Why Do Lithium Batteries Catch Fire From EVs To Smartphones? Times Now
Why Do Lithium Batteries Catch Fire From EVs To Smartphones? – Times Now https://collincountynewsonline.com/why-do-lithium-batteries-catch-fire-from-evs-to-smartphones-times-now/
Exploding smartphones to electric vehicle fires, something is cooking and it’s the lithium battery. But humans are aiming to find habitable exoplanets in space meanwhile here on Earth basic utilitarian objects like smartphones and EVs are spontaneously combusting. Why does this happen? and how to mitigate the risks is what this article looks at.
batteries have been a game changer for humanity, these compact, dense and power-packed cells provide high energy in small sizes to power anything and everything. From tiny racing drones, smartphones, and electric vehicles to even the James Webb Space Telescope, it is all powered by lithium-ion batteries.
While there are other types of batteries as well, like Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) and typical Lead acid batteries, it is the power density of Lithium-ion batteries that makes them popular. A typical lithium-ion battery stores up to 150 watt-hours of electricity in 1Kg of battery, a NiMH battery would be able to pack about 100 watt-hours per kg, and the lead acid battery packs about 25 watt-hours per kg.
However, there are a couple of challenges with Lithium Batteries, firstly it uses rare earth materials like Cobalt, therefore they are expensive. The second challenge is heating and lately, Lithium-ion powered devices catching fire are in the news more often.
Why do Lithium batteries catch fire?
Lithium batteries are sensitive to high temperatures and they are inherently capable of catching fire. Heat also plays a role in degrading a Lithium-ion battery faster than normal. The high density means they can explode as well. However, it is usually a bad battery management system, poor design, or some external issues like puncturing the cells that lead to fiery incidents. External factors like rising temperatures rarely are the reasons behind battery fires, they, however, can degrade the battery life and performance.
Lithium-ion batteries are susceptible to ‘thermal runaways’, a chain reaction of sorts, that is accelerated by high temperatures, and releases energy in return, this excess energy further increases temperature, and the cycle continues leading to a destructive outcome. In extreme cases, thermal runaway can cause batteries to explode and start fires. In minor cases, it can cause batteries to melt or be damaged beyond repair.
In most electric vehicles, we see a ‘cooling system’. This cooling system is only there to keep the lithium-ion batteries cool. Smartphones and other gadgets have much smaller capacity Lithium-ion batteries compared to EVs, therefore do not require external cooling. Smartphone batteries face problems with excessive heat due to maybe an overheating processor, structural damage due to bending, or damage or overcharging.
Most cases of smartphone battery exploding or fires emanate from either a badly designed battery or physical damage. Battery designs have improved over time, however, physical damage is unpredictable and can cause the battery to burst into flames. Suppose you drop your phone onto a concrete curb, bending the chassis a bit, while externally the damage would look small, internally the bend could puncture the battery and this becomes a ticking timebomb. Smartphone users should also refrain from disassembling the battery component on their own. Poking or puncturing Lithium-ion batteries is dangerous and should not be attempted.
While the latest smartphones and laptops come with adaptive charging and battery health features, it is always advisable to use compatible chargers with the devices. Devices should also never be charged under direct sunlight or in areas with high temperatures like heaters and radiators, similarly covering your smartphone by putting it under a pillow while charging is also not advisable.
Smartphone fires or explosions are very rare, in fact, it’s rarer than EV fires, as nearly everyone uses some kind of a smartphone while EV owners are far and few between.
Ergo Foundation Announces ErgoHack V: Mining And Minting Cryptonews
Ergo Foundation Announces ErgoHack V: Mining And Minting – Cryptonews https://collincountynewsonline.com/ergo-foundation-announces-ergohack-v-mining-and-minting-cryptonews/
Disclaimer: The text below is a press release that is not part of Cryptonews.com editorial content.
Ergo Continues to Establish Itself as a Leading Option for Crypto Miners Post-Merge
Singapore – August 29, 2022 – This fall, the Ergo Foundation will host the fifth iteration of the highly successful ErgoHack series. This latest hackathon will take place from October 3-20, 2022, and it will be co-presented with Flux, Alephium and the Djed Alliance. With the much anticipated Ethereum Merge coming this fall, this ErgoHack aims to inspire developers and entrepreneurs to explore projects as they relate to mining and minting with the potential for cross-chain development and deployment (for example, consider the ways your project could take advantage of the tools on these other blockchains). Please note that although the theme of the hackathon deals with mining and minting, any and all project proposals are welcome for submission.
As a Layer 1 blockchain, Ergo is one of the most active platforms in terms of developer activity – it continually ranks amongst the highest in this category on Stack. Ergo hackathons have become an identifying feature of the platform over the last year, and previous ErgoHacks have yielded some of the most used dApps currently in the ecosystem. With the upcoming Ethereum Merge, there will be countless miners looking for a new crypto to mine, and Ergo is poised to welcome a great deal of those miners. The Ergo Platform is optimally situated to offer miners several technological innovations in the Proof of Work mining industry (ie. Storage Rent, governance responsibilities, etc). Ergo is already starting to see increased hashrate migration with the network hashrate up over 250% since the beginning of August.
With an eye to the future of Proof of Work mining, ErgoHack V: Mining and Minting will primarily focus on creating dApps, tools, and infrastructure to further attract miners that will be looking for a new crypto to mine after the Ethereum Merge. Those who are interested in participating in this exciting opportunity are encouraged to visit the ErgoHack website for details on how to submit an application. The ErgoHack V prize pool is also the largest to date! Prizes include:
1st Prize – 10k SigUSD
2nd Prize – 6k SigUSD
3rd Prize – 2k SigUSD
Additional prizes from co-presenters will include 1800 DACAU (Djed Alliance Contribution Accounting Unit), 20k ALPH, and more!
Ergo is setting the new standard in the evolution of Proof of Work blockchains. Together with our partners, participants are invited to help us build the future of blockchain and to explore the potential for cross-chain deployment. Are you ready to help build the future? Visit the Ergo Platform website for more information on Ergo and get your ErgoHack application started today!
ErgoHack V Sponsors and Presenters
Ergo
Ergo is a robust Proof of Work, smart contract platform built on the eUTXO model with numerous technological innovations, including NIPoPoWs, Storage Rent, Sigma Protocols, ErgoMixer, SigUSD, and subpool mining to name a few. It was fairly launched with no pre-mining, no pre-allocation of tokens, and no venture capital partnerships. The entire supply of ERG tokens has been reserved for the mining consensus, save a small portion (4.37% of the entire supply) that was sent to a treasury fund to be spent on promoting and developing the Ergo blockchain. The team behind the project represent some of the greatest minds in blockchain development, with numerous years of experience and countless academic papers to their credit. At the time of writing, the ERG token is up over 195% from the middle of July 2022.
Djed Alliance
Djed is a formally verified crypto-backed autonomous stablecoin protocol. Ergo’s main stablecoin, SigmaUSD, is a deployment of an open-source implementation of this protocol. The Djed Alliance stewards the evolution and growth of the Djed protocol, with the mission of bringing stability to the cryptocurrency industry.
Alephium
Alephium is the first operational sharded L1 blockchain scaling and enhancing on PoW & UTXO concepts. Decentralization, self-sovereignty, and security meet high-performance, accessibility, and energy efficiency in a dev-friendly network optimized for DeFi & smart contract applications. For more information, please visit Alephium’s website.
FLUX
Flux is building a new generation of scalable, decentralized cloud infrastructure. Developing Web3, Flux offers the advantages such as redundancy, interoperability, decentralization, and cost efficiency. For more information, please visit Flux’s website.
A New Study Finds 11-16% Of U.S. Trees Are Threatened WUSA9.com
A New Study Finds 11-16% Of U.S. Trees Are Threatened – WUSA9.com https://collincountynewsonline.com/a-new-study-finds-11-16-of-u-s-trees-are-threatened-wusa9-com/
A recent, first-of-its-kind study assessing every kind of tree native to the United States found that 11-16% of trees are threatened with extinction.
WASHINGTON — A recent, first-of-its-kind, study assessing every kind of tree native to the United States found that 11% to 16% of trees are threatened with extinction.
The study was done across the lower 48 United States over the past five years. It was a collaboration of multiple different organizations throughout the U.S. and even a few global contributors. The result was a better understanding of the state of our native trees and a starting point to work off of to protect them.
“We can’t protect what we don’t know about,” said Susan Pell, Executive Director of the United States Botanic Garden. “And so we really have to have a baseline of understanding of what things are at risk.”
Researchers studied the extinction risk, patterns of geographic and taxonomic diversity and leading threats facing tree species. The most common threat is invasive and problematic pests and diseases.
“As we have warmer climates, in our northern parts of our country, we see some of these invasive insects being able to go further north to attack more trees,” explains Pell.
Take for example the Emerald Ash Borer first found in Michigan.
“The early projections when it was first discovered were that it wouldn’t make it to Canada. And now with climate change, projections are going to become more widespread in Canada and certainly in the United States,” Pell said.
Additional climate change threats include worsening drought conditions in parts of the country, intense- widespread wildfires and more intense storms with heavy rain. Other stressors for trees include development and agriculture.
“What we’ve identified are the species that are most at risk,” Pell said. “And we’re also looking at some habitats that are most impressive some of these areas and coastal environments, for example, that are under threat for development, and thinking about ways that we can conserve plants, both from a land perspective but also looking at what can we do for individual species that are really at risk.”
One thing they can do is, naturally, protect their habitat. They are also working to put at risk trees in living collections — places like botanic gardens and arboretums. Through the study, researchers found that there are currently 17 species of trees not found in living collections that need to find a new home.
One example is the Franklin Tree, also known as the Franklinia, that is native to the state of Georgia.
It was collected in the 1800s and never seen again in the wild. Now, it’s found in over 100 living collections. An encouraging success story when you consider what is at risk if we lose threated trees.
“Our livelihood is the environment,” Pell said. “Trees are one of the most important organisms, when it comes to our health of our natural environments here in the United States.”
To ensure the continued protection of endangered tree species, researchers intend to redo this assessment about every 10 years to make sure that they have the most up to date information about the risks and the threats that these species are facing. If you’re interested in learning more about the completed research, just click here.
Yocova: Airbus Wing Of Tomorrow Tests Digital Industrialisation And Tech Integration PR Newswire
Yocova: Airbus’ Wing Of Tomorrow Tests Digital Industrialisation And Tech Integration – PR Newswire https://collincountynewsonline.com/yocova-airbus-wing-of-tomorrow-tests-digital-industrialisation-and-tech-integration-pr-newswire/
, /PRNewswire/ — Yocova, an end-to-end platform for innovation in aviation, reveals news regarding the Wings of Tomorrow initiative. Improving wing efficiency, technology, industrialisation and production is a critical part of aviation’s future, not just for aircraft performance but to achieve aviation’s climate goals. To that end, Airbus chief technology officer Sabine Klauke and Wing of Tomorrow programme leader Sue Partridge revealed details from the programme for the first time recently, and Yocova was there to ask questions.
Aside from improvements in engine technology, the wings of the aircraft are the biggest lever that airframers have to pull when it comes to increasing the efficiency of flying — and, thus, reducing fuel costs and emissions as a recovering industry targets net zero.
The Wing of Tomorrow programme, Airbus’ Klauke explains, is “to make the wing lighter, looking at an optimised composite design, but it’s also looking at new shapes, wider shapes”.
“Most of all,” she says, the programme focuses on “the wing itself in its design: we make it easier to assemble and focus on industrialisation.”
The Wing of Tomorrow programme itself is airframe agnostic: in other words, some of the technologies may be used in a future tranche of improvements to an aircraft already flying today. Others may be retrofittable to existing aircraft. And some may be most applicable to new airframes, especially those with different shape paradigms like hydrogen-powered aircraft.
The programme has three main objectives and three full-scale demonstrators
The first of three objectives for the programme is about improving performance: lowering drag, optimising lift, dramatically improving fuel efficiency, and very likely providing for longer wings, including possibly through folding wingtip technology.
The second objective is around cost performance, developing what programme lead Sue Partridge calls a “high-performance carbon wing, in order to achieve a weight reduction, at a low cost.” While broad use of carbon-fibre and composite structures are increasingly common in widebodies, adopting them in the narrowbody end of the market, an order of magnitude greater in volume, will require extra work.
The third objective, meanwhile, is around the technologies that Airbus needs to develop, prototype and mature in order to manufacture the wings at a rate high enough for its future narrowbody ambitions and to remove the wing as a potential bottleneck.
With Filton as its design hub (where Partridge is also head) and Broughton in North Wales as its manufacturing hub, Partridge explains that Airbus is “driving those industrial requirements upstream, so instead of designing to the design requirements, and then looking at how you might make it, we’re understanding how you’d want to make it and then really challenging the design requirements to align with that. And then we’re exploring the boundaries of what’s possible.”
“We’re a technology programme,” Partridge emphasises, “so we’re able to really push the boundaries of what might be possible. This isn’t a real wing programme. This is a technology programme, and we’re there to really understand the art of the possible.”
Support for the programme includes funding through the ATI programme and the UK Government Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. This in turn supports industrial partnerships with more than forty programme suppliers in the UK and globally, as well as work with technocentres across Europe like the UK National Composites Centre.
“The programme is focused around our three full scale wing demonstrators, or prototypes, if you like,” Partridge explains. These will examine “structural integration of the technologies, equipping, looking at the rate capability of the industrial system, and also structural test. And the milestone that we’ve reached today is that the first demonstrator has now completed its assembly.”
That first demonstrator of the three will test installation and structural technologies. The second wing is currently in assembly, and will serve as the full-scale structural demonstrator. The third is a run rate demonstrator, looking at the full industrial system, constraints of industrial technologies, and feasibility of automation packages.
The new industrial processes also eliminate the need for working within the fuel tanks.
Wing of Tomorrow is also a critical digital demonstrator
Responding to questions from Yocova, Partridge explains that, “because Wing of Tomorrow is if you like a physical technology programme, it’s an excellent use case for us to be able to use to try out our digital capabilities. They’re working hand in hand with our DDMS team — our digital design, manufacturing and services team — to develop the capabilities like, for example, digital continuity within the design through to the manufacturing chain, looking at digital twin, understanding how you build a digital model of our assembly system in order to be able to simulate future production scenarios.”
Smarter testing is also on the cards in order to understand how to better use virtual technologies with physical testing.
“The key benefits we’re already seeing through the work we’re doing is really connecting that digital thread,” Partridge says, highlighting that Airbus is “achieving that true digital continuity of the data all the way through the process, right from the design, through the testing, through the manufacture and assembly, and also, even managing the tooling and nonconformances on the shop floor, we’re already seeing some really great benefits of that that are coming to reality.”
Looking at the wider context, Yocova asked CTO Sabine Klauke where the Wing of Tomorrow sits in the context of Airbus’ other digital and technology programmes.
“We started this project in 2016,” Klauke explains, “and here it is with the focus of making a step [change] in terms of lighter design, different materials, different integration work, digital chain that we test, and as a key piece as well, the industrial integration, which was in the foreground.”
“It’s completely in line with [what] we need to optimise all the components of the aircraft,” Klauke tells Yocova. She notes that the airframer is also researching “specifically into what our next generation propulsion technologies, and so on. So[Wing of Tomorrow] is completely in this overall chain of technology research that we’re doing.”
About Yocova
Yocova is an end-to-end platform for innovation: digital infrastructure and services to facilitate the exchange of ideas, data, and apps in aviation. The platform is structured around the pillars of Community, Data Rooms and Marketplace:
Community: the global aviation community on one open and trusted platform – connect and collaborate with aviation peers in public forums and private working groups
Data collaboration: a decentralised, secure, and voluntary data API exchange giving you full control of who accesses your data to support your digital initiatives
Marketplace: a trusted ‘go to’ aviation marketplace for digital transformation – find, try, buy, and deploy leading digital aviation apps, data API’s solutions and services, or sell and manage your own through a global route-to-market
For OEM partners, Yocova provides a single command and control platform through which to securely distribute, authenticate, and update all digital content across the customer community. For OEM customers, a single entry-point for swift, efficient user access to all OEM digital content.
Yocova continues to pursue its growth strategy at pace with over 1000+ members extending across the aviation value chain, including but not limited to professionals and enterprises from airlines, business jet operators, digital/data vendors, through to airports, ANSPs and OEMs.
