• Democratic donors are reportedly freezing $90 million in pledged donations to a Biden super PAC.
• The donors plan to withhold the cash unless Biden steps aside, sources told the NYT.
• Already, some megadonors and Hollywood bigwigs have publicly pressured Biden to end his campaign.

Donors told a leading Biden super PAC that they're pausing around $90 million of promised funds unless the president steps aside, two sources told the New York Times. Some of the pledges were going to stretch into the eight-figures.

Future Forward is the biggest super PAC supporting Biden and declined to comment on the fallout. A spokesperson did tell The Times that the PAC expects donors to return once the uncertainty about the campaign sorts itself out. Biden, for one, seems sorted — he is digging in his heels about staying in the race, but Democrats are reluctant to accept his answer.

The withheld donations illustrate the depth of the president's post-debate woes and upward battle. Though the campaign touted huge June fundraising numbers to try and assuage spooked Democrats, it is gearing up for a tough money cycle in July.

Some huge donors and longtime Hollywood supporters have already asked the president to end his campaign. The president's consequential press conference following the NATO summit did little to soothe Democrats' anxieties, but did not tank his reelection bid, either. Several more congressional Democrats publicly asked him to pass the torch following the presser.

Even Biden's own campaign staff seems to understand the depth of his current crisis. His analytics team reportedly conducted a survey measuring Kamala Harris' performance in a head-to-head battle against Donald Trump.

While Biden has tried to brush off calls for him to step down as elitist or out-of-touch with everyday Americans, new polling indicates broad concern with his campaign. And elitist or not, Democrats need money to run a campaign, especially as Republicans have eroded their cash advantage.

• Google will offer its dark web report for free starting in late July.
• Previously a Google One feature, the report looks for data tied to you from past data breaches or hacks.
• Users can access the report via Google's "Results about you" tool to monitor and remove data.

Google is making its dark web report, which monitors data breaches, free for users starting late July.

The feature helps you track whether your personal details, such as your name, address, phone number, and email, have been leaked in online data breaches.

The report used to require a Google One membership, but it will no longer be available through the subscription service starting in July. Moving forward, it will be available in "Results about you," which is a feature that lets users find and remove results that contain their personal information, like home address, phone number, or email address.

Google launched the "Results about you" tool in 2022 to facilitate users' requests to remove their information. Since then, Google has updated the tool so that users are alerted when their personal contact information is found in Google search results.

To get Google's dark web report:

• Navigate to Google's "Results about you" page
• Click "Get Started"
• Type in your full name, address, phone number, and email. If you have multiple associated responses, you can try up to three versions for each. (Google says on the page that the contact information you insert is not shared or used to personalize your Google experience.)
• Once you plug in your information, set your notification settings to receive alerts over email or through the Google app. Then a screen will pop up saying it's "checking for any search results that match your name and contact info."

The process takes a few hours and alerts you when it's complete.

New results will appear within "Results to review," where users can request removal for results that include their personal information. You can also request to remove results when you use Search by selecting the menu icon next to a result with your contact information and clicking "Remove result."

Google reviews all requests to ensure they meet the removal requirements, which can take a few days. That includes checking the information and webpage to ensure they aren't owned by a government or educational institution.

The latest move is another effort from Google to enhance consumers' data and privacy protections. In addition to slowly pushing out the removal of web cookies, Google also developed its Privacy Sandbox. The collection of technologies is intended to protect consumers while still helping companies to advertise.

The move also comes about a month after a leaked copy of an internal Google database revealed thousands of privacy-related incidents and concerns from 2013 to 2018.

• A millennial couple spent 17,000 euros, or about $18,400, remodeling an old apartment in Rome.
• When they shared the renovation on social media, they were shocked to hear from many critics. 
• Some people said they "destroyed" the home's vintage vibe, but the couple defended their choices.

Flavio Fabiani knew he had his work cut out for him when he stepped into the apartment in Rome's colorful, bar-lined neighborhood of Pigneto.

The fully furnished home had been abandoned for 12 years with the windows flung open, so leaves and dust coated the floors, walls, chairs, cabinets, and sofas, said Fabiani, a 27-year-old architect.

He'd inherited the 785-square-foot, one-bedroom home from his late aunt, who had struggled with dementia in her final years. Wardrobes housed bags within bags, and near-life-size dolls lay propped up on a chaise lounge, evidence of her tendency to hoard.

The worst was the only bathroom. There, Fabiani was greeted by a sea of cockroaches that had crawled up through pipes that hadn't been flushed out in over a decade.

Renovating the apartment on the third floor of a 14-unit building without a functioning elevator was going to be no easy feat — especially as his first solo project as an architect.

From May to August, he worked alongside contractors to turn it into a home fit for him and his longtime girlfriend, Victoria Craparotta, whom he met in 2019 on a study abroad program in Malaga, Spain. The project cost him roughly 17,000 euros, or around $18,400.

Nearly a year later, Craparotta decided to share the renovation in a lighthearted TikTok video with before-and-after footage.

Neither Craparotta, a 26-year-old e-commerce lead originally from Canada, nor Fabiani expected to get what they called "death threats" from TikTok commenters critical of their decision to modernize the home.

Comments on the clip, which has racked up over 7.4 million views, ranged from people who claimed they "destroyed the house" to users who told them they'd turned it into an "Airbnb" devoid of personality.

"We were shocked by the reaction," Fabiani said.

Major changes included knocking down two walls separating the tiny kitchen and the living space to create an open-plan layout, digging up the floors to install a new heating system, and installing double-paned windows to increase energy efficiency.

Less cumbersome tasks included removing green kitchen tiles and painting some of the beige walls shades of plum purple and sage green.

They also replaced some of the old furniture, like carpets and mirrors, that some members of Fabiani's family wanted to keep for themselves.

