CrimeBOSS

When the temperature soared to 99 degrees Fahrenheit last month, Singapore resident Chee Kuan Chew saw just one option: cancel all plans and stay indoors in air-conditioned comfort. “You can’t survive without air con in Singapore,” Chee said. “It’s impossible with the heat.” The 20-year-old university student lives with his family in a four-bedroom flat in Ang Mo Kio, a bustling district that made headlines in the Southeast Asian city state when its temperatures hit a 40-year high in a recent heat wave. Thankfully, Chee said, his home has five air conditioners – one in each bedroom and a larger unit in the living room. “I drank plenty of water, took cold showers and kept the air conditioning on for the entire weekend. That’s my way of managing the heat,” Chee said. Taking solace in air conditioning in Singapore is hardly unreasonable behavior. Situated roughly 85 miles north of the equator, the island nation is famously hot and humid, with temperatures that stretch into the 80s year-round – a climate that has helped make it one of the most air-conditioned countries in the world, with more units per capita than any of its Southeast Asian neighbors. Indeed, in this city, air conditioning has become almost a way of life. An office or mall without it is near unthinkable; 99% of private condominiums are air conditioned, as are the majority of public housing apartments. Lee Kuan Yew, the country’s founding prime minister, once called air conditioning “the greatest invention of the 20th century” and credited it for helping to transform the island from a backwater British colony into one of the world’s pre-eminent financial centers (one that today also enjoys some of the world’s highest per capita wages). But Singapore’s love affair with air conditioning has an enormous cost. It has trapped a nation already hot – and getting hotter – in what experts describe as a “dangerous, vicious cycle.” It’s a climate change Catch 22 paradox that faces all nations which rely on air conditioning to make life just that little bit more tolerable. Put simply: the warmer the world gets, the more people turn to their air conditioners. And the more they turn to their air conditioners, the warmer the world gets. Global warming paradox Compared to gas guzzling cars and flatulent cows, air conditioners often fly under the radar when it comes to most media coverage of global warming culprits. But the machines are a potent force in accelerating climate change. The World Economic Forum (WEF) has estimated that – if not reined in – air conditioning-related greenhouse gas emissions could account for up to a 0.5 degree Celsius rise in global temperatures by the end of the century. Their effect on global warming is two-fold. Firstly, like refrigerators, many air conditioners today use a class of coolants called hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, which are harmful greenhouse gases. Secondly, and perhaps ultimately even more problematically, air conditioners tend to use large amounts of electricity, generated by the burning of fossil fuels. According to the International Energy Agency, air conditioners and electric fans account for about 10% of all global electricity consumption. As a relatively compact nation, Singapore – with a po[CENSORED]tion of about 5.4 million and an area a little smaller than New York City – contributes just a fraction of the HFCs and electricity demand that help drive global warming. Even with its high per capita usage, its total emissions are dwarfed by those of Japan and the United States, for example, where about 90% of households use air conditioning according to the WEF. Still, that doesn’t mean Singapore won’t suffer the consequences of a warming world just as much. And as an already hot nation that is heating up fast, it has less leeway than some others before temperatures become simply intolerable. According to government data released in 2019, the city state has been heating up twice as fast as the rest of the globe over the past six decades. Maximum daily temperatures could also reach highs of 37 degrees Celsius by 2100, officials warned. The heat island effect But rising temperatures in Singapore are not just about global warming. They are also caused by the Urban Heat Island effect, in which highly urbanized areas experience higher temperatures than their surrounding locales. The effect is caused by urban structures such as buildings, roads and vehicles trapping and releasing heat into the environment, especially at night, and is particularly pronounced in highly developed and relatively densely packed places like Singapore. It is made worse by the waste heat generated in cities by vehicles, factories and air conditioners, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Matthias Roth, a professor at the National University of Singapore who specializes in the subject, said that Singapore’s recent temperature rise was largely the result of a combination of background global warming and the Urban Heat Island effect. While he cautioned it was difficult to quantify the exact contribution of heat emissions from air conditioning on the Urban Heat Island effect, he said that “in selected commercial areas with much human activity and traffic, as well as tall, multi-story buildings closely spaced together and using air conditioning… this local warming can perhaps contribute 1 to 2 degrees Celsius to the environment.” While Roth noted these areas were “generally small and low in numbers and therefore would not significantly affect the average air temperature across the entire city,” he also pointed out that air conditioners are “not very energy efficient and when used in large numbers and often on a continuous basis, they can make up a large part of the energy consumption in hot places.” In some ways, how much of the temperature rise is caused by global warming and how much by the Urban Heat Island effect is a moot point, as either way the result is the same: people feel hotter. And the hotter people get, the more they use their air conditioning. Breaking the loop Still, experts say there are ways to break the air conditioning doom-loop. Under the United Nations’ Kigali Amendment, agreed in 2016, many countries are phasing out HFCs – those harmful coolants used in many air conditioners – and replacing them with more climate friendly options, such as hydrofluoroolefins, or HFOs. Similar moves have worked in the past. The Kigali Amendment is an update to the Montreal Protocol that helped to phase out ozone-destroying Chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, in the 1980s. Experts say there are also ways to cut down on the second problem with air conditioners – how much energy they use – by using other methods to keep cool. Abundant green spaces, shading, water bodies and clever ventilation are among the more sustainable “passive cooling strategies” suggested by Radhika Khosla, associate professor at Oxford University’s Smith School of Enterprise and Environment. “While there are many instances when air conditioning is necessary, given the combination of hot temperatures and high humidity, what’s important is to always consider non-air con options first instead of making air conditioning the go-to solution for providing relief from extreme heat,” Khosla said. “Singapore, with its experience of living with high heat and humidity, must set an example for other countries in identifying, promoting and scaling sustainable cooling solutions,” she added. A breath of fresh air conditioning Fittingly, the same place that once heralded air conditioning as one of the greatest inventions of the 20th century is also at the forefront of efforts to make it fit for purpose in the 21st. Singapore’s National Environment Agency (NEA) has banned the supply of high-GWP (global warming potential) refrigerants since October 2022 and says it encourages households to use fans rather than air conditioning where possible. The government agency has also advised residents to set timers and temperatures to no lower than 25 degrees Celsius (77 degrees Fahrenheit) and service units regularly to maintain efficiency, it told CNN. Taking environmental concerns into account, one local university built what it says is the country’s “first net-zero energy building” – boasting naturally ventilated open spaces and an innovative “hybrid cooling system supplying 100 per cent fresh pre-cooled air.” Operational since 2019, the six-story SDE 4 building at the National University of Singapore’s School of Design and Environment campus is testament to how thermal comfort “did not have to come at the expense of the environment,” its architects told CNN. “We worked hard to ensure that it would be a net-zero building,” deputy dean Heng Chye Kiang said. Here, ceiling fans are used as alternatives to AC units. Smart senors measure and manage variables from temperature, humidity and carbon dioxide to air particles, light and sound to “further drive down energy consumption.” “We hope it will inspire other buildings and designers to achieve the same and reduce energy usage in the fight against climate change,” the school said. Heng added that after some years of operation, the building had turned out to be “energy positive” – producing more energy than it consumes – “by a large margin.” In other words, amid a troubling paradox, there’s some positive energy, too. Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2023/06/09/asia/air-conditioning-singapore-climate-change-intl-hnk-dst/index.html

