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Technology

Steam User Spends 5 Years Purchasing All Of Its Hot Dog Emojis

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Image: Valve / Kotaku / NotionPic (Shutterstock)

20-year-old Brian Haugh has spent the past six years purchasing thousands of “:steam2016:” emoticons, which Valve created to promote the 2016 Steam Summer Sale and looks like a hot dog wearing little shoes. On Steam, you can purchase emoticons from other users in the Community Marketplace or create them by playing games that generate Steam collectibles. You can use them when chatting in Steam, to spruce up your profile description, or to create Super Mario art. Steam emoticons are typically $0.10 curios with limited practical use and aesthetic value, but they mean much more to Haugh.

“I will never stop looking for or at wieners,” he told me. “Wieners will be on my mind until the day I die.”

Some of Haugh’s dogs.
Screenshot: Brian Haugh

Haugh is on a mission to buy every :steam2016: hot dog emoticon available on the Community Marketplace, and has been doing so since the day he turned 16 in 2016. He routinely refers to them as “wieners” or “the wieners,” and as of June 30, he has 2,525 of them in his collection, which cost him over $250. He tracks these numbers in a fastidious spreadsheet, which contains all wiener transaction history and visualizes data in a graph named “Wieners Purchased Over Time.”

2018 was a good wiener year.
Screenshot: Brian Haugh

The wieners were a joke, at first. “I used to be a part of a small gaming group that met together to play Mount and Blade: Napoleonic Wars,” Haugh said. “During the summer of 2016, the Steam wiener emoji was released, and for whatever reason, I was stupid hyped over it. I kept spamming it, and our leader got fed up because other people were starting to join me. So he banned the use of it, stifling my rights to use the wiener emoji.”

In response, Haugh and his friends started drafting plans for a “wiener resistance,” which consisted of multiple people spamming :steam2016: until they got kicked from the server. He started buying the emoticon in bulk shortly after in celebration of the successful trolling, he says. Do you remember what it’s like to be 16?

The 2016 wiener resistance gained momentum on Steam.
Screenshot: Brian Haugh

But if you look beyond the teen boy shenanigans, Haugh’s attention to detail cannot be overstated. He’s dedicated to his craft, which happens to be collecting wieners. He’s so dedicated that he still performs routine checks on Steam’s wiener load even after feeling like he already made his “final purchase,” which bought up every available :steam2016: emoticon at that point in time (aside from one priced at $400).

“It has become a religion for me,” he said. “It’s always in the back of my mind.” And it has changed his understanding of real hot dogs forever—Haugh says that it “might sound strange, but occasionally I’ll see one, and this whole experience will flash into my mind and I’ll laugh.”

In addition to motivating schematic shifts, his mass wiener purchases might also be influencing the Steam market. They’re likely to be the sole determinants of :steam2016: emoticon prices, and because of the spreadsheet and Steam’s own data visualizers, Haugh has proof that his bulk purchases often lead to price spikes.

“No less than three days earlier, I had made a purchase of 66 wieners,” Haugh says about the July 1 price hike.
Screenshot: Brian Haugh

It checks out. “If I bought every single emoji worth $0.03 – $0.10 on a specific day, for example, the next day, the only [emoticons] being sold would be $0.11,” he said. “The average value would have increased, and other people would begin selling their own wieners at $0.11, which could be seen as the average trading prices for that day in the Steam market.”

“Steam’s marketplace is similar to that of a stock market,” he said. “Things are only able to be bought if someone else is selling,” which is why he let the $400 wiener live.

Our world seems to get darker and more filled with monkeypox every day, but at least one man’s loyalty to wieners stays good and strong.

“I don’t ever plan on stopping,” Haugh said. “There will always be some poor fool to list a wiener for a few cents on the market, and when he does, I’ll be there to buy it.”

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Technology

Fan Spends 40k On Stock To Ask Nintendo About F-Zero

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Screenshot: Nintendo

Many Nintendo fans desperately want a new entry in the popular sci-fi racing series, F-Zero. However, only one diehard fan was reportedly dedicated enough to spend over 5 million yen (roughly $40,000 US) on Nintendo stock, giving him a chance to ask the Japanese publisher about F-Zero and its future directly.

On June 29, during an annual shareholder meeting, an investor called in and asked Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa if the company had considered bringing back fan-favorite franchises, specifically F-Zero. It’s been over 15 years since the last release in the series, and so the question caught the attention of fans desperate for a new entry in the futuristic racing title. Now, thanks to a new report, we know who asked this question and why.

According to Business Insider, the investor who asked about F-Zero is a Nintendo fan who spent 5.6 million yen on 100 shares back in February after selling stock from a different company. The investor wished to remain anonymous and is simply known by his Twitter username: Momiji. He describes himself as a “diehard fan.”

“I have been playing Nintendo games since I was a child,” Momiji explained to Insider. “Among them, I can’t get enough of that sense of speed of F-Zero.”

