Benton County News Now

Creamy Pumpkin Soup Recipe – Southern Living https://bentoncountynewsnow.com/creamy-pumpkin-soup-recipe-southern-living/ When the cool temperatures of fall finally grace the South with crisp evenings, the craving for cozy soups hits hard. This creamy pumpkin soup delivers a big comfort food win with a surprise ingredient: roasted sugar pumpkin. While many recipes lean on a can of pumpkin puree (which is totally acceptable), this hearty pumpkin soup starts with a whole roasted sugar pumpkin, which gives the soup a rich flavor you just can’t get from a can. After you’ve picked out the perfect pumpkin, simply roast it up, scoop out the tender orange flesh, and puree it using the blender of your choice (we prefer an immersion blender) to create this exquisitely creamy soup. But surprise—there’s only a little whipping cream drizzled on top, so this harvest-hued soup is actually a healthy (and delicious) option for dinner.

Fan Dies At Steelers’ Stadium After Falling Down Escalator; Authorities Investigating After Jets Game – CBS Sports https://bentoncountynewsnow.com/fan-dies-at-steelers-stadium-after-falling-down-escalator-authorities-investigating-after-jets-game-cbs-sports/ Getty Images The Steelers are aiding local authorities as they investigate the death of a spectator at Acrisure Stadium on Sunday. Minutes after the conclusion of the team’s 24-20 loss to the Jets, local paramedics tended to a man who’d fallen from an escalator inside the complex, the Pittsburgh Department of Public Safety announced. Pittsburgh Police and emergency service personnel were alerted around 4:45 p.m. ET, just after the game had ended, and administered onsite care before transporting the adult male to a local hospital, where he entered in critical condition. The man later died at the hospital from injuries sustained in the fall. The victim’s name has not been released, nor is there any indication as to what caused the fall from the escalator. Pittsburgh Police’s Mobile Crime Unit has since responded to “process the scene,” the department announced, while its VCU detectives have begun investigating the incident. The Steelers, meanwhile, released the following statement, per the Associated Press: “We are aware of an unfortunate incident that occurred inside Acrisure Stadium today. We are working with local authorities and helping their investigation into the matter. We are sending our thoughts and prayers to the guest’s family.” This isn’t the first time a major accident has occurred relating to escalators in NFL stadiums. An escalator malfunction at the Patriots‘ Gillette Stadium in 2021 resulted in nine people being hospitalized, and just this August, a woman fell to her death from an escalator after a concert inside the Broncos‘ Empower Field at Mile High.

PwC Hong Kong And TerraZero Partner To Explore Metaverse Products – Blockchain.News https://bentoncountynewsnow.com/pwc-hong-kong-and-terrazero-partner-to-explore-metaverse-products-blockchain-news/ PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Hong Kong has partnered with Metaverse technology company TerraZero to explore Metaverse products and services. According to a press release, PwC Hong Kong announced that it has signed a cooperation agreement with TerraZero Technologies Inc., a Metaverse technology company, to provide Metaverse products and services. PwC will explore the public Metaverse experience for business-to-business (B2B), Business to Government (B2G), and Business to Customer(B2C) applications and build a Metaverse private hosting service that provides brands with enterprise-grade security, privacy, and security features to communicate with customers in a trust-based manner in the Metaverse Interact and trade. PwC will also work with TerraZero to explore new ways companies can build privately hosted Metaverse experiences. Peter Brewin, a partner at PwC Hong Kong, said TerraZero’s solution, combined with PwC’s digital expertise in a new way through an immersive 3D experience, can provide businesses with a toolkit to build users An experience you can trust. He also added that: “In addition to creating engaging experiences for customers and delivering sustained outcomes, it is important that companies can manage the risks around user privacy, data security, cyber, payments, tax, and financial crime.” TerraZero CEO Dan Reitzik said that: “TerraZero’s strengths are in creating engagement, community, and usability solutions that bridge the real world and the metaverse. We are particularly excited about both decentralized metaverse worlds and what TerraZero is creating for private environments: where companies, entrepreneurs, artists, and content creators of all kinds can safely conduct transactions and KYC processes, manage their brand IP, and more – all within an environment which brands can completely control themselves. This is the vision we will follow as the metaverse continues to grow and major entities enter the space.” Image source: Shutterstock

55 Of The Most Unusual Gift Ideas For Men Who Have Everything – News-Daily.com https://bentoncountynewsnow.com/55-of-the-most-unusual-gift-ideas-for-men-who-have-everything-news-daily-com/ Finding the perfect gift for the man who has everything can be a huge struggle. We’ve rounded up 55 gift ideas for the men in your life across all budget ranges. Shopping is fun, but everyone knows that finding good gifts for men who have everything is a puzzle. So instead of spending time trying to come up with the perfect gift to get him, check out all the best gifts for guys who have everything, below. We’ve rounded up 55 gifts for men who have everything that ranges from $12-$995. That way, no matter if it’s your husband, your dad, your brother, your uncle or your buddy, you’ll have no trouble nailing down what to get him—no matter your budget. Tyler Allgeier rushed for 84 yards on 10 carries and Younghoe Koo kicked four field goals to lead the Atlanta Falcons to a 23-20 win over the Cleveland Browns on Sunday. Click for more. Here at Parade.com, we’re all about sharing products we love with our audience. When you make a purchase on an item seen on this page, we may earn a commission, however, all picks are independently chosen unless otherwise mentioned.  55 Gifts for Men Who Have Everything 1. R2-D2 French press coffee maker amazon.com We promise no droids are harmed with this one. Who wouldn’t appreciate a French press coffee maker—a full 32-ounces—that looks like R2-D2, he famous Star Wars droid that has stolen all of our hearts. And since it is a French press style, you can make some strong coffee or tea brews from this unique kitchen gadget. R2-D2 French Press Coffee Maker, $49.99, Amazon 2. Space and travel lovers amazon.com If your favorite guy loves an understated but unique gift, consider the Fisher Space Pen. First used on the Apollo 7 space mission in 1968, it has been used on all manned space flights since. This travel-friendly gift writes at any angle (even zero gravity, according to the company). It can handle extreme temperatures and comes with a lifetime guarantee. You can choose from two colors, chrome and black titanium. Fisher Space Pen, starting at $68, Amazon 3. The gift of language The main attraction of Paris and all of Europe is the Eiffel tower in the rays of the setting sun on the bank of Seine river with cruise tourist ships Why not give your dad or brother the chance to learn a new language? Rosetta Stone offers 10-minute lessons in every language from Spanish to French to Vietnamese! The best part is you can learn it from the comfort of your computer. Lifetime subscription, $179, Rosettastone 4. Smash it open mancrates.com The heading here kind of gives this away, but you can send a cement brick, a hammer, and a pair of safety goggles to the man in your life. And not only can he get some anger out, but it will contain a digital gift card code inside. Talk about a smashing gift—sorry I had too—that gives back. Smash and Grab Gift Card, $79, Mancrates 5. Audible subscription Is your dad a book lover? Then this audible gift is a great way to help him get lost in a story! It includes access to three audiobooks each month so you can enjoy a book literally wherever you go and there are different types of subscriptions available. Premium Plus subscription, $14.95/month, Audible 6. A weighted blanket amazon.com If you know someone who is under stress a lot from their job, consider gifting them a weighted blanket. Chances are they never thought to get one before, but they’ll be obsessed with it once they try it out. It’s stylish, comfy and comes in a variety of weights and colors to choose from. YnM Weighted Blanket (15 pounds), $49.99, Amazon 7. A virtual tour of Barcelona amazon.com Surprise a man in your family with a virtual private tour through the streets of Barcelona where he’ll have 60 minutes one-on-one with a private tour guide and live video feed—how cool is that! Beautiful Barcelona Tour, $159.90, Amazon 8. Digital photo frame amazon.com It’s true: Everyone has an endless amount of photos on their phone that they always mean to get framed, but never get around to it. That’s why a digital photo frame is an amazing gift for your dad or another man in your life. They can connect their phone with it and it’ll sync tons of photos to it and then it’ll rotate and display them. Nixplay 10.1-inch Smart Digital Photo Frame, $143.94, Amazon 9. Coffee club subscription The coffee-lover in your life will delight in trying different coffee beans from around the world thanks to this coffee subscription service that has them delivered right to his door. Trade Coffee Subscription, $108 for 6 bags, Trade Coffee 10. Beer subscription Want to give your beer-loving man a gift he’ll never expect, but will love? Get him a monthly, bimonthly or quarterly delivery of handcrafted beer. He’ll get 12 hand-selected craft beers each time and it’ll be something unique for him to look forward to. Craft Beer Club, $74-$94/shipment, Craft Beer Club 11. Morse code bracelet If your man likes wearing jewelry, gift him with a custom piece. You can design a morse code bracelet that has a special message on it just for him. It’ll be a thoughtful present that he’ll love wearing. Morse Code Bracelet, $32+, Etsy 12. Sleep tracking ring One cool gift to give the man in your life who seems to have it all is a sleep tracking ring. It’ll monitor their resting heart rate, heart-rate variability, body temperature and track their sleep patterns. It also comes in a variety of finishes to choose from silver, black, stealth and gold. Oura Ring, $249, Oura Ring 13. Unusual candles Homesick.com Ahhh! Nothing beats a sweet scent, but give a gift that really speaks to him. From Oktoberfest to Yankee Stadium, perhaps he’ll prefer the scent of warm pretzels, leather mitts and smoked amber. Simple and unique. Homesick best-selling candles, $38 and up, Homesick 14. Soda stream walmart.com How fun would having a soda stream be? It lets you carbonate seltzer and create your very own soda at home in all kinds of flavors. You can get it in blank or white. SodaStream One Touch Sparkling Water Maker, $104, Walmart 15. Baseball throw pillows in team colors uncommongoods.com Your ultimate fan will appreciate these statement pillows. One side features a detailed illustration of the stadium, and the other side includes some historical fun facts. From Yankee and Red Sox to Tigers and Braves, this gift will be a home run for sure. Baseball stadium blueprint pillows, $100, Uncommon Goods 16. A warm winter jacket  columbia.com A person can never have too many coats, but we feel this one from Columbia is a cut above the rest. It features Omni-Heat technology to keep you warm and keep your body heat close. The inside pattern almost looks like a satellite with a reflective nature and there are a bevy of pockets to hold just about anything. Platinum Peak Hooded Jacket, $180, Columbia Sportswear 17. The most comfortable pen nomad.com Nomad is known for its cases and leather goods, but the surprise of the entire lineup is a pen. Crafted out of steel and aluminum (or titanium) this compact pen is perfectly balanced and features a refillable ink reservoir. It’s probably one of the best pen we’ve personally used, and the tactile, satisfying click from the top button is a joy. Nomad Pen, $49.95 or $99.95, Nomad 18. Golf ball whiskey chillers uncommongoods.com Want a cool bar accessory? Consider getting golf ball whiskey chillers as a gift for someone. They are basically molds in the shape of golf balls that you fill with water and freeze and then add to your whiskey. Any golf lover will appreciate these. Golf Ball Whiskey Chillers, $25, Uncommon Goods 19. Engraved pocket knife etsy.com Give a gift with a personalized touch. Choose from a stainless pocket knife or a black pocket knife. Then, pick from two different fonts to customize a saying, date or name to go on it. Just be careful not to go over three lines of text. EverythingDecorated Engraved Pocket Knife, $20.49, Etsy 20. Grilled personal pizza maker uncommongoods.com Are you shopping for a foodie? Then, get this grilled personal pizza maker. It makes brick oven pizza right on your grill in less than 10 minutes. Reviews give it 4.6 out of 5 stars, and say it’s heavy duty, though caution it is small and made for charcoal grills. Grilled Personal Pizza Maker, $40, Uncommon Goods 21. Baseball stadium lights end table uncommongoods.com Help makeover your guy’s man cave with some baseball stadium-themed end tables. It’ll help him bring his favorite team’s stadium home with him in 3D form. You can also choose from tons of different teams, so it’ll feature one he loves. Baseball Stadium Lights End Table, $500 each, Uncommon Goods 22. Personalized wallet etsy.com His wallet will be extra special if he’s carrying around this one with an engraved family photo on it. The wallet is made of leather so it’ll be long-lasting and it comes in brown, beige, charcoal or chestnut shades. You can also customize a message to be engraved on it as well. PacificCustoms Personalized Men’s Wallet Custom Engraved Photo, $20+, Etsy 23. Guitar pick puncher uncommongoods.com You can turn unwanted plastic into custom guitar picks with this product. That way, your man will never find himself struggling to find one. He can use old IDs, credit cards and other plastic items to DIY cool, one-of-a-kind picks he can use at gigs or at home. Guitar pick puncher, $22, Uncommon Goods 24. DIY whiskey aging mancrates.com Whisky lovers will enjoy this gift as they master the art of aging their own creation. With step-by-step instructions in a personalized barrel, this kit is perfect for the DIY’er and whiskey connoisseur. Personalized Whiskey Making Kit, $129.99, Man Crates Related: Best Irish Whiskey 25. Fishing lessons Man fishing at morning sunrise in a mountain river in Alaska, ...