Contact details
To find out about Yocova membership, join conversations, groups, collaborate, and access the latest aviation insights and digital solutions, email [email protected]
Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1874946/Yocova_Logo.jpg
SOURCE Yocova
No. 7 St. James Area Serves Tennis Loss To Fairmont Fairmont Sentinel
No. 7 St. James Area Serves Tennis Loss To Fairmont – Fairmont Sentinel https://collincountynewsonline.com/no-7-st-james-area-serves-tennis-loss-to-fairmont-fairmont-sentinel/
Anika Haugen
ST. JAMES — The Class A No. 7-ranked St. James Area Saints swept both singles and doubles brackets to net a 7-0 victory over the Fairmont Cardinals during Big South Conference tennis action Monday in St. James.
Allison Bluedorn and Alexis Brekken combined court skills at No. 1 doubles to fend off Fairmont’s Hope Klanderud and Anika Haugen in a down-to-the-wire clash.
The hard-hitting Bluedorn and Brekken outdueled Klanderud and Haugen by a 6-4 decision in their opening set. The Saints’ tandem then outlasted the Cardinals’ duo in the second-set tiebreaker, 7-6 (7-5).
St. James Area’s Mykela Hanson and Dani Trapero collected a 6-2, 6-4 win over Johanna Petschke and Paige Linse during second doubles action.
Mariah Mireles and Mika Wessels completed the Saints’ doubles sweep by posting a 6-3, 6-1 win over Solveig Senf and Emelia Klanderud at the No. 3 position in the lineup.
In singles action, St. James Area’s Eva Romsdahl netted a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Abi Peyman at the No. 1 spot, while Saints’ teammate Keyana Haler produced a 6-0, 6-1 decision over Brynn Gustafson at the No. 2 position in the bracket.
Maya Kulseth also posted a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Elly Stegge for the home team at third singles, while Lily Ciske capped the Saints’ shutout with a 7-5, 6-1 triumph over Madi Peyman at fourth singles.
Fairmont (7-4) plays host to Waseca at 4:30 p.m. today at the Cardinal Courts. St. James Area travels to Redwood Falls today to face Redwood Valley in a 4:30 p.m. dual meet.
St. James Area’s Jazzlyn Barrera and Taryn Helling netted a 4-2, 4-3 win over Jenna Spencer and Ellie Plumhoff in junior varsity doubles action Monday.
St. James Area 7,
Fairmont 0
Singles Bracket
• Eva Romsdahl (SJA) def. Abi Peyman, 6-3, 6-1.
• Keyana Haler (SJA) def. Brynn Gustafson, 6-0, 6-1.
• Maya Kulseth (SJA) def. Elly Stegge, 6-0, 6-1.
• Lily Ciske (SJA) def. Madi Peyman, 7-5, 6-1.
Doubles Bracket
• Allison Bluedorn-Alexis Brekken (SJA) def. Hope Klanderud-Anika Haugen, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5).
• Mykela Hanson-Dani Trapero (SJA) def. Johanna Petschke-Paige Linse, 6-2, 6-4.
• Mariah Mireles-Mika Wessels (SJA) def. Solveig Senf-Emelia Klanderud, 6-3, 6-1.
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DMMs Metaverse Project Called Mid Mega City Is Now Under Development Using Unreal Engine 5 The Ritz Herald
DMM’s Metaverse Project Called Mid Mega City Is Now Under Development Using Unreal Engine 5 – The Ritz Herald https://collincountynewsonline.com/dmms-metaverse-project-called-mid-mega-city-is-now-under-development-using-unreal-engine-5-the-ritz-herald/
Japan-based electronic commerce and online company DMM.com LLC is pleased to announce that its newest metaverse project, known as Mid Mega City (MMC), is now in development using Unreal Engine 5.
MMC will be the newest and original metaverse which is planned, developed, and will be managed by the DMM Group. Using its experience in foreign exchange, video streaming, and other fields, the company aims to offer a metaverse of unlimited possibilities valued by users globally. Unreal Engine 5 is a 3D computer graphics game engine that was developed by Epic Games.
Daisuke Motohashi has been assigned as the Development Studio Head and Producer for the project. He comes with production and management experience at JP Games and Square Enix and has worked with a selection of gaming platforms, from mobile apps to PCs and consoles.
When asked about his thoughts on the Metaverse MMC Development, Motohashi explained that his goal is to build a more enjoyable and intuitive metaverse that people have always been dreaming of. He hopes to use his technical expertise and knowledge in the gaming field to offer a richly expressive and interactive experience.
On top of that, leveraging the DMM Group’s participation in different fields will allow them to offer unrivaled services that individuals do not know they are missing. He also mentioned that even though the project is still in its infancy stage, he will look forward to speaking with future partners about development, management, and business to establish a metaverse that they can get thrilled about.
Meanwhile, Epic Games representative Takayuki Kawasaki is also thrilled to see that Colonel Motohashi, which is a veteran in the world of game production, and DMM, a service provider of a wide array of services, have partnered for this project.
Motohashi also expressed that he plans on using Unreal Engine 5 to its fullest potential when it comes to productivity and expressiveness. He is also confident that this project will be something unique and is looking forward to seeing everybody in MMC soon.
What makes Unreal Engine 5 so amazing is its base level of visual quality, modularity, and ease of access. Normally, a game engine is the core of the experience. Into the engine, you insert previously made animations and models, audio already made and ready to go. Each of those game elements would be designed externally and imported into the engine. Unreal Engine, particularly UE5, scraps the concept and instead brings it all into one single place.
For metaverse gaming, it indicates smaller development teams can reach even higher. The quality of entry for even solo developers has been increased by the arrival of Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 5.
The economy built in the MMC metaverse will be connected to the broad spectrum of offerings of DMM. The company also wishes to offer business partnerships along with external content holders and tech firms. Companies and developers interested in such partnerships are requested to email info-meta@dmm.com for any inquiries about MMC development and business opportunities.
DMM.com LCC is considered the most comprehensive company, with more than thirty-nine million users. Since its foundation in 1998, the company has presented more than sixty services like 3D printing, games, English conversational classes, foreign exchange, and video streaming, among other things.
The best part about it is it has even ventured into the aquarium sector in Okinawa and supervised football clubs in Belgium. Since 2018, the firm has been improving its support of young entrepreneurs, striving to be more actively involved in investment as well as M&A through DMM Ventures.
Customize Your IPhones Lock Screen With These 27 Killer New Features On IOS 16 Gadget Hacks
Customize Your IPhone’s Lock Screen With These 27 Killer New Features On IOS 16 – Gadget Hacks https://collincountynewsonline.com/customize-your-iphones-lock-screen-with-these-27-killer-new-features-on-ios-16-gadget-hacks/
Apple just made its most significant update ever to the iOS lock screen, with a lot of features to be excited about. The theme of this upgrade is customization, giving you complete control over the look and functionality of your iPhone’s lock screen.
The new lock screen capabilities are available in iOS 16, and it doesn’t look like they’ll be hitting iPads until next year, likely with iPadOS 17. There are many new wallpaper options, cool effects, Focus integration, and data-rich widgets, to name a few of the new features.
Don’t Miss: All 350+ New iOS 16 Features for Your iPhone
1. Lock Screen Switching
Apple’s iOS 16 lets you create multiple lock screens that you can switch between whenever you want, and you don’t even have to leave the lock screen to do it.
To change lock screens, tap and hold the image, date, or time on the lock screen, then swipe left or right and tap the theme you want. This is the only way to switch between lock screens since there isn’t a switching option in Settings – Wallpaper. However, you can visit the “Wallpaper” settings to add a new wallpaper, which will switch the lock screen to whatever you create.
2. Lock Screen Gallery
To create a new lock screen, open the lock screen switcher. Then, either swipe to the end and choose the “Add New” option or tap the plus button at the bottom. If you only have the one default lock screen, you can select “Customize” then “Add New” from the actions menu.
You can also unlock your iPhone and visit Settings – Wallpaper, then select “Add New Wallpaper. And if you only have the one default lock screen, you can choose “Customize” under the lock screen image, then tap “Add New.”
The new lock screen gallery should appear where you can choose from any wallpaper theme available or a custom one.
3. Real-Time Weather Wallpaper
If you want to see the latest weather conditions whenever you look at your iPhone, the new live weather wallpaper can help. Select it, and it will visually show you the current local conditions in the background, like clouds moving or rain falling, and it will also provide weather stats around the date and time.
4. Real-Time Astronomy Wallpapers
There are also astronomy wallpapers that update in real time. You can choose between seeing close-up details of Earth, the whole planet, close-up details of the moon, the entire moon, or the solar system. As the astronomical conditions change, so will your wallpaper.
5. Emoji Wallpapers
Your wallpaper can also be all emoji if you want. Choose a premade look or select the emoji button. You can switch out or choose between one and six characters to include in the graphic. You can then change the background color and switch between different views, including small, medium, and large grids, rings, and a spiral design.
6. Gradient and Solid Color Wallpapers
You can also pick a new colored wallpaper. There are a few premade options in the “Color” section, but you can also tap “Color” up top to pick your own background color, intensity, and filter. There are bright, deep, tone, vapor, and vibrant filters, as well as a solid option if you don’t like gradients.
7. More Apple-designed Wallpapers
There are more premade options under the “Collections” category. Here, you’ll see the default iOS 16 look, dynamic options, timely themes such as pride and unity, and other designs.
8. Original iPhone Wallpaper
As a special surprise in the “Collections” category, there’s a new clownfish wallpaper. While I say new, the still image of it is pretty old but never was released to the public. It only appeared on the iPhone when Steve Jobs unveiled the first iPhone, so it’s quite a treat.
More Info: How to Get Apple’s Very First iPhone Wallpaper on Your Home or Lock Screen
9. Photo-shuffling Wallpapers
While you can choose to upload one of your own photos as your lock screen wallpaper, you could select “Photo Shuffle” to make iOS 16 automatically change the background every hour, every day, every time you wake your iPhone, or any time you tap the lock screen. You can choose between a suggested them like “Nature,” use “Featured Photos,” or opt to select images manually.
10. Photo Wallpaper Suggestions
If you want just a single photo to be your lock screen wallpaper, choose “Photos,” You’ll see new suggestions that iOS 16 intelligently picks from your Photos library under the “Featured” tab. You may see other tabs, such as “Nature,” to help you quickly select a suitable background. You can also just hunt for the image you want, like before.
11. Intelligent People Album
While you could always use images of people before for your lock screen wallpaper, now they’re easier to find. On iOS 15, it would not show the intelligent “People” album from Photos when browsing images in the Wallpaper settings. The lock screen gallery in iOS 16 does offer it — select the “People” button to see everyone in your library. You should also be able to find the people category from the “Photos” button.
12. Photo Wallpaper Styles
When using an image uploaded from your Photos library, you can swipe left or right to choose a stylized look for the wallpaper. You can keep the image in its natural state or use a black and white, duotone, color wash, studio lighting, or color backdrop filter, depending on the type of photo and the composition.
13. Multilayered Photo Effects
You may notice that some of the available lock screen wallpapers, and even some of your own photos, contain elements that dynamically overlap the time and date when no widgets are there. The default iOS 16 wallpaper does it, and so does the striped wallpaper and some of the astronomy ones. For your own images, it works best in portrait photos.
This effect works on iPhone XS and newer iPhone models.
14. Date/Time Font and Color Picker
The data and time shown on the lock screen were WYSIWYG before iOS 16. Now, you can change between six different fonts, many different colors, and even characters in other languages. When you change the font color, it also changes the colors of all the widgets (which we haven’t even gotten to yet!).
15. Lock Screen Widgets
Now for my favorite part: widgets. You’ll see widgets already on your lock screen if you choose one of the available designs in the gallery that has them, but you can edit the ones you see whenever you want. Plus, you can add widgets to any lock screen design.
Widgets display frequently updated data from their primary apps. For example, the Weather app has a widget that shows the weather in any you choose, and the Calendar app has a widget to display the date or the next event. You can tap on most widgets when your iPhone is unlocked and on the lock screen to jump you to their associated apps.
You can put widgets above and below the time. The top widget space where the date resides can be customized to include moon events, calendar events, Activity ring progress, and other widget stats. The date will always remain in the same box sans the month name.
The bottom widget space lets you add up to four small widgets. Some medium widgets take up two spots, so you can have up to two of those. Right now, you’ll see only Apple widgets for Batteries, Calendar, Clock, Fitness, Home, News, Reminders, Stocks, and Weather.
However, a lot of Apple’s widgets for the home screen are missing here, including App Store, Books, Contacts, Files, Find My, Game Center, Mail, Maps, Music, Notes, Photos, Podcasts, Screen Time, Shortcuts, Siri Suggestions, Smart Stack, Tips, TV, and Wallet.
16. Third-Party Lock Screen Widgets
Like Apple did with Today View widgets in iOS 8 and home screen widgets in iOS 14, third-party developers can create lock screen widgets for their apps using the new WidgetKit API. Widgets will follow a textual, circular, or rectangular format. A few apps you can try out right away include TickTick and Countdowns.
Don’t Miss: Try Upcoming Apps, Features, and IAPs on Your iPhone for Free — Before They Hit the App Store
17. Lock Screen and Focus Pairings
When creating a new lock screen, tapping “Focus” on the wallpaper preview lets you link one of your focuses. You can choose between Do Not Disturb and any custom focuses you set up.
When you link a Focus mode to a specific lock screen theme, it automatically switches to that theme when you turn on that Focus mode. Likewise, if you switch lock screens to another one with an associated Focus mode, that Focus mode will activate.
For example, in the screenshots below, I have Do Not Disturb assigned to one of my color themes. It automatically syncs the wallpaper, font, and widgets to that theme whenever DND is enabled. If you set a specific Focus mode to multiple lock screens, the first lock screen associated with it will be the default.
18. Add New Lock Screens from the Focus Menu
You can link a focus from the lock screen switcher, but you can also do so from Settings – Focus. Tap the focus you want, and you’ll see a “Customize Screens” section that shows your currently assigned lock screens. Tap “Edit” to set another lock screen or remove one, or tap “Choose” if none are assigned yet.
From the lock screen picker that appears, you’ll see suggested lock screens that would work well for the focus, but you can also open the gallery to see more or use an existing lock screen.
19. Add New Lock Screens from Wallpaper Settings
While it’s most convenient to add and switch between lock screens from the lock screen, you can also go to Settings – Wallpaper, where you can tap “Add New Wallpaper” to pick a new background from the lock screen gallery. If you are currently using a custom lock screen, you can tap “Customize” under the lock screen preview to change widgets, colors, and more.
20. Matching Home Screen Wallpapers
Whethe...
A Sceptics Guide To Crypto: The Crypto Wild West Financial Times
A Sceptic’s Guide To Crypto: The Crypto Wild West – Financial Times https://collincountynewsonline.com/a-sceptics-guide-to-crypto-the-crypto-wild-west-financial-times/
This is an audio transcript of the Tech Tonic podcast episode: A sceptic’s guide to crypto — the crypto Wild West
Jemima Kelly
OK. We’re gonna start this episode somewhere a bit different . . .
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Audio clip
The West. In the lusty days when the surge of civilisation pushed onward to broader horizon . . .
Jemima Kelly
In cowboy country . . .
Audio clip
. . . of man wrested new life from the wilderness . . .
Jemima Kelly
The great US state of Wyoming.
Audio clip
. . . on the pioneer trail came the renegade horde, land sharks, highwaymen, cattle thieves, [sound of gun shot] terrorising settler and tribesmen alike.
Jemima Kelly
Wyoming is famous for its vast prairies, its stunning wildlife, and its Wild West history.
Audio clip
Antelope bleat peacefully on blessed slopes. Woof! Woof! A black bear. But don’t worry, he is friendly. He won’t bother you . . .
Jemima Kelly
It’s a state of cattle ranches and cowboy hats, small government and frontier spirit.
Audio clip
Mr. Gannon! [sound of multiple gun shots]
Jemima Kelly
But in recent years, Wyoming has been fighting at the frontier of another type of Wild West: the lawless world of crypto.
News clip
We’re here in Cheyenne, Wyoming. This is the state’s capital. It’s also looking to become the crypto capital of the United States . . .
Jemima Kelly
The state has enacted dozens of laws to attract crypto businesses from all over the world.
Rob Jennings
They were out — what I would call — regulatory shopping. I mean, they were in Malta, they were Puerto Rico, they were in Switzerland. You know, they were bouncing around all over the world to find a safe haven who was gonna allow them to maybe cash out or not be accused of securities fraud.
Jemima Kelly
But the question is: why Wyoming?
Rob Jennings
You had a lot of people in the legislature who are ranchers and businesspeople who don’t know anything about it. I think some of them are gonna start saying, hey, wait a minute: why are we passing so many blockchain laws?
