James Kelso

AP Top Business News At 12:28 A.m. EDT – WTMJ https://dentoncountynewsonline.com/ap-top-business-news-at-1228-a-m-edt-wtmj/ AP Top Business News at 12:28 a.m. EDT  WTMJ

Health Network To Offer Range Of Free Workshops During October – Kennebec Journal And Morning Sentinel https://dentoncountynewsonline.com/health-network-to-offer-range-of-free-workshops-during-october-kennebec-journal-and-morning-sentinel/ The Healthy Living for ME network plans to host free workshops scheduled to start up across the state in October. Topics addressed by the workshops include managing chronic conditions and chronic pain, improving fitness and balance, and managing diabetes. Healthy Living for ME welcomes referrals from healthcare providers. The network’s evidence-based programming can help patients manage and prevent conditions before they become more serious or result in emergency situations. “Our October workshops include a few being offered by two new partners in the network, Catholic Charities of Maine and Northern Light Sebasticook Valley Hospital. We’re so pleased to be able to continue to expand our network and provide more access to free and low-cost resources that help Mainers improve their health and wellness,” said Maija Dyke, business manager of Healthy Living for ME, in a news release. The workshops starting in October: A Matter of Balance emphasizes practical strategies to reduce fear of falling and increase activity levels. Participants learn to view falls and fear of falling as controllable, set realistic goals to increase activity, change their environment to reduce fall risk factors, and exercise to increase strength and balance. This workshop is being offered in person in Presque Isle by network partner Aroostook Agency on Aging. The workshop begins on Monday, Oct. 3, and will be held from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Mondays and Wednesdays through Oct. 31. Living Well for Better Health helps participants deal with ongoing conditions such as diabetes, COPD, arthritis, and high blood pressure. Topics covered include handling frustration, fatigue, pain and isolation; appropriate exercise for maintaining and improving strength, flexibility, and endurance; appropriate use of medications; communicating effectively with family, friends, and health professionals; nutrition; and evaluating new treatments. There are two in person sessions and one online session that will be offered by network partners. Cary Medical Center is offering this workshop in person in Caribou. The workshop begins on Monday, Oct. 3, and will be held from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Mondays through Nov. 14. Catholic Charities of Maine is offering this workshop in person at 66 Western Ave. in Fairfield. The workshop begins on Thursday, Oct. 6, and will be held from 9 to 11:30 a.m. Thursdays through Nov. 10. Northern Light Sebasticook Valley Hospital is offering this workshop online. The workshop begins on Thursday, Oct. 6, and will be held from 4 to 6:30 p.m. Thursdays through Nov. 10. Bingocize combines a bingo-like game with exercise and health education with the goal of increasing older adults’ functional fitness, health knowledge, and social engagement. This workshop is being offered online by network partner Aroostook Agency on Aging. The workshop begins Monday, Oct. 3, and will be held from 2 to 3 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays through Dec. 12. Better Health Now with Pain is designed for those who experience long-term pain; their friends, family, and/or caregivers are also welcome to join. Participants in this workshop receive a toolkit in the mail and work with a leader either by themselves or in small groups. Topics covered include pacing and planning, medication management, and the Moving Easy Program. This workshop is being offered over the phone by network partner Spectrum Generations. The workshop begins Thursday, Oct. 6, and will be held from 1 to 2 p.m. Thursdays through Nov. 10. Living Well with Chronic Pain is designed for people who are dealing with persistent pain such as back pain, post-surgical pain, headaches, and other ongoing pain. Topics covered include: dealing with frustration, fatigue, isolation, and poor sleep; appropriate exercise for maintaining and improving strength; appropriate use of medications; communicating effectively with family, friends, and health professionals; nutrition; pacing activity and rest; and evaluating new treatments. This workshop is being offered online by network partner Aroostook Agency on Aging. The workshop begins on Tuesday, Oct. 11, and will be held from 1 to 3:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Nov. 15. Better Health Now is designed to help those living with chronic conditions, including heart disease, arthritis, diabetes, or other conditions. Participants in this workshop receive a toolkit in the mail and work with a leader either by themselves or in small groups. Topics covered during the workshop include: techniques to deal with frustration, fatigue, pain, and isolation; appropriate exercise for maintaining and improving strength, flexibility, and endurance; appropriate use of medications, communicating effectively with family, friends, and health professionals; nutrition; and how to evaluate new treatments. This workshop is being offered by phone by network partner MaineGeneral’s Peter Alfond Prevention and Healthy Living Center. The workshop begins on Wednesday, Oct. 12, and will be held from 3 to 4 p.m. Wednesdays through Nov. 16. Living Well with Diabetes is designed to help people with type 2 diabetes learn how to live well. Topics include: techniques to deal with the symptoms of diabetes, fatigue, pain, hyper/hypoglycemia, stress, depression, anger, fear and frustration; appropriate exercise for maintaining and improving strength and endurance; healthy eating, appropriate use of medication; and working with healthcare providers. This workshop is being offered in person in Augusta by network partner MaineGeneral’s Peter Alfond Prevention and Healthy Living Center, 35 Medical Center Parkway. The workshop begins Monday, Oct. 17 and will be held from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. Mondays through Nov. 21. Though the workshops are free for participants, registration is required. Family, friends, caregivers, and supports of participants are also welcome to register and participate. For more information, locations, addresses and to register, contact Healthy Living for ME at 800-620-6036 or [email protected]. To find a workshop near you, visit healthylivingforme.org/programs-workshops. Check out other upcoming area events!

