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Understanding The Difference Between Web3 And Metaverse | E27 – E27 https://collincountynewsonline.com/understanding-the-difference-between-web3-and-metaverse-e27-e27/ Notes Success! Note is successfully saved. Error! Note is not saved.

This Little Gadget Lets You Play Gameboy Cartridges On A Steam Deck – Kotaku Australia https://collincountynewsonline.com/this-little-gadget-lets-you-play-gameboy-cartridges-on-a-steam-deck-kotaku-australia/ If you’ve got a bunch of Gameboy and Gameboy Advance cartridges lying around and a Steam Deck (I’m jealous), you might be in luck if you’re looking to bring the two together. Epilogue is a tech company that, back in 2021, released a nifty little gadget called the GB Operator, which when connected to a computer can run any Gameboy, Gameboy Colour and Gameboy Advance game through their own homebrew emulator. The really neat thing is that while you can play the game through the emulator, you can also save your progress and have that progress stay on the cartridge meaning that if you decide to go back to an official console, you won’t lose any progress. The Epilogue GB Operator and Studio can also be used to easily write homebrew games onto physical cartridges too, meaning it’s a good way for indie developers dabbling in demakes and retro-style games to simply make physical copies of them. This gadget was released in 2021, so why the hell am I talking about it now? WELL! Epilogue themselves posted an update on their Twitter announcing that after much testing, the GB Operator and Operator app are “fully compatible with Steam OS” with Gameboy games able to run “impeccably” on the Steam Deck. It’s official – enjoy your childhood cartridges, now on SteamDeck! Today we validated at the office that GB Operator and the Operator app are fully compatible with Steam OS and run impeccably on SteamDeck. This makes the experience fun and portable, we’re happy to support it pic.twitter.com/Ik4Pc6xPny — Epilogue (@meet_epilogue) October 13, 2022 So get this, folks: those little games that you could play as a kid on the go? You can now play them on the go again. But this time? It’s on something bigger and bustier. While there is something inherently funny about making something that was already portable once again portable but with a different flavour, this is still pretty neat. While still portable like they literally always were, your old Gameboy games can also now be played on a reasonably larger screen thanks to the GB Operator. The Steam Deck’s emulation capabilities continue to expand here, which is very cool to see. From this to the ability to recreate the experience of playing WiiU and 3DS in probably the most accurate way to date, it’s clear that the Steam Deck is becoming the most flexible console out there.

Mastercard Focusing On 5 Key Areas To Turn Crypto Into ‘an Everyday Way To Pay’ – Featured Bitcoin News – Bitcoin News https://collincountynewsonline.com/mastercard-focusing-on-5-key-areas-to-turn-crypto-into-an-everyday-way-to-pay-featured-bitcoin-news-bitcoin-news/ Mastercard has outlined five key crypto areas it is working on in order to “turn cryptocurrencies into an everyday way to pay.” A Mastercard executive opined: “Someday soon, the ability to own and spend a digital currency could be as seamless as making a contactless card payment.” Mastercard Focusing on 5 Major Areas Covering Crypto, Metaverse, and NFTs Mastercard highlighted on Wednesday five different areas it is working on in order to “turn cryptocurrencies into an everyday way to pay.” Raj Dhamodharan, executive vice president of Digital Asset and Blockchain Products & Digital Partnerships at Mastercard, explained: “Digital assets like cryptocurrencies and central bank digital currencies [CBDCs] have the potential to transform the financial system’s infrastructure.” He added that non-fungible tokens (NFTs), blockchain gaming, and metaverse experiences “could change how consumers shop and communicate.” The executive opined: Someday soon, the ability to own and spend a digital currency could be as seamless as making a contactless card payment. Dhamodharan proceeded to outline five key areas that Mastercard is working on to make this happen. The first area is crypto cards. He detailed that Mastercard already announced dozens of new crypto card programs globally this year. For example, in the U.S., the payments giant worked with Gemini on a credit card that pays rewards in cryptocurrencies. In Argentina, the company launched a prepaid card with Binance. In Europe, Mastercard recently announced the world’s first physical debit card that can be customized to include a customer’s NFT avatar. The second area is services for crypto. Noting that “Mastercard is a provider of cybersecurity, digital ID, advisory and open banking services to tens of thousands of financial institutions,” Dhamodharan said the company is going to use the same tools “to provide more support to crypto players and issuers.” Mastercard has expanded its consulting work to include a dedicated crypto practice and it completed the purchase of Ciphertrace last year. The company will soon launch a new crypto monitoring product called Crypto Secure. The third area is payments. “We’ve partnered with a handful of top-tier crypto-focused companies — including Paxos, Circle, Evolve and Uphold — to develop ways for people to quickly convert their crypto to fiat to make payments. This work will support current and future crypto card partnerships,” the executive detailed. Noting that the fourth area focuses on crypto on the Mastercard networks, Dhamodharan emphasized: An important way to expand choice for people is to bring certain Mastercard-approved digital assets onto our networks, a plan we announced last year that continues to move forward. The fifth area concerns the metaverse and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Mastercard is working to grow its partnerships to support NFTs and the metaverse, Dhamodharan explained. For example, Coinbase users can now pay for NFTs with Mastercard. In conclusion, the Mastercard executive noted that the payments giant already operates “a trusted global network that enables payments with a single tap or click.” He added, “That’s what the crypto economy needs to support the next million users — or the next billion,” elaborating: We’re excited to prioritize these core areas to give people more access to the crypto ecosystem and help it keep innovating and growing. What do you think about the five key areas Mastercard is engaged in to “turn cryptocurrencies into an everyday way to pay”? 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.

U.S. Lawmakers Made Urgent Pleas For Help During Jan. 6 Riot, Video Shows – Reuters https://collincountynewsonline.com/u-s-lawmakers-made-urgent-pleas-for-help-during-jan-6-riot-video-shows-reuters/ WASHINGTON, Oct 13 (Reuters) – U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and other top lawmakers urgently dialed military officials and White House staff seeking help during the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol by Donald Trump supporters, video shown on Thursday revealed. At what is likely its last hearing on the deadly attack, the House of Representatives Select Committee aired the previously unseen video that showed the fear gripping the Capitol as rioters stormed the building. Video showed Pelosi and Schumer, top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell, and Republican Senator John Thune calling the Department of Defense asking for military backup to help clear the Capitol complex. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Pelosi and Schumer also called acting attorney general Jeffrey Rosen. Rioters were breaking windows and ransacking their offices “and all the rest of that – that’s nothing,” Pelosi said on the call, the footage showed. A mob of supporters of then-U.S. President Donald Trump climb through a window they broke as they storm the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, U.S., January 6, 2021. REUTERS/Leah Millis/File Photo “The concerns we have about personal safety just transcend everything. But the fact is on any given day they’re breaking the law in many different ways. And quite frankly, much of it at the instigation of the president of the United States.” “Why don’t you get the president to tell them to leave the Capitol, Mr. Attorney General, in your law enforcement responsibility?” Schumer said on the call. “A public statement: they should all leave.” The footage also showed Pelosi and top House Democrats being told that members of the House were pulling on gas masks. Upon hearing this, Pelosi silently looked at House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn. “Can you believe it?” she asked, turning to someone off screen. She was also shown talking to Ralph Northam, then governor of Virginia, asking what military aid his state was able to send and whether he was able to send police without permission from the federal government. In the video, she said she planned to call Larry Hogan, governor of Maryland, about sending the National Guard from his state. Maryland and Virginia border Washington, DC. The hearing room fell silent while the footage was being shown. Many of those present – including reporters and congressional staff – were in the Capitol during the Jan. 6 attack. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Reporting by Moira Warburton and Doina Chiacu in Washington; Editing by Scott Malone and Rosalba O’Brien Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Office Time Is Not For Video Calls, Says Tech Boss – BBC https://collincountynewsonline.com/office-time-is-not-for-video-calls-says-tech-boss-bbc/ Image source, Getty Images By Zoe Kleinman Technology editor Businesses should rethink the way staff use their time in offices, says the boss of the messaging platform Slack. With the rise of hybrid working, lots of people now divide their working week between home and going into their workplace. But being in the office should be an opportunity to do things that cannot be done at home, argues Stewart Butterfield, Slack’s chief executive. Sitting at a desk with headphones on is not one of them, he says. Of course the boss of an online messaging platform is not going to go so far as to say staff should leave their laptops at home, but he does say it would “put a strong line in the sand about what the purpose is of getting together”. Slack has headquarters in the US, Canada, Japan, Australia and India. Reflecting on its offices before the pandemic, Mr Butterfield says: “The 80% of the floor space that we dedicated to kind of factory-farm, battery-chicken housing for people to use their desks all by themselves and listen to their headphones, and not talk to anyone else… was a bit of a waste.” A comfortable environment Image source, Getty Images Ongoing renovations are gearing Slack workspace more towards that of a social club, he says, because he wants people to come to work to collaborate and build relationships face-to-face. “The best thing we can do is create a comfortable environment for people to come together and actually enjoy themselves,” he says. He accepts that some people will choose to work full time in the office because they either cannot or do not want to work from home, and also thinks that young people starting their careers generally prefer to be in the office with their peers. “It’s hard to imagine starting your career fresh out of university, and not going to the office, and not being able to meet all these people in person,” he says. “But I think the the majority of knowledge workers, over time, will settle into some sort of pattern of regular intervals of getting together.” ‘Should have been an email’ Mr Butterfield is really not a big fan of meetings. He champions Amazon’s idea, introduced by Jeff Bezos, where each attendee reads a six-page memo at the start of a meeting as a briefing note, rather than sitting through PowerPoint presentations. “There probably are 20% or 30% (of meetings) that don’t actually have to be meetings, that would be more effective with written communication,” he says, in a nod to the internet meme “this meeting should have been an email”. He also backs what he calls “asynchronous work” – minimising the need to share information in real time. “So for example, people going around the room and giving their status update, if you can do that asynchronously, and I can record mine at 08:17, and then listen to yours at 09:53 or whatever – that is itself worth a lot,” he says. “I think the place for most teams to invest in is how they do asynchronous work, because we’re humans.”