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Jemima Kelly
This is Tech Tonic from the Financial Times, a podcast about how technology is changing the world for the better and for the worse. I’m Jemima Kelly, and this is, I’m afraid, the last episode in this series: A Sceptic’s Guide to Crypto. Crypto is almost completely unregulated. It’s less regulated than the gambling industry, and critics don’t always agree on quite what’s needed. But one thing is clear: we need more consumer protection and regulatory oversight than we have now. Instead, in many places, something quite different is happening. A huge lobbying effort by the crypto industry and regulators in turn, who seem to be in a race to the bottom. This is episode five: the crypto Wild West.
Rob Jennings
Wyoming is a wonderful state, and I actually just got married in Cheyenne a couple of weeks ago.
Jemima Kelly
Congratulations.
Rob Jennings
Thank you.
Jemima Kelly
Rob Jennings is a businessman, born and raised in Wyoming.
Rob Jennings
It’s a, it’s a different state. I mean, obviously, natural resources are a big part of the economy there. Oil, gas, coal. Cattles obviously a big part of not only Wyoming’s economy, but Wyoming’s sort of identity or heritage, you know.
Jemima Kelly
And as unlikely as this is gonna sound, cattle is what led Rob to blockchain. A few years ago, he started to explore how this exciting sounding technology, the technology that Satoshi Nakamoto invented with his creation of Bitcoin, might have useful applications in the cattle industry.
Rob Jennings
My thought was, “well, how do we apply this technology to something that actually adds value to something that is going on here in Wyoming?” And one of the issues or problems is that Wyoming beef ends up in commodity markets. So you know the attributes that are utilised in raising those cattle: humane treatment and grass fed. Or organic or, you know, all the different things, all natural, non-hormone treated, all those things that Wyoming ranchers put into their cattle and other places gets lost in the supply chain.
Jemima Kelly
So Rob started a blockchain company for the beef industry, and he called it BeefChain. [Moo sound] A perfect name. Using the blockchain to record the details of each cow as it moved through the beef supply chain from field to abattoir.
Rob Jennings
If you’re using a blockchain or a decentralised database, you’re just creating a digital notary. That’s really what we’re trying to do, is create a trustworthy, a mutable starting point for the origin and source and age of the cattle.
Jemima Kelly
Rob thought the idea was promising and he later set up another company on similar lines to BeefChain, called CattleProof. Whether or not you think blockchain technology is a good solution to these kind of logistical supply chain issues, the point is that Rob was interested in finding ways that it could help the local economy and local businesses in Wyoming. And to explore that further, in 2017, he decided to start a sort of lobby group called the Wyoming Blockchain Coalition in the state capital.
Rob Jennings
I said, Hey, let’s, let’s set up a meeting in Cheyenne and let’s just invite a group of people and learn what blockchain is. So we invited the mayor and, you know, city council people, different leaders. Had about 15 or 20 people show up.
Jemima Kelly
And at first he was encouraged by the apparent enthusiasm shown by lawmakers. Wyoming is, after all, an old Wild West state. It has some of the lowest taxes in the US and so the libertarian values of the crypto Wild West seemed like a perfect match. But very quickly, Rob realised that Wyoming’s politicians were less interested in the applications blockchain could have in local industries like cattle ranching, and more interested in getting a piece of the then booming crypto industry.
Rob Jennings
The first mission was sort of not something I ever intended for us to be a part of, but we had learned that Wyoming had a money transmitter law that prevented people in Wyoming from using apps like Coinbase and others to trade cryptocurrency. And so consequently Coinbase locked out anybody that was from Wyoming. So one of the first things that we were a part of working on was changing the law to allow Wyoming people to trade cryptocurrency on different platforms.
Jemima Kelly
And was that successful?
Rob Jennings
Yeah. I mean, they’re able to lose money along with the rest of everybody. So, yeah, I guess it has been successful. (laughter)
Jemima Kelly
The so-called Coinbase Law was just the beginning. Wyoming started enacting dozens of new laws around crypto. There was a law that made sure cryptocurrencies didn’t get taxed. There were changes to securities regulations, especially for crypto. There was even a law recognising DAOs — decentralised autonomous organisations — as real companies. And what troubled Rob was that it didn’t appear to be Wyoming’s own legislators that were coming up with these laws. They understandably didn’t know much about crypto. Instead, it was the crypto companies and their lobbyists who were effectively writing the new laws for them.
Rob Jennings
They were working extremely closely, phone to phone, person to person, not just some emails and things of that nature. They, you had the crypto guys who’re writing the laws. Let’s be honest about it. You think they’re gonna find one Wyoming legislator that was writing any complex financial securities or blockchain laws.
Jemima Kelly
One example Rob cites is of a prominent investor in a crypto exchange called Kraken, working with a member of the Wyoming Blockchain Coalition and a Wyoming banking regulator, to write an important new state law that would allow crypto banks to operate in Wyoming.
Rob Jennings
You know, one Christmas Day, they all got on the phone and wrote this special depository institution law that created these banks. And most of the laws were very complex banking and financial regulatory type laws. And then you had a lot of people in the legislature who are ranchers and businesspeople who don’t know anything about it — 95 per cent of, they don’t know what’s going on. And they were sold on this idea that Wyoming was losing out on coal money. And we had the, you know, the blockchain was gonna save us. It just seemed to me that the whole thing became less about how we’re helping Wyoming and more about how we can sort of game this regulatory sandbox to benefit people who have no intention of ever moving to Wyoming, other than maybe setting up an LLC.
Jemima Kelly
Companies that have set themselves up there include Kraken, the team behind the cryptocurrency Cardano and the banker-friendly crypto company Ripple, whose tokens Hollywood actor Ashton Kutcher once promoted on the Ellen DeGeneres talk show. Wyoming’s crypto promoters say it’s been a huge success.
Caitlin Long
Wyoming was very interested in being early and grabbing the opportunity to be the first state and looking to bootstrap what we think is going to be and is playing out a truly important niche of the financial services industry.
Jemima Kelly
Caitlin Long worked with Rob Jennings on the Wyoming Blockchain Coalition. After a 22-year stint on Wall Street, she came back to her home state and helped to write many of the new crypto laws. And she says the idea all along was to make Wyoming the US capital for crypto finance.
Caitlin Long
They saw that there was a way to attract this industry and not have a lot of costs to the state. It really didn’t cost the state anything other than just the cost of the legislative time. And I think all but the most ardent crypto opponents and the traditional bankers who didn’t want any new competition coming in would say, Yeah, actually, if you look at the cost benefit to the state of Wyoming, given that i...
Beloved Collin County Teacher Senselessly Killed In Murder-Suicide Family Says WFAA.com
Beloved Collin County Teacher Senselessly Killed In Murder-Suicide, Family Says – WFAA.com https://collincountynewsonline.com/beloved-collin-county-teacher-senselessly-killed-in-murder-suicide-family-says-wfaa-com/
Lacie Moore, 40, was found shot and killed inside her home Sunday by police. Her family says she was the victim of a murder-suicide involving her husband.
JOSEPHINE, Texas — The Wylie Independent School District and countless students impacted by a beloved English teacher in Collin County are mourning Monday after she was found dead inside her home.
According to family members, 40-year-old Lacie Moore was found shot and killed alongside her husband Sunday by police in Josephine.
Moore’s family told WFAA she was the victim of a murder-suicide. The Josephine Chief of Police said that the shooting incident was isolated and that no suspects are at large. He added that an investigation into the shooting is ongoing.
Moore was an English/language arts teacher at Davis Intermediate School within Wylie ISD.
Before that, she had taught for several years within Community ISD.
Her family is raising funds to assist with funeral arrangements.
If you’d like to help, click here.
Wylie ISD informed parents of Moore’s death this morning and sent the following statement to WFAA:
Our Wylie ISD family is devastated by the passing of Lacie Moore, Davis Intermediate teacher. Mrs. Moore positively impacted the lives of so many students, and we are heartbroken by the loss of this incredible teacher and even better person. Our thoughts and prayers are with Mrs. Moore’s family during this tremendously difficult time.
Moore leaves behind four children, according to close friend Sarah Kramer.
When Kramer met Moore, she was merely a stranger and her son’s teacher.
He struggled with autism and ADHD until he met Moore, Kramer said.
“I was so lucky because she changed my son’s life and my life too,” Kramer said.
“She had a gift. She was so gifted, and I don’t know if I will ever be able to process what a huge tragedy this is. This world is a lot darker without her.”
Kramer said she was stunned that a teacher would care so much for her son like he was her child.
She added that Moore did that for all of her students.
“She saw what a kid needed. And if they needed a friend, she was that. If they needed a parent, she was that. If they just needed somebody just to listen, she was that. And she was so good at personalizing her care for all her kids,” Kramer said.
“She was just sunshine, and she would make fun of me for saying that, but that’s who she was.”
Now, Kramer intends to repay the kindness shown to her family now that Moore’s children are without their mom.
“I will spend the rest of my life personally, and so many in Lacie’s Army too, all of us who she helped… we will spend the rest of our lives helping her kids,” Kramer said.
Extreme Travel Experiences Growing In Popularity NewsNation Now
Extreme Travel Experiences Growing In Popularity – NewsNation Now https://collincountynewsonline.com/extreme-travel-experiences-growing-in-popularity-newsnation-now/
(NewsNation) — Taking a vacation no longer necessarily means lounging on a beach. Mysterious realms of the planet are being revealed like never before, with some saying extreme vacations are becoming more accessible to the average person.
Even with prices bordering on steep, people are still booking trips to all ends of the Earth. From deep sea dives costing anywhere from $45,000 to $250,000 to climbing Mount Everest for anywhere from $30,000 to $160,000 or visiting the North and South Pole for around $7,775, people appear to be hungry for unusual, challenging travel experiences following the pandemic.
Extreme travel options include a nearly $20,000 cruise around the world that hits about 50 destinations or a visit to the Titanic’s shipwreck, two miles below the ocean surface.
Sandra McLemore, a travel industry expert, appeared on “NewsNation Prime” to discuss the exotic travel choices gaining popularity.
“It’s not really a new thing. I think it’s the fact that we missed it. When you take something away from somebody, they just want it even more afterwards,” she said.
McLemore says there are some phenomenal travel experiences out there for nearly every budget.
Starting on the high end, McLemore says she’s seen “people chartering planes and literally flying around the world one step at a time, wherever their heart or their place will take them. I’ve seen people doing world cruises of 164 days. I’ve seen people going on expeditions to Antarctica and playing with penguins.”
For those on a budget, she says, there’s a 111-day world cruise that has 50 different destinations and comes with a twist.
“What most people don’t know is that you can actually purchase a segment of the cruise. World cruises are often broken into 14-day segments. So, it’s just a matter of picking which segment of the world you want to cruise and taking yourself on a portion of that world cruise for a fraction of the price,” McLemore said.
And while “it’s not realistic for people to rent a jet or charter a plane … what most people don’t know is that companies like JSX, they’re just one of the very many private air companies. You can fly private for around $200 a flight per person right here in America. You still get that luxury feeling and that exclusive experience, but you’re not breaking the bank.”
McLemore says there are a few spots in particular where the dollar can really stretch on vacation.
“If you were traditionally on a Holiday Inn budget, you could really get something luxurious in somewhere like Bali, Indonesia, South America, Costa Rica or even Mexico. There are some great places where your dollar stretches further, and you really can step into luxury,” McLemore said.
McLemore recommends booking with a professional travel advisor to help find the best value experiences.
Solaris Senior Living Merritt Island To Host Free Healthy Snacking Seminar Event Sept. 15 SpaceCoastDaily.com
Solaris Senior Living Merritt Island To Host Free ‘Healthy Snacking’ Seminar Event Sept. 15 – SpaceCoastDaily.com https://collincountynewsonline.com/solaris-senior-living-merritt-island-to-host-free-healthy-snacking-seminar-event-sept-15-spacecoastdaily-com/
Home » Solaris Senior Living Merritt Island to Host Free ‘Healthy Snacking’ Seminar Event Sept. 15
St. Francis Reflections Lifestage Care will co-present a free Healthy Snacking seminar
Solaris Senior Living Merritt Island and St. Francis Reflections Lifestage Care will co-present a free Healthy Snacking seminar at 2 p.m. this Thursday, September 15. Solaris Senior Living Dietary Director Jayne Garcia, above, will discuss how healthy snacking can prevent overeating, help keep blood sugar levels steady, and more.
BREVARD COUNTY • MERRITT ISLAND, FLORIDA – Americans get an average of 24 percent of their calories from snacks, according to The Journal of Nutrition. With snacks providing this much of the day’s calories, choosing healthy options can prevent overeating and improve overall health.
Solaris Senior Living Merritt Island and St. Francis Reflections Lifestage Care will co-present a free Healthy Snacking seminar at 2 p.m. this Thursday, September 15.
The event will be held at Solaris Senior Living Merritt Island, located at 535 Crockett Boulevard on Merritt Island.
Solaris Senior Living Dietary Director Jayne Garcia will discuss how healthy snacking can prevent overeating, help keep blood sugar levels steady, and more.
“We’ll learn how snacking wisely can give us much-needed extra energy, help with weight loss, and curb afternoon slumps,” said Garcia.
“St. Francis Reflections is honored to support Solaris Senior Living with this healthy living event,” said Kelli McGuire, CTRS, Business Development Specialist for Skilled Nursing at St. Francis Reflections.
Solaris Senior Living Merritt Island is a leading assisted living community offering 24/7 nursing services and six levels of care for residents. It is one of 19 healthcare communities operated by Solaris Foundation, Inc., a Florida-based not-for-profit organization.
“St. Francis Reflections is honored to support Solaris Senior Living with this healthy living event,” said Kelli McGuire, CTRS, Business Development Specialist for Skilled Nursing at St. Francis Reflections.
“We are grateful to work with our community partners regarding ways to maximize the quality of life. At St. Francis, our vision is to compassionately serve our community by empowering people to live life to the fullest.”
“Eating the right snacks aids in having a better mood, increases energy, and helps you focus so you can make the most out of each day,” added McGuire.
Space is limited please RSVP to c.byars@solarisfoundation.org, or call 321-454-2363.
St. Francis Reflections Lifestage Care offers a diverse range of compassionate care services including palliative care, hospice and grief support for all ages
For more information about Solaris Senior Living, please call 321-454-2363, or visit SolarisHealthcare.org. For more information about St. Francis Reflections Lifestage Care, please call 321-269-4240 or visit ReflectionsLSC.org.
US Leaders Avoid Victory Dance In Ukraine Combat Advances The Associated Press En Español
US Leaders Avoid Victory Dance In Ukraine Combat Advances – The Associated Press – En Español https://collincountynewsonline.com/us-leaders-avoid-victory-dance-in-ukraine-combat-advances-the-associated-press-en-espanol/
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. leaders from President Joe Biden on down are being careful not to declare a premature victory after a Ukrainian offensive forced Russian troops into a messy retreat in the north. Instead, military officials are looking toward the fights yet to come and laying out plans to provide Ukraine more weapons and expand training, while warily awaiting Russia’s response to the sudden, stunning battlefield losses.
Although there was widespread celebration of Ukraine’s gains over the weekend, U.S. officials know Russian President Vladimir Putin still has troops and resources to tap, and his forces still control large swaths of the east and south.
“I agree there should be no spiking of the ball because Russia still has cards it can play,” said Philip Breedlove, a retired U.S. Air Force general who was NATO’s top commander from 2013 to 2016. “Ukraine is now clearly making durable changes in its east and north and I believe that if the West properly equips Ukraine, they’ll be able to hold on to their gains.”
Lawmakers particularly pointed to the precision weapons and rocket systems that the U.S. and Western nations have provided to Ukraine as key to the dramatic shift in momentum, including the precision-guided High-Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, and the High-speed Anti-Radiation Missile, or HARM, which is designed to target and destroy radar-equipped air defense systems.
“They’re there, they’re in theater, and they’re making the difference,” Sen. Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat and member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. In the hands of highly motivated Ukrainian fighters who are making the most of weapons ranging from off-the-shelf drones and abandoned Russian arms to advanced weapons from the West, the HIMARS are enabling Ukrainians “to turn the tide, dramatically,” Coons said.
Meanwhile, a senior defense official said the U.S. is looking at future needs, including discussions about providing more intensive combat training for larger Ukraine units, a change from current training focused on smaller teams learning to handle specific weapons. It is also considering sending additional air defense systems, as well as lethal strike drones and more surveillance drones. The official was one of two who briefed reporters Monday on condition of anonymity to discuss planning details.
Ukraine’s launch in recent days of a much-anticipated counteroffensive — in a different part of the country from where Russian troops occupying Ukraine had massed strength to meet it — has brought on the biggest territorial changes in months in the 200-day war, launched when Putin rolled Russian forces into the neighboring country, targeting its Western-oriented government.
The U.S. officials acknowledged that the U.S. provided information to help the Ukrainian counteroffensive, but declined to say how much or if Western officials helped strategize the idea to throw Russian forces off guard by calling attention to attack plans in the south, while actually plotting a more formidable campaign in the east.
