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NASA just hauled its massive heavy-lift rocket to a launchpad at Kennedy Space Center for some crucial testing ahead of its first moon mission.

It’s been a long time since the U.S. space agency had a rocket of this magnitude, capable of sending large payloads — astronauts and cargo — into deep space. Not only is the Space Launch System, or SLS, built to travel to the moon, it’s expected to one day put millions of miles on the odometer during the first crewed flight to Mars. Robotic scientific journeys to Saturn and Jupiter also could be in its future.

Here are some key facts about the megarocket as it prepares for its maiden voyage, the Artemis I mission to lunar orbit, which could come as soon as May 2022 (though, in typical NASA fashion, this might happen later this summer).

• NASA unveils its colossal moon rocket in grand display

• The star of NASA’s megarocket reveal isn’t the big rocket

• Invincible: Eddie Vedder and…NASA just made a weirdly inspiring rocket music video

• A rocket will crash into the moon. It’ll leave way more than a scar.

• SpaceX doctor finally gets his shot to be a NASA astronaut

1. It’s the only rocket that can send the Orion spacecraft to the moon

NASA’s SLS is the only rocket that can send the Orion capsule directly to the moon.
Credit: NASA / Aubrey Gemignani

SLS is the only rocket capable of sending the Orion spacecraft, a capsule that sits atop the stack of boosters, to the moon and beyond. Think of the Orion capsule as the RV of the sky: It’s not only a ride but a habitat for up to four astronauts. In order to travel long journeys into deep space, people will need to be able to eat, sleep, work, and pass time aboard for months.

For Artemis I, an uncrewed Orion will fly thousands of miles past and around the moon. Three weeks after liftoff, the capsule will splash down in the Pacific Ocean. The purpose of the inaugural Artemis mission is to test its ability to safely reenter Earth’s atmosphere and drop into the correct spot for the Navy to recover.

2. It’s not the size, but the thrust, that counts

In a NASA test, the four main rocket engines fired for eight minutes in March 2021 and generated 1.6 million pounds of thrust.
Credit: NASA / Robert Markowitz

Standing 322-feet high, the megarocket is taller than the Statue of Liberty and London’s Big Ben. Compare that to the 184-foot Space Shuttle rocket, which blasted astronauts to the space station in low-Earth orbit.

Despite towering over its predecessor, SLS is actually a bit shorter than Saturn V, the last rocket NASA used to take people into deep space. The Apollo-era rocket was 41 feet taller.

But the new rocket is demonstrably more powerful. SLS will produce 8.8 million pounds of thrust — the oomph an engine provides for the rocket — during liftoff and ascent. That’s 15 percent more than Saturn V offered. Future configurations of the new rocket will pack even more punch.

The four main SLS engines, fueled with 700,000 gallons of cryogenic, or super cold, propellant, will produce a thrust powerful enough to keep eight Boeing 747s aloft.

3. The megarocket is state-of-the-art 1980s technology

Engineers and technicians at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans attaching the first of four RS-25 engines to the core stage of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket.
Credit: NASA / Jude Guidry

SLS is literally and figuratively built upon the Space Shuttle legacy. NASA incorporated major components of the shuttle, which operated between 1981 and 2011, into the new rocket.

Engineers swapped the iconic space plane out for either a cargo or Orion crew spacecraft. The central orange core is an elongated shuttle external fuel tank, powered by four shuttle engines. Rather than reusing those engines, though, NASA will ditch them in the ocean. Twin shuttle solid rocket boosters will assist the core during the first phase of the flight, providing 75 percent of the initial skyward push.

It’s not all old tech, though. NASA upgraded some hardware and used new tooling and manufacturing techniques to get the job done. Some parts have been modernized to meet the needs of deep-space travel, but Congress didn’t allow the space agency to start completely from scratch to design the latest megarocket.

4. Sorry, environment. It’s not reusable.

During Artemis I, the uncrewed Orion spacecraft will launch on the most powerful rocket in the world and travel farther than any spacecraft built for humans has ever flown.
Credit: NASA

Remember that the new moon rocket is built with shuttle parts. NASA designed the shuttle to haul astronauts and supplies back and forth to the space station, which orbits some 250 miles from Earth.

In order to modify the rocket so that it could travel much deeper into space, engineers needed to lighten the load. After all, the moon is roughly 239,000 miles from Earth, around 1,000 times the distance of the space station.

