almost maple syrup spiked with woody cinnamon sticks vibe (hello, bourbon barrel).

Finish: The end is surprisingly light, a little woody, and full of plenty of those berries as it slowly fades out.

Bottom Line:

This is a fruity and sweet malt that’s just easygoing. It’s well-rounded and leaves you satisfied. That said, I’d lean more toward sipping this in a subtle cocktail.

8. Dewar’s Blended Scotch Whisky Double Double 27

ABV: 46%

Average Price: $120 (half bottle)

The Whisky:

Master blender Stephanie Macleod created another masterpiece through this “Double Double” four-step aging process. Step one is aging single malt and single grain whiskies for 27 long years. The malts are then blended, the grains are blended, and they both rest again. Next, all of that is blended together in a vat and rested. Finally, the whisky is finished in ex-Palo Cortado sherry casks.

Tasting Notes:

Nose: You can really tell this has an Aberfeldy backbone with a floral honeyed nose that imbues summer breezes full of fragrant flowers.

Palate: That floral honey leads to an almost lemon-honey vibe with hints of cinnamon and cedar next to light pear tobacco and dry grass.

Finish: The end turns into pure silk as the florals, honey, pear, and spice slowly massage your tongue as it fades away.

Bottom Line:

This is an excellent blended whisky that feels original while delivering seriously deep flavor notes. This is fun to nose and sip neat as a taster, there’s a lot to find in this pour. It also works really well as a slow sipper over one large ice cube.

7. Glenmorangie A Tale Of The Forest Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky

ABV: 46%

Average Price: $102

The Whisky:

This new expression from Glenmorangie’s mad scientist Master Distiller Dr. Bill Lumsden is a total departure. Dr. Bill kilned the barley (the drying process during malting) with a very old-school method using local botanicals from the Highlands. The kiln was accented with a bushel of juniper berries, birch bark, and heather flowers which layered their flavor notes into the malted barley that was used to ferment the juice that eventually was distilled, aged, and bottled in the Highlands.

Tasting Note:

Nose: This lives up to its name from the jump with a nose full of dank pine resin, fresh juniper, and dry coriander with a hint of malted rye cakes and the faintest whisper of wet campfire smoke.

Palate: The palate leans into bitter burnt orange rinds with a sense of clove buds and chinotto leaves next to oolong tea leaves cut with eucalyptus and a kiss of old oak.

Finish: That old oak and tea vibe drives the finish toward a hint of spiced malt cakes and a drop of fresh honey cut with wild sage and Scotch broom flowers with a fleeting sense of that dank pine from the nose reappearing briefly.

Bottom Line:

This is funky AF. I can’t think of another whisky that tastes even remotely like this. Yet it’s somehow familiar too. It elicits this sense of home and camping out in the summer and slow summer days. If you’re looking for something 100% new, this is the play.

6. Aberfeldy Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky 16 Years Old

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $109

The Whisky:

Aberfeldy is at the heart of Dewar’s blend. The whisky here is a classic Highland whisky aged in American oak and finished in sherry casks. That whisky is then cut down to proof with water from Pitilie Burn, a bubbling stream with gold deposits next to the distillery.

Tasting Notes:

Nose: Aberfeldy is renowned for its honeyed nature and this shines through on the nose with hints of clove-studded oranges and a touch of that sherried wood.

Palate: The palate holds onto the wet sherry wood while going full holiday cake with spices, nuts, dried and candied fruits, and a sweet maltiness.

Finish: The end reveals a mild note of bitter dark chocolate next to the honey and spices as it fades fairly quickly.

Bottom Line:

This is just quintessential Highland malt (basically the exact opposite of the previous entry). This is what you buy and pour if you’re looking for the perfect pour of something easy, sweet, and malty with real depth.

5. Highland Park 15 Years Old Viking Heart Single Malt Scotch Whisky

ABV: 44%

Average Price: $110

The Whisky:

Highland Park’s Master Whisky Maker Gordon Motion hand-picked sherry-seasoned American oak barrels of single malt to create this new expression. The whisky is then decanted/bottled in a throwback ceramic bottle from Wade Ceramics, which has been making bottles like this since the early 1800s.

Tasting Notes:

Nose: Even though this is a peated whisky, the nose is all about bright notes of orange and lemon oils with a deep vanilla sauce vibe, a touch of dried heather, and old sticks of cider-soaked cinnamon.

Palate: The palate lets the smoke sneak in via grilled pineapple that turns towards smoked plums, soft and moist Christmas cake with plenty of dried fruits, and a sense of cinnamon-flecked tobacco leaves that have just been singed around the edges.

Finish: The peat sneaks in late via an almost sea salt element that lets the orange oils, vanilla, and cinnamon tobacco all mellow towards a silky finish.