Sorry, Ether: Sound Money Doesn’t Exist And Neither Does ‘Ultra’ Sound Money – CoinDesk https://bentoncountynewsnow.com/sorry-ether-sound-money-doesnt-exist-and-neither-does-ultra-sound-money-coindesk/ Some Ethereum proponents sport a bat and speaker emoji in their name on Twitter. This means they support the idea that the Merge will make Ethereum “ultra sound money.” It’s sort of clever I guess, because bats use ultrasound to help them fly in the dark. But what does that even mean? To answer this, we first need to answer the question: What is ultra sound money? But before we can even begin thinking about ultra sound money, we need to start with just plain sound money. It is worth adding that sound money is sometimes referred to as hard money (which makes unsound money “soft”). You’re reading Crypto Long & Short, our weekly newsletter featuring insights, news and analysis for the professional investor. Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Sunday. The unsound euro and pound and (five) dollar milkshakes A proper definition of sound or hard money is admittedly nebulous. A commonly accepted definition is this: a currency that serves as a reliable and stable store of value. By extension, sound money should preserve its purchasing power. If $1 gets me a milkshake today, it should get me a milkshake (or more) tomorrow, ad infinitum. As such, unsound or soft money is exactly the opposite: a currency that does not serve as a reliable and stable store of value. The expectation of a soft money is that its value will change unpredictably and depreciate when compared with other currencies. For an example of how unsound money might behave, we could take a quick look at the euro and British pound, both of which have lost more than 15% of their value compared with the U.S. dollar over the last two years. Euro and pound versus the dollar (TradingView) Maybe you can see where this is going? That’s right, straight to the Dollar Milkshake Theory. This theory (which I had never known until very recently) has percolated throughout financial media over the last week or so, using a chart that looks like this: Currency strength over the last year (TradingView) Here’s the skinny version of the Dollar Milkshake Theory: All debt-based fiat currencies will fall in value over time, but the U.S. dollar – as the world’s reserve currency and base of most financial debt – will fall slower than all the others, and all value will accrue to the dollar. As for the “milkshake” reference the dollar is like the straw in the other country’s currency milkshake, sucking up capital investment because of its reserve status. Over the last year, that theory seems to be playing out, with the dollar outpacing the Canadian dollar, Australian dollar, euro, pound and yen. With our current definition, we could say that the dollar is sound money. After all, it has appreciated against all the other major currencies. The dollar hasn’t really maintained its purchasing power over time. Let’s stay on milkshakes and recall the famous scene from the 1994 cult classic movie “Pulp Fiction” in which a character is appalled that a milkshake costs $5 (even though it’s pretty good). The movie is set in Los Angeles. I don’t think you’d be too hard-pressed to find a $5 milkshake in Los Angeles in 2022. Ether isn’t ultra sound money; neither is bitcoin The thesis that ether is ultra sound money comes from two places. First, it comes from the narrative that bitcoin is sound money because of its supply cap and its predictable issuance schedule (we know how many bitcoins there will be and how they will come into circulation over time). And second, it comes from the Merge adding a mechanism to the Ethereum network might lead to the supply of ether decreasing instead of increasing over time. Because supply of ether is “capped” (it’s actually not technically capped, but issuance should be “net zero”) and the network might start burning enough ether such that its supply decreases, there is only one logical conclusion: If bitcoin is sound money, then post-Merge ether is ultra sound money. None of those things mean that either bitcoin or ether is sound money. Sound money should reliably store value over time. Sure, maybe over the last five years bitcoin and ether have been wonderful stores of value, both up ~340%. But over the last year? Down ~53%. BTC and ETH 5-Year Performance (TradingView) A money is sound if the money stores value over time. Period. What sound money doesn’t mean is that the money has a fixed supply or a deflationary issuance schedule. No, it doesn’t matter that Bitcoin has a fixed supply of almost 21 million bitcoins or that we know its issuance schedule – if it doesn’t reliably store value over time, it is not sound money. But what about gold? No, because ‘sound money’ needs to be money. I openly admit that I don’t care about gold as a monetary asset. I actually think it’s quite terrible as money because it fails pretty spectacularly at being divisible and portable. But as much as it pains me to write, it might actually be our best example of sound money. A saying I’ve anecdotally heard from goldbugs (for which I don’t have a reliable attribution) is that “an ounce of gold has always been able to buy a decent suit.” I don’t want to spend too much time proving if this true, but from my personal experience buying suits, I could have bought a nicer suit than I did if I’d spent the dollar equivalent of an ounce of gold instead of what I did spend. But then again, how about buying literally anything else? How many ounces of gold should a cup of coffee cost? A Toyota Camry? A lamp? What’s more, you’d be hard-pressed to find any merchant accepting gold bars, gold coins or gold flakes for payment (except in edge cases like Venezuela). Also, how can you verify that the gold is in fact gold and not gold-plated copper? As such, we should add two more characteristics to an asset to qualify it as sound money. It needs to be easily verifiable and widely acceptable, which gold isn’t. More plainly, sound money has to be … money. So sound money doesn’t exist right now. And ultra sound money? No. No, that isn’t a thing either.

Pro-Russian Groups Are Raising Funds In Crypto To Prop Up Military Operations And Evade U.S. Sanctions – CNBC https://bentoncountynewsnow.com/pro-russian-groups-are-raising-funds-in-crypto-to-prop-up-military-operations-and-evade-u-s-sanctions-cnbc/ Russian paramilitary groups are raising funds in cryptocurrency using messaging app Telegram, according to research published by TRM Labs. Matt Cardy | Getty Images News | Getty Images Pro-Russian groups are raising funds in cryptocurrency to prop up paramilitary operations and evade U.S. sanctions as the war with Ukraine wages on, a research report published Monday revealed. As of Sept. 22, these fundraising groups had raised $400,000 in cryptocurrency since the start of the invasion on Feb. 24, according to TRM Labs, a digital asset compliance and risk management company. The research revealed that groups, using encrypted messaging app Telegram, are offering ways for people to send funds which are used to supply Russian-affiliated militia groups and support combat training at locations close to the border with Ukraine. One group TRM Labs identified raising funds is Task Force Rusich which the U.S. Treasury describes as a “neo-Nazi paramilitary group that has participated in combat alongside Russia’s military in Ukraine.” The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFCA) has sanctioned Task Force Rusich. On a Telegram channel, TRM Labs discovered this group was looking to raise money for items such as thermal imaging equipment and radios. The Novorossia Aid Coordinating Center, which was set up in 2014 to support Russian operations in Ukraine, raised about $21,000 in cryptocurrency, mainly bitcoin, with the aim of buying drones, the report said. Russia was hit by a number of sanctions after its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine earlier this year that aimed to cut it off from the global financial system. At the time, there were concerns that Russia could use cryptocurrency to evade these penalties. However, experts said that there is not enough liquidity in the crypto system on the scale Russia would require to move money. But with the paramilitary groups, they’re moving money on a smaller scale, which is enough for the items they need to buy. These groups are likely using exchanges that don’t necessarily comply with anti-money laundering and other regulations, according to Ari Redbord, head of legal and government affairs at TRM Labs. “They’re probably using non-compliant exchanges to off-ramp those funds [into fiat currency],” Redbord told CNBC. “And you can do that. You just can’t do that at scale. And I think that’s that that’s where … we’ll say, will there be more? Of course, there’ll be more. But will it be billions of dollars? Highly unlikely.” Redbord said TRM Labs used a combination of publicly available wallet addresses as well as cross-checking other websites and activity online to identify the Russian-linked groups. However, he did say it’s not possible to know whether these groups were working with the Russian government or are in any way backed by the Kremlin. Cryptocurrencies have been thrust into the spotlight during the Russia and Ukraine war. Ukraine has been seeking donations via digital coins, which can be sent quickly across the world. But they’re now also being used by Russian paramilitary groups. “I think an interesting part of this story is that crypto is just a form of payment in these cases. It’s a way to move funds. And there’s an example of it being used for good and example of it being used for bad in this context,” Redbord said.

Google Stadia Is Dead; And Nobody Cares About Demise Of Game Streaming Service – News9 LIVE https://bentoncountynewsnow.com/google-stadia-is-dead-and-nobody-cares-about-demise-of-game-streaming-service-news9-live/ Google has shuttered Stadia, its cloud game streaming service, just three years after it launched. While it lasted, Stadia was a capable enough service, offering gamers the option to dive into games without having to buy the hardware first. While the service itself did not seem to be having any problems, it just never seemed to get traction with users. The excitement levels were low even during the launch in 2019, which we will be circling back to. The announcement of the shutdown has sent Google, Stadia users and game development companies scrambling. Stadia is refunding all gaming and hardware purchases, which the users are happy with. The game developers need to find ways to allow their players to transfer their save games and move to other platforms. For the gamers who have gotten used to the convenience, the search for suitable alternatives begins. They may also need to buy the games that they liked playing all over again, on other platforms. Sundar Pichai was clearly out of his element when he was introducing Stadia, talking about, among all things, The Dinosaur Game people play on the Chrome browser when the internet is down. While technology news sites may celebrate the elevation of every CEO of a major western technology company with Indian origins, there is less focus on how this benefits us. We have to market ourselves as the ‘biggest untapped market’, in a desperate effort to attract services, even as our ARPUs remain among the lowest anywhere in the world. Forget cloud game streaming, elementary tasks such as copy-pasting and searching are a struggle for Indic language users, while the priority for the UNICODE consortium is to add poo emoji instead of supporting computing in regional languages. We need to use an esoteric character known as a zero-width non joiner for something as essential as a sanyuktaakshar. The exciting and relevant possibilities that cutting edge technology platforms such as Stadia have to offer, are based on a worldwide networking infrastructure. Google has data centres around the world so it can seamlessly interrupt cat fighting mongoose videos with ads, with the same rapid speed, no matter where in the world you are. The game streaming capabilities of Stadia was built as a layer over, and as an extension of, the streaming capabilities of YouTube. When Pichai was showcasing the underlying infrastructure that powers the advanced capabilities of Stadia, the infrastructure was conspicuously absent in one country. Pichai while launching stadia at GDC 2019. We were left out from the start. (Image credit: Google Stadia/Youtube) What Stadia offered was the convenience of instantly playing a game no matter what kind of screen that you had access to. It was meant to be a gaming platform for everyone. There were some thoughtful features oriented towards streamers, including the ability for viewers to join in the action, known as Crowd Play, to make decisions based on what the viewers wanted, known as Crowd Choice, as well as a State Share feature that allowed users to continue a game from a specific point, useful to check how different gamers can navigate their way out of a tight spot. The companies that are most interested in pushing this technology to its users are not the game developers or the cloud service providers. These are the television companies that want to make their offerings more attractive for buyers by bundling in trials or services. The only thing that keeps televisions relevant are large the screen sizes, and some of the manufacturers even used Stadia for freebies, when Stadia was available as a white label service. A range of style transfers applied to the same game. (Image credit: Google Stadia) Right at the beginning, there was a lot of focus on enabling the creative expression of the game developers. This involved encouraging developers to come up with games that could leverage the unique capabilities of Stadia. As the picture-in-picture mode allowed for each stream to work in its own Stadia instance, there was a lot more computing power available for couch based co-op games, or even multiplayer games. One of the cool demos showcased was a game with a command centre, an FPS player, and aerial support, all with different vantage points of the same gameplay environment. Another demo depended on the power of AI to use style transfer technology in realtime, on videogames. These applications were demanding in terms of computing power, and never really took off. The Google Stadia controller. (Image credit: Google) Although Stadia offered a few monthly freebies like most game streaming services, one of the reasons that it failed to attract more developers and users on the platform was the simple lack of content. The game library was never great, and Google always struggled with surfacing and showcasing quality content. The same is actually true of other platforms as well, considering the trash that makes it to top of the various sections on the Play Store. The controller is one good thing to come out of it. Hopefully the firmware is open sourced so that it does not become junk. While the controller is known to use Bluetooth for establishing a connection, it is not clear if the commands can actually be sent over Bluetooth. There are some alternatives though, the major ones being Amazon Luna, NVIDIA GeForce Now, XBox Cloud Gaming, Boosteroid and PlayStation Plus which incorporated PlayStation Now within its top tier offering. All of these services have some problem or the other, and are not really comparable to Stadia. These include long waiting times, latency issues and subpar quality of graphics. Stadia’s complex monetisation model actually made sense for the users, with a free tier, subscriptions and the ability to buy games. All of these are utterly irrelevant to India, with none of the services offering cloud streaming here. Tech enthusiasts here are better off finding something else to be excited about, such as contactless musical instruments.

