Denton County News Online

Jaguar’s Home Opener Impact On Local Business – Action News Jax – ActionNewsJax.com https://dentoncountynewsonline.com/jaguars-home-opener-impact-on-local-business-action-news-jax-actionnewsjax-com/ Jaguar’s home opener impact on local business Jaguar’s home opener impact on local business

OPINION: Meditation — The Forgotten Key To A Healthy Life – N.C. State University Technician Online https://dentoncountynewsonline.com/opinion-meditation-the-forgotten-key-to-a-healthy-life-n-c-state-university-technician-online/ If someone asked you to imagine what it looks like to live a healthy life, what would you picture? A balanced diet, exercise, fresh air and regular checkups with a doctor? This is a typical response, but it fails to encapsulate all the habits that contribute to a healthy lifestyle. One of the most underutilized tactics to achieve a sound mind and body is meditation.  Our world is crammed with constant work and movement, forcing us to live at a fast pace with high expectations. When we lack time to process our activities or the information we consume, we experience a chronic disconnect between the outside world and the inner self. College students especially are under constant pressure to be doing something at all times, whether it be studying, joining clubs or going out with friends. Doing nothing is almost taboo. A few days of business might be doable, but living your life with so much intensity can quickly create anxiety and fatigue.  Intentionally taking time out of your day to do nothing is vital to maintaining stability against the constant movement of the world around you. Meditation allows for a mental reset, giving you time to take deep breaths and sit with yourself. You can use this time to reflect on your day or try to clear your mind of all worries. The ability to refocus or clear your mind is a helpful and easy method for reducing anxiety. According to the National Institute of Health, mindfulness-based tactics can help treat anxiety and depression. Though, keep in mind that meditation is not a replacement for medication or counseling. I like to use meditation to reconnect with my body. I turn my focus onto each body part for a moment, paying attention to how they feel, the contact they have with the ground or air, how they blend into the next body part. It’s easy to get caught up in your brain but grounding yourself in the rest of your body helps build a connection between the two.  Meditation is also the easiest outlet for spirituality. Having some level of spiritualism in your life can aid your physical, mental and emotional health. According to the Journal of Religion and Health, “Spirituality can serve as important coping mechanisms in this context by offering social support and inclusion in social networks, by sustaining lifestyle changes and by promoting positive emotions, such as forgiveness and an overall optimistic outlook.” While most spiritual outlets require a significant time or energy commitment, meditating is the most efficient way to add an aspect of spirituality into your daily routine without requiring any dedication to an established religious or devotional cause.  Along with creating a calming effect, mindfulness has physical benefits as well. Regular meditation can prevent the loss of gray matter in your brain as you age, reduce inflammation in the body and help maintain healthy blood pressure. You won’t notice these changes right away, of course, but consistent meditation compounds into tangible health improvements with time. If meditation still doesn’t sound appealing to you based on preconceptions of it, don’t let that deter you. This can be a very individualized process. If you don’t want to have to sit down, then you can meditate standing up or laying down. If you don’t want to sit in silence, then play music or white noise. You can think about your day or about the meaning of life or about nothing at all.  I believe everyone should get in the habit of meditating every day, even for just five minutes. It may be difficult or uncomfortable at first, but within weeks you will see improvements in your outlook on life. You can meditate anywhere, anytime, any way. You just have to choose to be mindful.

Sports World Reacts To Brittney Griner Offer News – The Spun https://dentoncountynewsonline.com/sports-world-reacts-to-brittney-griner-offer-news-the-spun/ PHOENIX, AZ – OCTOBER 8: Brittney Griner #42 of the Phoenix Mercury looks on during the game against the Las Vegas Aces during Game Five of the 2021 WNBA Semifinals on October 8, 2021 at Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona.  (Photo by Jeff Bottari/NBAE via Getty Images) Jeff Bottari/Getty Images While the U.S. government is attempting to bring WNBA star Brittney Griner home, the Russian administration has reportedly not responded to President Biden’s offers. “Biden and his team, including Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, previously stated in August that the United States made a “substantial” proposition for Russia in attempt to secure Griner and Whelan’s release. However, U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Friday that Russia has not responded to the proposal from Biden’s administration, resulting in Griner and Whelan remaining under Russian imprisonment,” Sports Illustrated reports. President Biden met with Griner’s family this week. Griner, who has been in Russian custody for several months, is understandably growing frustrated by her situation. “Sadly we don’t have a result here to tell you about but the president felt that it was important to continue the dialogue with the family members,” Kirby said, per Bloomberg. “The primary goal of the meeting today is to be able to update families and keep them completely apprised of where we are in the process.” Brittney’s wife, meanwhile, was encouraged by the meeting with President Biden. We’d love to see Brittney Griner back home soon. Hopefully Russia can eventually respond to the offer.

Banking Comes To The Metaverse With Mana VR – VRScout https://dentoncountynewsonline.com/banking-comes-to-the-metaverse-with-mana-vr-vrscout/ Earn banking reward points for games like Clash of Clans and Brawl Stars! Mana VR lets you take control of your Manaverse checking account in a fully immersive VR environment where you can view your balance, check recent transactions, and even transfer money. “The entire Mana team is super passionate about technology and all things gaming. It’s clear that spatial computing is the future and it’s exploding with VR gaming,” said Steve Mautone, Vice President of Product at Mana. “Here at Mana, we’re going beyond creating a virtual world. We want more than a headline. We are here to support VR as a first-class citizen alongside our mobile apps on Android and iOS to really explore the VR banking experience.” Like any real-world banking experience, Mana offers its customers some pretty cool rewards. You can earn points that can be spent on video games and unlock Mana rewards by playing your favorite games. Yes, you can earn Mana reward points by playing video games. If you’re looking to spend some of your money on real-world stuff, Mana also gives their customers spending power through a Mana Visa Debit Card which also comes with rewards. Mana bank accounts are free to anyone 18 years and up in the US. If you’d like to start a Mana bank account, you’ll need to join their waitlist.  Along with having an immersive VR banking experience, Mana also gives you banking power the old-fashioned way through a mobile app that will soon be available for all iOS and Android devices.  Mana VR will be available on PC VR headsets via Steam and the Meta Quest via SideQuestVR. Image Credit: Mana About the Scout Bobby Carlton Hello, my name is Bobby Carlton. When I’m not exploring the world of immersive technology, I’m writing rock songs about lost love. I’d also like to mention that I can do 25 push-ups in a row.

Akane Will Launch On PlayStation & Xbox This Tuesday – Bleeding Cool News https://dentoncountynewsonline.com/akane-will-launch-on-playstation-xbox-this-tuesday-bleeding-cool-news/ | DX Gameworks confirmed this past week that they will finally be releasing Akane onto both PlayStation and Xbox this Tuesday. This fluid hack-and-slash will have you running through one of the bloodiest nights in the title character’s life, as you’ll slice your way through hordes of enemies with one-hit kills and special moves that will make you feel like you’re in the middle of the action. All set tot he tune of an amazing soundtrack that won’t leave your head. Enjoy the info and trailer below as it drops on both consoles on September 20th. Credit: Ludic Studios Relive Akane’s bloody last night again and again as you master fluid hack-and-slash combat with one-hit kills. Raise your body count sky high to secure her sweet revenge against the Yakuza scum who killed her parents when she was only a child! The heart-thumping soundtrack will get you in the zone for a spree of frenetic combat set against the neon cyberpunk backdrop of a futuristic Mega Tokyo. If at first you don’t succeed, die and die again. Master addictively fluid hack-and-slash combat using your trusty katana and pistol. When you die—and you will die—quickly restart to jump right back into the action. Enemies will spawn at a gradually increasing speed to keep you on your toes. Unleash the Dragon Slash and Dragon Slayer, special attacks that require adrenaline attained from killing enemies to execute. Try to make it to the boss to secure Akane’s revenge! He evolves and gets stronger based on how many times he’s been killed, so stay sharp to secure victory. Strive to clear achievements such as shooting 50 foes in one playthrough or reaching 30 kills with 100% katana accuracy. Improve your score to unlock extras that enhance combat, like new katanas, pistols, cigarettes, boots, and gadgets. Get in the killing zone with flashy pixel graphics and a heart-thumping soundtrack. Enjoyed this? Please share on social media! About Gavin Sheehan Gavin is the current Games Editor for Bleeding Cool. He has been a lifelong geek who can chat with you about comics, television, video games, and even pro wrestling. He can also teach you how to play Star Trek chess, be your Mercy on Overwatch, recommend random cool music, and goes rogue in D&D. He also enjoys hundreds of other geeky things that can’t be covered in a single paragraph. Follow @TheGavinSheehan on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Vero, for random pictures and musings. Latest by Gavin Sheehan Frontier Developments released a brand new DLC pack for Jurassic World Evolution 2 as players can now access the Late Cretaceous Pack. THQ Nordic has confirmed that the long-awaited sequel SuperPower 3 will be released in early October for PC. DX Gameworks confirmed this past week that they will finally be releasing Akane onto both PlayStation and Xbox this Tuesday. Indie developer and publisher Fireline Games confirmed that Fueled Up will be coming to PC and consoles next month. Shiro Unlimited, along with developer Atelier QDB, announced that Decarnation will be a part of Steam Next Fest happening in October. Rebellion Developments have released some new free content for Sniper Elite 5 as players have a new survival map to try out. Latest in Games Frontier Developments released a brand new DLC pack for Jurassic World Evolution 2 as players can now access the Late Cretaceous Pack. THQ Nordic has confirmed that the long-awaited sequel SuperPower 3 will be released in early October for PC. DX Gameworks confirmed this past week that they will finally be releasing Akane onto both PlayStation and Xbox this Tuesday. Get both sides of the rival between Goku and Piccolo in Dragon Ball Super Card Game’s latest set, Dawn of the Z-Legends. Indie developer and publisher Fireline Games confirmed that Fueled Up will be coming to PC and consoles next month. Shiro Unlimited, along with developer Atelier QDB, announced that Decarnation will be a part of Steam Next Fest happening in October.