Apple announced its newest laptop, the 15-inch MacBook Air, this Monday during the brand's annual Worldwide Developers Conference — and there's already at least one retailer offering a nearly $50 discount on pre-orders. Apple set the retail price at $1,299, but right now Amazon is listing it for $1,249.99. You won't see big red discount numbers or really any indication that its on sale, other than the fact that it's cheaper than at any other retailer. The discount applies to the 256GB storage configuration in either Silver or Midnight. The larger, 512GB versions are also $49 off, but only in the Starlight or Space Gray colorways. Amazon has a history of promoting discounts that are small but notable (hey, $50 is $50) on new and desirable products, in the hopes that you buy your new device from its site over the competition. Apple's announcement came after many months of speculation that the company would put out a laptop with a screen large enough for serious productivity, without making people spring for the extra cost (and potentially superfluous processing power) of the Pro model laptops. Our deputy editor Cherlynn Low was on the ground at WWDC and had a chance to put her hands on the newest MacBook. She was impressed by how light and thin it is at just 3.3 pounds and measuring under a half-inch thick. She reported that the Liquid Retina display was rich, vibrant and sharp. A demonstration of its processing power seemed speedy enough — that's not surprising as it has the same M2 chip as the 13-inch MacBook Air, which performs remarkably well. But we'll need to get a unit in for testing before we can properly evaluate it. In the meantime, here's what the new 15-inch MacBook Air offers: A 15.3-inch Liquid Retina display, a 1080p camera and a promised 18-hour battery life. The M2 chip in the base model has an 8-core CPU and a 10-core GPU, instead of the optional 8-core GPU you can get with the 13-inch version. It has the same 8GB of RAM as the smaller model (which is configurable to 24GB) and the same storage options, either 256GB or 512GB (both configurable up to 2TB of SSD). The MBA 15 sadly didn't add any additional ports — you'll still just two Thunderbolt 4 ports with MagSafe plug for power and a 3.5mm headphone jack. When you pre-order now, your new MacBook Air should ship out next week. Source: https://www.engadget.com/apples-13-inch-macbook-air-m2-drops-to-a-record-low-of-999-160029560.html

To fight what it considers to be unfair gatekeeping of its browser, Vivaldi said that it’s masquerading as Microsoft Edge to enable users to gain access to Bing Chat. The new Vivaldi 6.1 update tells websites that it’s actually Microsoft Edge, using what it calls Client Hints. Vivaldi has used this technology before, identifying itself as Google Chrome, to try and accomplish the same task. Now, the company says, some websites are seeing through its mask and blocking Vivaldi regardless. If you access Bing’s AI-powered Chat feature on Edge, the browser allows you to converse with Microsoft’s AI chatbot. You’ll have a similar experience with Google Chrome. On Vivaldi, your access to the site is blocked by a massive popup that asks you to download Edge instead. What Vivaldi 6.1 simply hopes to accomplish is allowing you to access Bing Chat without the need to download Microsoft Edge or Chrome. Edge, Chrome, and Vivaldi are all based upon Chromium, the open-source version of the Chrome browser. But Vivaldi has complained before that the web is prejudiced towards the Chrome browser, and its own version nomenclature. As a result, the browser company has tried to transition away from using an identifying string known as the UserAgent to what’s known as Client Hints, which arguably helps users maintain more privacy by simply telling the site what it needs to know. “Vivaldi would like to proudly announce itself as Vivaldi, but the current state of the web makes this difficult,” Vivaldi said in a blog post. The company hopes that Bing Chat will now be accessible via Vivaldi Mobile on Android, as well as the desktop version. It can’t be known for sure, however, whether Vivaldi’s approach will work. For its part, Microsoft said that it will make Bing Chat available to other browsers, eventually. “The company plans to bring the new experience to other browsers over time and we’ll be sure to keep you updated on the latest,” a Microsoft representative said via email. What is true, however, is that the dogfight to lure users to AI is becoming increasingly desperate. The Verge discovered that Microsoft was hiding Bing Chat searches for “Chrome” by showing the advantages of Bing Chat, instead. And Microsoft, which originally blocked Google Chrome users from accessing Bing Chat, now allows access — though on our machine, access was only allowed on the second try. Vivaldi seems to be caught in the crossfire. Otherwise, Vivaldi 6.1 introduces minor changes: You’ll be able to copy links saved in Vivaldi’s Tab Stacks and send them to other users. You can also use Tab Stacks and Tab Tiling within Vivaldi’s Workspaces, another nifty organizational feature the company launched in April. Vivaldi also plans to launch on iOS soon, it said. Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/1945959/vivaldi-wears-edge-mask-to-access-bing-chat-as-ai-wars-turn-vicious.html

Chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) plans to set up a second semiconductor manufacturing plant in Japan with an investment of about $7.4 billion, Japanese newspaper Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun reported. TSMC will build the new plant in the southwestern region of Kumamoto to manufacture 5nm and 10nm chips from 2025, the report said. A TSMC spokesperson declined to comment on the development but instead pointed to CEO CC Wei’s comment from the company’s last quarterly earnings call in January, which said, “In Japan, we are building a specialty technology fab, which will utilize 12 and 16 nanometer, and 22/28 process technologies. Volume production is scheduled for late 2024. We are also considering building a second fab in Japan, as long as the demand from customers and the level of government support makes sense.” TSMC’s global expansion plans TSMC has been looking to expand beyond Taiwan to places such as the US, Europe, and Japan. This expansion is also expected to be supported by subsidies offered by the host countries, which are looking at reducing their dependence on China. The company has already started work at its massive chip factory in Arizona, while it continues to scout for locations for a factory in Europe. Experts believe this global expansion could significantly benefit the chipmaker even if the cost of production is much higher in the new locations. “The construction cost of building and facilities for the US fab is up to 5x greater versus a fab in Taiwan, per TSMC,” said Sravan Kundojjala, an analyst at the market research firm TechInsights. “TSMC spends 80% of its CapEx on equipment and 20% on construction. Overall, a fab in the US can cost 80% higher than a fab in Taiwan. However, TSMC seeks to narrow this cost gap with government incentives.” Why is it important for TSMC to expand beyond Taiwan? TSMC needs to diversify beyond Taiwan to access a wider talent pool and stay close to customer locations, Kundojjala said. Moreover, it has become imperative for foundries to