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US

US COVID-19 death toll breaches 900K mark

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The U.S. death toll from COVID-19 passed the 900,000 mark on Friday. 

As of Saturday afternoon, data from the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center showed that there were 901,391 deaths.

FAKE COVID-19 TEST CENTERS: HOW TO SPOT THEM

This milestone comes less than two months after the toll eclipsed 800,000 deaths. 

The real number of lives lost directly or indirectly to the coronavirus is believed to be significantly higher and experts believe some COVID-19 deaths have been misattributed to other conditions.  

The national coronavirus case count exceeds 76.3 million, according to the university’s tracker. 

Visitors walk by the COVID-19 memorial “Strength and Love” made of 26,661 white flags on the lawn of the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, California, U.S., November 20, 2021. 
(REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni )

In the past day, there were 371,447 new cases – a number that has fallen significantly since mid-January – and 4,154 new deaths.

The daily death toll, even as the omicron wave has seemingly crested in some states and cases and hospitalizations have started to fall, has continued to increase. 

The highly transmissible variant of concern now accounts for 99.9% of new COVID-19 cases in the nation.

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said last week that unvaccinated people are 97 times more likely to die from omicron than those who were up to date with their vaccinations. 

CDC DIRECTOR BACKS MODERNA COVID-19 VACCINE SHOTS

“If you are not up to date on your COVID-19 vaccinations, you have not optimized your protection against severe disease and death, and you should get vaccinated and boosted if you are eligible,” she urged during a White House COVID-19 Response Team briefing. 

In a Friday statement, President Biden urged Americans to do their part in order to save lives. 

“After nearly two years, I know that the emotional, physical, and psychological weight of this pandemic has been incredibly difficult to bear. I know what it’s like to stare at an empty chair around the kitchen table. But I also know that we carry an incredible capacity within ourselves – not only to come through our grief stronger, but to come together to protect one another,” he wrote. 

White flags honoring the lives lost to COVID-19 are seen on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the United States, on Oct. 2, 2021.  
(Liu Jie/Xinhua via Getty Images)

“We now have more tools than ever before to save lives and fight this virus – with vaccines remaining our most important tool. Vaccines and boosters have proven incredibly effective, and offer the highest level of protection. 250 million Americans have stepped up to protect themselves, their families, and their communities by getting at least one shot – and we have saved more than one million American lives as a result,” the president continued. 

“We can save even more lives – and spare countless families from the deepest pain imaginable – if everybody does their part. I urge all Americans: get vaccinated, get your kids vaccinated, and get your booster shot if you are eligible. It’s free, easy, and effective – and it can save your life, and the lives of those you love,” Biden concluded.

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CDC data shows 212.5 million Americans are fully vaccinated and 89.3 million have received a booster dose.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Technology

Peter Molyneux’s New NFT Game Sells Land Plot For Nearly $900k

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Fable creator Peter Molyneux’s next game isn’t even out yet, but it’s already making millions of dollars through NFTs, including selling one plot of land for a breathtaking amount of money.

Over the weekend Molyneux announced that his new game is called Legacy, and it’s described as “an innovative new game that pushes the boundaries of Blockchain Gaming”. To get into the game, players have to buy a “Land NFT” which lets them open a “blockchain business association” in the game.

This allows players to create digital buildings and products to sell to other players. Basically, you can become a virtual business owner in the hopes of making real money.

The money in the game is a cryptocurrency called LegacyCoin that’s part of the Ethereum blockchain. You can read more about Legacy’s planned ecosystem, and how it plans to let players earn LegacyCoin.

While the game isn’t due out until next year, the Land NFTs went up for sale this weekend. And, Rock Paper Shotgun reports some of the plots of Land sold for incredibly high prices.

Overall, the plots of land sold for a total of more than $53 million. The most expensive and rare plot called the London plot, sold for a staggering $900,000. The game isn’t out until 2022, so the new “Land” owners will have to wait until then to start working on their digital businesses within Legacy.

Ubisoft Quartz – How the blockchain-powered NFT system works

Much of the game industry is starting to experiment with NFTs and blockchain. Ubisoft took a crack at it when it announced its new Quartz system, and STALKER 2 announced a blockchain project just today. On the flipside, Steam has banned blockchain games and NFTs from its platform entirely.

Public opinion is divided on NFTs as a model for commerce and games. Ubisoft’s Quartz reveal was quickly downvoted, and critics say that NFTs offer nothing new while draining precious resources. The market is also rife with speculation, making the monetary potential of the concept shaky at best.

Axios’ Stephen Totilo noted that Ubisoft’s Ghost Recon NFTs are being listed for hundreds of thousands of dollars, but the offers are a paltry $21, meaning sellers are looking to cash in on the hype more than the actual interst.

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN. You can find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.