This Week On Crypto Twitter: Ethereum Merges, Hoskinson Gets Salty, Concerns Over Centralized Staking – Decrypt https://dentoncountynewsonline.com/this-week-on-crypto-twitter-ethereum-merges-hoskinson-gets-salty-concerns-over-centralized-staking-decrypt/ Illustration by Mitchell Preffer for Decrypt It was merge week. Ethereum’s long-awaited overhaul was finalized without a hitch, but there was no sudden influx of capital, either. Ethereum’s price actually fell 8% to below $1,500 on Thursday, the day of the merge. At the time of writing it trades for $1,376, about 22% cheaper than it was last Sunday.  A day before the merge, Ethereum’s co-founder Vitalik Buterin shared a graph from etherchain.org showing the network’s hash rate has maintained consistency, despite negative predictions from certain forecasters.  Looks like the “hashrate will drop weeks before the merge due to miners rushing to sell ahead of everyone else” thesis has been proven completely false. I’m a bit surprised! I argued against a 50% drop but definitely expected like 5-10%. pic.twitter.com/l9OpT8fPFl — vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) September 14, 2022 The following day, Thursday, Buterin broke the news that the network’s transition to proof-of-stake (PoS) was complete:  And we finalized! Happy merge all. This is a big moment for the Ethereum ecosystem. Everyone who helped make the merge happen should feel very proud today. — vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) September 15, 2022 Beeple, the digital artist whose NFT collection “EVERYDAYS: THE FIRST 5000 DAYS” sold for an unprecedented $69.3 million through a Christie’s auction, ushered in the new era with a purple vision of Ethereum mining in the future: A blockchain developer named Miguel Piedrafita said that after the merge, Ethereum was 99.95% more energy efficient, becoming vastly greener than a typical tech company.  The upgrade even slightly outdid Ethereum’s energy projections. A report released on the day from the Crypto Carbon Ratings Institute (CCRI), commissioned by Ethereum-centric software firm ConsenSys, claims that Ethereum now uses approximately 99.99% less energy post-merge.  Former Ethereum co-founder Charles Hoskinson, who now heads competitor Cardano—which has a market cap of $16.4 billion—was feeling salty. He posted a meme likening the merge to a nightmare. When someone tweeted him asking where Cardano’s technology stands in relation to Ethereum, Hoskinson let rip with some flagrant self-promotion:  About three years ahead on research, two on engineering. They will one day figure out that slashing is a really really bad idea — Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) September 15, 2022 Crypto market intelligence firm Santiment sounded a note of caution over how centralized Ethereum staking had become after the merge.  This was a common complaint. According to Martin Köppelmann, co-founder of DeFi platform Gnosis, popular crypto exchage Coinbase and liquidity staking pool Lido Finance together account for 42% of post-merge Ethereum validators, and the top seven entities control more than two thirds of the stake validating transactions. Köppelmann also ran a poll in which three quarters of 15,885 respondents agreed that Coinbase and Lido’s staking dominance “needs to change.”  Alex Svanevik, the CEO of crypto analytics company Nansen, noted a sudden huge influx of Ethereum into exchanges.  Huge inflow to exchanges coming from: 1) Nexo: 450,000 ETH to Binance. 2) Multisig owner: 288,442 ETH to Bitfinex. That’s $1.2B in two transactions pic.twitter.com/UMOAh0mXmK — Alex Svanevik (@ASvanevik) September 15, 2022 Finally Daniel Buchner, a technical product lead at Microsoft’s Decentralized Identity initiative, likened the merge to Groundhog Day: Feeling some déjà vu, help me out: today folks are celebrating an ‘introduction’ of PoS, a consensus system known for 20 years we’ve long had examples of, which has numerous flaws cypherpunks carefully avoided in developing PoW. Why is this being advertised as new or innovative? pic.twitter.com/Ir0EJCQfnX — Daniel Ƀrrr (@csuwildcat) September 15, 2022 Michael Saylor… It was also a big week for MicroStrategy’s former CEO and current executive chairman Michael Saylor. It wasn’t so much what he said, but what people were saying about him. On Tuesday, Bitcoin enthusiast Udi Wertheimer trolled his 114.3k followers with believable fake news.  BREAKING: MICROSTRATEGY HAS PURCHASED AN ADDITIONAL 1,143 BTC AT AN AVERAGE PRICE OF $22,958 USD — Udi Wertheimer (@udiWertheimer) September 13, 2022 Fake or not, it would be wrong to say that Saylor isn’t considering swelling Microstrategy’s 129,699 Bitcoin war chest (worth $2.6 billion at today’s price). Last week, an SEC filing revealed that MicroStrategy has entered an agreement with investment bank Cowen & Co. to sell up to $500 million in shares of its Class A common stock. It may use the proceeds to buy more Bitcoin.  On Friday, the White House released new guidance on crypto. Billed as a “First-Ever Comprehensive Framework for Responsible Development of Digital Assets,” the new guidance uses the recommendations and conclusions of various government agencies after six months of studying the crypto industry.  Saylor shared a lengthy article by crypto investor Nic Carter denouncing the crypto mining climate study done by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). Carter claims the main weaknesses of the study were unreliable sources, a lack of perspectives from industry experts, and no novel data.  The latest White House Crypto Climate & Energy Report is full of misinformation generated and promulgated by unscrupulous crypto promoters in order to undermine #Bitcoin and champion their own interests. @nic__carter expertly debunks the propaganda.https://t.co/kW7sictekQ — Michael Saylor (@saylor) September 16, 2022 Still, Saylor doesn’t represent everyone, according to “independent Ethereum educator” Anthony Sassano.  Saylor is not a good flag bearer for this industry He is an absolute embarrassment — sassal.eth (@sassal0x) September 16, 2022 Finally, Terra CEO Do Kwon broke his silence on Saturday after headlines emerged earlier in the week saying that a South Korean court had issued an arrest warrant for him for violating capital market rules. The Korean Ministry of Finance also announced that it was seeking to void his passport. He told followers he’s not on the lam.     We are in the process of defending ourselves in multiple jurisdictions – we have held ourselves to an extremely high bar of integrity, and look forward to clarifying the truth over the next few months — Do Kwon (@stablekwon) September 17, 2022 Stay on top of crypto news, get daily updates in your inbox.

Biden Says U.S. Troops Would Defend Taiwan In Event Of Attack By China – The Washington Post https://dentoncountynewsonline.com/biden-says-u-s-troops-would-defend-taiwan-in-event-of-attack-by-china-the-washington-post/ President Biden has again confirmed that U.S. troops would defend Taiwan in the event of an attack from China, the clearest recent statement Biden has made about how far the United States would go to support Taiwan militarily. In an interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes” that aired Sunday evening, Biden told host Scott Pelley that the United States would defend Taiwan “if in fact there was an unprecedented attack.” China claims Taiwan, a self-governing democracy that is home to 23 million people, as its own territory, and has asserted it could one day use force to take control of the island. Since Russia invaded Ukraine more than six months ago, Biden had emphasized several times that U.S. military forces would not fight Russian troops on Ukrainian soil. Pelley pressed Biden on whether the situation would be different in the event of an attack on Taiwan. “So unlike Ukraine, to be clear, sir, U.S. forces — U.S. men and women — would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion?” Pelley asked. “Yes,” Biden replied. The interview is the latest of several occasions in which Biden has said that the United States would come to Taiwan’s defense militarily if China were to attack. Each time, White House officials emphasized that his remarks did not represent any change in U.S. policy. A Biden administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the issue, pointed to remarks the president made in May, when he told reporters that the practice of strategic ambiguity toward Taiwan remained. At the time, he did not elaborate and did not explicitly say he would send U.S. troops to Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion. “He also made clear then that our Taiwan policy hasn’t changed,” the official said. “That remains true.” A representative from the State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday. The “60 Minutes” segment erroneously stated that U.S. policy since 1979 has recognized Taiwan as part of China. Under the United States’ “one-China policy,” the American government under various administrations has for decades acknowledged Beijing’s view without taking a position on the status of Taiwan’s sovereignty. Under the Taiwan Relations Act, which was signed by President Jimmy Carter in 1979, the United States agreed to provide Taiwan with arms to defend itself, and “to maintain the capacity of the United States to resist any resort to force or other forms of coercion that would jeopardize the security, or the social or economic system, of the people on Taiwan.” The language neither guarantees nor rules out the possibility of military intervention, though the United States has long practiced “strategic ambiguity” when it comes to what it would do. In the “60 Minutes” interview, Biden appeared to refer to the Taiwan Relations Act when asked what Chinese President Xi Jinping should know about Biden’s commitment to Taiwan. “We agree with what we signed onto a long time ago,” Biden told Pelley. “And that there’s one-China policy, and Taiwan makes their own judgments about their independence. We are not moving — we’re not encouraging their being independent. That’s their decision.” Tensions between the United States and China — as well as between China and Taiwan — have escalated in recent months. Shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine, Biden sent an unofficial delegation of former U.S. defense and national security officials to Taiwan, an effort to show that the United States’ commitment to Taiwan “remains rock solid,” an administration official said at the time. Last month, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) traveled with a congressional delegation to Taipei, becoming the first House speaker to visit Taiwan since Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) did so in 1997. There, the delegation met with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, and Pelosi repeatedly affirmed the United States’ “commitment to” and “enduring friendship” with Taiwan. The visit angered Beijing. Under the Chinese Communist Party, Beijing has for decades pursued a global pressure campaign to diplomatically isolate Taiwan’s democratically elected government by poaching its diplomatic partners and fiercely opposing exchanges between Taipei and foreign officials. China conducted expanded military exercises near Taiwan leading up to and after Pelosi’s visit, calling them a warning to “provocateurs” who challenge Beijing’s claims over Taiwan. Beijing also imposed sanctions on Pelosi and her immediate family, and canceled military dialogues and suspended climate talks with the United States. Christian Shepherd contributed to this report.

College Volleyball: Western Tech Handles Ridgewater, 3-1 – West Central Tribune https://dentoncountynewsonline.com/college-volleyball-western-tech-handles-ridgewater-3-1-west-central-tribune/ Ridgewater Warriors logo Courtesy of Ridgewater College WILLMAR — The Ridgewater Warriors dropped their third consecutive match, losing 3-1 against Western Technical College in a Minnesota College Athletic Conference volleyball match on Saturday. “We continue to put in work on and off the court to gain connections,” Warriors head coach Amanda Bohlsen said. “The team fought hard for every point.” Sophomore right-side hitter Harley Kunstleben and freshman outside hitter Macy Schenk paced Ridgewater’s offense. Both tallied seven kills. Four Warriors recorded at least 10 digs. Sophomore libero Tayler Schmidt led with 36. Ridgewater returns to action at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday against Minnesota West Community and Technical College. Western Tech 3, Ridgewater 1 Western Tech (3-4)     25   25   19   25 Ridgewater (2-7)         21   16   25   19 Western Tech Stats unavailable  Ridgewater Serving (aces): Elizabeth Koenen 3, Gabby Randt 1, Harley Kunstleben 1, Tayler Schmidt 1, Macy Schenk 1 … Set assists: Olivia Naatjes 31, Yansi Flores 7, Koenen 2, Hallye Foster 1, Randt 1 … Hitting (kills): Kunstleben 7, Schenk 7, Flores 6, Jenna Kunerth 5, Adelia Pierson 5, Randt 5, Koenen 3, Foster 2, Morgan Hoffmann 2, Naatjes 1 … Blocking (aces): Randt 2, Naatjes 2, Kunstleben 2, Flores 1, Foster 1 … Digs (5 or more): Schmidt 36, Kunstleben 14, Koenen 10, Naatjes 10, Cailin Yoose 8, Kunerth 6 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.

Political Consultant Matt Armstrong Resigns As County Precinct 1 Chief Administrator – Denton Record Chronicle https://dentoncountynewsonline.com/political-consultant-matt-armstrong-resigns-as-county-precinct-1-chief-administrator-denton-record-chronicle/ Best of the Blotter Would you like to receive our Weekly Blotter email newsletter? Sign up today! Breaking News e-Edition Notifier Receive a daily notification that the DR-C e-Edition is available. Sign up now. High School Season Pass Sign up to receive the Denton Record-Chronicle High School Sports Newsletter. Mean Green Spotlight Want to receive the NEW Mean Green Spotlight weekly newsletter. Sign Up Today!  Promotions and Offers Would you like to receive information from our advertisers or DR-C offers? Sign up now. Wake Up with the DR-C Would you like to receive our Wake Up with the DR-C newsletters? Sign up now. Your Money, Your Home Sign up for Business News delivered twice monthly to your inbox.

