July 2022 – Page 48 – Michmutters
Categories
Technology

Dr Disrespect’s newly titled ‘Deadrop’ has footage of its first build

Midnight Society, the studio from banned Twitch streamer Herschel “Guy” Beahm IV, AKA Dr Disrespect, has revealed the name and details of its new Escape From Tarkov-like shooter, Deadrop.

Dubbed a “vertical extraction shooter,” Deadrop is now available as a demo for those who paid for the Founders Access Pass as part of Midnight Society’s rollout of the game.

Playable builds will be released every six weeks, with some YouTubers sharing footage of how the game looks and plays so far (via VGC).

According to Geeky Pastimes, there’s not much in the game so far, with one gun usable at this point. There’s also a firing range with a dummy that parts can be shot off of, with a small slice of the world showing off the aesthetics and visuals as well.

At present no more Founders Access Passes can be claimed, as Midnight Society notes: “Founders Access Pass applications closed. All Series 0 Patches claimed.”

At this stage so much of Deadrop can change, from the weapons, movement and online integration (which doesn’t feature in the currently available build), with more coming to those with access every six weeks.

Whilst the core mechanics of Deadrop are still somewhat unknown, it’s been described by Midnight Society as a game with the “essence” of an arena shooter and the scale of a battle royale game, with core mechanics similar to extraction-based shooters.

A main point of difference in Dr Disrespect’s game appears to be the “vertical” aspect of Deadropwhich trades out large flat islands and arenas for a play space that’s skyscrapers instead.

Project Moon. Credit: Midnight Society

Set during the “climate wars,” Deadrop is in a world filled with refiner states, mega structures that extract toxins from the atmosphere. Each tower is its own city-state that exports space dust.

Midnight Society is made up of a number of ex-Halo and Call Of Duty developers, with co-founder Quinn DelHoyo, previously the lead sandbox designer for halo-infiniteand other co-founder Robert Bowling, a former community manager at Infinity Ward.

In other news, the director of Skull & Bones has explained how the game’s narrative and land mechanics will work when it releases this November.

Categories
Australia

Ancient Aboriginal meeting place comes to life after Garma’s three-year absence

When the Prime Minister came to Arnhem Land to meet with Indigenous leaders, he was continuing a tradition that has lasted for thousands of years at ancient place called Gulkula.

Anthony Albanese made headlines at this year’s Garma festival by meeting with Yolgnu leaders, pleading to adopt the Uluṟu Statement from the Heart in full and to hold a referendum on the proposed Voice to Parliament.

Garma is held at Gulkula every year and this weekends festival has been one of many gatherings held at the site over the centuries.

Gumatj leader Balupalu Yunupingu said Gulkula had always been a place for people from different tribes to come together and learn new perspectives.

Gulkula Camp
More than 2,000 people attended Garma this year and camped at Gulkula.(ABC: Dayvis Heyne)

“This place is special to us because Ganbulapula, the spirit man, created this place and named the place Gulkula,” he said.

“It’s a place of teaching.”

Gulkula is surrounded by stringy trees and Yolgnu ancestor Ganbulapula is said to have shooed the bees away from the site to find honey.

Modernizing Yolgnu traditions

It’s an area of ​​learning for the Yolgnu people, and it was the site of the first Garma in 1999.

Balupalu’s brother, Djawa Yunupingu, said it was “just like a bush camp.”

“We looked at Garma and said, ‘Why don’t we do a festival out here?'”

He says Garma is a continuation of the Yolgnu traditions, “but in a modern way”.

Now thousands of people from around the country, including international delegates, attend the Garma festival, which is considered a key event on the political calendar.

Head shots of two indigenous men.
Djawa (left) and Balupalu Yunupingu hope Garma will continue to grow. (ABC: Dayvis Heyne)

“In the olden days, going back 50,000 years ago, people had Garma to bring the tribes together, whether it was a morning ceremony or some kind of ritual or sorry business,” he said

“Whatever issues we want to bring up we talk about them.”

Garma is back for the first time since 2019, after a COVID-19-enforced hiatus, and the Yunupingus say there’s been plenty of excitement leading up to this year’s festival.

“This Garma is different. We are being friendly. Everyone’s shaking hands,” Balupalu Yunupingu said.

“It’s great you know.”

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Breaking down the PM’s Indigenous Voice to Parliament proposal.

It is hoped Garma will continue to grow every year.

