Monthly Archives: June 2021

GeForce RTX 3070 Ti performance Leaks in Ashes of the Singularity – guru3d.com

Posted: June 4, 2021 at 4:08 pm

Leakbench (twitter usuer) reveals the first benchmark of the GeForce Ti 3070 RTX in Ashes of the Singularity (AOTS).

Preset in High quality and accompanied by an AMD Ryzen 9 3900X, this GPU achieves a performance of 150, 102 and 90 FPS at resolutions 1080p, 1440p and 2160p , respectively. Compared to its younger sister, the GeForce RTX 3070, the new graphics card gets 9% more performance at 1440p. You can see the detail of each test below.

The GeForce RTX 3070 Ti will be equipped with the GA104-400 graphics chip, equipped with 6144 CUDA Cores (256 more than the RTX 3070), 192 TMUs / Tensor Core, 96 ROPs and 48 RT Cores, accompanied by 8 GB of memory. GDDR6X at 19 GHz which, together with a 256-bit memory interface, provides a bandwidth of 608 GB/s. This new GPU is expected to offer 50% more performance than its predecessor , the GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER, as revealed by NVIDIA in its presentation. Finally, it will go on sale for $599 (suggested price) next Thursday, June 10.

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RTX 3070 Ti Benchmark Results Leaked for Ashes of The Singularity and Geekbench – Tom’s Hardware

Posted: at 4:08 pm

We have our first glimpse at the performance of Nvidia's recently announced GeForce RTX 3070 TI, thanks to two leaked benchmark runs from Ashes of the Singularity and Geekbench 5. They were brought to our attention by @leakbench on Twitter. However, the benchmark results are about as vague as it gets, giving us a little indication as to the real performance of the 3070 Ti.

Unfortunately for us, the Ashes of the Singularity score in particular tells us almost nothing about the performance of Nvidia's new mid-range part, due to the system configuration and game quality settings.

The RTX 3070 Ti was paired with a Ryzen 9 3900X and 32GB of system memory, and the resolution used was 1080P with a high-quality preset (not the crazy preset). The 3070 Ti scores an average frame rate of 105.5 frames per second and a CPU frame rate of 105.9 fps.

While the frame rate looks good, this is probably one of the worst Ashes benchmarks to date, as the resolution is locked to 1080P and the teseter didn't even use the maximum quality preset. On top of that, the Ryzen 9 3900X is a Zen 2 part, and at 1080P there should be a noticeable amount of bottlenecking, enough to skew performance results when comparing graphics cards specifically.

What we really needed from the leaker is a better testbed with a more powerful CPU like a Ryzen 5000 series or a highly overclocked Intel 10th gen or 11th gen part. But most importantly, we would like to see resolutions of 1440P or 4K and have the game running at the crazy preset.

As it stands now, there aren't enough benchmarks on the high preset, with the same CPU and memory configuration to judge performance. For instance, the top result for the 1080P high preset benchmark results belongs to a system running on an i7-11700KF running 16GB of RAM, with an RTX 3080, which has exactly 1-2 FPS less on its score than the leaked RTX 3070 Ti test.

Hopefully, Geekbench 5's result can give us some better guesses as to the performance of the RTX 3070 Ti. Paired with a Core i9-11900K, the RTX 3070 Ti scored 155763 points in the OpenCL test.

For comparison, the RTX 3080 on Geekbench's browser earned a score of 183,452 and the RTX 3070 scores a 135,886. So the RTX 3070 Ti is sandwiched right in-between the vanilla 3080 and 3070, being 17% slower than the RTX 3080 and 14% faster than the RTX 3070, which is to be expected.

Take this result with a pinch of salt, until you see full reviews of the RTX 3070 Ti come online. This is especially true of Geekbench 5, which focuses on the raw compute performance of GPUs, which rarely applies to the actual gaming performance of Nvidia and AMD's graphics cards.

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Fate/Grand Order Final Singularity Release Date, Cast And Plot – What We Know So Far – Looper

Posted: at 4:08 pm

The plot of "Fate/Grand Order Final Singularity" will mainly mirror that of the final story chapter of the mobile game. In the game, Ritsuka and Mash are tasked with traveling to a seventh singularity to face Solomon, the immensely powerful king of magecraft. If they fail, humanity is doomed. This actually lines up with the ending of "Fate/Grand Order Absolute Demonic Front," which makes sense given that the upcoming movie aims to continue where the anime series left off.