NFL Scores Today: Packers Secure OT Win; Eagles Stay Undefeated – USA TODAY https://bentoncountynewsnow.com/nfl-scores-today-packers-secure-ot-win-eagles-stay-undefeated-usa-today/ The Kansas City Chiefs return to Raymond James Stadium to face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It will be the first meeting between both teams since their Super Bowl 55 clash. The Chiefs will look to avenge their loss on Sunday Night Football. The Buccaneers will be a tough challenge. They will play with heavy hearts as the Tampa Bay community is recovering in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian. This week, the Buccaneers ownership donated $1 million to relief efforts. Around the league, the NFL International Series began in London. The Minnesota Vikings escaped Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with a 28-25 victory over the New Orleans Saints. Meanwhile, the Baltimore Ravens and Buffalo Bills highlighted the early slate of Sunday’s action. The Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers will conclude Week 4 by renewing their rivalry on Monday night.  MORE NFL NEWS: Hall of Fame QB Terry Bradshaw says he was treated for bladder and skin cancers WEEK 4 PICKS: Buccaneers and Chiefs meet in Super Bowl 55 rematch LET-DOWNS: Seven biggest September disappointments around the NFL Here’s a rundown of all the Week 4 action around the NFL. Minnesota Vikings 28, New Orleans Saints 25 Briefly: Saints kicker Will Lutz missed a 61-yard, game-winning field goal attempt, and the Vikings escaped with a 28-25 victory in London. Vikings receiver Justin Jefferson exploded with 10 catches for 147 yards and one rushing touchdown.  One highlight to know: With two seconds left in regulation, Lutz drilled a field goal attempt from midfield. The ball bounced twice off the upright and crossbar and fell to the turf.  Next up: The Vikings face the Chicago Bears in Week 5, while the Saints host the Seattle Seahawks.  New York Giants 20, Chicago Bears 12 Briefly: The Giants rolled to 3-1 with a tough home victory against the Bears. Giants running back Saquon Barkley churned out 146 rushing yards on 31 carries. The Bears lost three fumbles, including a costly one at the end of regulation.  One highlight to know: Giants quarterback Daniel Jones rumbled for two rushing touchdowns. His 8-yard touchdown gave New York an early lead in the second quarter.  MORE: ‘Oh, I’m up next. I’m the quarterback’: How Saquon Barkley helped Giants hold off Bears Next up: The Bears will hit the road to play the Minnesota Vikings in Week 5. The Giants head across the pond to play against the Green Bay Packers in London, England.  Buffalo Bills 23, Baltimore Ravens 20 Briefly: Josh Allen propelled the Bills to a comeback road victory against the Ravens. Buffalo trailed by 10 points at halftime, but scored 13 unanswered to improve to 3-1 on the season. Allen outdueled Ravens star Lamar Jackson by completing 19 of 36 passes for 213 yards and two total touchdowns. One highlight to know: Josh Allen scores an 11-yard touchdown late in the third quarter against the Ravens.  Next up: The Bills host the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 5. The Ravens will play the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday Night Football.  Atlanta Falcons 23, Cleveland Browns 20 Briefly: The Falcons improved to 2-2 overall behind their stellar rushing attack. Atlanta rushed for 202 yards as the backfield duo of Cordarrelle Patterson and Caleb Huntley scored two touchdowns. Browns star Nick Chubb, a Georgia native, accounted for 127 total yards in his return home.  One highlight to know: Cordarrelle Patterson scored his third touchdown of the season with a 13-yard scamper into the end zone.  Next up: The Falcons will face NFC South rival Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 5. The Browns will host the Los Angeles Chargers.  Los Angeles Chargers 34, Houston Texans 24 Briefly: The Chargers outlasted a Texans’ late comeback to win their second game of the season. Austin Ekeler paced the Chargers with 109 total yards and three touchdowns. Texans rookie Daemon Pierce continued his breakout campaign with 131 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries.  One highlight to know: Pierce rushed for a 75-yard touchdown as he eluded defenders on his way to the end zone.  Next up: The Texans hit the road to face the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 5. The Chargers will play the Cleveland Browns.  New York Jets 24, Pittsburgh Steelers 20 Briefly: The Kenny Pickett era began in Pittsburgh when head coach Mike Tomlin made a mid-game change in favor of the rookie over Mitch Trubisky. Still, the Steelers couldn’t overcome a late-game charge for the Jets, who welcomed back quarterback Zach Wilson with a road win. One highlight to know: Jets running back Breece Hall stretched out for a 2-yard rushing touchdown that was initially called short of the end zone. However, the call was overturned upon review, giving the Jets a 24-20 lead it would ultimately keep. Next up: The Jets return home to face the Miami Dolphins, while the Steelers face a tough road test against the Buffalo Bills. Tennessee Titans 24, Indianapolis Colts 17 Briefly: Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill tossed a pair of touchdowns, and running back Derrick Henry amassed over 100 yards to lead Tennessee past Indianapolis in an AFC South showdown. Colts star running back Jonathan Taylor rushed for just 20 times for just 42 yards in the loss. One highlight to know: The Titans got the scoring started when Tannehill found receiver Robert Woods from seven yards out for a passing touchdown with 8:00 to go in the first quarter. Up next: The Titans hit the road to visit the Washington Commanders, while the Colts take a trip to Denver for a date with the Broncos. Philadelphia Eagles 29, Jacksonville Jaguars 21 Briefly: The Eagles remained the NFL’s lone undefeated team Sunday. Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts added to his MVP candidacy by completing 16-of-25 passes for 204 yards and a rushing touchdown. The Jaguars put up a valiant effort as receiver Jamal Agnew hauled in four catches for 50 yards and two touchdowns.  One highlight to know: Jaguars safety Andre Cisco intercepted Jalen Hurts and returned it 59 yards for a touchdown. Next up: The Jaguars hos the Houston Texans in Week 5. The Eagles head out West Coast to play the Arizona Cardinals.  Seattle Seahawks 48, Detroit Lions 45 Briefly: Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith had three all-purpose touchdowns and running back Rashaad Penny amassed two scores and 151 yards on the ground to pace Seattle in an offensive shootout in Detroit. One highlight to know: Penny broke off a 41-yard touchdown run with 2:14 left in the fourth quarter to give Seattle a 48-38 lead. Up next: The Seahawks travel to take on the Saints, while the Lions hit the road for a tilt with the Patriots. Dallas Cowboys 25, Washington Commanders 10 Briefly: Commanders quarterback Carson Wentz threw a pair of interceptions while Cowboys quarterback Cooper Rush threw a pair of touchdowns, a statistical mirror that proved to be the difference in a big NFC East showdown. One highlight to know: Rush found receiver Michael Gallup in the end zone for a 9-yard touchdown with 1:04 left in the second quarter. It was Gallup’s first game back after tearing his ACL in 2021. Up next: The Cowboys travel to Los Angeles to face the Rams, while the Commanders play host to the Titans. Arizona Cardinals 26, Carolina Panthers 16 Briefly: After a slow start, the Cardinals held the Panthers to just 6 points in the second half as quarterback Kyler Murray tossed two touchdowns and 207 yards. Meanwhile, Panthers quarterback Baker Mayfield threw one touchdown and two interceptions. One highlight to know: Murray found wide receiver Marquise Brown for a 23-yard touchdown connection to give Arizona a 26-10 lead with 7:37 left in the game. Up next: The Cardinals return home to host the Eagles, while the Panthers welcome the 49ers. Green Bay Packers 27 at New England Patriots (OT) Brief: The Patriots, behind third-string quarterback Bailey Zappe, took the Packers to overtime but ultimately fell to the Packers and a field goal as time expired in the extra period. Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers threw for 251 yards and two touchdowns. One highlight to know: Zappe became the first rookie to throw a touchdown pass this season when he found receiver DeVante Parker in the end zone for a 25-yard score in the third quarter. However, it appeared as though officials missed a delay of game on the play. Up next: The Packers stay at home to host the Giants, while the Patriots return to New England to take on the Lions. Las Vegas Raiders 32, Denver Broncos 23 Brief: Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels picked up his first win with Las Vegas as running back Josh Jacobs rushed for a pair of scores to knock off the Broncos. Denver, after getting out to a first-quarter lead, couldn’t keep pace with the Raiders’ offense. One highlight to know: Jacobs plunged in from 10 yards out to give the Raiders a 10-7 lead with 11:46 left in the second quarter. The Raiders would never relinquish the lead. Up next: The Raiders hit the road to face the Chiefs, while the Broncos play host to the Colts. Kansas City Chiefs at Tampa Bay Buccaneers Kickoff: 8:20 p.m. ET TV: NBC Betting info: Odds, moneyline and more What to know: It’s been a tough week for the Tampa Bay community in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian. Both teams look to put on a good performance in this Super Bowl 55 rematch. Los Angeles Rams at San Francisco 49ers Kickoff: Monday at 8:15 p.m. ET TV: ESPN, ESPN 2 (ManningCast) Betting info: Odds, moneyline and more What to know: Rams coach Sean McVay hopes to snap a road losing streak against the 49ers. The NFC West rivals always turn in a physical encounter. This one shouldn’t be different under the bright lights of Monday Night Football.

Millions Visit Nikeland As Brands Fashion A Future In The Metaverse – The Times https://bentoncountynewsnow.com/millions-visit-nikeland-as-brands-fashion-a-future-in-the-metaverse-the-times/ Nike has attracted tens of millions of visitors to its virtual store in the metaverse as it moves to make “deep consumer connections” online. More than 21 million people explored Nikeland, the vast digital world built by the sportswear giant inside a popular gaming platform called Roblox. The platform’s young users have been flocking to the company’s buildings, fields and arenas to compete in a variety of games such as dodgeball, basketball and “The Floor is Lava”. Crucially to the brand’s digital strategy, they can also browse a showroom and buy virtual products including shoes, bags and hats. The items can be used to dress their digital avatars, which become walking adverts for the company’s latest products that can be bought in the real world.

30 Smart Things Trainers Use To Make Dogs Behave Better – Bustle https://bentoncountynewsnow.com/30-smart-things-trainers-use-to-make-dogs-behave-better-bustle/ Dogs are the best. (Sorry, cat people.) Setting aside that they’re cute, loyal, and protective of their owners, the fact of the matter is that they make every day better just by being around. Naturally, you want the best for them in turn, whether that means feeding them only organic food, bathing them with shampoo that’s more expensive than yours, or sacrificing an hour of your time each day to go for a walk. Sometimes, though, your pup might exhibit some unseemly behaviors. Thankfully, there are simple steps you can take to help your pooch behave better, and you just need a few inexpensive tools to get started. Read on to see expert-recommended toys, snacks, and accessories from Amazon designed to turn your good dog into the best dog. 1 This Training Whistle That’ll Help Teach Behavioral Commands If you find that your dog isn’t really responding to voice commands, try a training whistle, like this one by SportDOG. Dr. Amanda Takiguchi, a veterinarian, dog trainer, and founder of the blog Trending Breeds, swears by one. “The only ‘tools’ I ever need to train my dogs are a collar, a lead, a whistle, and me!” she says. “I train my dogs to working trials standard. Tracking, searching, obedience, and agility.” Although this whistle is high-pitched (hence why your dog is more likely to respond to it), it doesn’t have a little ball inside, so it won’t make that annoying trill sound. Also, you can adjust your volume to be quieter when your pup is close to you. 2 A Set Of Clickers To Help Your Dog Listen & Learn When your dog learns how to sit and stay, ideally the moment won’t be filled with shouting. Keep things under control with one of these training clickers, which comes in a pack of two. “The clicker can be used to mark the moment when the dog has performed an action, or it can be used as a reward for good behavior,” explains Jen Jones, a professional dog trainer and behavior specialist. Thus, this gadget both teaches your puppy new behaviors and reinforces already practiced good behaviors. “I recommend using a clicker for teaching and then using a verbal marker to remind the dog of what he did,” Jones, the founder of Your Dog Advisor, adds. Through this type of operant conditioning, your dog will become so well-mannered, Cesar Millan would be impressed. 3 This Long Leash That Allows For Exploration When you’re in public places with your furry friend, you want to keep them relatively close for their own safety. But Andy Ramshaw, the owner of Venture Dog Training, suggests getting a longer leash for when it’s just the two of you. “I recommend one 30 feet long that you can put onto your dog in a safe environment, like the woods or a beach,” he says. “They give your dog the opportunity to sniff and explore while the owner still has control.” This woven leash is a great option, as it comes in multiple lengths, including 30 and 50 feet. It has a double-layered handle to help you maintain a strong grip, and it’s made of a rope-like material that doesn’t tangle no matter how far your dog strays. 4 A Toy That Provides Stimulation & Helps Your Dog Expend Energy If your pup doesn’t have a KONG yet, you’re both missing out. This rubber toy, which comes in six sizes, holds food and treats, providing both dinner and entertainment. “Feeding this way gives the dog an opportunity to chew (fulfilling a natural calming function) whilst also rewarding the dog for lying down, chewing, not barking, and being calm,” Ramshaw says. He explains that placing the toy in your dog’s crate is also a great way to help them get used to spending time alone. In essence, the KONG is useful for multiple things, including teething, alleviating separation anxiety, and avoiding boredom. 5 This Set Of Rubber Mats That Soothe Nerves & Make Eating More Enjoyable Feeding time will be exciting for your dog regardless of what you serve their food in. These textured mats, however, offer a challenge and generate more excitement than the standard doggy bowl. “Lickimats […] are dimpled rubber mats that can be used to spread soft foods onto for the dog to lick,” Ramshaw says. You can get two for just $15, and they’re reusable. “Licking is repetitive and is calming for dogs,” Ramshaw adds. If you have an anxious pup, this product will take their mind off of troubling thoughts and provide a distracting task during meal time. 6 These Treats That Take Longer To Consume Than Traditional Biscuits Letting your dog discover different types of treats is exciting. Do they prefer soft chews? Jerky? Freeze-dried meat? Ramshaw recommends keeping some bully sticks in your rotation, in addition to other “perishable chews that the dog can safely consume.” These sticks contain only one ingredient, so they’re free of preservatives and artificial flavors. Bully sticks will also keep your pooch occupied for a good while. “Supervision is always advised when dogs are chewing anything,” Ramshaw adds. 7 A Mat That Hides Kibble, Forcing Your Dog To Fish It Out Another way to keep your dog entertained is to hide their food or treats in one of these snuffle mats. Ribbon tendrils conceal the bits, so your pet has to actively sniff them out and look for them. “This replicates the natural behavior of sniffing and scavenging for dogs and can be an excellent way to exercise their brain,” Ramshaw says. “Mental exercise is twice as tiring as physical exercise for dogs.” The cool thing about this mat is that you can expand it to any size you want. Keep it smaller for puppies, or increase its circumference for larger dogs. In any case, your canine is going to have a waggin’ good time with this product. 8 This Harness That Will Help Your Hound Breathe Easier On Walks A common mistake is to attach your dog’s leash to their collar before going for a walk. Instead, you should get this padded harness for maximum comfort. “A harness is preferable to a collar because if the dog has a tendency to pull, the pressure caused will be distributed across the dog’s chest and back, which are strong,” Ramshaw clarifies. “Rather than its neck, (which) contains softer organs.” This harness is available in 14 cute colors and four sizes, plus it has two buckles that make it easy to slip on and off. Most importantly, though, it’ll prevent your dog from choking or becoming short of breath during strolls. 9 This Training Platform That Helps Discourage Unwanted Behaviors Certified dog trainer Erin Askeland swears by using a dog training platform such as this one to dissuade begging, jumping, and other problem behaviors. “Platforms make for a great training tool because it helps put a dog in the right position and makes it super obvious where they should be,” says Askeland, an animal health and behavior expert at Camp Bow Wow. “It creates a visual aid that is clear and precise to help a dog focus during a training session.” The Klimb platform has a secure base and rubbery surface to keep your pet safely situated on top. Although it can hold up to 500 pounds, the platform itself is lightweight and easily transportable. After all, there’s never a wrong place or time to instill some manners. 10 A Microfiber Mat That Does More Than Just Prevent Muddy Floors This absorbent mat would make a great addition to the front entryway so your pups can wipe their muddy paws before stepping onto the floors. Its microfiber surface and non-slip backing make for long-lasting durability. But Askeland says there’s more than one possible use with this product. “A mat is a portable version of a platform that you can use when going out to train in public or different locations,” she explains. “One with a good, nonskid back is helpful to stay in place while in use.” This product checks all the necessary boxes. 11 This Target Stick That Makes Training Sessions Less Tiring For You Tap into your headmaster persona with this expandable target stick. The device helps outline a dedicated training area for your dog, Askeland says. This particular one can fit in your pocket when not in use, making it easily portable. “A target stick can help train things like leash-walking or tricks that require a certain body position or movement,” Askeland shares. “While you can also use your hand, a target stick … is often easier to move around than having to manipulate your own hand and arm.” 12 This Toy That Makes Crate Training Less Of A Hassle It’s important for your pet to be able to stay in a crate when you’re not around to supervise. Unfortunately, teaching them to do so can create feelings of stress and anxiety. That’s where the Groov toy comes in. “This toy really helps a dog to like being in their crate by providing them with an activity to do while spending time in confinement,” says Alexandra Bassett, CPDT-KA, and lead trainer and behavior specialist at Dog Savvy Los Angeles. All you have to do is smear the toy with something creamy, such as peanut butter, attach it to the side of the crate, and let your dog go to town while learning to stay there without feeling nervous. 13 A Playpen That Helps Your Dogs Frolic Outside Safely Those without a fenced-in backyard will appreciate this metal playpen, whose bendable panels allow you to create multiple configurations. With this barrier, you can leave your dogs to play in the yard with minimal supervision. “It can both keep a dog out of trouble and prevent potty accidents in the wrong spot,” Bassett notes. The pen’s frame is covered in a rust-proof coating. That, coupled with its sturdy foundation, will allow you to use this product for years to come. It also comes in six different sizes, so no worries if your yard is on the smaller side. 14 These Reusable Pee Pads For Uncomplicated Potty Training You might’ve used pee pads inside the house before your puppy learned to relieve themselves outside...