guarantee manufacturing capacity to customers amid the US-China chip war. Diversifying its operational locations could help TSMC withstand climate, talent shortage, and political tensions between Taiwan and China. “TSMC’s US fab will help it stay close to customers and immune to potential China invasion. Arizona is known for its talent pool, subsidies, and foundry ecosystem. Intel has been operating in Arizona for years. Despite its presence in Arizona, TSMC will not be able to meet all its US customer demands immediately. Taiwan will continue to be a big part of its plans,” said Kundojjala. The US fab will help TSMC serve leading-edge US customers, while the Japan fab will help the company gain traction in specialty technologies (image sensor, auto MCUs etc.), and 3D IC research, Kundojjala said. “Apple, AMD, NVIDIA and Qualcomm support the Chips Act to help TSMC narrow the cost gap.” Despite political and trade tensions between Taiwan and China, China continues to be a big revenue source for TSMC. “TSMC continued to serve Chinese customers that are not on the entity list. China accounted for around 10% of TSMC’s revenue in 2022,” Kundojjala said. Source: https://www.computerworld.com/article/3688933/tsmc-to-invest-74-billion-in-second-japan-chip-factory-report.html

Name of the game: Grand Theft Auto V Premium Edition Price: 40$ to 12.37$ Link Store: https://www.g2a.com/grand-theft-auto-v-premium-online-edition-pc-rockstar-key-global-i10000146170004 Offer ends up after X hours: Depends on offers. Requirements: Minimal requirements: ntel Core 2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40GHz (4 CPUs) / AMD Phenom 9850 Quad-Core Processor (4 CPUs) @ 2.5GHz GRAPHICS NVIDIA 9800 GT 1GB / AMD HD 4870 1GB (DX 10, 10.1, 11) MEMORY 4 GB RAM DISK SPACE 72 GB available space SYSTEM Windows 10 64 Bit, Windows 8.1 64 Bit, Windows 8 64 Bit, Windows 7 64 Bit Service Pack 1 OTHER 100% DirectX 10 compatible. Recommended requirements: Intel Core i5 3470 @ 3.2GHz (4 CPUs) / AMD X8 FX-8350 @ 4GHz (8 CPUs) GRAPHICS NVIDIA GTX 660 2GB / AMD HD 7870 2GB MEMORY 8 GB RAM DISK SPACE 72 GB available space SYSTEM Windows 10 64 Bit, Windows 8.1 64 Bit, Windows 8 64 Bit, Windows 7 64 Bit Service Pack 1

Nickname: CrimeBOSS Video author: TWO SIDE GAMERS Name of the game: Garena Free Fire Link video: Rate this video 1-10: 10-7

A masterful ARPG that’s diabolically hard to put down. Like seeing your favorite band play their greatest hit live, Diablo 4 is completely awesome to behold even though you know exactly how the song’s going to go from the moment you hear the first iconic note. Diablo 4 doesn’t do much to reinvent ARPGs or push the boundaries of a genre its series helped pioneer, but the tweaks, improvements, and borrowed ideas it does introduce have forged this latest model into the best Diablo we’ve ever had. The finely-tuned combat, extensive build options across each class, stellar graphics, and strong live-service foundation are all among the most impressive in the genre, and the endgame activities and grind are so well thought out that I struggle to find any fault in them – as rare an occurrence as rainfall on Mars. A weak story and some irritating bugs do occasionally throw a wet blanket over the fires of Hell, but the 80 hours I’ve spent in Sanctuary have still been overwhelmingly positive, and even after all that demon slaying and obsessing over loot rolls, I’m still very excited to play a whole lot more. Diablo 4 is the latest in a demon-centric series quickly approaching its 30th birthday, and it largely succeeds at modernizing the depths of Hell enough to finally match its more recent ARPG peers. You’re once again sent on an endless string of dungeon crawls where mastering your hotkey-bound abilities, optimizing your DPS, and improving your survivability are generally more important than things like an engaging story or explaining the insane diarrhea of flickering lights and elemental effects that typically occupy the screen – and practically every moment of that is really, really enjoyable whether you’re playing alone or with up to three friends. Running dungeons captures that familiar but just as compelling loop of killing hordes of enemies, completing objectives, and downing bosses, and running sidequests to learn more about the world’s lore and characters is usually a very good time even while the main plot meanders. Diablo 4 Screenshot If you were hoping Diablo 4 would shock the ARPG world with massive innovations to the genre, however, you’re likely to be disappointed in that specific regard. Instead of trying to revolutionize ARPGs in any major way, Blizzard mostly seems content to play it safe by making smart but unsurprising changes to the formula, with things like more customizable skill trees and more diverse playstyles between its iconic character classes. This series had a lot of catching up to do in the 11 years since Diablo 3, and whether it’s borrowing combat inspiration from Path of Exile or online elements from Lost Ark, there isn’t really anything about what Diablo 4 does so well that is completely unprecedented. But while there may not be much in the way of game-changing innovations, the good news is that lack of experimentation has resulted in a game that’s unbelievably well-designed and succeeds at practically everything it tries. I’m one of those weirdos who actually closely follows the story in Diablo, and although Diablo 4’s probably isn’t going to win any awards, it is still a massive step in the right direction compared to its predecessor. The quest to find and stop Lilith, daughter of one of the Prime Evils of Hell, after she unleashes her fury upon Sanctuary serves as a fantastic kicking off point that I was still eager to unravel even after my eighth playthrough of the first act during the pre-launch beta. Gone are the days of WWE-like voice performances and dreadfully cheesy dialogue, and the queen of succubi is one of the most complex villains the series has ever seen, with motivations that even made me question the justness of my own cause. Sanctuary is a gorgeous sight to behold, and sounds even better. But before you get any real payoff for what’s expertly set up in the first act, you’ll spend the vast majority of the next four going on tangentially related errands with more filler than a packing peanut factory, before finally getting back to the task at hand. The result is an interesting but disjointed story with a payoff that doesn’t quite stick the landing. The real shame is that anytime Lilith is on-screen or closely involved in whatever action is going on, it’s absolutely engrossing stuff. But she’s largely hidden behind a curtain waiting for the final act for the vast majority of the campaign, and the diversions you’re sent on along the way consistently feel like unnecessary detours. Combine that with some seriously disappointing boss fights I won’t spoil, especially the campaign’s final one, and it’s hard not to feel let down by what this could have been. It does help that Diablo 4 looks and sounds fantastic regardless of what’s going on in the story. Between the rare but breathtaking CGI cutscenes and the more numerous in-engine cutscenes that happen in between major story missions, as well as the detailed, disgustingly corrupted environments found in dungeons and out in the world, Sanctuary is rarely not a gorgeous sight to behold. It’s no small feat, then, that Diablo 4 sounds even better than it looks, with one of the most memorable OSTs in recent memory, mostly great voice acting, and lots of gross demon roars and shrieks as you lay waste to the minions of Hell. The ending of the story at least nicely sets up a whole host of possibilities for Diablo 4’s live-service future and inevitable story expansions, but I find myself excited about the potential of where things might go more than I am happy about the base campaign we got overall. It’s no wonder that Blizzard allows you to skip the campaign entirely for every character you make after the first time you complete it – a five-minute recap video would be just as effective as replaying the roughly 15-hour story. That might have been more disappointing if the brief campaign were meant to be the main course of this meal, but thankfully rolling credits in a Diablo game means you’ve only just finished the appetizer. When it comes to the things that really matter in the long run like combat, buildcrafting, hunting for gear, and