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Billie Eilish made a powerful statement about body shaming, and the response proved just how necessary it was. Kicking off her world tour in Miami last night, Billie Eilish took the questioning menace lurking at the heart of ‘Bury a Friend’ and rolled with it.

On the track, the artist grapples with pressure and expectation: “What do you want from me?” She asks in her distinctive whisper, “Why don’t you run from me? What are you wondering? What do you know?” Smartphones could help us track the coronavirus – but at what cost? As we confront the pandemic, we’re flying blind, like pilots in 1930s aeroplanes flying through fog.

That, at any rate, is what I take away from reading John Ioannidis, a Stanford professor who is an expert in epidemiology, population health, biomedical data science and statistics. Covid-19, he writes, in a startling article, “has been called a once-in-a-century pandemic. But it may also be a once-in-a-century evidence fiasco. At a time when everyone needs better information, from disease modellers and governments to people quarantined or just social distancing, we lack reliable evidence on how many people have been infected with Sars-CoV-2 [the official name for the virus] or who continue to become infected”.

Draconian countermeasures are being implemented all over the place. Airbnb Launches $1 Million Competition to Build Unique Homes. Airbnb Launches $1 Million Competition to Build Unique Homes 3 days ago Share FacebookTwitterPinterestWhatsappMail Or Airbnb has launched a $1 million design fund to finance 10 “unconventional and unusual” homes.

Elon Musk once said starting Tesla was 'idiocy squared' Starting electric car company Tesla was “idiocy squared,” according to Elon Musk.

Of course, that didn’t stop Musk from getting into the business. And late Monday, the CEO announced via Twitter that Tesla had produced 1 million vehicles. The milestone certainly doesn’t guarantee Tesla’s future success. Are Virtual Influencers a Threat to the Influencer Community? - [Talking Influence] With influencer marketing, authenticity is derived from people being their genuine selves – what happens when brands favour virtual influencers instead of humans?

As the world becomes increasingly digitised, more brands and advertisers are incorporating graphic design and online media into their marketing strategies. For the influencer industry, this presents in the form of virtual influencers. What social distancing means for the rise of influencer houses. In the last three months, houses for TikTok creators and other social media influencers have started to pop up left and right — from Hype House to Girls in the Valley to Rihanna’s new space for Fenty Beauty.

On March 6, Rihanna announced plans to open her own TikTok house and fill it with influencers. At least five content creators live in the house now. They are meant to post daily content to the Fenty Beauty account and their own TikTok pages, but the brand has not disclosed if or how much creators are being paid. But as more communities turn toward social distancing and self-isolation, thanks to Covid-19 spreading throughout communities worldwide, it remains to be seen whether more brands and influencers will look to open these types of spaces in the coming months. Regardless, content creators are moving ahead and creating more content than ever, as more people stay home and turn to their phones for entertainment. Happy hardcore will never die: the life of rave’s most juvenile subculture. Happy hardcore, the bastard progeny of Britain’s 90s rave explosion, was written off from the start: too juvenile, too cheesy, too fast, too stupid.

It stands as one of history’s most puzzling dance phenomenons – not least because the music is so hard to actually dance to, with tracks revving to speeds of 160BPM and upwards as the decade progressed. Happy hardcore is emotional, euphoric, exhausting. It’s made for teenage drivers in souped-up Astras, bezzing around the town centre and refusing to ash out the window. A staple interest of working class kids from suburbs and small towns, happy hardcore was and remains a true subculture, drawing arena-sized crowds for years while remaining toxic to the critical class.

But trends are cyclical, and as a late-90s aesthetic has been rebooted in recent years by teens on Depop selling “vintage Y2K” garms – bucket hats, polyester sportswear, neon accents – so the subculture of that era has acquired a different cachet. Why Don’t We Just Ban Targeted Advertising? A daily playlist of upbeat songs to help you through self-isolation. Look, we’re not going to sit here and remind you how bad everything is right now.

You already know that shit’s getting very real. But if you’re in a position to do so, please help your local scene, the invaluable venues they play, independent record shops and everyone along the chain – this is a situation that could change the face of emerging music forever. If you’re able to help – well, that’d be mighty fine. Something we can all do, though, is be responsible and keep our distance from our pals.