Hershey Stymies Huskies | News, Sports, Jobs – The Sentinel – Lewistown Sentinel https://dentoncountynewsonline.com/hershey-stymies-huskies-news-sports-jobs-the-sentinel-lewistown-sentinel/ Local Sports Sep 29, 2022 Josh Yoder Sports reporter jyoder@lewistownsentinel.com LEWISTOWN — Mifflin County struggled against Hershey and suffered a 5-0 defeat on senior night in a Mid-Penn girls tennis match, Wednesday. “Well it happened like we thought it would. This team has a great deal of experience and we do not, but our kids played hard and they did the best that they can do,” Huskies coach Glenn Kyle said. One of the things that Kyle was proud of during the match was his players made the Trojans earn every point for each of their respective matches throughout the day. “They always have done that and that’s the positive thing that we always bring from our matches,” Kyle said. “And that is they don’t stop playing, they keep playing and that’s very commendable to them and their families.” The Huskies were celebrating their four seniors afterwards in Aija Binder, Ella Knepp, Mackenna Yoder and Lindsay Wolfley, who were playing their final season in a Mifflin County uniform. Coach Kyle is appreciative for everything that they have done for the program and wishes them nothing but the best in their future endeavors. “Well I’m hoping that they had a good time while they were here,” Kyle said. “Two of them, this is the first year they’ve ever played so, I’m hoping they had a good time. And the ones that have been here for three years I’m hoping they feel like they’ve invested in a good time with us.” Binder competed against Hershey’s Angelina Berg in the first singles matchup. Throughout the match, both Berg and Binder were trading shot after shot with one another having numerous volleys going on where one mistake could make all the difference. But in the end, it was Berg who capitalized on her opportunities to score and managed to come out on top in both sets with the final of 6-1 in each of them. “I feel like I did pretty good compared to the opponent I had today from Hershey, she was pretty good and really experienced,” Binder said. With it being her final season at Mifflin County, Binder looks back on her time and is extremely proud of her accomplishments with her tennis career having started from the bottom and eventually found herself at the number one singles spot. “I say I improved,” Binder said. “I went from being the fourteenth girl to the top player here and seeing my progression throughout the years is pretty impressive I think.” Mifflin County will be back in action on Friday as the Huskies will travel to Chambersburg. Hershey 5, Mifflin County 0 SINGLES Angelina Berg (HER) def. Aija Binder 6-1, 6-1 Claire Tion (HER) def. Ella Knepp 6-1, 6-0 Emme Corcoran (HER) def. Kate Riden 6-1, 6-1 DOUBLES Alicia Xie/Sydney Bogush (HER) def. Mackenna Yoder/Lindsay Wolfley 6-0, 6-0 Emily Bryant/Meredith Jones (HER) def. Lilly Breon/Ava Kelly 6-1, 6-0 Today’s breaking news and more in your inbox

How The Covid-19 Pandemic Lifted Designer Vivienne Tam Into The Metaverse – Forbes https://dentoncountynewsonline.com/how-the-covid-19-pandemic-lifted-designer-vivienne-tam-into-the-metaverse-forbes/ VIvienne Tam The metaverse has captured imaginations worldwide with its portrayal of new vistas. The title of a new best-selling book this year summarizes the buzz: “The Metaverse” promises to explain “How It Will Revolutionize Everything.” One enthusiast from the fashion world: Vivienne Tam. Tam’s life is rooted in Hong Kong, where she moved at age three from the mainland China city of Guangzhou. Yet she has expanded her influence and bridged cultures around the world over the years. Tam, a naturalized American citizen, struck it big in New York in the 1990s, launching her own fashion lines and collections that today are part of the permanent collection at the Metropolitan Museum in New York and the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburg. Her gowns have been worn by the likes of Lady Gaga, Gong Li, Jessica Alba, Paris Hilton and Jill Biden. Since 2020, the pandemic has been a catalyst for new thinking. Stores closed, upending the way people shop for fashion wares. “What is the future of my business?” Tam wondered aloud in an interview in New York this month. Lifestyles have changed, she said. And so has technology. NFTs, once viewed skeptically, have become more popular, in part because they allow for consumers to lock in personalized items. “We all laughed at NFTs,” said Jenny Johnson, president of Franklin Templeton at the Forbes Global CEO Conference in Singapore this week. “But if you take intellectual property and validate its usage, think about what that opens up,” she said. “I think it could be very interesting going forward.” For her part, Tam was back in New York this month for the New York Fashion Week, the city’s big twice-a-year fashion gathering that in September featured more than 100 designers. More than 200 people attended Tam’s event last Wednesday. Vivienne Tam What they largely saw from Tam were more prominent figures from NFT collections that she incorporated into her cuts and accessories. Characters came from the Yuga Labs groups such as Bored Ape Yacht Club and CryptoPunks, along with others from CyberKongz and Awkward Astronauts. Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT sales have reported exceeded $1 billion globally and attracted celebrity buyers including Jimmy Fallon and Snoop Dog. Tam believes the newly emerging group of figures has wide appeal across age groups and gender. “There are endless possibilities in the digital world that in the physical world I cannot do,” Tam said. “The stories and communities inspire me so much in what they do and how they can come up with all these individual concepts,” she said. “I have many friends that bought them, and then they tell me the story of why they buy them.” The reason, she said, is “related to personality. It’s quite interesting. So I thought, ‘Why don’t I bring all these beautiful images to the physical world?’ People can enjoy even more expression of their concepts in another dimension. Buyers choose images that reflect their own personality, just as in the physical world, but in a more flexible digital format.” The motivation to buy digitally can be the same as in the physical world, she said. “Maybe I want to use my atavar to dress for a boyfriend or girlfriend,” Tam said. “I want to encourage that customization.” Times and technology change, but the wish to feel good about life doesn’t, Tam said. “Everybody wants something special and to feel good about it.” The metaverse, she believes, will open more vistas for that pleasure. See related posts: Fashion Icon Vivienne Tam Raises Money To Help Fight Cancer After Partner’s Death World Will Have Nearly 40% More Millionaires By 2026: Credit Suisse China Business Risks Will Continue To Rise After Party Congress, Scholar Says @rflannerychina