While he had purchased enough shares to gain access to the meeting, he told Insider he wasn’t guaranteed to get a question in. Asking a question, he said, was a “bonus.” Nintendo later confirmed with Insider that 100 or more shares are needed to access these annual shareholder meetings.

After asking about F-Zero, Nintendo’s president offered an answer that was basically “Thanks for asking, but…no.”

“It is realistically difficult to develop new titles and remakes, including sequels, for every Nintendo game that people request,” said Furukawa via translation Momiji verified. “But we are very grateful and appreciate the expectations our fans have for our games.”

Shinnya Takahashi, Nintendo’s managing executive officer, was a bit more optimistic but stopped short of promising anything.

“During the 79th Ordinary General Meeting of Shareholders in 2019, we were asked if there were any plans to remake the Famicom Detective Club series, and, at that time, we happened to be planning a remake,” said Takahashi via translation from VGC. “That is an example where we were already actively developing such a title.”

“We cannot tell you if there are any plans for future remakes of any specific game,” Takahashi continued. “But, during development, we are always thinking about various possibilities that players can enjoy.”

So, there’s a chance, I guess. Not sure if this answer was worth $40,000 bucks, but at least Momiji still owns stock in one of the most popular video game companies in the world. That’s probably worth something!



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Technology

Dude Spends $6000 On Diablo Immortal, Gets No Legendary Gems

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While there are some who can distance Diablo Immortal’s experience from its economy, there are plenty—myself included—who can’t. And sure, we could just talk about how shitty that economy is, but a funnier and more effective way would be for someone to actually start sinking some serious cash into the game and see what happens.

That someone is not me, but Twitch streamer Quin69. He has been pouring money into the game, $25 at a time, to see what he can get for his outlay, and at time of posting has spent just over NZD$10,300 (or around USD$6600).

For that he has got…well, I’ll let him explain (you only need to watch the first 14 seconds):

You would think that after a while you’d eventually get some of the game’s best gear, a 5-star Legendary Gem, because that’s how the law of averages works, right? Wrong! As Quin69 has clearly proven here, the law of averages is inherently cruel and unpredictable, which is why bookmakers have been taking advantage of it since the dawn of time, and why games like Diablo Immortal are built on predatory economic models designed to exploit people’s most dangerous and vulnerable psychological impulses.

(Let’s note here that simply buying your way to these items isn’t the only way you can get them, and is indeed the worst way, but again, having it as an option at all is one of the reasons predatory game economies suck!)

Making things worse here is that, while Diablo Immortal has a “pity pull” system, designed to eventually hand out quality items to those unlucky enough to have spent loads of money but not got one, even this has extremely low odds, with the chances of getting a 5-star Legendary Gem at around 1%.

This stunt follows estimations that if someone wanted to simply buy their way to fully maxing out the game it would cost $110,000, a figure you normally associate with luxury cars and housing, not a video game character.

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US

Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes spends 6 hours with House January 6 Committee

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The founder and leader of the far-right militia group the Oath Keepers spent six hours talking to the House select committee investigating the January 6 Capitol attack on Wednesday, his attorneys confirmed to CBS News. Stewart Rhodes has been charged with seditious conspiracy and other crimes stemming from his alleged involvement in the Capitol breach and is currently being held without bail.

According to his attorneys, Rhodes told lawmakers about his upbringing, schooling, military career and his work in founding and leading the Oath Keepers through the fall of 2020, including his view of the group’s philosophy and mission. Both he and his attorney invoked the 5th Amendment when lawmakers asked about late 2020 through 2022, aside from general questions about his views on government, his attorneys told CBS News.

Rhodes, who appeared before investigators via Zoom from an Oklahoma jail, recently suffered a loss in federal court after a judge in Washington, D.C., denied his legal team’s request that he be detained in Texas ahead of trial. 

His attorneys asked Judge Amit Mehta to either free their defendant from jail or transfer him to a Texas jail to be near his lawyers as they prepare for trial in the nation’s capital, set for July. 

“The court will not grant Mr. Rhodes more favorable treatment than those similarly-situated defendants,” the judge wrote Wednesday. He has yet to rule on Rhodes’ request to reconsider his being in jail before trial. 

Rhodes will ultimately join a handful of his co-defendents in the D.C. Department of Corrections facility absent court intervention. 

Prosecutors allege Rhodes and 10 co-conspirators intended to stop the presidential transfer of power by January 20, 2021, when President Biden was sworn into office.

“They coordinated travel across the country to enter Washington, D.C., equipped themselves with a variety of weapons, donned combat and tactical gear, and were prepared to answer Rhodes’s call to take up arms at Rhodes’s direction,” according to the indictment. “Some co-conspirators also amassed firearms on the outskirts of Washington, D.C., distributed them among ‘quick reaction force’ teams, and planned to use the firearms in support of their plot to stop the lawful transfer of presidential power.”

After weeks of planning, mostly over messaging apps, prosecutors say the members of the Oath Keepers and its affiliates formed two “stacks” to breach the Capitol building on the day of the attack.