Engineers gutted the Shuttle’s reusable boosters, parachutes, reserve fuel, and landing sensors from the design — the system that allowed the agency to use it again. This gave NASA back about 2,000 pounds of extra weight capacity for lunar trips. Doing so will help Orion reach 24,500 mph, the speed needed to send it on a moon-bound trajectory.

But this means SLS will need new rockets for each mission.

At least the engine exhaust is relatively “clean,” superheated water vapor. The engines are fed liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen fuel. And NASA upgraded the booster insulation from asbestos to rubber materials, also an environmental improvement.

5. The megarocket has an all-American price tag

NASA’s Artemis missions will cost about $4.1 billion per launch, according to an inspector general report.
Credit: NASA

Many folks at NASA and in Congress refer to SLS as “the nation’s rocket,” the “flagship rocket,” or “America’s rocket.” It’s considered a national asset, not unlike a bespoke aircraft carrier for the military, intended to serve a national interest: exploring the solar system.

That’s the major reason it’s thought to be the most expensive rocket ever built. While the burgeoning commercial spaceflight sector may soon prove it can build a more cost-efficient space transportation system, affordability was never the priority for SLS.

When Congress passed a NASA spending bill in 2010, it directed the space agency to build the rocket, even specifying what parts to use, which companies to contract, and what kind of business arrangements to leverage. At that time, amid the Great Recession, those lawmakers sought to support thousands of jobs in their districts. Artemis is not just a space program, but a jobs program.

About 3,800 suppliers in all 50 states have contributed to the rocket and Orion projects, said Tom Whitmeyer, NASA’s deputy associate administrator for common exploration systems.

“When you see this rocket, it’s not just a piece of metal that’s going to sit at the pad. It’s a whole bunch of people, rocket scientists throughout this country, throughout our agencies, that have worked on this.”

“It’s a symbol of our country and our communities, our aerospace economy, and what’s in partnership behind it,” he said on a call with reporters in March. “When you see this rocket, it’s not just a piece of metal that’s going to sit at the pad. It’s a whole bunch of people, rocket scientists throughout this country, throughout our agency, that have worked on this.”

At a March congressional committee, Inspector General Paul Martin, who serves as the space agency watchdog for the federal government, estimated each launch would cost $4.1 billion, with half of the tab attributed just to SLS. For perspective, that’s about one-fifth of the entire NASA budget. By 2025, Martin expects NASA will have spent $93 billion on the Artemis program.

6. The rocket is the ultimate Transformer

NASA designed the Space Launch System as the foundation for a generation of human exploration missions to deep space.
Credit: NASA

Engineers designed SLS to evolve into increasingly powerful configurations as its Artemis missions become more complex.

The first assembly, called “Block 1,” will use the central (orange) core booster with four main engines. It can send over 59,500 pounds to orbits beyond the moon. Additionally, a pair of solid rocket boosters and liquid fuel-fed engines will provide much of its thrust. After leaving Earth’s atmosphere, a final rocket booster — the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage — sends the Orion capsule onward to the moon. This is the configuration NASA plans to use for the first three Artemis missions, including a moon landing.

Later missions, which will carry astronauts, will have a different rocket configuration, including the powerful Exploration Upper Stage. Known as “Block 1B,” this rocket design can transport crew and large amounts of cargo — up to 83,700 pounds.

The next iteration of SLS, aka “Block 2,” can provide 9.5 million pounds of thrust and will be the workhorse vehicle for sending cargo to the moon, Mars, and other deep-space destinations, an eight percent increase over Artemis I. This rocket will lift a whopping 101,400 pounds.

In the harsh places NASA astronauts are going, they’ll need bounties of supplies.

NASA’s trusty helicopter will soon enter some precarious terrain.

The aerial craft Ingenuity is headed to a dried-up river delta in the Jezero Crater, a land filled “with jagged cliffs, angled surfaces, projecting boulders, and sand-filled pockets that could stop a rover in its tracks (or upend a helicopter upon landing),” says NASA.

But first, it must fly there.

Over a series of at least three flights, NASA will send Ingenuity across an expanse of desert dubbed “Séítah.” The space agency released an image from a trip across this terrain, captured in midair using Ingenuity’s high-resolution color camera.