Crypto Billionaires Are Disappearing: Casualties Of The Bear Market – BeInCrypto https://bentoncountynewsnow.com/crypto-billionaires-are-disappearing-casualties-of-the-bear-market-beincrypto/ Crypto billionaires are becoming a rare breed. When Vitalik Buterin revealed he was no longer a billionaire in May, the Ethereum cofounder spoke for many of the ultra-rich in cryptocurrency. A number of the wealthiest founders have lost billions of dollars in net worth to the 2022 bear market, or “crypto winter”. According to Forbes, the number of crypto billionaires on The Forbes 400 list of the richest people in the U.S. dropped from seven in 2021 to four this year. Their combined wealth fell similarly, from $55.1 billion to $27.3 billion, it says. It comes as cryptocurrency holdings have been hit hard by a sharp decline in prices following the collapse of the Terra blockchain in May. Bitcoin (BTC) is down more than 70% from its record closing high of $69,000 in Nov. 2021. Every other cryptocurrency of significance fell alongside bitcoin. Ethereum (ETH), the second-largest digital asset, has slumped 75% from its all-time high. Solana (SOL), Cardano (ADA) and Binance Coin (BNB) are all in the red. In total, the value of all crypto assets has dropped from over $3 trillion in November to $967 billion as of writing, per Coinmarketcap data. This year’s bear market is unprecedented in some ways. It represents a combination of difficult macroeconomic conditions, geopolitical tensions, and dubious projects/decisions by crypto founders. The Bitcoin Fear and Greed Index, a tool that tracks momentum levels in the industry, is currently reading “extreme fear.” Crypto billionaires and their declining fortunes In June, bitcoin dropped to under $18,000 – and with it the fortunes of a few crypto founders and backers. Sam Bankman-Fried, the cofounder and CEO of crypto exchange FTX, is down 23% since his fortune hit $22.5 billion over the past year, according to Forbes. With a net worth of $17.2 billion, Bankman-Fried remains the richest person in crypto. He is ranked at number 41 on The Forbes 400 list. Sam Bankman-Fried, the cofounder and CEO of crypto exchange FTX, is down 23%. The 30-year old made big moves this year. He gave away $16 million to super PACs in April, making him one of the top donors. He also plans to give between $100 million and $1 billion during the next U.S. presidential election to support Democrats. In crypto, Bankman-Fried has become some sort of messiah. In June, he loaned $400 million to BlockFi through FTX. There was an option to buy the troubled crypto lender outright for up to $240 million. He also provided a $500 million loan to bankrupt lender Voyager Digital through one of his companies Alameda Research. Bankman-Fried is planning more acquisitions, according to industry media, cheered on by a cashpile of around $2 billion at FTX. Ripple’s Chris Larsen Chris Larsen, cofounder and chairman of crypto payments firm Ripple Labs, saw his wealth fall from $6 billion to $2.8 billion over the last year. The 62-year-old’s net worth slumped after Ripple’s XRP native token crashed by 75% since last year. Ripple has also been impacted by its long-running legal battle against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. It won the case a few days ago. Over the past two weeks, the price of XRP has soared more than 30% to $0.4595 at press time. Larsen stays on Forbes’ rich list at number 380. The business executive and angel investor has shied away from making public comments on the SEC lawsuit, although he continues to engage publicly about Bitcoin. Considered Bankman-Fried’s right-handman, Gary Wang cofounded both Alameda Research and FTX. The 29-year-old old software engineer is worth $4.6 billion. He makes the Forbes 400 rich list at number 227. Wang owns 16% of FTX, where he is chief technology officer. He worked at Google “where he formulated systems that were meant to aggregate prices for millions of flights.” While Wang maintains a private life, he is credited with spearheading FTX’s growth jas much as Bankman-Fried. The fall from grace Coinbase Global’s Brian Armstrong, 39, and cofounder Fred Ehrsam, 34, were once worth a combined $15 billion. They have seen their fortunes collapse to $2.7 billion and $1.1 billion as shares of the firm plunged 80% since its initial public offering in April last year. While Armstrong retains his place in the Forbes 400 rich list at number 388, the founder may have seen one of the biggest declines in fortunes. Last year this time he was worth $11.5 billion. Ehrsam, who left Coinbase in 2017, dropped from the rich list after his worth fell from $3.5 billion. The bear market has taken a toll on Coinbase, the largest U.S. crypto exchange. Quarterly trading volume almost halved to $277 billion during the fourth quarter of 2021, compared to the previous three months. The exchange makes money from charging fees on trades. Coinbase also laid off 18% of its workforce in June, citing the possibility of a recession that could lead to a prolonged bear market. “We grew too quickly,” Armstrong said at the time. “Our employee costs are too high to effectively manage this uncertain market. The actions we are taking today will allow us to more confidently manage through this period even if it is severely prolonged.” Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss saw their fortunes fall to $2.2 billion each, from as high as $4.3 billion apiece. With markets crashing, the 40-year-old twin founders of crypto exchange Gemini have taken on music. They’ve gone on tours with their rock band, Mars Junction. Both have dropped from the Forbes 400 rich list. Geminin announced in June that it would cut around 10% of its stuff due to unfavourable market conditions. Crypto billionaires: Will they recover their wealth? There are several crypto tycoons who remain billionaires not included on Forbes 400 list of wealthy people. Founders such as Changpeng Zhao of Binance, Mike Novogratz of hedge fund Fortress Investment Group and others, have lost billions from the market downturn. However, bear markets are not a rare occasion in the digital markets spectrum. Therefore, it’s not surprising that crypto fanatics maintain that the events are only temporary – just as much they remain hopeful things will turn for better in the near future. Buterin, the Ethereum confounder, has previously suggested he would welcome lower crypto prices. In February, he told Bloomberg News: “The people who are deep into crypto, and especially building things, a lot of them welcome a bear market.” Fred Ehrsam, the Coinbase cofounder and board member, tweeted: “One thing most people don’t fully grasp: it takes years, often decades, to go from a new infrastructure-level technology breakthrough (like crypto) to a vibrant ecosystem of mainstream applications.” One thing most people don’t fully grasp: it takes years, often decades, to go from a new infrastructure-level technology breakthrough (like crypto) to a vibrant ecosystem of mainstream applications. — Fred Ehrsam (@FEhrsam) June 20, 2022 The Winklevoss twins, say their investments are long term. “It’s all about perspective and HODLing for the long game,” Cameron Winklevoss wrote on Twitter in May. Got something to say about crypto billionaires or anything else? Join the discussion in our Telegram channel. You can also catch us on Tik Tok, Facebook, or Twitter. Disclaimer All the information contained on our website is published in good faith and for general information purposes only. Any action the reader takes upon the information found on our website is strictly at their own risk.

Iran’s Release Of Iranian-American Not Conditioned On Asset Unfreezing, U.S. Says. – The Washington Post https://bentoncountynewsnow.com/irans-release-of-iranian-american-not-conditioned-on-asset-unfreezing-u-s-says-the-washington-post/ An Iranian American jailed in Iran for nearly seven years on widely discredited espionage charges was temporarily released Saturday while Iran also lifted a travel ban on his ailing father, who had been imprisoned after traveling to the country to plead for his son’s release. Siamak Namazi, 51, and Baquer Namazi, 85, are among a growing list of U.S. and European nationals who have been held by Iran as political pawns, according to western officials. Tehran claimed Saturday that following the Namazis’ release Washington would unfreeze $7 billion in Iranian assets held in South Korea due to U.S. sanctions. “With the finalization of negotiations between Iran and the United States to release the prisoners of both countries, $7 billion of Iran’s blocked resources will be released,” State News Agency IRNA said Sunday. A U.S. State Department spokesperson denied that any assets would be transferred as part of a deal. The spokesperson, unnamed per State Department protocol, told The Washington Post that Washington was still working to secure the full release of Siamak Namazi, as well as several other U.S. nationals jailed in Iran. “We remain committed and determined to securing the freedom of all Americans unjustly detained in Iran and elsewhere,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement Saturday. Price also thanked “U.S. allies and partners who have worked tirelessly to help the Namazis, including the U.N. Secretary General, Switzerland, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, and the United Kingdom.” Iranian media reported Saturday that an unnamed “regional country” helped to facilitate the deal. An informed source, who was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter, told The Post that Iraq had a key role in mediating between Iran and U.S. and British counterparts. Washington and Tehran cut off diplomatic relations shortly after the 1979 revolution that brought Iran’s ruling clerics to power. But the two countries have most recently been engaged in now stalled indirect talks to revive the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal that Washington left in 2018. Iran has billions of assets frozen in banks around the world due to western sanctions. A return to the deal would include U.S. sanctions relief needed to revive Iran’s collapsed economy. Reports by state-affiliated media in Iran emphasized that the release of the Namazis has coincided with the lack of progress around the nuclear deal. The younger Namazi, a businessman, was arrested in 2015 while visiting Iran and has been held in the notorious Evin prison. An Iranian court convicted him in 2016 of espionage charges, which he denied. Namazi’s furlough is for one week, during which he will stay with his family, Jared Genser, the family lawyer, told Reuters. It remains unclear if the furlough will be extended. The elder Namazi, a former U.N. official, traveled to Iran in 2016 to plead for his son’s release. He was subsequently detained and convicted of “collaboration with a hostile government.” Authorities furloughed him from prison in 2018 due to health conditions and closed his case in 2020, though he remained under a travel ban. “The Secretary-General is grateful that, following his appeals to the president of the Islamic Republic of Iran, our former colleague Baquer Namazi has been permitted to leave Iran for medical treatment abroad,” a spokesperson for U.N. Secretary General António Guterres said Saturday in a statement. “This is a critical first step but of course we will not rest until the entire family is able to return to the United States and their long nightmare is finally over,” Genser, the family lawyer, told Reuters. Former political prisoners have described being subject to abuse, torture and forced confessions of such offenses as spying , while in prison. Iran has falsely blamed “foreign enemies” for fomenting more than two weeks of nationwide anti-government protests sparked last month by the death of a young woman, Mahsa Amini, while in police custody. Authorities said Friday that they arrested nine European nationals for their role in the protests in a move likely to increase tensions with the west. U.S., European and U.N. officials have condemned Iran’s crackdown on demonstrators, which has included using live fire and cutting off internet access. At least 52 protesters have been killed, and hundreds more injured and arrested, according to London-based Amnesty International. The demonstrations, which have pulled people from a cross-section of ethnic, geographic and class groups, are the biggest surge of unrest since a wave of protests in 2019 triggered by economic grievances. In a separate case, Venezuela, another U.S. adversary, said Saturday that it had freed seven Americans held for nearly five years. The detainees, who included five oil company executives, were exchanged for two nephews of President Nicolás Maduro’s wife jailed in the United States for drug smuggling. John Hudson contributed reporting from Washington; Mustafa Salim contributed reporting from Baghdad.

Tech Concludes Weekend At Liberty – VT Hokiesports.com https://bentoncountynewsnow.com/tech-concludes-weekend-at-liberty-vt-hokiesports-com/ BLACKSBURG – Members of the Virginia Tech women’s tennis team wrapped up competition at the Liberty University on Sunday in Lynchburg, Va. Sophomore Dariya Radulova continued her strong fall campaign with another weekend of straight set victories producing three singles wins. Junior Sabina Richtrova matched her teammates dominance with her own trio of wins in straight sets. Senior Kirsten Husted picked up her first win of the fall season against Liberty’s Elsa Kirch, claiming them 6-2, 6-0. The Hokies picked up a pair of wins on the doubles court starting with junior Erika Cheng and freshman Makenna Doyle earning a 7-5 victory over JMU’s Lynelle Lim and Hayley Glen. Cheng notched another doubles win alongside Richtrova topping Liberty’s Marina Davtyan and Esther Lovato, finishing 6-4.   Liberty Hidden Dual (Lynchburg, Va.) Day 1 (8/1) Askarova/Abidullina def. Aksu/Radulova 6-1 Karlova/Matasova def. Cartledge/Richtrova 7-6 Nelson/Honrubia Andrino def. Cheng/Doyle 7-5 Afanasyeva/Oliveira def. Cartledge/Richtrova 6-3 Voloh/Munteanu def. Aksu/Radulova 6-3 Cheng/Doyle def. Lim/Glen 7-5 Cheng/Richtrova def. Davtyan/Lovato 6-4 Nguyen/Ode Mitre def. Aksu/Glen 6-3 Janikian/Sampaio def. Cartledge/Husted 6-3 Eliza Askarova def. Semra Aksu 5-7, 6-2, 10-7 Yelizaveta Karlova def. Erika Cheng 6-3, 6-2 Dariya Radulova def. Toni Nelson 6-4, 6-3 Julieta Honrubia Andrino def. Charlotte Cartledge 4-5 RET (Inj.) Adel-Byanu Abidullina def. Sabina Richtrova 6-2, 6-4 Anja Draskovic def. Makenna Doyle 6-2, 7-5 Victoria Matasova def. Kirsten Husted 6-1, 6-4   Day 2 (8/2) Daria Afanasyeva def. Erika Cheng 6-1, 7-5 Dariya Radulova def. Ines Oliveira 6-3, 6-2 Daniela Voloh def. Semra Aksu 7-5, 7-5 Kyle Moulin def. Makenna Doyle 5-7, 6-2, 10-3 Sabina Richtrova def. Hope Moulin 6-3, 4-6, 10-5 Daria Munteanu def. Kirsten Husted 3-6, 6-4, 10-5 Dariya Radulova def. Tiffany Nguyen 6-3, 6-1 Esther Lovato def. Erika Cheng 6-4, 6-3 Sabina Richtrova def. Priscila Janikian 6-3, 7-6 Kirsten Husted def. Elsa Kirch 6-2, 6-0