Meanwhile, the charging documents and subsequent filings allege a separate team of Oath Keepers remained outside Washington and was “prepared to rapidly transport firearms and other weapons into Washington, D.C., in support of the operations.” Such a transport was never ordered by Rhodes or any other leaders, prosecutors said. 

“Rhodes stood at the center of the seditious conspiracy,” the government alleged in court documents, “orchestrating plans to use force, recruiting and financing co-conspirators, purchasing weaponry and tactical gear, inciting support and action, and endeavoring to conceal his and other co-conspirators’ crimes.” 

Rhodes and nine of his co-defendants have pleaded not guilty to charges that they planned for and participated in the January 6 Capitol attack. In all, 11 Oath Keepers have been charged with seditious conspiracy. 

The House January 6 select committee has issued dozens of subpoenas, including to Trump’s allies, former White House officials, campaign aides and individuals involved in the planning of the rally outside the White House before the Capitol building came under siege. Two top Trump allies, Steve Bannon and former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, have been held in contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with subpoenas, and the Justice Department has charged Bannon. Both said they are following instructions from Trump, who has claimed executive privilege.  

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Science

Webb telescope spends ’29 days on the edge’ as it comes to life in space

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Heralded as NASA’s premier space observatory of the next decade, the telescope launched on Christmas Day — and it still has a ways to go before it’s in orbit and observing the universe.
The agency refers to this process as “29 days on the edge” while the observatory unfolds its massive sunshield and reaches a special point in orbit that is a million miles away from Earth.

In order to accomplish all of these things, NASA built its most complex telescope yet — and everything has to work flawlessly before it can get started.

During the 29 days, Webb will set up shop, unfurling its giant gold mirror and the protective tennis court-size sunshield. This process involves thousands of parts that must function harmoniously, in the right sequence. Fortunately, each step can be controlled from the ground in case there are issues.

So far, Webb is already off to a great start. The spacecraft has already made two of three critical course correction burns to ensure it’s on the right trajectory.

It also used less propellant than planned due to the precision of the telescope’s launch aboard the Ariane 5 rocket, so “the observatory should have enough propellant to allow support of science operations in orbit for significantly more than a 10-year science lifetime,” according to NASA.
The mission was designed to last for five years. But as we’ve seen with other telescopes that successfully outlasted their expected timeline, like Spitzer and Hubble, scientists are hedging a bet the same may be true for Webb.

On December 26, Webb released its antenna assembly, including a high-data-rate dish antenna, that will serve as the telescope’s way of sending back 28.6 gigabytes of science data twice a day.

Astronomers, including those with The Virtual Telescope Project, have even been able to track Webb’s journey since launch, sharing images and video of the observatory against a backdrop of stars.

Protection from the sun

Now, Webb is starting to take a familiar shape — the one it will be once everything is fully deployed. The spacecraft has unfolded and latched pallet structures that will ultimately lead to the rollout of the sunshield, a process that is expected to continue through Sunday. The team also extended the Deployable Tower Assembly, which creates distance between two halves of the spacecraft.

The observatory is comprised of three main elements.

One is the Integrated Science Instrument Module, which holds Webb’s suite of four instruments. These instruments will mainly be used for capturing images or spectroscopy — breaking down light into different wavelengths to determine physical and chemical components.

The Optical Telescope Element, the main eye of the observatory, includes the mirrors and backplane, or spine, that supports the mirrors.

Then there is the Spacecraft Element, which includes the spacecraft bus and sunshield. The bus includes the six main subsystems needed to operate the spacecraft, including propulsion, electrical power, communication, data and thermal controls.

The massive five-layer sunshield will protect Webb’s giant mirror and instruments from the sun’s heat because they need to be kept at a very frigid negative 370 degrees Fahrenheit (negative 188 degrees Celsius) to be able to observe the universe as designed.

The successful setup of the sunshield is critical to Webb’s ability to function — and it’s also one of the most challenging spacecraft deployments NASA has ever attempted, according to the agency.

“There are 50 major deployments that transform Webb from its stowed, launch configuration into an operational observatory,” said Michael McElwain, Webb observatory project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, in a statement.

“While these steps have been tested on the ground and operationally rehearsed in the Mission Operations Center, these critical activities must be executed for a successful mission. Best wishes to our team, and stay cool, Webb!”

The next steps

Webb will next release its sunshield covers, extend booms and stretch the five layers of the sunshield into place, if all goes according to plan.

Then, there is the mirror — considered to be Webb’s trademark.

The telescope comes equipped with a mirror that can extend 21 feet and 4 inches (6.5 meters) — a massive length that will allow the mirror to collect more light from the objects it observes once the telescope is in space. The mirror includes 18 hexagonal gold-coated segments, each 4.3 feet (1.32 meters) in diameter.

It’s the largest mirror NASA has ever built, but its size created a unique problem. The mirror was so large that it couldn’t fit inside a rocket. So engineers designed the telescope as a series of moving parts that can fold origami-style and fit inside a 16-foot (5-meter) space for launch.

