Binance to Exit Canada After Country Imposes New Crypto Rules
Binance, the world’s biggest crypto exchange, said it will exit Canada after the country moved to impose new
2023-05-13 05:26
Local baffled by mysterious 'UFO' hovering in the sky
A mysterious spinning ‘UFO’ has been spotted in the night sky by a stunned local. The brightly illuminated object is seen spinning in the air, but it appears to hover above a mountain. The shocked onlooker zooms in on the mysterious aircraft while saying in wonder: “It’s moving.” The hovering UFO was filmed in the village of Honorato Vásquez, Ecuador, on Tuesday (9 Sept) evening. The local authorities have yet to respond to claims that the object was from outer space. One local said: “I believe it.” Manuel wrote: “Those crazy aliens.” Yet Eddy joked: “In that drone there, you wouldn’t even be able to fit two-quarters of a Martian!” It followed an alleged aerial battle between military personnel and several alien spaceships in Argentina this month. Scared locals claimed that the military base was attacked by four black triangular-shaped UFOs. Scores of residents gathered outside the Commander Espora Air Naval Base near Bahía Blanca, Buenos Aires, as thunderous noises sounded from within the perimeter walls. The Commission for the Study of UFO Phenomena of the Argentine Republic, an organisation dedicated to investigating alleged alien sightings, claimed to have information that there were four UFOs seen attacking the military base. The group said the alien spacecrafts were black and triangular in shape and that Argentine troops fired at them with anti-aircraft weapons. Group spokesperson Andrea Pérez Simondini said witnesses saw “four lights entering the territory from across the ocean before taking a strategic position over one of the buildings where ammunition is stored”. However, the military authorities have denied that the base was under attack and claimed that the videos were faked by unscrupulous locals. Navy spokesperson Captain Germán Luis Zarralanga said their Sikorsky SH-3 Sea King helicopter was taking part in a training exercise that night, but was not involved in any kind of altercation with other aircraft. When discussing the social media footage, the spokesperson said: “It’s an edit. I don’t know what their intentions were. “Airport security and airport workers did not report seeing anything, and everyone at the base was sleeping except for the person piloting the helicopter. There was no type of special activity, no tactical manoeuvres, just a normal helicopter training flight, nothing related to ammunition.” One local commented: “Incredible! How many UFOs? I can't believe it! Amazing. An interplanetary war has begun.” Another said: “Are you telling me that it was one of the first-ever confrontations between humans and UFOs and we shot them down?” Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.
2023-09-24 18:55
Laptop Makers Bet on Better Display Tech to Rekindle Sales
PC makers from Lenovo Group Ltd. to Samsung Electronics Co. are pinning their hopes for reviving laptop sales
2023-06-02 17:15
US sanctions Iranian firm for helping government censor internet
The U.S. has imposed sanctions on an Iran-based technology firm for its role in facilitating the Iranian government’s censorship of the internet as anti-government protests swept the country
2023-06-02 23:48
Male characters in role-playing video games ‘speak twice as much as females’
Male characters in role-playing video games have 50% more dialogue than females, highlighting a “stark gender imbalance” in the gaming genre, scientists have said. In role-playing games (RPGs), the gamer controls one or more characters undertaking quests or missions in an imaginary world. Researchers from the Universities of Glasgow and Cardiff analysed the dialogue of 50 RPGs from 1986 to 2020, including Final Fantasy, Skyrim and Mass Effect. This encompassed 6.2 million spoken words from 13,000 characters. The results, published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, suggest 94% of the games studied had more male dialogue than female dialogue, including ones with multiple female protagonists such as Final Fantasy X-2 or King’s Quest VII. They also found that the proportion of female dialogue is slowly increasing in RPGs at a rate of 6.3 percentage points per decade – from a mean of about 18% in the 1980s to about 40% by 2020. While we expected to find a larger proportion of male dialogue overall, we were surprised to discover how few games - just three of 50 - had more than 50% female dialogue Dr Stephanie Rennick, University of Glasgow However, the researchers said that if this rate