The U.S provided information “on conditions” in the country, said one of the officials, but “in the end, this was the Ukrainian choice. The Ukrainian military and the Ukrainian political leadership made the decisions on how to conduct this counteroffensive.”
Ukrainian forces claimed Monday to have retaken a wide band of territory and more than 20 Ukrainian settlements from Russia, pushing all the way back to the two countries’ northeastern border. Russian soldiers were surrendering in such numbers that Ukraine was having difficulty making room for them, Ukrainian military officials said.
Ukrainians have pounded 400 targets in all with the HIMARS since the U.S. began supplying them, using them “with devastating effect,” Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters late last week as Ukraine’s counteroffensive was getting underway.
The truck-mounted, GPS-guided systems fire faster, farther and more precisely than the Soviet-designed rocket launchers otherwise used by both Russia and Ukraine. They can hit targets up to 80 kilometers (50 miles) away. Ukrainian forces have used the 16 HIMARS and several similar systems to strike supply lines, ammunition depots and other key Russian targets.
The Ukrainians “believe that this has happened because of the new technology equipment and weapons that we’ve sent them. They … said well, if you would have sent them six months ago,” said Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat. “We didn’t have them six months ago, but you know, we had to build the weaponry, and train their people on it, takes time.”
Still, Ukrainian leaders are still pressing for more — including fighter jets and the longer-range Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACMS, a surface-to-surface missile that the U.S. has so far declined to send.
A key question going forward will be how much more Congress and the American public are willing to spend on the war in Ukraine, which the U.S. and the West say also represents a significant threat to Europe.
It’s unclear if, or how, Ukraine fighters’ successes in recent day will affect the ongoing debate. The White House has asked Congress to greenlight an additional $11.7 billion in aid as part of an overall government funding measure that lawmakers must approve before the end of the month.
“I haven’t seen any lack of appetite so far” for continuing funding for Ukraine, said Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo. “I think to see the ability to take the help that they’ve been given and then be clearly successful in some of their efforts is an encouragement to want to do more of that.”
The U.S. — the lead contributor to Ukraine’s war effort among NATO members — has poured more than $15 billion in weapons and other military support into Ukraine since January.
Biden acknowledged the battlefield gains for Ukraine over the weekend but refused to say more. “I’m not going to speak to that now because things are in process,” he told reporters.
Breedlove noted that despite the recent battle losses, Putin still has “a lot of tanks and a lot of trucks and a lot of people that he can still throw at this problem. They’re just not his best tanks, his best trucks or his best people.”
But he warned that winter may bring the most daunting challenge. Putin’s moves to shut down fuel supplies to Europe, which is expected to increase prices, are likely aimed at turning public opinion across the region.
“Even though Mr. Putin’s military has taken a beating on the military front, his big card, yet probably to play is how well does Europe hold together through a winter that Mr. Putin is going to make completely miserable for the European people,” Breedlove said. “I think Mr. Putin is desperately trying to hang on to winter because his big hope now is to separate the European people from their European political leadership.”
___
Associated Press writers Seung Min Kim, Lisa Mascaro and Aamer Madhani contributed to this report.
Bill Gates: Technological Innovation Would Help Solve Hunger ABC News
Bill Gates: Technological Innovation Would Help Solve Hunger – ABC News https://collincountynewsonline.com/bill-gates-technological-innovation-would-help-solve-hunger-abc-news/
NEW YORK — Bill Gates says the global hunger crisis is so immense that food aid cannot fully address the problem. What’s also needed, Gates argues, are the kinds of innovations in farming technology that he has long funded to try to reverse the crisis documented in a report released Tuesday by The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Gates points, in particular, to a breakthrough he calls “magic seeds,” crops engineered to adapt to climate change and resist agricultural pests. The Gates Foundation on Tuesday also released a map that models how climate change will likely affect growing conditions for crops in various countries to highlight the urgent need for action.
In assigning technology a pre-eminent role in addressing the world’s food crisis, Gates puts himself at odds with critics who say his ideas conflict with worldwide efforts to protect the environment. They note that such seeds generally need pesticides and fossil fuel-based fertilizers to grow.
Critics also contend that Gates’ approach doesn’t address the urgency of the crisis. Developing “magic seeds” takes years and won’t immediately deliver relief to countries currently enduring widespread suffering because they rely on food imports or are experiencing historic droughts.
It’s a debate that could intensify international pressure to meet the shared goals for global prosperity and peace, known as the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals, ahead of a 2030 deadline. The 17 goals include ending poverty and hunger, battling climate change, providing access to clean water, working toward gender equality and reducing economic inequality.
“It’s pretty bleak relative to our hopes for 2030,” Gates, 66, said in an interview with The Associated Press. He added, though, “I’m optimistic that we can get back on track.”
Gates pointed to the war in Ukraine and the pandemic as the main causes for the worsening hunger crisis. But his message to other donors and world leaders convening for the U.N. General Assembly this September is that food aid won’t be enough.
“It’s good that people want to prevent their fellow human beings from starving when conflicts like Ukraine interrupt the food supply,” Gates writes in the new report. But the real problem, he says, is that many food insecure countries don’t produce enough of their own food — a problem sure to be exacerbated by the consequences of climate change.
“Temperature keeps going up,” Gates said. “There is no way, without innovation, to come even close to feeding Africa. I mean, it just doesn’t work.”
As he has for more than 15 years, Gates called for investment in agricultural research, highlighting corn seeds that thrive at higher temperatures and in drier conditions than other varieties. Those seeds were developed under a program of the African Agricultural Technology Foundation to which the foundation has given $131 million since 2008.
Since then, the Gates Foundation has spent $1.5 billion on grants focused on agriculture in Africa, according to Candid, a nonprofit that researches philanthropic giving. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is by some measures the largest private foundation in the world and is best known for its work on global health, including vaccines. It began in its current form in 2000, after Gates left his CEO position at Microsoft, the tech giant he co-founded. Forbes estimates his net worth to be around $129 billion.
The foundation’s spending on agricultural development is why Gates’ view on how countries should respond to food insecurity has taken on heightened importance in a year when a record 345 million people around the world are acutely hungry. The World Food Program said in July that tally represents an increase of 25% from before Russia invaded Ukraine in February and a 150% jump from before the pandemic struck in the spring of 2020.
In Ghana, field trials for four varieties of modified seeds began in 2013. But only this past summer has one been approved for commercialization, said Joeva Rock of the University of Cambridge. Activists there, she said, have asked whether those resources could have been better spent elsewhere.
“What would happen if those went into increasing funds to the national research centers in Ghana, to building roads, to building storage, to building silos or helping to build markets?” said Rock, who has written a book about food sovereignty in the country.
When asked, Gates acknowledged the importance of infrastructure like roads and other transportation systems.
“If you want your inputs like fertilizer to come in, if you want your output to go out, it’s just too expensive in Africa without that infrastructure,” he said, adding that building and maintaining roads is highly expensive.
Some researchers question the wisdom of pursuing the fundamental premise that Gates has embraced: Increasing agricultural production through the use of modified seeds along with fertilizers and pesticides. They point to the environmental footprint of industrial agriculture, including the use of fossil fuel-based fertilizers, the degradation of soil quality and the diminishing of biodiversity.
Alternatives could include agroecological interventions, like developing locally managed seed banks, composting systems to promote soil health and pesticide interventions that don’t rely on chemicals, experts said. Over time, those approaches can reduce the need for food aid and build more resilient farming systems, according to Rachel Bezner Kerr, a professor of global development at Cornell University.
Kerr, a lead author of the food chapter of the latest report from the International Panel on Climate Change, said that while the panel doesn’t make recommendations, “overall, the kind of focus on a few technologies and reliance on fossil fuel-based inputs isn’t in line with ecosystem-based adaptation” or a biodiverse future.
Mark Suzman, CEO of the Gates Foundation, defends its approach warning that limiting access to fertilizers means farmers cannot increase their yields.
“Fertilizer is necessary. You simply cannot meet the overall productivity gains without it,” Suzman said, speaking on a call with reporters.
In his interview with the AP, Gates himself dismissed criticisms of the foundation’s emphasis on modified seeds.
“If there’s some non-innovation solution, you know, like singing ‘Kumbaya,’ I’ll put money behind it,” Gates said. “But if you don’t have those seeds, the numbers just don’t work.” He added, “If somebody says we’re ignoring some solution, I don’t think they’re looking at what we’re doing.”
Another project the foundation has funded is the development of computer models that try to measure crop loss caused by disease or pests. The idea is to direct research and responses to where they are needed most.
“It’s not just, how do we get through this crisis and get back to normal? It’s, what does the future normal look like?” said Cambria Finegold, the director of digital development for CABI, an intergovernmental nonprofit that is developing the models.
Melinda French Gates, the other co-chair of the Gates Foundation, highlighted in a separate letter the halting progress toward gender equity worldwide. Since January, the foundation has expanded its board, adding six new members to help direct its work, a move that followed the announcement of the Gateses’ divorce last summer.
French Gates has agreed to step down after two years if the two decided they could not continue to work together. French Gates, who also founded an investment organization called Pivotal Ventures, was not available for an interview.
Gates said he is lucky that his former wife has continued to put her time and energy into the foundation. In July, Gates said he would contribute $20 billion to the foundation in response to the significant setbacks caused by the pandemic, raising its endowment to approximately $70 billion.
Through his giving, investments and public speaking, Gates has held the spotlight in recent years, especially on the topics of vaccines and climate change. But he has also been the subject of conspiracy theories that play off his role as a developer of new technologies and his place among the highest echelons of the wealthy and powerful.
Gates said he does not spend time thinking about conspiracies and that his foundation’s work has nothing to do with his personal reputation.
“If you go into these countries, they’ve never heard of me or the foundation,” Gates said. “Maybe in the rich world somebody is reading some internet thing, but the people we care about have never, will never, and it’s not important that they ever know who I am.”
———
Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and non-profits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.
What Skills Does Gaming Develop? Geek Girl Authority
What Skills Does Gaming Develop? – Geek Girl Authority https://collincountynewsonline.com/what-skills-does-gaming-develop-geek-girl-authority/
Gaming is often seen as a waste of time, but what people don’t realise is that gaming can actually be quite beneficial. Contrary to popular belief, gaming does not just involve sitting in front of a screen all day. There are many different types of games out there, and each one requires its own set of skills, so you could find your 100 free spins no deposit bonus.
In this blog post, we’ll take a look at the different skills that gaming develops. So if you’re still sceptical about gaming, maybe this will change your mind!
Problem-Solving
When it comes to problem-solving, gambling in real money casinos can actually be quite beneficial. This is because gambling requires quick thinking and decision-making in order to be successful. As such, those who gamble regularly are often able to develop strong problem-solving skills.
In addition, gambling can also help to improve one’s risk management skills. This is because gambling in the best online casino involves taking risks in order to win. As such, those who gamble regularly are often able to develop a better understanding of how to manage risks. This can be beneficial in both personal and professional life.
Finally, gambling can also help to improve one’s ability to handle money. This is because gambling often requires managing one’s bankroll in order to stay afloat. As such, those who gamble regularly are often able to develop better money management skills, which is as interesting as when smoking was banned from casinos. This can be beneficial in both personal and professional life. Gambling can actually be quite beneficial for those looking to develop their problem-solving skills.
Patience
Gambling in casinos with no deposit bonus can be a great way to develop patience. By making you wait for the right hand or the right spin of the roulette wheel with free spins, gambling can help you learn to be patient. This can be a valuable lesson in life, as patience is often key to success. Whether it’s waiting for the perfect opportunity or simply learning to control your impulses in online slots, patience is a virtue that can pay off in many areas of life. So next time you’re feeling impatient in mobile slots, try giving gambling a try – it just might help you develop the patience you need to achieve your goals.
Patience is quite a difficult trait to achieve and uphold, but with enough practice, it can be done. Gambling in dollar deposit casinos is one way to help you achieve patience as it requires a lot of waiting for the right moment to make your move.
This could potentially lead to success in other areas of your life where you need to be patient as well. So if you’re looking to develop this virtue, gambling in the best payout online casino could be a helpful way to do so. Who knew that gambling could have such a positive effect? Try it out and see for yourself how it can help you develop patience – it just might surprise you.
Strategic Thinking
When it comes to thinking strategically, gambling in casinos with free slot games can actually be quite helpful. This is because gambling forces you to think about odds, probabilities, and potential outcomes – all of which are important components of strategic thinking.
Of course, gambling with a casino bonus can also be a dangerous activity if not done responsibly. But if you approach it with the right mindset, it can be a great way to sharpen your strategic thinking skills.
Here is how strategy is developed through gambling.
You have to assess the odds: In gambling, you can’t just go in blindly and hope for the best. You have to think about the odds of each possible outcome and make your decision accordingly. This is similar to strategic thinking, where you have to assess the likelihood of different outcomes before making a decision.
You have to weigh the pros and cons: Every gambling decision comes with risks and potential rewards. You have to weigh these carefully before making a move. This is also true in strategic thinking, where you have to consider the potential risks and rewards of each option before making a decision.
You have to think about what could go wrong: In gambling, it’s important to think about what could go wrong and plan for it. This is because even the best-laid plans can sometimes go awry. The same is true in strategic thinking, where you have to anticipate potential problems and have a plan for how to deal with them.
Hand-Eye Coordination
Some people might not think that gambling can have any benefits, but there are actually some ways in which it can be beneficial. One of these ways is that gambling can help to improve hand-eye coordination. This is because when you are gambling, you need to be able to keep track of what is going on in front of you and react quickly. This can help to improve your hand-eye coordination and make you faster at reacting to things.
So, if you are looking for a way to improve your hand-eye coordination, then gambling could be a good option for you. Of course, it is important to gamble responsibly and only gamble with money that you can afford to lose. But, if you do this, then gambling can actually be a great way to improve your hand-eye coordination. So, why not give it a try?
Multitasking
Multitasking is a skill that many people struggle with. Whether it’s trying to juggle work and home life or simply trying to keep on top of a busy schedule, it can be tough to get everything done. However, there are some activities that can help improve your multitasking skills – and one of them is gambling.
Gambling requires you to keep track of several different things at once – the cards in your hand, the bets being made, the other player’s actions, and so on. This means that it’s a great way to practice your multitasking skills. And, as an added bonus, if you’re good at multitasking, then you’re more likely to be successful at gambling!
So, if you’re looking for a way to improve your multitasking skills, why not give gambling a try? It could be the perfect way to help you get ahead in life.
Final Thoughts
In conclusion, gaming develops a variety of skills that can be useful in real-life situations. These include improved hand-eye coordination, enhanced problem-solving abilities, better strategic thinking, and enhanced multitasking capabilities. So, if you’re looking for a way to improve your real-life skills, gaming may be the perfect activity for you!
Khadijah Roberts-Abdullah and Araya Mengesha Talk DEFUND
WATCH: Oklahoma TE Daniel Parker Interview Sports Illustrated
WATCH: Oklahoma TE Daniel Parker Interview – Sports Illustrated https://collincountynewsonline.com/watch-oklahoma-te-daniel-parker-interview-sports-illustrated/
Oklahoma tight end Daniel Parker met with the media on Monday night ahead of the Sooners’ Week 3 matchup with Nebraska.
Watch Oklahoma tight end Daniel Parker meet with the media on Monday, Sept. 12 ahead of the Sooners’ Week 3 matchup with Nebraska on Saturday in Lincoln, NE.
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A Digitised Tunku Abdul Rahman Teaches Netizens About The Metaverse Options The Edge
A Digitised Tunku Abdul Rahman Teaches Netizens About The Metaverse – Options The Edge https://collincountynewsonline.com/a-digitised-tunku-abdul-rahman-teaches-netizens-about-the-metaverse-options-the-edge/
Once in a while, a photo lets Ivan Khoo into his grandmother’s mind when wisps of her memory allow it. Like a camera shutter that is constantly misfiring, her brain captures hundreds of impressions and attempts to preserve them before dementia steals them away. As a loved one, unmoored by time, drifts into the abyss, Khoo hopes that the familiar face of a family member can make the fragmented anecdotes in a patient’s life whole again.
Dementia sneaks up like a robber in the night to destroy a house built over a lifetime, but Khoo has realised that technology could be the hand to catch those free-falling in this battle of cognitive decline. When Maxis Bhd approached his company Ministry XR for a Chinese New Year campaign to raise awareness on dementia, Khoo and his team designed a data-driven app called RE:Collection to help patients relive their favourite memories through reminiscence therapy. Working with Kuala Lumpur-based dementia enrichment centre Caring With You and the Alzheimer’s Disease Foundation Malaysia, Ministry XR allows the elderly to recall poignant moments through augmented reality (AR), while giving caregivers better insight into which memory triggers matter the most to their loved ones.