In the final episode of "Demonic Front," Ritsuka and Mash are successful in their battle against Tiamat, ultimately preventing her from restarting the universe (via Funimation). Everything looks good, and Gilgamesh awards Ritsuka and Mash with Urk's Holy Grail. However, before the two can really enjoy their feat of saving humanity, their return to Chaldea yields another objective:the Grand Temple of Time Solomon has appeared. Additionally, Romani announces that Chaldea must face the temple and the powerful being. Thetrailerfor "Fate/Grand Order Final Singularity" definitely indicates that this is the direction the upcoming movie will go in, as we see Ritsuka and Mash in battle and are given an image of Solomon smiling evilly atop his throne.

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Japan Wants to Build Intercontinental Passenger Spaceships by the Early 2040s – Singularity Hub

Posted: at 4:08 pm

A booming space industry is making it easier than ever to get into orbit, but Japan is betting that it could revolutionize terrestrial travel, too. The countrys science ministry has unveiled a plan to develop intercontinental passenger spaceships by the early 2040s.

The idea of using spaceships to travel from one point on the Earths surface to another has been around since at least the 1960s, but the cost and complexity of the idea have meant its been little more than a pipe dream.

In principle, the approach isnt that different from the one used by intercontinental ballistic missiles. A rocket is used to blast the payload, be it a nuclear weapon or a passenger spaceship, on a big looping trajectory into space before re-entering the atmosphere on the other side of the planet.

The approach could make it possible to travel between continents in under an hour, and now Japan has outlined its vision for how to make the idea a reality. In a roadmap unveiled at an expert panel earlier this month, its science ministry put forward a two-phase plan it predicts could support a 5 trillion yen ($46 billion) market for spaceships departing from and arriving in Japan.

Local reports on the strategy are light on detail, but it seems to rely on the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) achieving dramatic reductions in the cost of launching vehicles into space.

The countrys next-generation H3 rocket, which is due for a maiden flight this year, costs roughly five billion yen, and the roadmap predicts that tactics like reusing rocket parts will allow them to halve that cost by 2030, and get it down to as low as 10 percent by the early 2040s.

They will then rely on private companies to develop transport vehicles that can carry passengers. They envisage two different kinds of spaceships: a spaceplane similar to the space shuttle that can land on a runway like a normal aircraft, and one that lands vertically like SpaceXs reusable rockets.

The Japanese arent the only ones becoming increasingly bullish about the prospect of intercontinental spaceflight. Back in 2017 Elon Musk suggested that SpaceXs Starship could be used to travel anywhere around the planet in under an hour, and in 2019 he speculated that the vehicle could carry as many as 1,000 passengers per trip.

NASA also recently announced a partnership with Virgin Galactic to develop a new vehicle for high-speed civilian air travel, which is likely to refer to the companys oft-stated goal of using its sub-orbital space planes to transport people across the globe.

If these ideas get off the ground, theyre likely to be incredibly expensivebut dont expect any first-class treatment. Musk compared the approach to an intercontinental ballistic missile traveling at Mach 25 that lands, and said the flights were likely to be all coach, with no toilets or food and the kind of restraints one might expect on a rollercoaster.

Others think the problems will go further than the lack of a drinks trolley, though. Humans simply arent built for the kind of acceleration and G-Force an intercontinental ballistic missile undergoes, Brian Weeden, from space advocacy organization Secure World Foundation, told The Verge, and could easily be killed on launch or re-entry.

Even if our bodies hold together, the vehicles themselves are far from reliable at present, and the safety of space travel is a long way from the rigorous standards set by commercial air travel.

The Space Shuttle program had two fatal disasters in 135 missions, which is a 1.5 percent failure rate, and both SpaceX and Virgin Galactic have had high-profile mission failures. In contrast, commercial aviation experienced just one fatal crash every 3.7 million flights last year.

The colossal cost of spaceflight compared to standard aviation also means it is likely to be difficult to achieve the kinds of passenger volumes required to justify the investment in vehicle development, spaceports, pilot training, and all the infrastructure required to support an entirely new form of travel.