New Report Shows Business Travel On The Rise This Fall – Morning Brew https://dentoncountynewsonline.com/new-report-shows-business-travel-on-the-rise-this-fall-morning-brew/ Become smarter in just 5 minutes Get the daily email that makes reading the news actually enjoyable. Stay informed and entertained, for free. Get ready for an influx of people trying to “get some work done” at the airport Chili’s. After the pandemic obliterated business travel, a “blockbuster” season for the pay-to-preboard crowd is coming this fall, according to travel manager TripActions. Business trip bookings and travel spending have jumped nearly 6x between September and mid-November, compared to a year ago. Even WFHers need facetime: While fall is typically a popular time for corporate conference-goers, business travel in autumn 2022 is also getting a bump from heaps of IRL whiteboard sessions. After sales meetings, getting distributed teams together in-person was the top reason for business travel. “Pre-pandemic, it was a lot of salespeople and marketing folks traveling…but now we see more individual travelers per company taking trips…and spending company money,” Michael Sindicich, GM of TripAction’s expense product, Liquid, told Morning Brew. When business travelers are heading to the airport has also changed. This year, 35% of business trips included a weekend, compared to 31% in 2019, meaning employees are mullet-ing their Friday meetings with a mini-vacation before they head back home. Big picture: TripActions warned that “these new patterns are far from settled,” and companies might still be hesitant to send employees to a ropes course in Austin when the economic outlook is this uncertain. Google and Microsoft have begun to restrict business travel to save money.—MM

New Column Being Added To Gulfshore Business – Wink News https://dentoncountynewsonline.com/new-column-being-added-to-gulfshore-business-wink-news/ (Credit: Gulfshore Business) A new column is being added to Gulfshore Business. Tim Aten’s “Tim Aten Knows” column is moving to Gulfshore Business on September 19. Aten is a Senior Editor at Gulfshore Business. He has built a large following covering growth and development for the Naples Daily News for over 20 years. Aten’s “In the Know” column was a must-read for many years not just for growth and development, but also for the latest news covering the restaurant scene in SWFL. In 2020, Aten joined the team at Gulfshore Business and continues covering the growth, development, and restaurants for Gulfshore Business magazine and its newsletter. In addition, for the past several years, Tim wrote a column for Florida Weekly. On September 23, “Tim Aten Knows” will be posted at 9 a.m., on gulfshorebusiness.com and it will appear in the Friday afternoon Gulfshore Business Today newsletter. His column is a timely Q & A on the changing landscape of Southwest Florida. Copyright 2022 Fort Myers Broadcasting Company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without prior written consent. Do you see a typo or an error? Let us know.

Things To Do In Cincinnati This Week: Sept. 19-25 – The Cincinnati Enquirer https://dentoncountynewsonline.com/things-to-do-in-cincinnati-this-week-sept-19-25-the-cincinnati-enquirer/ It is nearly craft show time again in Cincinnati, and we will soon be publishing our big craft show list. If you are hosting a craft show or know of one that should be on the list, please send all the details to calendar@cincinnati.com with “craft show” in the subject line. Monday, Sept. 19 FILM: “The Loyola Project,” 6 p.m., National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, 50 E. Freedom Way, Downtown. Film pairs archival footage with modern day interviews to reexamine the 1963 Loyola Ramblers team and how they fought for equality on the basketball court during the height of the Civil Rights Movement. $15. Otrfilmfest.org. FOOD: Greater Cincinnati Restaurant Week, Monday-Sunday, at participating restaurants. greatercincinnatirestaurantweek.com. HEALTH: Yoga, 6 p.m., Inwood Park, 104 Wellington Place, Mount Auburn. Mondays through Sept. 26. Free. eventbrite.com. MUSIC: Herb Alpert & Lani Hall, Memorial Hall. MUSIC: Jazz at the Park: Jazz Attack, 6-9 p.m., Washington Park, 1230 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine. Free. washingtonpark.org. Tuesday, Sept. 20 ART: Michael Coppage: American*, Weston Art Gallery, 650 Walnut St., Downtown. Exhibition of new and ongoing lens-based projects by Cincinnati artist exploring the negative archetypes and stark racial disparities still operating in the language and psychology of contemporary American culture. Part of FotoFocus Biennial. Runs Sept. 16-Nov. 6. Free. COMEDY: Hi-Fi Comedy Showcase, 8-10 p.m., 941 Pavilion St., Mount Adams. Free. MUSIC: Old 97s, Southgate House Revival, Sanctuary. With Vandoliers. SPORTS: Cincinnati Reds vs Boston Red Sox, Great American Ball Park. Runs Sept. 20-21. reds.com. Wednesday, Sept. 21 CHARITY: Slice Night, 5-9 p.m., Yeatman’s Cove, Downtown. All-you-can-eat pizza. Benefits University of Cincinnati Cancer Center. $25, $20 advance, $5 ages under 10. Cincinnatimagazine.com/slice. COMEDY: Pro-Am Night, 7:30 p.m., Go Bananas Comedy Club, 8410 Market Place Lane, Montgomery. Ages 18-up. $5. gobananascomedy.com. COMMUNITY: Soup and Stories, noon-3 p.m., The Welcome Project, 2940 Colerain Ave., Camp Washington. Runs every Wednesday May 25-Sept. 28. Enjoy soup made by immigrant chefs and hear empowering stories. Free. owningyourownvoice.org. FILM: Summer Cinema: “Encanto,” 9 p.m., Washington Park, 1230 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine. Free movies on the lawn. washingtonpark.org. HEALTH: Yoga on the Levee, 6 p.m., Newport on the Levee, 1 Levee Way. Sage Yoga Hot + Pilates leads classes at Aquarium Plaza. Runs Wednesdays April 6-Oct. 26. Free. MUSIC: Red Light Jazz Room, 7:30-10:30 p.m., The Somerset, 139 E. McMicken Ave., Over-the-Rhine. Showcases live jazz, R&B, and soul. Other dates: July 20, Aug. 17, Sept. 21, Oct. 19. Free. eventbrite.com. SPORTS: FC Cincinnati vs Chivas Guadalajara, 7 p.m., TQL Stadium, 1501 Central Parkway, West End. League Cup Showcase. fccincinnati.com. Thursday, Sept. 22 CHARITY: Tender Mercies Annual Celebration, 5-7 p.m., The Alcove by MadTree, 1410 Vine St., Over-the-Rhine. Reservations needed by Sept. 14. 513-639-7047. COMEDY: Andrew Rudick, Go Bananas Comedy Club, 8410 Market Place Lane, Montgomery. Runs Sept. 22-25. gobananascomedy.com. COMMUNITY: UC Clermont 50th Anniversary Celebration, 4:30 p.m., UC Clermont College, 4200 Clermont College Drive, Batavia. Cocktails and social hour followed by dinner and program. ucclermont.edu/50. DANCE: Salsa on the Square, 7 p.m., Fountain Square, 520 Vine St., Downtown. Free. myfountainsquare.com. FILM: Movie Night at the Levee, 6-8 p.m., Newport on the Levee, 1 Levee Way, Newport. Free. SPORTS: Cincinnati Reds vs Milwaukee Brewers, Great American Ball Park. Runs Sept. 22-25. reds.com. THEATER: King Lear, Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, 1195 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine. Runs Sept. 9-Oct. 1. cincyshakes.com. THEATER: Pippin, Stained Glass Theater, 802 York St., Newport. Runs Sept. 22-Oct. 9. footlighters.org. Friday, Sept. 23 CHARITY: Zoofari: An Evening in the Everglades, 7 p.m.-midnight, Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, 3400 Vine St., Avondale. $250. SOLD OUT. COMEDY: Jay Pharoah, Funny Bone Comedy Club, 7518 Bales St., Liberty Township. Runs Sept. 23-24. liberty.funnybone.com. EXPO: Cincinnati Comic Expo, 3-8 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday, Duke Energy Convention Center, 525 Elm St., Downtown. Enjoy the best in comics, graphic novels, artwork, games, toys, movies and television. $60 weekend pass. $25 Friday and Sunday, $35 Saturday. Geek Prom $35-$150. cincinnaticomicexpo.com. FESTIVAL: Whispering Beard Folk Festival, Carriage House Farm, North Bend. Live music, camping. Family-friendly. whisperingbeard.com. FESTIVAL: The Kroger Wellness Festival, 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Friday-Saturday, The Banks. Festival focuses on food and wellness. Experts in nutrition, fitness, health and personal care will be on hand to help you learn about taking a holistic approach to healthy living. kroger.com. FESTIVAL: St. Agnes Oktoberfest, 1680 Dixie Highway, Fort Wright. Friday-Sunday. Rides, live music, booths, German grill and beer garden, silent auction, games and more. FESTIVAL: St. Benedict Festival, 338 E. 16th St., Covington. 5-11 p.m. Friday-Saturday. 859-743-0223. FESTIVAL: Oktoberfest, 11 a.m.-midnight Friday-Sunday, Hofbrauhaus, 200 E. Third St., Newport. hofbrauhausnewport.com. FESTIVAL: Loveland “Liebesland” Oktoberfest, 4-10 p.m. Friday, noon-10 p.m. Saturday, Downtown Loveland. lovinlifeloveland.com. FESTIVAL: Newport Oktoberfest, 5-11 p.m. Friday, noon-11 p.m. Saturday, noon-9 p.m. Sunday, Festival Park, Newport. FESTIVAL: Merchants & Music Festival, 5-11 p.m. Friday, noon-11 p.m. Saturday, Tower Park, 900 Cochran Ave., Fort Thomas. Bring lawn chairs and enjoy art, food, drinks, vendors and live music. Kids’ zone from 2-7 p.m. Saturday. Free. merchantsandmusic.com. FILM: NightLight513: “The Dark Knight,” 7:30 p.m., Sawyer Point Park, P&G Pavilion, Downtown. Bring blankets, pillows or chairs with a low back and enjoy outdoor movies on select nights. Beer, wine and food for purchase. No pets. Ages 21-up. $10. nightlight513.com. FILM: Movies Under Moonlight: “Encanto,” dusk, Woodland Mound, 8250 Old Kellogg Road, Anderson Township. Kid-friendly activities start at 6 p.m. Food trucks and concessions on site. Free. greatparks.org. HALLOWEEN: Halloween Haunt, 6 p.m. Friday-Saturday, Kings Island, 6300 Kings Island Drive, Mason. Ages 13-up. Runs Sept. 23-Oct. 29. $44.99-up. visitkingsisland.com. MUSIC: The Prince Experience, Bogart’s. MUSIC: Dwight Yoakam, Hard Rock Casino Ballroom. MUSIC: Jelly Roll, MegaCorp Pavilion. With Struggle Jennings, Bexar. MUSIC: Jim Messina, Ludlow Garage. MUSIC: In Her Voice, 6-10:30 p.m., Washington Park, 1230 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine. Celebration of Black women’s power through performance and poetry. Free. washingtonpark.org. MUSIC: Bluegrass Night with Vernon McIntyre’s Appalachian Grass, 7-9 p.m., Fibonacci Brewing Co., 1445 Compton Road, Mount Healthy. Free.  MUSIC: Live at the Levee: Road Trip, 7-9 p.m., Newport on the Levee, 1 Levee Way, Newport. Free. newportonthelevee.com. MUSIC: Fifth & Vine Live, 7-10 p.m. Friday-Saturday, Fountain Square, 520 Vine St., Downtown. Friday: The New Usuals, Jus Clay, Malibu Wild. Saturday: JayBee Lamahj, Kelby Savage, Siri Imani. Free. myfountainsquare.com. MUSIC: 30 Years of Stephen: the Music of Stephen Flaherty, 8 p.m., Corbett Auditorium, University of Cincinnati. CCM fundraising gala. THEATER: It’s Not a Trip, It’s a Journey, Know Theatre, 1120 Jackson St., Over-the-Rhine. Runs Sept. 23-Oct. 9. knowtheatre.com. THEATER: And Then There Were None, Fairfield Community Arts Center, 411 Wessel Drive, Fairfield. Runs Sept. 23-25. fairfieldfootlighters.org. THEATER: Violet, Northern Kentucky University School of the Arts, Highland Heights. Runs Sept. 23-Oct. 2. nku.edu. THEATER: Disney’s Beauty and the Beast Jr., 7 p.m. Friday-Saturday, Sharonville Cultural Arts Center, 11165 Reading Road. Performing Arts Inc. presents Sharonville Center Stage inaugural season. Runs Sept. 23-24. sharonvillecac@gmail.com. TOURS: The Darkside of Brewing Tour, Brewing Heritage Trail Tour Center, 1939 Race St., Over-the-Rhine. 90-minute haunted tour features gruesome and macabre events from Cincinnati’s past. Includes visit to abandoned city street, flashlight tour of underground cellar complex of the historic Jackson Brewery and more. Runs Sept. 9-Nov. 5. $29. brewingheritagetrail.org. Saturday, Sept. 24 ART: Art Affaire, Main St., Downtown Milford. Juried show features approximately 100 artists and fine craftspeople in booths along Main St., plus live music, food and drink vendors, raffles and fun.  ART: Art Fair, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Saturday, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday, Pyramid Hill Sculpture Park and Museum, Hamilton. More than 70 artists sell handmade creations. Includes live music, family-friendly activities and food. $20 per carload. pyramidhill.org. ART: Photography & Tenderness, 6-9 p.m., Wave Pool Gallery, 2940 Colerain Ave., Camp Washington. Exhibition curated by Lorena Molina and Eliza Gregory. Part of FotoFocus Biennial. Runs Sept. 24-Nov. 5. Free. Wavepoolgallery.org. BARS: Crowley’s 85th Birthday Party, 2 p.m., Crowley’s Highland House Irish Pub, 958 Pavilion St., Mount Adams. Celebrate Cincinnati’s oldest family-owned Irish pub. Free. mtadamscincy.org. BARS: Streetside Brewery Sixth Anniversary Party, 11 a.m.-11 p.m., Streetside Brewery, 4003 Eastern Ave., East End. Live music, special beer releases, guest food trucks and more. CHARITY: Suits That Rock, MegaCorp Pavilion. Benefits the Carnegie. $40. 859-957-1940. EDUCATION: Birds & Brews, noon-3 p.m., 50 West Brewing Co., 7605 Wooster Pike, Columbia Township. Meet Longbottom Bird Ranch ducks, pet them and learn about the world of domestic...