"I am still quite surprised at how dramatic people can be over a renovation," Craparotta said.

The couple suspects their critics don't have much experience with renovations

Craparotta and Fabiani's most outspoken critics seem to believe they didn't think twice about saving the home's old-timey aesthetic.

But the couple told Business Insider that's a gross oversimplification.

First, as twentysomethings, they couldn't afford to restore it in the way their critics would have preferred with their budget.

Moreover, the couple was required to modernize parts of the apartment to receive a tax incentive (known as a "superbonus") the Italian government issues to renovators who make homes more energy-efficient and sustainable.

Money aside, they said the vintage aesthetic their critics were raving about them protecting is pretty common for "nonnas" (Italian for "grandmothers").

But among younger Italians, it's standard practice to remodel apartment in old buildings like theirs, which was constructed in 1956.

"A lot of our friends have done similar renovations where they're gutting these 'nonna homes' and making them more modern," Craparotta said.

"Not even my mother would have lived in that house, and she's, like, 60," Fabiani added.

When it came to furniture, Fabiani and Craparotta said their critics were quick to assume the furniture they saw in the TikTok's "before" footage was vintage.

But in reality, they said, most of the pieces in the apartment were cheap replicas that an antique dealer told them had "zero" value. They ended up giving away some of it for free and kept a few pieces they liked.

Americans seem fascinated with old homes, they said

Craparotta and Fabiani said their experience taught them that Americans, particularly young Americans, seem much more nostalgic about old architecture and home design than Italians of similar ages.

"This video went mainly viral in the US, where there aren't a lot of historical homes, and people have very strong ideas about saving them," Craparotta said.

She has a point — most of the oldest homes still standing in the US date back to the 17th century, while in Italy, some ancient towns thousands of years old are still inhabited.

Since owning a slice of history is less common in the US than in Italy, Fabiani said he believes Americans put a lot more "value" into maintaining old homes.

"I'm used to vintage things," he said. "For me, this is not anymore a rarity."

Many young Americans seem intrigued by the prospect of living in an old home. In 2022, the National Association of Realtors found that over 80% of millennials in the US were willing to buy a "fixer-upper that needs major repair."

Craparotta and Fabiani aren't the only ones to get heat for updating an old home.

A young couple renovating a starter home in Rhode Island told BI in May that they received "flak" online for making their 1950s bathroom, covered with bubblegum-pink tile, more neutral.

For Fabiani and Craparotta, modernizing the apartment reflects who they are: a young couple who don't want to live in an apartment from a bygone era in Italy.

Instead of a closed-concept apartment where it would've been impossible for more than one person to cook in the kitchen — an activity they enjoy doing together — they wanted it to be a space where they could welcome friends and family for big dinners and parties.

"A lot of people see Italy as this idyllic place and that it's all vintage," Craparotta said. "We're younger people. We don't want to live in a house that looks like it's from the 1800s."

• A report from the Pew Research Center found that Biden and Trump are seen as equally "embarrassing."
• Of those polled, 63% said each nominee was humiliating
• Voters diverge on other aspects of Trump and Biden's personal conduct, like mean-spiritedness.

A new report from the Pew Research Center asked many of the typical questions: how do Biden and Trump fare in a head-to-head battle, which candidate is seen as mentally sharper, where do voters stand on policy issues. But it also asked respondents about the cringe-worthiness of each candidate and found that they're tied.

According to the report, 63% of those polled find both Biden and Trump "embarrassing." On top of that, at least ⅓ of each candidate's supporters say their own nominee is humiliating, with 37% of Biden supporters saying so compared to 33% of Trump supporters.

While most supporters agree with their candidate on the issues, there are gaps in how voters view Biden and Trump's personal conduct. More Americans think that Biden is honest and cares about ordinary Americans' needs, but Trump is seen as far more mentally sharp.

Voters, however, view Trump as sharp in other respects as well, with 64% saying that he is "mean-spirited" compared to 31% for Biden.

The question of embarrassment comes as NATO allies consider the implications of another Trump presidency and America's standing on the global stage. Regardless of where the current candidates stand on substantive policy, a majority of Americans don't seem to take much pride in their seemingly "embarrassing" options.

Between flubs and misspeaks, Biden showed in-depth knowledge of world affairs. Was his speech enough to save his campaign? Here are the highlights.

• OpenAI has shared a new five-level scale to mark progress toward artificial general intelligence.
• The company told employees it was nearing AI systems that could reason, Bloomberg reported. 
• Experts say systems that can reason would be a "very significant" jump.

OpenAI has a new scale to mark its progress toward artificial general intelligence, or AGI.

According to a Bloomberg report, the company behind ChatGPT shared the new five-level classification system with employees at an all-hands meeting on Tuesday.

The scale ranked AI systems by levels of intelligence, from chatbots at level one, to AI systems that could do the work of entire organizations at level five.

Execs reportedly told staffers they believed OpenAI was at level one, defined as AI with conversational language skills, but was nearing level two, identified as "reasoners" with human-level problem-solving.

Progress to the next level is a sign that OpenAI chief Sam Altman is inching closer to his stated ambition of creating AGI, or AI systems that can match or surpass human capabilities across a wide range of cognitive tasks.

It's a mission that has turned into a high-stakes race against competitors since the launch of ChatGPT, as billions of dollars of investment have poured into companies vying to reach the same goal first.

Altman has said he expects major progress toward AGI will be achieved by the end of the decade.

A big deal

John Burden, a research fellow at the University of Cambridge's Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence, told Business Insider the jump from existing systems to those that could reason would be "very significant."

"If we do get some AI systems that can reason soon, I cannot understate how big of a deal that would be — we're talking about systems that would be able to come to conclusions that we don't like," he said.

Burden added developing AI systems to this level runs the risk of the machines "reasoning past us," something that could have consequences for the workforce.

