3 games Dak Prescott will have to win with his arm

Dak Prescott, Dallas Cowboys. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)

How well Dak Prescott plays this year will decide if the Dallas Cowboys are Super Bowl viable.

With the NFC down to some extent, what better time for Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys to take advantage of the situation at hand?

Though Dallas has not exactly had a great offseason, the Cowboys should be the favorite to come out of the NFC East this year. While the Philadelphia Eagles will be a real threat, as could the Washington Commanders with Carson Wentz under center, Dallas has the roster to not only win the division, but multiple playoff games. It has to be NFC Championship game appearance or bust.

If the Cowboys want to be in the best spot to go on a deep playoff run, Prescott will have to come up big in these three regular-season games of note.

Dallas Cowboys: 3 games Dak Prescott will have to win with his arm

3. Week 6: at Philadelphia Eagles (Sunday, Oct. 16)

While it remains to be seen what the Washington Commanders will be this season, the Cowboys have to assert their dominance over the Philadelphia Eagles in divisional play. Though a series split with The Birds would not be the worst thing in the world, this year is all about the Cowboys changing the narrative. This is why they have to go out and beat the Eagles early at their place.

It will be a primetime affair in Week 6 alright, with potential early-season bragging rights on the line. If Philadelphia holds serve at home, it will give the Eagles confidence heading into their Christmas Eve road date at Dallas to potentially seize control of the divisional race. This is why the Cowboys need to buckle down and have a fantastic first half to kick off the season on a good note.

Prescott may be somewhat of the prototype for Jalen Hurts under center in Philadelphia, but he is the one who has already gotten big money as a proven starter. The last thing Dallas will want is for the latest version of their quarterbacking comparable to out-duel him in a standalone primetime game. If Prescott can go into a hostile road environment and win, that bodes well for the playoffs.

It may be an early-season game, but a win at Philadelphia will serve as an NFC East tone-setter.

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Will the Ethereum 2.0 update reduce high gas fees?

Purpose of Ethereum 2.0

The primary goal of the Ethereum 2.0 update is to improve scalability so that the network can handle more transactions without delays or high fees. 

While the full effects of the update will not be felt until it is fully rolled out, some of the possible use cases for Ethereum 2.0 include:

  • Supporting the large-scale enterprise adoption of blockchain technology in private corporations and businesses;
  • Creating more decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs)  and governance models based on smart contracts and trustless interactions;
  • Ethereum token launches that will allow new projects to fundraise and launch their own tokens on the Ethereum network;
  • The further expansion of nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and other digital assets that can be stored on the Ethereum blockchain; and
  • Improved support for decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms and DApps is expected to be widely used by crypto enthusiasts and the broader public.

In addition to these benefits, it is also likely that Ethereum 2.0 will enable a variety of new use cases that are not possible on the current network, such as:

  • Distributing tokens that represent ownership rights as a method of managing royalties in the music industry;
  • Creating a decentralized AI (artificial intelligence) ecosystem that will allow users to train and monetize their own machine learning models;
  • Facilitating safe and inexpensive cross-border payments;
  • Allowing supply chain managers to track product delivery without fear of tampering;
  • Providing a decentralized platform for gaming and predictive markets; and
  • Increased privacy and the capacity to store large amounts of data, which can be particularly helpful for storing sensitive information such as medical records and financial data.

While there’s still time before the update is fully rolled out, the benefits it promises to bring are significant and could have a major impact on the way businesses and individuals use blockchain technology in the future.

The Ethereum platform’s popularity

The blockchain network’s popularity is expected to grow once Ethereum 2.0 is released. 

Ethereum 2.0 will offer increased scalability, security and efficiency for businesses and individuals looking to take advantage of blockchain technology. Ethereum is currently one of the most well-known cryptocurrencies, alongside Bitcoin (BTC), with nearly 4 million wallets actively holding ETH as of February 2022. 

The blockchain continues to be the place where most DeFi and NFT activities happen, with new DApps and projects being launched on the platform each day. According to analysts, Ethereum currently has 70% of all DeFi transactions in the cryptocurrency market, and its blockchain is used to support the majority of NFT and gaming projects.