Will GST Council Decide On Gaming? – Deccan Herald https://bentoncountynewsnow.com/will-gst-council-decide-on-gaming-deccan-herald/ Oscar Wilde once said, “One should always play fairly when one has the winning cards.”  Gameskraft Technology — a Bengaluru-based gaming company — stated that it has played fairly regarding the payment of its GST liabilities. This was in response to a notice it received from the Director General of Goods and Service Tax Intelligence (DGGI) demanding a GST of Rs 21,000 crore — an amount so staggering it is almost 15 per cent of the average monthly GST collections. This amount appears to have been arrived at by taxing their gaming services at 28 per cent (game of chance) as against the 18 per cent (game of skill) that Gameskraft has discharged their GST obligations at. The DGGI says the company is promoting online betting through card, casual and fantasy games like Rummy Culture, Gamezy and Rummy Time. The notice has been served on the gaming firm for transactions that happened between July 2017 and June 2022. There are legal precedents that concur with the view taken by Gameskraft. Distinguishing between the terms ‘games of skill’ and ‘games of chance’, the Supreme Court, in the K R Lakshmanan vs State of Tamil Nadu & Anr, stated: “In a game of skill, although the element of chance necessarily cannot be entirely eliminated, is one in which success depends principally upon the superior knowledge, training, attention, experience and adroitness of the player.” In this case, the court was considering whether horse racing was a game of skill or chance. It is observed that the outcome in a horse race depends on several factors like form, fitness and inherent capacity of the animal, the ability of the jockey, the weight carried and the distance of the race, which are all objective facts capable of being assessed by persons placing the bets. Thus, unlike the lottery, the prediction of the result of the race is an outcome of knowledge, study and observation. More specific to rummy, the Andhra Pradesh High Court, in the case of D Krishna Kumar vs State of Andhra Pradesh, held that games of skill like rummy, even when being played for stakes, are outside the ambit of the Andhra Pradesh Gaming Act, 1974. The next meeting of the GST Council is scheduled to take place in October. Previous meetings have set a precedent in taking up issues that are of high value and are a matter of litigation. It is expected that GST on online gaming, horse racing and casinos would be taken up at the October meeting. A Group of Ministers that was constituted is expected to submit its report before the meeting. Another issue that needs to be addressed is the method by which some GST assessments are being done. Of late, some taxpayers have been receiving bizarre notices from the GST department. Some of these notices have asked for e-way bill information from a non-banking financial company; notices to attach bank accounts have been issued liberally; GST has been demanded on items such as impairment and depreciation; and in some cases, a penalty of Rs 20,000 has been levied on taxable values of Rs 72. GST departments in some states have released a GST Audit Manual which serves as a ready reckoner on how to conduct GST assessments. It is critical that these are followed completely.  The concerns of the taxpayers are further increased by the fact that GST tribunals are yet to be up and running as originally envisaged. The setting up of GST tribunals is expected to be another agenda at the GST Council meeting. Today, taxpayers have to live with pro-department adjudication officers, inconsistent opinions of the Authority for Advance Rulings (AAR) or approach the high courts on matters of law. The delay in constituting GST tribunals can be attributed to the fact that an objection has been raised on the number of technical members vis-à-vis the number of judicial members. GST tribunals play a very important role in meting out justice to taxpayers and hence, the GST Council should get them up and running at the earliest. In a recent case that came up before it, the Supreme Court has also asked the government to hasten the setting up of the tribunals. Monthly GST revenues have reached comfortable levels; rates of taxes are more or less okay, save for the odd exceptions; the GST portal is no longer moody; and the concept of e-invoicing has mitigated the menace of fake invoices. If GST assessments are streamlined and the artificial restrictions on input tax credit are removed, there would be very few who would be extremely critical of GST laws. There will always be scope for improvement in a pan-India law such as the GST — the key thing for the GST Council is to keep on at it.

Northwest Arkansas Divorces – Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette https://bentoncountynewsnow.com/northwest-arkansas-divorces-northwest-arkansas-democrat-gazette-3/ The following divorces granted were recorded Sept. 22-28 in Benton and Washington County clerks’ offices. BENTON COUNTY 21-1248. Ka Xiong v. Panee Heryawapor 21-1678. Anthony Spenn v. Lilian Spenn 22-66. Rylie McCarty v. Blade McCarty 22-240. Sandra Maxedon v. Bradley Maxedon 22-647. David Ford v. Misty Ford 22-861. Jose Vega v. Ana Vega 22-1056. Nicolette Driller v. Joshua Driller 22-1104. Daniela Salinas v. Kevin Lopez Torres 22-1137. David Clark v. Serina Clark 22-1138. Samantha Dinnis v. Michael Tedesco 22-1160. Leia Mackey v. Gareeno Mackey 22-1265. Alexandra Harris v. Charles Harris 22-1289. Charity Dezurik v. Erik Dezurik 22-1323. Cynthia Blakeslee v. Kerry Blakeslee 22-1339. William Trentham v. Holly Trentham 22-1345. Nikki Mai v. Tong Mai 22-1366. Jimmy Dorey v. Jacqueline Dorey 22-1377. Annette McGowan v. Robert McGowan WASHINGTON COUNTY 21-475. Chrystal McPherson v. Aaron McPherson 21-1018. Veronica Orr v. Matthew Orr 22-99. Arturo Lopez v. Erika Sanchez Campos 22-374. Ash Domer v. William Domer 22-570. Elizabeth Quinn v. David Cunningham 22-602. Megan Walsh v. Colin Walsh 22-627. Kara Scott v. John Scott 22-755. Cody McGill v. Tasha McGill 22-798. Joseph Davis v. Kathryn McCullough 22-850. Imbri Jenkins v. Nathan Lesmann 22-890. Thomas Mulvaney v. Emily Mulvaney 22-1051. David McKenna v. Dawn McKenna 22-1093. Bryan Myers v. Christine Myers 22-1162. Airity Hesington v. Adrean Hesington 22-1163. Catherine Mullinax v. Michael Mullinax 22-1171. Brandon Pham v. Katiya Pham 22-1203. Meegan Bright v. John Bright 22-1265. Jacob Pease v. Katie Pease 22-1266. Lindsey Stavely v. Mark Stavely 22-1270. Curtis Simpson v. Brittany Simpson 22-1346. Sarah Bull v. Jesse Pierce 22-1382. Christopher Jones v. Traci Jones

Keldon Johnson Loses 21 Pounds, Could Be Spurs’ New Small Forward – San Antonio Express-News https://bentoncountynewsnow.com/keldon-johnson-loses-21-pounds-could-be-spurs-new-small-forward-san-antonio-express-news/ HOUSTON — The man they call “Big Body” arrived for the start of training camp last week with his body not quite as big. Keldon Johnson said he dropped 21 pounds over the offseason, a weight-loss outcome that could portend a change in position. Having played mostly as an undersized power forward for his first three NBA seasons, Johnson is prepared to move to the small forward spot in 2022-23. “He is really a wing player,” coach Gregg Popovich said. “He’s not really a ‘four’, so this is putting him more at his natural position.” The team’s leading returning scorer at 17 points per game, Johnson shot a career-best 39.8 percent from 3-point range last season. The 6-foot-5 Johnson will play this season listed at 210 pounds. “He is quicker, he moves better and he tells me he looks better, too,” Popovich said with a laugh. Johnson, 22, said he could feel the difference early in training camp. “I’m definitely slimmer, faster, stronger and just prepared for a big season,” he said. Spurs veteran Doug McDermott has been in the NBA for eight years, and has some advice for the three rookies on the San Antonio roster: “You just have to stay even-keeled.” Kin Man Hui, San Antonio Express-News / Staff photographer Johnson will have to wait a bit to show off his new physique. Spurs vs. Magic When/where: 7 p.m. Thursday; AT&T Center. TV/radio: Spurs app; 1200 AM, 1350 AM (Spanish). Though Johnson has been going through non-contact work in camp while recovering from a dislocated shoulder, he was not active for Sunday’s preseason opener in Houston. Second-year guard Josh Primo was also sidelined while dealing with a knee sprain. Both projected starters are expected to be ready for the Oct. 19 regular-season opener at home against Charlotte. “I just want to be the best Keldon Johnson I can be,” Johnson said. “Be a leader, be there for the young guys and just learn as much as I can from the rest of the coaches.” Asked if his new slimmed down figure might mean a change in nickname is in order. Johnson maintained he is still “Big Body” at heart. On ExpressNews.com: Sochan, Spurs rookie class ready for grand unveiling “Of course,” he said. “100 percent.” Richardson all the rage in Paris for Fashion Week With COVID having put a damper on his summer travel plans in previous years, Spurs guard Josh Richardson decided he needed to go big when it came to his 2022 offseason vacation. So he went to Paris for Fashion Week, fulfilling a lifelong bucket list item. “I just like fashion, I like clothes, I like traveling,” the 29-year-old Richardson said. “I hadn’t got to travel in four or five years. I made up my mind to do it.” Somewhat of fashion maven himself, Richardson said the trip to Paris was the best part of his summer. “I had a good time out there, just watching the show,” Richardson said. McDermott delivers some sage advice to rookies Spurs guard Doug McDermott had sage advice for his younger teammates as their NBA careers unofficially kicked off Sunday in Houston. On ExpressNews.com: Doug McDermott likes Spurs’ fast pace The most important skill a rookie can learn is how to weather the down days, McDermott said. “I have learned there are so many ups and downs,” said the 30-year-old McDermott, who is entering his ninth NBA season. “In college, you only play 30 games. In the NBA, you play 82. So there are going to be a lot of high moments, a lot of down moments, and you just have to stay even-keeled.” It is a lesson McDermott says he will continue to impress on the Spurs’ large crop of rookies, including 2022 first-round picks Jeremy Sochan, Malaki Branham and Blake Wesley. He expects the Spurs’ youngsters will figure things out given increased playing time on a rebuilding roster. It is a different scenario than what McDermott faced as a rookie in Chicago, when he appeared in only 36 games. “I thought for me it took at least a year, a year and a half, because a lot of rookies don’t get a chance to play right away,” McDermott said. “With the situation here, they are going to get the opportunity because we have a lot of young guys they want to see play together and grow together.” jmcdonald@express-news.net Twitter: @JMcDonald_SAEN %

Question Of The Week: Have You Experienced The Loss Of A Business Or Personal Check Through The U.S. Postal Service? – Galveston County Daily News https://bentoncountynewsnow.com/question-of-the-week-have-you-experienced-the-loss-of-a-business-or-personal-check-through-the-u-s-postal-service-galveston-county-daily-news/ Over the past two years, scores of personal and business checks entrusted to the U.S. Post Office in Galveston have vanished. At least 140 of those were stolen, altered and cashed for amounts ranging from thousands to tens of thousands of dollars and totaling more than $950,000, according to police records obtained by The Daily News and reported Friday. Those cases represent only a fraction of the checks gone missing in the U.S. Mail. Other cases were reported to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, which has declined to comment about specifics and has not provided documents sought under the Federal Freedom of Information Act. Still other cases probably were never reported.

CHRISTUS Trinity Mother Frances Celebrates NICU Graduates, Families With A Reunion – KLTV https://bentoncountynewsnow.com/christus-trinity-mother-frances-celebrates-nicu-graduates-families-with-a-reunion-kltv/ TYLER, Texas (KLTV) – It was a day filled with smiles, hugs, and reunions for East Texas families and medical staff. Today was CHRISTUS Trinity Mother Frances’ celebration for their NICU graduates and families. Families and NICU patients who have graduated and are living healthy lives got to spend the afternoon at the Caldwell Zoo exploring and catching up. Ruth DiBacco is the Clinical Director of Nursing for NICU and Pediatrics and said the day has brought her lots of joy. “To see all these families together and see them all again. They were so tiny and little, didn’t weigh very much, and now they’re heavy and they’re beautiful, and to see the smiles on these families faces, to know that we made that difference,” DiBacco said. Skylar and Dante Matero are the parents to almost one-year-old Apphia who was in the NICU for 76 days. “When you’re seeing your child with tubes down their throat and machines, and they’re so teeny tiny, it can be really scary,” Skylar said. “But they make you feel really, really comfortable. They’re amazing.” Both agree that it’s been great for them to see the doctors, nurses, and staff but more importantly, “For them to get to see her. That’s been really sweet. They had a hand in how beautiful she is and how healthy she is. Seeing the doctors and the nurses, and all the staff, it’s been amazing,” Dante said. Tiffany Taylor is the Medical Director for the NICU and is a neonatologist and said they see patients as early as 22 weeks. “It’s just such a blessing to see how well they’ve done since they left. It keeps us excited about seeing them and seeing how they are doing,” Taylor said. “It’s great to kind of reconnect with these families.” DiBcco said they’ve had reunions since the inception of the NICU back in 2008. COVID-19 held them off for a few years but they are looking forward to more annual reunions for these families. Copyright 2022 KLTV. All rights reserved.

Packers Vs. Patriots Score: Live Updates, Game Stats, Highlights; Brian Hoyer Ruled Out With Head Injury – CBS Sports https://bentoncountynewsnow.com/packers-vs-patriots-score-live-updates-game-stats-highlights-brian-hoyer-ruled-out-with-head-injury-cbs-sports/ Season Leaders passing M. Jones786 YD, 2 TDS, 5 INTS M. Jones786 YD, 2 TDS, 5 INTS A. Rodgers684 YD, 4 TDS, 2 INTSA. Rodgers684 YD, 4 TDS, 2 INTS rushing D. Harris35 ATT, 160 YD, 2 TDSD. Harris35 ATT, 160 YD, 2 TDS A. Jones32 ATT, 217 YD, 1 TDA. Jones32 ATT, 217 YD, 1 TD receiving N. Agholor11 REC, 179 YD, 1 TDN. Agholor11 REC, 179 YD, 1 TD R. Doubs14 REC, 137 YD, 1 TDR. Doubs14 REC, 137 YD, 1 TD See New Posts Pinned Pinned Pinned As the broadcast notes, Bailey Zappe is the first rookie quarterback to throw a touchdown pass this season.  Pinned The Patriots got a gift from the officials. New England should have been flagged for a delay of game penalty and it never came. Instead, Zappe hits Parker for the 25-yard touchdown to go up 17-14.  Pinned Marcus Cannon is in at right tackle to begin the second half. Isaiah Wynn out.  Pinned Nice ball by Rodgers on the touchdown to Tonyan. Packers retake the 14-10 lead on what was their best offensive drive of the afternoon.  Pinned Pinned Really impressive catch there by Lazard. Felt like it was a really tight window and was able to extend to make the grab. He’s looked good since missing the start of the season.  Pinned Aaron Rodgers: 2nd home pick-six of career in 104 home starts (also 2017 vs CIN) Pinned Pinned Patriots say that Jonnu Smith is questionable to return with an ankle injury.  Pinned Aaron Rodgers has dropped back just eight times and has completed three passes today.  Pinned Smith is now limping to the locker room.  Pinned Injuries keep plaguing the Patriots. Jonnu Smith limped off on that last drive and went into the medical tent. Hunter Henry is the only other TE on the roster.  Pinned Felt like Watson had a step on his defender. Rodgers looked his way, but the ball sort of sailed to the sideline. Once they get their timing, this duo will be good for at least one chunk play a game.  Pinned Watched Zappe a ton during camp. He has a pretty powerful arm, but he did struggle with some of his touch passes out in the flat and shorter routes. Something to watch as he takes over with Hoyer out.  Pinned Rookie Christian Watson with the 15-yard touchdown run for the Packers. Takes his first Lambeau Leap. Packers 7, Patriots 3 Pinned QB Brian Hoyer is downgraded to out with a head injury according to the Patriots. It’s Zappe’s show now. Pinned Zappe’s first pass as an NFL QB falls short. Patriots will be forced to punt from their own end zone.  Pinned Hoyer being evaluated for a concussion after being sacked on the last series.  Pinned Hoyer now headed to the locker room so we will get another rookie QB debut after Kenny Pickett made his for the Steelers today.  Pinned QB Brian Hoyer is in the medical tent and rookie Bailey Zappe is warming up. Pinned Huge sack for the Packers on third-and-10, knocks Patriots out of field goal range. Big play after the fumble to force a punt.  Pinned The Pats will get the ball back after recovering a fumble by rookie Romeo Doubs. New England takes over at midfield. Pinned The Patriots opening drive results in a 37-yard field goal by Nick Folk. Brian Hoyer was 3-for-4 on the drive for 33 yards.  Pinned As a road underdog the Patriots are 4-6, -260 and the Packers are 13-6, +640 ATS as a home favorite. The Packers are committing 1.04 fewer turnovers per simulation. When they commit fewer turnovers the Packers are 10-1, +890 ATS and the Patriots are 1-9, -890 ATS when they commit more turnovers.