Beginner Tips For Watch Dogs 2 – TheGamer https://dentoncountynewsonline.com/beginner-tips-for-watch-dogs-2-thegamer/ With a brighter and more vibrant lick of paint, Watch Dogs 2 leaves Watch Dog’s Chicago behind and sees the likable Marcus Holloway join the underground hacking group DedSec in California’s Golden Gate City. It’s a great representation of the Bay Area and is chocked full of side activities, gang hideouts and all the Easter eggs you would expect out of an Ubisoft open-world game. With roughly 20-30 hours of hacking-based activism to get stuck into, it can be difficult to know where to start to get the ball rolling. Here are some handy tips that will likely help you take your first steps in Watch Dogs 2’s sunny San Francisco. 10 Start With The Trickster Skill Tree First The Ghost, Aggressor and the Trickster are the three main play styles in Watch Dogs 2 that each bring their own unique mechanics to the table. While Aggressors and Ghosts cover your destructive gunplay and stealth needs, the Trickster is where you’ll want to pay particular attention, as it will give you the best of both worlds. Following the Trickster path will unleash your inner hacker by giving you the option of controlling various gadgets and drones to do all the dirty work for you. It’s the best all-rounder for those unsure where to dump their points into first and gives you access to some really helpful skills early on. 9 Prioritise These Skills There are many skills to experiment with in the game, but there are a select few that you should prioritise. At least a few points should be put into Botnet upgrades, as this will allow you to perform a greater number of hacks at any given time. For more exploration options, the Environmental RC skill is very useful, as it allows you to activate lifts that will give you access to previously blocked-off areas. This just might give you an edge in combat, or lead you to a hidden collectable. The Vehicle Hacking skill can is an essential tool that can let you control vehicles from a distance, and is particularly good for solving puzzles in the open world. Hijacking gives you the ability to hack into any car remotely without having their alarms go off, which is pretty essential due to the overwhelming amount of vehicles you will be stealing. 8 Unlock And Upgrade The Quadcopter As Soon As You Can The Quadcopter is one of the first items you’ll be able to access at DeadSec’s 3D printing station. It’s a nifty little drone that you can use to scout out enemy bases in the air and hack into various cameras dotted around the city. It really is a great tool for getting a lay of the land before heading in for the attack. Upgrading it will improve it even further by lowering its cooldown, so you can use it more frequently – definitely something you’ll want to do. We recommend not spending your hard-earned cash until you’ve unlocked it, as it comes in at a pricey $67,000 to craft. 7 Hack Literally Everyone – Stealing Without Risk All those cool gadgets and upgrades aren’t cheap, and it will likely take a while before you get to try them all out. Luckily, you are part of an elite underground hacking squad that can delve into the personal bank accounts of everyone you come across, all in the name of activism. You have the ability to hack any civilian at any time to skim a little of their income, with absolutely no repercussions. Although it doesn’t make the most logical sense to hack oncoming traffic whilst zooming down the Golden Gate Bridge, we’ll just assume Marcus is exceptionally good at multitasking. 6 Use The Cameras In Watch Dogs, surveillance cameras will always be a hacker’s best friend. Every single CCTV camera within sight can be hacked into, allowing Marcus to get a birds-eye view to solve puzzles and scout out gang hideouts. You can tag any enemies that are in your line of sight, and it’s a great way to plan a route through a gang-infested warehouse. More than just allowing you to scout an area, you can also hack objects through the cameras themselves, setting traps for enemies and watching them explode from multiple angles from a safe distance. 5 Focus On Playing Stealthily Despite being able to play the game in a variety of different ways, it’s clear that it was designed with stealth in mind. This favours a more tactical and non-lethal play style, where you can plan the best way to attack ahead of time. Taking a quieter approach allows you to take a step back and experiment with all the gadgets and tech you have at your disposal. It feels great to hop around an enemy base with your RC Jumper, and using your Quadcopter to drop some well-placed explosives on your foes is a blast. If you like, you barely have to engage with your enemies in any real physical capacity, as you can distract and trick them into doing your bidding before they realise what happened. 4 You Can Create Your Own Music Playlists One of the most important features of any open-world GTA clone is its in-game music, and thankfully, Watch Dogs 2’s soundtrack does not disappoint. What’s more, you have the ability to create your own playlists, giving you greater freedom in what tunes to listen to when hacking and stun-gunning your way through the city. Sort of like Ubisoft’s version of Shazam, the SongSneak app on your phone allows you to add any nearby music you hear in the world to a self-curated playlist you can rock out to at any given time. It’s a small but much-appreciated feature that often gets overlooked in the hustle and bustle of the world around you. 3 Use Your Phone To Download Apps More than just a simple GPS or a way to communicate with other DeadSec members, Marcus’ smartphone contains a lot of helpful applications that offer a surprising amount of gameplay options. You can order any vehicle to your location with Car On Demand, which will be handy when taking on the role of a glorified Uber driver after downloading the Driver SF ride-share app to your phone. Scout X rewards you for taking pictures of tourist locations, encouraging you to explore the world as much as you can. Each will help DeadSec by significantly increasing their followers, which is needed in order to progress through the game. 2 Turn Off Hacker Invasions For A Smoother Single-Player Experience When you’re out and about minding your own business cruising around San Francisco, you will occasionally receive a notification that a real-life player is attempting to hack into your network and steal some of your precious data. As fun as it is to engage in a chase of hacking-related cat and mouse, sometimes you just want to be left alone to roam around at your own pace. Thankfully, you have the option to turn off any unwanted invasions in your game by heading into your phone’s options menu and toggling the multiplayer preferences. 1 Multiplayer Can Be Very Rewarding If playing with others is more your thing, there are plenty of multiplayer options available in Watch Dogs 2. This time around co-op has been revamped, allowing you to tackle a bunch of randomly generated missions with a partner. If causing aimless acts of chaos around the city is more your bag, you can free-roam with a buddy to complete activities and pick up collectables as you go. If you’re feeling up to it, you can engage in the game’s interesting bounty system, where naughty DedSec members from other game worlds have racked up enough notoriety to be targeted and hunted down. Eliminating your real-player targets will net you a nice reward, which will help you purchase and upgrade the various gear, gadgets and weapons in the game. Next: Best Games Set In California

