Popular video-game streamer Dr Disrespect on Sunday revealed early footage from the first game of his new gaming studio, a first-person shooter Deadrop. People are already tearing it to shreds on social media.
The announcement comes months after Dr Disrespect announced the launch of the games studio he founded with Call of Duty and Halo veterans Robert Bowling, Quinn DelHoyo, and Sumit Gupta called Midnight Society. Disrespect founded the studio a year after he was permanently banned on Twitch for still unknown reasons and is now on a quest to create video games that rival the best FPS franchises.
Disrespect and Midnight Studios describes the game as “the world’s first vertical extraction shooter” and early access has been given to fans who bought the $50 Founders Access Passes. And to be clear — more clear than the definition of a “vertical extraction shooter” — this is early footage and you can tell in the video below by the choppy framerate, poor gun mechanics, lack of animations, sound design, etc.
According to PC Gamer, Deadrop also serves as a way for Midnight Studios to sell NFTs. Players who have bought the Founder Pass have access to snapshot builds of the game that release every six weeks. These snapshots come with “procedurally generated NFTs of a character who serves as [the player’s] in-game avatar.”
Again, this game is in the very early stages of development, and it’s very uncommon to show gameplay this early in the process for the obvious reasons seen above. A release date is far in the future for Deadrop so maybe Dr Disrespect will prove us wrong and the game will blow away our expectations. Maybe.
England won a major women’s football tournament for the first time as Chloe Kelly’s extra-time goal secured a 2-1 victory over Germany at a sold out Wembley on Monday morning (AEST).
In front of a record crowd of 87,192 for any match in the history of the European Championships, Kelly prodded home a loose ball from close range to end English football’s 56-year wait for a World Cup or Euro victory.
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England looked set for victory in the 90 minutes when substitute Ella Toone’s sublime chip over Merle Frohms put the hosts in front.
Germany showed remarkable resilience to bounce back as Lina Magull leveled 11 minutes from time.
But for once, England were not to be denied a major tournament success. Kelly fought back from an anterior cruciate ligament tear to be fit in time for the tournament and made herself a national hero by being in the right place to pounce when Germany failed to clear a corner in the 110th minute.
The Manchester City winger tore her shirt off in celebration in scenes reminiscent of Mia Hamm’s famous reaction to scoring the winning penalty for the USA at the 1999 World Cup.
Fortune did not favor Germany, who lost captain and top goalscorer Alexandra Popp to a muscle injury in the warm-up.
But England will feel their time for some luck was due as 12 months on from the Three Lions’ defeat on penalties to Italy in the Euro 2020 men’s final, the nation’s women went one better.
It is Tuesday night in Ipswich and across town lines of hungry people are forming outside boarding houses, hostels and care centres. Everyone is waiting for a bright yellow van to roll around the corner.
For some, tonight’s meal will be their first for that day. For others, the first in a few.
Helping Hands volunteers scramble every week to pull together grocery packs and collect food donations to make sandwiches and soup for some of the region’s most vulnerable.
But, as the cost of food rises, that’s becoming more difficult to do.
“We don’t have many pantry packs this week folks,” one of the volunteers yells to a crowd of 20 people, some of whom started to line up half an hour before the van arrived to get the first pick of what was on offer.
“So, if you don’t need one tonight, we ask that you don’t take one. But, of course, if you do need one, feel free to take it,” he said.
Kyle Dixon has relied on the service for nearly two years.
He’s found refuge at an Ipswich boarding house. While it’s not perfect, for $170 a week he has a bed and a roof over his head.
While the weekly food van service has been a budget lifesaver, he said he’s been going hungry a lot more recently than ever before.
“I have a bit less money, considering my bills and the expenses I need to do day-to-day life,” he said.
“Yeah, it’s quite hard to get food in.
“With the soup and the sandwiches as well [from the van], it’s absolutely amazing. That’s a good dinner if you hadn’t had anything to eat already.”
Anthony Burke, who volunteers for helping hands, has seen the effects of the rising cost of living firsthand.
Mr Burke said people seem hungrier and more desperate.