The number of transactions on the Ethereum network

The average number of transactions on the Ethereum network is currently 1.1 to 1.5 million transactions per day.  

These numbers are expected to increase exponentially after the launch of Ethereum 2.0, as it will allow significantly more transactions to be processed per day. At the moment, the network can only handle 15 transactions per second. 

Ethereum 2.0 aims to increase this exponentially to about 150,000 by the time the upgrades are fully rolled out. If this becomes a reality, Ethereum will undoubtedly become one of the fastest and most scalable blockchains in existence, which should further increase its popularity.

Addressing scalability and high gas cost concerns with Ethereum 2.0

Scalability has always been one of Ethereum’s biggest challenges. This is especially true for developers seeking to build DApps and DeFi platforms on the blockchain, as transaction costs can be prohibitively high.

However, with the launch of Ethereum 2.0 (which introduces a new PoS consensus mechanism and shard chains), it will finally be possible to scale the network in a way that significantly reduces costs and facilitates faster transactions:

Tips and tricks to spend less gas fees on Ethereum

There are several ways you can reduce or even eliminate these costs when spending on gas fees on Ethereum. 

  • Use wallets that support batching: Batching is a feature offered by some wallets that allows you to group multiple transactions into one, thereby reducing the amount of gas you need to spend.
  • Use ERC20 tokens: ERC20 tokens are digital assets that run on the Ethereum blockchain and can be used in place of ETH when paying for gas. This is because they often have much lower transaction fees than ETH, itself.
  • Use a gas price calculator: Gas prices fluctuate frequently, so it’s important to use a gas price calculator to ensure you get the best possible price for your transaction.
  • Use a gas tracker: A gas tracker is a tool that allows you to monitor the current gas prices on the Ethereum network in real-time. This can help ensure you’re always aware of the latest prices.
  • Use a gas station: A gas station is a website that allows you to compare the gas prices of different ETH wallets to find the best one for your needs.

By following these tips, you can significantly reduce the amount of money you spend on gas when using Ethereum. This will help make it more affordable for you to use the network and participate in DeFi and other activities until such time that Ethereum 2.0 has fully launched.



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Liverpool handed Mo Salah concern ahead of Champions League final


 

Liverpool have, on Saturday evening, been dealt an altogether untimely blow on the personnel front.

The Reds, of course, are currently locked in action at Wembley.

Amid their ongoing efforts to clinch a historic quadruple, Jurgen Klopp’s troops are going head-to-head with Chelsea, in the latest edition of the FA Cup final.

As things stand with 45 minutes played in the English capital, the scoreline remains locked at 0-0, albeit with both sides having carved out ample opportunities to put themselves in front.

As alluded to above, though, unfortunately, the main talking point of the first-half nevertheless came in the form of an injury picked up by one of Liverpool’s key performers.

The player in question? Mohamed Salah.

Just beyond the half-hour mark in proceedings, wide-man Salah went to ground off the ball, with what appeared to be a muscular issue.

In turn, after being seen to by Liverpool’s team of physios, it was swiftly decided that the Egyptian was in no condition to continue, with Diogo Jota therefore introduced in his place:

Real Madrid on the horizon

Salah’s fitness concern, of course, could not come at a much more inopportune time for either the attacker on a personal level, or Liverpool as a collective.

This comes with the Merseysiders currently in the midst of a crucial four-game spell, to see out what could yet prove a record-breaking campaign.

After today, Klopp and co. face a pair of Premier League fixtures, against Southampton and Wolves respectively, before turning their attentions towards yet another showpiece occasion, in the form of a Champions League showdown with Real Madrid.

 

Chelsea vs Liverpool live streaming: Watch FA Cup final online

Liverpool inform Bournemouth of Nat Phillips demands

 


Liverpool betting odds, next game:

Southampton vs Liverpool odds: result, both teams to score, correct score & goalscorers

Southampton vs Liverpool Result/Both teams score Yes No
Southampton 10/1 14/1
Liverpool 8/5
Draw 5/1 20/1



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3 games Patrick Mahomes will have to win with his arm

Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs. (Photo by David Eulitt/Getty Images)

More and more will be put on Patrick Mahomes’ plate quarterbacking the Kansas City Chiefs.