Oath Keepers Trial Testimony Covers Wrestling, Cell Towers – Law & Crime https://collincountynewsonline.com/oath-keepers-trial-testimony-covers-wrestling-cell-towers-law-crime/ Left-Right: Stewart Rhodes, Jessica Watkins, Thomas Caldwell, Kenneth Harrelson, Kelly Meggs. (Image of Rhodes via the Collin County, Texas Jail; other images via FBI court filings.) Deploying cell-phone tower location data, federal prosecutors on Thursday established that high-ranking members of the Oath Keepers converged at the Virginia hotel identified as the base of their so-called “Quick Reaction Force.” The revelation occurred on the day that proceedings of the Jan. 6 Committee indicated that the Secret Service was aware of the so-called QRF, a band of Oath Keepers prosecutors say stood on standby if needed to ferry firearms into Washington, D.C. In a day of cross-examination and testimony that swung from the absurd to the mundane, a lawyer for the Florida head of the Oath Keepers militia group sought to mitigate potentially damaging messages and social media posts from his client in the days and weeks leading up to Jan. 6, while prosecutors presented highly technical evidence of the defendants’ locations around that same time. “You’re Aware That the WWE Is Fake?” Following a morning of testimony from FBI Special Agent Kelsey Harris that included several texts from defendant Kelly Meggs appearing to show Meggs recruiting potential members and preparing them for a potentially violent clash on Jan. 6, Meggs’ lawyer Stanley Woodward sought to put a different spin on what the jury had seen. Woodward brought up an “unconventional warfare” training Meggs allegedly attended in November of 2020, linking it back to Harris’ testimony on Wednesday about efforts by Meggs and others to use VPN, encryption technology, and other tactics — such as changing their user names in GoToMeeting calls and Signal chats — to mask their identities. Harris testified that Meggs and others started to implement such changes in November, and Woodward’s questions suggested that it was a tactic Meggs learned from this training. Woodward also recalled testimony from Harris about a Jan. 1, 2021 message from Meggs to the DC OP Jan. 6 21 Signal chat: “I’ve [sic] bringing an OK flag on a nice thick piece of wood.” That statement was followed by an emoji of a tree stump. “That will be enough for me,” Meggs wrote in the same thread. “Hacksaw Jim Dugan [sic] style.” Harris had testified that Jim Duggan was a one-time professional wrestler with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) who whose weapons of choice were an American flag and a plank of wood. “You’re aware that the WWE is fake?” Woodward asked Harris on Thursday. “I think we’re all aware that no one is actually harmed [during WWE matches],” the agent replied. “He’s not actually hurting people with this 2×4?” Woodward asked. “No, but he’s acting as if he’s hurting people,” Harris responded. “He’s pretending?” Woodward asked, driving the point home. “Yes,” Harris responded. Woodward then asked Harris to identify Meggs in a picture taken in the area near the Capitol on Jan. 6, and asks the agent if Meggs was carrying a 2×4 at the time. Harris testified that he was not. Woodward also recalled testimony from Harris earlier in the day about a Dec. 23, 2020 Facebook comment from Meggs in response to a public Facebook post: a meme of a guillotine fashioned as a Home Depot advertisement, and a suggestion that one could spend their $600 Covid-related stimulus at Home Depot to buy the components to build the decapitation device. Woodward asked Harris if the meme is actually describing how to build a guillotine. Harris responded that it does show all the device’s components. “The Best Litigators Are Artists. But the Best Artists Know the Science Perfectly.” Testimony from another government witness, FBI Special Agent Jennifer Banks, who specializes in cell phone location tracking. After establishing Banks’ expertise, which she obtained through special training and maintains through annual classes, prosecutor Louis Manzo had Banks walk the jury through a series of maps that tracked the location of defendants’ cell phones. One map showed Rhodes’ phone as it appeared to move eastward from Texas to Washington in the days ahead of Jan. 6. Another map showed the phone of co-defendant Ed Vallejo, who is set to be tried in November, along a similar route. Other maps appeared to show several of the Oath Keepers defendants and associates in a key location: the Comfort Inn in Arlington, Virginia, where the defendants are alleged to have staged a “Quick Reaction Force” of weapons ready to be brought to the Capitol. The highly technical and fairly dry evidence appeared to land a key blow for prosecutors: placing the so-called QRF in the area of the hotel where the government says Oath Keepers members traveled, armed, to potentially ferry firearms across the Potomac at Trump’s request. Trump never called them, and the plan never came to pass. But the government, in entering the technical evidence, established a record for an allegation that remains thus far undisputed. Defense attorneys have not, so far, challenged whether their clients were in Washington on Jan. 6, but rather why they were there — and whether what they did was illegal. The presentation of such information — while undeniably necessary — presents a challenge to prosecutors looking to keep a jury’s interest. Former federal prosecutor Michael Harwin called the dilemma an “age old question” that prosecutors face. “Nearly every trial has aspects of it that are tedious and boring,” said Harwin, who is not connected to the case. “But you need to get that evidence in to prove the elements of the offense.” Harwin said that prosecutors are more likely to be effective if they remind the jury of how the evidence is linked to their theory of the case. “The best litigators do a great job eliciting testimony in a way that ties it directly into the fabric of the broader story that they’re telling,” Harwin told Law&Crime. “How do they do it when the details become tedious? Sometimes with personality, humor, anything that can break up the tedium and monotony. Sometimes it’s ok to let your scientific and technical evidence blend into the background as if it’s beyond dispute.” “Trial practice is as much of an art as it is a science,” Harwin added. “The best litigators are artists. But the best artists know the science perfectly.” [Image of Rhodes via Collin County (Tex.) Jail. Images of Watkins, Harrelson, Caldwell, and Meggs via FBI court filings.] Have a tip we should know? [email protected]

Sales Of Resorts And Land Vacations Soaring At Dream Vacations And Cruise One Agencies – Travel Weekly https://collincountynewsonline.com/sales-of-resorts-and-land-vacations-soaring-at-dream-vacations-and-cruise-one-agencies-travel-weekly/ Land and resort sales are booming for Dream Vacations and CruiseOne agencies, up more than 50% this year compared with 2019, the franchisor said. Dream Vacations and CruiseOne said resort sales are surpassing prepandemic levels, while its land business in general continues to grow. It attributed the growth to marketing programs and support offered to franchisees, including a “land brochure,” social media assets and more. The franchisor has been putting an increased emphasis on land vacations in recent years and even introduced the Dream Vacations moniker in 2016 partly because of the segment’s growth among agents. The growth in land and resort sales was announced at the Dream Vacations and CruiseOne Land Summit at the Dreams Onyx in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, which was co-hosted by Apple Leisure Group and AMResorts. The four-day training event drew more than 120 advisors.

Oceanfront Maui Home Listed For $35M – Pacific Business News – The Business Journals https://collincountynewsonline.com/oceanfront-maui-home-listed-for-35m-pacific-business-news-the-business-journals/ Oceanfront Maui home listed for $35M – Pacific Business News  The Business Journals

The Gateway Family YMCA Celebrates National Senior Health & Fitness Day – TAPinto.net https://collincountynewsonline.com/the-gateway-family-ymca-celebrates-national-senior-health-fitness-day-tapinto-net-2/ The Gateway Family YMCA Celebrates National Senior Health & Fitness Day  TAPinto.net

Bears Vs. Commanders Live Score, Updates, Highlights From NFL ‘Thursday Night Football’ Game – Sporting News https://collincountynewsonline.com/bears-vs-commanders-live-score-updates-highlights-from-nfl-thursday-night-football-game-sporting-news/ “Thursday Night Football” has been something of a poisoned chalice the past few weeks. The crown jewel of Amazon Prime’s sports coverage has been defined by duds such as last week’s snoozer between the Colts and Broncos. This week’s matchup pits yet another pair of underwhelming sides. Maybe the fans will be treated to a better contest under the bright lights of Soldier Field. The latest edition of “TNF” sees the Commanders traveling to Chicago to take on the Bears. It will be a meeting of two of the league’s more polarizing quarterbacks. In one corner is Carson Wentz, Washington’s latest signal-caller. He has received backhanded compliments from coach Ron Rivera after a series of less-than-stellar showings in his first five games with the team. MORE: Why Commanders have incentive to bench Wentz if team continues to struggle In the other corner is the talented, yet still developing, Justin Fields. Fields impressed in his last outing, completing over 70 percent of his passes in a 29-22 loss to the Vikings. The No. 11 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft has had an up-and-down sophomore campaign. He will look to turn in another solid showing against a defense that has teetered on awful for much of the year. MORE: Why the Bears are wearing ‘highlighter’ orange helmets While this game isn’t a clash of titans, it should offer an indication of the where the teams are headed. Maybe that will enough to help it surpass last week’s field goal-fest. NFL WEEK 6 PICKS: Iyer | Bender The Sporting News is tracking live updates and highlights from Thursday night’s game. Follow along for the results as they happen: Bears vs. Commanders score   1 2 3 4 F Bears 0 – – – – Commanders 0 – – – – Bears vs. Commanders live updates, highlights from ‘Thursday Night Football’ (All times Eastern) 9:05 p.m.: Fields went for it all on the outside post route, but couldn’t connect with Mooney. On further inspection, it looks like he had a wide out open on the crossing pattern that could’ve gotten the Bears an easy first down. Growing pains for the sophomore. Ball is headed back to Washington via punt. 9:03 p.m.: Fields with another pearl of a throw, this time to Mooney. He’s made some very nice throws at different points today. Just hasn’t quite been able to string it all together for a full drive. Solid start for the youngster, though, disregarding the early pick. 8:59 p.m.: And that’s going to be another punt by the Commanders. Just not much going right for either side’s offense through the game’s first 20 minutes or so. 8:57 p.m.: Terry McLaurin get himself into the action, snagging a dart from Wentz for a first down. That’s more like it for Scary Terry. 8:53 p.m.: TURNOVER ON DOWNS! Herbert stuffed on the run play on fourth down, meaning that’s the second straight red zone drive that’s ended in zero points for the Bears. Yuck. 8:52 p.m.: Fields just misses tight end Ryan Griffin on the touch pass. He’ll want that on back, too. 8:49 p.m.: Huge gain by Khalil Herbert! The diminutive tailback takes the ball around the end, cuts back to the right, darts downs the sideline, and takes the ball just outside the goal line. 62-yard gain on the play, complete with a solid blocking effort from Fields at the end of the play. What a run! — Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) October 14, 2022 8:47 p.m.: Wentz goes down! Roquan Smith brings Washington’s QB down with relative ease! Time for another Commanders’ punt. Yay! End of first quarter 8:43 p.m.: Brian Robinson’s five-yard scamper brings the quarter to a close. Not much to write about so far. Bears 0, Commanders 0 8:42 p.m.: Great throw by Wentz, who slipped a pass right over the secondary into the outstretched grasp of Cole Turner. That’s a first down. 8:37 p.m.: INTERCEPTION! Fields throws it right into a defender’s helmet, before it finds the big mits of Jonathan Allen. He’ll definitely want that one back. — Washington Commanders (@Commanders) October 14, 2022 8:36 p.m.: Velus Jones Jr. with an end around to get the Bears to the doorstep of the end zone. Let’s see if Chicago can punch it in. 8:34 p.m.: Mooney got stopped just short of the marker on third down. However, didn’t matter too much after, with Fields sneaking over the line to get the first on the fourth down. Chicago inside the red zone now. 8:32 p.m.: Another laser from Fields, this time to wideout Dante Pettis. That’s another first for Chicago. Solid start from Fields. 8:29 p.m.: Fields with a dot to Cole Kmet for the first down. Took him a little while to read the progression, but got the ball to his tight end in the end. Chicago looks to have something building in the pass game early when Fields can get the ball out of his hands. 8:26 p.m.: Wentz goes down after a sack! That’s a three-and-out for the Commanders, who punt the ball back to Chicago. 8:25 p.m.: A pair of less-than-stellar run plays sets up third and seven for the Commanders. Let’s see if they can get themselves out of this hole. 8:21 p.m.: Another sack spells an end to Chicago’s first possession. Ball headed back to the Commanders. Lets see if Wentz and Washington have a bit more success. 8:19 p.m.: Fields’ first faux pas of the game: Chicago’s signal-caller holds the ball to long and takes a sack, losing nine yards in the process. He’s got to be a little more incisive with his passing there. 8:18 p.m.: Another successful play for Fields and the Bears. Fields connects with Darnell Mooney on a curl to move the chains for a first down. 8:17 p.m.: First play is a good one for Fields. Gets out the pocket and takes it down the left sideline for eight yards. Could be a long day for the Commanders’ defense. 8:16 p.m.: The ball is kicked into the end zone. Justin Fields is headed on the field to lead the Bears out. 8:09 p.m.: Both teams are headed onto the field! Carson Wentz vs. Justin Fields under the bright lights. We’ll have to see if it lives up to the hype! What channel is Bears vs. Commanders on tonight? TV channel (Chicago): Fox 32 (WFLD) TV channel (Washington): Fox 5 (WTTG) Live national stream: Amazon Prime | DAZN (Canada) Thursday’s game will be streamed nationally on Amazon Prime. Al Michaels will handle play-by-play duties while Kirk Herbstreit will offer analysis from the booth. Kaylee Hartung will report from the sideline. The game will be broadcast locally on WFLD (channel 32) in Chicago and WTTG (channel 5) in Washington. Viewers in Canada can watch via DAZN, which carries every NFL game.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s UFC Card Set The Stage For Metaverse VR Events – Bloody Elbow https://collincountynewsonline.com/facebook-ceo-mark-zuckerbergs-ufc-card-set-the-stage-for-metaverse-vr-events-bloody-elbow/ The other shoe has finally dropped in the mystery of just what the hell the UFC was thinking when they closed the doors of their Apex facility to media and the public for UFC Fight Night: Dern vs. Yan earlier this October. The basic motivations behind the decision became clear on the night of the event itself, when—despite heavy denials in the days prior—Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was spotted sitting cageside as one of a very select few people in attendance. Whether one of the world’s richest men had, in fact, rented out the whole event like a it was a laser-tag birthday party or the UFC had simply decided to gift him with sole occupancy was purely pedantic. Whatever the case, the Endeavor-owned fight promotion had given itself over to one high profile guest. Now we know why. The UFC announced on Thursday, October 13th, that they have officially partnered with Zuckerberg’s Meta company to deliver on-demand VR MMA events. In the near future fans will be able to access VR feeds of MMA cards on the Fight Pass platform (h/t MMA Fighting). “We are excited to offer an unprecedented level of engagement for Fight Pass subscribers and MMA fans around the world by producing a live MMA event in virtual reality,” Crowley Sullivan, Fight Pass vice president and general manager is quoted as saying. “With Meta providing the VR platform and YBVR lending their production expertise, we’re confident this will be a great experience for fight fans.” The first event to be hosted via this new platform will be LFA 144: Gafurov vs. Silva. Which can be accessed through the Meta Horizon Worlds app. That card takes place this Friday, October 14th, in Sioux Falls, SD. Fans who sign up for the virtual reality feed will apparently get access to a 180 degree panorama view of the fight fight card, and the ability to see and chat with other VR fans live. No word yet on what pricing will look like for future VR events. The move has apparently been a long-term goal of Dana White’s. As far back as February, the UFC President was teasing his hopes for bringing the UFC to virtual reality sometime in the near future. “We’re looking to do a fight in the Metaverse,” White enthused. “We’ve been working on it for a while. It’ll be a live fight, an actual fight that takes place inside the metaverse.” “It’d be kids at home, you put on your (goggles) and you can (get) up and go walk around. We’re still working it out, but yeah, it’ll be soon. We’ll be doing a fight in the metaverse. It’ll be a real fight.”