A view of a portion of the Jezero Crater called the “Séítah”
Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech

Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / ASU

The image shows windswept sand in the foreground, and hilly, even mountainous terrain beyond. You can also spot the helicopter’s shadow on the bottom of the frame, and a glimpse of the ball-like end of one of its legs on the upper left side of the image.

• NASA satellite captures a dazzling, important crater on Mars

• NASA unveils its colossal moon rocket in grand display

• The star of NASA’s megarocket reveal isn’t the big rocket

The Ingenuity helicopter, an experimental robot, has vastly exceeded engineers’ expectations. NASA hoped to prove it could fly something on Mars. Now, the helicopter has flown over 21 times, and its next journey is expected to span some 1,150 feet — while avoiding a hill.

“This upcoming flight will be my 22nd entry in our logbook,” Ingenuity chief pilot Håvard Grip said in a statement. “I remember thinking when this all started, we’d be lucky to have three entries and immensely fortunate to get five. Now, at the rate we’re going, I’m going to need a second book.”

The chopper will soon accompany the car-sized Perseverance rover on a journey through the dry river delta, a place planetary scientists suspect once teemed with water. The mission seeks evidence that primitive, microscopic organisms once dwelled in moist environments on Mars.

Still today, there’s no proof of life anywhere beyond Earth.

Like all good pornos, A24’s hotly anticipated new horror-comedy, X, knows exactly what you came for.

Unloading bloody money shot after even bloodier money shot, this gore-fest with tits also finds thrilling new ways to subvert the classic ’70s slasher formula it pays homage to. But as part of a larger trend of artsy indie horror movies that make you think, X is more boobs and guts than it is brains. Despite enthralling and transgressive genre filmmaking, it fails to rise above the one old horror trope we really need to retire.

Fear of aging — most often depicted on screen as a sexist disgust toward elderly women’s bodies — is just too tired a cliché for what’s otherwise the best teen slasher since Cabin in the Woods. Just like that 2011 cult hit, X also suffers from being a bit too up its own ass at times, full of winking-to-the-camera meta-commentary on the horror movie conventions it toys with.

Opening on a grisly crime scene in rural America, the movie feels like it begins exactly where the 1974 Texas Chainsaw Massacre‘s iconic ending left off. You can practically smell the putrid scent of teen flesh rotting in the baking Southern sun. So when we flash back to a van with a hot young cast and crew going to shoot a porn film on a farm, we already know where this is headed. The dread only mounts after a tense encounter between our group of groovy, free-lovin’ youths and the decrepit, God-fearing elderly couple whose barn they’re using as a set.

As the latest entry into Ti West’s horror filmography (joining cult favorites like The Innkeepers and House of the Devil), X is the best execution of the writer-director’s unique talents so far. Aside from a trademark blend of humor and horror, the movie highlights West’s unparalleled mastery of tension and pacing. With offputting scene transitions that cut back and forth like a stutter, a fun flourish with the ’70s split-screen cinematic technique, and its keen eye for finding visceral beauty in the grotesque, X is a total filmmaking flex.

However, it’s held back by the director’s weaknesses as much as it shines from his strengths. West was an early pioneer of the modern arthouse horror-comedy. But when it comes to using that sub-genre as a metaphor for bigger ideas about the human condition, West still lags behind more recent trailblazers like Jordan Peele.

X lays it on thick with thematic explorations of sex as death, taking the commonly touted fun fact that a French euphemism for “orgasm” translates into “a small death” pretty literally. Most obviously, the movie interrogates American culture’s uniquely hypocritical Puritan values, which condemn sex as a sin but celebrate violence as a God-given right. There’s some interesting commentary on the cinematic similarities between slasher films and porn, too, positioning them as opposite sides of the same hedonistic spectrum.

But for all its smugly self-aware jokes about using avant-garde editing techniques to hide the porno’s low budget, X appears oblivious to some of its other hacky, self-aggrandizing superficialities.

Much of the movie’s horror relies on an ageism that dehumanizes young and mature women alike.

Much of the movie’s horror relies on an ageism that dehumanizes young and mature women alike, and the meaning behind this central choice isn’t clear enough to justify how little it questions this trope’s misogyny. It’s a blind spot made more frustrating by how X has already garnered far greater critical attention and praise than a film like Relic ever did. The slept-on 2020 indie horror by writer-director Natalie Erika James brilliantly subverts the genre’s demonization of the kind of older women that X doesn’t hesitate in depicting as inherently horrific.