Broncos Beat Texans, But Russell Wilson’s Ugly Start Is The Bigger Story After Week 2 Of 2022 NFL Season – CBS Sports https://dentoncountynewsonline.com/broncos-beat-texans-but-russell-wilsons-ugly-start-is-the-bigger-story-after-week-2-of-2022-nfl-season-cbs-sports/ Broncos Country, let’s panic? Two weeks into the 2022 NFL season, it’s probably unfair to write off any player or team, let alone a player and team working together for the first time. It is, however, fair to note just how ugly Denver’s big quarterback gamble has looked now that Russell Wilson has rocked orange as Mile High’s signal-caller both at home and on the road. Make no mistake: Russ and the Broncos won on Sunday against the Texans, and winning cures all, as they say. But was it supposed to be this hard? On paper, Wilson was just fine in Week 1 against his old friends in Seattle, finishing 29 of 42 for 340 yards, one touchdown and no turnovers, averaging 8 yards per attempt and posting a 101.3 passer rating. His signature lofty deep balls emerged late to threaten a Broncos comeback. And yet the offense under his lead didn’t hold a single lead against the Seahawks. He struggled to establish chemistry with his wideouts early. He at times aided Seattle’s pass rush by holding onto the ball. And, most egregiously, he was a passive accomplice to coach Nathaniel Hackett’s inexplicably conservative decision-making in the closing seconds of a one-score loss. On Sunday, in Week 2’s win over the Texans, Wilson got the “W,” once again delivering a deep floater late, this time to tight end Eric Saubert for a go-ahead score. But individually, he was even worse. Completing less than half of his 31 passes while absorbing three sacks, one of which he stumbled into on his own, Wilson oversaw a 3-for-12 third-down performance and extended Denver’s streak of failed red-zone efforts against a rebuilding Houston defense. Meanwhile, his mental pairing with Hackett continued to plague the club from a strategic standpoint — so much so that Broncos fans literally mass-chanted the play clock at the stadium in an attempt to help their star QB avoid delay-of-game penalties. By submitting my email I agree to receive the “Pick Six Newsletter” and other marketing and promotional emails from CBS Sports, which may include information from our affiliates and/or partners’ offers, products and services. For more information about our data practices consult our Privacy Policy Please check the opt-in box to acknowledge that you would like to subscribe. Thanks for signing up! Keep an eye on your inbox. Sorry! There was an error processing your subscription. It’s not so much that Wilson alone is the problem. Far from it. Hackett’s early situational play designs have left a lot to be desired, and Javonte Williams‘ usage as a potential featured back has been scattershot. But when you pay such a steep price for a seemingly franchise-altering QB, you expect instant results. You expect a transcendent talent — someone who single-handedly offsets surrounding issues. That may be unfair to Wilson, but the Broncos are responsible for whatever pressure lies on his shoulders. They paid the price — literally, and twice — for Russ to be their savior, first by trading a mega package for his services in March, then by handing him a $245 million extension on Sept. 1, before he took a single snap in their uniform. Two weeks into the season, there is plenty of time for Wilson to get the Broncos on a smoother track, and into the class of legitimate playoff hopefuls. The majority of his NFL resume confirms he can, and suggests he will, do as much. The irony, however, is that Wilson’s long-awaited bolt from Seattle for greener — er, more orange — pastures has brought him to a Broncos team that, so far, looks an awful lot like the worst versions of his former old-school Seahawks offense. Ugly games. Lots of boring aerial strategy focused on the tight ends. A need to rely on the run game and defense. That strategy can lead to victories, to be clear, but it’s increasingly ill-suited for today’s NFL. And that, frankly, is the $245M question surrounding Wilson already: is he, good setup or not, still suited for QB stardom in today’s NFL? Or is it possible, at 33, coming off an injury and the most immobile, unproductive stretch of his 10-year Seahawks career, desperate to headline a new market once dominated by greats like John Elway and Peyton Manning, that Russ is no longer that guy? The Broncos, you can bet, are praying that’s not the case. And, hopefully, looking in the mirror to see how they can help.

University Of Sharjah To Preserve UAE Heritage With Blockchain Metaverse System – ITP.net https://dentoncountynewsonline.com/university-of-sharjah-to-preserve-uae-heritage-with-blockchain-metaverse-system-itp-net/ Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker

Suit Up Your Tony Stark Inspired Home With Mayer’s Iron Man Home Appliance Collection – Geek Culture https://dentoncountynewsonline.com/suit-up-your-tony-stark-inspired-home-with-mayers-iron-man-home-appliance-collection-geek-culture/ September 19, 2022 4 min read It’s time to let the machines maketh the man, with the newly launched Marvel x Mayer Iron Man Collection of home electronics to power up your home. Mayer’s exciting new launch features everyone’s favourite Avenger – Iron Man, allowing anyone to start building their very own Tony Stark-themed home. With its subtle yet impactful designs, this collection aims to play up any corner of your house – from minimalist to more elaborate interiors, with the convenience of home gadgets. Enjoy comfort living with these sleek home appliances that draw inspiration from the armoured hero, with a contemporary and stylish take that’s perfect for any modern home. For the health conscious, tap on the easy-to-use Mayer 1.8L Electric Kettle and 600ml Personal Power Blender to create your favourite beverage, and bid farewell to excess moisture and dust with the Mistral 1.2L Tabletop Dehumidifier. For everyday comfort, bask in the cool relief of the Mistral 6” High Velocity Fan or 12” Rechargeable High Velocity Stand Fan. Advertisement ▼ Mayer’s latest product range makes daily lives easier and more enjoyable, allowing consumers of all ages to indulge in Stark-inspired comfort living in Singapore. “Get ready to extend your favourite stories beyond the screen or page. With this collection, we invite fans to imagine living in a world where their home appliances might have been designed by Stark Industries. We are delighted to bring these Tony Stark-inspired designs to Singapore homes with the Marvel x Mayer collection this September 2022. Through this launch, we continue to focus on developing and designing user-friendly home appliances that will spark joy in the comfort of our homes.” Mr B.K Tan, Managing Director of Mayer Marketing. Marvel x Mayer 1.8L Electric Kettle MMEK718-MV (S$79) Secure some peace of mind along with extra protection from the Triple Wall feature. Triple wall kettle with excellent insulation and better scald protection 2-step anti-splash lid opening design for spillage & scalding protection SUS304 food grade stainless steel interior wall User friendly design with cord storage at kettle base and power switch with indicator light Automatic cut-off switch, overheating and boil-dry protection Ergonomic cool touch handle Marvel x Mayer 600ml Personal Power Blender MMPB6008-MV (S$89) Create the extraordinary with some built-in convenience with this automated blender that can create the healthiest of smoothies, or mix-up the most complex of cocktails with ease. With its two automated blending modes and convertible bottle for on-the-go beverages, you’re ready for a hassle-free day. 2 automated blending modes: Soft & Hard, optimal for different food textures 600ml BPA-free tritan bottles Powerful pure copper motor for better durability 6-piece SUS304 food grade stainless steel blades for superb mixing Portable and convenient to carry on the go as a water bottle With safety interlock switch, non-slip feet and overheating protection Marvel x Mistral 1.2L Tabletop Dehumidifier MDH012-MV (S$99) With its 2-in-1 ability to remove moisture while filtering dust particles in your room, say bye-bye to humidity induced stickiness ! 1.2L transparent water tank Multi-colour inner mood lighting Detachable dust filter for easy cleaning Automatic power off and mood light turns to red when tank is full Hidden handle for easy carry Silent Power Removal Capacity: 320ml/day Marvel x Mistral 6” High Velocity Fan with Remote Control MHV630R-MV (S$148) Who doesn’t fancy a cool-down on a hot day? With just a touch of a button, enjoying 3D oscillation cooling is now a breeze! 3D Oscillation to cool the room down quickly With remote control & LED electronic soft touch control panel Direct current motor for longer durability and lower energy consumption 8 Speed | 8 Hour timer | 3 Modes (Normal, Natural & Sleep Mode) Detachable front guard for easy cleaning Marvel x Mistral 12” Rechargeable High Velocity Stand Fan with Remote Control MHV1812R-MV (S$299) All-in-one convenience with this wireless, rechargeable, and convertible stand fan – thank you Tony! We love you 3,000. Wireless & Rechargeable, portable to be used plugged in or cordless Battery life from 2.5 to 26.5 hours (5hrs to full charge) Convertible height (535mm or 950mm) Customisable 3D Oscillation to cool the room down quickly With remote control & LED electronic soft touch control panel Direct current motor for longer durability and lower energy consumption 8 Speed | 8 Hour timer | 3 Modes (Normal Natural, Sleep) Detachable front guard for easy cleaning The Marvel x Mayer Iron Man collection is out now at Mayer Showrooms, e-Store, Official Online Stores and Selected Authorised Retail Partners – Audio House, Best Denki, COURTS, Gain City, Harvey Norman,  and TANGS. While stocks last. When it comes to providing the right hardware at the right price, Destro is the man of the hour. Just don’t count of him keeping his deals exclusive to just one party. If you have coin, Destro has the wares. Drop a Facebook comment below!