10 Funniest Gadgets From The Adam West Batman Show – CBR – Comic Book Resources https://collincountynewsonline.com/10-funniest-gadgets-from-the-adam-west-batman-show-cbr-comic-book-resources/ Batman (1966) holds a strange place in popular culture, remembered (sometimes fondly) for its campy tone, farcical stories, and goofy action. Despite the many iconic elements, phrases, and action shots of the show remaining a staple of pop culture and the subject of many jokes, many people don’t remember that this was the point. Yes, Batman was silly, but it was never meant to be taken seriously. The show is a comedy disguised as an action superhero series, and no element of the show makes that clearer than the many weird gadgets Adam West and Burt Ward’s Batman and Robin used. From shields, to lasers, to shark-repellent spray, every gadget featured Batman’s signature logo and motif. 10/10 Batman’s Portable Laser Gun Was For All Purposes Batman’s Laser Gun (one of the few items in his toolkit without a “Bat” prefix) is one of his most useful gadgets. In the pilot episode alone, he uses it no less than three times, from lighting a fuse, to cutting through steel bars on a window, to melting the firing pin of a revolver. The laser gun became the ace up Batman’s sleeve, and its ridiculous usability was indicative of the show’s comedic style. What’s even more surprising than a 1960s Batman having a portable, lightweight, high-powered laser is the fact that, unlike some of Batman’s older gadgets, the laser gun has remained a staple of Batman’s inventory. Although it isn’t as portrayed as outlandishly, Batman still keeps laser-based tools, especially laser cutters, in his utility belt to this day. 9/10 The Anti-Hypnotic Bat Reflector Is Perfectly In Line With The Show’s Tone This gadget is pure Silver Age nonsense, and the show takes this ridiculous deus ex machina and runs with it. Why does Batman have a mirror on his person specifically designed to counter the Mad Hatter? Because why not! Batman’s high-tech mirror demonstrates the show’s angle on the old “prep time” argument. The idea that Batman could defeat anyone with enough prep time remains true here, but instead of a cool, action-packed portrayal, it’s portrayed as silly, even somewhat slapdash, to get laughs. 8/10 Batman Carries A Key To Wayne Manor (Just In Case) Once again, Batman‘s take on the idea of the always-prepared Batman is played for laughs, rather than showing a dangerous and shadowy vigilante. In the classic episode “Joker’s Provokers,” Joker ties Batman to a giant key duplicator, intending to kill him by running him through the machine. However, Joker is foiled when Batman throws his spare key into the machine, buying him time to escape. Adam West’s Batman truly is prepared for everything, just like the comics’ Batman, but his preparations also include simply carrying a spare key in case he gets locked out of his mansion. In a series where the absurd is often presented as mundane, the mundane becomes absurd and increases the hilarity. 7/10 The Bat-Turn Lever Made For One Of The Shows Most Iconic Shots What with Batman and Robin using an atomic-powered car with a rocket engine, a simple emergency break wouldn’t be enough to pull off high-speed turns. That’s where the Emergency-Bat-Turn-Lever comes into play. First, it releases parachutes to help slow the car before braking and allowing for a full 180-degree turn. While it does, in a way, make sense that West’s sleek and powerful Batmobile would need a special way to turn, Batman ’66 gave it its own unique flavor. The over-the-top execution makes for a combination of a great action scene, and laugh-out-loud ridiculousness. 6/10 Batman Used Bat-Acillin For Headaches And Bullet Wounds The modern Batman typically fixes his injuries on the fly with futuristic first-aid equipment or endures long enough to make it back to the Batcave, where Alfred can stitch him up. Adam West’s Batman, however, had a much better way to handle any combat injuries: Bat-Acillin Bat-Acillin makes video game health packs blush, a simple lozenge that allows whoever takes it to instantly recover from any sickness or wound. In the Western-inspired episode “It’s How You Play The Game,” Robin is shot in the heel, and Batman gives him some Bat-Acillin. In the very next scene, Robin is up and about, jumping and clicking his heels as if it never happened. It’s absolutely ludicrous, but 100% fits in Batman‘s world. 5/10 The Bat-Ray Brought Any High-Speed Chase To A Close Batman ’66 sure did love its car chases, and the Bat-Ray was Batman’s one-stop shop for ending them. Since Batman is strictly a non-lethal hero, he didn’t deploy any Mad Max or Fast and Furious tricks to get the upper hand. Batman used his Bat-Ray, a sort of ion/emp laser beam that disabled the villain’s vehicle. How does this work without disabling the Batmobile, and why does it shoot out of the headlights of all things? In perfect Batman ’66 fashion, the series never bothers to explain how it works; it just shows off its flashy toy. The fact that its very first use results in an explosive crash really demonstrates the mix of silliness and awesome action that the series is famous for. 4/10 The Batmobile’s Anti-Theft Activator Is Goofy In All The Right Ways Today, Batman uses everything from biometric scanners to an electric field to protect the Batmobile from theft, but that wasn’t so easy with an open-top Batmobile back in 1966. Instead, in the very first episode, when the Riddler tries to steal the Batmobile, Batman’s theft prevention methods are put on full display. Robin disguises the anti-theft activator as the ignition, so when Riddler attempts to drive away with his prize, he instead sets off fireworks. Batman’s ingenious theft protection is to set off fireworks to allow anyone to track a stolen Batmobile. It’s ridiculous, but it’s funny in just the right way, and while it may be silly, it was effective, forcing Riddler to abandon his attempts. 3/10 Batman And Robin’s Bat-Shields Defy All Logic Since Batman doesn’t use guns, he has to take steps to nullify the advantages guns give his opponents. Sometimes, he uses his Batarangs to knock them away, smoke bombs to block enemies’ sights, or (in the Arkham series) he disables them with advanced tech, but in Batman ’66, it got pretty silly, even by the silly standards of the show. Batman and Robin used portable shields made of bulletproof glass that Batman kept in his utility belt. How, exactly, did Batman break the laws of physics, and not the glass, to store a collapsible shield in his belt? No idea, but watching it makes for a great comedic moment. 2/10 Batman And Robin’s Bat-Poles Were The First Sign Of The Silliness In the pilot episode, before Batman and Robin even appeared in their costumes, one of the very first signs of the behavior of the Dynamic Duo was the Bat-Poles, and they made it crystal clear just how campy of a show the audience was in for. The Bat-Poles are, inexplicably and hilariously, clearly labeled as the “Bat-Poles” that lead into the Batcave, and are also marked specifically for Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson. So, if anyone (such as Aunt Harriet) happened to somehow accidentally open the secret entrance, there would be no possible deniability of its purpose, and that just makes it funnier. Batman and Robin always leave the poles already changed into their costumes, however that works. 1/10 Batman: The Movie’s Bat-Shark-Repellent Is Iconic Batman: The Movie is nonsensical even by the standards of the show. But it is admirable that it manages to distill every aspect of the show into a film, utilizing famous villains from the original series like Joker, Penguin, Riddler, and Catwoman, and famously contains some memorable moments. Really, what would any discussion of Adam West’s Batman be without Bat-Shark-Repellent? The gadget is the epitome of the show’s hilarious take on the over-prepared Batman, and the fact that the shark then falls back into the ocean and explodes is the perfect encapsulation of the series’ over-the-top comedy. Next: 10 Actors You Forgot Were On Batman (1966)

Crypto Market Is ‘The Tail Being Wagged By A Very Sick Dog’: Ethereum Co-Founder Joe Lubin – Decrypt https://collincountynewsonline.com/crypto-market-is-the-tail-being-wagged-by-a-very-sick-dog-ethereum-co-founder-joe-lubin-decrypt/ The years-anticipated Ethereum merge from proof of work to proof of stake finally happened on September 15, and it went off without a hitch. The Ethereum network now uses 99% less energy. The merge went “what seems to be flawlessly,” Joe Lubin, CEO of crypto software giant ConsenSys and a co-founder of Ethereum, told Decrypt in an exclusive video interview last week. “I’ve asked around in a bunch of different contexts for any awareness of anything that broke, and I haven’t heard one thing.” So, why is ETH down a brutal 22% in the month since the merge? Lubin’s answer is that the price action immediately after the merge was a “possibly inevitable ‘sell the news’ kind of activity,” along with some Ethereum miners “unloading their ether inventory as they shut down their rigs.” As for why ETH has continued to drop since then, along with Bitcoin and the rest of the crypto market? It’s the macroeconomy, stupid. “The economy is broken, and it’s likely to remain broken for a while,” Lubin said. “So we remain the tail that is being wagged by a very sick dog: the global macro situation. But our ecosystem and our company are doing quite well, even with with reduced volumes, reduced intensity. I think we’re all enjoying just building.” It’s the favored explanation from almost every founder in the crypto ecosystem right now, as crypto markets remain battered by the same economic headwinds in the U.S. (inflation, Fed interest rates) and globally (war in Ukraine, the hangover of COVID-19) that are weighing on stocks, bonds, and other more established investment vehicles. Solana founder Anatoly Yakovenko points to the same factors—and sees at least another year of the bear market. “Looking at macro stuff, my guess is there’s probably 12 to 18 months more of this brutal, Fed rates going up,” Yakovenko said on the latest episode of Decrypt‘s gm podcast. “But there is an end to it. And just like the last bear market, a lot of teams that built and focused on product-market fit, and really tried to build amazing products—a lot of those succeeded, I think, in a very dramatic way.” FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried put it in similar terms, and maybe the most bluntly, speaking at Anthony Scaramucci’s SALT conference in New York last month: “Everything’s down this year, because dollars are up this year.” Until money gets less expensive, crypto markets are expected to remain in the doldrums. But Lubin and other builders remain as optimistic as ever on the key parts of the crypto industry. “I think NFTs still have a ton of legs, NFTs are going to undergo so much innovation,” he told Decrypt. “I imagine we’re post our irrational exuberance moments with respect to DeFi. I think it’ll continue to innovate and mature quite significantly, but I think the real building will be in the development of the Web3 economy.” Stay on top of crypto news, get daily updates in your inbox.

