Latest news with #Pax
Time of India
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Time of India
After near-death accident, Angelina Jolie's son Pax visits strip club, barely able to stand following wild night out
Angelina Jolie's son, Pax, was seen out over the weekend, and things got a little out of control. This comes just months after consecutive e-bike accidents. Despite growing up in the spotlight, Pax has maintained a low profile until now. What happened during Pax's night out? The 21-year-old appeared unsteady as he left the Chateau Marmont with friends and went to a strip club until the early hours, as per a report by Page Six. In pictures that Page Six was able to obtain, Pax wrapped his arms around his friends as if he could hardly stand. According to the Daily Mail, he was beaming as the group made their way to a strip club, where they stayed until 2:30 a.m. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like He Used This at Night and Woke Up with Fuller Hair – See What It Was! ofertanova Learn More Undo ALSO READ: Taylor Swift's ex-lawyer joins Justin Baldoni amid legal war, fueling Blake Lively rift and fan frenzy He alternated between wearing a denim jacket and a tan hoodie over one arm and dressed in a black T-shirt, tan pants, and Converse sneakers. Live Events Is Pax recovering from his recent accidents? Last year, Pax had two e-bike accidents, making headlines. In September 2024, he walked the Toronto International Film Festival red carpet with his mom, revealing his first accidental forehead scar. Pax attended the 'Maria' premiere and a New York City lunch with his mom. He now resides in his mother's old Manhattan apartment, which Angelina Jolie revealed to the New York Times in March has turned into a "crash pad" for Pax's siblings. How does Angelina Jolie feel about her kids being in the spotlight? She co-parented her children with Brad Pitt before the couple split up in 2016 and Pitt became distant from his children. Jolie revealed in October 2024 that her children desire privacy despite their celebrity parents, as per a report by Page Six. FAQs Was Pax alone on the night out? No, he was with friends who helped him walk after leaving Chateau Marmont. Has Pax had any previous public incidents? Yes, he was involved in two e-bike accidents in 2024, one of which resulted in a scar on his forehead.
Geek Dad
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Dad
Stack Overflow: Alien Intelligence
We've named ourselves Homo sapiens because what sets us apart—according to ourselves—is the way that we think. We are knowledgeable, wise, sentient in a way that other creatures are not… aren't we? What happens when we encounter minds that are quite different from our own? Today's stack includes a few stories of people encountering alien intelligences. Semiosis , Interference , and Usurpation by Sue Burke I mentioned the first book in this trilogy, Semiosis , back in April when I was about halfway through. I've since caught up on the next two books in the series and I've really enjoyed the whole trilogy. It'll be hard to talk about the whole trilogy without some spoilers for the first two books, though I think I can communicate at least some of it in broad enough strokes. The overarching theme is sentience, and each book has its own tagline: 'Sentience takes many forms.' 'Sentience craves sovereignty.' 'Sentience will prevail.' The exploration of different forms of sentience is fascinating and Burke does a great job of conveying them convincingly. Semiosis centers on a small human colony on a planet they've dubbed Pax. They've left Earth behind literally and are also attempting to do so figuratively, though it's hard to escape your own culture even if you mean well. On Pax, they encounter many different flora and fauna, and eventually discover that the plants on this planet are sentient. They are able to communicate to each other through chemicals passed along via roots, through pollen carried by the wind, and more. One plant, a rainbow bamboo, is particularly intelligent and becomes central to the story, which unfolds over the course of a few human generations, by the end of which the bamboo has become a full-fledged member of their community. (There are also the Glassmakers, some other sentient aliens they eventually encounter and integrate into the community as well, though not without some initial conflicts.) Interference takes place a couple hundred years later. Things have been in turmoil on Earth—for one, Earth is at war with the Mars colony. A ship has been sent to Pax to see what has happened to the colony; they lost radio contact but Earth has evidence that the colony survived. By now, the Pacifists (as the colonists are known) and the Earthlings have diverged a bit in culture as well as language. The technology available on Pax—which has very limited metal—is still fairly primitive, whereas the Earthlings all have embedded chips that basically allow them network access. As with the first book, the story is told from the point of view of various characters throughout: Earthlings, Pacifists (both human and Glassmaker), and even the rainbow bamboo. The Earthlings fundamentally misunderstand what's going on at the colony; they think the Glassmakers are just trained animals