“It was a project that was closest to my heart,” says Khoo, who co-founded Ministry XR with chief technology officer Dr Andrew Yew in 2017, and grew the business into a leading spatial computing solution developer in the region in just four years. But Khoo, a former music and advertising expert, wants to extend his reach beyond the virtualisation of activities and interactions between machines, people and objects. “We’re now looking at advancing humanity by creating a thriving metaverse digital economy. Our virtual lives could play as important a role as our physical realities.”
The biggest ideas in tech often barrel into the lexicon before they are truly coherent but if the jargon above sounds all too intimidating, picture this: You are attending a live performance by your favourite musician, rocking an outfit you have specially put together and cheering away with a group of concertgoers. But here’s the twist — the show is taking place in the metaverse, while your physical self is sitting in your own home. The dress and sneakers you picked out earlier are gaining attention because a non-fungible token (NFT) ensures they are virtual couture. And the cheering? It comes from other avatars who are live-streaming at the same time as you.
Ever since the concept of metaverse was coined by Neal Stephenson in his 1992 novel Snow Crash to define a 3D world inhabited by digital people, it has been repurposed to describe the convergence of virtual reality and a digital second life in modern times. Although the buzzword has been bandied around in the worlds of commerce, business, finance and entertainment, its definition is still fuzzy and contested as it is continuously shaped by the ambitions of the people using it. Yet, tech titans are wasting no time jumping on the bandwagon — Facebook, for example, renamed itself Meta to reflect its metaverse vision and announced it will make 10,000 hires over the next few years to develop its platform. Touted to supersede the internet, this elevation of the online world will see more game-like representations of people (avatars) interacting in a graphically rich space, where they can work, play, trade, shop and pay for anything with cryptocurrencies. Soon, this will no longer sound like science fiction.
Metaverse, a tangible outcome of a Web 3.0 environment built on blockchain-based protocols that decentralise control and allow users to democratically govern the internet’s direction, radiates the promise of a virtual place untethered by hierarchies and limitations of the real world. Tech players around the globe are already embracing a digital frontier in which social norms and value systems are written anew, but is Malaysia ready for the metaverse? How do we stack up against others in terms of our digital standing?
“I would think that we are 10 years behind,” laments Khoo, who also set up a headquarters in Singapore, which boasts a richer digital ecosystem with stricter digital privacy and security measures.
“We have been going to some of the biggest tech conferences in the world, including the Augmented World Expo in Silicon Valley, the US. When I was there, I felt such a big relief because conversations were easier as everyone shared the same innovative spirit and passion for knowledge. In 2020, 70% of Fortune 500 companies were already making plans to develop digital strategies using XR technology. But progress was a little lagging back home. For instance, when dot-com boomed, how many Malaysians saw the opportunity to make a compelling impact with a solution?”
As much as we possess a voracious appetite for technology and a good understanding of AR, Khoo points out that local tech companies are too few and far from being leading-edge to assist with the adoption. Ignorance, fear of change and a high resistance investing in new ideas among business holders despite wanting to leverage AR could also impede Malaysia from being at the forefront of digital fields such as big data, cloud and artificial intelligence (AI).
“The next era of computing [that is ubiquitous computing or the metaverse] will drive the next industrial revolution. And it stems from advancements made on foundational IR 4.0 technologies. We need people of influence to lead, top level corporate management to incite change, and government bodies to provide support by commissioning for proprietary technology development locally and providing subsidies to companies that perform it.”
Thus, to gain a foothold in the virtual world and capitalise on the unlimited realities these technologies offer, Ministry XR is launching Xanadu, Asia’s entertainment metaverse and NFT gallery that can be experienced during a three-week festival to celebrate 65 years of our country’s independence. Billed as the world’s first national day event, the aptly named Merdekaverse allows netizens — particularly the younger generation — to relive the historic declaration of “Merdeka!” by our first prime minister; attend the Tanggal 31 concert by our very own Singing Lawyer; and join a jubilant parade that culminates with firework displays in the sky. To mimic how a real festival would take place, the backdrop of Merdekaverse changes when a user logs in at different times — you may see decorations and flags being put up at Bangunan Sultan Abdul Samad to drum up excitement one day, or jam with a live DJ at Xanadu Beach during the grand finale the next.
Malaysian-themed games also add to the fun, where players can scour the site for 65 items to win a treasure hunt, navigate pothole-riddled roads in Lari Sampai Pengsan that pokes fun at our daily struggles, or scale our iconic Petronas Twin Towers (or jagungs, as the locals call it) in an obstacle course. As floods are becoming a common sight in the country, a cheeky and satirical side-scrolling game named Banjir Surf raises money to help flood relief organisations while promoting the #kitajagakita mentality.
“This is a way of showing how the metaverse can give back to society and perform transfer of knowledge as we take history lessons out of the classroom,” says Khoo, whose team has worked closely with Arkib Negara and Muzium Negara to glean information, old photos and never-before-seen footage of our Bapa Kemerdekaan to complement the digital festival. Apart from getting government bodies on board, Xanadu has also engaged social enterprise Projek57 and Mercy Malaysia for the event.
“Merdekaverse is a good case study to convince brands about the transformative possibilities of the metaverse. The goal of Xanadu is to redistribute the ownership, power, opportunities and wealth of the internet to its community of creatives, creators and end users. So in the case of Merdekaverse, it’s all wins across the board — music artists get the exposure through an immersive engagement with fans, creators can build more interactive content that courts collaborations, and brands can sponsor local acts and promote partnerships that bring new audiences to the table on their platforms at a small fee. If you look at it, it’s democratising advertising too because as much as people want to be associated with brands, they don’t want commercials to be shoved in their face all the time.”
Marketers are slowly seeing the potential for new revenue streams in the metaverse, such as renting digital land they own to other brands or selling digital collectibles to consumers. Although most platforms are still nascent, enthusiasm for the virtual world remains undimmed as a fledgling, savvy generation — which already has one foot in the metaverse via gaming and social media — sees it as an avenue of self-expression. They celebrate individuality over conformity and community over corporations in ways simply not possible in real life. Moreover, thanks to a high rate of internet penetration in Malaysia, forward-thinking schools and teachers are nurturing a crop of tech enthusiasts. Ministry XR’s partnership with Asia Pacific University of Technology & Innovation (APU), which developed state-of-the-art equipment and facilities that include a 360-degree volumetric video capture zone, extended education experience (EDEX) station and mixed reality smart glasses in the form of Microsoft HoloLens, is a salient example.
“We’re trying to create a sustainable ecosystem with a prospective future. If brands, government institutions and large corporations take the leap in spatial technology and, say, the metaverse, more career opportunities will result in a pool of high-value engineers, product visionaries, and creative techn...
Former Military Bunkers Are Now Home For Hundreds Of Survival-Minded People The Epoch Times
Former Military Bunkers Are Now Home For Hundreds Of Survival-Minded People – The Epoch Times https://collincountynewsonline.com/former-military-bunkers-are-now-home-for-hundreds-of-survival-minded-people-the-epoch-times/
Troubled times spell opportunity in South Dakota for those wanting security in the middle of nowhere
EDGEMONT, South Dakota.—Tom and Mary Soulsby of Georgia had planned to retire in a safe rural location following the riots and civil unrest in 2020, hoping to build their dream home in Tennessee.
The land had everything they desired: peace, dense forests, green pastures, and a duck pond. The home would have a cement basement. That way, they could rebuild on a solid foundation if the house got demolished or burned down.
While doing online research on basements, Tom Soulsby said he must have entered “bunker” in the Google search by accident.
A link popped to The Vivos Group, owner and developer of Vivos xPoint, a massive home conversion project involving 575 former military bunkers near the Black Hills area of South Dakota.
Old World War II munitions bunkers are now the perfect space to create an off-grid home complete with its own power source. The Vivos Group of California plans to convert 575 bunkers into survival homes. (Allan Stein/The Epoch Times)
Soulsby was intrigued.
“I obsessed over it for about six months. When they had an open house, I made plans to come out and see the place,” he said.
He and his wife visited the site together in July 2021. The couple agreed there were huge advantages to living off-grid in a converted World War II bunker. All it needed was a decent interior makeover.
“The structure itself was a no-brainer,” Tom Soulsby told The Epoch Times.
The Soulsbys decided to sell their Tennessee property in Tennessee and begin a new life together at Vivos xPoint.
They’ve never looked back east since.
“With current events and trends, they just reinforce that we made the right decision coming out here,” said Tom Soulsby, who now works as site manager at Vivos xPoint.
Off-Grid Living No Easy Decision
Who would ever want to live in a concrete bunker in the middle of nowhere, where the nearest Walmart is about a two-hour drive away?
It’s not far-fetched given the social and political turmoil in the United States and worldwide, says Dante Vicino, executive director and director of operations at Vivos xPoint.
His father, Robert Vicino, founded The Vivos Group in 2008 and started the Vivos xPoint project eight years later.
In terms of size and scale, xPoint is a project like no other. It aims to grow into a community of like-minded people concerned about what’s happening in the world.
The development sits on the former Black Hills Army Base, built in 1942 by the Army Corps of Engineers to store munitions during World War II.
The Army retired the base in 1967 and sold the property and all 575 bunkers to the city of Edgemont, selling it to local cattle ranchers.
Dante Vicino said that past developers had tried but failed to find a new purpose for the base and its network of bunkers that worked.
Then, in 2016, a group of ranchers contacted The Vivos Group offering to form a partnership to repurpose the military base.
“When we realized the numbers made sense, and it was a lot better to own the land, we bought the whole thing out,” Dante Vicino said.
Vivos xPoint bills the project as “The Largest Survival Community on Earth,” located just south of Edgemont, within a 24-hour drive from virtually all points within the U.S. It’s about a 30-minute drive from Wyoming. Denver is about five hours away, and Nebraska lies just to the south.
Vicino said the base is in one of the safest areas of North America at an altitude of 3,800-plus feet. It’s situated well inland from all large bodies of water, about 100 miles from the nearest known military nuclear targets.
The bunkers stand like lonely sentinels in fields of golden grass in one of the quietest places you’ll ever find. Stop, and listen, and all you hear is the sound of silence.
Vicino said many of the residents of Vivos xPoint prefer that kind of solitude.
“Even if nothing bad happens, this place is so unique and valuable, just because you can be off-grid and be in touch with the land and nature and polite society—clean air. You don’t get too much of that in the lower 48 [states],” he said.
And inside each 2,200-square foot structure is a potential off-grid home with all the amenities of a modern house or condominium.
Comfort, and Security
“The whole point of Vivos, in general, is to make bunker living as normal as possible, as comfortable as possible, and as accessible as possible,” Vicino told The Epoch Times.
“You’re used to seeing multi-million dollar bunkers, but they’re not necessarily for people like us. We wanted to bring that [homey] feel to it—that quality to the mass market.”
He said each igloo-shaped bunker is about 80 feet long and made of reinforced concrete nearly two feet thick, with a steel bunker front door to gain entry.
They call them “Hobbit homes” built into the hillside, like the movie shires. But they were made to take internal and external blasts like that of a nuclear bomb.
“They’re amazingly safe,” Vicino said.
The company priced the bunkers to be affordable in the current housing market. It costs $45,000 to purchase a 99-year lease for each bunker and about $150,000 to $200,000 to convert it to living quarters.
“People are interested in this for all kinds of reasons. Sometimes it’s out of concern for what may happen in the future—just all the unknowns in this world. It seems to get scarier and scarier in a way. This [development] provides a solution for that. A big solution is to have a solid shelter with a solid roof over your head.”
Vicino, 29, isn’t your usual real estate executive. Standing about 6-feet-4-inches tall, he wears a black T-shirt, denim jeans, a white cowboy hat, and a full beard. He packs a sidearm because he can.
After all, it’s South Dakota, a solidly red state where open carry is legal.
The name of the game at Vivos xPoint, Vicino said, is freedom, freedom, and more freedom. And lots of privacy: all the bunkers are spaced about 400 feet apart, each one bounded by a 30-foot perimeter.
Within that space, tenants can do pretty much whatever they please within the lease, whether raising a garden, building a hothouse, or creating a small parking area or garage.
Vicino said tenants are encouraged to do their own exterior decorating. One tenant is using the roof of her bunker to grow vegetables.
“They talk about sanctuary cities. South Dakota is a sanctuary state for conservative people, military veterans, and police officers. Everybody that’s getting thrown under the bus by all the left-wing [activity] that’s happening. They’re all welcome here,” Vicino said.
Vicino is not only Vivos xPoint executive director. He’s also the owner of Bunker 850, where he spends about half his time between his home in San Diego and Vivos xPoint.
His bunker has all the amenities one would expect in a modern ranch home or condo. It has a full-size kitchen area, office, four bedrooms, two bathrooms with shower and tub, a Smart television, a furnished den with leather couches, and a theater room. The interior decor is “mountain cabin.”
The only thing it doesn’t have is windows, though Vicino said he’s OK with that. He noted that the rounded ceiling a dozen feet high also takes some acclimating.
He said that one advantage to living in a concrete bunker is that he gets to produce electricity to power his home. He does this with a solar charger, propane, and diesel fuel generator system, automatically switching based on power consumption.
The company has leased more than 200 bunkers, while others are in various conversion stages. The Vivos Group hopes to lease all 575 bunkers in a self-contained community whose number will exceed 5,000.
Don, retired at 69, said he arrived from Minnesota in July. His bunker is nearly complete with furniture, laminate wood floors, electronic gadgets and appliances, and all the interior amenities that suit his lifestyle.
“I was in a nice home in St. Paul, and then they started burning down Minneapolis,” Don said. “They went from stealing catalytic converters off cars in my neighborhood to a carjacking in the day.
“I thought, ‘You know what? This is stupid. Why am I living here?’ This was supposed to be one of the nicest places to live in the Twin Cities.”
Not long after, he watched a podcast featuring Robert Vicino and the Vivos xPoint project. He decided to “check the place out.”
He decided, “Yeah, I can do this,” and signed the lease in June 2021.
“I just packed up everything and moved out here. Everything will be like I wanted it. I’ve got some chairs outside. At night I can go outside and look at the stars around me. I can see the Milky Way, like when I was a kid.”
Vicino said most of his tenants, like Don, are middle-class and lean conservative. He’s yet to see much interest in the project from liberals. For some reason, they can’t understand how anyone would want to live in a bunker, disconnected from the system.
“It used to be kind of fringe,” Vicino said of off-grid living. “You know how it is these days. It’s normal over the past couple of years to be concerned” about society collapsing.
“We have average middle-class families and the full spectrum of society. But the kind of person who wants to live out here takes a little something else. People have been doing it, picking up their lives and moving out here. It takes someone a little bit adventurous and nomadic,” Vicino said.
He said that the original settlers of Vivos xPoint call themselves “Xpoint Pioneers” because one needs that kind of pioneer mindset.
“I love that we’re able to accommodate that,” Vicino said. “It also appeals to the type of person who wants to live off-grid and be kind of nomadic away from major urban centers.
“A couple of years ago, we had people movi...
Financial Giant State Street Sees Unwaning Crypto Demand From Institutional Investors Finance Bitcoin News Bitcoin News
Financial Giant State Street Sees Unwaning Crypto Demand From Institutional Investors – Finance Bitcoin News – Bitcoin News https://collincountynewsonline.com/financial-giant-state-street-sees-unwaning-crypto-demand-from-institutional-investors-finance-bitcoin-news-bitcoin-news/
Investment management firm State Street says that institutional clients are not deterred from investing in crypto assets despite price declines. “There is a belief that the asset class is here to stay,” a State Street executive said.
State Street on Institutional Demand for Crypto
State Street, a leading investment management firm, sees unwaning institutional demand for cryptocurrency despite market sell-offs, the Sydney Morning Herald reported Monday.
Irfan Ahmad, State Street Digital’s product lead for the Asia-Pacific region, said the banking giant’s institutional clients are still keen on crypto and its underlying technology. He was quoted as saying:
During the course of the June, July period where things were really hotting up in terms of activity, we saw institutional clients not necessarily double down, but they weren’t really deterred from placing strategic bets on the asset class itself.
“The takeaway from that is, I think, there is a belief that the asset class is here to stay,” the executive emphasized.
State Street (NYSE: STT) operates in more than 100 geographic markets globally and employs approximately 40,000 worldwide. The financial services giant had $38.2 trillion in assets under custody and/or administration and $3.5 trillion in assets under management as of June 30.
The company’s digital arm, State Street Digital, provides solutions for a range of digital assets, including cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, digital cash, and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), according to its website.