This is the next series of crucial steps for Webb — making sure all of those mirrors unfold and lock together to create one giant mirror.

All of these steps are expected to finish by the end of next week.

Finally, Webb will make one more trajectory adjustment to insert itself into an orbit that reaches beyond the moon.

While that rounds out the 29 days, the telescope will go through a period of commissioning in space that lasts for six months, which involves cooling down the instruments, alignment and calibration. All of the instruments will go through a checkout process to see how they are functioning.

Webb will begin to collect data and its first images later in 2022, and those are expected to be released in June or July, forever changing the way we see and understand the universe.

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Technology

NVIDIA Spends Big Money To Acquire TSMC’s 5nm Wafers For Next-Gen GeForce RTX 40 ‘Ada Lovelace’ GPUs

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NVIDIA has allegedly gone on a huge spending spree to acquire some of TSMC’s next-gen 5nm wafer supply for its next-gen GeForce RTX 40 ‘Ada Lovelace’ GPUs.

NVIDIA Goes on TSMC 5nm Spending Spree, Billions of Dollars Paid To Acquire Wafers For GeForce RTX 40 ‘Ada Lovelace’ GPUs

NVIDIA’s Ada Lovelace GPUs powering the next-generation GeForce RTX 40 series graphics card lineup are expected to utilize TSMC’s 5nm process node. Both AMD and NVIDIA are expected to utilize the node for its next-gen lineup but it looks like NVIDIA is very serious in making sure they get enough wafer supply for its lineup and as such, they have paid the Taiwanese semiconductor manufacturer several Billions of dollars as an advanced payment for 5nm wafers.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti For Laptops To Be The Most Powerful & Most Power Hungry Mobile GPU Ever Made!

According to industry sources, TSMC’s requirements for Apple, MediaTek, AMD and other three major customers are relatively low. They do not need to pay too much deposit in advance to stabilize production capacity. Customers like NVIDIA need to pay huge advance payments in advance if they want to obtain 5nm production orders.

via MyDrivers (Machine Translated)

MyDrivers reports that NVIDIA has prepaid TSMC around $1.64 Billion US in Q3 2021and will pay $1.79 Billion US in Q1 2022. The total long-term ‘Multi-Billion’ dollar deal is set to cost NVIDIA an insane $6.9 Billion US which is much higher than what they paid last year. NVIDIA will not just use this money to procure wafer supply from TSMC but also from Samsung but it looks like that the majority of the amount will be spent on TSMC’s 5nm technology.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Graphics Card – Ada Lovelace Powered AD102 Flagship GPU

Based upon previous rumors, there have been whispers that NVIDIA would utilize TSMC’s N5 (5nm) process node for its Ada Lovelace GPUs. This includes the AD102 SKU too which will be an entirely monolithic design. Talking about specific GPU configurations, the flagship AD102 GPU is said to feature a clock speed as high as 2.5 GHz (2.3 GHz average boost). The specific tweet states that the GPU clock for Ada Lovelace ‘AD102’ could be 2.3 GHz or greater so let’s take that as a baseline and previously leaked specifications to figure out where the performance should land.

The NVIDIA AD102 “ADA GPU” appears to have 18432 CUDA Cores based on the preliminary specs (which can change), housed within 144 SM units. This is almost twice the cores present in Ampere which was already a massive step up from Turing. A 2.3-2.5 GHz clock speed would give us up to 85 to 92 TFLOPs of compute performance (FP32). This is more than twice the FP32 performance of the existing RTX 3090 which packs 36 TFLOPs of FP32 compute power.

The 150% performance jump looks huge but one should remember that NVIDIA already gave a big jump in FP32 numbers this generation with Ampere. The Ampere GA102 GPU (RTX 3090) offers 36 TFLOPs while the Turing TU102 GPU (RTX 2080 Ti) offered 13 TFLOPs. That’s over a 150% increase in FP32 Flops but the real-world gaming performance increase for the RTX 3090 averaged at around 50-60% faster over the RTX 2080 Ti. So one thing we shouldn’t forget is that Flops don’t equal GPU gaming performance these days. Furthermore, we don’t know if 2.3-2.5 GHz is the average boost or the peak boost with the former meaning that there could be even higher compute potential for AD102.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti 24 GB Flagship Confirmed For 27th Retail Launch, Would Easily Cost Over $2000 US

Aside from that, leaks have also stated that the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 flagship would retain a 384-bit bus interface, similar to the RTX 3090. What’s interesting is though that the leaker mentions G6X which means that NVIDIA won’t be moving to a new memory standard until after Ada Lovelace and utilize the higher pin-speeds of G6X of 21 Gbps for its next-generation cards before we see a newer standard (e.g. GDDR7). The card will feature 24 GB of memory so we can either expect single-sided 16Gb DRAM or dual-sided 8Gb DRAM modules.