"If these systems can reason as well as humans, they're probably going to be a lot cheaper than humans to keep employed," he said.

An OpenAI representative told Bloomberg the scale also included "Agent" and "Innovator" levels, which classified AI systems by their ability to take action and aid in invention.

However, the validity of the scale itself is also up for debate.

Just a mirage?

Burden said the tech industry still appeared to be hovering at level one, which covers the chatbots now available. He added that the jump from the second level to three and five was "essentially trivial."

"Whatever Sam Altman wants to say to generate hype, we're still just at level one," he said. "We've got AI systems that appear to do a tiny bit of reasoning, but it's not clear if it's just a mirage."

It's also unclear whether the top end of the scale is even possible.

"The top level of the scale, where an AI that can do the work of an organization, requires many other human skills beyond just reasoning," Hannah Kirk, an AI researcher at the University of Oxford, told BI.

"The ability to coordinate, not just reason, is incredibly important to move you up these levels," she said. "There's going to be many more elements of coordination, or more social intelligence aspects that are very important to moving up these levels beyond just cognitive intelligence."

Representatives for OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, made outside normal working hours.

• I taste-tested and reviewed nine summertime products available at Aldi.
• I'd buy the Reggano elote pasta-salad kit and Benton's key-lime cookie thins again.
• Next time, I'll skip Aldi's caprese pasta salad and the Specially Selected s'mores soufflé.

I've been an Aldi shopper for a while, so I know the budget grocery chain goes all out for summertime meals and treats. Like many people looking to save money by shopping at Aldi amid rising food costs, I'm a big fan of the grocery store's low prices and rotating seasonal stock.

From marinated-chicken skewers to pasta salads and salsas, I decided to stop by my local Aldi, grab as many seasonal items as I could find, and try them all to see which were worth the hype.

Here's how the summer items at Aldi stacked up.

Aldi's caprese pasta salad seemed like an easy summer meal.

I love eating pasta salad in the summer, so I was excited to see that Aldi carries rotini and caprese options for the season.

The caprese pasta salad intrigued me, so I opted for that version. The item is easy to miss, though — this year's pasta salads had pretty plain, basic packaging.

The pasta salad tasted OK, but I thought the noodles had a gummy texture.

The flavors in this pasta salad were OK. I would've preferred if the mozzarella had been in pearls instead of tiny shreds. I also thought the noodles were very gummy.

The best-by date on the packaging was over a month after the day I ate it, and I think the noodles would likely get gummier with time. I'd skip this, as I can probably make a better caprese pasta dish from scratch.

The Park Street Deli smoky peach salsa sounded like my ideal dip for chips.

I love smoky mango salsas. Although I hadn't had peach salsa before, I figured a smoky, sweet salsa like this would be perfect for summer.

I could already envision generous helpings of this salsa over tacos and with tortilla chips for dipping.

This salsa would likely work better for tacos and rice bowls than dipping.

The flavor of the salsa wasn't as balanced as I'd hoped. The smoke flavor was strong, with only hints of spice and sweetness.

I liked the big peach chunks, but I wish the cilantro pieces were more finely chopped.

After tasting this salsa with chips, I thought it was better suited for serving with tacos, rice bowls, or salads. That being said, I'd still buy it again.

The s’mores soufflé seemed very popular at my local Aldi.

When I went shopping, I was specifically looking for the s'mores soufflé — which sounded like an amazing dessert.

I almost missed it because my local Aldi had nearly sold out of the soufflé. I took this as a sign that the dessert would be delicious.

In my opinion, this dessert looked better than it tasted.

The s'mores soufflé looked so good I wanted to eat it cold out of the container. Still, I followed the directions and heated it in the microwave for 30 seconds.

After microwaving, the toasted marshmallows on top of the dessert became super gooey and puffy. It looked good but didn't quite deliver the flavor I expected.

I didn't get the taste or texture of graham crackers, and, in my opinion, the chocolate center tasted like a brownie from a TV dinner. I'd skip this product and just make classic s'mores instead.

The Baker's Corner funnel-cake kit has been on my shopping list for a few years.

Aldi releases the Baker's Corner funnel-cake kit every summer. Though I always see it when it returns for the season, I've never bought it.

The kit, which featured an easy-to-pour pitcher and a bag of dry funnel-cake mix, looked cute.

The setup was a little messy, but the results were worth it.

I thought I'd mix the batter in the packaging it came in, but the directions said to prepare the mixture in a separate bowl and then pour it into the original container.

This process got pretty messy, as the container's opening wasn't very wide. Despite the mess, the finished batter was easy to pour into the hot oil from the pitcher.

I topped the finished fried pastry with powdered sugar, simmered strawberries, and whipped cream. It was delicious, light, and crisp without any sogginess. This will probably be a must-buy for me every summer.

The Fresh Grill sweet-chile-lime chicken skewers had me excited for barbecue season.

I recently reintroduced meat into my diet and have been learning how to prep and cook different proteins.

When I came across the convenient chicken skewers, already prepped and marinated in a sweet chile-lime seasoning, I looked forward to enjoying a flavorful protein that required little effort.

These skewers were super convenient, making them a new summertime staple for me.

I prepared the skewers on a grill pan indoors, but according to the directions, they can also be thrown on the barbecue or baked in the oven for a more hands-off cooking approach.

They were extremely quick and easy to make, and the chicken's flavor was subtle enough for it to be a versatile protein option. It was slightly sweet with a tanginess from the lime.

I look forward to eating these with grilled veggies, in tacos, or on top of salads all summer.

I couldn’t wait to add the Emporium Selection spinach-and-artichoke Gouda to a cheese board.

When I heard Aldi carried various Gouda products for the summer, I headed straight to the grocery store's cheese section to scope out my options.