U.S. Supreme Court Rebuffs Novartis, Allows Generic Versions Of MS Drug – Reuters.com https://collincountynewsonline.com/u-s-supreme-court-rebuffs-novartis-allows-generic-versions-of-ms-drug-reuters-com/ WASHINGTON, Oct 13 (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday turned down Novartis’ (NOVN.S) bid to block the launch of generic versions of the company’s blockbuster multiple sclerosis drug Gilenya in a dispute with China’s HEC Pharm Co Ltd (1558.HK) and other generic drugmakers. Novartis had asked the justices to suspend a lower court’s ruling that lifted a ban on generic versions of Gilenya, the Switzerland-based company’s third highest-selling drug last year with $2.8 billion in sales. Novartis sued HEC and more than a dozen other generic drugmakers, accusing them of patent infringement, in Delaware federal court after they applied for U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of Gilenya generics. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Novartis settled with some of the drugmakers it had sued, allowing for some Gilenya generics before a key patent’s 2027 expiration. Companies that settled with Novartis included India-based Aurobindo Pharma Ltd (ARBN.NS), Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories (REDY.NS) and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (SUN.NS), Pennsylvania-based Viatris Inc’s (VTRS.O) Mylan Pharmaceuticals and privately held Canada-based Apotex Inc. The FDA in 2010 approved Gilenya, a once-daily pill used to treat relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis, a chronic disease that affects the central nervous system. Novartis said in September that it expects to lose $300 million in sales for the rest of 2022 if the Gilenya generics are launched. The patent-focused U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled in June that a key Novartis patent for Gilenya was invalid. U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts, granting a request by Novartis on Sept. 29, temporarily prevented the Federal Circuit from issuing a mandate as planned on Oct. 4 to lift a federal judge’s injunction that blocked generic versions of Gilenya based on the Novartis patent claims. Roberts acted after Novartis said that green-lighting the generics would hurt the company in “ways that could be impossible to calculate at an after-the-fact damages trial” and that it was likely to win a Supreme Court appeal of the underlying case. HEC told the Supreme Court that Novartis makes $3.8 million per day from Gilenya sales in the United States alone. “If Novartis does not prevail in this Court, it will improperly extract $3.8 million from payors and patients every day its requested stay remains in effect,” HEC said. “And not one penny of those improper monopoly revenues will be recoverable from Novartis by anyone.” A spokesperson for Novartis said the company will “continue to vigorously defend the validity of the Gilenya patent” and plans to petition the high court to review the Federal Circuit’s decision. Representatives for HEC did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Reporting by Blake Brittain in Washington and Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Chris Reese, Grant McCool and Deepa Babington Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. Blake Brittain Thomson Reuters Blake Brittain reports on intellectual property law, including patents, trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets. Reach him at blake.brittain@thomsonreuters.com

Xi Wanted China To Be At The Tech Frontier. 5 Years On, Tensions With The U.S. Have Dented That Goal – CNBC https://collincountynewsonline.com/xi-wanted-china-to-be-at-the-tech-frontier-5-years-on-tensions-with-the-u-s-have-dented-that-goal-cnbc/ Chinese President Xi Jinping proposing a toast at the welcome banquet for leaders attending the Belt and Road Forum at the Great Hall of the People on April 26, 2019 in Beijing, China. Nicolas Asfouri | Getty Images Xi Jinping once declared China should “prioritize innovation” and be on the “cutting-edge (of) frontier technologies, modern engineering technologies, and disruptive technologies.” Since that speech in 2017, Beijing has spoken about technologies it wants to boost its prowess in, ranging from artificial intelligence to 5G technology and semiconductors. Five years since Xi’s address at the Communist Party of China’s last National Congress, the global reality for the world’s second-largest economy has transformed. It comes amid an ongoing trade war with the U.S., challenges from Covid and a change in political direction at home that have hurt some of Beijing’s goals. On Sunday, the 20th National Congress — held once every five years — will begin in Beijing. The high-level meeting is expected to pave the way for Xi to carry on as head of the Communist Party for an unprecedented third five-year term. Xi will take stock of China’s achievements in science and technology, which have yielded mixed results. “I agree it is a mixed bag,” Charles Mok, visiting scholar at the Global Digital Policy Incubator at Stanford University. He said China sets “lofty” goals as it targets to be the best, but “they are limited politically and ideologically in terms of the strategies to reach them.” Private tech enterprises are faltering under stricter regulation and a slowing economy. China is far from self-sufficient in semiconductors, a task made harder by recent U.S. export controls. Censorship on the mainland has tightened as well. But China has made some notable advancements in areas such as 5G and space travel. U.S.-China tech war “It would seem that Xi underestimated the challenges China faced in overcoming its reliance on foreign, mostly U.S. firms…” Paul Triolo technology policy lead, Albright Stonebridge Zero Covid Semiconductor self-sufficiency Beijing put a lot of focus on self-sufficiency in various areas of technology, but especially on semiconductors. The drive to boost China’s domestic chip industry was given further impetus as the trade war began. In its its five-year development plan, the 14th of its kind, Beijing said it would make “science and technology self-reliance and self-improvement a strategic pillar for national development.” One area it hoped to do so was in semiconductors. But a number of restrictions by the U.S. has put a dent in those ambitions. “It would seem that Xi underestimated the challenges China faced in overcoming its reliance on foreign, mostly U.S. firms, in key ‘core’ or ‘hard’ technologies such as semiconductors,” Paul Triolo, the technology policy lead at consulting firm Albright Stonebridge, told CNBC. “He also did not account for growing U.S. concern over semiconductors as foundational to key technologies.” Looking ahead, the latest package of U.S. controls will make a huge dent in China’s technology ambitions. Paul Triolo technology policy lead, Albright Stonebridge Things did not look as “bleak” for China’s semiconductors in 2017 as they do now, Triolo said. “Looking back, Xi should have redoubled efforts to bolster China’s domestic semiconductor manufacturing equipment sector, but even there, a heavy reliance on inputs such as semiconductors has made it difficult for Chinese firms to reproduce all elements of those complex supply chains.” The Biden administration unveiled a slew of restrictions last week that aim to cut China off from key chips and manufacturing tools to make those semiconductors. Washington is looking to choke off supply of chips for critical technology areas like artificial intelligence and supercomputing. Analysts previously told CNBC that this will likely hobble China’s domestic technology industry. That’s because part of the rules also require certain foreign-made chips that use American tools and software in the design and manufacturing process, to obtain a license before being exported to China. Chinese domestic chipmakers and design companies still rely heavily on American tools. Chipmakers — like Taiwanese firm TSMC, the most advanced semiconductor manufacturer in the world —are also dependent on U.S. technology. That means any Chinese company relying on TSMC may be cut off from supply of chips. Meanwhile, China does not have any domestic equivalent of TSMC. China’s leading chip manufacturer, SMIC, is still generations behind TSMC in its technology. And with the latest U.S. restrictions, it could make it difficult for SMIC to catch up. So China is still a long way from self-sufficiency in semiconductors, even though Beijing is focusing heavily on it. “Looking ahead, the latest package of U.S. controls will make a huge dent in China’s technology ambitions, because the curbs on advances semiconductors,” Triolo said. The curbs will “ripple across multiple associated sectors, and make it impossible for Chinese firms to compete in some areas, such as high performance computers, and AI related applications such as autonomous vehicles, that rely on hardware advances to make progress.” China’s tech crackdown A major hallmark of Xi’s last five years is how he has transformed China into one of the strictest regulatory regimes globally for technology. Over the last two years, China’s once free-wheeling and fast-growing tech giants have come under heavy scrutiny. It began in November 2020 when the $34.5 billion initial public offering of Ant Group, which would have been the biggest in the world, was pulled by regulators. That sparked several months where regulators moved swiftly to introduce a slew of regulation in areas from antitrust to data protection. In one of the first regulations of its kind globally, Beijing also passed a law which regulated how tech firms can use recommendation algorithms, underscoring the intense tightening that took place. Looking back to Xi’s 2017 speech, there were hints that regulation was coming. “We will provide more and better online content and put in place a system for integrated internet management to ensure a clean cyberspace,” Xi said at that time. But the pace at which regulations were passed and the scope of the rules took investors off guard, and billions were wiped off the share prices of China’s biggest tech companies — including Alibaba and Tencent — in 2021 and 2022. They have yet to recover from those losses. Analysts pointed out that even though there were mentions about cleaning up the internet, the swift nature of regulation that subsequently swept across China was unlikely to have been anticipated — even by Xi himself. “While I believe that in 2017, Xi had absolutely become focused on strengthening platform regulation, I very much doubt that the rapid-fire nature of… [the regulation] was pre-planned,” Kendra Schaefer, partner at Trivium China consultancy, told CNBC. Five years ago, Xi said the government would “do away with regulations and practices that impede the development of a unified market and fair competition, support the growth of private businesses, and stimulate the vitality of various market entities.” This is another pledge that appears not to have been met. China’s technology giants are also posting their slowest growth in history, partly due to tighter regulations. Part of the story, analysts say, is about Xi exerting more control over powerful technology businesses that were perceived as a threat to the ruling Communist Party of China. “It is obvious that they are not supporting the growth of private businesses,” Mok said. “In my view, they have not succeeded.” “Think of it that they are putting the Party agenda and total control as the top priority … No one can be successful unless the Party is successful in sustaining its dominance and total control.”  China’s successes from 5G to space Despite the challenges, China has found success in the realm of science and technology since 2017. Space exploration has been a key focus. In 2020, a Chinese moon mission concluded with its spacecraft returning back to Earth with lunar samples, a first for the country. That same year, China completed its own satellite navigation system called Beidou, a rival to the U.S.-government owned Global Positioning System (GPS). Last year, China landed an un-crewed spacecraft on Mars and is planning its first crewed mission to the Red Planet in 2033. China was also one of the leading nations globally to roll out next-generation 5G mobile networks, which promise super-fast speeds and the ability to support new industries like autonomous driving. In electric vehicles, China has also pushed ahead. The country is the largest electric car market in the world and home to CATL, the world’s largest EV battery maker, which is looking to expanding overseas. What next for Xi’s tech policy? The regulatory assault on the domestic technology sector, which has slowed in recent months, will not go away entirely. Even if regulatory actions are “moving into a new phase” in Xi’s third term, companies like Alibaba and Tencent won’t necessarily see the breakneck growth speeds they’ve seen in the past, Mok said. “Even if they find their feet, it is not the same ground. They won’t see that growth, because if China’s overall GDP and economy growth is like what people are talking about now for the next several years … then why should they even outperform the whole China market?” Mok said. Without a doubt, technology will continue to be a key focus for Xi over the coming five years, with a focus on self-sufficiency. China will likely conti...

Candy Montgomery: Who Is Suspected Axe Murderer Played By Jessica Biel In Disney+ True Crime Drama Candy? – NationalWorld https://collincountynewsonline.com/candy-montgomery-who-is-suspected-axe-murderer-played-by-jessica-biel-in-disney-true-crime-drama-candy-nationalworld/ Candy is a Disney Plus crime drama based on the brutal true story of an axe murder and the main suspect Jessica Biel plays killer Candy Montgomery in the Disney Plus true crime series Candy – and her transformation into the character is eerily accurate. Candy is a real woman who is still alive today who played a central role in the death of her supposed friend, Betty Gore. Jessica Biel as Candy Montgomery Who is Candy Montgomery? Candy Montgomery is an American woman, now 72 years old – at the time of the events shown in Candy, she was a 30 year old housewife. Candy was married to electrical engineer Pat Montgomery, and the couple had two children together. The family moved to Wylie, in Collin County, Texas, where Candy became friends with schoolteacher Betty Gore. Candy later met and began an affair with Betty’s husband, Allan Gore. On 13 June 1980, Betty was killed by an assailant who used an axe as a weapon – Betty was struck 41 times with the axe. On the day of Betty’s killing, Allan was out of town, and when he couldn’t reach his wife on the telephone he asked neighbours to investigate – Betty’s body was found when neighbours forced their way into her home. Betty’s baby daughter was also found crying but unharmed in a cot in another room. During the course of the police investigation, Candy and Allan’s affair came out and Candy became a main suspect, and was taken to trial. Did Candy Montgomery kill Betty Gore? Candy was put on trial for Betty’s murder and pled self-defence – she said that Gore attacked her because of her affair with Allan, and used an axe because Betty had tried to hit her with the same weapon during the confrontation. A polygraph test indicated that Candy was telling the truth. Melanie Lynskey as Betty Gore and Jessica Biel as Candy Montgomery The district attorney, Tom O’Connell, argued that Candy did not need to kill Betty – she could have fled the scene, and added that striking her with the axe a total of 41 times was excessive. However, the jury made up of nine women and three men found Candy not guilty of murder. Therefore, Candy did admit to killing Betty but was not convicted of murder on the grounds that she acted in self defence. Candy and Pat’s children now live in obscurity – though they are reportedly both married with children, and maintain contact with both Pat and Candy. Where is Candy Montgomery now? Pat stood by Candy after the affair came out and during the trial – after Candy walked free they moved to Georgia, though they divorced shortly after. Candy still lives and works in Georgia and uses her maiden name, Wheeler. After the move she trained to become a mental health counsellor and she treats people for anxiety, depression, grief and bereavement. Where is Allan Gore now? Allan Gore lives in Sarasota, Florida – he is now retired, and has entered into a domestic partnership. He reportedly remarried just three months after Betty’s death, and moved to Sachse, Texas with his new wife, Elaine, though they later divorced. Allan and Elaine lost custody of his children some time after the move and they went to live with Betty’s parents. When is Candy on Disney Plus? Candy is a five-part miniseries which was released in one go on Disney Plus on Wednesday 12 October. All episodes are available to watch now.