Big Data Is The Future Of Metaverse, In A Sustainable Way – Analytics Insight https://bentoncountynewsnow.com/big-data-is-the-future-of-metaverse-in-a-sustainable-way-analytics-insight/ Big Data is the Future of Metaverse, in a Sustainable Way Sustainability and Metaverse: How Metaverse Is Changing Big Data and How to Adapt in the Future? While the Metaverse may offer certain people a vast array of options for business expansion and development, for others, the concept is still relatively novel. Businesses should in some manner use this new development as justification for making sure best practices are being applied to their processes and doing right. Big data is the center of this new technology revolution. In the Web3 era, consumers will generate such massive amounts of data that intelligent insights won’t be far away. Big data analysis may also aid in resolving some of the major sustainability problems facing the planet. The Metaverse has the power to change how businesses operate, and with the amount of data that will be generated at an exponential rate expected to reach 160 zettabytes by 2025, businesses will have a lot more information that has to be handled along. The Metaverse market might be worth $800 billion by 2024. Importance of the Metaverse The metaverse, the subsequent technological advance, is a three-dimensional representation of the internet. Initially, text-based, the Internet and computing later shifted to image-based. Now, a virtual public place and a network will be developed so that we can live parallel digital and physical lives. Despite being perceived as a video game, it is the foundation of the global economy and the future of the digital economy. When we ponder, “What is the next great thing in climate adaptation technology?” it is because climate issues now influence everything. Metaverse and cloud computing are the solutions once more. How will the metaverse contribute to sustainability? One of the topics that are being raised more frequently in the technology industry, as well as by connectivity companies and others, is this. The metaverse is widely believed to be the upcoming big thing. The creation of the virtual metaverse has been compared by many experts to the birth of the internet itself as the next technical revolution of the century. Forecasts are genuinely optimistic. A completely new reality, one that is entirely digital, would emerge from the metaverse and grow concurrently with the physical one. Through individual avatars, residents of this virtual metaverse would communicate with one another using a variety of gadgets, including smart clothes or interfaces that were physically affixed to the body. This would entail developing new connections and ways of interpreting them, possibly developing entirely new economies, the emergence of new markets and goods, the sharing of experiences and information, and much more. The first corporation to discuss its metaverse was Meta. Meta was formerly known as Facebook. However, some powerful voices are keeping their foot on the brake. “This universe is not all that close,” asserted Raja Koduri, Senior Vice President and Group Head of Accelerated Computing Systems and Graphics at Intel, “since our computing, data storage, and connectivity capacities simply aren’t yet great enough to make this vision a reality.” Naturally, there is also the issue of sustainability. Energy consumption, one of the great unknowns of the metaverse Our most recent encounter with the metaverse, if we go back in time, was Second Life, which debuted in the video gaming industry in 2003. Technology was one of many factors that contributed to the gradual decline of this “grandfather” of the virtual metaverse. Simply said, the majority of computers at the time were incapable of supporting the information processing necessary for a seamless experience. As we’ve seen, something comparable to what’s going on right now with the technology of the metaverse. This scenario might be replicated but substantially enhanced in the metaverse. Before 2030, the energy consumption of the technology sector may rise by 14%, claims ETLA Economic Research. However, these projections are taken into consideration not the energy requirements of emerging technologies or devices. The Sustainable Development Goals of Agenda 2030, in particular addresses accessible and environmentally friendly energy, if there are any ethical questions regarding the metaverse, sustainability will be the most vocal opponent. The metaverse as a driver of sustainability The virtual metaverse shouldn’t be a barrier to sustainability, notwithstanding any potential roadblocks. It might already be spurring modifications to support it. Like any virtual world, the metaverse requires data transfer with massive bandwidths and incredibly low latencies. We need to start taking the issue of expanding data centers seriously once we take into account the significance of the cloud for virtual settings like the metaverse. And at the same time, the carbon footprints they leave behind, which, according to Lancaster University experts, might increase by up to 30% by 2030. Large technology companies are attempting to make data centers substantially more sustainable because of this. For instance, Microsoft has pledged to use only renewable energy as of 2025 for its Azure cloud platform, as well as to return more water than it uses and achieve certification for zero emissions by 2030.

The New OPPO A17: Top Features And Specifications To Observe While Buying The Phone – The Tech Outlook https://bentoncountynewsnow.com/the-new-oppo-a17-top-features-and-specifications-to-observe-while-buying-the-phone-the-tech-outlook/ Analyzing a smartphone and its features is important. This time, we have brought to your screen a new phone namely OPPO A17. It is considered one of the most effective phones in the affordable smartphone category. Here presented are its features, specifications, and more. Features of OPPO A17 Recently released on September 26, 2022, the phone has been on the market for only a few days. It is now available in the Indian market for sale and is powered by GSM/HSPA/LTE network technology. It has a facility to store dual sim cards, both of which must be Nano sim cards. The display type is IPS LCD. Its weight is 189 g only. It is an Android 12 phone. It has an octa-core processor. The chipset is MediaTek MT6765 Helio G35. It has a camera quality of 50 MP and a video camera quality of 1080 p. It also has 4 GB RAM. Mainly, we must observe that it has a 5000 mAh battery. However, it is non-removable. OPPO A17 is considered to be faster and more effective than the previous OPPO A16. It is available in awesome colors such as Midnight Black as well as Lake Blue. So, you may go for it if you like the features and specifications mentioned. This Dassehra, brings home OPPO A17, an effective as well as budget-friendly phone. It is a smartphone that can elevate your mood and make your life a happier place to be. OPPO A17 is a good choice if you want to gift gadgets to your loved ones. The phone is expected to be launched in the Indian market by October 20th, 2022. Price OPPO A17 The price is around 130 to 140 Euros only. The expected price of this phone according to the Indian market will be approx. Rs. 12499.

9 Out Of The Top 12 Crypto Assets Are Down 70% To 90% Lower Than The All-Time Highs Recorded Last Year – Markets And Prices Bitcoin News – Bitcoin News https://bentoncountynewsnow.com/9-out-of-the-top-12-crypto-assets-are-down-70-to-90-lower-than-the-all-time-highs-recorded-last-year-markets-and-prices-bitcoin-news-bitcoin-news/ 274 days or roughly nine months ago, the crypto economy was worth $2.34 trillion and at $967 billion the aggregate value of all 13,192 crypto assets is $1.48 trillion less. Most of the top digital currencies tapped an all-time price high in November 2021 and today, a great majority of the top crypto assets are down between 70% to 90% in value against the U.S. dollar. 9 Out of 12 Crypto Assets Have Lost Significant Value Since Last Year’s Price Highs It’s almost a year later since the world’s top crypto assets tapped all-time highs in 2021, and a great number of digital currencies have lost considerable value. The following is a look at the top crypto assets by market capitalization, in order to see how much USD value each coin has lost. BTC/USD on October 2, 2022. The leading crypto asset by market valuation bitcoin (BTC) is currently trading for prices between $19,078 to $19,377 per unit during the last 24 hours. Bitcoin is down today, 72.1% lower in USD value than the all-time high ($69,044 per unit) printed on November 10, 2021. Ethereum (ETH), the second-largest crypto coin by market cap, is trading at prices between $1,289 to $1,317 per unit on Sunday. ETH has lost 73.2% in USD value since reaching an all-time high (ATH) of $4,878 per unit on the same day as BTC’s ATH. ETH/USD on October 2, 2022. The top ten crypto asset positions have two stablecoins in the third and fourth positions in terms of today’s crypto market caps, which include USDT and USDC. BNB is the fifth largest crypto asset and today’s 24-hour price range has been between $279 to $286 per BNB. The crypto asset BNB has lost 58.3% from the crypto’s ATH posted on May 10, 2021. At the time last year, BNB was exchanging hands for $686 per unit that day. The crypto asset xrp (XRP) did not reach a lifetime price high in 2021, as XRP’s ATH was recorded on January 7, 2018. XRP has been trading for prices between $0.45 to $0.47 per unit on Sunday, and the price is down 86.4% lower than the ATH recorded four years ago. SOL/USD on October 2, 2022. The seventh position in the top ten crypto market caps today is occupied by the stablecoin BUSD. The eighth largest crypto asset is cardano (ADA), which is exchanging hands today for $0.42 to $0.43 per unit. ADA has lost 86.1% in USD value since September 2, 2021, back when ADA reached an ATH of $3.09 per unit. Solana (SOL) is trading for $32.31 to $33 per SOL on October 2, 2022, and since the $259 per coin ATH on November 06, 2021, 11 months ago, SOL is down 87.4%. The tenth largest crypto asset is the meme coin dogecoin (DOGE), which has traded for $0.059 to $0.0609 per unit. DOGE has lost 91.8% since the ATH recorded on May 8, 2021, when dogecoin reached $0.731 per DOGE over a year ago. The eleventh largest crypto asset polkadot (DOT) is trading for $6.20 to $6.32 per DOT. Roughly 11 months ago on November 4, 2021, DOT was 88.5% higher in USD value at $54.98 per DOT. Lastly, the twelfth largest crypto asset by market valuation, shiba inu (SHIB) is swapping for $0.00001094 to $0.00001122 per unit. SHIB has lost around 87.1% in value against the U.S. dollar after it was trading for $0.00008616 on October 28, 2021. Tags in this story all-time highs, ATH, Bitcoin (BTC), bnb, BUSD, cardano (ADA), crypto assets, Dogecoin (DOGE), Ethereum (ETH), Last Year, Market Valuations, Markets, November 2021, polkadot (DOT), Price ATHs, Prices, shiba inu (SHIB), Solana (SOL), U.S. dollar prices, USDC, USDT, XRP What do you think about the top 12 crypto asset market caps and how much they have lost since their all-time price highs? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. Jamie Redman Jamie Redman is the News Lead at Bitcoin.com News and a financial tech journalist living in Florida. Redman has been an active member of the cryptocurrency community since 2011. He has a passion for Bitcoin, open-source code, and decentralized applications. Since September 2015, Redman has written more than 6,000 articles for Bitcoin.com News about the disruptive protocols emerging today. Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons

White House’s Sullivan Meets Ukraine’s Yermak In Istanbul, Pledges U.S. Support – Reuters https://bentoncountynewsnow.com/white-houses-sullivan-meets-ukraines-yermak-in-istanbul-pledges-u-s-support-reuters/ WASHINGTON, Oct 2 (Reuters) – U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan met with Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukraine’s presidential office, in Istanbul on Sunday and pledged Washington’s steadfast support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, the White House said. The two discussed the situation at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant and Ukraine’s continued work with the United Nations to export food to the world, Adrienne Watson, spokesperson for the White House’s National Security Council, said in a statement. Yermak spoke of the meeting on Telegram, where he said he valued the military support from the United States and said the two sides discussed further security assistance. Yermak said he noted “the Kremlin’s decision to recognise the referendums carried out in the temporarily occupied regions requires an immediate and appropriate reaction from the world community.” Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Reporting by Rami Ayyub; Editing by Sandra Maler and Daniel Wallis Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