especially the endgame, Diablo 4 absolutely knocks it out of the park in practically every way. Even if they aren’t perfectly balanced, all five character classes are a ton of fun to play as. The rogue darts around to deal extreme damage either in melee or from afar with a deadly bow in an exhilarating high risk/high reward tradeoff; The sorcerer creates horrifying cocktails of destruction, like an absolutely disgusting lightning build I brewed up to stun everything around me constantly; The necromancer raises an army of the dead, steals life, and mani[CENSORED]tes the corpses of fallen enemies to carry out their foul desires, for when I’m in the mood to keep my distance and let someone else do the hard work for me; When I just want to Hulk my way through the depths of Hell, the barbarian is an expert in all forms of smashing who can charge forward to destroy everything in their path; And the druid uses their Animorph abilities and the power of mother nature to wail on all manner of demons, with probably the most build diversity of any of the classes. Buildcrafting for each class feels distinct in some really cool ways. Part of what helps make each option feel unique are the class mechanics that unlock at various points in the campaign. For example, the Sorceress gains access to the enchantment system in Act I, which allows you to enchant a couple of their spells to augment how they work. I used one of my enchantments on my teleport spell to turn the standard dodge every class gets into a second teleport cooldown, greatly improving my mobility. Each class has their own unique twist, whether it’s augmenting your ranks of the dead as a necromancer or bonding with spirit animals to gain beastly enhancements as a druid, and that goes a long way to making your playthrough and buildcrafting on each character feel distinct in some really cool ways. Gear can also substantially affect the paths you might choose to take a character down. For example, after completing a job for a demented tree, you could be rewarded with a magical pair of pants that heals you over time when standing close to enemies, warranting a shift in your build from slaying enemies from afar to something close quarters. Or maybe, like me, you’ll get devilishly lucky when you find a weapon that has a chance of casting a random lightning spell for free whenever you cast an initial one, leading to absolute mayhem when you bring your electrical might to bear upon an unsuspecting huddle of bandits. https://www.ign.com/videos/diablo-immortal-video-review Trying out new builds and experimenting with powerful new pieces of equipment is one of the best parts of Diablo 4, and I spent most of my time on my sorcerer, where I continuously discovered new and extremely rude ways to be the best glass cannon I could be, like equipping an ice shield that froze enemies for the sin of attacking me to remove said shield. The variety of systems available to optimize your character are so numerous that it can be pretty dizzying at first, even for a Diablo veteran like me, but when properly mastered this is easily one of the best buildcrafting toolboxes of all time. Whether it’s the dense skill trees, the endgame paragon boards and powerful glyphs that can be upgraded and socketed into them, the plethora of loot options across various world tiers and rarity levels, the gems and vendor upgrades you can use to make that equipment even better, or the fact that gear perks can be tweaked to optimize them for a certain build, Blizzard seems to have thought of just about everything. And all that control meant I never came close to feeling like my time wasn’t being respected when a loot drop didn’t happen to go my way. There are just so many ways to interact with your build and make smart use of your gear. For example, whenever I outleveled a cool piece of gear with an effect I loved, I could extract its key perk and keep it in my inventory to be imprinted on a more powerful piece of equipment down the road. And thankfully, Blizzard has backed down from its previous promises to make skill tree respecs prohibitively expensive. Instead, they merely hurt your in-game wallet enough that switching high-level characters to a new build is a serious consideration, but not one that’s impossible or sends you straight to the poor house. After 80 hours on a single character, I was still discovering new ways to tweak and improve my build or new equipment perks that opened up exciting possibilities. That makes it very difficult to log off even when I found myself playing nearly until the sun came up once or twice. Running through bone-riddled dungeon halls is a consistent joy. Running through murky halls with my decked out murder machines feels significantly more streamlined since the dungeon tweaking Blizzard rolled out in response to feedback from the beta weekends, with far less backtracking and wasted time. That keeps things moving along at a great pace and makes diving into the bone-riddled halls of an ancient tomb or what I can only assume is a demon body parts exhibit a consistent joy. No matter what class you’ve chosen, shredding your way through piles of wretched reprobates is usually effortless fun that lets you flex your unrivaled power, though some of the more difficult activities like Nightmare Dungeons are bound to put those skills to the test. There’s also a good chance you’ll run into a random event that might have you rescuing some poor souls who find themselves lost in a crypt, or get attacked by The Butcher, a familiar demon who enjoys meat hooks more than I thought possible. Admittedly, regular minions have very few unique mechanics I could discern in the few seconds it took to send them back to Hell with my coldest regards. Most just run at you while yelping or hurdle some pointy object at you from nearby, which doesn’t make them feel all that different to fight even when they are part of some distinct and cool-looking enemy faction. But you do get the occasional breath of fresh air, like shamans that summon new enemies to the battlefield, making their summary executions a high priority, or skeletons that slowly shamble toward you with big, beefy shields until you’re able to tear through their defenses and finish them off. Dungeon bosses have a bit of a similar inconsistency – I can only fight so many big, floating demon wizards called “The Curator” or some such nonsense before it all just blends together into one big pile of satisfyingly defeated gore. But others are much more memorable, like one where a laughing cultist repeatedly summoned waves of freaks until he ran out of steam and was quickly turned into a bowl of mashed potatoes by me and my friends. Speaking of friends, Diablo 4 is great for making them, as an online connection is required to push back the forces of evil. While this comes with the expected but rare hitches like getting disconnected from the live servers in the middle of your adventures or having to wait in short queues to get play during a particularly busy time, the benefits far exceed the drawbacks. There’s a much greater sense of discovery now as you encounter other players out in the wild (or murder them in cold blood in a PvP zone), and those chance encounters when you’re taking down a world boss, for example, can turn into new online friends. It’s especially cool that trading and clans seem to have greatly increased in prominence compared to previous Diablo games, and there’s a real sense of community around taking down endgame group activities together and helping one another optimize your builds. That’s the kind of magic you can get in an online game and I’m very excited to see what ridiculous shenanigans the community gets into. Optimizing your build and coordinating with your squad means nothing if there aren’t endgame activities waiting to be conquered, and Diablo 4 has quite possibly the best day-one endgame experience I’ve seen. Once you’ve beaten the campaign, you’ll be able to run bounties for the Tree of Whispers, an evil plant with dismembered heads hanging from it, which spawns new activities infinitely in exchange for high-level loot drops. Doing so at higher world tiers (essentially harder difficulties) also gives you keys to Nightmare Dungeons, which are more challenging versions of existing levels that add crazy stuff like an invincible crystal that magically chases you around the entire time trying to crush you and your dreams while you