Even if Patrick Mahomes is the most transcendent quarterbacking talent the NFL has seen in quite some time, he will have to do some heavy lifting this season for the 2022 Kansas City Chiefs.

Not only is the AFC West the strongest division in the league, but Mahomes and company will have to overcome losing key players to their core like Tyreek Hill, Tyrann Mathieu and Charvarius Ward this offseason. Then again, this is why Mahomes got paid the big bucks. He already has one Super Bowl on his resume. 2022 will be a season to watch how much of a workload he can carry.

Though the Chiefs should still be an excellent team, Mahomes will have to win these three games with his arm this season.

Kansas City Chiefs: 3 games Patrick Mahomes will have to win with his arm

3. Week 13: at Cincinnati Bengals (Sunday, Dec. 4)

This game could be higher up on this list if we had a better feel for what the Cincinnati Bengals will be this year. They could experience a Super Bowl hangover, but it is hard to see Joe Burrow and this high-octane offense slowing down, as well as the defense taking a huge step back under Lou Anarumo’s direction. If all goes well for the Bengals, he may be a serious head-coaching candidate.

This Week 13 date at Cincinnati will be among the toughest road games on the Chiefs’ schedule. Weather could be a factor in the early December game. Not to say that will matter for either team that is used to playing in bad conditions this time of year, but the stage will certainly be set for this marquee game between major AFC contenders. Mahomes must avenge last year’s Bengals losses.

The Chiefs lost at Cincinnati late in the season a year ago. A few weeks later, Kansas City would collapse at home in the AFC Championship game to the Bengals. Though much has been made about the budding rivalry between Mahomes and Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen, Burrow has been the one who has shown he can beat the Chiefs’ star signal-caller with way greater regularity.

Three straight losses to Burrow and the Bengals will leave an awful taste in Kansas City’s mouth.

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McConnell and Other Republican Senators Make Secret Visit to Ukraine

WASHINGTON — Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the minority leader, visited Ukraine on Saturday to meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky, leading the latest delegation of American lawmakers to the country as the United States deepens its commitment to Kyiv’s fight against the Russian invasion.

The surprise visit by Mr. McConnell, who was accompanied by three other Republican senators, comes as the Senate is working to pass a $40 billion emergency military and humanitarian aid package for Ukraine. It follows a string of other clandestine visits, including by the first lady, Jill Biden, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The trip, a rare international visit for Mr. McConnell, highlights the widespread bipartisan support for Ukraine in Washington as the country tries to fend off Russia’s invasion, even as questions remain about the Biden administration’s overall strategy toward the conflict and the scope of American assistance.

“Helping Ukraine is not an instance of mere philanthropy — it bears directly on America’s national security and vital interests that Russia’s naked aggression not succeed and carries significant costs,” Mr. McConnell said this week. “If Ukraine fails to repel Russian aggression, there is no question that the threat to American and European security will grow.”

The trip was disclosed by Mr. Zelensky’s office. Details were not yet available from the lawmakers.

Mr. McConnell was joined by Senators John Barrasso of Wyoming, a member of his leadership team and the Foreign Relations Committee; John Cornyn of Texas, a member of the Intelligence Committee; and Susan Collins of Maine, who sits on both the Intelligence Committee and the Appropriations Committee, which oversees government funding.

On Thursday, the Senate failed to expedite passage of the $40 billion emergency package for Ukraine as one Republican senator, Rand Paul of Kentucky, refused to agree to waive procedural hurdles and approve the measure without being granted an opportunity to add a proposal establishing an inspector general to oversee how the money is spent. The measure is still expected to pass as soon as next week.

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Why Hacks Co-Creator Wasn’t Worried About That #MeToo Plot

Stalter, who joined Downs for the interview, defended that Kayla was just “reading the energy,” adding, “She wasn’t like, ‘We have to hook up!’ She was like, ‘Are we hooking up?'”

“I think she’s about vibes,” she explained. “And she thought she caught a vibe and she’s wrong. I don’t think she could possibly look at herself and be like, ‘I came on to my boss.’ I think she was like, ‘Me and my friend were about to hook up.'”