FEATURE: A Conversation With Our Broadcast Team – Texas Tech Red Raiders – TexasTech.com https://bentoncountynewsnow.com/feature-a-conversation-with-our-broadcast-team-texas-tech-red-raiders-texastech-com/ You’re going to hear and see them all season again. Their voices coming through the radio during Texas Tech basketball games, relaying what’s happening, providing context and increasing excitement. Their interviews and twitter posts bringing you insight into the coaches and players that go beyond stats and results. They connect with the program because they’re part of the program. For the seventh season, Chris Level and Geoff Haxton will be calling Red Raider basketball games together. Level, who arrived in Lubbock as a Tech student in 1994 is entering his 13th season as the program’s analyst, called his first game in 2010; Haxton, who graduated from Oklahoma State in 2001 and called games for Oral Roberts before moving his family to Texas, came down for the 2016-17 season. Like our athletes. Like our coaches. Level and Haxton have their own unique stories of how they got to where they’re at. This isn’t their biography. That isn’t our point here. They developed a passion for sports in their youth long before they discovered their talents for broadcasting. Combine the two and it brings us here, a place where they’ve been connecting with Red Raider Nation audiences ever since. Haxton: My love of all things sports is directly connected to my father. Our relationship was built around running routes in the front yard. We had about half an acre of land just west of Duncan, Oklahoma out in the country. He would come home from being a CPA and we would run routes or hit off the tee. We would always play catch and he also bought us a soft-toss machine. No one else had that back then in the 80s where I was from. That was pretty cool to have a machine like that where you hit it into the net. My moments growing up with my dad built the love I for sports. Level: My grandfather’s love of the Dallas Cowboys is probably where I began loving sports. Tom Landry was the coach. I realized sports was like a religion and had a huge impact on people. I used to sit at home when I was young and even in high school and memorize the sports pages in the newspaper. I’d read it over and over. Why? I have no idea. I’d read the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and Dallas Morning News every day like there was a test coming. Haxton: I grew up always wanting to be a Division I baseball player. Never thought about being a professional player. Being a Division I baseball player was my goal. It hit me like a freight train when I was 17 that I wasn’t going to be good enough. That was a crushing day. I knew I still wanted to be involved with sports and started thinking of ways to stay around the games. My dad was a coach but I didn’t want to do that. It seemed like a struggle. I found out about broadcasting and thought it was something interesting that I could do and it would keep me in the game. One dream ended. But another started. Level: I remember playing basketball in the YMCA league. They would give these little stickers that were of a missile. If you made a basket, you got a missile sticker. I remember wanting to get as many stickers as I could. That’s third or fourth grade. I loved basketball even before then, but that really motivated me for some reason. I wasn’t tall yet but I loved the game and being around my friends. Haxton: My family needed the radio badly back in the 80s to listen to games. We had three television stations where I grew up and games were rarely on. You could catch the occasional game but there wasn’t much. We’d point the antenna towards Wichita Falls, Lawton or Oklahoma City to try and catch games. It started getting better as the years went on. The radio is where I connected to sports growing up though. Level: There really wasn’t a time in my life where broadcasting was something I knew was going to be my career. I watched everything. Brad Sham and Eric Nadel were big for me because I grew up in the Metroplex. Broadcasting wasn’t why though. It was the game. Haxton: Bob Barry, Sr. was a really big influence on me. He was huge in Oklahoma. Inevitably, people get asked about their inspirations and most of the times broadcasters point to big national names. I didn’t know those guys existed. I listened to local radio and hoped our antenna would pick up some games for the tv. College athletics was everything to me. Bill Teegins was my mentor in college before he died in the OSU plane crash and Rex Holt. Those were my guys that I looked up to. Level: I’ve never really been star struck by much, but one year we played in Kansas and Bill Raftery was doing the national broadcast. I went up to him and shook his hand. That was a nerdy thing, but he is someone I had always looked up to. Same with Ernie Johnson when we met him at the Final Four. They do a tremendous job. Haxton: We had a class in college that really got me going in this. It was very rudimentary. It was called Broadcast Play-By-Play Practicum. We would record into a cassette player. My first game ever was an Oklahoma State basketball game. It was at Gallagher-Iba Arena and I climbed up into the gondola that overlooked the floor. You were hanging right over the court back then. It was Oklahoma State against Nebraska. We just called it like we were on a real radio station. That’s the first time I put on the headset. I took that cassette and played it in my car. I heard myself and the crowd noise. I knew it was what I wanted to do. Level: My first radio job was with Robert Giovannetti in 2005. I also used to go on Jack Dale’s show. He would interview me about football and basketball. In October of 2005, we got the call asking if we wanted to start a radio show. That was a one-hour show on a news talk station. We had a great time doing it and loved getting to talk about Texas Tech athletics. This is my first year not doing a radio show after 17 years every day. Haxton: The first game over the air I did was in 1999. Medford versus Timberlake. Class C 8-man football. It was the state championship in Enid, Oklahoma. It was rainy, sleeting and just a really cold day. The press box windows kept fogging up. I had never been on the radio before. They needed someone to fill in and I was available. It was a really cool experience. My dad had come with me to support me. I was nervous and he knew that. He told me after that he thought I could be pretty good at it. That meant a lot to me. We drove home and I remember thinking that it was a lot of fun and that I wanted to get better at it. Level: Andy Ellis had been doing my job before me. I had never done it before and never really thought about doing it. He just told me to say what I see. My brain didn’t work like that then. I felt like I wasn’t going to be prepared. Kind of just jumped into it. My first game was the Texas Tech season opener in 2010 (an 86-67 win over Louisiana-Monroe). I was extremely nervous and just tried to do the best I could. I didn’t know what I was doing but I did have fun. It was the first time I had ever called a game. Not sure if I’d want to go back and listen to that game again though. Haxton: Texas Tech rolled in the first game I called for the program (a 93-67 win over Houston Baptist on Nov. 11, 2016). Honestly, I felt like I had rolled too. I got some nice feedback right away that made me feel comfortable and welcomed. That’s important in this job. There was a really cool moment for me when I first got to the table where I was supposed to sit. It had my name on a sheet. That was a big deal to me from where I’ve come from. It was a great night. Level: That non-conference win against Nevada a few years ago is one of my favorites. Zach Smith went up and blocked a shot right in front of me. I think it won the game. Nevada was a top-10 at the time. It was a big even though maybe we all really didn’t understand at the time. It really sparked all the success we’ve been having. Haxton: The win at Iowa State in 2019 was really big for me. It was their senior night. If we won we knew we’d share the Big 12 championship. That was a huge game. The team got of to a sluggish start and then Davide hits a 3 before the halftime buzzer. Then you power through to win and get the hardware. All of us were standing in the back of the plane taking photos with the trophy. That was a true honor for me. Level: The win at Kansas was awesome too. I was starting to think there would never be a day where Texas Tech went into Kansas and won on their home court. We did it though. It wasn’t a fluke either. I’ve called games there were we lost by 40 or 50 points, so that was a day I was pinching myself when we got back in the bus. Haxton: Never in my wildest imagination did I think I would call one game in Madison Square Garden. I’m a country boy and it felt like I had made it. I graduated with 30 people in my high school and 11 years at Oral Roberts after six years of being a news director at KNID in Enid. We’ve been back multiple times now and I still can’t believe it. Level: I can’t forget about playing Duke at Madison Square Garden either. That was a big stage and a lot of fun. Jimmy Butler was sitting over there. Duke with all those dudes on their team that are now in the NBA. Haxton: The NCAA Tournament games we had in Tulsa were emotional for me. They were where I had worked for so long and to be on that stage back there was special for me. Being a part of a special program like this there are so many big ones that we are allowed to do. Keenan Evans hit a step back at the top of the key was one of the calls I’ll never forget. ‘Horns Down, Horns Down’. There was also ‘Winner, Winner, Cardinal Dinner’ after they beat No. 1 Louisville. ‘Best in the West’ to make the Final Four while our equipment was falling apart is memorable for me. I also said ‘Bang’ at ORU after a 3. When I got here I started thinking of w...

Canceled Games Based On Anime – GameRant https://bentoncountynewsnow.com/canceled-games-based-on-anime-gamerant/ Decades ago the world of anime was seen as a niche interest relegated to the children of Japanese immigrants or the kids who had internet access and were way cooler than their friends. Either way, the entertainment medium has exploded in the West, with dozens of series becoming huge successes. From Attack on Titan to Jujutsu Kaisen, anime is a large part of pop culture. The world of video games still hasn’t seen a wave of high-quality games based on anime series, but sadly it has had more than a handful of potentially awesome anime games canceled for various reasons. 8/8 Attack On Titan: Team Battle Attack On Titan reigns supreme as one of the most popular anime in the world, and due to it coming to a close in the coming years, its popularity continues to rise. The idea of swinging around in omnidirectional mobility gear and slaying giant titans feels right for the world of video games. Sadly the series hasn’t had a game release that wasn’t anything more than mediocre when it came to critical reception. Attack on Titan: Team Battle could have changed that if it had ever been released. It was an arcade game that focused on capturing the feeling of swinging around in the anime world people were drawn to, but in 2018 it was revealed via an update from Capcom that the game was scrapped. The publisher listed their failure to provide “unparalleled immersion” as the main reason they decided to not move forward with Attack on Titan: Team Battle. 7/8 Naruto: Clash Of Ninja DS It’s hard to be upset about the cancellation of a Naruto-licensed video game considering it’s probably the anime/mange property with the most games under its belt. Naruto: Clash of Ninja did release on the Nintendo Gamecube, but the port that was planned for the Nintendo DS is what was canceled. There were a variety of reasons given as to why the port never saw the light of day. It was stated that porting GameCube games to the DS was especially difficult. In addition, the follow-up sequel was much more popular, making a port of its less successful predecessor a risky financial move. Lastly, since the DS had fewer buttons, those in charge felt that the game might control cumbersomely as the inputs would be difficult to translate over. It seems like this port project never stood a chance. 6/8 Absolute Terror Neon Genesis Evangelion is as beloved as they come when it comes to the world of classic anime. People forget that the series was actually set to get its own MMO role-playing game that was titled, Absolute Terror. Now, the game wasn’t technically canon and was mostly described as loosely taking place in the world of the beloved anime, but people were excited to see what it could possibly be. Players had the choice of either helping humanity stave off elimination or helping in its demise. It was ultimately canceled in 2007, despite being set to release on all major PC operating systems. 5/8 Dragon Ball Online With Dragon Ball being one of the most popular anime series ever, it’s no surprise that it’s seen its fair share of canceled games. The first of two to make this list happens to be Dragon Ball Online. If one reading this assumed it was a massively multiplayer online game or MMO for short, then they would have been absolutely correct. Crazy enough, people were actually able to play this game despite it being canceled. It wouldn’t meet its demise until October of 2013, despite the game launching in a beta test format three years prior in 2010. A fan-run spiritual successor to this canceled game was started in 2015 and is titled DragonBall Online Global. 4/8 Killing Bits The PlayStation Vita was a promising Sony handheld gaming device that was simply set up to fail from the beginning. That being said, it is still rather beloved to this day and is home to some amazing games. Killing Bites is a game that was set to release for both the PS Vita and PS4, which was based on the anime of the same name. It was pitched as a fighting game that featured multiplayer, but no gameplay was actually ever shown. Though it wasn’t officially canceled, its developers were dissolved in 2016, meaning the writing was on the wall. It wouldn’t be until 2017 when it was announced the game’s development was officially stalled, but fans were thanked for supporting the game up until that point. 3/8 Hajime no Ippo When most Westerners think of anime they often envision Dragon Ball or Naruto, series that are action-packed and filled with humans showcasing incredible power. The reality is that the medium comes in many genres, and sports anime are among the most popular. Hajime no Ippo is a boxing manga and anime series from the early 2000s that was rather beloved. Recently a Japanese developer uploaded a video to Twitter showcasing a build of a 2D fighting game based on Hajime no Ippo, which was canceled in 2008. The clip can be seen here, and it’s rather impressive how good the game looked in motion. 2/8 Legacy Of Goku Remake Can a game get canceled if it really never existed? Regardless of where one falls in terms of answering that question, a proposed Legacy Of Goku Remake almost happened back in 2016. A former employee of developer Webfoot Technologies wanted to pitch a Nintendo 3DS remake of the beloved Game Boy Advance action role-playing game. His idea was to show Bandai Namco his proof of concept in hopes of getting the project greenlit. The modern era of video games is full of remakes and remasters, so the idea of Bandai Namco doing it is more possible than it ever has been, but it likely won’t be developed by the guy from 2016 who simply had a dream to do it himself. 1/8 Akira Now, in the world of gaming, the publisher known as THQ has a messy history with gamers. Sure they’re responsible for cult classics and beloved older games, but their lack of earnings led to their eventual downfall. The publisher had plans in 1994 of releasing a game based on the Akira film and manga series. It was supposed to release on the Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, Sega CD, Game Boy, and Game Gear. Those interested can find videos and screenshots of the game that never was. Impossible demands by THQ and the departure of the game’s lead programmer are cited as the main reasons the Akira video game never saw the light of day. MORE: Games To Play If You Love The Anime Jujutsu Kaisen

Arkansas 4-H Members Receive Congressional Awards | News | Guardonline.com – Batesville Daily Guard https://bentoncountynewsnow.com/arkansas-4-h-members-receive-congressional-awards-news-guardonline-com-batesville-daily-guard/ 81° Sunny Batesville, AR (72501) Today Clear skies. Low 52F. Winds light and variable.. Tonight Clear skies. Low 52F. Winds light and variable. Updated: October 2, 2022 @ 4:20 pm Full Forecast By Tracy Courage U of A System Division of Agriculture Oct 2, 2022 2 hrs ago 0 Congressional Award recipients at the Arkansas Governor’s Mansion. Sept. 24, 2022.  UADA Photo/Tracy Courage Post a comment as anonymous Welcome to the discussion. Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Don’t Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated. Be Truthful. Don’t knowingly lie about anyone or anything. Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person. Be Proactive. Use the ‘Report’ link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts. Share with Us. We’d love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article. Articles Images Videos Commented Videos Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos. Commented Sorry, there are no recent results for popular commented articles.