French Central Banker Warns Complex Crypto Regulations Could Create ‘Uneven Playing Field’ – Regulation Bitcoin News – Bitcoin News https://dentoncountynewsonline.com/french-central-banker-warns-complex-crypto-regulations-could-create-uneven-playing-field-regulation-bitcoin-news-bitcoin-news/ The governor of France’s central bank, François Villeroy de Galhau, has urged EU regulators to “avoid adopting diverging or contradictory regulations, or regulating too late.” He warned that “To do so would be to create an uneven playing field, risking arbitrage and cherry picking.” French Central Bank Governor Warns About Adopting ‘Unduly Complex’ Crypto Regulations Banque de France Governor François Villeroy de Galhau talked about cryptocurrency regulation at a conference on digital finance in Paris Tuesday. The French central banker stressed: We should be extremely mindful to avoid adopting diverging or contradictory regulations, or regulating too late. To do so would be to create an uneven playing field, risking arbitrage and cherry picking. Villeroy de Galhau added that “unduly complex” crypto regulations could fall short of investor protection and money laundering prevention. The European Commission introduced the Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation (MiCA) bill in September 2020 as part of its digital finance strategy to bring crypto assets, issuers, and service providers across the EU under one regulatory framework. The European Parliament and Council reached a provisional agreement on the MiCA bill on June 30, but MiCA is not expected to be implemented until 2024. The European Central Bank (ECB) outlined in August its plan to harmonize the regulatory framework governing crypto activities and services in the EU. “There is currently no harmonized regulatory framework governing crypto-asset activities and services in the EU,” the regulator explained, adding that banks are increasingly considering whether to offer crypto products and services, and it is the ECB’s role to “ensure they do so safely and soundly.” The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU’s top securities markets regulator, warned in May that soaring inflation may drive retail investors into cryptocurrencies. ECB Vice President Luis de Guindos said Monday that eurozone inflation is becoming increasingly broad while growth is weakening. “We are seeing that in the third and fourth quarters there is a significant slowdown and we may find ourselves with growth rates close to zero,” he detailed. Tags in this story Banque de France, Banque de France bitcoin, Banque de France crypto, Banque de France cryptocurrency, Banque de France Governor, eu crypto regulation, France, François Villeroy de Galhau, François Villeroy de Galhau crypto, François Villeroy de Galhau cryptocurrency, french central bank What do you think about the comments by Banque de France Governor François Villeroy de Galhau? Let us know in the comments section below. Kevin Helms A student of Austrian Economics, Kevin found Bitcoin in 2011 and has been an evangelist ever since. His interests lie in Bitcoin security, open-source systems, network effects and the intersection between economics and cryptography. Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

Analysis: Goodbye, TINA: Higher Yields Muddy Outlook For Struggling U.S. Stocks – Reuters https://dentoncountynewsonline.com/analysis-goodbye-tina-higher-yields-muddy-outlook-for-struggling-u-s-stocks-reuters/ NEW YORK, Sept 29 (Reuters) – Soaring interest rates are providing investors with attractive alternatives to stocks, complicating the picture for equities in an already-vicious year. For years, investors could easily justify a preference for stocks because other assets offered paltry returns as the Federal Reserve kept rates at historic lows, giving rise to the acronym “TINA,” or “there is no alternative.” The years when TINA held sway were good ones for the U.S. stock market. The S&P 500 (.SPX) gained some 600% from its financial crisis bottom in March 2009 through the end of last year, handily beating a plethora of other investments. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com That calculus has drastically changed as the Fed hikes interest rates to stave off the worst inflation in decades, bolstering yields on everything from Treasuries to money markets. That is more bad news for U.S. stocks, as they struggle to regain their footing after a drubbing that has included a 22% S&P 500 drop so far this year. “As interest rates continue to rise, there is a greater number of choices to capture total return or income without taking on stock market volatility,” said Michael Arone, chief investment strategist at State Street Global Advisors. “That will continue to put some downward pressure on stocks.” Bond yields have soared this year, with the yield on the two-year Treasury bond jumping to over 4.3% earlier this week from 0.73% at the end of 2021. Short-term Treasuries frequently yielded well below 1% for the last 15 years. The yields on many Treasuries – which are considered virtually risk-free if held to maturity – now dwarf the S&P 500’s dividend yield, which recently stood at about 1.8%, according to Refinitiv Datastream. “The concept that there is no alternative to stocks is not true anymore,” said Walter Todd, chief investment officer at Greenwood Capital. Reuters Graphics There are plenty of signs that yields are drawing investors. State Street’s SPDR Bloomberg 1-3 Month T-Bill ETF (BIL.P), which measures an index of one to three month Treasury bills, as of Friday had taken in net inflows of nearly $9 billion so far this year, more than any other State Street ETF. Money market funds took in $30 billion in the latest week, according to Refinitiv Lipper, while equity funds, taxable fixed income funds, and tax-exempt bond funds all had net redemptions. Assets in money market funds stood at $4.44 trillion as of the end of August, not far from