“In the last year [there’s] been a lot more demand,” he said.
“Some people are having to choose between canned food and toothpaste — in those situations, they’ll always choose the food.”
Sean Maskiel has also relied on the food van for two years.
He lives in another boarding house in Ipswich, and said he’s noticed more people are using the service now.
“There’s quite a few homeless people that are appearing out of nowhere that just need that extra hand,” he said.
Rental crisis filling boarding houses
Gene Waterman manages two boarding houses in Ipswich.
Just a few weeks ago, there were up to 15 people on a waiting list for a room.
“[It is] crazy. From five years ago to now, it’s a completely different beast,” he said, “10 years ago, there were always around 10 rooms available. Now I’m always full.
“There is literally nothing out there. You don’t have a choice where you live. You just go anywhere you can get a place.”
Data from the Real Estate Institute of Queensland shows the average cost to rent a three-bedroom property in Goodna, Springfield, Bellbird Park and Camira in 2019 was $350 per week.
Now it’s $420.
In the Rosewood area, the price hike is even steeper, going from $295 per week to $440 per week in just three years.
And, while rental costs balloon, so has the number of people sitting below the poverty line.
The Australian Council of Social Services (ACOSS) now defines the poverty line as any single adult earning less than $457 per week or a couple with two children earning less than $960 per week.
According to data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, in 2016 more than 54,000 people in the Ipswich local government area were earning less than $499 per week.
According to the 2021 census, that number has grown to more than 55,000.
Problem starts with low income
ACOSS chief executive Edwina MacDonald has a handle on the issue.
“We know that, of the people we’re spoken to, 50 per cent of them are skipping meals and they’re reducing how much they’re eating,” Ms MacDonald said.
“We know that they’re cutting back or not using their car at all.”
Ms MacDonald said raising incomes was the key to turning the situation around.
“If we don’t do something to address the cost for people who are on the lowest incomes, demand is certainly going to go up,” she said.
“It’s really obvious that, with the cost-of-living problem, we need to be looking at incomes.”
“If we just look at individual costs, it’s a bit like playing whack-a-mole — the different costs pop up and we’re just trying to address them one-by-one.
“Really, the structural problem is about incomes.”
Joe Biden continued to test positive for coronavirus on Sunday and will “continue his strict isolation measures” his physician said.
The US president feels well, the White House said. Biden tweeted about the economy and about regretting being unable to meet in person to commiserate with military veterans and their families visiting Capitol Hill in support of a long-awaited bipartisan bill that would expand healthcare access for those exposed to toxic burn pits.
Some Republican senators had reversed their support for the legislation at the last minute.
Biden tweeted a video of himself sitting outside at the White House on a green sofa, wearing an open-necked blue shirt and a baseball cap with the presidential seal as he video-chatted with the families gathered on the steps leading up to the US Congress and had pizza sent to them.
The president on Saturday tested positive for Covid-19 only days after testing negative and having apparently largely shrugged off an infection with the virus.
His physician, Kevin O’Connor, said on Sunday that Biden is being monitored daily and his positive test that morning was unsurprising.
The president had originally contracted Covid and tested positive on July 21, then apparently recovered.
But Biden had been taking the anti-viral medication Paxlovid, which has reported numerous cases of effectively reducing the viral load of Covid only for it to return once the medication is stopped.
In accordance with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, on Saturday Biden, 79, had re-entered isolation for at least five days. The agency says most “rebound” cases remain mild and that severe disease during that period has not been reported.
Paxlovid has been proven to significantly reduce severe disease and death among those most vulnerable to severe Covid.
Biden is fully vaccinated, after getting two doses of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine shortly before taking office, a first booster shot in September and an additional dose on 30 March.
The weekend positive tests jeopardize a Tuesday trip Biden had planned to Michigan, which is holding its fiercely-contested primary elections that day.
Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez — affectionately known as “Bennifer” — are back together after nearly two decades apart. The actor and singer-actor have made a dramatic return to the headlines that has many people asking the age-old question: Should I get back with my ex, too?