The ageism is made all the more egregious by how X appears to see itself as being in conversation with some seminal feminist film theories that were sparked by the classic ’70s slashers the movie pays homage to.

X deliberately plays with the formula we’ve come to expect from the “final girl” trope, a term famously coined by critic Carol J. Clover as a way to point out the slasher’s gendered sexual politics. Instead of sacrificing the archetypal female “whore” character so that the “virgin” can live till the end, X‘s modern twist has audiences rooting for the survival of basically a whole group of unabashed “whores.”

It also feasts on the Freudian-feminist film language of critics like Laura Mulvey, whose classic essay Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema coined the term “male gaze.” X loves to use phallic objects as metaphorical penises, evokes fucked-up family gender dynamics, and takes pleasure in climactic murder scenes full of suggestively spewing bodily fluids. The movie even breaks the fourth wall while its female characters fuck for the camera, seemingly as an interrogation of that ever-present male gaze in everything from porn to slashers.

Credit: A24

But it only seems to wade into those conversations pioneered by and about women for the intellectual clout, like that toxic film major guy from college who just recently discovered the existence of a male gaze.

The movie often feels like it lampshades a great pair of tits as some kinda empowering critique on patriarchy. At the same time, it uses a bunch of poorly caked-on prosthetic makeup to perpetuate male-centric cinema’s revulsion toward the wrinkled naked female form. Despite wanting to be above such demeaning practices, X still exclusively treats aging women as synonymous with the monstrous rather than, you know, the nature of being human.

Speaking from my own personal experience, X wasn’t a fun movie to watch while having a female body. It also wasn’t a fun movie to watch for anyone who’s seen aging loved ones fall into the nightmares of dementia. I understand that it doesn’t necessarily need to consider either of those lived experiences to be great cinema. But its failure to do so does undercut the emotional potency of the story it tries to tell.

Whatever X lacks in intellectual rigor or human empathy, though, it makes up for in pure carnal delights — especially for slasher fans. Thanks to a phenomenal cast and stand-out performance from Brittany Snow as blonde porn star Bobby-Lynne, the laughs land as hard as the blows in its axe murders.

X is a mastery of the grotesque that even veteran horror film lovers will find hard to sit through at times. But if you can stomach both the best and worst of this snuff film orgy, then you’re sure to enjoy yet another Ti West hall of famer.

Some films are so painfully predictable that you know exactly what will happen before you reach the second act. Windfall is not one of those films.

Netflix’s new “Hitchcockian thriller,” directed by Charlie McDowell, tells the story of a robbery gone wrong. Severely, and at times even laughably, wrong. Jason Segel plays an unnamed man (cited in credits as “Nobody”) who breaks into a tech billionaire’s vacation home, expecting to lounge in luxury for a while, steal a Rolex watch and some cash, then split before anyone even realizes he’s there. That breezy plan is foiled when the wealthy homeowners, played by Jesse Plemons (“CEO”) and Lily Collins (“Wife”), unexpectedly arrive for an impromptu getaway.

After a prolonged opening-credits shot of the stunning vacation home, the camera pans to views of the estate. We get a glimpse of the grounds, the pool, the orange grove, and the garden, all of which serve as backdrops for later scenes. The camera lands on Segel’s character, who’s serenely sipping orange juice and soaking in the view. He’s imagining what it would be like to be these people; to have it all. He makes his way into the house, stops to tie his shoe, takes a piss in the shower, and rummages through drawers and closets until he finds money and a gun. He’s about to head out when the couple corners him. He panics and makes the impetuous decision to take them hostage, beginning one hell of a ride.

So…what exactly is the plan here?
Credit: NETFLIX

The filthy rich tech CEO promises to give his captor $500,000, but the three are forced to kill time together until the money arrives. As pressure mounts, the characters reveal their true selves. And their clashing conduct fundamentally molds and elevates the ever-changing situation.

The trio delivers outstanding performances that are only enhanced by a nerve-racking score, created by Danny Bensi and Saunder Jurriaans, and Isiah Donté Lee’s gorgeous cinematography (the @OnePerfectShot Twitter account would be overwhelmed with options). The contemporary noir is a simple, stripped-down thriller that presents seemingly straightforward solutions at the start. But Windfall grows increasingly complex, keeping viewers engaged and inquisitive from beginning to end.