NVIDIA CUDA GPU (RUMORED) Preliminary:

GPU TU102 GA102 AD102
Architecture Turing Ampere Ada Lovelace
Process TSMC 12nm NFF Samsung 8nm 5nm
Graphics Processing Clusters (GPC) 6 7 12
Texture Processing Clusters (TPC) 36 42 72
Streaming Multiprocessors (SM) 72 84 144
CUDA Cores 4608 10752 18432
Theoretical TFLOPs 16.1 37.6 ~90 TFLOPs?
Memory Type GDDR6 GDDR6X GDDR6X
Memory Bus 384-bit 384-bit 384-bit
Memory Capacity 11 GB (2080 Ti) 24 GB (3090) 24 GB (4090?)
Flagship SKU RTX 2080 Ti RTX 3090 RTX 4090?
TGP 250W 350W 450-650W?
Release Sep. 2018 Sept. 20 2022 (TBC)

The NVIDIA Ada Lovelace GPUs will power the next-generation GeForce RTX 40 graphics cards that will go head-on with AMD’s RDNA 3 based Radeon RX 7000 series graphics cards. There’s still some speculation regarding the use of MCM by NVIDIA. The Hopper GPU, which is primarily aimed at the Datacenter & AI segment, is allegedly taping out soon and will feature an MCM architecture. NVIDIA won’t be using an MCM design on its Ada Lovelace GPUs so they will keep the traditional monolithic design.

Which next-generation GPUs are you looking forward to the most?Poll Options are limited because JavaScript is disabled in your browser.

News Source: HardwareTimes



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US

Ghislaine Maxwell spends 60th birthday in prison

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It’s probably not the 60th birthday she imagined for herself, but Ghislaine Maxwell spent the milestone Saturday in her Manhattan jail cell, anxiously awaiting a jury’s verdict in her sex-trafficking trial.

Deliberations in the Lower Manhattan trial will drag into next week, as jurors failed to reach a verdict before being dismissed for the long holiday weekend.

As they entered their 16th hour of work, the jury Wednesday asked for transcripts for three witnesses who testified in the case against the accused Jeffrey Epstein madam.

The 12-person panel is reviewing more than two weeks of testimony as they consider six counts against the former British socialite, including sex trafficking of a minor and sex trafficking conspiracy.

Maxwell is accused of grooming and trafficking several girls — some as young as 14 — for financier Jeffrey Epstein to abuse between 1994 and 2004.

Ghislaine Maxwell is awaiting the jury to come to a verdict in her human trafficking trial.
REUTERS

She faces a maximum of 70 years in federal prison if convicted on all counts.

Prosecutors called Maxwell Epstein’s “right hand” and a “sophisticated predator” during the trial.

Her attorneys argued throughout the proceedings that Maxwell was simply the wrong target for prosecutors eager to hold someone accountable after Epstein killed himself while awaiting trial on related sex-abuse charges.

Before Maxwell’s trial headed to deliberations, defense attorneys insisted their controversial client be referred to as “Ms. Maxwell,” rather than “the defendant,” when Judge Alison Nathan instructed the jury on the legal nuances of the case.

Prosecutors allege Ghislaine Maxwell was Jeffrey Epstein’s “right hand.”
Getty Images

The accused madam’s siblings, who have supported her throughout the legal drama in Manhattan Federal Court, were caught on video which aired on British networks breaking down in tears as they awaited word of their sister’s fate.

Maxwell did not testify in her own defense.

“Your Honor, the government has not proven its case beyond a reasonable doubt and so there is no need for me to testify,” Maxwell told the jurist.

The high-profile trial comes as a surge of COVID-19 cases, fueled by the Omicron variant, has swept through the Empire State, prompting Nathan to urge the jury to take precautions and stay healthy as they went into their long weekend.

Ghislaine Maxwell’s siblings, including sister Isabel, were seen breaking down in tears at her trial.
John Lamparski/NurPhoto via ZUMA Press

She warned them to expect new coronavirus protocols when they return to the courthouse Monday, and offered them masks.

“Please stay safe over the long weekend. Obviously we’ve got the variant, and I need all of you here and healthy on Monday,” she said. “So please take good care and take cautions.”

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Entertainment

Pete Davidson spends birthday with Kim Kardashian West

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Pete Davidson’s birthday was a fun time.

The Saturday Night Live star, with rumored girlfriend Kim Kardashian West and her mom, Kris Jenner, by his side, bonded with rapper Flavor Flav, who even gave him one of the giant clocks he wears on his chest. Everyone except for Flav wore matching brown and black plaid clothing.

Pete Davidson and Kim Kardashian West wore matching outfits for his birthday. (Photo: Getty Images)

“Celebrating my adopted son’s birthday wit the legendz @kimkardashian and @krisjenner,” Flav wrote. “Pete,,, I never took a clock off my neck to give to someone and you will be the last person I do this for,,, it lookz real good on you.” He wished Davidson a happy birthday and used several hashtags that continued the joke that Davidson is his son.