It’s a question that plagues a lot of people, says Laura F. Dabney, MD, a psychiatrist specializing in marriage and relationships, based in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
“It’s comforting to know somebody already,” Dr. Dabney says — versus the fear of something new. “And when the attraction is still there, too, that desire to make it work can be very appealing.”
What’s more, it can be difficult to grieve the loss of a relationship, says Bonnie Scott, a licensed professional counselor in private practice in San Antonio, Texas. “So, if we can slide back into a pattern with an ex, there’s no end to mourn. And that’s pretty tempting.”
Psychologists who study sexual nostalgia have found that to be true. A study published in 2020, for example, found that particularly when people are not in another relationship or are not sexually or emotionally satisfied, they’re more likely to desire a past partner. Biology may be at play. Other research suggests that our brain’s reward system gets triggered when we think about a partner we are in love with, either happily or unhappily.
If there is trust and confidence in a previous partner, working things out with an ex can be very positive, Dabney says. “But if there’s a lot of tumult, insecurity, and lack of trust, it can do the exact opposite.”
How can you decide which situation you’re in? Here are seven important questions to ask yourself before getting back together with an ex, à la Lopez and Affleck.
1. Are There Major Red Flags That Could Threaten You (and Your Well-Being)?
It’s important to consider any big red flags that getting back together with an ex could involve, especially those that could put your safety or well-being at risk.
Dabney says that some of these red flags include: addictions, severe psychological issues (such as self-harm), legal or financial trouble, lack of empathy, and verbal or physical abuse.
Don’t take these red flags lightly. They can lead to significant emotional and financial disruption for you, and they are often good reasons to end a relationship, Dabney says. “No matter how understanding, patient, or sympathetic you are, these red-flag issues require professional help and, even then, will take a long time to resolve.”
2. Why Did You Split Up in the First Place?
Take a minute and reflect. Dabney recommends tackling the big question first: “Why did you split in the first place?” Then ask a few follow-ups: Was it that you didn’t get what you needed or wanted and didn’t express it? Or was the reason you split up one of the aforementioned red flags?
3. What Do You Want From a Relationship?
All too frequently, people have trouble naming what they want from a relationship, says Dabney. Many people struggle with feeling as though they’re not what their partner (former or prospective) wants and try to fit into a certain mould. In the process, they neglect to consider what’s really going to make the relationship fulfilling to them. You’re not going to get the relationship you want unless you can identify the components that are important to you, Dabney adds.
4. Can You Productively Talk It Out?
Talk with them, stating what you need and want, and ask them if that’s something they understand or knew already, says Dabney. And then from there, listen to what they need and want in the relationship going forward. Are you able to establish a compromise for both parties? Be sure you leave the conversation having determined “this is what we’re going to do in the future,” so that both of you will ultimately have what you want and need.
5. Are You Truly Prepared to Behave Differently to Make This Work? And Is the Other Person Also Ready to Do That?
What will be different if you get back together? Are you willing to make changes, even if they are dramatic or require a lot of effort?
“If we can’t dig into some painful spots and assess the patterns and behaviors that didn’t work, then we will continue with those patterns, and reconciliation is likely to waste everyone’s time and emotional energy,” says Scott. If a client can sincerely say, yes, both of us are ready to be different, she then poses a follow-up question: “How so?” Can you both nail down exactly how the two of you need to behave?
6. What About This Relationship Is So Important to You That It‘s Worth This Kind of Work?
If a client can say, “Yes, both of us are ready to be different,” Scott’s next question helps put the entire relationship into perspective: Why is it so important to you? Is this question difficult to answer? Or is the answer simple: You see your future — and maybe even your forever — with this person.
7. What Is the Motivation for Getting Back Together?
Is there a specific reason why your ex wants to get back together? It’s important that you determine the motivating factors as to why your former partner wants to reunite, Dabney says. Try to get a feel for whether it’s part of an authentic desire to be together — or not. Perhaps it’s about status, or maybe it’s just easier for your ex to turn to you, as opposed to facing the fear of finding somebody new. Both of those are red flags that the desire to reunite is not authentic.