Segel successfully portrays a generally nonconfrontational dude who’s trying and failing to act tough. He ties the couple up with electronics cords but nearly has a breakdown trying to unclasp the wife’s purse. It’s obvious that he’s woefully unqualified to run the show. His threats are gentle and visibly empty, and he wears desperation, regret, and the burning desire for a solution on his sleeve. Even in the process of committing several crimes, he feels worthy of our compassion, especially since you’ll spend a decent chunk of the film wanting to punch Plemons’ character in the face.

Um…GORGEOUS!
Credit: NETFLIX

The Power of the Dog actor utterly infuriates as an entitled slimeball, who lacks the smallest bit of self-control. In the middle of this hostage situation, he takes time to remind his wife that he hates her tattoo. He taunts his captor every chance he gets. And he delivers several sickening monologues — one of which eerily echoes Kim Kardashian’s recent insensitive work ethic comments. Plemons ably plays an arrogant asshole at one point exclaiming: “Try being a rich white guy these days! Everyone always thinks it must be real fuckin’ nice.”

Meanwhile, Collins brings incredible depth and range to her character. Windfall will remind everyone that the Emily In Paris star isn’t all fun in France. Collins, who’s married to McDowell, plays a quiet, discontent wife, who finds her voice throughout the film. Her character displays the ability to remain level-headed in times of turbulence. But Collins gives a stunning, multifaceted performance that shows her cycle through fear, disgust, empathy, introspection, anger, and just about everything in between.

McDowell wrote the story, along with Justin Lader, Andrew Kevin Walker, and Segel. And he’s close friends with both Segel and Plemons, which likely played a role in their amazing onscreen chemistry.

Windfall‘s casting is brilliant, and its unconventional camerawork crafts a picture-perfect presentation of three sorely imperfect lives. Masterful shots of everything from a sculpture in the living room and birds circling in the sky to eyes shifting, to a leg bouncing with anxiety and fingers tapping on the couch, help emphasize the agonizing passage of time.

Though the film is a thriller, it’s undoubtedly one of the most chill high-stress situations of all time. It’s dialogue-heavy. It’s ripe with awkward, tense, and lengthy stretches of silence. And winks of levity are sprinkled throughout, including a scene where they watch the 1986 comedy, Three Amigos!.

Windfall’s unhurried pacing and the couple’s laidback lack of escape attempts might not keep everyone’s attention. But if you manage to stick around as long as that burglar, you’ll be rewarded with a satisfyingly surprising ending.

Windfall is now streaming on Netflix.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is officially a “loser.”

His failing, ongoing war in Ukraine, which has resulted in Russia being near-completely cut off from the international community, is solid proof enough.

But Loser.com has made the designation official, and you can see it for yourself. Type the domain in your web browser and visit the URL. You’ll be redirected to Putin’s Wikipedia page.

The Loser.com domain name has gained notoriety over the years for doing this very thing before. (It even has its own Wikipedia entry.) The URL often redirects visitors to whomever its owner, Brian Connelly, deems as the biggest “loser” of the moment. Connelly has previously shared that he registered Loser.com back in 1995. Unsure of what type of website to develop for the domain name, he has been using redirects in order to troll world-renowned losers ever since.

It’s unclear exactly when Loser.com first started pointing towards Putin’s Wikipedia entry. A generic “coming soon” landing page sat on the URL, according to a Feb. 22 archive saved by the Wayback Machine. Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine began just a couple of days later on Feb. 24.

The next Wayback Machine archive of Loser.com was the night of March 1, which shows the domain redirecting to Putin’s Wikipedia page then. The first tweet from a user noticing the change was posted to Twitter on the morning of March 2.

Loser.com’s most attention-grabbing redirect came in 2015 when the domain pointed to Kanye West’s Wikipedia entry. West had previously criticized musician and songwriter Beck after he beat out Beyonce for Album of the Year at the Grammy Awards that year. In comments he shared at the time, Loser.com owner Connelly admitted he was no fan of West. (Ironically, Beck is also likely known by most for his hit single, “Loser.”)

In 2016, Loser.com made headlines again when Connelly redirected his domain to then-U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump’s Wikipedia page during the Republican primaries. Connelly would, once again, point the URL towards Trump’s Wikipedia entry after the 2020 presidential elections, which Donald Trump lost to Joe Biden.

Kanye, Trump, and now Putin…who will Loser.com point to next?

Humble Bundle is releasing a new collection to help support relief efforts during the war in Ukraine. (Disclosure: Humble Bundle is owned by Mashable’s publisher, Ziff Davis.)