There were a few summertime Goudas, including hot-honey, Sriracha, and spinach-and-artichoke options. I chose the spinach-and-artichoke flavor because I thought it was unique and would taste great with pretzels and crackers.

I think the Gouda would be much better heated up.

I paired thin Gouda slices with salty pretzels for a quick afternoon snack. In my mind, this was a delicious pairing.

Unfortunately, the Gouda tasted just OK, and the chunks of spinach weren't very tasty and seemed soggy to me. This wouldn't deter me from eating the cheese again, though.

I'd buy this again and use it in a homemade spinach-and-artichoke dip or for a spin on classic mac and cheese.

Benton's key-lime cookie thins seemed like an easy snack to pack for pool days and picnics.

I love key-lime pie in the summer (or anytime), so when I saw these seasonal cookie thins at Aldi, I had to have them.

After opening the bag and smelling the cookies thins, I knew they'd be a hit. Plus, they come in a resealable bag, which is great for packing for the pool, park, or beach.

I loved the cookie thins as-is, but I plan to use them in an actual key-lime pie.

The flavor and texture of these cookie thins were incredible. They tasted like key-lime pie, with a very thin, crispy texture that almost melted in my mouth.

I could easily eat these cookie thins in one sitting, but they'd also make an extra-flavorful crust for a key-lime pie.

I plan on buying another bag, blitzing them in a food processor, and turning them into a pie crust.

Benton's crème-filled summer-berry wafer rolls seemed like another great portable snack or dessert.

My partner and I love wafer rolls, so we were both looking forward to the summertime flavors available at Aldi. My local store carried lemon-meringue and summer-berry flavors — we went with the latter.

The wafer rolls came in a sealed package inside a metal tin with a lid, the perfect size for throwing in a bag or the car on the way to summertime activities.

The summer-berry flavor wasn’t for me, but I'd be willing to give the other option a try.

These wafer rolls looked and smelled amazing. Each roll had pink stripes along the sides and smelled like strawberries. However, the flavor wasn't quite as good as the scent.

I thought they had a somewhat artificial blueberry taste, and the crème filling wasn't as thick as I would've liked.

I don't know that I'd buy the summer-berry flavor again, but I'd be open to trying the lemon-meringue option.

I was most looking forward to trying the Reggano elote pasta-salad kit.

The elote pasta salad came in a boxed kit that required cooking and prep. I thought Aldi's premade caprese pasta salad was gummy, so I was happy to put in a little more work for a pasta salad with what I hoped would be a better texture.

Plus, combining the flavors of elote and pasta sounded like a genius idea for summer cookouts.

The pasta salad was surprisingly customizable.

I liked that this kit offered instructions for making both mayo-based pasta and an oil-and-vinegar version. I opted for the mayo-based option, which was pretty easy to make.

While the noodles were boiling, I combined hot water, the included seasoning packet, and mayo in a bowl. Once the noodles were cooked, I rinsed them in cool water, added the dressing, and put the finished dish in the fridge.

The final pasta tasted OK — I got the corn, chile, and lime flavors. Because of its thick mayo dressing, I think this pasta salad would be better with lots of mix-ins. I plan to buy another box and add roasted corn, cherry tomatoes, black beans, and cilantro or green onions.

Overall, I’d buy most of these Aldi summer finds again.

I found a lot of new favorites at Aldi this summer. The funnel-cake kit was my favorite of the bunch — making and eating the dessert was so fun, and the product was really convenient.

Next time, I'd skip Aldi's caprese pasta salad, the s'mores soufflé, and the summer-berry wafer rolls. I'd buy a couple of products, like the smoky peach salsa and spinach-and-artichoke Gouda, to incorporate into meals as ingredients rather than eat on their own.

This taste test opened my eyes to Aldi's summertime options, and I can't wait to try more next year.

• "House of the Dragon" season two introduces even more dragons.
• Some dragons, like Vhagar, have had multiple different riders.
• Others, like Vermithor and Dreamfyre, have been introduced or mentioned but are still riderless.

Warning: Spoilers ahead for "House of the Dragon" season one.

"House of the Dragon" season two continues to explore the "Game of Thrones" timeline before the likes of Jon Snow (Kit Harington) and Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) were even born.

The latest chapter of the HBO franchise will pick up after the events of the season one finale, which saw Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy) distraught after the death of her son, Lucerys Velaryon, at the hands of her half-brother, Aemond Targaryen.

Although the ending of "Game of Thrones" divided audiences, the franchise is still a lucrative property for HBO and Warner Bros., so it's unsurprising that they've expanded the universe with "House of the Dragon." Several other projects are also in development, including the Princess Nymeria series — titled "Ten Thousand Ships," and "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms."

But until those prequel shows come to fruition, "House of the Dragon" season two (and the already-ordered season three) will continue to deliver all the political intrigue, raunchy romantic drama, and flame-spitting monsters that fans could wish for.

Here's a refresher on all the dragons in "House of the Dragon."

Vhagar is the largest dragon.

Vhagar is the largest dragon in the Targaryens' brood, and the show has made sure to show off how intimidating she is in the few aerial scenes she's had so far.

Vhagar is the oldest dragon of the ones owned by House Targaryen in "House of the Dragon," and was previously ridden by Visenya Targaryen during King Aegon I Targaryen's reign years before the series picks up.

Laena Velaryon rides Vhagar first.

While Visenya Targaryen rode Vhagar in the past, Princess Laena Velaryon (Nanna Blondell) was first to own her in the "House of the Dragon" timeline. We even see her flying alongside her husband, Prince Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith), as they head back to Pentos.

Unfortunately, Laena goes through a traumatic birth in episode six that puts both her and her child at risk, and she forces Vhagar to end her suffering by incinerating her with that all-important phrase: "Dracarys."

Aemond Targaryen rides Vhagar after Laena's death.