Hours after Will Smith took to social media to apologize for slapping Chris Rock during the 2022 Oscars, the stand-up took to the stage to wax poetic over the moment.
Rock compared Smith to former Death Row Records executive and currently incarcerated hothead Suge Knight, reported Page Six.
“Everybody is trying to be af***ing victim,” Rock, 57, said during a gig at Atlanta’s Fox Theater Friday night.
“If everybody claims to be a victim, then nobody will hear the real victims. Even me getting smacked by Suge Smith… I went to work the next day, I got kids.”
“Anyone who says words hurt has never been punched in the face,” Rock added, according to People.
The comic is currently touring his new material as part of his Ego Death World Tour. He also touched on the subject during recent shows in New Jersey and New York, co-headlined by Kevin Hart.
Smith’s latest apology — as he also apologized to Rock via social media days after the notorious incident — revealed that Rock has refused to speak to him so far about the moment he deemed “unacceptable.”
“I reached out to Chris, and the message that came back is he’s not ready to talk, but when he is, he will reach out,” Smith said in the video posted to YouTube. “I will say to you, Chris, I apologize to you. My behavior was unacceptable, and I’m here whenever you’re ready to talk.”
Smith, 53, also apologized to Rock’s mother and brother Tony Rock.
“That was one of the things about that moment that I didn’t realize,” he continued. “I wasn’t thinking about how many people got hurt in that moment. I want to apologize to Chris’ mother, to Chris’ family of him, especially his brother, Tony Rock. ”
Tony, who previously worked with Smith on an early-2000s sitcom All Of Ustook Smith to task over hitting his brother, leaving the Oscar winner with the impression that their relationship is now “probably irreparable.”
“Disappointing people is my central trauma.
“I hate when I let people down, so it hurts psychologically and emotionally to know that I didn’t live up to people’s image and impression of me,” he further explained. “The work I’m trying to do is I am deeply remorseful, and I’m trying to be remorseful without being ashamed of myself.”
This article originally appeared on Page Six and was reproduced with permission
Mark McVeigh’s brutally honest assessment that his players “checked out” in the 73-point Sydney derby loss could cost him the Giants’ senior coaching job, Fox Footy’s Nick Riewoldt has warned.
McVeigh did not hold back in his post-match criticism, as he labeled the performance “embarrassing” and “extremely disappointing”, while stating only eight players “went to the wall” for four quarters.
Speaking about McVeigh’s stunning statement, Riewoldt said he feared the comments could cost the caretaker coach the full-time gig in 2023.
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“I think it puts a line through it (his coaching aspirations at GWS),” he said on Best on Ground.
“If that’s the concession that you’re making as a coach, that you think some of your players have checked out and you are responsible for getting the players up every week, I think it becomes very difficult for the club to say: ‘You ‘re the man going forward’.”
McVeigh remains in the running for the full-time job next season, reportedly alongside four-time premiership coach Alastair Clarkson, Melbourne’s Adem Yze and Richmond’s Adam Kingsley.
Fellow panelist and former Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley said he admired McVeigh’s honesty.
“That’s the first time I’ve heard those comments,” he said.
“That’s as honest as you can get.
“That comment… I love to see that because that is absolutely honest. If that’s his opinion of him, and you’ve got to take that at face value, it’s a real challenge.
The Giants were smashed in all the stats that mattered, down -117 in disposals, -33 in inside 50s and -24 in tackles – including laying just six inside 50 for the match.
Riewoldt said the result isn’t a direct reflection on McVeigh’s ability as a coach, but raised questions about his connection with the players.
“It doesn’t mean that he can’t coach. But the ability to get this group up … how can the Giants, if they think the players have checked out under his coaching, how can they have confidence to make that appointment?” Riewoldt said.
“I think it puts them in a really difficult position to go and appoint him after that.”
Buckley said he now wanted to see what sort of response the Giants players had in the clash with Essendon.
“The next couple of weeks will be what tells you about Mark McVeigh’s bona fides as a coach and his connection with those players because they will respond to that? Because there’s always something to play for,” he said.