100% of its proceeds from the gaming company’s “Stand with Ukraine” bundle will go toward humanitarian aid for those affected by the Russian invasion. Charities that will receive the donations include Razom for Ukraine, International Rescue Committee, International Medical Corps, and Direct Relief.

The one-week bundle features over 120 pieces of content — from games to RPG books to game dev assets — and is valued at over $2,500. For a donation of $40, you’ll get the entire package.

Humble Bundle is a “pay what you want” storefront, so while $40 is the minimum you must donate to receive the full bundle, you can always give more if you’re able.

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Some highlights in the mix include Back 4 Blood, Metro Exodus, Spyro Reignited Trilogy, Max Payne 3, Sunset Overdrive, Slay the Spire, This War of Mine, and more (all of which can be redeemed via Steam once purchased). Check out the full list here.

At the time of writing, Humble Bundle had raised more than $900,000, with more donations accruing by the minute. The offer runs until March 25.

UPDATE: Mar. 18, 2022, 3:08 p.m. EDT Google Maps is back up and running all over the world as of Friday afternoon. A spokesperson said in an email statement that the issue had been resolved, “We can confirm that the technical issue from earlier today is now fixed.”

The original story follows below.

Google Maps went down Friday, March 18, for some users, making it difficult to find directions for driving, walking, biking and modes of transportation.

A Google spokesperson confirmed the outage with an email statement that explained, “We’re seeing reports of difficulties accessing some Google Maps and Google Maps Platform services. Our team is investigating and working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.”

According to Downdetector (note the site is owned by Mashable’s parent company), the outage started late Friday morning and is widespread throughout the U.S. Users in Europe, India, Australia, and other countries also reported issues with the mapping service.

Definitely down.
Credit: Downdetector

It’s affecting both the desktop and app versions of the mapping platform. Other apps that use Google Maps are experiencing issues as well.

While Google figures out what’s causing the problem, people are turning to Apple Maps as an alternative. Or not. Twitter is filling up with comments about avoiding using what’s widely considered an inferior maps app.

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There’s always paper maps!

SAVE 11%: Make sure your phone never runs out of juice with Apple’s MagSafe Battery Pack. As of March 18, it’s on sale at Amazon for $87.95, 11% less than its regular price of $99.

We’ve all borne the consequences of thinking we plugged in our phones overnight when in fact we just fell into bed and passed out. The missed alarms, the dead phone when you really need to use Google Maps… it’s something of a crisis.

For those occasions, it’s probably a good idea to have a portable charger on hand, particularly if you’re out and about for big chunks of the day. Enter Apple’s MagSafe Battery Pack, which you can place on top of (or under) your phone for a quick boost.

Its magnets keep it aligned once it’s on, so you don’t have to worry about accidentally nudging it out of place and waiting an hour to find your phone hasn’t charged at all (definitely not speaking from experience here). And if you actually like cables, you can plug one in and charge that way too.

Explore related content:

• 7 wireless chargers that will juice up your phone crazy fast

• Best wireless charging mats to buy now that the AirPower is dead

• How to order the new Apple iPhone SE

Blinking back tears while you walk through the card aisle. Forcing a smile when your friend tells you she’s pregnant. Scrolling past endless Mother’s Day posts on Instagram and feeling the pain of each passing year. Quietly hitting the ‘opt-out’ button when asked if you’d prefer not to receive Mother’s Day emails.

These are the Mother’s Day stories we don’t share on social media.

A new campaign is breaking the stigma of unspoken Mother’s Day struggles in an effort to encourage solidarity and compassion around this time.

Women’s social network Peanut is behind the posters, which will appear across London, UK, from March 14 through to UK Mother’s Day on March 27.

The campaign was inspired by the real-life Mother’s Day experiences shared by Peanut’s community. Hundreds of women shared their stories of dealing with grief, loss, fertility issues, and the challenges of motherhood.

Credit: Peanut

Some of the posters are aimed at mums who are finding motherhood challenging, who are experiencing prenatal or postpartum depression, and who are carrying the invisible load of parenting.

Credit: Peanut

The posters are aimed at anyone who finds Mother’s Day triggering or upsetting — due to grief, or strained relationships with parents.