So, what’s next for the rocky duo? Downs teased that Jimmy and Kayla “do find themselves together in a new way.”

Catch new episodes of Hacks Thursdays on HBO Max.

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DeFi attacks are on the rise — Will the industry be able to stem the tide?

The decentralized finance (DeFi) industry has lost over a billion dollars to hackers in the past couple of months, and the situation seems to be spiraling out of control.

According to the latest statistics, approximately $1.6 billion in cryptocurrencies was stolen from DeFi platforms in the first quarter of 2022. Furthermore, over 90% of all pilfered crypto is from hacked DeFi protocols.

These figures highlight a dire situation that is likely to persist over the long term if ignored.

Why hackers prefer DeFi platforms

In recent years, hackers have ramped up operations targeting DeFi systems. One primary reason as to why these groups are drawn to the sector is the sheer amount of funds that decentralized finance platforms hold. Top DeFi platforms process billions of dollars in transactions each month. As such, the rewards are high for hackers who are able to carry out successful attacks.

The fact that most DeFi protocol codes are open source also makes them even more prone to cybersecurity threats.

This is because open source programs are available for scrutiny by the public and can be audited by anyone with an internet connection. As such, they are easily scoured for exploits. This inherent property allows hackers to analyze DeFi applications for integrity issues and plan heists in advance.

Some DeFi developers have also contributed to the situation by deliberately disregarding platform security audit reports published by certified cybersecurity firms. Some development teams also launch DeFi projects without subjecting them to extensive security analysis. This increases the probability of coding defects.

Another dent in the armor when it comes to DeFi security is the interconnectivity of ecosystems. DeFi platforms are typically interconnected using cross-bridges, which bolster convenience and versatility.

While cross-bridges provide enhanced user experience, these crucial snippets of code connect huge networks of distributed ledgers with varying levels of security. This multiplex configuration allows DeFi hackers to harness the capabilities of multiple platforms to amplify attacks on certain platforms. It also allows them to quickly transfer ill-gotten funds across multiple decentralized networks seamlessly.

Besides the aforementioned risks, DeFi platforms are also prone to insider sabotage.

Security breaches

Hackers are using a wide range of techniques to infiltrate vulnerable DeFi perimeter systems. 

Security breaches are a common occurrence in the DeFi sector. According to the 2022 Chainalysis report, approximately 35% of all stolen crypto in the past two years is attributed to security breaches.

Many of them occur due to faulty code. Hackers usually dedicate significant resources to finding systemic coding errors that allow them to carry out these types of attacks and typically utilize advanced bug tracker tools to aid them in this.

Another common tactic used by threat actors to seek out vulnerable platforms is tracking down networks with unpatched security issues that have already been exposed but yet to be implemented.

Hackers behind the recent Wormhole DeFi hack attack that led to the loss of about $325 million in digital tokens are reported to have used this strategy. An analysis of code commits revealed that a vulnerability patch uploaded to the platform’s GitHub repository was exploited before the patch was deployed.

The mistake enabled the intruders to forge a system signature that allowed the minting of 120,000 Wrapped Ether (wETH) coins valued at $325 million. The hackers then sold the wETH for about $250 million in Ether (ETH). The exchanged Ethereum coins were derived from the platform’s settlement reserves, thereby leading to losses.

The Wormhole service acts as a bridge between chains. It allows users to spend deposited cryptocurrencies in wrapped tokens across chains. This is accomplished by minting Wormhole-wrapped tokens, which alleviate the need to swap or convert the deposited coins directly.

Recent: How blockchain archives can change how we record history in wartime

Flash loan attacks

Flash loans are unsecured DeFi loans that require no credit checks. They enable investors and traders to borrow funds instantly.

Because of their convenience, flash loans are usually used to take advantage of arbitrage opportunities in connected DeFi ecosystems.

In flash loan attacks, lending protocols are targeted and compromised using price manipulation techniques that create artificial price discrepancies. This allows bad actors to buy assets at hugely discounted rates. Most flash loan attacks take minutes and sometimes seconds to execute and involve several interlinked DeFi protocols.