While the post marked Davidson and Kardashian West’s first Instagram photo as a couple, neither of them posted it to their own accounts. The same went for Jenner. Flav was the one who let everyone in on their hangout.

Davidson and Kardashian West were first spotted together in October, three weeks after she hosted SNL, in one sketch playing Princess Jasmine to his Aladdin. Next, they were photographed holding hands during a day with her sister, Kourtney Kardashian, and Kourtney’s beau, Travis Barker, at Knott’s Berry Farm in Los Angeles. They then spent time together in Manhattan. It was enough to make Kardashian West’s estranged husband, Kanye West —now officially named Ye — jealous. (Although, an eyewitness had told E! News, the home of her former show, Keeping Up With the Kardashians, that West looked “incredibly happy and relaxed” alongside model Irina Shayk as he celebrated his own birthday in June in France. They’ve reportedly since parted ways.)

As for Kardashian West and Davidson, a source told Yahoo Entertainment last week that the two are simply “having fun together.”

“It doesn’t seem to be anything serious,” the insider said. “She’s focused on her kids and work, but it seems like whatever this is with [Pete] is a fun distraction.”

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Entertainment

Kylie Jenner says she’s in ‘full mommy mode’ as she spends Halloween with Travis Scott and Stormi

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Kylie Jenner showed off a much more laidback Halloween costume on Sunday than in years past. 

The pregnant 24-year-old makeup mogul dressed as a simple black cat while celebrating the holiday with beau Travis Scott, 29, and daughter Stormi, three at  Kim Kardashian’s house. 

‘In full mommy mode this halloween i hope everyone has a safe night,’ she captioned a post with images of their family-filled day. 

Halloween: Pregnant 24-year-old makeup mogul Kylie Jenner dressed as a simple black cat while celebrating the holiday with beau Travis Scott and daughter Stormi, three at sister Kim Kardashian’s Halloween celebration 

Kylie shared many sweet snaps of the day and showed off her growing belly in a black catsuit which she paired with combat boots and an oversized leather trench coat.  

She painted whiskers and a nose on her face and added black lipstick and cat ears to round out her lowkey costume, also carrying a bejeweled cat purse fashioned by Judith Leiber.  

One shot showed she and her rapper beau cradling daughter Stormi as they stood outside of Kim’s Hidden Hills compound that had a giant spider decoration at the entry. 

Another snap revealed her growing belly from the side, while she twinned with mom Kris Jenner who also dressed as a cat complete with a brown wig to match Kylie’s likeness.   

Mom mode: ‘In full mommy mode this halloween i hope everyone has a safe night,’ she captioned a post with images of their family-filled day 

Twinning: Kylie and Kris Jenner both twinned as black cats and an image posted showed off her growing baby bump from the side 

Little mermaid: While Kylie channeled a cat, Travis dressed as Michael Myers from the Halloween franchise while Stormi went as Ariel for a celebration at Kim Kardashian’s house 

Daddy’s girl: The Houston born rapper cradled his little princess in his arms in another snap

While she channeled a cat, Travis dressed as Michael Myers from the Halloween franchise but added his own personal flare as he donned jeans and a letterman jacket. 

And Stormi pulled off an adorable Ariel from the Little Mermaid complete with an ornate pearl lined costume and a seashell tiara. 

Other images showed the Houston born rapper without a mask as he and Kylie strolled about the SKIMS founder’s minimalist mansion. 

The two looked stronger than ever as he lovingly wrapped his arms around her from the back as they walked.  

Thriving: A source told People this week that Kylie and Travis ‘are doing great’ as evident in their sweet Halloween snaps as a family unit 

Tender touch: The two looked stronger than ever as he lovingly wrapped his arms around her from the back as they walked 

Big sister to be! ‘They spend as much time with Stormi as they can,’ a source shared of the couple and added that ‘Kylie is convinced that she will be the best big sister’

Last year on Halloween, Kylie had gone all out as a cobra snake to celebrate sister Kendall Jenner at a themed birthday bash. 

But as she is currently expecting her second child with the Goosebumps rapper, she has been keeping things much more lowkey. 

A source told PEOPLE this week that the soon-to-be mother of two is ‘doing really well’ and is ‘so excited about the baby,’ adding that she is planning a baby shower for December. 

The insider shared that ‘she and Travis are doing great too,’ as evident in their Halloween snaps. ‘They spend as much time with Stormi as they can. Kylie is convinced that she will be the best big sister.’

Cat-itude: In one snap shared to her Instastory she gave another look at her low key costume 

Growing! Kylie announced her pregnancy in September and has been keen to show it off on Instagram which is dramatically different from her last heavily underwraps pregnancy 

Kylie announced her pregnancy in September and has been keen to show it off on Instagram which is dramatically different from her last heavily underwraps pregnancy. 

‘She never planned to keep her pregnancy secret like she did with Stormi,’ an insider had previously told the publication. ‘She just wanted to wait until it felt right.’ 

An Us Weekly source added that expecting a second child with Travis ‘absolutely brought them even closer together.’  