“I lost my mom a few years ago to cancer. Mother’s Day reminds me of all the times I missed her, especially when I had my own daughter and I was struggling with mental health and had no one to turn to. No one to talk to, no one to adore my little one. So it’s very hard, always,” Warda from London told Peanut.

Michelle Kennedy, Peanut’s founder and CEO, said in a statement that the campaign aims to shine a light on the struggles in women’s lives that carry a stigma and to help normalise conversations that can make people feel less alone.

“Absence of community during women’s life stages, such as fertility, pregnancy, motherhood and menopause, means that these topics have a social taboo leading to feelings of isolation, loneliness and depression,” said Kennedy.

Credit: Peanut

Some of the campaign posters speak to people who want children and are having difficulties conceiving or who have experienced baby loss.

Hollie from Plymouth, told Peanut: “When we were desperately trying to conceive I found it hard seeing pics of all the other mums with their babies celebrating the day, praying it would be me one day.”

Credit: Peanut

“Because I have lost seven children now through miscarriage, Mother’s Day reminds me how they aren’t here and something is missing. I have two living children and they are my world, but it doesn’t stop me thinking about the ones I have lost,” Anne-Marie from Tunbridge Wells told Peanut.

Credit: Peanut

The other campaign posters include the following lines:

• To the woman who’s had a long day being pregnant, you’re not alone.

• To the woman trying to embrace her pregnancy body, you’re not alone.

• To the woman struggling to love her post-baby body, you’re not alone.

• To the woman who feels like she doesn’t belong to herself, you’re not alone.

• To the woman fighting a battle that no one knows about, you’re not alone. 

As Peanut founder Kennedy said, “No one should have to suffer in silence, especially on Mother’s Day.”

Winamp is doing NFTs now, because you either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.

Announced to widespread derision on Wednesday, Winamp will auction off the media player’s original skin as a one-of-one NFT on OpenSea, with bidding to start on May 16 and run until May 22. It then intends to sell 20 more artworks starting from May 23, all of them duplicated around 100 times to create 1997 NFTs in total (a nod to the year the program launched). Each will cost 0.08 ETH, which is approximately $225 at the current conversion rate, so if all 1997 NFTs are sold it would total almost $450,000. 

These 20 designs will be derived from the original Winamp skin, and chosen from public submissions. 

“Send over your derivatives to us,” reads Winamp’s website. “Our team of Winamp scientists will examine every cryptoArt that comes its way and 20 derivatives will be selected to be sold as Winamp’s NFTs.”

If a submission isn’t selected, the competition’s terms and conditions still grant Winamp “a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to use, copy and display the Art.”

If it is selected, the artist waives all rights to their work and irrevocably hands over the copyright to Winamp. And while they will be allowed to post it on social media, it will be on the condition that they add a notice declaring the copyright and all rights belong to Winamp.

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To be fair, the endeavour is supposedly for a good cause. The Winamp NFT Initiative is in support of the Winamp Foundation, which funds charities such as Music Fund that help musicians. Still, it is possible to support charity without also turning to widely loathed blockchain technology.

It also feels as though the charity is actually coming from the artists, rather than Winamp itself. While 80 percent of the income from these NFTs’ initial sales will go to the Winamp Foundation, only 20 percent will be paid to the artists — around $45 per NFT. On resale, 80 percent goes to the reseller, 10 percent to Winamp, and 10 percent to the artist.

Mashable has reached out to Winamp for comment.

Launched in 1997, Winamp was the preferred media player for millions of millennials in the early days of the internet. The program was famous for its customisable skins, with users able to choose from thousands of community-created options to suit their desktop’s aesthetic.

Among those who hate Winamp’s latest move is Justin Frankel, one of the media player’s original creators.

“I have spent the last number of years giving the owners of Winamp benefit of doubt,” Frankel tweeted in response to the announcement. “No more. You are terrible.”

Elaborating on his website, Frankel expressed “[s]trong disapproval for multiple reasons.”

“Environmental impact is terrible, and also it is a negative-sum ecosystem so anything that encourages more people to buy into it so that the people who previously bought it (or mined-in) can cash out is a bad thing,” he wrote. “Just to be clear the skin itself isn’t being auctioned, a URL that points to the skin is. IIRC it was made by [Winamp co-creators] Tom [Pepper] and Dmitry [Boldyrev].”.

Up until this week, Winamp still inspired fond feelings of nostalgia in many. Unfortunately, general disdain for NFTs now seems to have soured the memory.