the all-time high of $4.67 trillion reached in May 2020, according to Lipper. As bond yields have climbed, stock valuations have weakened. The S&P 500 trades at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of about 16 times, compared to nearly 22 times at the start of the year, according to Refinitiv Datastream. “There was a lot of stimulus around that helped companies when times got tough and when times were good, the low interest rate environment drove pretty high valuations,” said James Ragan, director of wealth management research at D.A. Davidson. “We are definitely getting a resizing of that now.” Reuters Graphics Of course, the alternatives to stocks are far from risk free. Bonds, whose prices move inversely to yields, have endured a brutal 2022, with the ICE BofA U.S. Treasury Index (.MERG0Q0) on track for its worst annual performance on record. Many investors believe bond prices are unlikely to stabilize until there is evidence of ebbing inflation and a pivot in the Fed’s tightening policy. Investors sitting in cash, meanwhile, could be late to an eventual turnaround in the equity market. Still, the robust yields are likely to continue presenting a challenge to stocks, investors said. Fiduciary Trust Company has increased its recommended cash allocation in most of its portfolios to 12% from 2% at the start of the year, said Hans Olsen, Fiduciary’s chief investment officer. “You can do some things now where you can actually get paid a reasonable sum of money in order to wait,” said Olsen. “I think it’s a big deal. It’s been a while since we have seen something like this and markets are going to have to reprice this.” Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Reporting by Lewis Krauskopf in New York; Editing by Ira Iosebashvili and Josie Kao Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

This Surveillance Artist Knows How You Got That Perfect Instagram Photo – The Indian Express https://dentoncountynewsonline.com/this-surveillance-artist-knows-how-you-got-that-perfect-instagram-photo-the-indian-express/ The artist Dries Depoorter in Ghent, Belgium, on Sept. 20, 2022. Depoorter unearthed video footage of people working hard to capture the perfect shot for Instagram. It is a lesson in the artifice of social media and the ubiquity of surveillance. (Lauren Fleishman/The New York Times) David Welly Sombra Rodrigues, a 35-year-old French teacher, loves to travel. After the pandemic forced him to offer his language lessons virtually, he seized the moment, moving from Brazil to Europe, where he could hop on trains to new cities to his heart’s delight, all of which he documented on Instagram. This month, a photo he took in Ireland for his more than 7,000 Instagram followers went viral. But he didn’t realise it until a friend messaged him, pointing him to a news article about “The Follower,” a digital art project that showed just how much can be captured by webcams broadcasting from public spaces — and how surprising it can be for those who are unwittingly filmed by them. The artist had paired Instagram photos with video footage that showed the process of taking them. The artist had not included the Instagram users’ names or handles, but Rodrigues’ friends recognized him. In Rodrigues’ case, a webcam operated by a company called EarthCam caught the effort that had gone into a seemingly casual photo of him leaning against the distinctive bright-red entryway of the Temple Bar in Dublin. He tried a few different angles and poses, did a minor outfit change and eventually added a prop — a pint of pricey beer from the famous pub. Articles about the project incorrectly described the subjects of the piece, including Rodrigues, who goes by @avecdavidwelly on Instagram, as influencers with hundreds of thousands of followers. But most of them were just typical social media users, with far smaller audiences. The artist Dries Depoorter at his studio in Ghent, Belgium, on Sept. 20, 2022. Depoorter unearthed video footage of people working hard to capture the perfect shot for Instagram. It is a lesson in the artifice of social media and the ubiquity of surveillance. (Lauren Fleishman/The New York Times) “I was completely shocked,” Rodrigues said in a Zoom interview. “I wasn’t expecting that someone was recording me.” The artist behind “The Follower,” Dries Depoorter, said his project demonstrates both the artifice of images on social media and the dangers of increasingly automated forms of surveillance. “If one person can do this, what can a government do?” Depoorter, 31, said. Live From Times Square Depoorter, who is based in Ghent, Belgium, came up with the idea for “The Follower” over a month ago, while researching privately installed cameras in public places that he might use for a different art project. While watching a live online feed from Times Square, he saw a woman taking pictures of herself for “a long time.” Thinking she might be an influencer, he tried to find the product of her extended shoot among Instagram photos recently geo-tagged to Times Square. He came up empty but that got him thinking. The 24/7 broadcast that Depoorter watched — titled “Live From NYC’s Times Square!” — was provided by EarthCam, a New Jersey company that specializes in real-time camera feeds. EarthCam built its network of livestreaming webcams “to transport people to interesting and unique locations around the world that may be difficult or impossible to experience in person,” according to its website. Founded in 1996, EarthCam monetizes the cameras through advertising and licensing of the footage. Depoorter realized that he could come up with an automated way to combine these publicly available cameras with the photos that people had posted on Instagram. So, over a two-week period, he collected EarthCam footage broadcast online from Times Square in New York, Wrigley Field in Chicago and the Temple Bar in Dublin. Rand Hammoud, a campaigner against surveillance at the global human rights organization Access Now, said the project illustrated how often people are unknowingly being filmed by surveillance cameras, and how easy it has become to stitch those movements together using automated biometric-scanning technologies. “It’s a dystopian reality that a lot of people don’t realize is now present,” Hammoud said. Hammoud, who is based in Brussels, was troubled most by the broadcasting of people’s activity in public spaces without their knowledge. Hammoud said EarthCam should reconsider the risks of its livestreaming given the power of publicly available surveillance technologies. “These cameras no longer serve the purpose that they used to years ago,” Hammoud said. “People can be tracked.” EarthCam declined to answer questions about its cameras and the risks they might pose to the privacy of the individuals who are filmed by them in an age of more powerful