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US

Kevin Strickland: Thousands of people have raised more than $900K for a man who served 43 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit

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Kevin Strickland, 62, was exonerated Tuesday morning after serving decades at Western Missouri Correctional Center in Cameron, Missouri. Strickland was convicted in 1979 of one count of capital murder and two counts of second-degree murder in a triple homicide. He received a 50-year life sentence without the possibility for parole for a crime that, over the years, he maintained he had not been involved in.
Senior Judge James Welsh dismissed all criminal counts against Strickland. His release makes his confinement the longest wrongful imprisonment in Missouri history and one of the longest in the nation, according to The National Registry of Exonerations.
The Midwest Innocence Project created a GoFundMe account to help Strickland restart his life, since he doesn’t qualify for help from the state of Missouri.

In Missouri, only those exonerated through DNA testing are eligible for a $50 per day of post-conviction confinement, according to the Innocence Project. That was not the case for Strickland.

As of early Thursday afternoon, donations for Strickland had topped $910,000.

The fund was created over the summer with a goal of raising $7,500, which the fund says would amount to approximately $175 dollars for every year Strickland spent wrongfully convicted.

Thirty-six states and Washington, DC, have laws on the books that offer compensation for exonerees, according to the Innocence Project. The federal standard to compensate those who are wrongfully convicted is a minimum of $50,000 per year of incarceration, plus an additional amount for each year spent on death row.

Adjusting to a new world

Strickland said he learned of his release through a breaking news report that interrupted the soap opera he was watching Tuesday.

The first thing he did after his release was visit his mother’s grave.

“To know my mother was underneath that dirt and I hadn’t gotten a chance to visit with her in the last years … I revisited those tears that I did when they told me I was guilty of a crime I didn’t commit,” Strickland told CNN’s Brianna Keilar Wednesday.

His first night out of prison was a restless one, where thoughts of returning to prison, among others, kept him awake, he said Wednesday.

“I’m used to living in a close, confined cell where I know exactly what’s going on in there with me,” he said. “And being home and you hear the creaks of the home settling and the electrical wiring and whatever else … I was kind of afraid. I thought somebody was coming to get me.”

Convicted as a teenager, exonerated as an adult

Four people were shot in Kansas City, Missouri, on April 25, 1978, resulting in three deaths, according to CNN affiliate KSHB. The only survivor of the crime, Cynthia Douglas, who died in 2015, testified in 1978 that Strickland was at the scene of the triple murder.

Douglas sustained a shotgun injury and told police then that Vincent Bell and Kiln Adkins were two of the perpetrators. But she did not identify Strickland, who she knew, as being at the scene until a day later, according to KSHB, after it was suggested to her Strickland’s hair matched Douglas’ description of the shooter. Douglas claimed her initial failure to identify him was due to the use of cognac and marijuana, according to KSHB.

But for the past 30 years, she has been saying that she made a mistake and falsely identified Strickland. According to KSHB, Douglas made efforts to free Strickland through the Midwest Innocence Project.

The two assailants she identified at the scene both pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and each ended up serving about 10 years in prison for the crimes, according to Strickland’s attorney, Robert Hoffman.

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Technology

Bathroom doesn’t have walls in $900K home for sale

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If you’ve always dreamed of an open-concept toilet, this house is for you.

A Boston home for sale on Zillow that appears to be normal and quaint is actually anything but.

The newly renovated four-bedroom, three-bathroom property — in foreclosure — is listed at a whopping $899,000. However, one of the bathroom layouts is pretty crappy.

It starts the moment you walk through the front door, where a bathroom is on the left side of the open-concept space.

Although the listing states three full bathrooms, this bathroom is missing one main component: a wall.

Photos of the property were first shared by the Instagram account Zillow Gone Wild, and social media immediately labeled it a “nightmare.” 

Aerial view of the home.
Realtor.com
The very exposed bathroom.
Realtor.com
The bathroom is in the entry of the house.
Realtor.com

“Do we have to be open about EVERYTHING these days??” one Instagram user said. 

“Those glass walls really be doing the most for your privacy,” another joked.

“This is literally what I have recurring nightmares about,” one person wrote, while another called it a “freakshow.”

Built in 1910, the two-story home spans 2,000 square feet.

The home is made up of three “full” bathrooms.
Realtor.com
Social media users are horrified the bathroom is missing walls.
Realtor.com

While the rest of the house seems pretty normal, with modern renovations and pristine hardwood floors, the bathroom scenario is pretty hard to overlook. 

“Gotta love the clear glass between the shower and toilet, but frosted glass between the toilet and sink,” someone quipped.  

The newly renovated kitchen with stainless steel appliances.
Realtor.com
The open-floor living area.
Realtor.com

This isn’t the only home up for sale with some questionable features.

A Lake Tahoe, California, home made the rounds on social media thanks to the creepy mannequins placed in every room. There was also a Kentucky home that was missing a bathtub in its entirety.

And, as New Yorkers know, it’s not uncommon to find a tub in a kitchen in the Big Apple.



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