Visit Lauderdale Opens Campaign To Greet Diversity Of Visitors – South Florida Sun Sentinel https://collincountynewsonline.com/visit-lauderdale-opens-campaign-to-greet-diversity-of-visitors-south-florida-sun-sentinel/ Visit Lauderdale, which is responsible for marketing Broward County to vacationers and conventioneers worldwide, has launched a new campaign focusing on the area’s diversity and the desire to be all-inclusive to anyone contemplating a visit. The agency unveiled a familiar theme on Thursday by making the phrase, “Everyone Under the Sun” its campaign centerpiece. “This campaign goes to the heart of what makes our community great — the people and our diverse offerings,” said Stacy Ritter, president and CEO of Visit Lauderdale. “We are graciously welcoming everyone, and I mean everyone, to come join us and experience our tropical paradise rich with culture, flavor and unique experiences.” But the campaign comes at a decidedly uncomfortable moment: roughly two weeks after Hurricane Ian devastated portions of southwest Florida. The disaster caused Visit Florida, the state’s promotional agency, to postpone its advertising. Ritter said that her agency had little choice. “We are sensitive to what happened to southwest Florida,” she said in an interview. [ RELATED: ‘Bleisure’ travelers give some Fort Lauderdale hotels a lift by lingering for longer stays ] But by the same token, the agency has an obligation to present its marketing plans to the industry shortly after Visit Lauderdale’s fiscal year starts in October. Moreover, there are thousands of people employed in the county’s hospitality industry. “Keeping them employed is our first responsibility,” she said. “So we decided to go forward.” As it is, an unknown number of storm evacuees from the Gulf Coast are residing in southeast Florida hotels, Airbnbs and RV parks. She said the county asked her to assemble a list of potential hotels and other lodging locations for the emergency. “They were expecting six figures,” Ritter said, “I don’t know if that’s true. But they were expecting a serious influx of people.” Regardless of how many people currently occupy the local hotels, the campaign is designed to reach potential visitors from around the U.S. and abroad for the forthcoming lucrative tourist season which lasts through the Easter holiday. The target markets include large cities such as New York, Chicago and Atlanta, as well as bigger cities in states such as Ohio and Tennessee, where airlines have added flights to Florida. “The number of primary markets has actually expanded,” she said. Visit Lauderdale, which is responsible for marketing Broward County to vacationers and conventioneers worldwide, has launched a new campaign dubbed “Everyone Under the Sun,” which is designed to focus on the area’s diversity and inclusiveness for visitors. (Visit Lauderdale/Courtesy) The campaign, which was unveiled at the agency’s annual meeting at the Broward County Convention Center, reflects an evolution of the Greater Fort Lauderdale area from college beach vacation town to a place that offers much more to a broader spectrum of visitors, said Peter Ricci, director of the hospitality and tourism management program at Florida Atlantic University. The phrase has been part of Visit Lauderdale’s lexicon since last year as it sought to move away from messages affiliated with the agency’s previous name, the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau and its old domain, sunny.org. The newly adopted phrase “seemed to do very well for them last year,” Ricci said, adding that it was well received by travel wholesalers, agents and hoteliers. Morning Update Daily Start your day with the top stories in South Florida. “Broward was always in the shadow of Miami-Dade historically,” Ricci said. “It’s finally become a destination in the past two decades in its own right.” The agency said that due to the pandemic, the campaign took three years to evolve. [ RELATED: Holiday air travel tops pre-pandemic levels for the 1st time ] It landed in time for the giant IMEX America travel trade show in Las Vegas, where more than 3,400 exhibitors from 200 countries touted their destinations and services last year. Visit Lauderdale operated a booth at the show this week. The campaign is designed to highlight differences between the Fort Lauderdale area and elsewhere, including “accessible beaches, thrilling outdoor adventures, immersive nature encounters, shopping, in-pool meetings, dock and dine, pampering, romance, and memory-making experiences.” Six days of filming took place in eight locations, employing 34 crew members “and a diverse group of talent — 87 people plus one dog and hundreds of butterflies,” according to a statement. The ads star “locals with disabilities, members of the area’s LGBT+ community (Greater Fort Lauderdale is Florida’s LGBT+ capital), people of a diverse age range and various racial and ethnic identities,” according to the statement. The ads will start running this month as part of a “strategic paid media plan” including publicity and social media.

Business News From The Fairfax County Economic Development Authority – October 13 – TysonsToday – TysonsToday https://collincountynewsonline.com/business-news-from-the-fairfax-county-economic-development-authority-october-13-tysonstoday-tysonstoday/ Building Bridges to Economic Prosperity for Virginia’s Hispanic Community Founded in 2000, VAHCC works with the state’s Hispanic businesses and the community at large to create, promote, and enhance business opportunities for its members and partners. Through its network, the Chamber serves as the voice for over 30,000 Hispanic-owned Virginia businesses. “Building economic bridges” is the main goal of the Virginia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (VAHCC) and the Virginia Hispanic Foundation, according to Michel Zajur, founder and CEO of both organizations. “We build bridges, not only for the Hispanic community but to and from the community. We serve businesses that want to reach this market. We help a lot of corporations develop their workforces — a Latino workforce,” Zajur said in an interview with the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority. “We help them with language and cultural barriers, reaching back and forth with this community. We help them with procurement, and we help them with community engagement by reaching out and making those connections.” Click here to read more about VAHCC and how you can engage with the Hispanic business community. “Exporting 101: State and Federal Resources” Set for Oct. 27 Are you interested in finding out how to expand your company’s business through exporting? Join us for a free workshop presented by FCEDA, in partnership with U.S. Commercial Service – U.S. Department of Commerce, Export-Import Bank of the United States, and the Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP). Highlights of the workshop include an overview of state and federal government resources, researching the market, the exporting process, and export financing. You will hear from a panel of experts: Pompeya Lambrecht, Sr. International Trade Specialist, U.S. Department of Commerce – U.S. Commercial Service Ellen Meinhart, International Trade Manager, Virginia Economic Development Partnership Jonathan Brady, Business Development Specialist, Export-Import Bank of the United States Click here for more information and to register. Important alert: PLUS and Land Use Legacy Systems Outage Oct. 21-31  Fairfax County is converting all of its land use permitting, plan review, inspections and complaint systems to the Planning and Land Use System (PLUS) on Oct. 31. During the transition, all online application and review systems, including PLUS, FIDO, ProjectDox and PAWS will be unavailable beginning Friday, Oct. 21, at 4:30 p.m. until Monday, Oct. 31. Legacy systems (FIDO, ProjectDox and PAWS) will not return to use after the outage and will be replaced by PLUS beginning Oct. 31. The outage will impact customers conducting business with the agencies below. Each link contains information on what services will be available during the 10-day outage and how to plan ahead: Land Development Services Department of Planning and Development Fire and Rescue Department, Office of the Fire Marshal Health Department, Environmental Health Department of Code Compliance Northern Virginia leasing numbers soar Office leasing increased moderately in Northern Virginia during the third quarter of 2023, with net absorption coming in at 55,031 square feet, according to Newmark’s latest office market report — a big jump compared to last year’s 35,731 square feet for the same period, Commercial Observer reported. The leasing numbers were buoyed by the 220,000-square-foot renewal of Hilton at 7930 Jones Branch Drive in Tysons, which represented the second-largest lease since the pandemic began. Right behind Hilton was Boeing’s 118,780-square-foot lease at 12701 Fair Lakes Circle in Fairfax. Some of the notable leases in the Q3 report include Maxar Technologies’ 99,659-square-foot renewal at 2325 Dulles Corner Boulevard in Herndon and General Services Administration’s 92,264-square-foot renewal in Rosslyn in Arlington County, a fellow Northern Virginia Economic Development Alliance jurisdiction. Two projects began construction during the third quarter: Fuse at Mason Square, a 360,000-square-foot development at 3351 Fairfax Drive, that will serve as R&D labs, classrooms and offices for George Mason University; and the 161,000-square-foot 1875 Reston Row Plaza, a mixed-use development in Reston. Stay tuned: Amazon’s HQ2 will bring more than 2 million square feet during the first quarter of 2023, the Newmark report says. Merrifield we roll along Cox Edge launched a new location in Merrifield, saying the expansion into Fairfax County extends its ability to deliver Edge compute resources to a ‘key tech region’ while also servicing the aerospace, cybersecurity, and healthcare industries in the NoVa area,” Data Center Dynamics reported. Cox Communications launched Cox Edge last year, launching in around a dozen U.S. markets. Cox Edge aims to offer Edge cloud services through a cloud-native stack and orchestration platform. Get ready, get set…  Ahead of its scheduled launch in December 2022, Rocket Lab delivered its Electron rocket Wednesday to Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, delmarvaNow reported. It will be Rocket Lab’s first lift-off from Virginia Space’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport. The mission will deploy satellites for Herndon-based radio frequency geospatial analytics provider HawkEye 360. It will be the first of three Electron launches for HawkEye 360 in a contract that will see Rocket Lab deliver 15 satellites to low Earth orbit between late 2022 and 2024. These missions will grow HawkEye 360’s constellation of radio frequency monitoring satellites, enabling the company to better deliver precise mapping of radio frequency emissions anywhere in the world. The flight facility will continue with its packed schedule as Falls Church area-based Northrop Grumman is targeting liftoff of its Antares rocket and Cygnus spacecraft no earlier than on Nov. 6, from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport. It represents the next commercial resupply services mission to deliver NASA science investigations, supplies, and equipment to the International Space Station. To read why Northern Virginia is a rapidly growing space and satellite hub, click here. Accelerating communication Tysons-based SpaceLink was tapped by NASA to conduct a study on the integration of commercial optical ground terminals into the space agency’s Near Space Network architecture to help with the orbital communication system’s commercialization, ExecutiveBiz reported. Under the contract from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, SpaceLink will craft a tracking and data relay satellite system-like capability on medium Earth orbit to ensure safe real-time data transmission. The effort looks to accelerate communication between spacecraft in orbit and ground users. The contract will entail SpaceLink demonstrating an end-to-end multi-source data transport at its gateway in the Mojave Desert to the space agency’s terrestrial network via Amazon Web Services‘ cloud infrastructure. Readiness against evolving global threats Reston-based Leidos won a $1.5 billion contract to support the Department of Defense with technology to enhance its Command, Control, Computers, Communications, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C5ISR) missions, Virginia Business reported. “In today’s battlefield, the command who has actionable multi- and cross-domain data fastest is the one with the high ground,” Leidos Defense Group President Gerry Fasano said. “Leidos has finely tuned our portfolio of expertise and developed a dynamic enterprise suite of C5ISR solutions, including Joint All-Domain Command and Control tools, to ensure our warfighters exploit state-of-the-art technology to maintain their decisive advantage and enable joint synergy for operational superiority. We are honored to support this critical mission, providing readiness against evolving global threats.” Logical acquisition Reston-based ScienceLogic, an IT management company, acquired Santa Clara, Calif.-based Zebrium, a machine learning analytics firm. Zebrium’s technology helps IT operators figure out the causes of difficult application problems. “We understand that at the end of the day, customers care about a few core things. Among those are making sense of drastically increased amounts of data, maintaining a quick time to resolution, and focusing on customer experience,” said Mike Nappi, chief product officer at ScienceLogic. “Our acquisition of Zebrium has its genesis in those customer mandates.” Potomac Tech Wire carried the release. Securing telework environments Reston-based Science Applications International Corp. and Florida-based SecureXperts partnered to build platforms for telework and alternative work environments that meet federal requirements for ensuring the security of the Department of Defense’s classified documents, reported ExecutiveBiz. “Together, SAIC and SecureXperts bring unique skills and expertise that will support the growing demand for services to protect intelligence users that store, process and transmit high risk data from telework and alternative work environments,” Vernon Saunders, senior vice president for the national intelligence community business at SAIC. Commemorating Harriet Tubman The Central Intelligence Agency installed a statue of abolitionist and social activist Harriet Tubman at the entrance of its headquarters in Langley, according to NBC News. CIA officers who studied Tubman in a leadership class posed the idea to install the statue after learning about her time as a Union Army spy during the Civil War. Tubman is historically recognized for rescuing enslaved people through her network known as the Underground Railroad. The gesture is an effort to promote diversity among the CIA’s workforce, one...