biometric-tracking technologies. The company’s marketing director, Simon Kerr, said only that Depoorter had “used EarthCam imagery and video without authorization and such usage is in violation of our copyright.” Depoorter said his project is not about the specific companies that enabled it. “It’s not only EarthCam,” he said. “There are many unprotected cameras all over the world.” Violating Someone’s Privacy While recording the feeds from EarthCam, Depoorter simultaneously downloaded public photos from Instagram that users were tagging to those locations. Instagram discourages collecting photos en masse from its platform. “Collecting information in an automated way” is a violation of the company’s terms of use and can get a user banned. “We’ve reached out to the artist to learn more about this piece and understand his process,” said Thomas Richards, a spokesman for Meta, the company that owns Instagram. “Privacy is a top priority for us, as is protecting people’s information when they share content on our platforms.” After the data collection from EarthCam and Instagram came the difficult part: finding the right people to needle in the digital haystack. Depoorter had previously done art projects on the surprising gaze of public cameras that had required him to write software to sort through lots of video footage. Last year, he built “Flemish scrollers,” which tagged Belgian politicians on social media when they looked down at their phones during parliamentary sessions that were broadcast live on YouTube. Before that, he had used open surveillance cameras to spot jaywalkers who ignored red lights — stills of which he sold online for the cost of the fines the miscreants would have incurred if caught. To search the faces from the Instagram photos in the footage from EarthCam, Depoorter relied on open-source facial recognition software, code for which can be found on sites like GitHub. “It’s not perfect,” he said. He had to do an extensive manual review of the suggested matches to find ones that were accurate. As for the handful of people he chose to include in “The Follower,” he wanted a diverse group, including a couple taking a photo kissing in Dublin, two friends strolling through Times Square and a woman with hundreds of thousands of Instagram followers. Depoorter did not reach out to them in advance and said he has not heard from any of them. Suresh Venkatasubramanian, a former White House tech adviser and professor at Brown University, said he found the project intriguingly “subversive,” in displaying the casual privacy invasions that are possible with modern technology. But he said Depoorter’s deployment of the surveillance on “random people” was unsettling. “You don’t break into someone’s house to show them you can break into their house,” Venkatasubramanian said. “You shouldn’t do it unless they ask you to.” Depoorter compiled the Instagram photos and accompanying surveillance footage into a YouTube video, which attracted over 100,000 views before YouTube took it down. The privacy intrusion wasn’t the cause. EarthCam claimed ownership over the footage from its cameras, saying the YouTube video violated the company’s copyright. Depoorter is trying to figure out how to get the video back up. Lawyers have advised him that his transformation of the surveillance footage, putting AI-powered bounding boxes around people in the short clips and showing the footage in juxtaposition with the Instagram portraits, is a fair use that is legally protected. A Willing Subject Depoorter is based in the European Union, which has robust privacy rules, called the General Data Protection Regulation, to protect citizens’ personal data, including their photos and biometric information. Omer Tene and Gabe Maldoff, privacy lawyers at the law firm Goodwin, said that there are exemptions in the law for artistic expression, but that artists need to be attentive to how the work will affect their subjects. “I don’t think ‘art’ gives you a free pass,” Maldoff said. Depoorter did not include the names or Instagram handles of the people he included in his project because, he said, he did not want them “to get a lot of messages.” He declined to identify them for The New York Times, with the exception of Rodrigues on the condition that the Times not write about the Brazilian French teacher without his explicit permission. Rodrigues said he did not mind the attention. “I love taking pictures,” he said. “I love recording videos. I’m not low profile.” Rodrigues has had his Instagram account for a decade. He uses it to advertise his business, showing potential customers the experiences that a new language might open to them. He said he didn’t mind being included in Depoorter’s project, that he was happy for the increased exposure and even posted about it on Instagram, as a “story” that expired after 24 hours. He was apprehensive about being spied on without his knowle...

Blue Star Helium Flows 6.5% Helium To Surface At Galactica/Pegasus – Proactive Investors USA https://dentoncountynewsonline.com/blue-star-helium-flows-6-5-helium-to-surface-at-galactica-pegasus-proactive-investors-usa/ Blue Star Helium Ltd (ASX:BNL, OTC:BSNLF) has flowed helium to the surface at its JXSN#4 exploration well, part of the Galactica/Pegasus prospect in Las Animas County, Colorado. The energy stock drilled the well to a final depth of 1,043 feet this week, encountering both the upper and lower Lyons sands in order to bring gas to the surface. While it’s still early days, a preliminary gas composition analysis has returned a 6.5% helium reading. To get a clearer picture, Blue Star plans to send additional samples to a second lab, with results anticipated within a fortnight. JXSN#4 is the fourth exploration well to be drilled this year at Galactica/Pegasus and the previous three wells have discovered helium-bearing columns measuring up to 230 feet and containing up to 3.14% helium.  Key results from recent Galactica/Pegasus wells. These wells also proved the company’s previous interpretations of gas on logs at the Denton B #1 and Colorado #B-1 historical wells, which are also on the Galactica/Pegasus structure. Reconfirming Galactica/Pegasus’ potential Commenting on the development, Blue Star managing director and CEO Trent Spry said exploration at Galactica/Pegasus continued to deliver.  “We are delighted to have returned high-concentration helium from a fourth consecutive exploration well in this area,” he explained. “The result reconfirms Galactica/Pegasus as one of our high-priority development areas in Las Animas. This dynamic is reflected in our current development well scheduling for this field. “The results of this well will be integrated into current resource update process for Galactica/Pegasus, which is expected to culminate in the declaration of contingent resources for this field.”