On the flip side, though, many of the same arguments could have been made about the early aviation industry, which took its time to become a mainstay of our transportation networks. It may take some time to come to fruition, but dont be surprised if most peoples first trip to space comes on their way to their vacations.

Image Credit: SpaceX

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Modis bulldozing of parliament shows him as the architect of a Hindu Taliban – The Guardian

Posted: at 4:08 pm

At the heart of New Delhi, the capital of India, sits a Mughal-inspired monument that houses the seat of the Indian parliament. Built by the British architect Edwin Lutyens between 1911 and 1931, the parliament buildings and their grand roadways and water channels follow the form established by the Islamic rulers of Iran and elaborated by the Islamic sultanate of Samarkand and the Mughal rulers of India.

Lutyens designed perhaps the most important Islamic-inspired edifice of modern times. The buildings quote architectural emblems from Hindu temples and palaces, but the grand plan follows the design of Mughal-Islamic landscape with a light nod to Roman triumphalism. It is, in my view, the greatest set of government buildings anywhere in the world.

Unsurprisingly, the Islamic origin of these buildings offends the current regime in Delhi. It is why the tyrant Modi and his henchmen are destroying it. As I write, the destruction is under way. It is an abomination that Modis hate-filled campaign to de-Islamify India is allowed to continue via the destruction of a world-class monument. Astonishingly, the UN heritage forum is silent and world heritage bodies have kept their mouths firmly closed. Are they afraid of Modi, or do they not care what happens in India?

Modi has appointed third-rate Bimal Patel as his architect. Patel will design its replacement much in the way that Albert Speer followed his Fhrers lead, but, of course, Patel does not have an iota of Speers talent.

This ideologically driven, hate-filled destruction follows the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya in 1992 and the vandalism of Islamic and Mughal monuments all over India. Modi appears to want nothing less than the obliteration of all the Islamic monuments of India and the removal of the 200 million Indian Muslims. Let us not forget that he has already forcibly taken away Indian citizenship from many millions of Indian Muslims and rendered them stateless a crime for which he has not been brought to book, even though India is a signatory to the UN declaration of human rights, of which citizenship is a central tenet.

The pretence that the destruction of this grand vista is justified by a lack of space for parliament is flimsy. The National Museum of India, which is housed in one of the buildings to be demolished, is to be moved to a space inadequate for its marvellous collections, putting at risk many invaluable and fragile works of art. All this will be done at breakneck speed in order to have the work finished before the end of Modis term in office. The Indian courts have been pressured to acquiesce to this idiotic scheme and journalists and other commentators have been intimidated.

Tragically, Covid-19 ravages the country but uncaring ideology makes sure that the central vista project has $2bn in funding while hundred of millions of Indias poor and destitute have to fend for themselves. They are dying by the hundreds of thousands. Modi is building a vulgar monument to himself on the corpses of invisible and unnamed citizens.

I draw a comparison here with the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, who in the 17th century destroyed Hindu monuments and temples all over India in fervent religious hatred. Modi is an Aurangzeb for our times. His regime bears comparison with the Taliban in Afghanistan, who also attempt to rule with ideological fervour.

Modis Hindu Taliban needs monuments to itself in order to establish cultural acceptance and domination. Like all fascist-leaning politicians, Modi hopes that by controlling the images at the heart of the nation, he will form a new vision of his India, which places him at the centre alongside Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel.

The ego displayed in this and other of his vainglorious projects puts Indian democracy at huge risk. Modi recently opened a cricket stadium named after himself, in laughable mimicry of Kim Jong-un in North Korea. He erected a monumental statue to Vallabhbhai Patel, the Hindu-Gujarati freedom fighter. It is four times bigger than the Statue of Liberty, unimaginably vulgar and cost over $400m. These are edifices for ultra-nationalist Modi Talibanists to rally around.

The British civil servant John Strachey declared in a lecture given at Cambridge University in 1884 that there is no such country as India and this is the first and most essential fact about India that can be learned. Seeking unified religion, culture and tradition in India, he could not find them. What he failed to see is Indias capacity for diversity, Indias inescapable multi-layered complexity, Indias refusal of singularity. He could not see India as forming a cohesive whole without a shared language or tradition. His nation-state mindset could not see unity and diversity living side by side.