After The Crypto Crash, Has Hollywood Given Up On NFTs? – Bloomberg https://dentoncountynewsonline.com/after-the-crypto-crash-has-hollywood-given-up-on-nfts-bloomberg/ We’ve detected unusual activity from your computer network To continue, please click the box below to let us know you’re not a robot.

Biden Says US Would Defend Taiwan If China Launches An ‘unprecedented Attack’ – Fox News https://dentoncountynewsonline.com/biden-says-us-would-defend-taiwan-if-china-launches-an-unprecedented-attack-fox-news/ NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! President Joe Biden said this week that the United States would defend Taiwan if China invaded, appearing to break with the US government’s stance of “strategic ambiguity” on the island.  His comments came in an interview that aired Sunday evening, when a 60 Minutes correspondent asked the president if US forces would defend Taiwan.  “Yes, if in fact there was an unprecedented attack,” Biden responded.  The president went on to emphasize his administration’s support for the “One China” policy, which recognizes the government in Beijing while allowing for informal ties with Taiwan.  “Taiwan makes their own judgments about their independence. We are not moving – we’re not encouraging their being independent. We’re not – that – that’s their decision,” Biden said Sunday.  President Joe Biden participates in a virtual meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Roosevelt Room of the White House November 15, 2021, in Washington, DC. (Alex Wong/Getty Images) Tensions between China and the US have escalated in recent weeks following a visit by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to Taiwan in early August.  While the United States does not have a mutual defense treaty with Taiwan, it does supply the island with weapons. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee passed a bill on Wednesday that would give Taiwan $4.5 billion for defense over the next four years and designate Taiwan as a non-NATO ally. PENTAGON OFFICIAL SAYS ‘ONLY A MATTER OF TIME’ BEFORE CHINA CAUSES ‘MAJOR’ INCIDENT IN INDO-PACIFIC REGION Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning criticized the new defense spending this week, saying that the “root cause of the current tensions across the Taiwan Strait is that the one-China principle has been challenged.” “Let me stress that no country or individual should underestimate the Chinese government and people’s strong resolve and firm will to safeguard our sovereignty and territorial integrity and to realize national reunification,” she said at a press conference on Wednesday.  Chinese military helicopters fly past Pingtan island, one of mainland China’s closest point from Taiwan, in Fujian province on August 4, 2022, ahead of massive military drills off Taiwan following US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the self-ruled island.  (HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP via Getty Images) prev next In this photo provided by China’s Xinhua News Agency, a People’s Liberation Army member looks through binoculars during military exercises as Taiwan’s frigate Lan Yang is seen at the rear, on Friday, Aug. 5, 2022. (Lin Jian/Xinhua via AP) A F16v aircraft flies past an airbase in Hualien, Taiwan, August 18, 2022.  (REUTERS/Ann Wang) It’s not the first time that Biden has said the US would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion. The president said last October that the US has a “commitment” to come to Taiwan’s defense, prompting former White House press secretary Jen Psaki to walk back his remarks.  “There has been no shift,” Psaki said in October. “The President was not announcing any change in our policy nor has he made a decision to change our policy.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Sunday evening.  Paul Best is a reporter for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to Paul.best@fox.com and on Twitter: @KincaidBest.

Global Tech Titans Under Growing NZ Pressure To Pay For News – Asia Pacific Report https://dentoncountynewsonline.com/global-tech-titans-under-growing-nz-pressure-to-pay-for-news-asia-pacific-report/ RNZ News By Colin Peacock, RNZ Mediawatch presenter There is mounting pressure on tech titans Google and Facebook to pay local news media to carry their news online. Google has already done deals with some for its News Showcase, but other big names in news are still trying to get the platforms to pay — and the government is hinting it could force the issue soon. “Are you putting the hard word on them to secure deals to pay for content? Are you going to legislate?” Newshub Nation host Simon Shepherd asked Willie Jackson last weekend, putting the hard word on the broadcasting and media minister. “Are you putting the hard word on them to secure deals to pay for content? Are you going to legislate?” Newshub Nation host Simon Shepherd asked Willie Jackson a week ago, putting the hard word on the broadcasting and media minister. “I’m trying really hard. I have said to them, [in] three months let’s see the deals in the marketplace,” the minister replied. For years local news media have griped about getting very little from the platforms distributing their stuff to huge audiences  — and profiting from it. The thing most likely to persuade the tech titans to pay local newsmakers is the likelihood of the government forcing the issue with legislation — and this was the first time that a government minister had set any kind of deadline publicly. ‘I want to see fairness’ “I want to see some fairness. I want to see all these Kiwi news organisations looked after . . and these big players have the funding and the resourcing to be able to do that,” Willie Jackson told Newshub Nation. Some of the deals that have been done were revealed earlier this month when Google launched the local version of its News Showcase service, now available via Google’s websites and apps. The first Kiwi outlets ever to get regular payments from Google for that include The New Zealand Herald’s owner NZME and its subscriber subsidiary BusinessDesk, RNZ, online sites Scoop and Newsroom and the Pacific Media Network. There is also a handful of local outlets too like Crux, which serves the Southern Lakes region, and Kapiti News. “It’s part of our commitment to continuing to play a part in what we see as a very important shared responsibility to ensure the long term sustainability of public interest journalism in New Zealand,” Google’s local country representative Carolyn Rainsford told RNZ’s Gyles Beckford recently. Broadcasting Minister Willie Jackson described that as “a good start, but not enough” — while the Spinoff’s founder Duncan Grieve was also underwhelmed. He reckoned it was actually Willie Jackson that Google had in mind with the Showcase launch “to create a sense that Google is now a solid and public spirited ally to the news industry”. Deal “close” report on NZME and Google. Image: Mediawatch/RNZ For now, Google News Showcase is far from a comprehensive or compelling service for Kiwis. It offers nothing from our biggest national news producer Stuff or other big names in news like TVNZ and Newshub — or smaller outlets such Allied Press and The Spinoff. Bargaining collectively Several publishers — including Stuff — have banded together with the News Publishers Association to bargain collectively with Google and Meta (the parent company of Facebook). Earlier this year the Commerce Commission gave them permission to negotiate a deal for a 10-year period. So how’s that going? “We can’t comment much on the status, but we are engaging with the NPA,” was all Google’s regional head of partnerships Shilpa Jhunjhunwala would tell RNZ earlier this month. A recent report by the Judith Nielsen Institute estimate Google and Facebook paid Australian media companies about A$200m last year. “Unfortunately an interview won’t be possible,” Google New Zealand told Mediawatch last week (without explaining why). Instead they gave us a statement attributable to Caroline Rainsford, country director Google New Zealand: “We are proud of the launch of Google News Showcase and continuing our conversations with other local news media businesses.” “We can’t give you any kind of commercial numbers because they’re all commercial and in confidence,” Google’s regional head of partnerships Shilpa Jhunjhunwala told RNZ’s Gyles Beckford earlier this month. When pressed, she said Google’s global commitment to News Showcase was $1 billion over three years. “But beyond that, we’re not able to share anything specific to New Zealand,” she said. Why is there no deal with other New Zealand news publishers yet? ‘No serious offers on table’ “Those negotiations are underway, but neither of those companies have put any serious offers on the table,” Stuff chief executive Sinead Boucher told Mediawatch. She said the Australian deals were their benchmark. “What we produce is very similar kind of content and we operate in very similar markets. We’d be looking for payments that equate to more like NZ$40 million to $50 million a year into the industry here,” she said. “I think the government and Minister Jackson have made clear that the government expect fair deals to be done — and that they are prepared to legislate in the near term to ensure that happens,” she said. “The only way to materially address this is to create an environment where we can negotiate fair commercial payment from these giant multinationals who have built their businesses entirely off content created by other people,” she said. “You could think of any search term and put it into Google and look down the results and see that a new story created by somebody is part of the results. What we are focused on negotiating a commercial payment for that content in the same way that you would for any other product,” she said. “If you invested in a car and someone started running it as a taxi, you would expect them to compensate you for that — not to build their own business without recognising your investment,” Boucher told Mediawatch. “Our problem is that these platforms are very reluctant to come to the table and have a fair negotiation. That’s why the sort of legislation has been needed in Australia and other countries and also here in New Zealand,” she said. The tale across the Tasman. For more than a decade, he chaired the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) Australia’s competition regulator. “It was fraught at times, but we presented the report to government in mid-2019 and they accepted the recommendation to have a News Media Bargaining Code six months later. It was legislated in February 2021. That’s pretty quick in terms of policy development in Australia,” Sims told Mediawatch. “Google’s done a deal with essentially all media businesses. Meta has only done a deal with media businesses which that employ 85 percent of (Australia’s) journalists. It’s crucial that . . . it’s widely shared and you need legislation so that everybody has the ability to bargain. “I know for a fact that the payments were well in excess of A$200 million — so NZ $40 million to $50 million sounds absolutely the right number to be spread across all media,” he said. “Google and Meta were required to bargain with all eligible media businesses — and if they could not reach agreement, then arbitration would come into place. The threat of that evened up the bargaining power,” he said. “The second component was that if Google and Meta did a deal with one media player, then they were required under law to do a deal with all media players. So their choice was either have no media content on their platform, or do deals,” he said. “They chose to do deals with media companies because there’s value to them,” he said. Arbitration threat needed “I’m a bit concerned that in New Zealand you don’t have arbitration at the end of the negotiation period negotiations fail,” he said. A Google officer once told me struggling news media pleading for “compensation” were like redundant drivers of horse-drawn carriages and rickshaws expecting today’s taxi drivers to pay them. “No, that’s completely wrong. This is not like the car taking the place of the horse and carriage or smartphones taking the place of Kodak film because Google and Facebook don’t produce any journalism. So they haven’t taken the place of media, because they’re just not in the media business,” Rod Sims told Mediawatch. “For Google to be a good search engine, it needs to bring in media into its search just about every time. But they don’t need any particular media company. So only by the News Media Bargaining Code could you even up the bargaining power,” he said. “Unless we get payment for media that’s being taken and used for free, we’ll have a lot less media and less media harms society,” he said. “It’s not up to me to tell the New Zealand government what to do, but my advice would be to pass the Australian News Media Bargaining Code,” he said. This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Ethereum Merge Hard Forks Reveal Competing Proof-Of-Work Projects – Decrypt https://dentoncountynewsonline.com/ethereum-merge-hard-forks-reveal-competing-proof-of-work-projects-decrypt/ The Ethereum merge removed the network’s reliance on miners without a hitch, but the path forward for those that decided to stay with proof of work is not crystal clear. Many Ethereum miners who wanted to keep mining joined a prominent faction led by Chandler Guo to create ETHPoW and ETHW. While their hard fork hit some speed bumps, it’s running and trading at $5.26, down 35% in the past 24 hours as of this writing, according to CoinMarketCap. But before there was ETHPoW, there was EthereumFair, another faction committed to preserving the proof-of-work model for Ethereum with ETF, formerly ETHF. But EthereumFair has garnered only a fraction of the attention of EthereumPoW. EthereumFair claims on Twitter that it was the first PoW token to become forked from Ethereum. The account, which was created in January 2020, has about 14 thousand followers. Despite a two year head start, that’s less than the Twitter account for EthPoW, which amassed just over 15 thousand followers since it was created in July. EthereumFair is led by a group of Chinese miners, with its core documentation provided in the Chinese language. Only this weekend did organizers focus on creating Telegram groups for different languages. Welcome to establish telegram groups in various languages, we will give incentives and support. — EthereumFair(#ETF) #ETHPOW #ETHEREUMPOW (@EthereumFair) September 17, 2022 According to EthereumFair’s block explorer, ETF has 6.7 million total transactions and 1.8 million wallet addresses. The currency is currently trading at $6.43, down 30% in the past 24 hours as of this writing, according to CoinMarketCap. By comparison, ETHW has logged 1.7 billion total transactions, with tokens held in 86.3 million addresses. Meanwhile, Ethereum Classic, created back in 2015 during a separate fork, saw its hash rate spike following the merge as miners transitioned over to mining that currency as well, according to 2miners.com. The most prominent exchange backer of ETF was Poloniex, which first announced that it would support EthereumFair “based on the market situation, consensus of users and the community.” Poloniex, which also renamed ETHF to ETF, subsequently added ETHW support as well. Users that purchase ETF on Poloniex won’t have to pay any fees if they’re exchanging Tron’s USDD stablecoin for the cryptocurrency, which doesn’t apply to purchases made with other stablecoins including Tether’s USDT or Ethereum. The exchange ranks 23rd on CoinMarketCap’s list of top exchanges, seeing $32 million in trading volume over the past 24 hours. The coin is also currently being traded on crypto exchanges Huobi and BitCoke. Among the exchanges trading ETHW are OKX, XT.COM, Deepcoin, Bybit, and CoinW. Stay on top of crypto news, get daily updates in your inbox.