“I’d like to see more people out here, maybe an extension of the days we have here,” Djawa Yunupingu said.

“The land were on now is Gumatj country. It’s always been Gumatj country since time began.”

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Categories
Business

ALDI supermarket fans going wild over $1.99 easy dinner hack

It’s the very simple meal hack that’s hitting dinner tables across Australia, thanks to a new “cult” $1.99 ALDI ingredient.

ALDI shoppers say stir-fries using the supermarket’s Chicken & Cashew Sauce is the “closest to takeaway” they’ve had – and is a hit with even the fussiest of eaters.

Watch above: ALDI shopper’s ‘genius’ checkout hack

For more Food related news and videos check out Food >>

To create the dinner, fans simply add the sauce to cooked chicken and veggies and then top with cashews – also available at ALDI – and serve with rice or noodles.

After scores of rave reviews on various Facebook groups, hundreds of ALDI shoppers are “jumping on the bandwagon” and trying the meal out on their families.

“Confirming husband and fussy kids loved it – great midweek dinner,” said one shopper on the Aldi Mums Facebook page.

ALDI’s $1.99 stir-fry sauce is a hit with many shoppers. Credit: Aldi Mums/Facebook

Added another: “So yummy, made this last night.”

Said a third: “Love this, regular at our house.”

One more responded: “Tried it last week and it’s awesome.”

Write another: “This is very yummy. We love it.”

Others commented that it was like visiting the local Chinese restaurant.

“It’s really authentic, like ordering takeaway,” said one.

‘It’s really authentic, like ordering takeaway,’ said one ALDI fan. Credit: Aldi Mums/Facebook

Another responded: “That sauce is excellent…closest to take away I have had.”

One more said: “I usually hate jar sauces. But absolutely loved this one! Delicious.”

On the back of the jar, it’s suggested that you serve the sauce with capsicum, onion, chicken, mushroom, cashews and Singapore noodles.

However, others say it also works with a few other variations – and can be easily doubled to create more serves.

“My kids loved it. I used a kilo of chicken and heaps of vegetables, with a whole jar, soy sauce, ginger and garlic paste,” said one ALDI fan.

Another ALDI shopper showed the ingredients she used to create the meal. Credit: Aldi Mums/Facebook

Said another: “I top mine with heaps of chilli, it’s so good. Cuts through the sweetness a bit.”

One more wrote: “Made this tonight for the fam bam. I used one kilo [of] chicken breast, one whole packet of cashews and capsicum and two jars of sauce and two packets of noodles.

“Fed family of four adults, two kids and two servings for lunch tomorrow.”

Shocking moment beachgoer is attacked by a seal.

Shocking moment beachgoer is attacked by a seal.

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Categories
US

North Carolina pilot Charles Hew Crooks dies after he mysteriously falling out of plane

A North Carolina pilot died under mysterious circumstances Friday afternoon, officials said.

Charles Hew Crooks, 23, was one of two people onboard the small, 10-person plane Friday but it landed with just one person in Wake County, North Carolina, WRAL reported.

Authorities say Crooks either jumped or fell from the plane in midair without a parachute.

According to the report, the remaining co-pilot safely conducted an emergency landing at Raleigh-Durham International Airport after reporting to air traffic control that the plane had lost its right wheel and was taken to the hospital with minor injuries.

Dozens of first responders were at the Raleigh-Durham International Airport and several other officers canvassed the local area and the plane’s flight path to search for Crooks’ body.

His body was found later that evening, around 7 pm, in the woods behind a Fuquay-Varina residential area, about 30 miles from the Raleigh-Durham International Airport, authorities said.

Police said later the body landed about 30 to 40 feet from a home and its residents alerted law enforcement officials who were canvassing the area.

It remains unclear if the 23-year-old Charles Hew Crooks fell from the plane or jumped.
It remains unclear if the 23-year-old Charles Hew Crooks fell from the plane or jumped.
YouTube / WRAL TV

Wake County Emergency Management chief of operations Darshan Patel told a group of reporters that the residents reached out to the law enforcement officers after they “heard something in their backyard.”

During a press conference that evening, Fuquay-Varina Police Chief Brandon Medina said Crooks’ body fell at least 3,500 feet. He said it was not immediately clear if the pilot was dead before the fall but that authorities are continuing to investigate the incident.