Here’s What You Need To Know About Snorkeling In Oahu’s Turtle Canyon – TheTravel https://bentoncountynewsnow.com/heres-what-you-need-to-know-about-snorkeling-in-oahus-turtle-canyon-thetravel/ Situated on Honolulu’s south shore, the world-famous neighborhood of Waikiki has achieved icon status among global travelers. Once a playground for Hawaiian royalty, Waikiki – known in Hawaiian as ‘spouting waters’ – first garnered the world’s attention when its very first hotel, the Moana Surfrider, was constructed on its sandy shores in 1901. Today, Waikiki is Oahu’s main resort destination and a buzzing place for visitors from across the planet. The upscale neighborhood is best known for its famed white sand beach, high-rise hotels, designer fashion stores lining Kalakaua Avenue, and its excellent nightlife chock-full of waterside cocktail bars, exquisite fine dining, and entertaining Kuhio Beach hula shows, earning it a coveted place on the international tourist map. While it’s one of the most visited locations in Hawaii, offering a ton of beach vacation appeal and high-end amenities, and fun tourist activities on land, the area, has become celebrated for another reason off the shore; it’s one of the best places for snorkeling with turtles in Oahu – and that’s where this amazing Turtle Canyon snorkeling tour comes in. Discover The Ultimate Turtle Canyon Oahu Snorkeling Tour Offered by one of the best Turtle Canyon snorkel tour operators, this two-to-three-hour sea turtle snorkeling tour from Waikiki takes visitors to the famous Turtle Canyon – a nature preserve and snorkeling site renowned for the large numbers of sea turtles in residence, which float above the reef while colorful fish swim around them and clean their shells. This spot on the reef sees prolific turtle activity, which is all down to the turtle cleaning station situated at the site, as well as the ideal conditions these beautiful but sadly endangered creatures seek out for feeding and resting. With guaranteed sea turtle sightings, this trip is a no-brainer for those wishing to encounter sea turtles in their natural habitat. Under their experienced guide’s wing, snorkelers get the rare opportunity to swim alongside these majestic turtles, watching them as they glide through the water, feed, rest, and get cleaned of dirt and parasites by resident reef fish. What’s more, spectators relaxing on the boat can even see these fascinating animals as they come up to breathe. Also, it’s not just turtles that guests of this tour can see; other marine life often making an appearance are dolphins, flying fish, and many more amazing aquatic species. Combining a snorkeling tour and a catamaran cruise, this guided trip truly does deliver the ultimate Hawaiian experience. Travelers have the beauty of choosing between a morning or midday tour, with both options showcasing the same jaw-dropping views and chances of witnessing wonderful wildlife that call Waikiki home, such as turtles, reef fish, dolphins, and whales in the right season – details on seasonal whales below! The two-hour morning tour and the three-hour midday tour include snacks, beverages, and two alcoholic drinks. Only the midday tour includes lunch on board. About This Tour Tour Name: Turtle Canyon Catamaran Snorkel Cruise From Waikiki Tour Length: 2 – 3 Hours Tour Options: Morning (2 hours) or Midday (3 hours) Trips Available Price: From $107.62 Cancelation: Guests can cancel their booking up to 24 hours in advance of the tour for a full refund Book This Tour What’s Included In This Tour: Two alcoholic drinks Unlimited non-alcoholic drinks Snacks Deli lunch (midday tour only) Professional guide Use of snorkeling equipment All taxes, fuel, fees, and handling charges Turtle Canyon Tour Overview This Turtle canyon catamaran snorkel cruise departs from Kewalo Harbor. Guests hop on board and find a comfortable spot on the ‘Honi Olani’ – a luxury power catamaran that sails along the shore of Oahu towards the famous Turtle Canyon – the island’s best place to spot the resident turtles located just 15 minutes away. Upon arrival at Turtle Canyon, the captain moors the boat, and snorkelers receive a safety briefing. Next, they’re free to slip into the water via the boat’s safe stairway before spending an hour to 90 minutes swimming among the turtles with their knowledgeable snorkel guide. After enjoying the presence of these gentle creatures in the water, snorkelers climb back on board and can take a freshwater shower or change into dry clothing before enjoying the island sun and fresh sea breeze. When ready, passengers can enter the covered cabin for a deli sandwich buffet (only on the midday tour) and enjoy unlimited non-alcoholic drinks. They can also cash in their two alcoholic drink tickets and trade them for boozy beverages of their choice, be it from the boat’s selection of cocktails, white wines, sparkling wines, or beers. Guests can also hang out on the deck, relax under the sun, and soak up the breathtaking views of the Waikiki skyline, Diamond Head, and the Ko’olau Mountains in the distance. When sailing back to shore, passengers shouldn’t let the sun’s heat and swimmer’s fatigue lull them into a hearty boat post-beer nap, though; they’ll want to keep an eye out for passing marine species, such as spinner dolphins and migrating whales, the latter of which pass through the area between December and April. The Tour Also Passes By: Kewalo Basin Hawaii Nautical Waikiki Beach Diamond Head State Monument Turtle sightings are guaranteed on this trip; if snorkelers don’t get to see any turtles, the tour operators offer a free second cruise – a win-win! About Turtle Canyon In Hawaii Originally, Turtle Canyon reef formed many thousands of years ago in a time when volcanic activity was rife in and around Oahu – evidenced by the large lava-formed, rock-encrusted fingers rising from the shallow shores of Waikiki in a noticeable south-eastern direction. In between these rocky fingers, there are small rock boulders, coral heads, and plenty of sand, making great homes for various marine species. Whilst this site and its impressive geological formations attract aquatic life; it’s not a place of vibrant corals. Strong swells come in from the southeast, rendering the place akin to a white desert without much in the way of colorful, soft, and fragile corals, as the seascape is too harsh for them to flourish. However, the real reason people flock to this site – commonly cited as the best snorkeling Oahu (or even the best snorkeling Hawaii) has to offer – is turtle action. These calm, totally chilled-out ocean reptiles, with their laissez-faire attitude, quite literally let divers and snorkelers swim right alongside them, appearing unbothered by human presence without an inkling of care in the world. How Deep Is Turtle Canyon In Oahu? Turtle Canyon reef is around 20 to 45 feet deep, which is a little deep for snorkelers; however, the turtles are the stars of the show here, and they come up to the shallows and swim among people seemingly without any fear. Book This Tour Is Turtle Canyon a Good Place To Snorkel? There’s a reason why every ‘best snorkeling in Oahu’ list features Turtle Canyon. The populations of Hawaiian green sea turtles found relaxing, feeding, and being nibbled on by the reef’s cleaner fish make this top Oahu snorkeling site one of the most reliable places to see turtles. Therefore, if swimming side-by-side, face-to-face with some of the most beautiful animals in the world is on one’s bucket list, this Oahu snorkeling tour – with the five-star guest treatment, luxe catamaran cruising, and expert snorkel guides – is undeniably one of the most enjoyable, memorable, and comfortable ways of ticking this experience off that list. ​​​ %

Another Business Looks To Expand With Proposed Grant Application – Morganton News Herald https://bentoncountynewsnow.com/another-business-looks-to-expand-with-proposed-grant-application-morganton-news-herald/ Another local manufacturing business is looking to expand its operation with a potential investment of more than $90 million. The company, which is described as well-established in information provided by the city of Morganton, is asking the city to apply for a $500,000 building reuse grant on its behalf. Information from the city said the project, which is being called “Project Fill” for confidentiality purposes, is expected to be an investment of about $94 million, and would create 78 new jobs at or above the county’s average wage. If the grant application is approved, a 5% local match – a total of $25,000 – is required, information from the city said. That local match would be evenly split by the city and county, with each entity paying $12,500. It’s not the only economic development project on the agenda for the city council Monday night. The meeting will be called to order an hour and a half early, at 4:30 p.m., for a closed session to discuss an economic development project. Additional details on the closed session weren’t available, but city staff did confirm to The News Herald it’s in regards to a different project than Project Fill. The remainder of the council’s agenda is fairly light Monday night, with a public hearing set to discuss an alternative design for the city’s electric substation fencing. The city’s code of ordinances limits fence heights and the use of barbed wire in the zoning district where the new electric substation, on Coal Chute Road, is located, according to information from the city. The ordinance clashes with OSHA guidelines, which require a fence that’s at least 7 feet tall. The city’s ordinances do allow the city council to approve alternative designs for unique situations, so the council will hold a public hearing Monday night ahead of voting on the proposed alternative design. When voting on the consent agenda, the council will decide whether to approve a contract worth $137,149 for a new communication system for its electric substation. If approved, the new system would be the first replacement or complete update since the 1990s, information from the city said. The new system, from Survalent Technology Corporation, would allow city staff to remotely monitor and operate substation equipment. The contract with Survalent also includes training for city personnel. The council meeting will be called to order for a closed session at 4:30 p.m. with the open session and public comment set to start at 6 p.m. in the Council Chambers at Morganton City Hall. Chrissy Murphy is a staff writer and can be reached at cmurphy@morganton.com or at 828-432-8941. Follow @cmurphyMNH on Twitter. Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter.

You May Need A Sober October More Than You Think: Here’s How To Do It Right – WTOP https://bentoncountynewsnow.com/you-may-need-a-sober-october-more-than-you-think-heres-how-to-do-it-right-wtop/ Sober October, Dry January and Dry July: For one quarter of a year, these campaigns provide a motivation for people to come together and challenge themselves to go without alcohol. It isn’t a surprise to Annie Grace that these periods to reduce alcohol consumption are becoming more popular. The author of “This Naked Mind: Control Alcohol” said she is seeing more and more people evaluate the relationship that alcohol plays in their lives. How much is too much? The US Center for Disease Control and Prevention classifies moderate drinking as two drinks or less in a day for men and one drink or less for women. But two-thirds of adult drinkers report drinking more than those levels at least once a month, according to the CDC. And the pandemic didn’t help. A December 2020 study found that 60% of respondents increased drinking over the year and more than a third said they engaged in binge drinking, which is defined as five or more drinks on an occasion for men and four for women. Studies show that alcohol isn’t good for healthy living. There is no safe amount when it comes to heart health, according to the World Heart Federation. And even moderate drinking reserved for the weekend can have social, emotional and psychological impacts, according to a 2022 study. Sober October could be a step to cutting out alcohol entirely, but it doesn’t have to be, said biological psychologist Aaron White, senior scientific adviser to the director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Whatever your level of drinking, a monthlong sobriety challenge could help you be more mindful about your drinking, White added. Who benefits? You may think you might not need a break from drinking because you don’t have signs of substance abuse disorder: your drinking causing serious impairment, health problems, disability or issues meeting responsibilities. But problematic drinking is a spectrum — not just a binary between addicted and fine, Grace said. You may drink a little but not feel good about why or how you drink. You may drink a lot but feel doing so functions well in your life. Even people who don’t drink heavily may find themselves with less control over when and how much they drink than they would like, Grace said. She was one of those people. Grace didn’t feel she needed treatment programs, but she found that reducing her drinking was a struggle, which to her was a sign that something needed to change. Taking on a sobriety challenge doesn’t mean you have to quit forever, but it can help you be more thoughtful in your decisions around drinking rather than doing it because it’s what you usually do, White said. “It gives somebody a chance to cultivate alternatives,” he added. How does it help? Even in just a month, there is evidence that reduced alcohol consumption can be good for your physical health. “Most people who drink excessively have fatty livers,” White said. “Even taking a break for a month is enough to just bring your liver enzymes down and for your liver to look healthier.” Some people may find with less or no alcohol they sleep better and make better food choices for themselves, White said. And for emotional health, a short-term challenge can point out feelings and routines that could be improved, Grace added. Many of the people she works with — even moderate drinkers — describe their relationship with alcohol as something they are not in full control of, she said. She encourages people who are using a sobriety challenge to take note of when they feel the urge to drink and what purpose it serves. Does it make you feel part of a community to share a drink at a party? Is that glass of wine after a long day a reliable sense of comfort? Maybe the drink is an easy way — but not the best — to get those needs met, Grace said. Taking note and trying to find those things without a drink could open you up to new ways of fulfilling those feelings, White added. How to be successful There are a couple of stumbling blocks to plan for during a sober month, Grace said. One is overcoming the desire to drink, and experts had different approaches to solve that problem. Reducing drinking can have a similar effect as dieting — the more you tell yourself you can’t have it, the more you want it, said Natalie Mokari, a registered dietitian nutritionist in Charlotte, North Carolina. She recommends starting with one less drink than you would usually have at each occasion or breaking a daily habit by limiting drinking to certain days. You can also have a sparkling water in between drinks or make weaker cocktails than usual to reduce your alcohol consumption, she said. White said it is important not to feel shame if you end up drinking during your sobriety challenge. Don’t throw out the whole experience by beating yourself up over a glass of wine, he added. Grace recommended leading with curiosity and information. Learning more about the psychology and biology of alcohol really helped reduce her desire to drink, she said, and approaching her urges with curiosity rather than judgment allowed her to learn more about the role alcohol played in her life. There is also social pressure to drink. How do you not drink when everyone else is? Especially if friends get uncomfortable when they don’t see you with the beer you always have? The first thing is to remember that people may make you feel bad because they are uncomfortable about their own relationship with drinking, Grace said. It often helps to have a nonalcoholic drink in your hand at social events, White said, so the offer to have a drink doesn’t even come up. Don’t binge on November 1 If you are hoping to curb your habits or boost your health, it is important not to see crossing the finish line as the time to overindulge, Mokari said. Dramatically reducing your consumption over that time can lower your tolerance, and what was enough for a buzz today could result in a much higher level of intoxication than you expect 30 days later, White said. You may also be undoing the changes in habit you have been building over the course of the month by going back even harder once it’s over, Grace added. “In our society, even saying ‘I want to take a break’ is super brave,” she said. “If you don’t change how you feel about it but white-knuckle it the whole month, it becomes like this forbidden fruit syndrome.” This content was republished with permission from CNN. More from WTOP

Ravens Vs. Bills Score: Live Updates, Game Stats, Highlights, Streaming For NFL Week 4 Game – CBS Sports https://bentoncountynewsnow.com/ravens-vs-bills-score-live-updates-game-stats-highlights-streaming-for-nfl-week-4-game-cbs-sports/ Season Leaders passing J. Allen1014 YD, 9 TDS, 2 INTSJ. Allen1014 YD, 9 TDS, 2 INTS L. Jackson749 YD, 10 TDS, 2 INTSL. Jackson749 YD, 10 TDS, 2 INTS rushing J. Allen19 ATT, 113 YD, 1 TD J. Allen19 ATT, 113 YD, 1 TD L. Jackson26 ATT, 243 YD, 2 TDSL. Jackson26 ATT, 243 YD, 2 TDS receiving S. Diggs27 REC, 344 YD, 4 TDSS. Diggs27 REC, 344 YD, 4 TDS M. Andrews22 REC, 245 YD, 3 TDSM. Andrews22 REC, 245 YD, 3 TDS See New Posts Pinned Thanks for following along. Takeaways upcoming.  Pinned Down 17 in the first half, the Bills storm back and get the enormous win in Baltimore, 23-20 with a field-goal at the buzzer.  Pinned What a bananas game Pinned That missed challenge and loss of timeout by the Ravens looms large now Pinned Not an enormous hit, but looked to be like a cornerback took an extra step or two to hold up. Didn’t. Led to a 15-yard penalty.  Pinned And Odafe Oweh was one of the freakiest athletes in last year’s draft class. Somehow, Josh Allen eluded him and made a play. Crazy.  Pinned Patience is a virtue for Josh Allen there, staying stoic inside the pocket.  Pinned Outstanding range from Jordan Poyer. And the Bills defensive line had Lamar Jackson retreating like he was playing Madden. Monstrous play.  Pinned Matt Milano is having A DAY Pinned The improvisation ability of these two QBs Pinned Bills covered well, then Lamar Jackson happened.  Pinned Rather big third-down upcoming here, I’d say. #analysis Pinned Linderbaum’s having a rough afternoon on the penalty front.  Pinned Best Ravens drive in a while. Gotten a few penalties, but Baltimore’s attack had been stagnant.  Pinned Scary run for Justice Hill… clearly hurt near the end of that play.  Pinned Maybe a blown coverage assignment on that third-down conversion by Baltimore? Mark Andrews and rookie Isaiah Likey were both in huge voids in Buffalo’s zone.  Pinned Boogie Basham played that outside run perfectly to draw that hold. Set the edge. Pinned Justice Hill is different from any other Ravens RB. Serious speed.  Pinned Effective stunt there from the Ravens. Punt down to the 5 yard line by Sam Martin. Massive drive upcoming.  Pinned Practice squad call up Prince Emili — rookie UDFA from Princeton — with the tip there before the interception.  Pinned That ball was tipped into the air like 15 feet.  Pinned This has turned into the game we were expecting. Two quality, top-level contenders battling.  Pinned And that’ll do it for the third quarter. We gotta game, folks. Love it.  Pinned That’s exactly what you need to do if you’re the Ravens there (and you decide to go for it). QB sneaks are so darn efficient.  Pinned Jackson may have gotten there, but doesn’t look to be anything definitive Pinned I don’t know how that’s overturned.  Pinned First real look at how much it’s raining right there.  Pinned Aaaaaaand this game is tied at 20. Incredible resolve by the Bills.  Pinned Naked bootleg for Allen. Looks like he got in.  Pinned That would be Khalil Shakir’s first NFL catch, and it’s an impressive one. Flashed the YAC brilliance he showcased for three years at Boise State.  See More