The on-off couple confirmed things were back on between them after splitting in October 2019. 

Source had shared that they had reunited sometime in February 2020 but they did not confirm any romantic relationship until they stepped out together in June 2021.  

Last year: For Halloween 2020, Kylie had gone all out as a cobra snake to celebrate sister Kendall Jenner at a themed birthday bash, making this year’s costume a stark difference 

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Hailey Bieber spends time out in LA with pal Justine Skye

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Hailey Bieber and her pal Justine Skye were spotted stepping out in masks to enjoy a shopping’ outing in Los Angeles.

The 24-year-old model Hailey, who is married to Justin Bieber, was dressed in a somber black ensemble with a matching mask.

Her latest sighting came days after she issued a statement about the tragic incident where her uncle Alec Baldwin accidentally killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins with a prop gun on the set of the western Rust.

Off they go: Hailey Bieber and her pal Justine Skye were spotted stepping out in masks to enjoy a shopping’ outing in Los Angeles

Hailey stuck to a simple look including a flowing blouse left open over a crop top, as well as a pair of sweats and leather shoes.

Justine meanwhile teamed a pair of camouflage trousers with a t-shirt that read: ‘I WANT TO LEAVE’ above a picture of a flying saucer.

Earlier this month Justine set off a flurry of rumors that she has broken up with boyfriend Giveon, an R&B singer.

She tweeted and then deleted the cryptic message: ‘A man wouldn’t know how to treat you right if you gave them a manual.. I know I shouldn’t but I really can’t help but blame myself for not saving enough love for me in the end [broken heart emoji whatever idc anymore I’m done.’

Stepping out: The 24-year-old model Hailey, who is married to Justin Bieber, was dressed in a somber black ensemble with a matching mask

Details: Justine meanwhile teamed a pair of camouflage trousers with a t-shirt that read: ‘I WANT TO LEAVE’ above a picture of a flying saucer

In one of her follow-up tweets she revealed: ‘People who I thought loved me the most I let break me the most. And those who actually do love me I pushed away..’ 

A few days before her latest sighting with Justine, Hailey posted a statement regarding Halyna Hutchins’ death.

‘Sending all my love to the family of Halyna Hutchins,’ she wrote on her Insta Stories over the weekend.

‘This is a truly unimaginable and devastating tragedy. My thoughts are also with Joel Souza as he recovers. I am absolutely heartbroken for everyone involved.’

End of the road: Earlier this month Justine set off a flurry of rumors that she has broken up with boyfriend Giveon, an R&B singer

Rumor mill: She tweeted and then deleted the cryptic message: ‘A man wouldn’t know how to treat you right if you gave them a manual..’

Baldwin and his wife Hilaria laying low in New England while sheriff’s deputies in Santa Fe continue to investigate the shooting that happened on set last Thursday.  

Baldwin, who is a producer and actor on the movie Rust, was rehearsing a scene inside a church set when the gun he was holding fired a live round, killing Hutchins, 42, and injuring director Joel Souza. 

It remains unclear how the live bullet made its way onto the set; armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed broke her silence on Thursday night to insist it was not her fault. She blames the movie producers – of which Baldwin is one – for creating an ‘unsafe’ set where there were no safety briefings.  

The 24-year-old armorer in charge of guns on the set of Alec Baldwin’s movie Rust has denied being to blame for Halyna Hutchins’ death in a strongly worded statement where she claims she’s been ‘slandered’ by the media but admits she couldn’t focus on her weapons job because she was given two roles on-set.  

Candid: Justine confessed that ‘I know I shouldn’t but I really can’t help but blame myself for not saving enough love for me in the end [broken heart emoji whatever idc anymore I’m done’

Tough time: In one of her follow-up tweets she revealed: ‘People who I thought loved me the most I let break me the most’

Statement: Hailey’s latest sighting came days after she issued a statement about the tragic incident where her uncle Alec Baldwin accidentally killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins

Hannah Gutierrez-Reed released a statement through her attorneys insisting she is not to blame for the death of Halyna Hutchins, the director of photography who was accidentally killed by Baldwin while they rehearsed a shooting scene. 

‘Safety is Hannah’s number one priority on set. Ultimately this set would never have been compromised if live ammo were not introduced. Hannah has no idea where the live rounds came from,’ the statement said in part.   

Her attorneys  told DailyMail.com on Friday that she was also a ‘key assistant’ in the props department which made it ‘difficult to focus’ on the weapons. 

Hannah Gutierrez-Reed is pictured last week (left). She has released a statement denying blame for the fatal accident last week and says she was overstretched on the set of Rust, working two jobs and unable to focus on gun safety. Baldwin, right, is in Vermont, bunkering down with his family while the investigation into the shooting continues 

‘Hannah was hired on two positions on this film, which made it extremely difficult to focus on her job as an armorer.

‘Ultimately this set would never have been compromised if live ammo were not introduced. Hannah has no idea where the live rounds came from. Hannah and the prop master gained control over the guns and she never witnessed anyone shoot live rounds with these guns and nor would she permit that.