Healthy Diets And Lifestyles With Melanie Kantor – YurView https://collincountynewsonline.com/healthy-diets-and-lifestyles-with-melanie-kantor-yurview/ On today’s episode of We Are Living Healthy, Alexis welcomes Melanie Kantor. Melanie is a gluten-free, low carb and no sugar cook and eBook author as well as the woman behind Optimum You. Furthermore, she is also a disordered eating specialist and Nutrition Coach. If you have a particular area of interest that you would like to know about in depth, this segment is right for you. She is also launching her Plant-Based YOUniversity and Food FreeYOUniversity in October. If you feel the subject of plant-based eating would be of interest for you, that is a topic for everyone to find out the benefits about it. There are many misconceptions of what being vegan is, how to eat, benefits of being plant-based, etc. Highlights from Alexis’s Chat with Melanie: What are the differences between being vegan and following a plant based diet? What is being a Vegetarian? What is disordered eating? How is this treated? What is a low carb food that we love and how can we manage those foods? Learn all of this and more on the latest episode of We Are Living Healthy. For more information go to: FB: https://www.facebook.com/groups/optimumyouwellness/ IG: https://www.instagram.com/optimumyouwellness/ Or watch the video on Facebook For more great We Are Living Healthy content, don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on all major podcasting platforms. https://3cstvshow.buzzsprout.com/ Already subscribed? Please take a moment to rate and review the podcast so that we can reach as many people that need the help as we can: https://3cstvshow.buzzsprout.com Follow us on Facebook: @WeAreLivingHealthyTV DISCLAIMER: THE CONSULTATIONS OR INTERACTIONS OFFERED ARE NOT MEANT TO REPLACE A CONSULTATION WITH YOUR PHYSICIAN. THE CONSULTATION IS FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY AND NOT STRUCTURED IN A WAY TO PROVIDE HEALTH COUNSELING / DIAGNOSING OF ANY KIND. YOU UNDERSTAND THAT WE ARE LIVING HEALTHY IS NOT PROVIDING INFORMATION AS YOUR TREATING HEALTH COUNSELOR, PHYSICIAN, ATTORNEY, LEGAL COUNSEL, EMPLOYER, MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL. We offer no guarantees or promise of results from event nor assume liability for any information provided.

WCT Sports Spotlight, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022 – West Central Tribune https://collincountynewsonline.com/wct-sports-spotlight-thursday-oct-13-2022-west-central-tribune/ Michael Lyne chats with Paynesville volleyball senior outside hitter Kyleigh Tangen. Bulldogs senior Kyleigh Tangen claps her hands with a smile during a match against the Yellow Medicine East Sting on Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2022, at Yellow Medicine East High School in Granite Falls. Michael Lyne / West Central Tribune October 13, 2022 04:30 PM We are part of The Trust Project. PAYNESVILLE — West Central Tribune sports reporter Michael Lyne chats with Paynesville volleyball senior outside hitter Kyleigh Tangen for episode two of the WCT Sports Spotlight Show. The WCT Sports Spotlight Show aims to showcase one athlete a week from the West Central area. Tangen, who is a commit at the University of Sioux Falls, talks on the Paynesville volleyball season and answers fun questions so the community can get to know her better away from the volleyball court. Michael Lyne joined the West Central Tribune as a sports reporter in June 2022, following his graduation from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, where he graduated with a bachelors degree in journalism and a minor degree in Spanish studies. You may reach Michael at mlyne@wctrib.com, or by calling (320) 214-4345.

Today In The Connected Economy: Meta Tweaks Its Metaverse Offerings – PYMNTS.com https://collincountynewsonline.com/today-in-the-connected-economy-meta-tweaks-its-metaverse-offerings-pymnts-com/ Today in the connected economy, Meta reveals the price tag for its new virtual reality headset and unveils features to make that reality seem a bit more real. Plus, Apple introduces a new savings account tied to the Apple Card, while consumer financing company Synchrony debuts Allegro Credit, a point-of-sale (POS) tool. Zuckerberg’s Metaverse Avatar Finds Its Legs (and Headset) at Last Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said users can enter the metaverse — with avatars that will soon have legs — for the cost of $1,500. That price tag is for the new Meta Quest Pro virtual reality headset, which has better resolution and graphics and a more powerful onboard computer than previous — and considerably cheaper — models. Apple Lets Card Users Set up Goldman Sachs Savings Accounts Apple has unveiled a feature for Apple Card users that lets them save their Daily Cash rewards and grow them using in a high-yield savings account from Goldman Sachs. Apple will roll out the program for card members in the months ahead, letting them have their Daily Cash deposited automatically into their accounts with no fees, minimum deposits or minimum balance requirements. Synchrony Debuts Consumer Financing Tool for Audiology Practices Synchrony has debuted Allegro Credit, a point-of-sale (POS) consumer financing tool for the hearing industry. The new solution, launched through the Sycle practice management platform, lets audiology providers offer financing options, such as healthcare credit cards and installment loans, and represents an expansion of Synchrony’s partnership with Sycle. Payments Tech Firm Priority Integrates With Valor PayTech Payments technology firm Priority Technology has integrated its MX Merchant ecosystem with Valor PayTech, part of a larger partnership between the companies for omnichannel solutions. Priority’s platform which operates at scale and lets companies collect, store and send money. Valor offers what it described as “cloud-based, end-to-end, processor-agnostic omnichannel payments solutions” for resellers and their merchant customers. Italian iGaming Firm Lottomatica Revamps With Nuvei for Digital Payments Italian iGaming company Lottomatica is re-platforming its digital services and working with payments technology provider Nuvei to offer faster payouts to users. Lottomatica Managing Director of Digital and Betting in Italy Alessandro Fiumara said the company’s players are looking to provide a payments experience similar to the one offered by Nuvei. New PYMNTS Study: How Consumers Use Digital Banks A PYMNTS survey of 2,124 US consumers shows that while two-thirds of consumers have used FinTechs for some aspect of banking services, just 9.3% call them their primary bank. Sign up for our daily newsletter. We’re always on the lookout for opportunities to partner with innovators and disruptors. Learn More https://www.pymnts.com/news/b2b-payments/2022/today-in-b2b-payments-ecommerce-tools-focus-on-african-enterprises-aircraft-parts/partial/ See More In: Allegro Credit, Apple, Apple Card, Connected Economy, lottomatica, Meta, Metaverse, News, Nuvei, partnerships, Priority Technology, Sycle, synchrony, Valor PayTech, virtual reality

Handy Gadgets Everyone Needs In Their Office – TechNewsGadget https://collincountynewsonline.com/handy-gadgets-everyone-needs-in-their-office-technewsgadget/ Global Connection Virtual Icon Diagram Interface Marketing Reserch.Young Businessman Team Analyze Finance Online Report Electronic Gadgets.Coworkers Startup Modern Digital Project.Flares Background. The modern-day office space is going to look drastically different from the average office space of twenty years ago. Technology has become such an integral part of work life in more ways than one. Here are some of the most useful little gadgets that you should have in your company’s office. Adjustable Standing Desks Computer work has expanded in huge ways since the early days of business. No longer is it only software engineers or IT customer service employees who need computers. In fact, it’s a good bet that just about everybody in your company will need a computer for at least a portion of their work. That’s why it’s so important to keep all employees’ physical health in mind. Spending years at a time hunched over a computer screen at a desk can be bad for the eyes, neck, and back – not to mention your mental health. That’s why adjustable standing desks are so important for most sedentary jobs. Label Makers If your work deals with chemicals like ammonia, properly naming their storage is a must. You will need to be labeling some things at some point. That might be for storage purposes, or might simply be for organization. Whatever the reason, that’s nothing that a few well-placed, high-quality label makers can’t fix. The exception is if you need to label items on a larger scale. In some situations, you might need more than a couple of label makers for miscellaneous tasks. Industrial label printers are ideal for printing labels quickly. You should carefully plan and budget how much equipment will be needed for the task in question. Personalized Desk Trinkets Everyone is going to decorate and use their desk or cubicle space differently. You may want to have a small, portable fan to keep you cool. You might want a quick and powerful charging station. Others may want to use cup holders that clip onto the edge of the desk or noise-canceling headphones so they can focus better on their work. Regardless – you should try to find the items you need to make your work experience more enjoyable and relaxing. Efficiency comes from a happy employee who feels like they are thriving, so find ways for you to succeed. Tech companies will have different office equipment than an insurance firm – which in turn, will have different office gadgets from the sales department of a company. Find what works for you and your company culture. Once you do, you won’t be able to go back! Did you enjoy this article? Here’s more to read: How Technology Helped Connect Us During the Pandemic

Roche Firm Booted From Tether Action After Crypto Leaks Post (1) – Bloomberg Law https://collincountynewsonline.com/roche-firm-booted-from-tether-action-after-crypto-leaks-post-1-bloomberg-law/ A New York judge on Thursday removed Roche Freedman from representing plaintiffs in a class action that accuses the crypto exchange Bitfinex and Tether, the issuer of the USDT stablecoin, of market manipulation. The decision is a blow for Roche Freedman after videos posted on a website called Crypto Leaks showed founding partner Kyle Roche boasting about the law firm’s relationship with the crypto startup Ava Labs. Katherine Polk Failla, a U.S. district judge for the Southern District of New York, said in a hearing Thursday that the firm’s continued participation in the case could derail litigation. She said she would modify her initial lead counsel appointment to remove the firm. Allowing the firm to continue serving as counsel “with the metaphorical baggage they now carry is not in the best interests of the class,” Failla said. Roche Freedman did not immediately return a request for comment. During an Oct. 3 hearing, Failla called Roche’s comments “uniquely stupid” and pressed co-founder Devin “Velvel” Freedman on the firm’s conduct while litigating the 2019 lawsuit. Freedman said Roche’s comments were “stupid” but argued there was no evidence Roche Freedman brought a lawsuit to help Ava Labs, and that concerns about the law firm abusing discovery were unfounded. The law firms Selendy Gay Elsberg and Schneider Wallace will remain lead counsel for the proposed class, which is pursuing claims that the defendants manipulated prices. Roche Denial Roche has denied his firm has used litigation to target Ava Labs competitors. Ava Labs CEO Emin Gün Sirer has also said that the videos posted on Crypto Leaks showed Roche making false statements about their relationship. Following the disclosure of the recordings in August, Roche’s firm kicked him off its class action practice and barred him from participating in ongoing class matters. Freedman argued that it took such steps to protect against the appearance of impropriety. Still, Bitfinex and Tether moved to terminate Roche Freedman from the case, claiming the comments raised concerns about the firm’s motivations. Roche Freedman’s co-counsel, meanwhile, argued that booting the firm would eliminate a distraction. A separate plaintiffs firm filed a motion to substitute Roche Freedman as lead counsel, but Failla on Thursday rejected that application. Disqualification Roche Freedman faces disqualification motions in at least four other cases, according to federal court filings. A different New York judge has scheduled a Friday hearing in an action the firm brought on behalf of investors against the Tron Foundation, the company behind the TRON blockchain protocol. Launched in 2019 by expats of the prominent litigation shop Boies Schiller, Roche Freedman has become one of the most active firms in the cryptocurrency class action space. The firm, which was granted lead counsel status in the Bitfinex and Tether action in 2020, argued that it had the most expertise in digital assets and that Roche’s “false comments” should not impugn the rest of the firm. Freedman also claimed during the Oct. 3 hearing that a defendant in one of the actions the firm brought was behind the surreptitious recordings of Roche. Failla, however, said that Roche’s comments were “too detailed to dismiss out of hand.” The putative class also will not suffer from any diminished quality of legal representation with the law firm’s removal, she concluded.