One way through which attackers manipulate asset prices is by targeting assailable price oracles. DeFi price oracles, for example, draw their rates from external sources such as reputable exchanges and trade sites. Hackers can, for example, manipulate the source sites to trick oracles into momentarily dropping the value of targeted asset rates so that they trade at lower prices compared to the wider market.

Attackers then buy the assets at deflated rates and quickly sell them at their floating exchange rate. Using leveraged tokens obtained through flash loans allows them to magnify the profits.

Besides manipulating prices, some attackers have been able to carry out flash loan attacks by hijacking DeFi voting processes. Most recently, Beanstalk DeFi incurred a $182 million loss after an attacker took advantage of a shortcoming in its governance system.

The Beanstalk development team had included a governance mechanism that allowed participants to vote for platform changes as a core functionality. This setup is popular in the DeFi industry because it upholds democracy. Voting rights on the platform were set to be proportional to the value of native tokens held.

An analysis of the breach revealed that the attackers obtained a flash loan from the Aave DeFi protocol to get almost $1 billion in assets. This enabled them to get a 67% majority in the voting governance system and allowed them to unilaterally approve the transfer of assets to their address. The perpetrators made off with about $80 million in digital currencies after repaying the flash loan and related surcharges.

Approximately $360 million worth of crypto coins was stolen from DeFi platforms in 2021 using flash loans, according to Chainalysis.

Where does stolen crypto go?

For a long time now, hackers have used centralized exchanges to launder stolen funds, but cybercriminals are beginning to ditch them for DeFi platforms. In 2021, cybercriminals sent about 17% of all illicit crypto to DeFi networks, which is a significant jump from 2% in 2020.

Market pundits theorize that the shift to DeFi protocols is because of the wider implementation of more stringent Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) processes. The procedures compromise the anonymity sought after by cybercriminals. Most DeFi platforms forego these crucial processes.

Cooperation with the authorities

Centralized exchanges are also, now more than ever before, working with authorities to counter cybercrime. In April, the Binance exchange played an instrumental role in the recovery of $5.8 million in stolen cryptocurrencies that was part of a $625 million stash stolen from Axie Infinity. The money had initially been sent to Tornado Cash.

Tornado Cash is a token anonymization service that obfuscates the origin of funds by fragmenting on-chain links that are used to trace transacting addresses.

A portion of the stolen funds was, however, tracked by blockchain analytic firms to Binance. The loot was held in 86 addresses on the exchange.

In the aftermath of the incident, a spokesperson for the United States Treasury Department underlined that crypto exchanges that handle money from blacklisted crypto address risk sanctions.

Tornado Cash also seems to be cooperating with the authorities to stop the transfer of stolen funds to its network. The company has said that it will be implementing a monitoring tool to help identify and block embargoed wallets.

There seems to be some progress in the seizure of nicked assets by the authorities. Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Justice announced the seizure of $3.6 billion in crypto and arrested two people who were involved in laundering the funds. The money was part of the $4.5 billion purloined from the Bitfinex crypto exchange in 2016.

The crypto seizure was among the biggest ever recorded.

DeFi CEOs speak about the current situation

Speaking exclusively to Cointelegraph earlier this week, Eric Chen, CEO and co-founder of Injective Labs — an interoperable smart contracts platform optimized for decentralized finance applications — said that there is hope that the problems will subside.

“We are seeing the tide continuing to subside, as more robust security standards are put into place. With proper testing and further security infrastructures put into place, DeFi projects will be able to prevent common exploit risks in the future,” he said.

On the measures that his network was taking to avert hack attacks, Chen provided an outline:

“Injective ensures a more tightly defined application-centric security model compared to traditional Ethereum Virtual Machine-based DeFi applications. The design of the blockchain and the logic of core modules protect Injective from common exploits such as re-entrancy, maximum extractable value and flash loans. Applications built on top of Injective are able to benefit from the security measures that are implemented in the blockchain on the consensus level.”

Recent: Rising global adoption positions crypto perfectly for use in retail

Cointelegraph also had the chance to speak with Konstantin Boyko-Romanovsky, CEO and founder of Allnodes — a non-custodial hosting and staking platform — about the increase in hack incidences. Regarding the main catalysts behind the trend, he said:

“No doubt it will take some time to lower the risk of DeFi hacks. It is unlikely, however, that it will happen overnight. There is a lingering sense of a race in DeFi. Everyone seems to be in a hurry, including the project founders. The market is evolving faster than the speed at which programmers write code. Good players who take every precaution are in the minority.”