Chief Medina did not say if the investigation is being treated as a criminal investigation, only that the situation was “unique.”

Chief Brandon Medina.
Chief Brandon Medina address the media about the incident and investigation on July 29, 2022.
Wake County Government/Twitte

“I believe this was a first for many of us that were working on this incident today,” Patel added.

Crooks recently obtained his pilot’s license and loved to fly, his family said, WRAL reported.

When asked about the death, Hew Crooks, the deceased pilot’s father, said: “We can’t process it right now, I don’t know.”

“He pursued his private pilot license while he was in college. I think he got that when he was a sophomore,” Crooks added. “He said a couple of weeks ago, he wouldn’t trade places with anybody in the world. He loved where he was.”

Regarding the mysterious details surrounding the death, the father said he “can’t imagine what happened.”

“We’ll figure it out, I suppose,” he concluded.

The surviving co-pilot was released from the hospital after they were treated for minor injuries, WRAL reported.

The police chief said National Transportation Safety Board investigators are leading the investigation. Federal, state and local authorities are assisting in the investigation.

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Categories
US

Some Appalachia residents begin cleanup after deadly floods

PRESTONBURG, Ky. (AP) — Some residents of Appalachia returned to flood-ravaged homes and communities on Saturday to shovel mud and debris and to salvage what they could, while Kentucky’s governor said search and rescue operations were ongoing in the region swamped by torrential rains days earlier that led to deadly flash flooding.

Rescue crews were continuing the struggle to get into hard-hit areas, some of them among the poorest places in America. Dozens of deaths have been confirmed and the number is expected to grow.

In the tiny community of Wayland, Phillip Michael Caudill was working Saturday to clean up debris and recover what he could from the home he shares with his wife and three children. The waters had receded from the house but left a mess behind along with questions about what he and his family will do next.

“We’re just hoping we can get some help,” said Caudill, who is staying with his family at Jenny Wiley State Park in a free room, for now.

Caudill, a firefighter in the nearby Garrett community, went out on rescues around 1 am Thursday but had to ask to leave around 3 am so he could go home, where waters were rapidly rising.

“That’s what made it so tough for me,” he said. “Here I am, sitting there, watching my house become immersed in water and you got people begging for help. And I could n’t help, ”because he was tending to his own family from him.

The water was up to his knees when he arrived home and he had to wade across the yard and carry two of his kids out to the car. He could barely shut the door of his SUV as they were leaving.

In Garrett on Saturday, couches, tables and pillows soaked by flooding were stacked in yards along the foothills of the mountainous region as people worked to clear out debris and shovel mud from driveways and roads under now-blue skies.

Hubert Thomas, 60, and his nephew Harvey, 37, fled to Jenny Wiley State Resort Park in Prestonburg after floodwaters destroyed their home in Pine Top late Wednesday night. The two were able to rescue their dog, CJ, but fear the damages to the home are beyond repair. Hubert Thomas, a retired coal miner, said his entire life savings was invested in his home.

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“I’ve got nothing now,” he said.

Harvey Thomas, an EMT, said he fell asleep to the sound of light rain, and it wasn’t long until his uncle woke him up warning him that water was getting dangerously close to the house.

“It was coming inside and it just kept getting worse,” he said, “like there was, at one point, we looked at the front door and mine and his cars were playing bumper cars, like bumper boats in the middle of our front yard.”

As for what’s next, Harvey Thomas said he doesn’t know, but he’s thankful to be alive.

“Mountain people are strong,” he said. “And like I said it’s not going to be tomorrow, probably not next month, but I think everybody’s going to be okay. It’s just going to be a long process.”

At least 25 people have died — including four children — in the flooding, Kentucky’s governor said Saturday.

“We continue to pray for the families that have suffered an unfathomable loss,” Gov. Andy Beshear said. ”Some having lost almost everyone in their household.”

Beshear said the number would likely rise significantly and it could take weeks to find all the victims of the record flash flooding. Crews have made more than 1,200 rescues from helicopters and boats, the governor said.

“I’m worried that we’re going to be finding bodies for weeks to come,” Beshear said during a midday briefing.

The rain let up early Friday after parts of eastern Kentucky received between 8 and 10 1/2 inches (20-27 centimeters) over 48 hours. But some waterways were not expected to crest until Saturday. About 18,000 utility customers in Kentucky remained without power Saturday, poweroutage.us reported.