and not intelligent beings, and they don't understand the significance of the bamboo—though that's because the Pacifists have agreed to keep its intelligence a secret. There's also conflict within the ranks of the Earthlings, who disagree on the purposes of this trip and how things should be handled. Usurpation takes place back on Earth again, nearly 400 years later, enough time that the visitors to Pax had returned, bringing with them seeds of the rainbow bamboo as well as some of the small fauna. (And there are also other alien flora and fauna from other planets now as well.) Pax and Earth have now been back in radio contact, sending messages back and forth, though the distance means that it takes about 55 years for a message to be received. The bamboo has propagated and there are many groves around the world, celebrated for its colorful appearance and the caffeinated fruit that it produces, but it has kept its intelligence a secret, known only to the former director of the Pax Institute who discovered it on the trip to Pax. Levanter, one of the initial bamboo groves at the Institute, has been its director for nearly a century, pretending to be human, but politics and warfare bring unexpected visitors. In the last book, we encounter yet another type of intelligence: robots. Robots are everywhere, created by humans to perform various tasks. Sometimes robots are disconnected from the networks and become wild, wandering off with purposes unknown to the humans. The interactions between humans, the bamboo, and the robots during an ongoing war is the bulk of the story—particularly when Levanter receives a message from the Pax bamboo that the bamboo is supposed to command and protect humans. Although all three books let different voices speak, the structure of the books varies a little from book to book. Interference has fewer, longer chapters all narrated by a single voice. One, voiced by the bamboo, is about 100 pages on its own. Usurpation also has long chapters, but often will include several different voices, or switch between voices mid-chapter. It did take me a little bit longer to get into Usurpation because the opening chapter didn't really include the plants at all until later, though I trusted that Burke knew where she was taking me, and it paid off. Burke explains in the afterword that these books were inspired by her mother's love of houseplants, and the question: What if plants could think? Scientists have begun to find ways that plants sense and react to things, a primitive sort of cognition. Burke took that further and created a planet dominated by plants. The story takes place over such a long span of time because 'plants generally react slowly'—but their permanence also affects their personality in the story. As they see it, animals can move, so running away is always an option. We can provoke conflict because if things get bad we can flee—but plants have to figure out how to solve problems in a different way because they're stuck in place. At the bookstore today, I happened to see a book called Nature's Greatest Success: How Plants Evolved to Exploit Humanity by Robert N. Spengler. I haven't actually read the book, but the brief summary is about the way that the domestication of crop plants could be seen as plants exploiting humans rather than the other way around. In the Semiosis trilogy, we get to see the plant's perspective, and it is given intelligence so that this co-evolution happened with intent; the plant considers how to train animals—including humans—to help it with its own objectives. Anyway, if you like the idea of plants that can think and communicate, you'd enjoy this intriguing trilogy. Suitor Armor Volume Two by Purpah I shared about the first volume of Suitor Armor in my 'Artificial Intelligence' column last fall. This is a webcomic-turned-hardcover, and the intelligence in question is a magically animated suit of armor. The court mage Norrix created the armor to serve as the king's champion, and as far as he's concerned it's just a dumb machine that follows orders. But Lucia, a fairy (disguised as a human) who has also begun a mage apprenticeship with Norrix, has had more interactions with the armor—now named Modeus—and realizes that not only does he think, but he can also speak, and definitely has feelings … or is at least trying to understand them. Unfortunately, since humans and fairies are at war, Lucia has always had to hide her true nature. When she learns that Modeus' purpose involves killing fairies, she wonders what will happen if he finds out who she really is? And what does Modeus really understand about the world? This volume feels a little more high stakes than the first, with a lot more tension as secrets start to be revealed. Tongues Volume 1 by Anders Nilsen Prometheus lies chained to a mountainside, having a conversation with his only consistent visitor, the eagle who arrives daily to eat his liver. A young American wanders across a desolate landscape, talking to a teddy bear on his backpack, and gets picked up by some soldiers driving past in a Humvee. Followers of a mysterious figure named Z, or perhaps Omega, are kidnapping children to train as soldiers. Astrid, an African orphan, has been recruited for a mission by a god only she can see. Anders