Ahmad noted that a number of major investment firms, such as Goldman Sachs, have begun offering crypto products and are likely to make further moves into the crypto space. In April, Goldman Sachs offered its first bitcoin-backed loan.
The world’s largest asset manager, Blackrock, launched a spot bitcoin private trust in August. “Despite the steep downturn in the digital asset market, we are still seeing substantial interest from some institutional clients,” the firm said.
The State Street executive further shared that institutional clients have inquired about launching crypto products, elaborating:
Certainly, our clients, they’ve been speaking to us more pragmatically about how they might be able to launch products, or what our capabilities may be in the future to help them support the launch of those products.
In July last year, State Street announced the expansion of its cryptocurrency service, citing soaring demand from traditional funds.
Crypto exchanges are also seeing rising demand from institutional investors. The CEO of Bitstamp said in August that his trading platform is seeing “massive crypto interest” from institutional clients. In June, Binance launched a new platform for VIP and institutional crypto investors to increase support for institutional clients.
What do you think about the comments by State Street’s executive about institutional interest in cryptocurrency? Let us know in the comments section below.
Kevin Helms
A student of Austrian Economics, Kevin found Bitcoin in 2011 and has been an evangelist ever since. His interests lie in Bitcoin security, open-source systems, network effects and the intersection between economics and cryptography.
Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.
Joint Statement Following The 2022 U.S.-Mexico High-Level Economic Dialogue The White House
Joint Statement Following The 2022 U.S.-Mexico High-Level Economic Dialogue – The White House https://collincountynewsonline.com/joint-statement-following-the-2022-u-s-mexico-high-level-economic-dialogue-the-white-house/
Today, senior government officials from the United States and Mexico met in Mexico City to convene the U.S.-Mexico High-Level Economic Dialogue (HLED). Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Jayme White, and Ambassador Ken Salazar chaired the meeting for the United States. Secretary of Economy Tatiana Clouthier, Secretary of Foreign Relations Marcelo Ebrard, Secretary of Finance and Public Credit Rogelio Ramírez, and Ambassador Esteban Moctezuma chaired the meeting for Mexico.
Since relaunching the HLED a year ago, the United States and Mexico have furthered cooperation and commitment to our regional economic growth, integration, and longstanding strategic partnership. The United States and Mexico recognize that we are stronger when we address challenges and seize opportunities together to make North America more resilient, competitive, diverse, and secure. The HLED provides a flexible, goal-oriented platform to foster regional prosperity, expand job creation, invest in our people, and reduce inequality and poverty.
As our presidents stated at their meeting in July, North America is an economic powerhouse. Regional economic strength has enabled total trade between the United States and Mexico to surpass pre-pandemic levels. The HLED builds on this dynamic and flourishing economic relationship with specific projects to strengthen North American supply chains and regional competitiveness. Our shared vision and planned scope of work set a collaborative path to address the climate crisis, the global pandemic, and enduring inequality.
Building on the work of the last year, the HLED continues to focus on four central pillars:
Building Back Together;
Promoting Sustainable Economic and Social Development in Southern Mexico and Central America;
Securing the Tools for Future Prosperity; and
Investing in Our People.
Today we reviewed accomplishments under the HLED and discussed new areas for collaboration, such as partnering to address climate change challenges to meet our commitments under the UN’s 2030 agenda and greening transportation at the border to improve air quality and public health. We also discussed collaboration on electromobility, digital economy, workforce development, and supply chain resilience in sectors such as pharmaceuticals, where Mexico’s Federal Commission for Protection Against Sanitary Risks is working to optimize the regulatory environment.
The passage of the CHIPS and Science Act in the United States provides unprecedented opportunities to enhance our already dynamic supply chains. Likewise, the Inflation Reduction Act – the most significant climate legislation in U.S. history – includes $369 billion to curb emissions and spur demand for electric vehicles and clean energy technologies. These laws will increase investment into the North American manufacturing sector, lower energy costs for families and businesses, bolster our supply chains, and shore up our collective energy security. It will also create jobs in both countries and position North America as a leader in clean energy.
To Build Back Together, the United States and Mexico will work to improve the regional business climate and strengthen the resilience of U.S.-Mexico supply chains. Last year’s HLED launched the U.S.-Mexico Supply Chains Working Group to assess supply chain needs to attract investment and reduce vulnerabilities to disruptions in critical sectors, such as semiconductors and information and communication technologies (ICT).
Both countries committed to work with our private sectors to identify locations with the right skillsets, infrastructure, and industrial capabilities for greater investment in the semiconductor and ICT ecosystem. We will work together to pursue a pilot project to determine the feasibility of near-shoring semiconductor manufacturing inputs to reduce the risk of future supply chain disruptions and also support the further integration of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) into these supply chains.
We will address climate change by accelerating the transition to clean energy, especially through the adoption of zero-emission vehicles. Federal agencies in the United States and Mexico are working with state and municipal governments, the private sector, and civil society organizations to develop green spaces and sustainable economic development zones to benefit sister communities across our shared border. Doing so not only helps us keep within reach our goal of limiting warming to 1.5°C, but also improves public health and agricultural productivity.
Later this year, the United States and Mexico will celebrate 200 years of bilateral relations. Our long-standing familial, cultural, and business ties propel us to explore new ways to facilitate legitimate trade and travel along our shared border through infrastructure modernization, partnerships with private sector stakeholders, and trade facilitation programs. Our countries remain committed to completing a multi-year joint U.S.-Mexico border infrastructure modernization effort for projects along the nearly 2,000-mile border, leveraging the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the $1.5 billion commitment from the Government of Mexico to strengthen infrastructure, unite border communities, and make the two-way flow of commerce and people more secure and efficient.
To Promote Sustainable Economic Development in southern Mexico and Central America, the United States and Mexico cooperate to improve the regional business environment and livelihoods through the creation of jobs and opportunities in El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, and southern Mexico. Our federal governments, in partnership with regional leaders from the private sector, have organized five joint meetings with Mexican southern state governors to promote public-private cooperation to advance investment opportunities, economic development, and environmental and climate goals.
In December 2021, our two development agencies launched a new collaborative framework called “Sowing Opportunities” (Sembrando Oportunidades) to increase technical cooperation and address the root causes of irregular migration in northern Central America. The U.S. Agency for International Development has launched a new economic development project called Southern Mexico Generating Employment and Sustainability (SURGES) to mobilize private sector investments and strengthen the capacity of rural communities and small farmers to take advantage of market opportunities and integrate them into existing regional supply chains.
To Secure the Tools for Future Economic Prosperity, the United States and Mexico are working towards supporting regulatory compatibility and risk mitigation on information and communications technology (ICT), cybersecurity, telecommunications, and infrastructure issues. Through mechanisms including the U.S.-Mexico Working Group on Cyber Issues, both governments coordinate to strengthen our cybersecurity protections in global supply chains and tackle cybersecurity challenges through international industry best practices and standards, and continue cooperating on ICT infrastructure deployment, including 5G networks.
To Invest in Our People, both governments promote initiatives that expand collaboration on technical education and training, invest in entrepreneurs, support small and medium-sized enterprises, and enhance access to economic opportunities for women, youth, indigenous persons, and members of the LGBTQI+ community. High-tech manufacturing in North America relies on a highly skilled workforce and a robust ecosystem to promote high-tech entrepreneurship. Labor and education authorities from both countries will share best practices on apprenticeship programs and vocational and technical education in October.
Our collaboration to enhance technical education and create English-language certifications will prepare students to work in high-tech manufacturing, a key factor in attracting greater investment as we seek to near-shore manufacturing inputs. This work includes implementing programs for women entrepreneurs and coordinating with Small Business Development Centers to expand their professional networks in southern Mexico. We are investing in our entrepreneurs and SMEs by launching a public awareness campaign to support innovation and creativity and reduce counterfeit goods and pirated content from supply chains.
The United States and Mexico remain committed to building a more inclusive workforce that recognizes that all our citizens should benefit from our economic growth. To that end, we are working together to promote responsible business practices, implement obligations under international labor conventions, cooperate to eradicate the use of forced labor in our supply chains, and expand temporary worker programs with strong labor protections. Doing so will help us make progress on the commitments we made with partners to promote transparency, diversification, security, and sustainability in global supply chains in the July 2022 Joint Statement on Cooperation on Global Supply Chains.
We welcome and rely on stakeholder input to define and implement HLED initiatives. We affirm our commitment to continued stakeholder engagement with the private sector, academia, and civil society and look forward to expanding our engagement with state-level representatives.
Our work under the HLED will create inclusive opportunities for the benefit of our workers and communities. The United States and Mexico reaffirm our commitment to meet annually at the cabinet level and semiannually at the sub-cabinet level to build on the progress made thus far towards our shared goal of a secure and prosperous North America ...
Shutterstock Appoints Sejal Amin As Chief Technology Officer ETCIO South East Asia
Shutterstock Appoints Sejal Amin As Chief Technology Officer – ETCIO South East Asia https://collincountynewsonline.com/shutterstock-appoints-sejal-amin-as-chief-technology-officer-etcio-south-east-asia/
Sejal Amin, Chief Technology Officer, Shutterstock
Shutterstock, Inc. (NYSE: SSTK), a leading global creative platform for transformative brands and media companies, today announced that Sejal Amin is joining the Company’s leadership team and Executive Committee as Chief Technology Officer (CTO), effective September 12, 2022.
With more than 20 years of global leadership, product and technology experience, Sejal will deliver a technology vision and strategy that transforms Shutterstock’s technology platform to deliver a new and unparalleled experience to customers and contributors.
“I am thrilled to welcome Sejal to Shutterstock, as we continue our digital transformation to a full-service creative platform that democratises creativity, pushes creative boundaries, and provides unparalleled experiences for our customers and contributors around the world,” said Paul Hennessy, Chief Executive Officer at Shutterstock. “Sejal is a well-respected and revered leader with a proven track record of growth and innovation, and I am confident that she will be successful in leading Shutterstock’s technology platform into its next disruptive phase.”
“Shutterstock is a company that has transformed immensely from its inception almost 20 years ago, and I am honored to be the next Chief Technology Officer,” said Sejal Amin. “The innovation the Company has achieved – from world class workflow applications to industry-leading proprietary technology – is tremendous, and I look forward to expanding upon the Company’s vision, harnessing the potential of Shutterstock’s diversified offering as we celebrate a new era for Shutterstock.”
Recently, she was Chief Product and Technology Officer for Khoros, a Vista Portfolio company where she was integrating a distributed Product and Technology organisation while defining a Product and Operational strategy to execute on the company’s vision and growth goals. Just prior to that, she was CTO for the Thomson Reuters Tax and Accounting Tax Professionals Business. She has a wide range of technology leadership experience across several business units at Thomson Reuters managing global product development teams and portfolios of growing size and complexity for 15+ years.
With Sejal’s appointment to CTO, Shutterstock now has three women on the Executive Committee, and two women leading the product development strategy, including Chief Product Officer, Meghan Schoen.
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E-WIN Championship Series Chair Review Sleek And Stealthy Gaming Trend
E-WIN Championship Series Chair Review — Sleek And Stealthy – Gaming Trend https://collincountynewsonline.com/e-win-championship-series-chair-review-sleek-and-stealthy-gaming-trend/
We’ve reviewed a lot of gaming chairs. Each one carries a whole host of features that combine to give it a distinctive look that blends in with the RGB-infused PCs they often flank. E-WIN even sells a series of RGB-laced desks to go along with them. In short, they don’t exactly blend in, unless they are going in a game space. So what do you do when you want something that delivers many of those same features, but with looks that can blend into a living room space, or a more neutral office? Well, we’ve gotten our hands on a new offshoot of E-WIN’s Championship Series of chairs that looks to do precisely that.
There are eight variants of the E-WIN Championship chair series, including a bright pink bunny chair. Beyond the usual polyurethane-wrapped seats and the aforementioned bright pink one lies one that stands out – a soft gray cloth-wrapped chair. Having looked at the Flash XL series as well as a few of the Championship chairs, I wanted to see what the E-WIN team could do with something entirely new. This fresh take on their award-winning chairs is instead covered in a SoftWeave Fabric made from a 350 GSM short-yarn covering their usual ultra-comfortable cold-cure foam. It seemed like a great opportunity to see if the E-WIN team could do the impossible – be subtle.
E-Win Championship Chair Unboxing and Review Gaming Trend
Ok, it’s a bit unfair to say that E-WIN can’t be subtle – in fact, the company got its start as an OEM chair manufacturer. They know how to make good furniture, and only in 2016 did they start working in the gaming market as well. Each iteration in the space has improved on the last, but now we have an opportunity to return to their roots with something more traditional.
Starting with the most obvious difference, the cloth on this Championship Series chair is comfortable. Their patented SoftWeave fabric is made of a short and dense yarn that feels soft and breathable. All of us are suffering through a rather rough heat wave, and having something that breathes is essential when you’re sitting in the same space for eight hours in a row.
The cold-cure foam that lies underneath the surface is the same that we saw in the Flash series we reviewed last year, though not as overstuffed. In fact, this chair falls in between the Flash and the Flash XL in terms of the foam density – a good mix that’ll blend into an office space without evoking that “gaming” feel. Sticking with the advancements from last year’s chair, they’ve stuck with an edge-to-edge foam approach, meaning there is no hard bar that runs against your legs – something we’ve unfortunately seen in other “non-gaming” chairs for support.
The good news is that it’ll be comfortable for any body type, large or small. Where our blue chair has a solid bar that rings the entire seat, the Flash XL is soft all the way to the edges. The structure of the chair lies in the core, not the edges, so it’s great to not have a hard bar running against your leg when you turn a bit in your seat to get comfortable.
Closer inspection of the cloth reveals the double stitching. Rather than using a single heavy stitch for the seams, this Championship Series chair has a pair of double stitching on each side of that thick seam to provide a great deal of reinforcement. This is very similar to my Judo uniform which holds up to years of abuse without tearing or separating, so I expect the same sort of results here, meaning it should hold up well past the warranty.
The heavy double stitch is sturdy and should hold up well.
I did find one thing missing from this chair that I’m finding to be a common feature of other chairs nowadays – an install bracket. A simple u-collar bend on one side of the control arms for the backrest, this bracket makes it easier to install the rear of the chair by ensuring at least one side is lined up as it drops into a sort of “slot” on this bracket. This is sadly absent here, meaning you’ll have to line it up on your own. It’s a minor thing, but it’s notable when it’s absent.
There is one thing to keep in mind when picking a chair – your height and weight make a huge difference in the comfort of the chair. I’m 5’10” – average height for an American, but somehow this chair feels short. The Flash XL I use places the headrest pillow right at the back of my head, but this chair’s back is slightly shorter. A quick look at the website says this chair is for people who stand 5’3” all the way up to 6’5”, but I don’t see it being comfortable for anyone above my height. Even with the optional head pillow as high as it’ll go, it places it directly behind my neck. Now, if that’s where you prefer support, then you are all set, but it is something to consider.
Speaking of supports, the chair does include a back support pillow, though they’ve moved away from the attached straps. Frankly no loss there as I’ve always left the pillow sitting flush against the chair. If you need that support higher, you’re a bit out of luck.
I was disappointed with the 4D armrests on this chair. The Flash series felt like they glided better than this Championship chair, and I could hear the plastic-on-plastic sliding. I wonder how well that’s going to work long term, and I’m starting to see switch-released 4D mechanisms with metal parts appearing in this price range. It might be time for E-WIN to re-evaluate this particular component in their build.
Heading underneath the chair I saw a great deal of improvements carried over from previous efforts. The entire frame is reinforced where it matters and locked in place with four bolts anywhere a connection is made. Lock washers keep everything in place, and a handful of spares are included with the chair should that change down the line. This bag of extras is nice to have as a trip to the hardware store might not yield you the correct bolt – I speak from experience on that one.
As I’ve assembled dozens of chairs in the last few months, I’m starting to see that the tilt mechanism is evenly distributed into just two varieties, with some rare exceptions. The smaller chairs most often use a smaller tilt mechanism to keep their chairs lightweight, and that’s what we see here. Thankfully, this mechanism is still heavy duty enough to support up to 400 pounds of weight, so the extra weight of a heavier mechanism doesn’t seem necessary.
I’ve taken every chair I’ve reviewed to task for their casters, and I have to give credit to E-WIN for trying something new. This new type of wheel is dubbed “W-WIN PRIME” and is hub-less, meaning it doesn’t have a center part. The simple plastic rolling wheels have been replaced with ball bearings, meaning they glide beautifully across the floor. I was skeptical that they wouldn’t still suck up carpet, but to my surprise, even after weeks of use, they are holding up beautifully. For once, we have a wheel that not only manages to work well, but looks good doing it! It’s great when a manufacturer listens to your feedback, but it’s better when they manage to deliver something that addresses your problem. Bravo, E-WIN!