Hurricane Fiona Causing ‘catastrophic’ Flooding In Puerto Rico As The Territory Remains Without Power – CNN https://dentoncountynewsonline.com/hurricane-fiona-causing-catastrophic-flooding-in-puerto-rico-as-the-territory-remains-without-power-cnn/ (CNN)Hurricane Fiona made landfall along the extreme southwestern coast of Puerto Rico, near Punta Tocon, at 3:20 p.m. ET Sunday with winds of 85 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center. The hurricane is already causing catastrophic flooding as it moves just west of Puerto Rico and heads for the Dominican Republic, the center said in a 5 p.m. update. The hurricane center is forecasting 12 to 18 inches of rainfall with a local maximum of 30 inches, particularly across eastern and southern Puerto Rico. Four to 8 inches of rainfall is expected for northern and eastern parts of the Dominican Republic, with a local maximum of 12 inches possible along the northeast coast. “These rains will produce life-threatening and catastrophic flash and urban flooding across Puerto Rico and the eastern Dominican Republic, along with mudslides and landslides in areas of higher terrain,” the hurricane center said. All of Puerto Rico lost power earlier Sunday, according to PowerOutage.us, as the Category 1 storm approached the islands. Many rivers on the eastern side of the territory are in moderate to major flood stage. One river in the southeast has risen over 12 feet in less than seven hours and is now over 25 feet, breaking the previous record of 24.79 feet set in 2017 during Hurricane Maria. Hurricane Fiona is the third of the 2022 Atlantic Hurricane Season and forecast to become a major hurricane — a storm of Category 3 or higher — in about 48 hours, east of the Bahamas. Tropical storm conditions are expected to reach portions of the Dominican Republic within the next few hours and then in the Turks and Caicos Islands and portions of the southeastern Bahamas by early Tuesday. The government of the Bahamas issued a tropical storm warning for the Turks and Caicos and for the Southeastern Bahamas, including the Acklins, Crooked Island, Long Cay, the Inaguas, Mayaguana and the Ragged Islands. The storm’s impacts have already been felt: At least one death has been reported in Basse-Terre in the French territory of Guadeloupe, according to the vice president of the territory’s environmental agency, who said the capital had been devastated by flooding. Puerto Rico without power as hurricane lashes the islands Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Pierluisi confirmed the territory-wide outage in a tweet, noting the entire electric system was out of service and officials have activated the proper protocols to work to restore power. The Authority of Electric Energy and LUMA Energy, which operates Puerto Rico’s power grid, continue to work on the island-wide power outage that is impacting nearly 1.5 million customers, according to Pierluisi. The blackout — which followed hours of progressively worsening power outages — comes five years after Puerto Rico’s power grid was devastated by Hurricane Maria in September 2017, leaving many residents without electricity for months. But officials have stressed it won’t be like last time: Not long before the lights went out, Abner Gomez, head of public safety and crisis management at LUMA Energy, said utility authorities plan to repair and restore electricity with the help of local government agencies. “This is not Maria, this hurricane will not be Maria,” Gomez said. President Joe Biden on Sunday morning approved an emergency declaration for Puerto Rico, freeing up federal resources, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency, for emergency response and disaster relief efforts. There are over 300 FEMA responders on the ground working “hand and glove” with the commonwealth and their emergency management structure, Anne Bink, FEMA’s Assistant Administrator for Response and Recovery, told CNN Sunday. “Our heart goes out to the residents that are again going through another catastrophic event five years later,” Bink said, noting Fiona has hit close to Hurricane Maria’s five-year anniversary. Bink said that FEMA’s response is dual focused, including emergency generation and power missions for critical facilities and ensuring command and control structure is in place for things like search and rescue, emergency power generations and long-term needs once the island moves into recovery. Fiona’s winds are expected to increase along the immediate coastline, while conditions are forecast to deteriorate throughout Sunday afternoon and evening, according to the National Weather Service’s office in San Juan. Already, authorities have responded to one landslide: Emergency officials responded Saturday evening to a landslide around 8 p.m. ET at an apartment complex in Guaynabo, according to fire and public safety officials. There were no initial reports of injuries. Around 120 shelters with 25,000 cots have been opened for those in need, the governor said. Classes Monday have been canceled and government workers — save emergency workers — should stay home, too. A hurricane warning — indicating hurricane conditions are expected — was issued for Puerto Rico, including the islands of Vieques and Culebra, and later expanded to include the eastern Dominican Republic from Cabo Caucedo to Cabo Frances Viejo. The Dominican Republic’s northern coast, from Cabo Frances Viejo west to Puerto Plata, were under a hurricane watch Sunday morning, meaning hurricane conditions are possible in the next 48 hours. CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam contributed to this report.

Tech News: 5 Things To Know In Australia Today – Gizmodo Australia https://dentoncountynewsonline.com/tech-news-5-things-to-know-in-australia-today-gizmodo-australia-2/ Happy Monday. A few things happened over the weekend, so let’s get up to speed before you start your week. 1. Uber was hacked and it doesn’t look good Uber has been hacked and boy does it look bad. The hacker, which boasted of their achievements via Telegram this week, claims to be an 18-year-old who allegedly gained such liberal access to the tech giant’s network that they were able to Slack the Uber workforce and post a picture of a dick on the company’s internal websites. Here’s everything we know. 2. Tesla’s Texas Gigafactory reaches massive milestone Tesla opened a Gigafactory in Austin, Texas back in April. That factory has now built its 10,000th Model Y electric SUV. Brought to our attention by Electrek, it doesn’t exactly give us the current production rate, but it is likely more than one thousand vehicles per week that are being produced by the Elon Musk company. The Model Y was recently crowned Australia’s safest car. 10,000 Model Ys built at Giga Texas to date pic.twitter.com/4cOlnpCRa0 — Tesla (@Tesla) September 17, 2022 3. SpaceX testing Starlink Internet in Antarctica using space lasers Still in Elon Musk world, Starlink has made its way to the southernmost continent, beaming down broadband internet to a research centre in Antarctica. McMurdo Station, a research outpost run by the U.S. Antarctic Program, is testing out a Starlink terminal to enhance its connectivity. McMurdo Station conducts scientific research on geology, astrophysics and climate systems, among other things. The research centre hosts close to 1,000 people during Antarctica’s summer season. 4. Bitcoin country El Salvador’s credit tumbled again Remember when El Salvador thought it was a great idea to make bitcoin legal tender? Well, things are going well (they’re not). Credit agency Fitch downgraded El Salvador’s debt rating from CCC to CC around 14 months after the company’s tech bro president and budding authoritarian, Nayib Bukele, made Bitcoin a nationally recognised legal currency. CC, for context, represents Fitch’s fourth worst credit rating and is seven ticks below the AAA gold standard. 5. Google sends blogger nearly $US250,000 by mistake As reported by Business Insider, Google accidentally sent a quarter of a million dollars to a blogger and security engineer, who says he waited almost a month to hear back from the company. According to the man’s tweet, Google had ‘randomly’ transferred him $US249,999 (around $370,5000). He is a security engineer who carries out “bug bounty hunting” work for organisations like Google. But this payment doesn’t reflect the jobs. It’s been a little over 3 weeks since Google randomly sent me $249,999 and I still haven’t heard anything on the support ticket. Is there any way we could get in touch @Google? (it’s OK if you don’t want it back…) pic.twitter.com/t6f7v5erli — Sam Curry (@samwcyo) September 14, 2022 BONUS ITEM: After this pic circulated, the Thai Red Cross urged people to not do that. We hard agree, please don’t sell your kidney for an iPhone 14. They donated a kidney to get themselves the iphone 14 pic.twitter.com/ko2InN8OHU — ZIM COUSIN (@zimcousin) September 12, 2022 Have a great week.