Nilsen deftly weaves together these odd threads, creating a story that mixes ancient myths with modern-day tensions. The gods—who appear in unusual forms here—have powers that defy human understanding and a historical conflict that long outdates the current human war, but there are also connections that link them. In a flashback, we see Prometheus and Epimetheus observing early humanity as they acquire language—in this case, humans themselves are the alien intelligence, and their development of language even influences the way the gods communicate with each other. Astrid has been told she is special, that she has a special role to play in the upcoming battle … though the messengers are unsure. Perhaps she is nobody. I've only read one other book by Nilsen: Big Questions , which I picked up used at a bookstore years ago. I was struck first by the sheer size of the book, but also by the fine details of the illustrations. Tongues isn't as long as Big Questions but it's still a hefty book, at nearly 370 pages. It's a big hardcover that I mostly read sitting at a table because it's a bit heavy for holding in my lap in a cozy chair. Nilsen's page layouts rarely use a traditional grid pattern, instead combining polygons to form strange crystalline structures filled with drawings, giving it a three-dimensional look. There are a few pages with flaps that fold out, revealing surprises underneath. There are parts of the story that include some body horror, some grotesque violence, illustrated with the same precision and detail as everything else. Tongues is an amazing book that digs into some big themes about the nature of humanity. Prometheus is asked if he regrets what he did, the sin that led to his eternal torture. Presented with what humans are like now, what they've managed to do with his gift, would he have made a different decision? I had somehow glossed over that this was a Volume 1 when I started reading it, but it closes with a few scenes that hint of crucial decisions yet to be made. I don't know how long it will take for Volume 2 since it's such a lengthy book, but it's definitely on my reading list. Disclosure: Affiliate links to help support my writing and independent booksellers! I received review copies of the books included in this column. Liked it? Take a second to support GeekDad and GeekMom on Patreon!
Scoop
11-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Scoop
The Best Night Of Comedy Is Back With The Best Comedy Show On Earth
New Zealand Comedy Trust & Skycity Presents Best Comedy Show On Earth Hosted by Pax Assadi Experience some of the top acts in this year's NZ International Comedy Festival with Best Foods Mayo at the sensational stand-up showcase, the Best Comedy Show On Earth, presented by the New Zealand Comedy Trust and Skycity. Following a sell out show at last year's fest, join big international and local names, whilst also discovering a few fresh faces for a night of total hilarity on Sunday 18 May at SKYCITY Theatre. Featuring 10 comedians, 100's of jokes, 1000's of laughs, this unforgettable evening of stand out comedy will be hosted by none other than Pax Assadi. Pax has become a household name with his widely acclaimed autobiographical TV show Raised by Refugees on TVNZ. He's hosted 60 Seconds and The Great Kiwi Bake Off, and will also be familiar as part of comedy trio Frickin Dangerous Bro. Crossing the ditch to join Pax on stage is Tom Cashman, the stand up is known as the Taskmaster's Assistant on Taskmaster Australia and for his viral TikTok content, where he's racked up millions of views. He's joined by Kirsty Webeck, Australia's reigning queen of cheerful comedy, returning after a standout set at last year's Best Foods Comedy Gala and Takashi Wakasugi, the Japanese-born, Australia-based comedian seen on Taskmaster Australia, Thank God You're Here, and the Best Foods Comedy Gala. Rounding out the Aussie contingent is Elouise Eftos 'Australia's First Attractive Comedian', and winner of Director's Choice at the 2024 Sydney Comedy Festival. Closer to home, Aotearoa's own comedy stars take the spotlight. Brynley Stent — a 2021 Billy T Award winner and familiar face from Taskmaster NZ, Celebrity Treasure Island, Golden Boy, and Shortland Street — brings her signature chaos and charm. Kajun Brooking, the award-winning Whanganui-based comic known for his quickfire punchlines, just impressed audiences with his high energy set at the Wellington Best Foods Comedy Gala, you may have seen him on Te Karere, The Hui, and TikTok. Kajun joins the lineup alongside Ray O'Leary — fresh from smashing it in Australia — a two-time Billy T nominee known for Taskmaster NZ, Have You Been Paying Attention? and 7 Days. They'll be joined by exciting emerging talents. Michelle Wiley, winner of Best Newcomer at the NZ Comedy Guild Awards and a 2023 RAW Comedy Grand Finalist, brings her sharp wit to the stage. And Ocean Denham, winner of Best Comedy at the 2024 Whangārei Fringe Festival rounds out the lineup. Take a date or your mates; this is Sunday night done right! The 2025 NZ International Comedy Festival with Best Foods Mayo runs from 2 – 25 May. The full programme is available now at
New York Times
04-02-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Is This the End of Pax Americana?
