House of the Dragon season 1 is done and dusted. Excitement was high for HBO’s Game of Thrones prequel, and with around 30 million people watching each episode, it’s become a massive hit. That’s despite no one really knew what to expect from the show — Game of Thrones itself has a complicated legacy. We got some answers about House of the Dragon’s scope early in the season when it was renewed for a second seasonrevealing it’d take more than 10 episodes to tell the tale of the Targaryen civil war.

On Sunday’s finale, we saw the precursor to the civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons. Word of King Viserys’ death finally reaches Rhaenyra and Daemon Targaryen, yet the queen is reluctant to go to war for the throne. Aegon the Conqueror’s prophecy rings in her head as she declares the need to preside over a united realm, not smoke and rubble.

Yet the closing moments of the show test her resolve, such that we know war is assured. Last warning: House of the Dragon spoilers below.

Vale, Lucerys and Arryx

The top-line news from House of the Dragon’s finale is the death of Lucerys Targaryen, Rhaenyra’s youngest child, whose true father is Harwin Strong. Lucerys, you may remember, was named heir to Dragonstone in episode 8 — a decision that a disgruntled Vaemond Velaryon died contesting.

In the course of House of the Dragon’s finale, Rhaenyra and Daemon decide they need to

Of course, things couldn’t be that simple.

Musk sent a letter to Twitter saying he plans on terminating their merger agreement, claiming the company is in material breach of the deal and accusing Twitter of “false and misleading representations upon which Mr. Musk relied when entering into the Merger Agreement.” Twitter then sued Musk in an effort to force him to finish the deal, and the fight seemed like it was headed to trial in Delaware’s Chancery Court in October. What followed was months of legal wrangling over evidence, accusations of fraud, and even a few deposits.

Finally, Musk decided to do what he had already agreed to do and buy Twitter. Judge Kathaleen McCormick gave the two sides a deadline of 5PM on October 28th to close the deal, and with time ticking down on the evening of the 27th, the deal has closed. Elon Musk reportedly began Twitter’s new era of private ownership by firing several executives, including previous CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, and policy chief Vijaya Gadde.

Musk, who already leads Tesla, SpaceX, The Boring Company, and Neuralink, is one of Twitter’s most visible users, with a large audience of dedicated followers. The billionaire exec spontaneously shares earthshaking company plans, uncredited memes, and bizarre accusations. That’s in addition to responses that serve as a global tech

My dear mother-in-law died a year ago, and despite her best-laid plans to get her affairs in order before she passed, she didn’t quite manage it. That means I’m constantly on the phone these days with everyone from the IRS to attorneys to CPAs. And because everything bad happens at once, I’m also on the line with doctors for various family members, including our beloved one-eyed cat.

Due to these endless calls, it seems like every day I’m dealing with one of the deepest circles of hell, the automated phone menu. You know what I mean — you call a number for help and you’re thrown into an endless loop of recorded messages that don’t assist you at all. I can’t even tell you how much time I’ve wasted stuck in this never-never land lately. Generally, the stress is already high for these calls — no one ever looks forward to calling the IRS, or a doctor. Being stuck in a phone menu reminds me of a state fair funhouse where you think you’ve found the way out but just keep slamming into walls, over and over again.

Some phones, like Google’s Pixel series, help you avoid these menus or even wait on hold for you, but there’s clearly room to improve these menus for everyone. Here’s how automated phone lines could make life easier for their callers.

We need a universal way to get to a live human

Maybe the most important thing: There needs to be

There’s so much more to the world than what we can see with the naked eye, so sometimes we need a little help dialing into the details. That’s what Nikon’s Small World Photomicrograph Competition is all about. Nikon announced the winners last week, but I’m going to start off by highlighting one of the runners-up, a highly magnified image of an ant.

The ant photo is from wildlife photographer Eugenijus Kavaliauskas, who has a glorious portfolio you could lose yourself in for hours. The image has attracted some attention on social media, perhaps due to a combination of its haunting nature and the proximity of Halloween. It looks like something that crawled out of an orc pit in Middle-earth.

If the ant grabs you, be sure to visit the full Nikon Small World winners gallery. The top place for 2022 went to an image of the embryonic hand of a Madagascar gecko, taken by Grigorii Timin of the University of Geneva. The stunning view is magnified 63 times. The gecko’s bones, tendons and skin are visible and nerves show up in cyan.

The gecko foot is made up of hundreds of images. “Masterfully blending imaging technology and artistic creativity,

The thumbs-up emoji has long been one of my go-to responses. It’s simple. It’s versatile. It’s friendly. Or so I thought until a Daily Mail headline jolted me out of my emoji-happy stupor last week. “Why NOBODY should be using the ‘thumbs up’ emoji in 2022,” the publication blares.

Cut to me making the kind of expression you see on the confused emoji:

“Sending a thumbs-up can be seen as passive aggressive and even confrontational, according to Gen Z who claims they feel attacked whenever it is used,” reads the article, speaking for a generation by way of a 10-month-old Reddit thread and an alleged Perspectus Global poll in which young ‘uns cite the 10 emojis that make people seem ancient. The thumbs-up tops that list, which also includes the lipstick kissy face, the pile of poop and the red heart. Guilty, guilty and very guilty. 😘 💩 😘

I — a certified old person™, so ancient I’m excited Blink-182’s reunion — often use the thumbs-up emoji to signal I read a co-worker’s message or agree with their thinking. In instances that don’t warrant conversation beyond a quick nod, a thumbs-up has always seemed like an effective, cheerful way to get the job done. 👍 👍 👍

But the Daily Mail article suggests I may be coming across to Gen Z (those born between 1997 and 2012) as hostile. Like Carrie Bradshaw in Sex