After Laena's tragic death at the end of episode six, a young Aemond Targaryen (Leo Ashton) sneaks out in the middle of the night to try to tame her dragon, Vhagar. Surprisingly, instead of being incinerated or being turned into a dragon snack, the young boy manages to take control of the largest dragon in Westeros. 

Aemond taking Vhagar for himself is also the reason he ends up losing an eye, as a fight breaks out between the Targaryen and Velaryon children, and Lucerys slashes his uncle with a dagger. 

An eye for a very powerful dragon? That's one hell of a trade. The pair have another face off at the end of season one, but we'll get to that later.

Caraxes has a neck like a snake.

Caraxes might not be the biggest dragon in the gang, but he's longer than most of the others thanks to his snakelike neck. He's also got bright red scales, which gives him a very distinct look.

He was originally owned by Aemon Targaryen, the son of King Jaehaerys I Targaryen, before the prince's death at the hands of Myrish pirates.

Daemon Targaryen commands Caraxes.

Caraxes is owned by the infamous Prince Daemon Targaryen, who constantly rebels against his brother in the series. He even takes Dragonstone (and a dragon egg) for himself alongside his consort, Mysaria (Sonoya Mizuno), and uses Caraxes to intimidate Ser Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans) and his forces when they try to oust Daemon from the castle in episode two.

However, that doesn't go very well when another dragon shows up…

Syrax has yellow scales.

Thankfully, Otto and the soldiers get some dragon backup of their own with Syrax, a yellow dragon of a similar size to Caraxes. She's a much younger dragon compared to the likes of Vhagar and Caraxes, but she's no less vicious.

It's one of the reasons that Daemon backs down when he's confronted on the bridge to Dragonstone. Although that might also have to do with who was riding Syrax.

Rhaenyra Targaryen rides Syrax.

Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (played by Milly Alcock as a child) commands Syrax from the beginning. The series shows the formidable teenager riding the yellow dragon in the first two episodes.

Her willingness to face off against her uncle Daemon is probably one of the reasons he starts to be attracted to her in the first place.

The older Rhaenyra (Emma D'Arcy) later gives one of Syrax's eggs to Aemond, the son of Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke).

Vermax is a small dragon in the pit.

Vermax is much younger than most of the other dragons in the series and doesn't tower over people like Vhagar, Caraxes, and Syrax. He first shows up in episode six, as the dragonkeepers lead him out to Rhaenyra and Alicent's children.

Vermax also has a distinct look, with green scales and a red spine, but he doesn't see any combat in season one.

Jacaerys Velaryon is learning how to control Vermax.

Vermax belongs to Jacaerys Velaryon (Leo Hart), and he's still learning to control the young dragon as he takes lessons from the dragon keepers about how to use the "dreary" command. They're clearly paying off because Vermax responds by roasting a goat on command.

Poor goat.

Seasmoke takes part in the Stepstones conflict.

Seasmoke is another of the Targaryens' dragons, but he's given to the Velaryon family because Princess Rhaenys Targaryen (Eve Best) married Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint), aka the Sea Snake.

Seasmoke is a silver and gray dragon, who proves to be a pivotal weapon in the War for the Stepstones.

Seasmoke is ridden by Laenor Velaryon.

Seasmoke belongs to Rhaenys and Corlys' son, Laenor (Theo Nate), and he's the one who saves Daemon in the War for the Stepstones when he goes up against the Crabfeeder and his forces.

Laenor eventually marries Rhaenyra and they have children after the time jump in season one, though their children are actually fathered by Ser Harwin Strong (Ryan Corr).

After Laenor's faked death, Seasmoke is currently riderless in Dragonstone. But according to the books, he'll eventually get an unexpected new rider. 

Meleys is also called the "Red Queen."

Meleys is a very large red dragon and she's been seen a few times in "House of the Dragon," first showing up as she heads to King's Landing next to Seasmoke and Laenor Velaryon.

But Meleys is becoming a key weapon against Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) and Aegon Targaryen (Tom Glynn-Carney). And her explosive entrance in episode nine's Dragonpit coronation scene is one for the ages.

Rhaenys Targaryen still flies Meleys.

Meleys is ridden by Laenor's mother, Rhaenys, who is King Viserys I Targaryen's cousin. She and Corlys are quick to suggest that the king marries Laena when she's 12 years old. Thankfully, he declined and married Alicent instead.

It's worth remembering that Rhaenys is also the one who warns Rhaenyra that she is in a dangerous position as successor to the Iron Throne because most men don't want a woman ruling Westeros.

Rhaenys proves that she's just as dangerous as anyone else in House Targaryen when she crashes Aegon's coronation with Meleys in episode nine.

Dreamfyre was meant for Baelon Targaryen.

There's also Dreamfyre. Don't worry if this isn't instantly ringing any bells, because she's only mentioned briefly back in the small council meeting during episode two.

Dreamfyre gets name-dropped because Daemon steals one of her eggs that was intended for Rhaenyra's baby brother, Baelon Targaryen, who died briefly after Queen Aemma gave birth to him in episode one.

Princess Helaena will eventually ride Dreamfyre, according to the book.

Viserys and Alicent's daughter, Princess Helaena (played by Evie Allen), hasn't become a major part of "House of the Dragon" yet. But she will eventually be the one to ride Dreamfyre, as per the 2018 "Fire and Blood" book by "Game of Thrones" author George R.R. Martin.

No spoilers, but an older Helaena (played by Phia Saban later in season one and in season two) becomes a vital part of the civil war, dubbed the "Dance of Dragons" that tears apart House Targaryen.

Daemon finds Vermithor under Dragonstone.

The finale introduces Vermithor, who is one of the riderless dragons living on Dragonstone. It's definitely helpful for Rhaenyra and Daemon to have several dragons that could be tamed in time for a coming civil war. Although Vermithor isn't as big as Vhagar, he's still a towering beast.