fight suped-up versions of the dungeon’s enemies and bosses. PvP is possibly the endgame activity with the longest tail. I was around level 43 when I finished the campaign, but at level 50, you’ll also be ready to tackle the first Capstone Dungeon – a mostly by-the-numbers dungeon that serves as a power and skill check in order to unlock the third world tier, and which grants access to a variety of new activities and loot drop ranks. Some of those are called Helltide Events, a completely awesome type of activity where blood begins raining from the skies in certain zones, and uber-deadly enemies swarm everywhere. Killing them and collecting nonsensically named Aberrant Cinders without dying allows you to open special chests that are positively crammed with sacred loot. But PvP is possibly the endgame activity with the longest tail. You’ll find two PvP zones in Sanctuary where you compete to slay NPC enemies to collect materials while keeping your head on a swivel to defend against rival players who might decide to kill you and take your resources for themselves. Running around in these chaotic zones is completely nerve-wracking and hilarious, especially since even your own party members can betray you by scooping up the valuable materials that are not shared between players, leading to rifts in even the strongest alliance – you might even be tempted to leave the party to rid yourself of that pesky friendly fire protection and lash out at a former ally. Then at level 70, you get another Capstone Dungeon to unlock the final world tier, which gives you access to even better loot, tougher enemies, and more XP, and, there’s yet another final endgame dungeon designed for level 100 characters after that – the treadmill of things to conquer is so well designed I didn’t want to get off even when I felt like I had seen 95% of what was on offer. The whole time you work towards the max level of 100, you’re earning Paragon points to make your character ever more deadly against your increasingly formidable foes, which serve as a carrot to keep grinding your way through Tree of Whisper Bounties, Helltide Events, and PvP zones. Even after more than 80 hours on my primary character I haven’t reached level 100 yet, but there is a cap on both leveling and earning additional Paragon points once you do, a smart move away from Diablo 3’s philosophy of letting players earn nigh-endless stat increases in favor of a system that forces you to make meaningful choices with the limited upgrades your Paragon Boards can contain. I prefer that approach to the bloated monsters that Diablo 3 characters were known to become, and the endgame grind to reach that max level is practically perfect in terms of variety, replayability, buildcrafting, and more. Even if you somehow run out of things to do in the endgame for one character, rolling a second or third character instantly becomes a fresh experience since the campaign is optional and many unlocks like Altars of Lilith (fonts of power hidden throughout Sanctuary) and potions/skill points granted from gaining renown in regions of the map are account-wide bonuses that instantly apply to your character. The most important of these instant unlocks is your mount, which allows your new characters to hop on a horse and race off to faraway parts of the map so you can begin leveling by playing whichever activities you want, rather than being stuck to the campaign’s railroad tracks every time you want to try out a new class. Tackling dungeons or participating in PvP from the fresh perspective of a whole new class immediately shakes off any dust Diablo 4’s lengthy grind might gather and extends the good times even further than I thought possible. The best part about Diablo 4’s endgame successes, though, is that all of it’s built upon a live-service foundation that will allow the world, meta, and activities to evolve over time. Whether or not that model will be updated with content frequently enough to keep people interested remains to be seen, but even without it, the vanilla endgame experience is strong enough on its own. I can only imagine how exciting it’ll be when new experiences are added to the Diablo 4 playground that challenge your maxed out characters in exciting ways and expand upon the story or available character classes. Live-service games get a lot of hate nowadays, and I understand why when there are so many recent examples of how not to do them (I’m looking at you, CrossfireX). But that model can also breathe endless life into a game when done right – we don’t know yet if Blizzard will do it justice, but right now I couldn’t be happier that the groundwork has at least been well laid for Diablo 4 to potentially thrive going forward. Hopefully some of those updates come sooner rather than later, too, as Diablo 4 does suffer from a few nasty bugs at the moment. For example, if you enjoy teleporting around as a sorcerer, be prepared to get stuck in the ground literally hundreds of times, as Blizzard apparently didn’t account for vertical geometry changes when zipping around the top-down levels. Thankfully the issue can be resolved by just teleporting back to town, but it also forced me to retrace my steps to my original location, wasting tons of time…only for it to happen again when I teleported a few minutes later. There’s also some weird rubberbanding that sometimes goes on when you try to go from one region to another that prevents you from entering a zone. In some instances, my friends and I had to use one another as teleporting waypoints to get into regions we were completely unable to enter. Most of Diablo 4’s issues are extremely specific things that will likely get patched, but they were bad enough to tangibly impact my enjoyment a bit in the meantime. Verdict Diablo 4 is a stunning sequel with near perfect endgame and progression design that makes it absolutely excruciating to put down. The story is a pretty big disappointment despite still being a noticeable improvement over Diablo 3 and there are some annoying bugs that need squashing, but the combat, the loot game, and both the sights and sounds of this world are impressive enough to smooth over those rough edges. Diablo 4 takes the strategy of refining things the series already did so well rather than giving it a more substantial overhaul, and that careful and reverent path has shaped this massive sequel into one of the most polished ARPGs ever created, which makes slicing through the legions of the damned a hell of a good time. Source: https://www.ign.com/articles/diablo-4-review

Dragon Nest 2: Evolution, a new fantasy MMORPG open-world game developed by Shengqu Game and published by Tencent’s Level Infinite is now open for pre-registration for Android devices. The game takes place in the continent of Altea where the player is tasked to save the collapsing world. Dragon Nest 2: Evolution offers a thrilling gameplay experience Dragon Nest 2: Evolution was announced first in 2022, with the Android early access scheduled in September of the same year in select regions around the world. However, following the announcement there weren’t any announcements from the side of the developers before the opening of pre-registrations recently. By the first looks of the game, it promises a multiplayer experience designed to deliver thrilling and engaging gameplay. There are four distinct classes of characters to choose from, offering a selection of 32 choices, and plenty of options when it comes to finding the best approach. This will be allowing you to craft a truly unique character that perfectly aligns with your preferred play style. In the Multiplayer mode, you and your guildmates venture together into epic adventures and face formidable boss battles to reap the benefits after the conclusion. The trading system is also incorporated into the game for the resources and equipment to be used freely. A pre-registration campaign is live with milestone rewards Some interesting rewards are up for grabs for the players if some milestones are broken. The details are given below: PRE-REGISTRATION MILESTONE REWARD 1 million Glazed Amber x100 2 million Revive Coin x10 3 million Pandora’s Heart x3 4 million Crazy Duck Hat x1 5 million Angelic Sheep x1 These will be claimable once the campaign is over from the in-game inbox.] The game is currently only accessible for Android devices where they can pre-register from Google Play Store. The makers confirm that the iOS pre-registration will open soon at an unannounced date. No news concerning the global release has been announced, so players must wait for official updates via their website. Source: https://gamingonphone.com/news/dragon-nest-2-evolution-a-fantasy-mmorpg-opens-pre-registration-on-android/