Why Some Prefer To Holiday Overseas Instead Of Staying Local – MalaysiaNow https://dentoncountynewsonline.com/why-some-prefer-to-holiday-overseas-instead-of-staying-local-malaysianow/ Fadzil Faez and his family spent the long weekend in conjunction with Malaysia Day enjoying a much anticipated break from the hustle and bustle of work – but, despite the national nature of the holiday, nowhere within the country itself.  Instead, he and his wife took their two young children across the border to Hatyai in Thailand where they spent three days shopping and sampling the food.  It was the first time they had left the country since the reopening of the borders, and Fadzil said they enjoyed themselves tremendously.  “The buffet is cheaper there,” he said, recalling the vacation.  “A steamboat buffet is only 300 baht per head while children below 90cm in height can eat for free.”  And at tourist hotspots in the country, he said, they were even allowed to enter free of charge.  Speaking to MalaysiaNow, Fadzil said he had decided to go to Thailand as he did not want to get stuck in Malaysia’s infamous traffic.  He added that getting to popular tourist spots in the country was not as easy as it used to be.  “In Langkawi, for instance, there are fewer ferry trips now,” he said.  “Sometimes we buy tickets there but we can’t get any to come back.” The prices at local tourist destinations were also enough to make him think twice.  “A trip on the Langkawi cable car costs RM50,” he said. “And if you want to go on the Skybridge, you have to pay an additional fee.”  For Fadzil, the trip to Thailand was still worth it even though the ringgit exchange rate was not as strong as it used to be.  He said it was also easy to avoid the crowds at the border by entering at a point other than Bukit Kayu Hitam.  The trend of travelling to Thailand recently made waves with some expressing annoyance about the ringgit value which they said had been affected by such decisions.  Norain Othman from Universiti Teknologi Mara’s hotel and tourism management faculty said Thailand was more diverse in terms of tourist attractions.  “And in terms of hospitality services, they are more customer friendly, from the taxi drivers to the vendors, right down to the hotel workers,” she said.  In any case, she added, Thai food had always been a hit with Malaysians.  “Prices there are cheap, and the food is very fresh, especially the seafood,” she said.  Further south, Indonesia has also been working to advertise its secondary provinces and develop unique local attractions that reflect its identity as a country, putting out tourism campaigns for seasons and festivals.  From the domestic tourism point of view, Norain said, even Thai travellers were once mostly unaware of efforts to promote high-end tourism in their country.  She said it took campaigns such as the “Thais travel in Thailand” push to increase their awareness and perception of domestic vacations.  “The Thai government also recently implemented tax incentives to boost domestic tourism, and this has shown positive results,” she said.  Referring to the local tourism sector, Norain said there appeared to be a lack of high-end theme park operators as well as facilities that cater to those with special needs.  “Tourists are also averse to unfriendly vendors and they don’t like the lack of high-end products,” she said.  The local tourism industry has also been struggling with issues such as expensive transportation fees and room prices, in addition to poor customer service and high service tax.  Norain said the attitude of travellers also differed according to generation.  She said the baby boomers preferred popular spots and sites of religious importance, as well as agro-tourism products. Travellers from the so-called Generation X meanwhile appeared to have stronger local tastes and the desire to experience nature and the culture within their own country.  “They will choose places that are worth the price, and locations with good food and beverages,” she said.  “Gen Y is more focused on escapism, cultural diversity and historical places,” she said.  “They will visit national parks and wildlife refuges, and shop for branded products.” As for Gen Z, she said, their attitude to travel tends towards social status, new experiences and shopping.  “They focus on challenging places, health treatment and sports activities,” she said.

LIVE: Russia’s Annexation Of Four Ukrainian Regions Expected Within Days – Hindustan Times https://dentoncountynewsonline.com/live-russias-annexation-of-four-ukrainian-regions-expected-within-days-hindustan-times/ Live Updated on Sep 29, 2022 08:49 AM IST Breaking news September 29, 2022: Get latest news, breaking news, latest updates, live news, top headlines, breaking business news and top news of the hour. Get latest news, breaking news, latest updates, live news, top headlines, breaking business news and top news of the hour. Welcome to hindustantimes.com updates platform where you can find breaking news from India and across the world. Find fast updates about the latest news as it breaks. Follow all the updates here: Sep 29, 2022 08:49 AM IST Can Lalu Yadav say he’s a PFI member? BJP on call for RSS ban Reacting to the demand for a similar ban on RSS as that has been imposed on the Popular Front of India, BJP leaders said the difference is that they can call themselves ‘proud RSS workers’. But can the opposition leaders who are raising the demand to ban RSS say that they are PFI members, the BJP leaders asked. Read more Sep 29, 2022 07:24 AM IST Jaishankar on ties with China: ‘Continue to strive for relationship built on…’ Foreign minister S Jaishankar has said India will maintain a relationship with China that is based on “mutual” sensitivity, respect, and interest. His remarks came during a media briefing on Wednesday as he responded to a question on the relationship between the two countries. Also read Sep 29, 2022 05:44 AM IST New CDS a