AWOL

When it comes to Australian animals, the first that come to mind are generally kangaroos, koalas and maybe a platypus or a killer crocodile. However, there’s a tiny, iridescent group of beetles that turn up every Christmas and hold a special place in the hearts of people Down Under. Yes, they’re known as Christmas beetles.The Christmas beetle isn’t one but 36 species of large insects from the genus Anoplognathus. Almost all are native to Australia, and for years they seem to have been diminishing in numbers.Now, there’s a…

Image via Marvel Studios It’s always a big news day for Disney, but this one just happens to be bubbling over.  Currently, the House of Mouse (and Marvel) is ardently ignoring the Jonathan Majors-sized elephant in the room while continuing to promote the digital release of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, which just so happens to be as absent from Disney Plus, as is the company’s statement on Majors. That alone would typically be enough news for one day, but not today.  Disney underwent its second round of…

Twenty-three years have ticked by since Tom Cruise last attended the annual Oscars nominees luncheon, in support of his performance as the manipulative sex guru Frank TJ Mackey in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia. He lost – his third defeat in a decade, following Jerry Maguire and Born on the Fourth of July – and shortly afterwards set aside his Academy Award ambitions to prove his value as a daredevil action star.But this year’s best picture nod for Top Gun: Maverick, in which Cruise not only starred, but also produced,…

A United Airlines jet’s wingtip clipped another jet earlier this summer after inexperienced ramp workers misjudged the distance between the aircraft. Some nurses are starting hospital jobs after graduating from school having never touched a live patient. Chipotle said sales at its restaurants are lower than they would be with more experienced staff. On paper, many companies’ workforces are close to prepandemic strength or have even surpassed their early-2020 head count. In practice, companies are thrusting many workers…

Thirty five hundred lumens is a lot of output from an ultra-short throw (UST) all-in-one 4K projector. Add Dolby Atmos support and a class-leading price and we’ve got plenty of reason to test an otherwise unknown brand. I stumbled upon the AWOL Vision Tri-Chroma Laser Projector model LTV-3500 in my on-going quest to find a suitable replacement for big ugly TVs with something that’s relatively affordable and of similar quality and brightness. It’s a fool’s errand, I know, but one I’m happy to accept given the steady…