All Governments Should Protect Children’s Privacy by Regulating Artificial Intelligence

According to IMDb, Curse of the Undead (1959) is the first vampire western movie. Depending on your definition, that might also make it the first Weird West movie. (If you can find an example of an even older Weird West movie, let me know!)

Now, personally, I'm not a fan of this era of Westerns. I find the John Ford/John Wayne movies boring. There's just something about 1950s Westerns that pull me out of the movie. For example, I don't like how all the costumes are perfectly clean and look brand new. It never feels like the West to me; it all just feels like a stage play. And yet 1940s film noirs don't feel like that at all in my opinion. My point is that I have no nostalgia for these Westerns and my opinion on them is entirely ignorant and most likely wrong. So this isn't exactly a recommendation; it's more of a rant.

The main plot of this movie is about a greedy land-owner trying to take over a neighboring ranch. There's a minor sub-plot about a couple people dying with bite marks on their neck, but that's never really investigated or even discussed. Anyway, while this small-time ranch is trying to hold out from being bullied into selling their land, a mysterious gunslinger shows up to help. As backstory, he happens to be a vampire. But he isn't exactly the villain of this movie and he isn't exactly terrorizing anyone. He literally spends all his time trying to help the small ranch fight back against the greedy land-owner. But the local preacher (who's in love with the ranch owner's daughter) doesn't like the gunslinger and wants him gone. Honestly, you could cut out all the parts about the gunslinger being a vampire and very little of this movie would change. The gunslinger could've just been a "sinner" and 90% of this movie would still be the same.

Anyway, if you're curious at all about watching the very first vampire western, here's a trailer. You can watch the movie right now on tubi.

Nitter

🤦‍♂️ Lock your edibles up like responsible people if you have kids/pets, folks.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/18177525

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This book is currently out of print but may still be accessible via secondhand sellers or the Internet Archive.

2024 was a bumper year for horror, not only on the silver screen but also in the gaming sphere. In fact, the genre has arguably never been in a healthier state than it has over the last twelve months; with a good mix of AAA successes, mid-budget sleeper hits, and plucky indies that punched well above their weight. When we could pry ourselves away from compulsive rounds of Balatro, we here at Bloody Disgusting even managed to play some of them!

With 2025 just around the corner, now is the perfect time to celebrate the true standouts. Of course, it was tough to whittle this list down to a top 10, and some favourites inevitably didn’t make the cut. Still, that’s a nice position for us to be in and is a testament to the incredible quality of those that did end up qualifying.

"Background music is no longer an afterthought at many airports, which are hiring local musicians and carefully curating playlists to help lighten travelers’ moods."

I have a distinct memory of hearing and seeing a pilot play a baby grand piano in Frankfurt airport during a transfer, and it was such a pleasant impromptu experience. I welcome both thoughtfully curated recorded & live music in airports. It's a win also for local talent.

Haaretz, a left-leaning Israeli daily that has faced severe criticism from the country's right-wing government, quoted soldiers, career officers and reservists who said commanders were given unprecedented authority to operate in the Gaza Strip.

They alleged commanders had ordered or allowed the killing of unarmed women, children and men in the Netzarim Corridor, a seven-kilometre-wide (4.3-mile-wide) strip of land that cuts across Gaza from Israel to the Mediterranean, and which has been turned into a military zone.

The report quoted an officer who recalled an incident in which a commander had announced that 200 militants were killed, when actually "only 10 were confirmed as known Hamas operatives".

Soldiers meanwhile told Haaretz they received questionable orders to open fire on "anyone who enters" Netzarim. "Anyone crossing the line is a terrorist -- no exceptions, no civilians. Everyone's a terrorist," a soldier quoted a battalion commander as saying.

The soldiers also described how division commanders received "expanded powers" allowing them to bomb buildings or launch air strikes that previously required approval from the army's top echelons. The allegations contained in the Haaretz report could not be independently verified.

In a statement to AFP, the military rejected the accusations. "All activities and operations conducted by (Israeli army) forces in the Gaza Strip, including in the Netzarim Corridor, are carried out in accordance with structured combat procedures, plans and operational orders approved by the highest ranks in the (army)," it said. The military added that "all strikes in the area (of Netzarim) are conducted in accordance with the mandatory procedures and protocols, including targets that are struck in an urgent time frame due to essential operational circumstances where ground forces face immediate threats".

Many soldiers who spoke to Haaretz pointed to a specific commander, Brigadier General Yehuda Vach, who last summer took charge of Division 252, which has been based in Netzarim. One of the soldiers said of Vach -- who was born in the settlement of Kiryat Arba in the occupied West Bank -- that "his worldview and political positions were clearly driving his operational decisions". Another soldier said Vach had declared "there are no innocents in Gaza".

The military told AFP that the "statements attributed to him... were not made by him". "Any claim asserting otherwise is entirely baseless."

The Haaretz report said Israeli soldiers spoke to the newspaper so that the Israeli "people need to know how this war really looks like, and what serious acts some commanders and fighters are committing inside Gaza". "They need to know the inhuman scenes we're witnessing".