Just two days after claiming the Diablo 4 Hardcore crown as the first player to reach level 100 in the game's unforgiving permadeath mode, streamer Souaïb "cArn" Hanaf's in-game avatar has died in the most ignominious way possible—felled not in a glorious showdown with a powerful enemy, but by a random server disconnection. cArn was simply roaming the overworld map and beating up trash mobs when it all went wrong. "Hello?" he said in early but obvious alarm as the screen suddenly froze. "I'm [CENSORED]... are you kidding me?" A second later, the screen went black. This is one of the big risks in playing Diablo 4's Hardcore mode, especially during the early days of the game's release, when glitches and server instability are relatively common: A disconnection, for any reason, is essentially a guaranteed death. This isn't really a big deal in normal mode, where death is a very brief and minor inconvenience, but there's no coming back from it in Hardcore: Your stuff is gone, the character is wiped, and you're starting over from scratch. Multiple attempts at claiming the hardcore crown prior to cArn_'s victory were derailed by glitches and bugs. Sure enough, when cArn_ logged back into the game, he discovered to his great dismay that his character was dead—brought down by a lowly vampire bat. "Yeah, sure, a vampire bat's gonna kill me," he said. "Doesn't make sense." cArn_ is understandably upset about his death, but as noted by PCGamesN, it's not the loss of the characters that bothers him so much as the gear he'd accumulated during his run. "Stop saying it's fine, you can get level boosted," he said in response to viewers who suggested he could boost a new character straight to level 100. "I don't care about the levels." It's a sad end to one of Diablo 4's great early heroes, and while death eventually comes for us all, this was an especially ugly way to go. One of cArn_'s viewers invoked a famous bad-death scene from the world of movies to sum up the moment: Source: https://www.pcgamer.com/diablo-4s-first-level-100-hardcore-character-has-died-in-the-worst-way-possible/

Officially nicknamed the “Equality State” but also known as “Big Wyoming,” the “Park State,” and the “Cowboy State,” Wyoming was the 44th state to join the United States of America on July 10, 1890. Wyoming has a po[CENSORED]tion of 578,759 people (as of 2019), making it the least po[CENSORED]ted US state. It’s bordered by the states of Utah, South Dakota, Nebraska, Montana, Idaho, and Colorado. With a total of 97,914 square miles (253,600 square kilometers) of land and water, it is the 10th largest state. The capital of Wyoming is Cheyenne, which is tucked away in the southeast corner of the state. That’s enough fast facts about the Equality State for now; we’re here to learn the more unusual facts! 1. Wyoming has been inhabited for at least 13,000 years. According to modern theories, the Paleo-Indians were the first settlers to explore and settle in North America. They were hunter-gatherers who entered modern-day Alaska from the far east of what is now Russia sometime between 15,000 to 13,000 BC. The Paleo-Indians slowly spread out over North America and settled wherever they found reasonable hunting grounds. Their presence is clear from the uniquely shaped stone spearheads that have been found all over the continent. By around 11,000 BC, they reached modern-day Wyoming and settled there over time. There were over ten Native American tribes living in Wyoming when Europeans first arrived. Arapaho people 2. There were over ten Native American tribes living in Wyoming when Europeans first arrived. Over the next few thousand years, the descendants of the Paleo-Indians came to live increasingly stable sedentary lives. This change in lifestyle resulted in increases in technology, culture, and complexity of society. With this, unique cultures and tribes developed, although many still lived semi-nomadic lives. By the time Europeans arrived in modern-day Wyoming, the tribes that lived in the region included the Arapaho, Kiowa, Shoshone, Bannock, Crow, Nez-Perce, Cheyenne, Blackfeet, Ute, Gros-Ventre, Sioux, Arikara, and the Tukudeka (sometimes known as the Mountain Sheep-Eaters). The only tribes which remain in Wyoming today are the Shoshone and Arapaho, who live on the Wind River Reservation. That being said, many living in Wyoming still identify with many other tribes. 3. The first European explorers to reach Wyoming were French Canadian. Unlike much of the coastal areas of North America, the region now known as Wyoming was completely unknown to Europe until the mid-18th century. The sons of the famed French Canadian explorer Pierre La Vérendrye, Louis-Joseph, and François, were the first to document their travels into the northeast of the region while on a failed journey to strike a path through to the Pacific Ocean. The next Westerner to document their exploits in Wyoming was John Colter, a Lewis and Clark Expedition member who split off and spent some time trapping for fur there at the beginning of the 19th century. 4. Wyoming changed hands a few times before it became a part of the US. The first European nation to lay claim to Wyoming was Spain, despite none of Spain’s explorers ever setting foot there. In 1804 the southwest was claimed as a part of the Alta California region of New Spain, but due to its northern location, it was completely ignored. Later, when Mexico gained independence from Spain, the region fell under Mexican control, but they also never made moves to settle it. The eastern portion of the region was under French control but was sold to the US in 1803 as part of the Louisiana Purchase. Control of the western parts was disputed at first by Britain and the US at the beginning of the 19th century but eventually became a part of Oregon Territory in 1848. 5. Most of Wyoming was a part of the Idaho Territory. The US control of Wyoming was all over the place in the early years, with parts of it being incorporated into the Dakota Territory, Nebraska Territory, Oregon Territory, and Washington Territory. Much of it was eventually incorporated into Idaho Territory when it was formed in 1863, except for a small portion in the southwest which was claimed by Utah Territory in 1851. However, Idaho Territory’s control was relatively short-lived, as much of its claim to the region was formed into Dakota Territory in 1864. Finally, in 1868 Wyoming Territory was created, with land from Utah, Idaho, and Dakota territories. 6. Wyoming was the first US state to give women the right to vote. From the 1840s, women from all over the US began to fight for their rights to vote, but it would be nearly another century before their rights were finally cemented with the 19th Amendment in 1920. Not every state or territory had the same opinion, which complicated the issue significantly. The people of Wyoming were forward-thinking and progressive, and from the very outset of the territory, they made moves to legalize female voter’s rights. Just one year after its formation, women over the age of 21 were allowed to vote in Wyoming. When the territory began to make moves towards statehood, they insisted that Wyoming women should retain their right to vote. In 1890 the state of Wyoming was formed, becoming the first US state to give women the right to vote. 7. Wyoming is home to the first National Park in the world. This is, of course, none other than Yellowstone National Park, which became the first National Park in the world when President Ulysses S. Grant established it on March 1, 1872. People have known about the wonders of Yellowstone for much longer than that, though, as there is evidence of Native American presence there that dates back as far as 11,000 years ago! In fact, many different tribes hunted there, lived there, and had trade routes that passed through this stunning part of Wyoming. Today the National Park covers an immense 3,468 square miles (8,983 square kilometers) and is home to the Yellowstone Caldera, the largest supervolcano in North America. While the Yellowstone Caldera is dormant, the region is full of thermal activity and is home to half of the world’s geysers!