He also provided some insight on procedures that would help counteract the problem:

“The code must get better and smart contracts must be thoroughly audited, that’s for sure. In addition, users should be constantly reminded of cautious etiquette online. Identifying any flaws can be attractively incentivized. This, in turn, might promote healthier conduct across a particular protocol.”

The DeFi industry is having a hard time thwarting hack attacks. There is, however, hope that increased monitoring from the authorities and greater cooperation among exchanges will help curb the scourge.

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Citizen Sleeper Offers Hope In the Midst of a Capitalist Space Hellscape

I’ve had a bad case of the post-Elden Ring blues lately. After 130 hours of non-stop FromSoft adventure, I was struggling to find another game that compelled me enough to do more than pick it up for an hour or two before sighing and putting it back down again. Then I played Citizen Sleeper, and ravenously devoured the entire thing in two days.

Citizen Sleeper scratches the parts of my brain that loved Disco Elysium, but it’s both shorter and (despite its dystopia premise) gentler overall. You play as a Sleeper, an artificial vessel created by a mega corporation to work off a debt for a human being. While the human lies frozen in stasis somewhere else in the universe, their consciousness was transplanted into the Sleeper and forced to do awful manual labor under grim conditions. But that life massively sucked, so the Sleeper fled, arriving on a space station called the Eye in hopes of building a life of their own.

Though not fully tabletop in the way, say, Divinity: Original Sin or Disco Elysium are, Citizen Sleeper embraces the spirit of dice-drizen storytelling in a simplified, accessible way. At the start of each day (or “cycle”) you’ll be given a number of six-sided dice based on how much energy your Sleeper has, which are rolled automatically and can then be allocated to take actions of your choice around the space station. These actions result in rewards or penalties depending on their outcomes, so there’s a level of strategy involved in choosing to spend higher-valued dice on riskier or more important actions, while throwing away weaker roles on trivial tasks. There are character classes and a stat tree that impact all this, but it’s all introduced slowly and gently, giving you time to get used to what activities are available and which are important.

Citizen Sleeper is mostly the work of one person: Gareth Damian Martin, who began the project immediately on the heels of his previous game, In Other Waters. He tells me that on In Other Waters’ release day in 2020, he realized suddenly that he only had funding for it up to that day, and he would need to immediately begin work on something else. Fortunately, he’d been tossing around an idea for a slice-of-life science fiction project already. Inspired by the success of Diaries of a Spaceport Janitor, he got the backing of Fellow Traveler and went to work.

The tabletop influence came naturally, as Martin had gotten interested in running tabletop games while he was working on In Other Waters, especially Blades in the Dark. He liked the way Blades in the Dark focused on consequences after each dice roll, and found himself wanting to avoid the trap of other tabletop-like video games that force players to reroll the same action until they can pass a certain obstacle. This ultimately influenced the direction of Citizen Sleeper.

“Immediately I had this idea of giving people dice up front so that they wouldn’t have that horrible moment of ‘I rolled a terrible dice. I hate this game because it’s just random.’ That very quickly became so thematically important to me, because I got this feeling of, well, we roll dice every morning when we wake up…Some days you roll five ones, some days you roll sixes.

Citizen Sleeper Screens

“I wanted to try and make a video game RPG where you choose what you do, where you turn up to, where you go each day, and that affects how the story progresses. That’s how I like to run RPGs. I like to see what the player is interested in, and build around them as they go.”

Like any good tabletop game, Citizen Sleeper’s excellence hinges on its storytelling. At first, the tale it tells is often anxiety-inducing, as the Sleeper struggles to shake their corporate pursuers, find the medicine they need to hold off planned obsolescence, and eke out a living. In some ways, its early hours are more management sim than roleplay, but that quickly changes as the Sleeper begins to make connections and explore the space station’s hidden corners.