The finale introduces him when Daemon goes wandering into the caves underneath Dragonstone.

Fans who have read "Fire & Blood" will know that Vermithor will remain riderless for a little longer. No spoilers, but the person who ends up flying the dragon into battle is from the unlikeliest background. Expect to see a lot more of Vermithor as the Dance of Dragons really kicks off in future seasons.

Arrax clashes with Vhagar.

The finale also gives audiences another new dragon, Arrax, a much smaller dragon than many of the others ridden by House Targaryen. He has pearlescent scales with red spines and is a nimble flier — as seen in the finale when he dives through rocky terrain to escape Aemond Targaryen (Ewan Mitchell) and Vhagar.

Unfortunately, Arrax disobeys his rider by briefly attacking Vhagar, and the larger dragon also ignores Aemond and responds with brutal force. After chasing Arrax for a while, Vhagar kills the younger dragon and his rider with a single chomp with his massive jaws. 

It's at that moment that Aemond knows he messed up because Vhagar's impulsive violence causes Rhaenyra to go to war.

Lucerys Velaryon rides Arrax.

Arrax belongs to Prince Lucerys Velaryon (Elliot Grihault), and he was given the dragon by King Viserys as a way of dispelling the rumors about him being the son of Ser Harwin Strong (Ryan Corr). But the finale is the first time we see Lucerys and Arrax fly together because Rhaenyra sends them on a diplomatic mission to speak with Lord Borros Baratheon (Roger Evans). 

Unfortunately, Aemond got there first, and he tried to get revenge on Lucerys for cutting his eye out when they were children. But Borros intervenes, which is why Aemond takes to the skies with Vhagar instead.

Their chase ultimately leads to Vhagar chomping Lucerys and Arrax, which was an accident. But obviously, Rhaenyra doesn't see it like that. Oh dear.

Sunfyre takes part in the fight above Rook's Rest.

In the fourth episode of season two, the battle between the Greens and Blacks escalated around Rook's Rest castle. As the armies clashed on the ground, the dragons took to the sky. While Aemond and Vhagar fought Rhaenys and Meleys, Sunfyre surprised everyone by joining the fight alongside Vhagar.

Sunfyre, as the name suggests, is brightly colored with golden scales and pink-tipped wings. But despite his impressive appearance, he's not a formidable opponent, especially against a ferocious beast like Meleys.

Sunfyre gets severely wounded because of this and crashes into the nearby woodland. It's not clear if he survived the fight.

King Aegon I Targaryen rides Sunfyre.

King Aegon I Targaryen (Tom Glynn-Carney) rides Sunfyre in the series, but audiences don't see him take flight until season two, episode four.

Aemond and Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) had planned to ambush the Greens with Vhagar, but Aegon threw a spanner in the works when he appeared above the battlefield on Sunfyre in an attempt to show strength to his army.

As fans now know, that didn't go so well, as Aegon was severely burnt by Meleys in the fight before he and Sunfyre crashed to the ground. The dragon survived, according to "Fire and Blood."

• Kimbal Musk said he felt hopeless when his brother Elon got beaten up at school.
• He told The Times of London that Musk had upset those involved but didn't deserve the severe beating.
• The brothers grew up in South Africa, which Kimbal described as a "very violent place" at the time.

Elon Musk's brother Kimbal Musk felt hopeless when Elon got "severely" beaten up at school, he told The Times of London in an interview.

Kimbal Musk recounted his experience growing up with his older brother in South Africa, a place he described as "very violent" at the time.

"He had obviously upset them in some form, but nothing that would justify beating someone to death, which is what they were trying to do," Kimbal Musk told the outlet.

He added: "There was nothing I could do."

In a separate incident, Kimbal and Elon Musk were on a train, and a man in front of them got stabbed in the head and died "right there," he said, as everyone tried to exit the carriage.

Elon Musk has previously talked about his childhood experiences, telling author Ashlee Vance that those who beat him got his best friend to lure him out of hiding.

"For some reason they decided that I was it, and they were going to go after me nonstop. That's what made growing up difficult. For a number of years there was no respite," he said, according to Vance's 2015 book "Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future."

He also described being chased around by gangs at school, "and then I'd come home, and it would just be awful there as well."

Kimbal Musk told the Times that his first recollections of getting in trouble with Elon were when they were about four and five and were "caught" lighting a fire in the back of their house.

"We were probably going to burn something down," he told the outlet.

According to The Times, their mother, Maye Musk, a professional dietitian and model, was physically and emotionally abused by her husband, Errol Musk, who often scolded and verbally abused the two boys.

The two brothers went on to move from South Africa to Canada as teenagers, founded Zip2, and sold it for about $300 million in 1999.

They have since worked on many projects together, including SpaceX and Tesla, but have disagreed many times, sometimes leading to physical altercations.

While working together in Zip2's office in the 1990s, Kimbal Musk once "tore off a hunk of flesh" from Elon Musk's hand while the brothers wrestled on the floor, according to Walter Isaacson's 2023 biography of Elon Musk.

In May, in a letter made public in an SEC filing, a group of Tesla shareholders urged others to vote against the reelection of Kimbal Musk and James Murdoch to the Tesla Board, citing concerns they could not effectively oversee the CEO because of their personal ties.

Kimbal Musk told The Times that a couple of months ago he spent days disagreeing with his brother on Tesla's cost-cutting strategy and manufacturing, but this time without bloodshed.

"At least we don't physically fight these days," Kimbal Musk said.

• Osgood Perkins' new horror film, Longlegs, has received considerable buzz, largely due to its masterful marketing campaign.
• It stars Nicolas Cage as the titular devil-loving killer and Maika Monroe as the FBI agent on his tail.
• The movie is eerie and disconcerting, leading to a bloody ending where secrets are revealed.

"Longlegs" may or may not be the scariest movie of the decade, depending on who you ask, but it's certainly in the running to be the most talked-about one.