Claressa Shields showed once again why she's the best women's fighter in the world by dominating Maricela Cornejo in a 10-round unanimous decision win to retain her undisputed middleweight championship. And while Cornejo was a late replacement for Hanna Gabriels, who tested positive for a banned substance and was removed from the card, it was more about the way Shields dominated Cornejo and how she looked unbeatable. With the victory, Shields keeps the top spot. All our panelists voted Shields at No. 1, with Chantelle Cameron getting some consideration after her victory over Katie Taylor to keep her junior welterweight undisputed championship. "Shields was once again dominant -- as expected -- and she remained No. 1 for me in the latest pound-for-pound rankings," said boxing writer Michael Rothstein. "But it was a close decision. What Cameron accomplished last month in beating Taylor, and beating her somewhat decisively in Taylor's homecoming fight in Ireland, was a truly special performance. So Cameron jumped up to No. 2 for me based off what she's done so far and the massive win over Taylor. "Shields remains at No. 1 because of her level of skill and her continued tremendous ability as a defensive fighter. She's shown improvements fight over fight, from sitting on her punches to some of her combination work, and she has some of the best defense in the sport." Despite the loss, Taylor kept her No, 2 spot over Amanda Serrano, while Cameron moves to No. 4. Seniesa Estrada also moves up after an impressive victory over Tina Rupprecht which unified two strawweight world titles. Here's the current top 10. 1. CLARESSA SHIELDS Previous ranking: No. 1 2. KATIE TAYLOR Previous ranking: No. 2 3. AMANDA SERRANO Previous ranking: No. 3 4. CHANTELLE CAMERON Previous ranking: No. 7 5. ALYCIA BAUMGARDNER Previous ranking: No. 5 6. SENIESA ESTRADA Previous ranking: No. 8 7. MIKAELA MAYER Previous ranking: No. 6 8. JESSICA MCCASKILL Previous ranking: No. 5 9. FRANCHON CREWS-DEZURN Previous ranking: No. 9 10. SAVANNAH MARSHALL Previous ranking: N/R The formula The rankings are based on a descending points system, with a first-place vote receiving 10 points, a second-place vote receiving nine points and so on. Others receiving votes: Natasha Jonas (7), Delfine Persoon (6), Christina Hammer (5), Hyun Choi (1), Yokasta Valle (1), Terri Harper (1), Jessica Nery Plata (1). How our experts voted Michael Rothstein: 1. Shields, 2. Cameron, 3. Taylor, 4. Serrano, 5. Estrada, 6. Baumgardner, 7. McCaskill, 8. Mayer, 9. Jonas, 10. Valle Timothy Bradley Jr.: 1. Shields, 2. Taylor, 3. Serrano, 4. Baumgardner, 5. Estrada, 6. Cameron, 7. Mayer, 8. McCaskill, 9. Jonas, 10. Crews-Dezurn Nick Parkinson: 1. Shields, 2. Taylor, 3. Serrano, 4. Cameron, 5. Baumgardner, 6. Mayer, 7. Marshall, 8. McCaskill, 9. Estrada, 10. Harper Salvador Rodriguez: 1. Shields, 2. Taylor, 3. Serrano, 4. Cameron, 5. Baumgardner, 6. Estrada, 7. Mayer, 8. Crews-Dezurn, 9. Jonas, 10. Nery Plata Bernardo Pilatti: 1. Shields, 2. Taylor, 3. Serrano, 4. Baumgardner, 5. Cameron, 6. McCaskill, 7. Marshall, 8. Hammer, 9. Persoon, 10. Estrada Charlie Moynihan: 1. Shield, 2. Serrano, 3. Baumgardner, 4. Mayer, 5. Cameron, 6. Taylor, 7. Persoon, 8. Estrada, 9. Hammer, 10. Choi Kel Dansby: 1. Shields, 2. Cameron, 3. Taylor, 4. Serrano, 5. Bumgarnder, 6. McCaskill, 7. Crews-Dezur, 8. Estrada, 9. Mayer, 10. Jonas ESPN experts' poll First place: Shields (7) Second place: Taylor (4), Cameron (2), Serrano (1) Third place: Serrano (4), Taylor (2), Baumgardner (1) Fourth place: Serrano (2), Cameron (2), Baumgardner (2), Mayer (1) Fifth place: Baumgardner (3), Cameron (2), Estrada (2) Sixth place: McCaskill (2), Taylor (1), Cameron (1), Baumgardner (1), Estrada (1), Mayer (1) Seventh place: Mayer (2), Marshall (2), McCaskill (1), Crews-Dezurn (1), Persoon (1) Eighth place: Estrada (2), McCaskill (2), Crews-Dezurn (1), Mayer (1), Hammer (1) Ninth place: Jonas (3), Estrada (1), Mayer (1), Persoon (1), Hammer (1) 10th place: Estrada (1), Crews-Dezurn (1), Jonas (1), Harper (1), Choi (1) Valle (1), Nery Plata (1) Source: https://www.espn.com/boxing/story/_/id/37806106/women-boxing-pound-pound-rankings-claressa-shields-top-chantelle-cameron-makes-big-jump

‘He’s portraying crypto as the villain in order to portray himself as a political hero,’ says one Democratic congressman The Securities and Exchange Commission is engaged in a multifront battle against actors in the digital asset industry that intensified this week after it filed lawsuits against Binance Holdings Inc. and Coinbase Global Inc. COIN, +3.20%, two of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world. But there is a growing sense in Congress and among former regulators that SEC Chairman Gary Gensler has bit off more than he can chew and is undermining congressional efforts to regulate the digital asset industry. “The latest enforcement action against Coinbase is an egregious example of regulation by enforcement,” Rep. Ritchie Torres, a New York Democrat, told MarketWatch. “It demonstrates a complete contempt for Congress which is in the process of developing a framework” for crypto regulation. Gensler has signaled his growing displeasure with the industry in speeches, congressional hearings and media appearances, telling a congressional panel in April, “I’ve been around finance for 40 years…I’ve never seen a field so noncompliant with laws written by Congress.” Torres, who sits on the House Financial Services Committee that oversees the SEC, says Gensler’s current stance is evidence of a radical revision of his views on the technology from when he taught a course on blockchain and money at MIT in 2018. “His view of the law has been constantly changing,” Torres said. “Mr. Gensler has gone from a crypto cheerleader to a crypto skeptic,” a change that Torres believes is motivated by politics. “He’s portraying crypto as the villain in order to portray himself as a political hero.” The SEC declined to comment. Republican members of the House Financial Services Committee have long been critical of the Biden-appointed Gensler, and they