Of course, in a tabletop campaign, there’s constant player discussion and negotiation with a DM, and the story is constantly changing on the fly based on their actions. A video game like Citizen Sleeper is always inevitably going to have set outcomes. But Martin says the tabletop storytelling element still pervaded his thinking in how he developed the story, even if ultimately the player sees fixed outcomes.

“I tried to think about, instead of the story I wanted to necessarily tell, I thought instead about the themes I wanted to explore and then all the kinds of characters that might exist in relation to those themes in that world,” he says. “I just started by putting them all in their places and then I’d write a bit of story for one of them and then I’d move on and write a little bit of story for another one and then follow the implications of those stories. Which, to me, feels more like GMing. You don’t have time to write Lord of the Rings and then guide people through [it]. You just have time to make the ring and Frodo and Mordor or whatever, and then you just pick it up as you go. I tried to capture that as I worked on the game, even though I knew that, that’s not how the player would experience it.”

When I watch Star Wars, I’m always looking over the shoulders of the characters, trying to see the market stall people.

Though it takes place in a dystopian space future on an abandoned space station and stars the equivalent of a runaway sentient AI, Citizen Sleeper isn’t some epic space adventure. That comes from Martin’s own relationship with science fiction, and struggling to relate to big space hero protagonists like Commander Shepard in Mass Effect. He relates more to stories like Cowboy Bebop, which he describes as “a bunch of freelancers who are flatmates in space.”

“I think that my generation experiences precarity a lot …The Sleeper is just a sci-fi version of precarity. You have this debt and you have to work it off. And so you go to sleep and you get copied and this other version of you goes off and does the work for you, but what’s it like for them? What’s it like to be someone who doesn’t even qualify as a person? Society does that for us too. We see that some people are citizens and some people aren’t citizens.

“That’s the sci-fi that I would like to play … When I watch Star Wars, I’m always looking over the shoulders of the characters, trying to see the market stall people or what’s happening in- I was recently watching The Book of Boba Fett and there’s a bit where they just introduce this incredibly cool ring station type setting. And there’s these factions and they spend like five minutes there and then they’re just like, ‘Anyway, back to Tatooine.’ And I was just like, ‘No, leave me here, please. Leave me behind to find out what these people’s lives are like.’”

Citizen Sleeper, then, is a smaller tale of individuals struggling under the thumb of big money and big power, banding together to support one another and fight back, and ultimately finding meaning in their lives even when all around them is cold and uncaring. I won’t spoil the multiple endings, but there’s a lot of hope contained under the grim exterior of Citizen Sleeper. I was surprised to walk away from a story about struggling in an impoverished gig economy surveillance capitalist hell state feeling rejuvenated and alive.

Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.



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Realme TechLife Watch SZ100 India Launch Date Set for May 18, Teased to Offer Up to 12-Day Battery Life

Realme TechLife Watch SZ100 is all set to launch in India on May 18, the Chinese smartphone brand has announced through a dedicated landing page on its website. The new wearable will come under Realme’s TechLife brand and it is teased to feature a 1.69-inch HD colour display. The Realme TechLife Watch SZ100 will pack skin and body temperature monitors along with a heart rate tracker. It is said to deliver up to 12 days of battery life on a single charge. The upcoming model is likely to succeed Realme TechLife Watch S100 which debuted in March in India.

The launch of Realme TechLife Watch SZ100 is scheduled to take place on May 18 at 12.30pm IST. A dedicated microsite on the Realme India website is teasing the key specifications of the smartwatch ahead of launch. Interested customers can click on the “Notify Me” button on the website to get the latest updates about the launch.

The Realme TechLife Watch SZ100 is listed in two different colour options with a rectangular dial and a side-mounted button for navigation. It is teased to come with a 1.69-inch HD colour display. The wearable will track skin and body temperature as well as heart rate. Further, it has a steps counter alongside built-in features such as reminders, calendar, and weather updates. The battery in the smartwatch is said to offer a runtime of up to 12 days on a single charge.

The upcoming Realme TechLife Watch SZ100 is likely to come with upgrades over the Realme TechLife Watch S100 smartwatch launched in the country in March this year with a price tag of Rs. 2,499. It is available for purchase in Black and Grey colours. The price of new wearable could be aligned with this. The Realme TechLife Watch SZ100 is tipped to arrive in two colour options —Magic Grey and Lake Blue, in India.