Coronavirus: UK Music demands better protection for self-employed. The acting CEO of UK Music has demanded better protection for self-employed workers in the industry amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The call follows a statement made by Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Chancellor Rishi Sunak yesterday (March 20), in which Sunak announced a coronavirus job retention scheme, where the government will pay up to 80% of wages for those at risk of being laid off due to the coronavirus pandemic. Self-employed people, however, will only be able to access Universal Credit at a rate equivalent to statutory sick pay for employees.

Read more: “It’s a bizarre spot for everyone to be in”: how you can help musicians whose income is in peril thanks to coronavirus. INSIGHT: The Coronavirus Pandemic and Cannabis Consumer Behaviour. - The Washington Post. WikiLeaks' Julian Assange put lives of informants in 'immediate' danger, say prosecutors. Assange, 48, was arrested at the Ecuadorian embassy in London in April last year, on a US extradition warrant.

He had lived at the embassy since claiming asylum there in 2012. He faces 18 charges in the US for his alleged role in encouraging, receiving and publishing classified documents linked to national defense. Venezuela's Maduro urges women to have six children 'for the good of the country' Venezuela’s leader has called on women in the country to have up to six children in order to counter the mass exodus that has seen millions flee poverty, hunger and political chaos.

In a televised speech in which he introduced a government programme to promote fertility, Nicolas Maduro he said people should have as many children as possible. “God bless you for giving the country six little boys and girls,” he said. Download the new Independent Premium app. US bans shock ‘treatment’ on children with special needs at Boston-area school.

The US government has banned an electric shock machine that is used to zap children and young adults with special needs in a school outside Boston – the only institution in the world known to practice the controversial punishment “treatment”. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has taken the extremely rare move of imposing a total ban on the production and use of the electric shock machines, known as electrical stimulation devices. It said the ban – only the third such comprehensive prohibition of a medical device in FDA history – was necessary to “protect public health”. The ban brings to an end a decades-long battle against the use of electric shocks at the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center (JRC) in Canton, Massachusetts. Disability groups and international human rights organisations have campaigned ceaselessly to outlaw the use of so-called “aversive therapy”, where pain is inflicted on vulnerable children in order to discourage them from self-harming or aggressive behavior.

This winter in Europe was hottest on record by far, say scientists. This winter has been by far the hottest recorded in Europe, scientists have announced, with the climate crisis likely to have supercharged the heat. The EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) data dates back to 1855. It said the average temperature for December, January and February was 1.4C above the previous winter record, which was set in 2015-16. The Sexualized Messages Dress Codes are Sending to Students. The Rich Are Preparing for Coronavirus Differently. The word “room,” however, hardly captures it. Dr. Stein said it is equipped with a negative pressure system to restrict the circulation of pathogens, and is basically an isolated guest wing consisting of a bedroom and kitchen stocked with IV hydration, medicines, lab supplies, gloves, gowns, masks, oxygen and food, as well as a set of dishes and linens.

Kobe Bryant death: Friends of helicopter pilot say he was 'professional and calculated' amid questions around cause of crash. Friends of the pilot involved in a deadly helicopter crash that killed all nine people on board, including Kobe Bryant and his daughter, Gianna, have described him as a highly-respected member of the aviation community. Tributes from fellow aviators to the late Ara Zobayan were posted online after it was confirmed the 50-year-old pilot was flying Bryant’s Sikorsky S-76 when it crashed in Calabasas, California on Sunday afternoon. Bryant had boarded the helicopter with his 13-year-old daughter, as well as a beloved college baseball coach and six others. Designer Philipp Plein criticised for ‘disgusting’ Kobe Bryant tribute featuring gold helicopters. Coronavirus: Full list of cancelled or postponed films, concerts and TV shows due to global outbreak.

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19): Outbreak update. Canada Indigenous group demands Extinction Rebellion apology for trespassing. Bernie Sanders lost his last chance to take Joe Biden down. American Airlines workers get new uniforms after old ones made them sick. Amazon bans sale of most editions of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf. - The Washington Post. - The Washington Post. - The Washington Post.