U.S. House Jan. 6 Committee Votes To Subpoena Trump – Reuters.com https://collincountynewsonline.com/u-s-house-jan-6-committee-votes-to-subpoena-trump-reuters-com/ WASHINGTON, Oct 13 (Reuters) – The U.S. House of Representatives committee probing the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by Donald Trump’s supporters voted unanimously on Thursday to subpoena the former president, a move that could lead to criminal charges if he does not comply. The House select committee’s seven Democratic and two Republican members voted 9-0 in favor of issuing a subpoena for Trump to provide documents and testimony under oath in connection with the storming of the Capitol. “He must be accountable. He is required to answer for his actions. He is required to answer for those police officers who put their lives and bodies on the line to defend our democracy. He is required to answer to those millions of Americans whose votes he wanted to throw out as part of his scheme to remain in power,” the panel’s Democratic chairman, Representative Bennie Thompson, said. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com The vote came after the committee spent more than two hours making its case – via statements from members, documents, and recorded testimony – that Trump planned to deny his 2020 election defeat in advance, failed to call off the thousands of supporters who stormed the Capitol, and followed through with his false claims that the election was stolen even as close advisers told him he had lost. Federal law says that failure to comply with a congressional subpoena is a misdemeanor, punishable by one to 12 months imprisonment. If the select committee’s subpoena is ignored, the full House must vote on whether to make a referral to the Department of Justice, which has the authority to decide whether to bring charges. LOOMING MID-TERMS The subpoena is expected within days, and would typically give Trump a date by which he should comply. It was not clear when the full House – which is out of Washington until mid-November – could vote on whether to make a criminal referral. Trump responded to the vote with angry comments on his social media service Truth Social. “Why did they wait until the very end, the final moments of their last meeting? Because the Committee is a total ‘BUST’ that has only served to further divide our Country which, by the way, is doing very badly – A laughing stock all over the World?” he wrote. One former Trump adviser, Steve Bannon, is due to be sentenced next week after a jury found him guilty of contempt of Congress charges for not complying with a committee subpoena. But the Justice Department declined to charge another, Mark Meadows, who the House had also suggested should be prosecuted. Federal prosecutors are also investigating the former president’s removal of classified documents from the White House at the end of his term, and have warned that they believe they have not yet recovered all the documents taken. The House select committee has been investigating the attack on the Capitol, which left more than 140 police officers injured and led to several deaths, for more than a year, interviewing over 1,000 witnesses. U.S. House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol meets for a hearing in the Cannon House Office Building in Washington, U.S., October 13, 2022. Alex Wong/Pool via REUTERS Thompson said he recognized that subpoenaing a former president was a serious action, but argued that the stakes were high for the future of U.S. democracy. Thursday’s meeting followed eight hearings earlier this year and one in July 2021. There were no live witnesses on Thursday, but the panel presented videotaped testimony to build a case that Trump’s efforts to overturn his November 2020 presidential election defeat constituted illegal conduct, far beyond normal politics. FEARS OF VIOLENCE The committee presented evidence from Secret Service agents and intelligence officials who said before Jan.6 that they expected violence at the pro-Trump rally and believed there were caches of weapons around Washington. “Their plan is to literally kill people. Please please take this tip seriously and investigate further,” a Dec. 26 Secret Service email said. Thursday’s vote could be the committee’s last public action before the Nov. 8 midterm elections that will determine whether President Joe Biden’s fellow Democrats or Trump’s Republicans control Congress. The committee is also due to release a report on its findings within the coming weeks. Representative Liz Cheney, the panel’s Republican vice chairperson, said the panel might ultimately decide to make a series of criminal referrals to the Department of Justice. The hearings held this year may have convinced some Republicans that Trump bears some responsibility for the attack. A two-day Reuters/Ipsos poll concluded on Wednesday showed two in five Republicans view Trump as at least partly responsible for the attack. Previous hearings focused on Trump’s inaction before and during the storming of the Capitol, his pressure on Vice President Mike Pence to deny Biden’s victory, militias whose members participated in the attack, and Trump’s interactions with close advisers questioning his false allegations of massive voter fraud. The one-time reality television star has denied wrongdoing and hinted he will seek the White House again in 2024. He regularly holds rallies where he continues to claim falsely that he lost the election because of widespread fraud. More than 880 people have been arrested in connection with the violence, with more than 400 guilty pleas so far. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Reporting by Patricia Zengerle, Moira Warburton and Doina Chiacu; Additional reporting by Jason Lange; Editing by Scott Malone, Aurora Ellis and Rosalba O’Brien Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Salinas Fire Gets New CPR Technology – KION546 – KION https://collincountynewsonline.com/salinas-fire-gets-new-cpr-technology-kion546-kion/ SALINAS, Calif. (KION-TV): Salinas Fire put the Lucas Device in service on Thursday afternoon. The device is a backpacked sized CPR technology design for better patient outcomes. The device is placed around the chest of a patient in need for CPR and uses a plunger like motion to provide chest compressions to the patient. Salinas Fire Captain Ryan Alexander shared that the device allows the department to provide the best quality service to the community. “This device allows CPR to be conducted in situations where compressions are nearly impossible or have a risk of being stopped when maneuvering tight corners or stairs,” Alexander said. BE PART OF THE CONVERSATION KION 46 is committed to providing a forum for civil and constructive conversation. Please keep your comments respectful and relevant. You can review our Community Guidelines by clicking here If you would like to share a story idea, please submit it here.

This Year’s Flu Season Is Expected To Be Worse – Local Profile https://collincountynewsonline.com/this-years-flu-season-is-expected-to-be-worse-local-profile/ Flu season is right around the corner, but there have been some cases already reported around North Texas. The Texas Department of State Health Services is expecting to see flu cases rise this year.  According to WFAA, flu season in North Texas has been mild for the past several years because of COVID-19 protocols such as masks and social distancing. But with COVID restrictions becoming a thing of the past, the flu will most likely make a strong return this year. During the last week of September, 3.56% of flu tests done in Texas labs came back positive, compared to the previous week’s rate of 2.73%  Medical City Healthcare is one of the providers already seeing positive flu cases. The early spike in numbers is most likely attributed to back-to-school season and less social distancing. But just because the flu has hit North Texas does not mean sickness is expected for everyone.  There are a number of ways to stay healthy this fall and winter, and most are easy to follow: Frequent handwashing, covering sneezes and coughs, cleaning high-touch areas and avoiding contact with the ill are all ways to stay clear of the flu. Most importantly, it is highly recommended by medical professionals to get the yearly dose of the flu shot. CareNow is now offering $20 flu shots at all North Texas locations. “The best way to help avoid getting the flu is to get the seasonal influenza vaccination,” said CareNow Regional Medical Director Shawn Riley, MD. “Most people 6 months of age and older should receive the annual seasonal flu vaccine, with rare exceptions.”  Symptoms of the flu are very similar to those of COVID-19, such as fever, cough, sore throat, runny nose, headaches and body aches. It is recommended to get tested for both to keep yourself and others healthy.  Flu shot stations around Collin County are not difficult to find, and most can be given by medical providers and other pharmacies such as CVS and CareNow. You can also visit vaccines.gov to find a vaccine center closest to you.  Related

My View: An Alaskan Vacation Is Taken To The Next Level – Buffalo News https://collincountynewsonline.com/my-view-an-alaskan-vacation-is-taken-to-the-next-level-buffalo-news/ Brenda Alesii I have a pale blue paper wristband marked “12:30” hanging on my office wall. It’s doubtful anyone would notice what looks like a flimsy piece of litter I likely forgot to toss. That band is a tangible symbol of the twin emotions – terror and exhilaration – that I experienced on a recent vacation. I also discovered that it holds a much more important meaning, one that symbolizes confidence, acknowledging and overcoming fear, and the lasting effects of an unforgettable experience. This life-altering event began some 3,000 miles from home when my husband and I, along with two other couples, vacationed in Alaska. Our cruise included three ports of call – Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway. As I researched travel guides and watched YouTube videos about the state known as “The Last Frontier,” my enthusiasm started to grow. The distinctive Alaskan natural wonders – ranging from scenic glaciers, mountains and rainforests to exciting activities like like whale watching – were surely unlike any place we had visited. Just a few days before the six of us were to depart, the cruise line alerted us about a landslide that occurred near Skagway, making it too hazardous for our ship to dock there. Icy Strait Point in Hoonah was now our new destination. It certainly had the sound of a quintessential Alaskan town and we soon discovered that it was the site of the world’s largest and longest zip line called the ZipRider. Four of the six of us decided to throw caution to the wind and register for this new adventure. Our check-in time was 12:30. After a required weigh in, we signed several legal documents accepting the risk involved in flying down a cable as high as the Empire State Building. It was now time to travel to the mountaintop. As we ascended 5,330 feet on a gondola through the dense rainforest, our docked cruise ship getting smaller by the moment, my pit-in-the-stomach feeling started to stir. That uneasy feeling spiked when we were told that there was a maintenance issue with one of the zip line cables. High anxiety prevailed but we still opted to take the plunge. Literally. The six of us were each placed in a separate harness and strapped in with a shoulder and lap belt. My heart beat was booming. Realizing there were no brakes, I gripped the narrow harness straps, closed my eyes and prayed. After a countdown by the operator, the ground disappeared below us. All six of us flew down a vertical drop of 1,330 feet at a rate of 60-70 mph. The indescribable rush had all of my senses on high alert; I quickly opened my eyes and took in the sweeping views of the port, the shimmering water below, and the stunning rainforest. With a jolt that mimicked a slingshot sensation, the ride came to a dramatic halt after a mere 90 seconds. It’s fair to say our adrenaline was flowing faster that the water below us. While the ZipRider experience was over in a minute-and-a-half, the impact has barely faded in the weeks that followed. I faced my fear, realized that I did not have to back down even though I had no control zipping down that cable. A sense of triumph coursed through me. When life throws those inevitable curve balls, I will look at my tattered wristband and know that sometimes a daring adventure far outside my typical comfort zone can be a source of strength and inspiration. Our foursome had a shared experience unlike any we’ve known before – we will be bonded forever by a metaphorical tether that represented much more than just a trip down a mountain. Catch the latest in Opinion Get opinion pieces, letters and editorials sent directly to your inbox weekly!