It’s the latest in a string of catastrophic deluges that have pounded parts of the US this summer, including St. Louis earlier this week and again on Friday. Scientists warn climate change is making weather disasters more common.

As rainfall hammered Appalachia this week, water tumbled down hillsides and into valleys and hollows where it swelled creeks and streams coursing through small towns. The torrent engulfed homes and businesses and trashed vehicles. Mudslides marooned some people on steep slopes.

President Joe Biden declared a federal disaster to direct relief money to more than a dozen Kentucky counties.

The flooding extended into western Virginia and southern West Virginia.

Gov. Jim Justice declared a state of emergency for six counties in West Virginia where the flooding downed trees, power outages and blocked roads. Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin also made an emergency declaration, enabling officials to mobilize resources across the flooded southwest of the state.

The deluge came two days after record rains around St. Louis dropped more than 12 inches (31 centimeters) and killed at least two people. Last month, heavy rain on mountain snow in Yellowstone National Park triggered historic flooding and the evacuation of more than 10,000 people. In both instances, the rain flooding far exceeded what forecasters predicted.

Extreme rain events have become more common as climate change bakes the planet and alters weather patterns, according to scientists. That’s a growing challenge for officials during disasters, because models used to predict storm impacts are in part based on past events and can’t keep up with increasingly devastating flash floods and heat waves like those that have recently hit the Pacific Northwest and southern Plains.

“It’s a battle of extremes going on right now in the United States,” said University of Oklahoma meteorologist Jason Furtado. “These are things we expect to happen because of climate change. … A warmer atmosphere holds more water vapor and that means you can produce increased heavy rainfall.”

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AP journalist Patrick Orsagos contributed to this report.

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Categories
Australia

Alkimos: Further suspects ruled out after man’s body found in garage

Police are still investigating the cause of death of a man whose body was found at an Alkimos home on Saturday.

Detectives were called to the house on Minoan Way around 6.20am after the man was found dead, his body understood to have been discovered in the garage.

Deputy Police Commissioner Allan Adams said there was a “solid contingent” of homicide squad and local detectives working to determine the man’s cause of death.

“To those neighbors in the vicinity who have concerns, be assured that the police are taking this extremely seriously (which is) evidenced by the number of officers there and are very hopeful of coming to a resolution in the short term,” he said.

Police said on Saturday they were not looking for anyone else in relation to death and there was no threat to the community.

A woman aged in her 20s was taken into custody and questioned by police.

“There is a person helping police with their investigations but again, there’s still a fair bit of work to be done to determine exactly what’s occurred at that scene,” Mr Adams said.

Police Forensic at a house on Minoan Way in Alkimos.
Camera IconPolice Forensic at a house on Minoan Way in Alkimos. Credit: michael wilson/The West Australian

The woman’s relationship with the man is not yet known, however neighbors said a couple lived at the house.

No charges have been laid.

Officer in charge of Clarkson Police Station Steve Leach said on Saturday “any death in the community is a shock and a tragedy”.

“I would like to express our condolences to the friends and family of the deceased man.”

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Categories
Australia

Alkimos: Further suspects ruled out after man’s body found in garage

Police are still investigating the cause of death of a man whose body was found at an Alkimos home on Saturday.

Detectives were called to the house on Minoan Way around 6.20am after the man was found dead, his body understood to have been discovered in the garage.

Deputy Police Commissioner Allan Adams said there was a “solid contingent” of homicide squad and local detectives working to determine the man’s cause of death.

“To those neighbors in the vicinity who have concerns, be assured that the police are taking this extremely seriously (which is) evidenced by the number of officers there and are very hopeful of coming to a resolution in the short term,” he said.

Police said on Saturday they were not looking for anyone else in relation to death and there was no threat to the community.

A woman aged in her 20s was taken into custody and questioned by police.

“There is a person helping police with their investigations but again, there’s still a fair bit of work to be done to determine exactly what’s occurred at that scene,” Mr Adams said.

Police Forensic at a house on Minoan Way in Alkimos.
Camera IconPolice Forensic at a house on Minoan Way in Alkimos. Credit: michael wilson/The West Australian

The woman’s relationship with the man is not yet known, however neighbors said a couple lived at the house.

No charges have been laid.

Officer in charge of Clarkson Police Station Steve Leach said on Saturday “any death in the community is a shock and a tragedy”.

“I would like to express our condolences to the friends and family of the deceased man.”

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