Moratorium On New Gaming Machines In Hotels And Taverns Across Alice Springs – Mirage News https://dentoncountynewsonline.com/moratorium-on-new-gaming-machines-in-hotels-and-taverns-across-alice-springs-mirage-news/ New gaming machine licenses at community venues in Alice Springs have been suspended for nine months as the Territory Labor Government moves to strengthen the application process. The moratorium follows a concerted campaign by residents that included hundreds of submissions objecting to plans to add 60 gaming machines to hotels and taverns in the town. This means applications currently in train for Uncles Tavern, Mercure Alice Springs Resort, Todd Tavern, and Gap View Hotel will not be considered until June 2023. Lasseters Casino has a separate, longstanding agreement with the NT Government that will not be affected by the decision. Further harm minimisation policies and practices will be considered during the moratorium, including improving the public interest and community impact assessment processes. The Government will spend $1 million on research this financial year towards building knowledge and informing policies about gambling-related harm. Quotes attributable to Minister for Racing, Gaming and Licensing Chansey Paech: “The Territory Labor Government knows that problem gambling creates a significant public health risk to communities across the NT, especially for our most vulnerable Territorians. “People in Alice Springs have voiced their concerns loudly and clearly, and we are now taking the time to make the application process more robust and in line with community expectations. “This move is part of our Government’s wider policy reform to minimise gambling-related harm because it is in the best interests of Territorians; and it is what Territorians want.” /Public Release. This material from the originating organization/author(s) may be of a point-in-time nature, edited for clarity, style and length. The views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s).View in full here.

Mid-Shore Calendar | Calendar | Stardem.com – The Star Democrat https://dentoncountynewsonline.com/mid-shore-calendar-calendar-stardem-com-the-star-democrat-3/ Angela Price Sep 18, 2022 17 hrs ago 0 Post a comment as anonymous Welcome to the discussion. Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Don’t Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated. Be Truthful. Don’t knowingly lie about anyone or anything. Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person. Be Proactive. Use the ‘Report’ link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts. Share with Us. We’d love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article. To view our latest e-Edition click the image on the left.

10 Coolest Video Game Fantasy Worlds Everyone Wants To Visit – Collider https://dentoncountynewsonline.com/10-coolest-video-game-fantasy-worlds-everyone-wants-to-visit-collider/ Some of the best video games out there are the ones that have a fantastical flair. Be it dragons, sorcery, knights, royalty, famous Dragonborn, or schools of magic, fantasy games have transported players into escapist worlds for quite some time. With the success of book and film franchises like Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and more, the demand for Fantasy video games has exponentially increased. The fantasy themes have gotten so popular that vast and intricate worlds have been created for players to fully immerse themselves in. Image via Bethesda As one of the most popular brutalist fantasy games in the world, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is a huge open world with different towns, kingdoms, campsites, wandering giants, and even a mage school in the snowy mountains in the north. Any fan of Elder Scrolls would absolutely love to visit this masterpiece of an open world. Other than the violent civil war and the looming threat of Dragons, the world is full of possibilities, rich fantasy history, and magic. ‘The Witcher’ – World Image via CD Projekt Red  The Witcher 3, like The Elder Scrolls V, has a large open world that players have the ability to explore. In the game, players take the role of The Witcher, a man who hunts down ferocious magical beasts. The world is situated along a coast, with some islands available for exploration as well. There are huge castles and kingdoms like Novigrad (to the north), Kaer Morden (to the east), Vizima (to the south), and Kaer Trolode (off the coast on an island to the west). Besides the deadly beasts roaming the countryside and other dangers of the world, this video game world would present an awesome vacation opportunity. ‘World of Warcraft’ – Azeroth Perhaps one of the most famous fantasy MMORPGs of all time, World of Warcraft has Azeroth as one of the main worlds players get to visit. Azeroth is separated into two large land masses (that have boats players can use to travel between them). There are numerous factions of fantasy legions (dwarves, elves, trolls, goblins, humans, and more) at war with one another, so traveling within the world of Azeroth might be a bit difficult. Nevertheless, the massive kingdoms and magic ruins would absolutely be worth it. ‘Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’ – Hyrule One of Nintendo’s most famous video games to date, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild presents an expansive world that players have the ability to cross and investigate. With majestic foes, large puzzles, and different land types (including mountains, deserts, and volcanoes), Hyrule has quite the topography to offer. Since Hyrule contains beautiful landscapes and equally-beautiful characters to meet along the way, its no doubt that Hyrule is one of the best fantasy worlds fans would love to visit. Worlds of ‘Dark Souls’ Image via Bandai Namco Games Dark Souls is definitely one of the more violent fantasy video games out there, bringing together elements of horror and high fantasy together for a gothic blend. The Dark Souls world is multi-layered and takes place in multiple castles. Maybe those looking for a more historic or architectural trip would enjoy exploring the many levels and caverns within the Dark Souls Realm. There are quite a few dangers that lie ahead, however. As long as fans avoid getting brutally murdered, the trip should be pretty neat! ‘Hogwarts Legacy’ — Wizarding World Image via Warner Bros. Interactive The upcoming videogame set in the Harry Potter Universe, Hogwarts Legacy brings the magic of the Harry Potter movies to an open-world role-playing game in which players get to explore Hogwarts and never-before-seen places from the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. The game is not being released until early 2023. Fans of the Harry Potter movies would absolutely adore this game and its immersive nature. Who wouldn’t want to explore the most cherished imaginative places from their childhoods? Once again, The Elder Scrolls returns. Skyrim’s predecessor, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, brings players to Oblivion. A charming, intense, and oddly dangerous world, Oblivion is a world many Elder Scrolls fans consider better than Skyrim. While many of the foes from the Elder Scrolls games are ever-present (including new ones), Oblivion offers a unique fantasy setting any nostalgic Elder Scrolls player would love to visit. ‘Mario Kart’: Coconut World By far one of the most recognized and well-loved maps in the Mario Kart series is the Coconut Mall. As players speed through the many mall hallways, pass storefronts (with a few shortcuts through the stores), and go up escalators, true fans of the Mario universe can only dream of taking a day for an all-out spending spree in the mall. In a world with giant fire-breathing Bowsers and spooky King Boos, a trip to the Coconut Mall is highly coveted. ‘Genshin Impact’: Teyvat Image via miHoYo Genshin Impact has grown from a small cult following online to a global phenomenon for players who enjoy an updated and authentic RPG experience. The landscapes and places to travel in the world of Genshin Impact are some of the most graphically stunning, and taking the time to explore vast, fruitful plains, sprawling kingdoms, and hunt for treasure would be quite the experience for a new visitor. And who wouldn’t want to visit the glorious Mt. Kanna? ‘Wizard101’: Wysteria For all the nostalgic members of Generation Z, visiting Wysteria and all the worlds in The Spiral would be one of the most satisfying and fantastic trips someone could ask for. Whether it is the dry-as-bones desert ruled by magic Crocodiles like Krokotopia, London-like nighttime escaped like Marleybone, a swine-occupied ninja training area like Mooshu, or the charming and breathtaking Wizard City, Wysteria presents a wonderful option for any fans of the game. NEXT: Everything Announced at the Disney and Marvel Games Showcase at D23 Expo

AP Top Business News At 4:10 P.m. EDT – WTMJ https://dentoncountynewsonline.com/ap-top-business-news-at-410-p-m-edt-wtmj/ AP Top Business News at 4:10 p.m. EDT  WTMJ

Senior Health Officials Advise Against Touching ‘foreigners’ After Monkeypox Breaks Loose In China – LADbible https://dentoncountynewsonline.com/senior-health-officials-advise-against-touching-foreigners-after-monkeypox-breaks-loose-in-china-ladbible/ One of China’s top health officials has warned the public about touching ‘foreigners’ after a case of monkeypox ‘slipped through the net’ in the south-west city of Chongqing. The health advice comes one day after China had its first confirmed case of the contagious disease. Taking to Chinese social media platform Weibo on September 17, Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention Chief Epidemiologist Wu Zunyou revealed it was an ‘international arrival’ that had brought monkeypox into mainland China. “It is necessary and important to strengthen the monitoring and prevention of monkeypox,” Wu said in his Weibo post. Monkeypox. Credit: NIAID / Alamy Stock Photo He stressed that the disease spreads via skin-to-skin contact before handing down five recommendations for the public. “To prevent possible monkeypox infections, and as part of our daily healthy lifestyle, [I] advise that one,  you don’t have skin-to-skin contact with foreigners; and two, you don’t have skin-to-skin contact with people who have returned from abroad [in the past three weeks],” the chief epidemiologist said. He also recommended people use disposable toilet covers if they need to use public restrooms or in hotels. The post prompted major backlash on social media, with many labelling Wu’s comments as ‘racist’. One Weibo user wrote, as per the South China Morning Post: “How racist is this? What about the ones like me who have been living in China for almost 10 years and we haven’t seen our families in like 3-4 years due to the borders being closed.” Another commenter compared Wu’s advice to the initial fears some people had in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic. Another said: “This is a bit like when the pandemic began, when some people overseas avoided any Chinese people they saw out of fear. I don’t believe these two things have any scientific basis, they are too broad and will exacerbate public panic.” Others spoke out in support of Wu’s advice: “It’s good to open the country’s door, but we can’t just let everything in.” Credit: Sergio Azenha / Alamy According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) there have been 60,320 laboratory confirmed cases of monkeypox across the globe and 23 deaths. The disease is not as contagious as the coronavirus, with Australia’s chief medical officer Paul Kelly revealing that, in most cases, symptoms are ‘relatively mild’. “Monkeypox’s rash and flu-like symptoms are, in most cases, resolve themselves within two to four weeks without the need for specific treatments,” Professor Kelly said. “The rash usually occurs on the face before spreading to other parts of the body, including the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet. “However, in this outbreak it is being seen especially on the genital and perianal regions of affected people. “The rash can vary from person to person and take on the appearance of pimples, blisters or sores. “The flu-like symptoms often include fever, chills, body aches, headaches, swollen lymph nodes and tiredness.”

Arizona State Parts With Herm Edwards: Sun Devils Coach Out Three Games Into Fifth Season – CBS Sports https://dentoncountynewsonline.com/arizona-state-parts-with-herm-edwards-sun-devils-coach-out-three-games-into-fifth-season-cbs-sports/ Arizona State and coach Herm Edwards chose to part ways Sunday less than 24 hours after the Sun Devils fell 30-21 to Eastern Michigan to continue an underwhelming 1-2 start in Edwards’ fifth season. Despite a 26-20 record that did not include a losing season, Edwards was embattled entering the 2022 campaign with Arizona State under NCAA investigation. The school did not announce who will takeover the program on an interim basis. “We have made the decision to make a change in the leadership of our football program effective immediately. By mutual agreement, Coach Edwards and I have determined that he will relinquish duties as our head coach,” said Arizona State vice president of athletics Ray Anderson. “At the core of this is doing what is best for our current team, staff and university. I understand the frustrations out there. We must do better and that starts with our decision today.” Edwards’ departure comes after Arizona State president Michael Crow publicly criticized the state of the program in a conversation with USA Today: “Like anything, when you’re in combat, you support your officers. And we’re in combat. But we’ll have to decide where we’re going from here and decide what the issues are and see where we’re headed.” Hired as a “head coach who serves as CEO” overseeing what Arizona State referred to as an “NFL approach” to build a college football program, Edwards was placed in charge of a “New Leadership Model” that was supposed to utilize a “general manager structure” to take the team to new heights. Instead, the Sun Devils were rather mediocre on the field finishing one game above .500 in their three full seasons under Edwards with a 1-2 record in bowl games. Edwards also created significant controversy off the field as the program stands accused of hosting prospects during the extended recruiting dead period enacted for safety reasons during the COVID-19 pandemic.  Multiple coaches have departed since the investigation began, including former recruiting coordinator/defensive coordinator Antonio Pierce and ex-offensive coordinator Zak Hill. Wide receivers coach Prentice Gill, secondary coach Chris Hawkins and tight ends coach Adam Breneman also departed the program amid the inquiry. Crow expressed frustration with the slow pace that the investigation that began in June 2021 was moving. “I know that we haven’t, out of my office, been very vocal about anything because we’re asked not to say anything by the NCAA,” Crow told The Athletic. “And the NCAA is moving in deliberate fashion. I don’t believe they’ve even interviewed our remaining coaches yet.” The leadership model that Edwards sold the public when he was hired didn’t resonate with recruits either, as evidenced by the Sun Devils’ national ranking in the 247Sports Composite since he took over the program. Arizona State recruiting rankings under Edwards  Year National recruiting ranking Pac-12 recruiting ranking 2018 36 6 2019 28 5 2020 24 4 2021 52 8 2022 103 12 The Sun Devils never finished in the final AP Top 25 under Edwads’ watch, and was 1-2 in bowl games with the one victory coming in the 2019 Sun Bowl over a Florida State team that had recently fired former coach Willie Taggart.  Edwards came to Arizona State after a long career as an NFL coach and television analyst. He was 54-74 in eight seasons with the New York Jets (2001-05) and Kansas City Chiefs (2006-08). Anderson, who hired Edwards at ASU, was his agent during his NFL coaching tenure.