Back in the 1990s, it was fashionable to complain about what Hubert Vedrine, then the French foreign minister, called American hyperpuissance, or 'hyperpower.' The left-leaning diplomat believed the 'question at the center of the world's current powers' was the United States' 'domination of attitudes, concepts, language and modes of life.' What was needed, he argued, was a 'balanced multipolarism,' which might counteract American 'unilateralism,' 'unipolarism' and 'uniformity.' With President Trump, Vedrine has finally gotten his wish, though probably not in the way he would have imagined, much less liked. It isn't exactly easy to make sense of the Trump administration's foreign policy after its first bombastic weeks in office. Does it have a governing concept, beyond a taste for drama and the assertion, based on scant evidence, that this or that neighbor or ally has treated us 'very unfairly'? In an intriguing guest essay in The Times this week, Rutgers University historian Jennifer Mittelstadt made the case that Trump was a 'sovereigntist,' a tradition she dated to 1919 and the Republican rejection, led by Henry Cabot Lodge, of U.S. membership in the League of Nations. Sovereigntists, she noted, also looked askance at U.S. membership in NATO, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act and especially the Carter administration's decision to relinquish the Panama Canal. That seems about right. Sovereigntism means a country doing what it wants to do within only the limits of what it can do. It means the end of self-restraint within a framework of mutual restraint. It means an indifference to the behavior of other states, however cruel or dangerous, so long as it doesn't impinge on us. It means a reversion to the notorious claim, uttered (according to Thucydides) by the Athenians before their sacking of the neutral city of Melos, that 'the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.' Sovereigntism also means an end to something else: Pax Americana. Though it takes its name from the Pax Romana of the first and second centuries and the Pax Britannica of the 19th, Pax Americana was something different: The application of American power for the benefit of more than just Americans. Even as Vedrine was bemoaning U.S. unipolarity — and, by implication, French impotence — the Clinton administration was putting an end to Serbian depredations that European powers lacked the will or means to stop. Previous U.S. presidents had guarded Europe against the Soviet Union, stopped North Korea from swallowing the South and China from swallowing Taiwan, and saved Greece and Turkey from Russian domination. Did the practitioners of the Pax sometimes blunder? Yes, sometimes spectacularly. Did its beneficiaries take advantage of our largess? Yes, often outrageously. Did our allies always reflect our values? Not at all. But the fundamental rationale for the Pax was always sound. The United States had been dragged into two world wars because 'sovereigntism' wasn't adequate to our security challenges. We had a stake in the independence of friendly states against aggressive and subversive dictatorships. We understood that the prosperity of our friends enhanced our own. And we preferred freeloaders to freelancers: allies who might spend less on defense than they ought, but weren't going to break with us on core strategic concerns. This is what Trump now seems to be in the process of abandoning. It's one thing for the administration to cajole a state like Panama to withdraw from China's insidious 'Belt-and-Road Initiative,' or strong-arm Mexico into doing more to police its side of the border, or even impose tariffs on Beijing for its brazen violations of U.S. intellectual property and international trade rules. But the insane trade threats against Canada (reminiscent of the 'Blame Canada' song of the original 'South Park' movie, minus the laughs), or not ruling out military action in Greenland or the Panama Canal, or the cruel and utterly un-American arrangement with the socialist dictatorship in Caracas to repatriate potentially hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan refugees, represent a more fundamental turn in American policy. We are now behaving not as a Great Power — with 'great' entailing moral considerations — but as a Big Power, one that frightens other countries, including our shaken friends. Can there be short-term gains from all this? Sure. NATO states, fearful that Trump might pull out of the alliance, are now boasting of their readiness to pony up for their security. Iran suddenly seems interested in discussing its nuclear program after treating the Biden administration with ill-disguised contempt. Perhaps U.S. financial pressure can also get the near-bankrupt autocracies in Jordan and Egypt to accept Gazans who've been locked into Gaza — not to permanently dispossess them, but simply to take care of them while Gaza is rebuilt. But there are long-term costs, and not simply in the risk of beggar-thy-neighbor trade policies of the kind that deepened the Great Depression. American leadership depends on more than just power. It also depends on our dependability and on our decency — two virtues the old critics of the Pax Americana didn't always appreciate, but many others did. Those things aren't gone yet, but they are at risk. Is there a Democrat willing to summon the spirit of Harry Truman to show Americans how we can do better?