The satanic horror movie set in 1995 stars modern scream queen Maika Monroe (of "It Follows" fame) as Lee Harker, a preternaturally perceptive, introverted FBI agent thrust into a case that's stumped the bureau for decades.

Over 30 years, 10 different, seemingly unconnected families have been killed the same way: Fathers brutally murder their wives and children before killing themselves. The only commonalities are that each family has a daughter with a birthday on the 14th of any given month, and indecipherable coded letters signed by someone calling themselves Longlegs are left at each crime scene.

A team at the FBI, led by Agent Carter (Blair Underwood), has deduced that Longlegs, though not physically present for the murders, is the person somehow responsible for making the fathers kill. After Lee intuitively figures out what house another culprit is hiding in earlier in the film, she's brought on to help crack the Longlegs case.

The film has been building hype for months thanks to the studio Neon's terrific marketing. The campaign smartly gave away nary a plot detail and held back any glimpses of Nicolas Cage's spectacularly unhinged serial killer Longlegs. Now, it's finally in theaters, allowing eager horror fans into the world that writer-director Osgood Perkins crafted.

The tense, disconcerting film evokes a sense of dread for much of its runtime, creeping toward a twisty, blood-soaked ending that fills in most of the blanks but leaves a few other key questions unanswered.

Here's a complete breakdown of how the movie ends, including what Perkins and the cast have said about it in interviews with Business Insider.

Warning: Major spoilers ahead for "Longlegs," including a detailed description of the ending.

What happens in 'Longlegs?'

"Longlegs" is split into three parts. For the purposes of this explainer, I'm considering the entirety of Part Three (titled "Birthday Girls") the ending.

In Part One ("His Letters"), viewers are introduced to Lee (Monroe) and learn about the Longlegs killings as she's brought onto the case and begins investigating. We also meet Agent Carter's family, including his wife and young daughter, Ruby, who invites an awkward and obviously socially stunted Lee to her birthday party.

It quickly becomes clear that Lee and Longlegs have a twisted history between them, as Longlegs leaves her a birthday card, allowing her to cipher the other crime scene notes he left at the homes of the murdered families. However, the nature of their connection is kept a secret until the end.

Generally, you'd expect a movie about a serial killer to build a finale that involves a confrontation between the killer and the hero, but Perkins pulls a fast one. Instead, Longlegs (whose real name is revealed to be Dale Ferdinand Cobble) is captured a little over halfway through the film's runtime, which is the first time the audience sees his face.

It is, in a word, hideous. He's a strung-out-looking, aging glam rocker-type who's essentially deformed himself with bad plastic surgery, botox, and fillers, looking a bit like a melting candle.

Cobble is arrested in the middle of Part Two ("All Of Your Things") after Lee visits her creepy mom Ruth (Alicia Witt) at her childhood home and finds a Polaroid she took of Longlegs when he first visited Lee when she was a little girl, on January 13, 1974, the day before her ninth birthday.

Part Two also confirms what most watchers had probably already guessed: Lee was the little girl we saw in the movie's opening scene, being confronted by Longlegs when he drives up to her house in a station wagon.

In this part, Lee and Carter also go to the Camera family farm, where one of the murders happened in 1975. There, they find buried beneath floorboards a deteriorated, life-sized doll that looks like Carrie Ann Camera, the daughter who was the sole survivor of that attack.

Carrie Ann (played as an adult by Kiernan Shipka) has been housed at a psychiatric facility and catatonic in the 20 years since the murders, only emerging from her unresponsiveness when Longlegs visits her — right before Lee and Carter stop by. Speaking to Lee, Carrie Ann tells her that she'll do whatever "the man downstairs" tells her to do, including jump out the window. She also suggests she's seen Lee before, or someone who looks like her, at her house and that Lee has also forgotten something about her own past.

How does 'Longlegs' end?

Part Three is when all hell finally breaks loose. Longlegs (aka Cobble) is apprehended by the FBI. Agent Carter is satisfied and believes the arrest will allow the murdered families to have justice. But an increasingly uneasy Lee remains convinced that, as she theorized early on, Longlegs wasn't killing these families alone — he had an accomplice. When she goes in to interrogate Cobble herself, he speaks mostly in riddles and refuses to tell her directly who he is working with.

Finally, he cryptically tells Lee to "ask her mommy," gives a last "Hail Satan" for good measure, and then smashes his face open on the table in front of Lee, killing himself.

A furious Carter confronts a traumatized Lee, admonishing her for remaining convinced of her accomplice theory and informing her that Carrie Ann Camera killed herself earlier that day. Carrie Ann's death seems to suggest that Longlegs' algorithm of killings was completed, as only one day (that day, the 13th) was missing from the pattern — but that's a red herring.

Lee and another FBI agent, Agent Browning (Michelle Choi-Lee), go to her mother Ruth's house to bring Ruth in for questioning, given Cobble's comments before his death. When Lee goes into the house to find her mom, Ruth, dressed as a nun, kills Browning with a shotgun. When a stunned and horrified Lee goes to confront her mother, Ruth is standing with the gun aimed at a life-sized doll that looks exactly like Lee as a child.

Realizing her mother was working with Cobble, Lee tells her that she can stop and that Cobble is gone. Ruth replies, "You got him. Now he's free. And you're free too, baby girl." She shoots the Lee doll in the head, and black smoke emanates from the place where the doll's head once was — and simultaneously, from a disoriented Lee's head right before Lee passes out.

As Lee is unconscious, viewers get an explanation of what the hell has been going on, courtesy of Ruth monologuing over a montage sequence of past events.

According to Lee's mom, Longlegs, a devil-worshipping dollmaker, visited them when Lee was a girl in 1974. Her mother interrupted them, at which point Longlegs told her, in a sing-song voice, that if she let him in now, it would be "nice," but if she didn't, he'd come back as many times as he'd like.