“The response is going to say more than the comment.”
Earlier this month, McVeigh confirmed he would enter the race to become the Giants coach for 2023 and beyond.
(The club hierarchy) have been very open with me and terrific, they’ve been amazing and they’ve supported me,” he said.
“There are other coaches that they’ll be talking to, which is absolutely right (to do), and I’m just another one of those that are trying to win the role.
“I certainly know where it sits and I’m very clear on the approach going forward.”
GWS will face Essendon, the Western Bulldogs and Fremantle in the final three rounds.
Joe Biden continued to test positive for coronavirus on Sunday and will “continue his strict isolation measures” his physician said.
The US president feels well, the White House said. Biden tweeted about the economy and about regretting being unable to meet in person to commiserate with military veterans and their families visiting Capitol Hill in support of a long-awaited bipartisan bill that would expand healthcare access for those exposed to toxic burn pits.
Some Republican senators had reversed their support for the legislation at the last minute.
Biden tweeted a video of himself sitting outside at the White House on a green sofa, wearing an open-necked blue shirt and a baseball cap with the presidential seal as he video-chatted with the families gathered on the steps leading up to the US Congress and had pizza sent to them.
The president on Saturday tested positive for Covid-19 only days after testing negative and having apparently largely shrugged off an infection with the virus.
His physician, Kevin O’Connor, said on Sunday that Biden is being monitored daily and his positive test that morning was unsurprising.
The president had originally contracted Covid and tested positive on July 21, then apparently recovered.
But Biden had been taking the anti-viral medication Paxlovid, which has reported numerous cases of effectively reducing the viral load of Covid only for it to return once the medication is stopped.
In accordance with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, on Saturday Biden, 79, had re-entered isolation for at least five days. The agency says most “rebound” cases remain mild and that severe disease during that period has not been reported.
Paxlovid has been proven to significantly reduce severe disease and death among those most vulnerable to severe Covid.
Biden is fully vaccinated, after getting two doses of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine shortly before taking office, a first booster shot in September and an additional dose on 30 March.
The weekend positive tests jeopardize a Tuesday trip Biden had planned to Michigan, which is holding its fiercely-contested primary elections that day.
A roadmap for the future direction of quantum simulation has been set out in a paper co-authored at the University of Strathclyde.
Quantum computers are hugely powerful devices with a capacity for speed and calculation which is well beyond the reach of classical, or binary, computing. Instead of a binary system of zeroes and ones, it operates through superpositions, which may be zeroes, ones or both at the same time.
The continuously-evolving development of quantum computing has reached the point of having an advantage over classical computers for an artificial problem. It could have future applications in a wide range of areas. One promising class of problems involves the simulation of quantum systems, with potential applications such as developing materials for batteries, industrial catalysis and nitrogen fixing.
The paper, published in Nature, explores near- and medium-term possibilities for quantum simulation on analogue and digital platforms to help evaluate the potential of this area. It has been co-written by researchers from Strathclyde, the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics, Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich, Munich Center for Quantum Science and Technology, the University of Innsbruck, the Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, and Microsoft Corporation.
Professor Andrew Daley, of Strathclyde’s Department of Physics, is lead author of the paper. He said: “There has been a great deal of exciting progress in analogue and digital quantum simulation in recent years, and quantum simulation is one of the most promising fields of quantum information processing. It is already quite mature, both in terms of algorithm development, and in the availability of significantly advanced analogue quantum simulation experiments internationally.
“In computing history, classical analogue and digital computing co-existed for more than half a century, with a gradual transition towards digital computing, and we expect the same thing to happen with the emergence of quantum simulation.
“As a next step along the development of this technology, it is now important to discuss ‘practical quantum advantage,’ the point at which quantum devices will solve problems of practical interest that are not tractable for traditional supercomputers.
“Many of the most promising short-term applications of quantum computers fall under the umbrella of quantum simulation: modeling the quantum properties of microscopic particles that are directly relevant to understanding modern materials science, high-energy physics and quantum chemistry.