maintained their criticisms in recent days. Arkansas Rep. French Hill, who chairs the House subcommittee on digital assets, said at an event Monday that the moves against Coinbase and Binance were “CYA” to distract from the SEC’s failure to prevent the collapse of FTX, “ the biggest fraud and the biggest malfeasance in American financial history.” Gensler has touted the number of crypto-related enforcement cases the SEC has brought, estimating the number to be 140 in an interview last month at the Atlanta Federal Reserve Financial Markets Conference. The ambition of these actions has ramped up significantly with the Binance and Coinbase suits, according to Philip Moustakis, former senior counsel in the SEC’s enforcement division. He argues that the Coinbase case, which alleges no fraud and is instead focused on Coinbase’s failure to register with the SEC as a securities exchange, is a waste of the SEC’s enforcement resources. The Coinbase lawsuit in part rests on the SEC’s assertion that several tokens offered on the Coinbase platform are securities and therefore Coinbase is operating as an unregistered securities exchange. Moustakis said that the law is unclear on whether these tokens, like Solana SOLUSD, -1.06% and Cardano ADAUSD, 1.34%, are actually securities and that a good lawyer could make an honest case for both sides of the argument. “That doesn’t seem the best use of the time and resources of the enforcement division, which one would hope would be focused on clear violations of the law,” Moustakis, currently a partner at the law firm Seward & Kissel, said. The SEC will have to spend significant resources on these cases, given that it has alleged that more than a dozen po[CENSORED]r cryptocurrencies are securities, expanding the number of people with an economic interest in the SEC losing its case. “The SEC filed its case against Ripple about two and a half years ago, and that involves a single token,” Moustakis said. “Each of the tokens named in the Binance and Coinbase complaints have issuers, investors or other market participants with an economic interest in the outcome of the litigation.” The SEC sued Ripple Inc. XRPUSD, -1.11% under previous SEC Chairman Jay Clayton in 2020 for selling unregistered securities. Industry representatives argue that the U.S. government has launched a “war against crypto,” and are increasingly pinning their hopes on Congress passing legislation that would create a new framework for cryptocurrency regulation. Katherine Dowling, a former assistant U.S. attorney and general counsel at Bitwise asset management, a crypto asset manager, says a crypto market structure bill is “urgently needed.” She argued in an interview with MarketWatch that these recent enforcement cases could motivate Congress to work more diligently on legislation that would create space both for consumer protection and for the crypto industry to thrive. Betting on speedy action in Congress, however, is usually a losing strategy, according to Ian Katz, a financial services analyst for Capital Alpha Partners. “There’s a line of thinking that the SEC’s actions will spur Congress to move quickly to pass sweeping crypto legislation,” he wrote in a Thursday note. “The logic is reasonable, but doesn’t account for Congress’ inability to perform complicated tasks that aren’t essential to keeping the country afloat.” Source: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/opposition-to-genslers-crypto-crackdown-grows-after-coinbase-lawsuit-7e9f51dc?mod=economy-politics

Marcus McGowan said he was with his wife and friends off Cape York on Saturday when the croc bit his head. An Australian man suffered head injuries in a harrowing encounter with a crocodile in Queensland over the weekend. Marcus McGowan was snorkeling with his wife and friends off Cape York on Saturday when he was attacked from behind, he said in a statement released Tuesday by the Cairns and Hinterland health service. The crocodile, which McGowan believes was a juvenile, had its jaws around his head. "I was able to lever its jaws open just far enough to get my head out," McGowan said. "The crocodile then attempted to attack me a second time, but I managed to push it away with my right hand, which was then bitten by the croc." McGowan was taken to Haggerstone Island, where a friend, a fireman, administered first aid until an emergency helicopter arrived to take him to a nearby hospital. He said he was treated for lacerations to his scalp and puncture wounds to his head and hand. Ultimately, McGowan said, he was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. "I live on the Gold Coast and am a keen surfer and diver, and understand that when you enter the marine environment, you are entering territory that belongs to potentially dangerous animals, such as sharks and crocodiles," he said in his statement. McGowan has asked for privacy as he recovers. Saltwater crocodiles, native to Australia, can grow up to 7 meters, more than 22 feet, according to the Australian Zoo. They can also hold their breath underwater for up to eight hours. "They use the murkiness of the water to remain unseen before ambushing their prey, grabbing them with their powerful jaws and death-rolling them back into the water," the zoo said on its website. Though the po[CENSORED]tion of saltwater crocodiles has rebounded after years of poaching, they are still considered vulnerable in Queensland, the zoo said. The last recorded attack by a crocodile was a nonfatal attack also around Cape York in February, according to the Queensland Department of Environment and Science. The department has a record of attacks from December 1985 through March, with the last recorded fatal attack in the state occurring in February 2021. "The Queensland Government is committed to a crocodile management program that delivers appropriate protection of public safety while enabling the ongoing survival of estuarine crocodiles in the wild," the department said on its website. Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/animal-news/australian-man-frees-head-jaws-crocodile-attacked-snorkeling-rcna86865