This Company Is Building A National Luxury Travel Brand In A Small NC Town – Raleigh News & Observer https://collincountynewsonline.com/this-company-is-building-a-national-luxury-travel-brand-in-a-small-nc-town-raleigh-news-observer/ KINSTON When you own one of the country’s largest fleets of private jets, shuttling well-heeled customers wherever they want to go, you can base your company just about anywhere. Jim Segrave chose Kinston, the struggling Eastern North Carolina city racked by flooding and the decline of the state’s tobacco and textile industries. This week, Segrave’s company, flyExclusive, celebrated the opening of its fourth hangar at the Global TransPark, the state-owned business park that surrounds Kinston’s airport. The company has become the largest employer in the TransPark, where about 500 of its nearly 800 employees work. FlyExclusive expects to hire another 200 in the coming months and start work soon on a fifth hangar and a company headquarters building with a training center for its 350 pilots. The company’s revenue climbed 72% over the last year, Segrave told a gathering in the new hangar Wednesday, and is expected to double again in the coming year. There are 1,929 private jet charter operators in the United States, Segrave told the crowd, which included hundreds of flyExclusive employees. Seven years ago, flyExclusive was the smallest; now it’s the second largest, he said. “Can we grow stronger based here in Kinston?” he asked. “Absolutely. We have already proven that.” Segrave, 51, didn’t come to Kinston by chance. He was born in the city and has roots that go back generations. His great uncle was C. Felix Harvey, who led a family enterprise that included insurance, banking and John Deere dealerships. Harvey helped start the Global TransPark Foundation, which promotes the park and its mission to bring companies to Eastern North Carolina. Segrave had already founded and built a charter jet company, which he sold to Delta Air Lines in 2010. He took the proceeds from that sale to start flyExclusive in 2015. With its close ties to the TransPark, his family urged him to base his new company in Kinston. The city, about 80 miles southeast of Raleigh, is an unlikely spot to build a national luxury brand. Kinston’s population has shrunk 23% since 1990, on declines in traditional manufacturing and repeated flooding by the Neuse River and its tributaries after hurricanes in 1996, 1999, 2016 and 2018. The novelty of flyExclusive making a home in an underdog town came up repeatedly at Wednesday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony, including in videos produced by the company. Jim Perry, the Republican state senator who represents the area, said the company’s growth means much more than jobs. “Today is about something bigger for Eastern North Carolina,” Perry told the crowd. “It’s about a fighting spirit, and it’s about hope. It gives us all hope in our community to see something like this, to see someone take these risks on our people, on our community, to see this type of growth and success.” Global TransPark has plenty of space FlyExclusive’s expansion is also encouraging for the TransPark. Created by the General Assembly in the early 1990s, the park was envisioned as a place where companies would set up manufacturing plants around a runway, shuttling components in and completed products out. But it has struggled to attract tenants, and most of its 2,500 acres remain empty. The next largest employer is Spirit Aerosystems, which produces fuselage sections for Airbus passenger jets and ships them to France, through the port at Morehead City, for final assembly. Mark Pope, the TransPark’s economic development director, said the park has been hurt by a lack of access to rail and an interstate highway. The N.C. Department of Transportation recently built a six-mile rail spur to connect the park to the Norfolk Southern system and plans to eventually convert U.S. 70 through Kinston into Interstate 42. In the meantime, the TransPark has begun to draw flight schools and other aviation-related businesses that want to be close to its 11,500-foot runway, Pope said. That includes military contractors and programs, such as the Navy’s Fleet Readiness Center East, which opened a satellite helicopter maintenance and repair facility at the TransPark last year. Pope acknowledges that attracting and keeping workers in Eastern North Carolina is challenging, as it is in many rural areas. “Our saving grace is the military,” Pope said in an interview. “We’re surrounded by five military bases; 15,000 plus are coming out of the military every year. We don’t retain all of those. But if we have opportunities for jobs like this, it’s a whole lot easier to retain them, to keep them living here in Eastern North Carolina.” ‘We can control our destiny’ FlyExclusive intends to have more than 2,500 employees by the end of the decade, and Segrave says most of them will be in Kinston. The company opened a technology hub in Durham last year for computer programmers, to tap into the Triangle’s talent pool, but only about 15 people work there, he said. Segrave says a large majority of the 250 technicians who work on planes in Kinston were recruited from outside the area and that “it’s not been terribly difficult” to persuade them to come. He credits a company culture that stresses humility and teamwork and the fact that outside investors aren’t making decisions or demanding short-term returns. “It’s a big benefit that we can control our destiny,” said Segrave, who said his children own small pieces of LGM Enterprises, flyExclusive’s parent company, but that the vast majority is his. “We run it the way we want to run it. We’re not trying to crush our people and squeeze every drop out of a turnip that we can so we can make an extra dollar to meet some private equity’s return criteria and exit plan for three or four year from now.” Segraves said he thought he would lose the business when COVID-19 brought the economy to a standstill in the spring of 2020. For several weeks, he had 50 Cessna Citation and Gulfstream jets parked at the TransPark instead of carrying paying customers. Demand has rebounded strongly since then, Segrave says. “The demand at the moment is nearly elastic,” he said in an interview. “There’s more than any of us can handle.” About 600 people have joined flyExclusive’s Jet Club, which for a deposit of $75,000 to $250,000 and a $1,000 a month membership fee gives them access to the company’s fleet of jets. (Daily and hourly rates apply when they actually fly.) Occasional flyers can charter planes, while frequent flyers can become “fractional owners” of the company’s new Cessna Citation CJ3+ jets, buying shares in a plane. After the initial shutdowns ended, the pandemic has been good for the private jet business. As airlines struggle with cancellations and labor shortages, people with the means are booking private jets. Business travel, which accounted for up to 40% of trips before the pandemic, hasn’t come back, Segrave said. More than 90% of flyExlusive’s customers now are jetting off to vacation spots, second homes or to visit family. Lingering health concerns about crowds and cramming into airports and planes has also helped, Segrave said. “It drives business to us,” he said. “People who could have always otherwise afforded it would say, ‘I’ll just fly the airlines to save money.’ Now they’re saying, ‘I don’t want to risk my health.’ And the really nice thing about that is once you fly on these, it’s very difficult to go back.” A Cessna Citation parked outside a new hangar that flyExclusive built at the Global TransPark in Kinston, NC. The hangar, the company’s fourth, was dedicated with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2022. Richard Stradling rstradling@newsobserver.com This story was originally published October 13, 2022 1:32 PM. Richard Stradling covers transportation for The News & Observer. Planes, trains and automobiles, plus ferries, bicycles, scooters and just plain walking. Also, hospitals during the coronavirus outbreak. He’s been a reporter or editor for 35 years, including the last 23 at The N&O. 919-829-4739, rstradling@newsobserver.com.

Healthy Living: Heavily ‘meditated’ And Ready To Let Go – Powell River Peak https://collincountynewsonline.com/healthy-living-heavily-meditated-and-ready-to-let-go-powell-river-peak/ After lugging around the burdensome weight of pathological anxiety and a slew of negative behaviours which, with a sharp and pointy finger, directed me toward chronic addiction, the phrase with the whimsical tone, “Let it go”, attracts me on an intuitive, visceral level. In the context of my experience, the bumper sticker sounding aphorism has had a fundamental and profound effect on how I see the world and, in turn, how the world sees me. Its meaning punches far above the weight of its three words and seven letters. When psychology and biology overlap with spirituality, there may be an abstract, slightly flaky tone to the conversation. You have been given a fair warning. Although, I find it especially compelling when the arts and things of a spiritual nature merge with the hard sciences. Letting go is a central idea to the religion of Buddhism. Although I do not identify as a practicing Buddhist, I found clarity and usefulness with some of the teachings of the 2,500-year-old religion which originated in India. Buddha said, quite simply, nothing is permanent, everything is in a constant state of change, so clinging on to things will be a main cause of great suffering. It is my experience, and the reality of many people I have met, that the primary reason for using drugs and alcohol was the illusion there was a dulling or diminishing effect on personal, often internal suffering; a suffering often caused by thoughts that were clinging tightly to the past like the way ivy clings to a wall. Letting go does not suggest forgetting or denying painful parts of yesterday. Not at all. It means there is no longer intense, often painfully negative emotional reaction to parts of life which are always in a state of change. Our emotions are not drawn from an inexhaustible well. In a sense, letting go can replenish our emotional reserves or resources and leave us feeling strong and happy, prepared to live in the present, while acknowledging the past with a healthy detachment. As I mentioned in the beginning, the practice of letting go is especially liberating to someone, like me, who carries irrational fears with him and an anxiety which, at times, seems unshakable. My muscles are tense and my brain is overanalyzing my immediate environment like a mortal danger looms closely. It can be emotionally and physically tiring to experience the sensations often. Letting go and liberating oneself from the physical symptoms of anxiety is the beginning of a life lighter and happier, which attracts opportunities and adventures. Letting go is an admission we have never had control in the first place; it was a spiritually and emotionally unproductive illusion which enabled me to barely survive but never thrive. It is time to let go of that. Robert Skender is a qathet region freelance writer and health commentator.

What Channel Is Bears Vs. Commanders On Today? Schedule, Time For NFL’s ‘Thursday Night Football’ In Week 6 – Sporting News https://collincountynewsonline.com/what-channel-is-bears-vs-commanders-on-today-schedule-time-for-nfls-thursday-night-football-in-week-6-sporting-news/ The Commanders pay a visit to Soldier Field on Thursday night. Both Chicago and Washington have gotten off to inauspicious starts (to put it lightly) to the 2022 NFL season. The Commanders are fresh off a tough loss to the Titans, leading to coach Ron Rivera uttering some backhanded compliments about his starting quarterback, Carson Wentz. Quarterback is the theme of the week, apparently, and all eyes are on the Bears’ second-year passer. Justin Fields is coming off perhaps the best half of football in his career, finishing Sunday’s game on a heater, completing 12 of 13 passes and putting Chicago in position to at least tie the game vs. the Vikings — until an Ihmir Smith-Marsette fumble all but sealed the loss. With N’Keal Harry returning for the Bears, Fields could have some much-needed reinforcements outside. It remains to be seen just how much that may help the sophomore passer, though. MORE: NFL power rankings | Week 6 picks  | Buy NFL tickets Here’s how to catch the “Thursday Night Football” matchup between the Bears and Commanders. What channel is Bears vs. Commanders on today? Game: Commanders at Bears Date: Thursday, Oct. 13 TV channel: Chicago, Fox 32 (WFLD32) | Washington D.C, Fox 5 (WTTG 5) Live stream: Amazon Prime Video (U.S.) | DAZN (Canada) As is the case with “Thursday Night Football” for the remainder of the season (and the foreseeable future), Amazon Prime Video will exclusively broadcast the games to the national audience. Viewers in local markets will be able to watch the game on local networks. This week, the Bears will be on Fox 32 in Chicago, while viewers in Washington, D.C. will be able to catch the game on Fox 5. The Canadian audience can watch the game on TSN1/4, CTV2 or RDS2 for the French-speaking audience. Viewers in Canada will be able to stream the game on DAZN. MORE: NFL on Amazon Prime, explained — What to know about football on streaming service Bears vs. Commanders start time Date: Thursday, Oct. 6 Kickoff: 8:15 p.m. ET (7:15 p.m. CT) Kickoff is set for 8:15 p.m. ET, the customary time for “Thursday Night Football” matchups. That’s 7:15 p.m. local time in Chicago.  Amazon’s pre-game show airs in the hour leading up to the game. MORE: Why ‘Thursday Night Football’ on Amazon is prime NFL viewing NFL live stream for Bears vs. Commanders Given that Amazon holds exclusive streaming rights for “Thursday Night Football,” it will be the only streaming option for “TNF” games throughout the 2022 season. NFL Week 6 schedule Thursday, Oct. 13 Game Kickoff time (ET) TV channel Bears vs. Commanders 8:15 p.m.  Amazon Sunday, Oct. 16 Game Kickoff time (ET) TV channel Falcons vs. 49ers 1 p.m. Fox Browns vs. Patriots 1 p.m. CBS Packers vs. Jets 1 p.m. Fox Colts vs. Jaguars 1 p.m. CBS Dolphins vs. Vikings 1 p.m. Fox Saints vs. Bengals 1 p.m. CBS Giants vs. Ravens 1 p.m. CBS Steelers vs. Buccaneers 1 p.m. Fox Rams vs. Panthers 4:05 p.m. Fox Seahawks vs. Cardinals 4:05 p.m. Fox Chiefs vs. Bills 4:25 p.m. CBS Eagles vs. Cowboys 8:20 p.m. NBC Monday, Oct. 17 Game Kickoff time (ET) TV channel Chargers vs. Broncos 8:15 p.m. ESPN — The Sporting News has joined with TicketSmarter in an exclusive partnership to provide tickets for sporting events in the U.S. and Canada. Fans can go to TicketSmarter with this link and use code TSN15 to take $15 off orders of $100 or more before fees and shipping.