Much like the Flash XL, the Championship Series of chairs is covered by a two year warranty. You can extend that to three years for free simply by taking a picture of the chair and sharing it on social media with some specific tags. If you instead take a video of the chair and share it with the E-WIN team, they’ll happily extend that out to five. That’s outstanding, especially when so many chairs on Amazon have the ominous “contact seller directly” message instead of a listed warranty. It’s nice to see the E-WIN team stand behind their products, especially with a warranty that’s easily double that of their competitors, if not more.
Ultimately the Championship Series is a chair that delivers much of what we see on higher priced chairs, but in a package that can easily blend in with your existing decor. Not quite as padded as its larger counterparts, but also not nearly as heavy, this chair retails at $479, though I’m seeing it on sale for $359 at the time of writing, and sales have seen it dip to as low as $299, so a little patience and timing can net you a pretty great deal.
A comfortable chair that delivers nearly every feature of its larger counterparts, but does so in a form factor that doesn’t “look like a gamer chair”. Just make sure it’s appropriately sized for your body type.
—Ron Burke
PROS
SoftWeave fabric is soft and comfortable
Subtle styling blends into any space
New wheel design is an improvement
Smaller tilt mechanism supports 400lbs
5 years of warranty coverage
CONS
Chairback portion may be short for those over 5’9”
4D Armrests are plastic-on-plastic
Ron Burke is the Editor in Chief for Gaming Trend. Currently living in Fort Worth, Texas, Ron is an old-school gamer who enjoys CRPGs, action/adventure, platformers, music games, and has recently gotten into tabletop gaming. Ron is also a fourth degree black belt, with a Master’s rank in Matsumura Seito Shōrin-ryū, Moo Duk Kwan Tang Soo Do, Universal Tang Soo Do Alliance, and International Tang Soo Do Federation. He also holds ranks in several other styles in his search to be a well-rounded fighter. Ron has been married to Gaming Trend Editor, Laura Burke, for 21 years. They have three dogs – Pazuzu (Irish Terrier), Atë, and Calliope (both Australian Kelpie/Pit Bull mixes).
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Collin County Seeing Notable Decline In Mail-In Ballot Requests Ahead Of Midterm Elections FOX 4 News Dallas-Fort Worth
Collin County Seeing Notable Decline In Mail-In Ballot Requests Ahead Of Midterm Elections – FOX 4 News Dallas-Fort Worth https://collincountynewsonline.com/collin-county-seeing-notable-decline-in-mail-in-ballot-requests-ahead-of-midterm-elections-fox-4-news-dallas-fort-worth/
Published September 12, 2022 4:32PM
Collin County seeing notable decline in mail-in ballot requests ahead of midterm elections
While some North Texas counties have not seen a huge spike in new voters, Collin County is seeing a noticeable decline in mail-in ballot requests.
DALLAS – The deadline to register to vote in Texas is soon.
And while some North Texas counties have not seen a huge spike in new voters, Collin County is seeing a noticeable decline in mail-in ballot requests.
The closely watched Texas governor’s race will drive turnout in November as campaigns head into the final stretch.
Oct. 11 is the deadline to register to vote.
With one month away, it’s hard to tell if hot-button issues like abortion and border security are motivating factors.
Texas mail-in ballots require voters to sign the outer envelope. (Charlie Pearce for The Texas Tribune)
Texas: The Issue Is…. State senator makes urgent call for crime control
But in booming Collin County, the population growth itself is creating more potential voters.
Bruce Sherbet is the Collin County election administrator.
“Our growth is significant in this county,” he said. “And so to give you an example, we have 100,000 more registered voters this election than we did four years ago in the last midterm election.”
Sherbet says voters in Collin County vote early and vote often. In 2020, the county had nearly 80% turnout.
More Texas Politics
But Sherbet sees a changing trend with mail-in voting still several weeks before the Oct. 27 deadline to request a mail-in ballot.
“We’re down on requests for mail ballots going into the midterm elections,” he said. “Right now, we have about 12,000 requests queued up ready to mail ballots once we start mailing out. If you look at it four years ago, we mailed out 22,000 mail ballots.”
Mail-in ballots were also popular in many counties during the pandemic.
Poll: Gov. Greg Abbott leads Beto O’Rourke in survey of likely voters
Then last spring, there was confusion over new ID requirements, with thousands of mail-in ballots flagged as improperly filled out.
Still, Sherbet thinks there is not one single reason for the decline.
“People just deciding they want to vote in person,” he said. “There could be concerns about is the mail going to get back and forth timely? That’s a legitimate concern always. And it could be just people don’t feel as comfortable with the mail ballot process.”
County leaders divided over adding polling location at Dallas County jail
With the midterm election less than three months away, there’s talk in Dallas County about adding a new polling location in the county jail. County commissioners are divided on the issue, but the ultimate decision is with the sheriff.
While vote by mail numbers are down, Sherbet says their new voter totals have not changed.
“It’s pretty consistent and meaning that we’re not seeing any large spikes in registration. We’re seeing some small upticks like you would expect,” he said.
Both Dallas County and Tarrant County officials say they aren’t seeing any big spikes in voter registration.
Currently, Dallas County has seen about 66,000 new voters this year.
Disney Vacation Club Launches New Hotel Booking Tool LaughingPlace.com Laughing Place
Disney Vacation Club Launches New Hotel Booking Tool – LaughingPlace.com – Laughing Place https://collincountynewsonline.com/disney-vacation-club-launches-new-hotel-booking-tool-laughingplace-com-laughing-place/
Disney Vacation Club has launched a new hotel booking tool through Interval International.
What’s Happening:
This new option represents a dramatic expansion of vacation and exchange possibilities, adding even more power to eligible Members points and giving you more vacation options than ever before.
Beginning today, this online, self-service tool will curate a list of properties using a combination of points and cash. Hotel exchange features hundreds and hundreds of well-known hotels from trusted brands in sought-out cities across New York City, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, London and many more! Members can even search available hotels by desired travel dates and destination, filter by brand, and calculate required vacation points.
While the previously offered exchange accommodations through Concierge Collection will no longer be available, most of the luxury resorts that were part of the collection are offered within this new hotel exchange.
Please note that confirmed Concierge Collection reservations will be honored.
More Disney Parks and Experiences News:
Laughing Place recommends MouseFanTravel.com for all your Disney travel planning
US Takes Aim At Some Trump Offshore Safety Rule Rollbacks 69News WFMZ-TV
US Takes Aim At Some Trump Offshore Safety Rule Rollbacks – 69News WFMZ-TV https://collincountynewsonline.com/us-takes-aim-at-some-trump-offshore-safety-rule-rollbacks-69news-wfmz-tv/
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The U.S. Department of the Interior said Monday that it wants to reverse some Trump administration rollbacks of offshore safety rules to prevent blowouts like the BP catastrophe that killed 11 people and fouled the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.
“This proposed rulemaking will help ensure that offshore energy development utilizes the latest science and technology to keep people safe,” Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said in remarks prepared for an afternoon announcement. “As our nation transitions to a clean energy economy, we must commit to strengthening and modernizing offshore energy standards and oversight.”
The changes are a step in the right direction but not far enough, said Diane Hoskins of the ocean environmental nonprofit Oceana.
“No operator can promise there won’t be another disaster like BP’s Deepwater Horizon blowout. The only way to prevent offshore drilling disasters is to permanently protect our coasts and workers from new offshore leasing,” she said.
Under Trump, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement acted in 2019 to change rules put in place three years earlier while Barak Obama was president.
The agency is proposing to change seven out of the scores of revisions and additions made in 2010, director Kevin M. Sligh Sr. said.
He said one would require the bureau to accredit independent agencies that inspect offshore rigs and equipment.
Another would require blowout preventers — the equipment that failed in 2010 — to always be able to handle the well’s maximum gas flow specifications.
Others would require operators to send failure data to the federal offshore safety agency rather than to designated third parties, and would cut a month off the time allowed to begin failure analyses and investigations, allowing three months rather than four.
“The 2019 revisions to the Well Control Rule addressed technical problems and cleared up ambiguity,” changing 68 of the original rule’s 342 provisions, said Erik Milito, president of the National Ocean Industries Association, which represents oil and gas companies. “Any further updates … should follow a similar tailored approach.”
Environmental groups sued, claiming the changes would make oil and gas exploration and development off the Pacific, Atlantic, Alaska, and Gulf coasts “significantly more dangerous.”
Scientists still worry about effects of the nation’s worst offshore oil spill on dolphins, whales, sea turtles, small fish vital to the food chain and ancient corals in the cold, dark depths.
The proposal opens a 60-day public comment period, which ends Nov. 14.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Quality Sleep And Healthy Living With Vitafoam: Risks Of Taking Sleeping Pills And How To Avoid It Part I Tribune Online
Quality Sleep And Healthy Living With Vitafoam: Risks Of Taking Sleeping Pills And How To Avoid It – Part I – Tribune Online https://collincountynewsonline.com/quality-sleep-and-healthy-living-with-vitafoam-risks-of-taking-sleeping-pills-and-how-to-avoid-it-part-i-tribune-online/
It’s bedtime over the night, activities settled, lonely sounds become noticeable from room electronics, the ticking of the clock and insect cries, then, either at the beginning of the sleep time or during the sleep interruption, you’re staring at the ceiling and the walls, thinking about work, transactions, bills, relationships or family, tossing and turning. When sleep just won’t come, the night appears unusually longer. This is the picture of sleep problems where one may have trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, or not feeling refreshed upon waking. If one regularly has such sleep troubles, it’s understandably tempting to resort to sleeping pills for relief.
As the name suggests, sleeping pills or medications help one catch some sleep. Sleeping pills may excitedly help people who have sleep problems to fall asleep easier, stay asleep longer or both. Rightly, the drugs should be taken only when prescribed by a well-trained qualified doctor for sleep problems. The various types of sleeping pills work to change brain chemicals differently and enhance sleep in the sleep-wake cycle. The pills slow down, silence and suppress the area of the brain that keeps one awake and alert. Contrary to the widespread belief that sleeping pills help people get a full, restful night’s sleep; several studies show that this is not exactly true. On average, people who take the drugs sleep only a little longer and a little better than those who don’t take them.
Meanwhile, all sleeping pills have various serious and deadly damaging effects, which can be witnessed immediately in the following days or distantly during later months or years. These harmful effects vary depending on the specific drug, the dosage, the person’s age, and how long the drug lasts in one’s system.
They can cause immediate severe but rare allergic reactions which lead to sudden death including death during sleep. They can also cause dangerous sleep-related behaviours like sleep-walking (walking without full awareness of one’s surroundings and directions which usually results in falls, especially among older adults), sleep-driving (driving while drowsy with resultant accidents), sleep-eating (eating in the middle of the night with blurred alertness often resulting in food-choking, food-poisoning, and unhealthy feeding), sleep-talking (talking inappropriately while unaware of the jargon speech). In all, the person appears to be awake, but the person’s brain is not fully alert. Most people don’t remember doing these things after they wake up.
The dulling properties of some sleeping pills last well into the next day, leading to a next-day hangover effect, a drugged effect, the morning after taking them. People may feel confused and so sleepy the next day, have mixed-up thinking and experience dizziness or unsteadiness. These daytime effects can impair one’s ability to drive, operate machines, work, interact with others and complete daily tasks.
There are other numerous harmful effects of sleeping medications, affecting different body parts and functions, including interactions with other medications.
Considering the gravity of the destructive effects, it has been established that behavioural adjustments and sleep environmental changes are safer and better ways to improve sleep than medication, without the risk of deadly side effects – the reason we need to run away from the sleeping pills and embrace the following good sleep practices.
Firstly, practices to ensure the brain’s good health:
– Consistently drink water at least 4.5L – 5.0L over the day, with urine turning colourless.
– Regularly eat just enough quantity of balanced diet two or three times daily.
– Regularly do SAFE exercises like fast walking, swimming, push-up sets, etc. – 30mins daily or at least five times a week.
– Avoiding smoking, excess alcohol and stimulants like caffeine.
– Keeping stresses in check with avoidance of avoidable stressors
– Maintaining the same sleep schedule, particularly the period to go to bed.
Secondly, ensure sleeping-inducing surroundings by:
– Relaxing with soothing music, a good book or meditation.
– Sleeping in a calming and relaxing environment
– Sleeping on quality mattresses and pillows that are conducive sleeping surfaces for supportive posture
In our next article, I will discuss other numerous bad effects, emphasize good sleep practices, and highlight the few occasions where sleeping pills can be prescribed by trained doctors along with the guidelines for pill use.
Let us remember that where you sleep, when you sleep and how you sleep affect your mental health, physical wellbeing and living a healthy life. We all need quality sleep to be set for more productivity in our endeavours.
Do you need further information on the above subject? Are you looking for the best way to maintain quality sleep for general wellbeing and healthy living? Are you currently facing any sleeping difficulty? Remember, a doctor is an appropriate person to offer relevant advice for maintenance of quality sleep and solution to sleep difficulties. Do you want to contact the Orthopaedic Sleep Consultant, Dr Charles Uzodimma, kindly send your request to sleepinfo@vitafoam.com.ng
Vitafoam Nigeria Plc is the first foam manufacturing company in Nigeria to partner with a Sleep Expert in educating Nigerians on Quality Sleep and Healthy Living. They are truly passionate about quality sleep, healthy living and general wellbeing of Nigerians. Vitafoam is proudly Nigerian and constantly supports Nigerians with consistent quality products for comfort and wellbeing. With Vitafoam, you don’t just sleep, they give you the comfort that gets you recharged. To learn more about Vitafoam, visit www.vitafoamng.com
Packers Hopeful Quay Walker Will Be Ready For Bears Sports Illustrated
Packers Hopeful Quay Walker Will Be Ready For Bears – Sports Illustrated https://collincountynewsonline.com/packers-hopeful-quay-walker-will-be-ready-for-bears-sports-illustrated/
GREEN BAY, Wis. – With Quay Walker and Krys Barnes injured at Minnesota, Isaiah McDuffie could go from No. 4 inside linebacker to starter on Sunday night against the Chicago Bears.
Walker, the first of the team’s first-round picks, started and played 38 impactful snaps before suffering a shoulder injury. Off the bench came Krys Barnes, a starter the previous two seasons. He played nine snaps before being carted off with an ankle injury.
Speaking on Monday, one day after a 23-7 loss to the Vikings in the season opener, coach Matt LaFleur said: “We’ll give Quay the week but we’re hopeful that he’ll be back, ready to roll.”
Meanwhile, the top backup, Barnes, will be out several weeks with a high-ankle sprain and calf injury, according to NFL Network. He could wind up on short-term injured reserve.
“I think we avoided a significant injury, so that was some good news today,” LaFleur said.
McDuffie, a sixth-round pick last year, played the first six defensive snaps of his career to close out the game. After recording a team-high 16 tackles in the preseason, he had one tackle vs. the Vikings.
“Being a rookie is definitely different from being a second-year player,” McDuffie said during training camp. “You just know what to expect. As a rookie, I had no clue what the NFL was going to be like. Year 2, you’ve been here, you’ve done it before. You’re just coming back and doing it again.”
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Walker became Green Bay’s first top draft pick since Nick Perry in 2012 to start Week 1 of his rookie season. Walker led the team with seven tackles at halftime and finished the day with eight. He led the team with five stops – a Pro Football Focus metric that mirrors Green Bay’s win/loss grading system – but allowed 5-of-5 passing and missed a tackle on a catch by Justin Jefferson.
“I thought there was a lot of good things,” LaFleur said. “I think the first series was a little shaky for him. That tends to be the case, and there’s going to be some growing pains with all young players in this league. It’s just the way it is. There’s a lot of different things that they haven’t seen before, and to get in your first regular-season game, there’s going to be mistakes. I loved how he was flying around. I thought he was physical, and he’s got a bright future. He’s just got to keep continuing to learn, and there’s no better learning tool than getting those game reps.
On Thursday, defensive coordinator Joe Barry called Walker a “special kid, special player.” Walker was flattered but knew he had to prove it.
“I wouldn’t consider myself being good,” he said on Friday. “I haven’t played a game yet. The main thing with me is I want to be neutral at all times and don’t want to get ahead of myself. I’m still a rookie. It’s a long, long season. I’m just trying to get better each and every day and continue to work. To what you said, I just think that everything that I did in college has translated over to me being in the NFL. A lot of things that we do now are kind of similar, so it was pretty easy for me to pick up on the transition.”
LaFleur didn’t have any updates on cornerback Keisean Nixon, who suffered a shoulder injury on a third-down tackle, or guard Jon Runyan, who missed most of the second half with a concussion.