Tamas Kadar: CEO At SEON Comments On Fraud In The Metaverse, Latest NFT, Fintech Trends – Crowdfund Insider – Crowdfund Insider https://dentoncountynewsonline.com/tamas-kadar-ceo-at-seon-comments-on-fraud-in-the-metaverse-latest-nft-fintech-trends-crowdfund-insider-crowdfund-insider/ We recently connected with Tamas Kadar, CEO and co-founder at SEON., which aims to harness the power of AI to protect your business from fraud, get a 360° view of customers, and increase conversion rates. Kadar talked about the latest issues involving e-commerce fraud. His company just closed a $94 million Series B round in April and is focused on expanding their fraud prevention services for U.S. businesses. During our conversation, Tamas talked about fraud in the Metaverse, the latest in crypto-related developments, NFTs, blockchain & fraud, and BNPL fraud. Our discussion with Tamas Kadar is shared below. Crowdfund Insider: Crypto exchanges are already considered high risk. What are some ways companies are combating crypto exchange fraud? Tamas Kadar: At SEON, we understand the risks of cryptocurrency exchange fraud better than most. Along with my co-founder, Bence Jendruszak, I started a cryptocurrency exchange some years ago, while at university. Not long after, the exchange was targeted by fraudsters, which led to us building the first iteration of what would later become SEON. In the years since, crypto exchange fraud has become even more rife. For the most part, fraudsters use stolen credit card numbers to purchase cryptocurrencies, which triggers chargeback requests from the legitimate cardholder. Fraudsters also use fake IDs to bypass any KYC checks that might otherwise stop them. Crypto exchange platforms need to have protocols in place, which allow them to: ● Safely onboard genuine users ● Process fiat payments to buy crypto ● Secure storage and transactions One of the best ways to do this is to improve the ID & verification techniques within the sign-up process. However, it’s important to do this in a way that doesn’t add friction to the customer journey. This is often easier said than done, especially as crypto users tend to not like giving away personal data as it goes against some of the sector’s core principles. That’s where data enrichment tools come in. Such tools allow crypto exchanges to get more info about their customers, without having to ask for it. Data enrichment solutions, such as the one we offer at SEON, allow companies to get a full picture of who their users are before they sign up, and in doing so, can identify risky actors before they’re able to commit fraud. Crowdfund Insider: How is the metaverse creating new forms of fraud and deception? Tamas Kadar: There is always a new opportunity to scam, and fraudsters are always ready to figure out how – especially when it involves a monetary transaction. As such, the metaverse offers an abundance of potential new avenues for fraud. Primarily, many metaverse solutions are vulnerable as they’re unable to stop people establishing more than one account. Having multiple accounts on a metaverse platform allows fraudsters to take advantage of ‘free credit’, discounts or money back promotions designed for new users. Simply put, this may seem like an easy and even innocent loophole, but setting up multiple accounts to benefit from promotions is still fraud. Likewise, metaverse platforms must watch out for influencer fraud, which has previously affected social media platforms, like Twitter. This type of fraud can result in people following fraudulent links or entering sensitive data to enter promotions they believe to be endorsed by trusted or well-known, established users. Crowdfund Insider: New tech brings opportunistic bad actors. What are the risks of NFT fraud and how do you stop it? Tamas Kadar: It’s still only early days in the world of NFTs, but you’re beginning to see the size and scope of the nascent sector’s fraud problem. NFT fraud can take many forms, whether it’s people minting artwork they have no legal ownership of, to laundering money through fake NFT sales. Sadly, there’s no ‘silver’ bullet solution on offer to fix all of these issues. Preventing NFT fraud requires action from all involved parties. For one, end users need to become even more aware about the risks of fraud and ensure they’re always doing their due diligence before purchasing NFTs. Similarly, companies dealing with NFTs should look to refortify fraud prevention protocols to ensure they’re getting the best protection. In practice, this can mean layering existing defence systems with things like two-factor authentication and machine learning to boot out inauthentic users, bots and high-risk ‘online personalities’. As with the metaverse, enabling browser and device fingerprinting can also make a huge difference in aiding this effort. Crowdfund Insider: Why is money laundering a problem in crypto? Tamas Kadar: It’s a big problem, and cryptocurrency firms are now under increasing pressure to meet new anti-money laundering (AML) regulations. If they fail to do so, companies in the sector are liable for big fines, legal issues, and damage to their business reputation. The good news is that transaction monitoring solutions now offer a way to mitigate the risk. Full end-to-end fraud tools, like that provided by SEONallow companies in the crypto space to monitor user and transaction data. In turn, this data can be logged, scored via fraud detection risk rules, and used to decide if a business should flag the account as a potential risk, before automating next steps. In fact, our solution is able to check an individual’s digital footprint in real time, analyzing more than 50 social and online platforms to ensure new accounts can be verified effectively. Crowdfund Insider: BNPL is attracting the attention of cybercriminals and fraudsters. What is the best way for merchants to reduce the risk of BNPL fraud? Tamas Kadar: BNPL companies inherently take a risk with every new customer they onboard. Like with crypto, fraud in this area can take many forms, but there are some simple measures, which can be implemented to reduce its success. As with everything else, gathering data during the onboarding stage makes fraud prevention swifter and simpler. Most BNPL companies probably already perform basic KYC checks and fast credit scoring. However, it’s important to move to more robust tools like device fingerprinting, IP address checks and velocity rules. I’d also recommend that companies take advantage of digital footprint analysis, which allows them to find out a wealth of information without any additional friction. Finally, considering recent measures, it’s probably now time for companies to go even further and to utilise data enrichment solutions to help them build more complete pictures of users, without adding extra friction to the onboarding process. In doing so, companies are able to get more information about their customers from basic points of information.

All New Weapons In Fortnite Chapter 3 Season 4 – Attack Of The Fanboy https://dentoncountynewsonline.com/all-new-weapons-in-fortnite-chapter-3-season-4-attack-of-the-fanboy/ Fortnite is a live-service game that provides new weapons and gadgets with every season. Since Fortnite Chapter 3 Season 4 is officially live, there are some brand new weapons to enjoy. Here are all of the new weapons in Fortnite Chapter 3 Season 4. A new liquid metal called chrome has entered Fortnite and infected some of the guns. The first gun ruined, or enhanced, by chrome is the EvoChrome Shotgun. The EvoChrome Shotgun has a wide-spread shot but is very powerful at close range. Next up is the EvoChrome Burst Rifle. This new rifle is a two-shot burst weapon that, like the shotgun, can be devastating if you land your shots. Both the EvoChrome Shotgun and the EvoChrome Burst Rifle have the ability to evolve, or become upgraded versions of themselves, with use. All you need to do to upgrade these weapons is deal damage to opponents and get kills with the weapon, which will also help you grind XP. The EvoChrome Burst Rifle and the EvoChrome Shotgun can easily be found in chrome chests which are easily found at the new POIs, which happen to be some of the best drop sites in Fortnite Chapter 3 Season 4. There is also a new gadget called Chrome Splash that allows you to enter chrome form and chrome walls so you can phase through them. Chrome Splash works best when used in close quarters since lobbing a Chrome Splash far away or at an enemy won’t do you any good. While the EvoChrome Shotgun and Burst Rifle are cool and all, you can also now pet your pet wolf or boar in Fortnite. For all of the latest and greatest tips and tricks in Fortnite Chapter 3 Season 4, be sure to visit our Fortnite page. Fortnite is available on PC, Nintendo Switch, Playstation, Xbox, and Android. More on Attack of the Fanboy :

ApeCoin (APE) Shows Signs Of Recovery, But Mini-Rally Could Be Short-Lived – NewsBTC https://dentoncountynewsonline.com/apecoin-ape-shows-signs-of-recovery-but-mini-rally-could-be-short-lived-newsbtc/ ApeCoin has had a long and complex history. When it was first released on March 17, it was immediately put to the test by the same market forces that were responsible for the general crypto market’s slump. The coin’s price has broken through the resistance of a head-and-shoulders pattern, rising to a new all-time high of $5.63. This may portend an impending upswing, but technical signs are pointing in the opposite direction. Overall, both bulls and bears have been able to make little gains in APE coin, making the overall trend neutral. There is a double bottom pattern on the coin as well. This pattern could foretell a continuation of the current downward trend. ApeCoin: Robust Buy Signals Likely However, this downward tendency has not materialized, yet. The current APE coin mini-rally may be a short-lived upsurge following the decline that began on September 13. There have been double bottoms and single bottom reversals in the price of APE coin recently. Bearish feeling among investors can only be reversed if the price is able to sustain itself at the 78.60 percent fib level. The result may be more robust buy signals for market participants. We anticipate that APE’s price will rise when the crypto market recovers alongside the broader financial sector. And that’s if the cryptocurrency market can ignore the impending bad CPI news and interest rate increase. The value of alternative cryptocurrencies like APE coin is highly correlated with Bitcoin’s market price. This coefficient is now at 0.73 as of this writing. A high degree of correlation between the two currencies indicates this. Short-Term Performance: Finding Support  The short-term performance of the ApeCoin is “acceptable,” but only with access to real-time data. As of this writing, the cryptocurrency is trading above the 78.60 Fib level and attempting to find support there. Taking the coin’s track record into account, this may just be a momentary victory. The APE coin’s value will rise as a result of a general uptick in the economy and financial markets. Critical aid can be found between $4.24 and $4.60. Both the price drops and price increases that the coin has seen have been maintained and sustained by these two factors. The $4.60 support level is where the price can find a floor before falling to the $4.24 area. However, the recovery of APE coin may fail if bears also break through the $4.24 support. However, recent market data indicates that APE currency is showing signs of recovery. At the 1-hour time frame, the coin has firmly established above the 78.60 fib level. As the cost levels off, dealers and investors may gain confidence. APE total market cap at $1.7 billion on the daily chart | Source: TradingView.com Featured image from Pexels, Chart: TradingView.com (The analysis represents the author's personal views and should not be construed as investment advice).