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Samsung Galaxy M22 Receiving Android 12-Based One UI 4.1 Update: Report



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‘I rescued over 1000 trafficking victims’ — Global Issues

“My position as head of National Trafficking in Persons Investigation Office in Lithuania was very challenging, but also very interesting. I would conduct and coordinate domestic and international police operations and investigations that led to the identification and rescue of victims.

We would receive information that there was a potential case of exploitation involving Lithuanians at a certain location. We then contacted the law enforcement authorities in that country and organized a rescue operation.

We had to act very fast and be prepared to move from one place to the next. I had many days when my breakfast, lunch and dinner would be in different countries.

Damaged lives

Sometimes, I would work undercover, so not dressed in a police uniform. I remember having to run after a victim in heels down a street in the United Kingdom. I had to be careful not to break my leg.

Lithuanian criminal groups were very active in human trafficking at home and abroad at that time. They had very good connections to Albanian organized criminal groups, which were operating all over Europe.

I calculated that in my career I had been involved in the rescue of over one thousand victims of trafficking. Then I stopped counting. There were so many damaged lives. I received a special police award for “Saved Lives”.

I retired from the police after serving 22 years after reaching the highest possible position within the field, so by 2020 it was the time to move to an international level and share the knowledge I had gained.

UNODC

Reda Sirgediene, UNODC Regional Adviser on Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants in Central Asia.

Increasing knowledge of trafficking in Central Asia

My mandate working in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, is different now. I do not have the kind of power I had as a national police officer, but I have authority on behalf of UNODC to cooperate with authorities in Central Asia and provide technical assistance to increase the region’s capacity to detect and investigate cases of human trafficking.

I know a lot about this crime – how it is organized and the methods of the traffickers. But to be successful in my new role, this was not enough.

Once I arrived in Central Asia, I had to understand the peculiarities of the region and consider the cultural and legal background in the context of human trafficking.

I needed to learn about the different procedures and resources in the region to combat this crime and which investigative tools were available.

Now I train and mentor officials who work in the law enforcement and justice sectors, advise non-governmental organizations that support victims of trafficking and support the development of anti-human trafficking legislation and procedures.

Whatever is needed, I am here to help.

Investigating all forms of trafficking

Based on official data, the main countries of destination for people being trafficked from Central Asia are Russia, Turkey, Kazakhstan, and South Korea.

Aside from Kazakhstan, which is also a destination country for victims from Central Asia, all countries in the region are source countries for trafficked people.

Most investigations are into cases of sexual exploitation and there are some detected cases of trafficking for labour exploitation.

I am trying to encourage the authorities to start investigating other forms of trafficking, such as trafficking for forced marriage, forced begging or involvement into forced criminal activities or in armed groups.

Also, the official data show that the majority of people convicted for trafficking offences, especially in cases of sexual exploitation, are women. I want to find out more about this, because I believe that behind these women there could be men who are the real organizers of the trafficking business. This is a region where culturally men take the lead.

Luring people with promises

I would say that traffickers are more sophisticated nowadays and more subtle.

They do not rely so much on the use of violence. They lure victims with kind words and promises or pretend to be a boyfriend to trap them.

In the beginning of my career, I experienced cruel cases in which victims were found hung or beaten, sometimes to death. I saw the signs of violence on their bodies. In other cases, victims were drugged and then sexually exploited.

I worked on a case involving homeless Lithuanian men. They were given alcohol, taken to Spain, and forced to work on a remote farm. At night, they were chained to radiators so they would not escape.

The traffickers’ methods are not just more sophisticated, the crime also generates higher profits.

For me this job will always be about the protection of human rights. It is what I know best.”

SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

  • Sustainable Development Goal 16 recognizes that conflict, insecurity, weak institutions and limited access to justice remain a significant threat to sustainable development.
  • It aims to reduce all forms of violence and deaths caused by that violence. It focuses on ending the abuse, exploitation, torture and trafficking of children.
  • It promotes the rule of law at the national and international levels and ensure equal access to justice for all

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