were to continue, gender balance would not be reached until 2036. Dr Stephanie Rennick, research associate in philosophy, school of humanities at the University of Glasgow, said: “While we expected to find a larger proportion of male dialogue overall, we were surprised to discover how few games – just three of 50 – had more than 50% female dialogue. “I was also surprised that the lack of female characters compared to their male counterparts persisted at every level, from main player characters through to background NPCs (non-player characters).” For the study, the researchers obtained the transcripts of dialogue used in the games and identified which character said what. Dr Sean Roberts, lecturer at the school of English, communication and philosophy at Cardiff University, said: “We categorised the gender of each character, not assuming binary gender. “This allowed us to count how many words were available for each gender in each game. “For example, we can compare the number of words spoken by female characters to the number of words spoken by male characters.” The researchers found only 35% of words were spoken by female characters and they were more likely to apologise, hesitate or be polite, compared with their male counterparts. They said the proportion of female dialogue ranged from 6% (King’s Quest VI) to 80% (King’s Quest IV: The Perils of Rosella). They discovered one game, Monkey Island, did not pass the Bechdel test, which requires two named female characters to talk to each other about something besides a man. Around half of gamers are female, but they experience a lot of abuse and exclusion. More diverse representation is being called for by players and developers Dr Sean Roberts, Cardiff University The team also found examples of stereotyped gendered behaviour. The researchers said that in Stardew Valley, characters respond differently depending on the player character’s gender. For example, they said, female players are offered a salad, wine, repeatedly described as beautiful and assumed to have little experience of video games, while male players are offered pasta, ale, described as “full of energy” and are assumed to be good video game players. Analysis also showed only 30 out of 13,000 characters belong to the non-binary gender categories, which is about half as much as in real life, the researchers said. Dr Roberts said: “Around half of gamers are female, but they experience a lot of abuse and exclusion. “More diverse representation is being called for by players and developers. “So we hope that developers will consider addressing the imbalances we found in order to create more inclusive games.”
2023-05-24 07:26
The Absolute Best Steam Games for 2023
The PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch are all excellent home video game
2023-06-01 00:49
Broadcom wins conditional EU antitrust approval to buy VMware
By Foo Yun Chee BRUSSELS U.S. chipmaker Broadcom secured EU antitrust approval on Wednesday for its $61 billion
2023-07-12 17:52
Macron Says Mongolia to Supply Critical Metals for Green Push
Mongolia has agreed to supply critical metals to France that it needs as part of its shift to
2023-05-22 01:54
'RHONJ' star Luis Ruelas slammed as he introduces his business team: 'Made a deal with the devil'
Luis Ruelas is expanding his business empire and his recent achievement has set tongues wagging
2023-06-22 09:24
Discover the secrets of YouTube with this $49 course bundle
TL;DR: Get the scoop on all things YouTube with the 2023 All-in-One YouTube Masterclass Bundle,
2023-05-13 18:29
Meta loses as top EU court backs antitrust regulators over privacy breach checks
By Foo Yun Chee BRUSSELS (Reuters) -Antitrust authorities overseeing firms such as Facebook owner Meta Platforms are entitled to also
2023-07-04 19:29
The Rock Confirms MW3 Operator is His Cousin
The Koa King Operator in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is The Rock's cousin, Ben, a former Navy SEAL. Here's how to get the Warrior Pack in MW3.
2023-11-15 00:22
You Might Like...
Copeland Receives Grant from U.S. Department of Energy to Support a $2.5M Project for Sustainable Heat Pump Innovation
Nvidia-Backed CoreWeave Seeks Stake Sale at Up to $8 Billion Valuation
Get a new-to-you iPad Pro and accessory bundle for $270
iOS update: iPhone users urged to install new software immediately after powerful security hole found
Adtran unveils industry’s first 64G Fibre Channel solution for quantum-safe DCI networking
Rocket Lab Inks New Deal to Launch HASTE Mission from Virginia
PewDiePie banned on Twitch despite not even streaming
Addison Rae: 5 unknown facts about TikTok star you should know