Instead of allowing Lee to be taken by the devil, who is present in the dolls that Longlegs creates, Lee's mother makes a bargain with the killer: She'd help him do Satan's work, murdering other families by delivering dolls to them crafted to look like their daughters, dressed as a nun and under the guise of the doll being a gift from the church.

Satan would do his soul-corrupting work through the dolls to get the fathers to kill, and Lee's mom would simply have to be there to watch the deaths happen. Ruth says this deal allowed Lee to grow up, unlike those little girls in the other families.

When Lee awakens, she's alone in her mom's house. An eerie voice — possibly the devil himself — tells her she's "late for Ms. Ruby's birthday party." Realizing something terrible is about to happen, Lee rushes to Carter's house to find him, his wife, and Ruby there, with Ruth and the Ruby-like doll she's just delivered to them. It's clear that the family is under the devil's spell.

Carter tries to fight against the compulsion and fails, stabbing his wife to death in the kitchen. He emerges and goes to attack Ruby before Lee shoots and kills him to stop him. Lee's mom produces her own knife to finish the devil's work by killing Ruby, reiterating that she's doing this all for Lee — "just like I've always done" — and that she'll do it "again and again," despite Cobble's death.

Apparently realizing her mom is a full-on Satan worshipper now and a lost cause, a distraught Lee shoots Ruth in the head to save Ruby. She also attempts to shoot the Ruby doll, but the gun won't fire.

"You're real scum," Lee says to the doll. And then, the movie ends.

'Longlegs' leaves many unanswered questions

As much as is answered by Ruth's monologue in the final act (like who Longlegs' accomplice is, how and why the other families died, and what the deal is with those creepy dolls), there are still lingering questions.

For one, it's not clear why Longlegs or the devil initially targeted Lee. Her family situation is different from all the other targeted families. Most obviously, her dad doesn't appear to be present at all, and the dad is a key component of all the rest of the killings.

One theory might be that it has something to do with Lee's semi-psychic abilities — perhaps that made her attractive to the devil. But the film doesn't clarify that, and then again, there's no indication her preternatural intuition even existed at that point. Maybe it was her encounter with Longlegs and the devil that sparked it.

Also, during the interrogation scene right before he smashes his own face to a pulp, Longlegs remarks that Ruth was "the seventh she to be given the same choice — crimson or clover." This suggests that Ruth may not have been the first Satanic recruit brought on to the devil's mission in this manner. But again, there's no follow-up there.

One more pressing question relates more directly to the ending: What was up with that black smoke emanating from the Lee doll's head and adult Lee's head once the doll was destroyed?

BI asked Perkins — and he's not telling.

"I don't think I should say," the filmmaker said when asked what the black smoke was. "I think that that's for you guys to worry about. I mean, I know, but I'm not going to say."

Monroe, who plays Lee, confirmed that she believes the black smoke is "up to interpretation."

In a separate interview, Witt, who plays Ruth, gave her own idea of what she thinks the black smoke was.

"It's darkness. It's darkness that's in there, and then it gets released," Witt said.

This interpretation is also backed up by a line Longlegs says earlier in the movie, in a flashback, when he's making the Carrie Ann Camera doll.

"I know you're not afraid of a little bit of dark. You are the dark," he says as he puts a sheet over the doll's head.

This ending wasn't always Perkins' plan

Underwood, who plays Agent Carter, gives a quietly devastating performance in his final scene in the film. In it, Carter, under the control of the devil in the doll, visibly fights against the compulsion to kill his family. He told BI that he had no idea when he initially signed on to the movie that his character was a goner since Perkins hadn't finished the final scene when they spoke.

"Oz…said the script wasn't quite finished, but he had two or three ideas of where he was going to go with it," Underwood said.

Once he finally saw how his story would wrap up, Underwood was thrilled to have such a meaty moment.

"When he finished it, he sent me the scene and said, 'What do you think?' I was like, 'Dude, I love it. I love this, man. I get to play,'" he added.

Perkins explained that his intent when he starts out on a script is always to start with the end.

"There's always the intention to figure out the ending and then map yourself backward," he told BI. "It never really quite goes that way, and I always find myself careening toward, 'Oh, fuck. Here comes the climax, and here comes the crisis, and here comes the thing, and I hope it's enough.'"

"But in this case, it felt like the inevitable thing that was hiding in plain sight, right?" he added. "Anybody watching the movie, certainly a second time, is going to be like, 'Well, of course that's how that goes.'"

The big climax, Ruth's monologue, also got an overhaul. According to Perkins, they filmed a few scenes where Ruth said everything directly to Lee on camera, but they scrapped that plan when "it proved to be too long and too not-dynamic."

The ultimate scene that made it in — a montage of events with Ruth speaking over it — came in the editing room, where Perkins and the film's editor patched it together from existing footage.

In the end, the "stylized sort of bedtime story" way Ruth reveals the truth to Lee (and the audience) fits perfectly with what the movie is about, in Perkins' eyes: a mother telling a lie to their child.

Will there be a 'Longlegs' sequel?

Any horror fan knows that where there's a box-office hit, there's almost inevitably a sequel. For now, Perkins is satisfied leaving things exactly where he left them.

"The good news about making a movie is that you get to say it's over," he said when asked if he's thought about what happens to Lee and Ruby after the abrupt ending. "To me, a movie is a completed movement, and you get what you get. If you want to extrapolate forward, amazing."

That said, when asked directly whether there wouldn't be a sequel, given his feelings about endings, he hinted it was a possibility.

"Any sequel or any subsidiary project wouldn't be like starting at the end and going forward," Perkins said. "It would be something else: prequel or another movie in the universe of 'Longlegs,' or something very unexpected."

"Longlegs" is in theaters now.