There were two bits of noteworthy injury news around the NFL.
– Buccaneers receiver Chris Godwin, who caught 98 passes for 1,103 yards last season before a torn ACL, suffered a hamstring injury on Sunday night against Dallas. “Hopefully, we’ll have him back sooner rather than later,” Bucs coach Todd Bowles said. The Packers visit Tampa Bay in Week 3.
– Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott suffered a fractured thumb that required surgery. He’ll miss about half the season and potentially could return for the Week 10 game at Green Bay, according to NFL Network.
Is Metaverse Pioneer Roblox Ready For Fierce Competition? This Analyst Doesnt Think So Morningstar
Is Metaverse Pioneer Roblox Ready For Fierce Competition? This Analyst Doesn’t Think So – Morningstar https://collincountynewsonline.com/is-metaverse-pioneer-roblox-ready-for-fierce-competition-this-analyst-doesnt-think-so-morningstar/
By Wallace Witkowski
Cowen analyst, who refuses to capitalize ‘metaverse’ for a reason, makes a lot of science-fiction comparisons — because right now, the ‘metaverse’ that people imagine is still just science fiction
Roblox Inc. is recognized as being one of the leaders working to create the so-called “metaverse,” but one analyst thinks even the social-gaming platform will get overwhelmed by the competition.
“While we think the development of the metaverse represents an enormously important technology, we also think realization of the metaverse could be at least 10 years away,” Cowen analyst Doug Creutz, who just started coverage of Roblox (RBLX), said in a Monday note, entitled “Roblox and the metaverse: With the (virtual) universe at stake, competition will be intense.”
“Current tech incumbents and content owners are very aware of the potential power of the metaverse, and therefore Roblox is likely to face extremely determined competition,” he said.
Creutz noted that the term “metaverse” is borrowed from Neal Stephenson’s 1992 science-fiction novel “Snow Crash,” which follows the hacker/pizza-delivery guy protagonist literally named “Hiro Protagonist.”
“In the lingo, this imaginary place is known as the Metaverse,” the novel reads. “Hiro spends a lot of time in the Metaverse.”
Creutz said people are also thinking of “The Matrix” as a template for contemplating what the metaverse will be like.
“In 1999, a Warner Bros. marketing campaign asked audiences ‘What is The Matrix?'” Creutz said. “Here, we propose to at least try to answer the question ‘What is the metaverse?’ since Roblox has made its intention clear to be a major player in this emerging junction of technology and media.”
It’s here where Creutz describes why he refuses to capitalize the “m” in metaverse: “In this note we decline to capitalize the term ‘metaverse’ except as it refers to specific uses in other media, since we are referring to a still-indefinite concept as opposed to an actual destination that merits the use of a proper noun, like the Internet.) ”
Creutz uses that quote in his note in explaining how Roblox will fare in the metaverse.
“Is it a red pill/blue pill situation in believing in forecasting Roblox dominance in the still science fiction ‘metaverse?'” Creutz said.
While Roblox has big plans for the metaverse, Creutz believes that the metaverse “will be much bigger than what Roblox can possibly hope to provide, given the technical requirements and need for diverse and compelling content.”
“As a destination in the metaverse, Roblox will face competition from many companies that are simply much better equipped in terms of technology and capital, and which perhaps more importantly have demonstrated an overwhelming will to power during Web2.”
It seems that people have different ideas about what the metaverse will be like, but it is still imaginary, so how do people imagine something that doesn’t exist yet? Creutz said people likely will use science-fiction movies and books to get their ideas.
Creutz also cited the movie “Tron,” William Gibson’s “Neuromancer” and Ernst Cline’s “Ready Player One” as also being big influences for how people imagine how the metaverse will be.
“Most everything that companies like Roblox and Meta are talking about today was imagined on a page or screen as much as 40 years ago (if not earlier),” the Cowen analyst said. Creutz said that while many people think of Roblox as a template for the virtual world, he disagrees.
“We believe the current entertainment experience that is closest in spirit to a real metaverse is not Roblox, but [Take Two’s] ‘Grand Theft Auto Online,'” he said.
“Even if we are wrong, however, and the metaverse arrives sooner than we expect, we are skeptical that Roblox will find dominance and profitability therein,” Creutz said. “Unlike social media and search, where existing tech incumbents failed to recognize the importance of the emerging platforms and allowed upstarts (Facebook and Google) to grow rapidly and profitably until it was too late, the focus on metaverse development is intense and widespread. As a result, we think success in the metaverse will be in the context of a highly competitive market, with no chance to catch incumbents unawares. We see plenty of other companies with more significant financial and content resources as positioned to be powerful metaverse players, including (but not limited to) Sony , Take-Two (TTWO), Microsoft (MSFT), [Alphabet Inc.’s (GOOGL)(GOOGL)] Google, Apple (AAPL), Meta (META) and Epic Games.”
In August, Roblox shares took a hit after the company reported a surprise decline in bookings, their second year-over-year quarterly decline in a row, but executives were quick to note that July booking had risen.
The company defines bookings as “revenue plus the change in deferred revenue during the period and other noncash adjustments.” The importance of bookings comes into play as the company sells virtual currency on its site that may be considered deferred revenue.
Back in May, Roblox shares also came under heavy fire after the company reported an unexpected decline in bookings, resulting in Roblox stock logging its worst one-day performance since it went public. The company dropped more than a quarter of its value in one trading session, following lighter-than-expected results as once-stuck-inside kids were finding other ways to spend their time as pandemic restrictions eased.
Roblox went public through a direct listing in March 2021, and was a darling stock as recently as last November, when the company said in an earnings report that a three-day outage over Halloween weekend did not fail to stop October growth But, as restrictions eased, children put down their tablets and ran outside to play as evidenced in Roblox’s results in February.
Of the 23 analysts who cover Roblox, 12 have buy-grade ratings, eight have hold ratings, and three have sell-grade ratings, with an average target price of $45.44. Back in June 2021, all eight analysts covering Roblox had buy-grade ratings, which it enjoyed for six quarters, according to FactSet data.
-Wallace Witkowski
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
09-12-22 1836ET
Copyright (c) 2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Amazon Products For Corgi Lovers Inspired By The Queens Favorite Breed 22 Words
Amazon Products For Corgi Lovers, Inspired By The Queen’s Favorite Breed – 22 Words https://collincountynewsonline.com/amazon-products-for-corgi-lovers-inspired-by-the-queens-favorite-breed-22-words/
Corgis are the cutest, and no one was a bigger fan of this adorable breed than Queen Elizabeth II. The late monarch owned no less than 30 in her lifetime! Her love for these adorable little cattle dogs popularized corgis around the world and inspired tons of irresistible merchandise. In fact, you can thank her for that corgi sweater you’re wearing right now!
If you love corgis as much as the Queen did, you’ve come to the right place. I’ve listed out my favorite corgi merch from Amazon; it includes everything from corgi oven mitts to themed desk decor. Now you can surround yourself in adorable floofiness at all times! Enjoy!
You will love our editor’s curated product picks! FYI: We are an Amazon affiliate partner and may get a share of the sale of your purchase (at no cost to you).
It Doesn’t Get Any Cuter Than Tiny Succulents in Little Corgi Pots
The rest of us may not have expansive royal gardens, but we are plant enthusiasts! These matching planters are perfect for a quirky windowsill display, desk decoration or even a coffee table centerpiece if you’re feeling inspired.
Get Cozy on the Couch with This Corgi Pillow
Look at this adorable corgi pillow! I’m in love! I’ve been dreaming of getting a corgi since I first took my cousin’s dog on a walk; it’s been almost 10 years and I’m still obsessed with the breed. Unfortunately, my life is still a little too crazy to take on a new pet right now, so I’ve decided to cope by buying this pillow. It keeps my pet-owning dreams alive!
The Crazy Corgi Lady Makeup Bag You Never Knew You Needed
First of all, I want to know who ISN’T corgi crazy? Like who out there looks at a corgi and is just like, “Meh, I feel nothing”? How could that cute little wiggle butt not instantly melt your heart? If you’re in the market for a new makeup bag, this one won’t disappoint. It’s water resistant, scratch resistant and it’s made with a high quality canvas material, so it’s cute and sturdy!
A Funny Corgi Mug for Your WFH Desk
Your new remote setup isn’t complete without a desk mug. Regardless of your decor style, it’s going to look great and make you smile every day. It’s completely microwave and dishwasher safe too, so you don’t have to worry about the cute pattern wearing off.
This Corgi Handbag Would Have Made Her Chuckle
The Queen never went anywhere without her hat or handbag. She would have LOVED a corgi handbag, if the royal decorum had allowed her such an accessory. If you need a new puppy-themed bag, this one is definitely the cutest one I’ve seen on Amazon.
Get Some Corgi Crew Socks for Winter Time
These are so cute! They’re perfect for cozying up next to the fireplace this holiday season. Did you know the queen first knew she wanted a corgi when she was a child? According to BBC, she owned over 30 corgis in her lifetime! Next time your husband gets mad at you for bringing home a cute puppy, tell him he should be thankful you didn’t bring back as many as the Queen did!
Dog Lovers, You’re Going to Want This Ice Mold
I don’t know about you, but this product is just what I need to ride out the beginning of fall heat waves.
Buyer Matthew Diep confirmed it’s exactly what you’re looking for in an ice mold: “I have a collection of various ice cube molds and had to get this one because I have a pet corgi (Bonnie). I like this tray a lot because it’s firm enough to fill it with water and handle it with one hand – so no floppy water spillage or any of that nonsense. The cubes come out of the tray easily and the mold produces a well-contoured cube. The cubes fit in various containers that I have (Yetis and Hydroflask for the most part). I tried it with a room temperature scotch and found that the ice cube stayed frozen for longer than I anticipated, which was nice. I like it and feel like it’s going to get a lot of use this summer.”
Your Home Office Needs This Corgi Pencil Holder
IKEA may have cheap furniture, but they really don’t compete when it comes to desk decor. Amazon is loaded with cool niche gadgets like this hilarious pencil holder! If you can’t get enough of these furry babies, add this accessory to your desk for an extra dose of serotonin every day!
You Know She Would Secretly Want a Pair of These Corgi Slippers
Underneath the perfect smile and strict sense of decorum, I’m sure the Queen kicked back in her comfies like the rest of us before bed. She may not have owned a pair of slipper exactly like this, but you can bet that chilly British weather had her in some kind of cozy footwear. Personally, I like to imagine she had a secret pair of corgi slippers; it makes me smile.
Take Your Corgi Obsession on the Road with This Travel Mug
This mug is a great conversation starter at work, ideal for your new office! It’s guaranteed to grab the attention of all pet lovers (myself included). Take the opportunity to network and maybe set up a fun play date for your corgi! As for the specs, this mug won’t let you down: its double-walled vacuum insulation ensures your coffee will stay fresh for hours.
A Doormat Made for Dog Lovers
Your pup is your best friend, and you’re going to make sure the world (or at least your neighbor) knows it. Before anyone even enters the house, they’ll be able to clearly tell you’re a dog person. I have to admit, that’s also a great way to warn those of us who are dog-shy what to expect. All in all, it’s a great find for anyone who wants a fun new doormat.
Make Corgi-Shaped Treats with These Cookie Cutters
Tea and biscuits is the most British tradition ever – why not add a few corgis into the mix? Next time you host a brunch, try using these to cut out cute little sandwiches! The best part is that these are made with pure copper, so they’re a little bit flexible and, at the same time, very durable.
Gift These Socks to the Corgi Lover in Your Life
The best ones here are clearly the Corgis in London socks. The little dog with the crown absolutely sends me. You can also get your corgi fix with these other memorable patterns: corgis on pizza, corgis on bacon, corgis on kayaks and even corgis in shark costumes.
This British Corgi Towel is Coming Home with Me
Look at this distinguished gentleman. He would fit right in with the Royal Family! He’s even got the little flag bandana. At first I thought this was a kitchen towel, but apparently it’s designed to absorb water, making it more of a sports towel. The colors are super bright, but you can still machine wash it, which I think is nice for such a novelty item.
A Corgi Origami Necklace for On-the-Go
Buyers are raving about this unique piece of jewelry! Reviewer Brittanica says the rose gold coloring is especially useful for outfit planning: “I got the rose gold option, and it matches my outfits both silver and gold jewelry so it really branches out as far as what it can pair with. My corgi, Flynn, seems to love that he’s represented while I’m out of the house, as he had to pop in the picture for the review here. Enjoy, it’s a very cute purchase and I get sweet compliments on it.” Flynn sounds like quite the charmer!
This Corgi Ornament Belongs on Your Christmas Tree
Your pet themed Christmas tree absolutely needs this ornament. How could you say no to that face? Buyer G. Hokanson can confirm it makes the perfect gift for animal lovers: “If you have, or have friends who have corgis, you’ll (and they) will be very happy with this ornament.” Time to add this to my Christmas shopping list!
Buy This Plushie, Quick, Before You Adopt Another Puppy!
Real talk: kittens are my weakness, and I have to ACTIVELY stop myself from just going out and adopting one. As tempting as bringing home a new family member may be, there are plenty of reasons why one more animal might not be the best idea right now. Instead of putting yourself in that position, buy this adorable plushie instead! As you can see from the picture, he’s definitely very snuggleable. This one will definitely be a hit with the grandkids!
No Corgi Shrine is Complete without a Statue
The nice thing about knick-knacks is that you can pretty much use them anywhere: in the bathroom, the kitchen, on a desk or in your living room. Personally, I think this little guy belongs right next to a tea and coffee station, but I could also see him greeting guests from the front window.
Break out This Puppy Puzzle When the Nasty Winter Storms Arrive
Honestly, there’s nothing more relaxing than instrumental music, some tea and a nice puzzle on a rainy afternoon. It’s a great way to unplug for a little while and occupy your time, especially when it’s too wet to go out on your day off. Grab your furry best friend and enjoy some quality time!
Kick Back and Relax with This Corgi Wine Glass
Nothing says “I’m a dog mom” more than this glass! If you’re looking to replace your old wine glasses with something more fun, these definitely have all the personality you want without going over the top. The pattern is sand-etched, so it’s safe to use in the dishwasher too.
A Corgi Oven Mitt? I MUST HAVE!
This oven mitt is so cute, I could cry! He’s even got little heart glasses on. If you love to bake for the holidays as much as I do, grab these now! You can show them off every time your friends and family come over for freshly baked pumpkin bread.
This Corgi Mug is Perfect for Your Boss
I don’t think I’ve ever had a boss who didn’t own a dog, seriously. If you’re struggling over what to get your new manager for this year’s Secret Santa, this mug is a safe bet. Especially if it’s white elephant, you know people will fight over this.
Crypto Custody Specialist Anchorage Digital Offers Japanese Yen Stablecoin Yahoo Finance
Crypto Custody Specialist Anchorage Digital Offers Japanese Yen Stablecoin – Yahoo Finance https://collincountynewsonline.com/crypto-custody-specialist-anchorage-digital-offers-japanese-yen-stablecoin-yahoo-finance/
Regulated cryptocurrency custody platform Anchorage Digital is supporting a Japanese yen (JPY) stablecoin, adding to its digital U.S. dollar and euro custodial offerings and fostering fintech use cases from payments to payroll in Japan.
Anchorage custody of the GYEN stablecoin results from a partnership with GMO-Z.com Trust Company, a subsidiary of Japanese financial services and internet conglomerate GMO Internet Group. The JPY stablecoin is approved by the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) and is 1:1 backed with assets held at FDIC insured banks, the companies said Tuesday.
Stablecoins such as USDT and USDC have become cornerstones of crypto and the catalysts for new trading paradigms such as decentralized finance (DeFi). But non-crypto natives are now realizing the wider possibilities of stablecoins, and the expansion of use cases is particularly visible when it comes to offering regulated stablecoins in a local currency such as the Japanese yen, according to Anchorage co-founder Diogo Mónica.
“Think about a ride hailing firm or food delivery company, or payroll or remittances. This is about instant availability of funds and the velocity of money in society,” Mónica said in an interview with CoinDesk. “Crypto is just implementation detail. It’s just a way that we built on the internet that has caused this to be so cheap.”
As far as the current climate is concerned, events like the collapse of terraUSD (UST) and sister coin LUNA, followed by several high-profile crypto firms going into bankruptcy have led to a flight to safety, Mónica added.
“Conversations that weren’t really being had last year around whether crypto is part of bankruptcy procedures, are assets commingled etc. were not really asked in 2021,” he said. “These types of questions are now asked every week in 2022. We have the clearest answers because we are a regulated federal bank.”
Read more: Anchorage Digital to Introduce Ether Staking for Institutions as Move to PoS Approaches
