Saturday 26th April 2025

Universities in Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union thought giving in to government demands would save their independence

Before the Nazis, German universities were among the best in the world. Step by step, the universities gave up their independence until they were instruments of the state.

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What’s the Power of a Family Curse? - The Cut (No paywall)

In today’s fantasies of family optimization, there is almost nothing that can’t be scrubbed out or nurtured into submission. Almost.

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How to Prevent Strategy Fatigue

Strategy fatigue is a phenomenon that’s on the rise. Recent studies show a notable increase in the frequency of strategy shifts. A survey of 1,284 executives revealed that 85 percent of senior leaders have observed “an explosive increase” in transformation projects over the past five years. But talented managers on the receiving end of multiple and frequent strategy shifts will lose motivation and energy—and they will leave. To reduce this danger, CEOs need to impose some discipline on the growing tendency to try out the strategy du jour. Before inflicting their shiny new ideas on their people, they should: (1) Use clear screening criteria to evaluate whether a new idea or project aligns with the company’s strategic direction; (2) Apply data-based scoring frameworks to rank ideas by impact and feasibility; (3) Set up proof-of-concept experiments; and (4) Maintain a single, visible pipeline.

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How the Best Boards Engage with Management

Boards today face a thorny challenge: how to provide proper oversight of management while allowing it the autonomy it needs to be effective. Too often, boards maintain a single mode of engagement at all times, regardless of the type of decision to be made or its importance. This lack of flexibility can significantly undermine board effectiveness, especially in complex and rapidly changing situations.

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The Most Innovative Fantasy Epic Of 2025 Has Been 8 Years In The Making

It’s ironic that something like The Legend of Ochi — a cinematic odyssey handcrafted with traditional methods — is accused of being made with AI. The upcoming film from director Isaiah Saxon feels almost like a live-action Miyazaki film, boasting the kind of visuals that many have cut corners to achieve. In reality, though, Saxon spent eight years creating his feature debut. His dedication to the craft is delightfully old-school, and his years-long process impressed both his cast and crew.

“Isaiah’s a real world builder,” Finn Wolfhard, one of the stars of Ochi, tells Inverse. “He just knows how to build a world and he really has a vision. He’s a visionary and a real artist — so just to be around that, around him, and also be around for his first experience making a movie, was really special.”

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The Year's Most Exciting Game Adaptation Could Redeem Its Most Annoying Character

Sydney Sweeney is jumping on the biggest trend in entertainment and looking to bring a hit game to the big screen. Even though she’s made her debut as the love-sick, insecure Cassie of Euphoria, and bleeding heart liberal with a mouth full of daggers in White Lotus, Sweeney’s likely set for a much more loving and kind role in the video game to film adaptation of Split Fiction — at least if you take our educated guess.

While Vulture reports that we don’t officially know what role Sweeney is cast for yet, fans of the game will likely be able to hazard a clue. The two female protagonists of Split Fiction are wise-cracking city slicker Mio, who’s a woman of color with brown hair and eyes, and Zoe, a blonde woman from the countryside imbued with endless optimism. Our bet is on Sweeney being cast as Zoe.

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Steam's Latest Dark Puzzle Game Has Me Stuck In Its Apocalyptic World

There are some game worlds so magical players would want to move there full-time, and others grim enough to make even living through the present day seem desirable by comparison. Think Dark Souls’ Lordran — it’s a nice place to visit (digitally), but you wouldn’t want to live there. Not that you’d survive long anyway. Surprisingly, the latest game to nail the tone of its bleak world so well that it’s equally fascinating and terrifying isn’t a hard-as-nails action game, but a puzzle-based roguelike.

Kaamos first caught my eye when I played a demo during a recent Steam Next Fest. The game is set in a post-apocalyptic world where you trudge forth from one battle to another, gaining new loot after every victory and at calmer rest spots along the way. In battle, you rely not on quick reflexes, but on skill in a tile-matching puzzle that at first resembles a match-3 game like Puzzle Quest, but works much differently in practice.

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41 Years Later, The Most Important Cyberpunk Story Ever Just Got a Huge Upgrade

In 1982, when Blade Runner and Tron were in theaters, author William Gibson was trying to create a new kind of science fiction novel, but worried he’d already been beaten to the punch by movies. Published in 1984, the book was Neuromancer, a seminal event in the science fiction world, and, for most fans, the beginning of the subgenre known as cyberpunk. And now, 41 years after its initial publication, Neuromancer has been given an amazing upgrade ahead of its own highly anticipated Apple TV+ adaptation. The Folio Society has just released a brand-new, limited edition of Neuromancer, with incredible, lush illustrations, and a new foreword revealing letters from young William Gibson worrying about the quality of what today is nothing short of a masterpiece.

For those unaware, The Folio Society is a London-based publisher that specializes in special hardcover editions of beloved books. From James Bond to Dickens and more recent contemporary books, The Folio Society doesn’t just create incredible reissues of books you’ve already read — these are works of art.

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'Expedition 33': Everything You Should Do in Act 3 Before the Final Dungeon

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is an expansive RPG with a gorgeous fantasy world to uncover. While a large part of the game is fairly linear, once players hit Act 3, Expedition 33 truly opens up. At this point, you get the ability to fly and can go anywhere and everywhere. But that also means you might run into superbosses or drastically stronger enemies that can wipe you out in just a few hits. With that in mind, we’ve compiled a list of the things you should do first in Expedition 33’s Act 3 to help properly prepare you for the endgame.

Make sure you’re talking to party members at camp, as not only does it have vital pieces of story, but it unlocks new abilities and dungeons.

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60 Shockingly Brilliant Things Under $25 on Amazon

Amazon has tons of hidden gems that are as genius as they are popular with reviewers — and you don’t have to spend big to pick them up. Below, you’ll find tools, storage solutions, things for your car, and functional decor that all have two things in common: They’re shockingly brilliant and priced under $25.

Since this lint roller is made with a gel ball, there will be no sticky pieces of paper to remove and throw out. Instead, this tool can be reused after a simple rinse. It will pick up pet hair, crumbs, dust, and more.

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