‘She fought for training, days to maintain weapons and proper time to prepare for gunfire but ultimately was overruled by production and her department. 

‘The whole production set became unsafe due to various factors, including lack of safety meetings. Not the fault of Hannah.’

Halyna Hutchins, 42, was rushed to the hospital by air ambulance but could not be saved. Many on set have set assistant director Dave Halls ran unsafe productions. He has not spoken

Circled is Baldwin, left, standing next to Halyna on the film set. Gutierrez-Reed is shown far right. She claims in her statement that she has ‘no idea’ how live rounds found their way to the set 

ARMORER’S STATEMENT

First Hannah would like to extend her deepest and most sincere condolences to the family and friends of Halyna. She was an inspirational woman in film who Hannah looked up to. She also offers her thoughts and prayers for a speedy recovery to Joel. Hannah is devastated and completely beside herself over the events that have transpired.

She would like to address some untruths that have been told to the media, which have falsely portrayed her and slandered her. Safety is Hannah’s number one priority on set. Ultimately this set would never have been compromised if live ammo were not introduced. Hannah has no idea where the live rounds came from. Hannah and the prop master gained control over the guns and she never witnessed anyone shoot live rounds with these guns and nor would she permit that. They were locked up every night and at lunch and there’s no way a single one of them was unaccounted for or being shot by crew members. Hannah still, to this day, has never had an accidental discharge. The first one on this set was the prop master and the second was a stunt man after Hannah informed him his gun was hot with blanks.

Hannah was hired on two positions on this film, which made it extremely difficult to focus on her job as an armorer. She fought for training, days to maintain weapons, and proper time to prepare for gunfire but ultimately was overruled by production and her department. The whole production set became unsafe due to various factors, including lack of safety meetings. Not the fault of Hannah.

Hannah and her legal team will address more of these rumors and the whole incident in an upcoming statement next week. 

‘The whole production set became unsafe due to various factors, including lack of safety meetings,’ the statement said. 

Her claims echo those of other crew members who say the production was unsafe. Most of them have blamed assistant director Dave Halls, who they said has been accused of running unsafe sets in the past. 

Halls told sheriff’s deputies after the shooting that he asked Gutierrez-Reed to show him the gun before he handed it to Baldwin last Thursday. 

Halls said that he can remember seeing three chambers in the gun that contained dummy bullets, recognizable by a small hole in the side that sets them apart from real bullets. 

He looked at them, declared the gun ‘a cold’ weapon then handed it to Baldwin. 

It was only after the shooting that he asked Gutierrez-Reed to look again inside the chamber. That is when they saw there were five rounds, four of which were dummies and one of which contained the spent casing of a real bullet. 

Halls admitted to the sheriff that he ‘should have checked’ all of the rounds but ‘didn’t.’ 

Others on set described Gutierrez-Reed as having a slap-dash approach to firearms training. 

Actor Jenson Ackles told how she let him pick his own gun, weeks before the fatal accident involving Hutchins. 

Baldwin, 63, is bunkering down with his family on the east coast while the investigation in Santa Fe continues. 

He is cooperating with the authorities and has spoken to Hutchins’ widower, Matthew. 

No one has been charged over the fatal accident but on Wednesday, Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza said ‘no one’ had been ruled out. 

‘All options are on the table,’ added Santa Fe District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies. 

A search warrant released on Wednesday reveals how the gun made its way into Baldwin’s hands, but it remains unclear how the live round made its way into the gun.

Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza and District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwes said on Wednesday that ‘all options are on the table’ when it comes to charging people responsible for the accident 

A portion of the interview between Halls and sheriff’s deputies that was released on Wednesday by the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Department 

Alec Baldwin is pictured with Halyna Hutchins on the set of Rust. The production started shooting on October 6. Hutchins died on October 21

‘David advised when Hannah showed him the firearm before continuing rehearsal, he could only remember seeing three rounds. 

‘He advised he should have checked them all but didn’t and couldn’t recall if she spun the drum,’ the search warrant says.

Baldwin was handed the gun and it fired in the direction of Halyna Hutchins and Joel Souza. Hutchins died and Souza was hospitalized. 

Afterwards, Halls brought the gun back to Gutierrez-Reed and told her to open it for him. 

The warrant also describes how Hannah Gutierrez-Reed described there never being ‘any live rounds’ on set. 

‘Hannah advised that she checked the ‘dummies’ and ensured “they were not hot rounds”. 

‘She said as the crew broke for lunch, the firearms were taken back and secured inside a safe on a prop truck on set. 

‘During lunch, she said the ammo was left on a cart on the set and not secured. 

‘After lunch, [property manager] Sarah Zachary pulled the firearms out of the safe inside the truck and handed them to her.

‘She advised there are only a few people that have access and the combination to the safe. 

‘Hannah advised that she handed the gun to Alec Baldwin a couple of times, and also handed it to David Halls. Hannah said no live ammo is ever kept on set.’  

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