“Quantum simulation should be possible in the future on fault-tolerant digital quantum computers with more flexibility and precision, but it can also already be done today for specific models through special-purpose analogue quantum simulators. This happens in an analogous way to the study of aerodynamics, which can be conducted either in a wind tunnel or through simulations on a digital computer. Where aerodynamics often use a smaller scale model to understand something big, analogue quantum simulators often take a larger scale model to understand something even smaller.
“Analogue quantum simulators are now moving from providing qualitative demonstrations of physical phenomena to providing quantitative solutions for native problems. A particularly exciting way forward in the near term is the development of a range of programmable quantum simulators hybridising digital and analogue techniques. This holds great potential because it combines the best advantages of both sides by making use of the native analogue operations to produce highly entangled states.”
The University of Strathclyde and all of the partners on this perspective article have large, active programs involving both theory of architectures and algorithms, as well as development of platforms for analogue quantum simulation and digital quantum computing. The partners have been collaborating as part of the Horizon 2020 EU Quantum Technologies Flagship project PASQuanS. At Strathclyde, research in this area is strongly embedded in the UK’s national quantum technology programme, and has received substantial funding from UK Research and Innovation.
A Quantum Technology Cluster is embedded in the Glasgow City Innovation District, an initiative driven by Strathclyde along with Glasgow City Council, Scottish Enterprise, Entrepreneurial Scotland and Glasgow Chamber of Commerce. It is envisaged as a global place for quantum industrialisation, attracting companies to co-locate, accelerate growth, improve productivity and access world-class research technology and talent at Strathclyde.
The University of Strathclyde is the only academic institution that has been a partner in all four EPSRC-funded Quantum Technology Hubs in both phases of funding. The Hubs are in: Sensing and Timing; Quantum Enhanced Imaging; Quantum Computing and Simulation, and Quantum Communications Technologies.
Reference:
Andrew J. Daley, Immanuel Bloch, Christian Kokail, Stuart Flannigan, Natalie Pearson, Matthias Troyer, Peter Zoller. Practical quantum advantage in quantum simulation. Nature, 2022; 607 (7920): 667 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-04940-6
/PublicRelease. This material from the originating organization/author(s) may be of a point-in-time nature, edited for clarity, style and length. The views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s).
In the wake of last weekend’s Comic-Con panel, Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige has been giving interviews offering some post-announcement brief updates on projects.
One such chat session was with THR the other day where I touched upon a few titles including the new “Fantastic Four”. The studio is actively hunting for a director in the wake of Jon Watts’ exit and one who can have the film ready in time for its November 2024 release.
One thing Feige can confirm, like with Spider-Man being brought into the MCU, is that the F4 film will be skipping an origin story:
“A lot of people know this origin story. A lot of people know the basics. How do we take that and bring something that they’ve never seen before? We’ve set a very high bar for ourselves with bringing that to the screen.”
For a while now, there’s been pressure on Marvel to disclose an overarching goal for its current ‘Phase 4’ as the various works since “Avengers: Endgame” have seemed somewhat standalone.
That’s changed somewhat with Feige’s announcements last week of the fifth phase and some of the sixth phase, and Feige says the current fourth phase has all been “about resetting the MCU and meeting all these new characters.”
One film not discussed last weekend was “Deadpool 3,” and Feige says to look at the MCU’s track record for third films to get an idea of what they’re going for:
“How do we elevate it in the way we’ve been able to with Civil War, Infinity War and Ragnarok? It’s very fun to be in the world of the Ryan Reynolds show.”
More Marvel stuff is expected to be shown off at the D23 convention from September 9th-11th, with that more likely to focus on the Disney+ series side of things. The studio’s ceaseless output is also continuing to be subjected to criticism by VFX artists, such as in a piece for Vulture.
Marvel is currently filming the second season of “Loki,” doing additional photography for both “The Marvels” and “Secret Invasion,” and is prepping the “Blade” shoot in Atlanta in October along with gearing up for the release of “Black Panther : Wakanda Forever” in November.