The Bottom Line:

This feels like a peated whiskey that’s made for bourbon drinkers. The peat and fruit are there but the heavy dried fruit, dark spices, and vanilla creaminess really tie this to American whisky palates. This is the whisky you buy when you’re looking to get into subtly peated whisky with a dark underbelly.

4. Ardbeg Corryvreckan Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky

ABV: 46%

Average Price: $109

The Whisky:

This whisky is named after the world’s second-largest ocean whirlpool, called Corryvreckan. The whisky in the bottle is Ardbeg Ten blended with single malt that’s been aged exclusively in new French Limousin casks.

Tasting Notes:

Nose: There’s a softness on the nose that leans into dark yet slightly tart berries under layers of sharp spice, wet brown sugar, and plenty of sea salt.

Palate: The palate ups the saltiness as yellow Scotch Broom flowers mingle with creamy dark chocolate, dashes of freshly cracked black pepper, and a light hint of citrus oil.

Finish: The finish is soft and creamy thanks to that dark chocolate with mild spice cut by more sea salt and a hint of ground mushroom powder with a mossy edge.

Bottom Line:

This is a slightly more advanced expression of Ardbeg. The peaty ashiness is dialed back and replaced with earthy and umami notes with a wonderfully soft creamy texture. Overall, you don’t have to be a fan of Ardbeg to like this. It’s its own thing and a very enticing peated whisky that leans away from the ashiness of its siblings.

3. The GlenDronach Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky Cask Strength Batch 11

ABV: 59.8%

Average Price: $114

The Whiskey:

The GlenDronach Cask Strength is a fantastic special release year after year. Batch 11 is another winner. The Highland whisky is matured over the years in both Pedro Ximénez and Oloroso sherry casks. When those barrels hit just the right marks, they’re batched and the whisky is bottled completely as-is.

Tasting Notes:

Nose: The nose opens with mulled red wine cut with tart and spicy cranberry compote, burnt orange, salted black licorice, malted honey cakes, and soft marzipan that’s all accented by a soft waft of clove tobacco.

Palate: The palate leans into the berry-fueled mulled wine as dark chocolate-covered espresso beans mingle with brandy-soaked raisins, salted toffee candies, and pancakes cut with cinnamon apple butter and plenty of maple syrup.

Finish: The end jukes with a brash bitter orange peel that leads to plum jamminess, creamy vanilla sauce, and a hint of cinnamon bark dipped in apple cider with honey cake on the side.

Bottom Line:

This is a deep and dark whisky that’s perfect for the bourbon drinker looking to get into heavy-duty Scotch whisky. In fact, if you love high-proof bourbon with deep rye flavor profiles, then this will 100% be your jam.

2. Springbank Aged 10 Years Campbeltown Single Malt Scotch Whisky

ABV: 46%

Average Price: $104

The Whisky:

This is the gateway to Springbank, one of the world’s most elite distilleries. The single malt is aged in both ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks with a 60/40 split respectively in the final blend. That blend of barrels is just kissed with iconic Campbeltown spring water and then bottled as-is.

Tasting Notes:

Nose: This is smooth as can be with a nose full of bourbon vanilla, dark plums, soft toffee, and a hint of wet forest floor countering a spicy and honeyed maltiness with a hint of sagebrush.

Palate: The taste feels like an orchard in the summer full of fruit — tart, ripe, sweet, overripe — next to big notes of ground black pepper, apple-cider-soaked cinnamon sticks, freshly ground nutmeg, and plenty of cloves.

Finish: The finish is subtle and sweet with a good dose of salted caramel next to a whiff of dried peat with a hint of wet straw.

Bottom Line:

This is one of those “ah-ha!” whiskies that live up to the hype. It’ll also send you down a rabbit hole of whiskies that get very expensive very quickly. I wish you luck on your journey.

1. Talisker Single Malt Scotch Whisky The Distillers Edition

ABV: 45.8%

Average Price: $119

The Whisky:

The 2022 Distillers Edition is a classic Talisker that’s aged by the sea and finished for six months in Amoroso sherry casks. The whisky was distilled in 2012 and bottled at 10 years old. It was then finished in another Amoroso sherry cask, making it “double cask” matured.

Tasting Notes:

Nose: The nose runs deep on this whisky with mild hints of beachside campfire smoke whispering in the background as hints of red fruit, wet driftwood, and green peppercorns draw you in.

Palate: The palate embraces the red berries with a slight tartness next to the sweetness as the peat remains dry and distant and tied to the brine of the sea with an almost oyster liquor softness.

Finish: The finish lingers for just the right amount of time as sweet berries and dry peat lead towards soft dark cacao powder with a tiny note of vanilla and one last spray from the sea.

Bottom Line:

This is as close to a perfect whisky as you can get at this price point. It’s sophisticated, dynamic, and delectable. It’s cliched but I have to say it. If you buy one bottle on this list, this should be it.