British colonial endeavours to force Indians into one system led to famine and slavery. It forced Indians into cultural inferiority so Christian morality could dominate and British business interests could flourish. I believe the fascist government in India today is doing what the British could not. Modi and his neo-colonial henchmen are forcing Hindu singularity on the country.

The destruction of the parliament buildings represents the taking-over of the Indian psyche by a fascist regime. Its ultra-nationalist vision is of Hindu dominion over all Indians at any price, and Modi as its architect will rule India with his right hand raised in salute, palm open, mimicking the Hindu god Vishnu among others.

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Heres what to expect from Apples WWDC 2021 – Yahoo Finance

Posted: at 4:04 pm

Apples (AAPL) annual WWDC, or Worldwide Developers Conference, kicks off on Monday, and while it wont be the usual in-person extravaganza, the company is still expected to announce a slew of major updates to everything from the software powering your iPhone and iPad to, possibly, a new MacBook or two.

Heres everything Apple could debut at the all-virtual show.

The biggest news from WWDC always includes changes to Apples most important operating system: iOS. And this year that means we should get a look at iOS 15. Apple soothsayer, Bloombergs Mark Gurman, reports that the latest version of iOS will bring improvements to the iPhones notifications settings, privacy features, and updates to iMessage to make it more of a competitor to Facebooks (FB) WhatsApp.

The new notifications settings will come in the form of system-wide changes that allow you to go beyond the usual Do Not Disturb mode. According to Gurman, youll be able to set your phone to react in different ways in various situations like when youre in a meeting, sleeping, or driving. Depending on the situation your notifications will provide set prompts, such as not playing sounds during meetings, which can be pretty embarrassing.

The iPhone 12 Pro lineup. (Image: Apple)

Youll also be able to set new auto-replies for notifications. Currently, you can send auto-replies when youre driving, but this will extend well beyond that to more situations. Though, I dont know if I ever want to send my boss a notification telling them Im sleeping.

Apple has made privacy a main feature of its product lines, and you can expect further enhancements to iOSs already stout privacy set in its next iteration, as well. Reports point to Apple informing you when apps are sucking up data, which could be a big problem for advertising-based apps like Facebook.

Speaking of which, updates to iMessage are expected to make the messaging software more like Facebooks WhatsApp. Though little is known how far those changes will go. Thats sure to anger Facebook, which already has a serious distaste for Apple due to its recent privacy policy changes.

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PhoneArena, meanwhile, says that iOS 15 will allow users to change even more default apps, which could help with some of the regulatory scrutiny Apple has faced about its control over iOS.

Finally, you might be able to log your meals in the iOS Health app to better track your caloric intake. Ive always found that exercise to be notoriously tedious, so heres hoping Apple is able to make it somewhat easier than whats already out there.

On the iPad side of things, Gurman says Apple will release its largest ever update for the iPads home screen, giving users the ability to get rid of all of their individual app icons to turn the entire screen into interactive widgets.

The 11-inch iPad Pro features the company's M1 chip. (Image: Apple)

Apples latest iPad Pros are powered by the companys custom M1 chips, which offer far more power than most apps require, so it will be interesting to see if the new OS provides any big benefits for the little powerhouse.

Theres slim pickings as far as rumors concerning watchOS 8, the likely name of the next version of the operating system that powers the Apple Watch, but Apple usually makes a number of yearly changes to the OS including new watch faces and workout options. You can already do everything from logging your badminton game to surfing, so its hard to imagine what else the company can add. Might I suggest competitive couch sitting?

The Apple Watch Series 6 should get some software updates along with the Apple Watch SE. (Image: Apple)

MacOS, meanwhile, is said to be getting a minor update this year. That would make sense seeing as how the OS saw major changes during last years WWDC as part of macOS Big Sur, which brought more iOS-like changes to Apples Mac and MacBook lines.

WWDC is a developers conference, and Apples track record of announcing new hardware is always spotty during the show. YouTuber and leaker Jon Prosser says Apple will roll out updated versions of the MacBook Pro 14-inch and MacBook Pro 16-inch complete with changes like MagSafe chargers, and a return of the SD Card slot that photographers and videographers have been missing.

The new MacBooks could also get the latest version of Apples flagship processors, so-far dubbed the M2, which is supposed to be a more powerful version of the M1. The M1 is already a powerhouse, and if the M2 is going into new MacBook Pros, it should offer even more firepower.

Apple will be streaming WWDC from its website beginning at 1 p.m. ET on June 7.

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May jobs report is ‘encouraging’ but there’s ‘still a ways to go’: US Labor Secretary Marty Walsh – Yahoo Finance

Posted: at 4:04 pm

U.S. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh is giving a thumbs up to the May jobs report, but acknowledges it will take some time for the labor market to fully recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

"There is no question there is still a ways to go in still dealing with the pandemic from all of the job loss at the beginning of the pandemic," Walsh said on Yahoo Finance Live.

The Labor Department reported Friday that non-farm payrolls increased by 559,000, falling shy of Wall Street's estimates for a rise of 675,000. The result came up short compared to higher economist estimates on the Street that ranged from an increase of 800,000 up to 1 million.

May's increase followed a gain of 278,000 jobs in April, which was upwardly revised slightly from the 266,000 previously reported. The unemployment rate ticked down to 5.8% from 6.1% in April, missing the Bloomberg consensus of 5.9%.

Meanwhile, average hourly earnings accelerated to a 0.5% month-on-month clip and 2% year-over-year increase.

But to Walsh's point, the U.S. labor market recovery remains a work in progress.

The economy shed a startling 22.4 million jobs last year in March and April but has only since added back 14.8 million, points out Bleakley Advisory Group Chief Investment Officer Peter Boockvar.

Strategists say the jobs market is poised to kick into high gear this summer as pandemic-era unemployment insurance benefits start expiring in June. That will go a long way in companies addressing the labor shortage they continue to deal with amid a sharp rebound in demand.

"It is becoming crystal clear that the main problem with the labor market right now is the supply side and were seeing higher wages in response to encourage people back. Well see later this month what impact on hiring well see in those states that are nixing the enhanced benefits and well see what happens when school ends," Boockvar contends.

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"Today is an encouraging report a good, solid report as we just need to continue to build off this momentum," Walsh said.

Yahoo Finance's Emily McCormick contributed to this story.

Brian Sozzi is an editor-at-large and anchor at Yahoo Finance. Follow Sozzi on Twitter @BrianSozzi and on LinkedIn.

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Slack sees 39% user growth as it beats Q1 expectations – Yahoo Finance

Posted: at 4:04 pm

Slack has been under pressure for not growing as fast as other work-from-home stocks. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

Slack (WORK), the online chat tool that has become the main way many people have communicated with their coworkers throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, reported its fiscal Q1 2022 earnings after the bell on Thursday, beating expectations on the top and bottom line.

Here are the most important numbers from the report compared with what analysts were expecting as compiled by Bloomberg.

Revenue: $273 million versus $265 million expected

Earnings per share: $0.08 versus -$0.01 expected

Total paid accounts: 169,000 versus 155,852 expected

The company's stock was trading down slightly following the earnings announcement.

"In Q1 we saw a near-record number of Paid Customer additions, a record number of Paid Customers adopting Slack Connect, and approached 1 million active developers on our platform, Slack CEO and co-founder Stewart Butterfield said in a statement.

Slacks Q1 could be its last quarterly report as an independent company, as business software giant Salesforce (CRM) is expected to close its $27.7 billion acquisition of the messaging platform in the coming months.

That deal, which was announced in December 2020, sent shares of Slack soaring after they hovered around the $20 to $30 range throughout the pandemic. Slack has been criticized for not capitalizing on the need for work-from-home software as millions of workers around the world fled their offices last year.

Investors and analysts have been calling on Slack to push its user growth higher to better match with the kind of expansion seen by other so-called work-from-home stocks like Zoom, which exploded during the pandemic.

While Zoom saw its stock price increase 54% in the last 12 months, Slack saw growth of just 13.5%, lower than the S&P 500s 36% price increase. Whats more, much of Slacks stock price growth came as rumors of its acquisition began circulating.

Of course, Slack could face the same issues that have struck Zoom, which saw its stock price tumble following its Q1 2022 earnings during which it revealed its growth is slowing as the pandemic wanes.

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By Daniel Howley, tech editor. Follow him at @DanielHowley

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Biden order to ban investment in 59 Chinese defense and tech firms – Yahoo Finance

Posted: at 4:04 pm

By Michael Martina

WASHINGTON, June 3 (Reuters) - The Biden administration will issue a new executive order on Thursday that bans U.S. entities from buying or selling publicly traded securities for 59 Chinese companies with alleged ties to defense or surveillance technology sectors, senior administration officials said.

The Treasury Department will enforce and update on a "rolling basis" the new ban list, which replaces one from the Department of Defense, the officials, noting the policy would take effect on Aug. 2.

The new order, which is an effort to make a similar Trump-era prohibition more legally sound, signals the administration's intent to "ensure that U.S. persons are not financing the military industrial complex of the People's Republic of China", one of the senior officials told reporters.

The inclusion of Chinese surveillance technology firms expanded the scope of the previous order, the officials said.

"We fully expect that in the months ahead ... we'll be adding additional companies to the new executive order's restrictions," an official said.

President Joe Biden has been reviewing a number of aspects of U.S. policy towards China, and his administration had delayed the implementation of the previous order while it formulated its new policy framework.

The move is part of a broader series of steps to counter China, including reinforcing U.S. alliances and pursuing large domestic investments to bolster U.S. economic competitiveness, amid increasingly sour relations between the world's two most powerful countries.

Biden's Indo-Pacific policy coordinator Kurt Campbell said last month that a period of engagement with China had come to an end and that the dominant paradigm in bilateral ties going forward would be one of competition.

The Treasury Department is expected to issue the full list later on Thursday, and give guidance on what the scope of surveillance technology means, including whether companies are facilitating "repression or serious human rights abuses" in or outside of China, one of the officials said.

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"We really want to make sure that any future prohibitions are on legally solid ground. So, our first listings really reflect that," a second senior administration official said.

Investors would have time to "unwind" investments, a third official said.

In May, a judge signed an order removing the designation on Chinese mobile phone maker Xiaomi, which was among the more high-profile Chinese technology companies that the Trump administration targeted for alleged ties to China's military.

The judge later also suspended an ban imposed on Luokung Technology Corp, a Chinese mapping technology company.

The Department of Defense had also placed similar restrictions on China's Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation 0981.HK, a firm key to China's national drive to boost its domestic chip sector. (Reporting by Michael Martina Editing by Alistair Bell)

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Karen baby name going the way of the dodo – Yahoo News

Posted: at 4:04 pm

No one wants to name their baby girl Karen any more.

The name has tanked in popularity over the past year, according to figures released by the Social Security Administration.

Throughout 2020 the name Karen fell a whopping 171 spots on the popularity list, from a low of 660 to number 831, Huffington Post reported Tuesday.

The names popularity had already been ebbing, falling to its lowest ranking since 1929 by the end of last year, Huffington Post reported in September 2020. While it fell 23 spots to 660 on the list of popular baby names for 2019, it has plummeted even more since then.

The parents of just 325 baby girls named their daughter Karen last year, down from 439 in 2019, Huffington Post said, citing the SSA.

In 1965, at the names peak popularity, nearly 33,000 newborns were named Karen, HuffPo noted.

While theres no scientific link between the name Karen and the pejorative connotations with the entitled white woman who wants to speak to the manager, theres no denying that The Name That Launched a Thousand Memes is morphing into something less than desirable.

How could it not, with connotations like the Central Park Karen who falsely called police to say a Black bird-watcher who had asked her to comply with the rules and leash her dog had actually threatened to harm her? Or the so-called SoHo Karen, who wrongfully accused a Black boy of stealing her cellphone? Or a woman actually named Karen, who refused to mask up in an Ohio grocery store?

Baby names are always a mirror of the times, noted the website Baby Center last October, noting that 2020s changes reflected a year of loss and political divisiveness, with Kobe leaping 175% after the helicopter-crash death of basketball great Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, whose name popularity soared even further, by 216%.

Also gaining in popularity were Kamala, up 104%, and Liberty, which rose 12%, while Karen dropped by 13%, the parenting website said in its own list of popular baby names for 2020, based on its own database of 550,000 babies born in 2020 to parents registered on BabyCenter.

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Similar stats apply around the world, with a poll that asked 6,000 British parents and parents-to-be to list the top three names they would never dream of calling their child, The New Zealand Herald reported in December. There, too, Karen falls far from the list of most desirable names.

Boris is the most disliked name for a baby boy, the Herald said, and in a blow to the U.K. [Prime Minister] Boris Johnson, is even more unpopular than the name Donald.

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