border expert, collector of masks, keen golfer The country’s new chief of defence staff (CDS), Lieutenant General Anil Chauhan (retd), is known to be an authority on border-related issues, has one of the best collections of masks from around the world in the armed forces, and has a solid golf swing, according to people who have known him from his younger days. Read more Sep 29, 2022 05:42 AM IST Russia’s annexation of four Ukrainian regions expected within days Moscow was poised on Wednesday to annex a swath of Ukraine, releasing what it called vote tallies showing support in four partially occupied provinces to join Russia, after what Kyiv and the West denounced as illegal sham referendums held at gunpoint. Read more Subscribe to our best newsletters IAS officer in tears after seeing child injured in bus accident: ‘He can’t move’ Published on Sep 29, 2022 08:35 AM IST Lakhimpur Kheri bus accident: Lucknow Divisional Commissioner Roshan Jacob can be heard asking the authorities whether a doctor can be called in there instead of referring the patient since the family cannot afford the cost. Screengrab of video of an IAS officer inspecting a hospital where injured were receiving treatment following the accident in Lakhimpur Kheri.(ANI) Can Lalu Yadav say he’s a PFI member? BJP on call for RSS ban Published on Sep 29, 2022 07:34 AM IST BJP’s Giriraj Singh said he can openly say that he is a proud RSS worker, but can Lalu Prasad Yadav say that he is a PFI member, the BJP leader asked. Madhya Pradesh home minister Narottam Singh threw the same challenge to Congress’s Digvijaya Singh LIVE: Russia’s annexation of four Ukrainian regions expected within days Updated on Sep 29, 2022 08:49 AM IST Breaking news September 29, 2022: Get latest news, breaking news, latest updates, live news, top headlines, breaking business news and top news of the hour. Centre okays 4% hike in DA to its employees Published on Sep 29, 2022 12:27 AM IST Ahead of the Diwali, the Union Cabinet on Wednesday raised the dearness allowance (DA) by four percentage points to 38% for 4.77 million central government employees. ByRajeev Jayaswal, New Delhi When 425k cusecs of water in Musi river wreaked havoc in Hyderabad’s worst-ever flood Updated on Sep 29, 2022 12:26 AM IST The memorial meet on Wednesday was organised in front of the famous “tamarind tree” at the park on the premises of Osmania General Hospital, which was not built then. Rahul pays tributes to leader on penultimate day of yatra in Kerala Published on Sep 29, 2022 12:23 AM IST Gandhi, also the MP from Wayanad, said that he misses Aryadan Mohammed as he was a “secular and generous leader” who “worked tirelessly” for his constituency and the state. Sympathise with victims of PFI violence: Professor whose hand was chopped off Updated on Sep 29, 2022 12:21 AM IST Professor TJ Joseph’s right palm was chopped off by a group of PFI workers in 2010 for setting a question paper for an internal exam in Thodipuzha’s Newman College that the organisation claimed carried some blasphemous contents. My sympathies with victims: Prof whose hand was chopped off Published on Sep 29, 2022 12:17 AM IST On July 4, 2010, Joseph was waylaid and attacked by a group of PFI workers while he, along with his family, was returning home after the Sunday mass. After the incident, sweets were distributed in certain PFI strongholds in Malappuram and Kozhikode districts PFI offices empty, most websites brought down Updated on Sep 29, 2022 12:18 AM IST Offices of the PFI in Kerala and other parts of the country on Wednesday wore a deserted look as the Centre announced a ban on the outfit for five years under the stringent anti-terror law UAPA over “links” with global terror groups and attempts to spread communal hatred in the country. Story Saved New Delhi 0C Thursday, September 29, 2022

Things To Do In Rochester NY – Democrat & Chronicle https://dentoncountynewsonline.com/things-to-do-in-rochester-ny-democrat-chronicle-2/ Local events and things to do in Rochester, NY. Find sporting events, conferences, attractions and more, or promote your own event.

Sports Planner For Thursday – The Republic https://dentoncountynewsonline.com/sports-planner-for-thursday-the-republic-2/ COMING UP Indianapolis Colts Sunday vs. Titans, 1 p.m. (FOX) Oct. 6 at Broncos, 8:15 p.m. (Prime Video) Oct. 16 vs. Jaguars, 1 p.m. (CBS) Indiana University football Saturday at Nebraska, 7:30 p.m. (BTN) Oct. 8 vs. Michigan, Noon (TBA) Oct. 15 vs. Maryland, (TBA) Purdue football Saturday at Minnesota, Noon (ESPN2) Oct. 8 at Maryland, Noon (TBA) Oct. 15 vs. Nebraska, Noon (TBA) Notre Dame football Oct. 8 at BYU, 7:30 p.m. (NBC/Peacock) Oct. 15 vs. Stanford, 7:30 p.m. (NBC/Peacock) Oct. 22 vs. UNLV, 2:30 p.m. (Peacock) Cincinnati Reds Friday at Cubs, 2:20 p.m. (Bally Sports Indiana) Saturday at Cubs, 2:20 p.m. (Bally Sports Indiana) Sunday at Cubs, 2:20 p.m. (Bally Sports Indiana) Indy Eleven Saturday vs. FC Tulsa, 7 p.m. (ESPN+/WNDY) Oct. 8 vs. Charleston Battery, 7 p.m. (ESPN+/WNDY) Oct. 15 at Birmingham Legion FC, 7:30 p.m. (ESPN+) NASCAR Sunday at Talladega, Ala., 2 p.m. (NBC) Oct. 9 at Charlotte, N.C., 2 p.m. (NBC) Oct. 16 at Las Vegas, 2:30 p.m. (NBC) HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS TODAY Volleyball Calvary Christian at Columbus Christian, 6:15 p.m. Columbus East at Columbus North, 6:45 p.m. Rushville at Hauser, 7:15 p.m. Scottsburg at Jennings County, 7:15 p.m. Brown County at Southwestern (Shelby), 7:15 p.m. South Decatur at Rising Sun, 7:15 p.m. Trinity Lutheran at Providence, 7:15 p.m. Boys soccer Hauser at Irvington Prep, 5:30 p.m. Indian Creek at Brown County, 5:30 p.m. New Albany at Jennings County, 7 p.m. Girls soccer Jennings County at Oldenburg Academy, 5:30 p.m. Brown County at Indian Creek, 5:30 p.m. Trinity Lutheran at Indianapolis Lutheran, 6 p.m. Columbus East at Seymour, 7:15 p.m. Cross-country Hauser, South Decatur at Greensburg Invitational, 5 p.m. Boys tennis Columbus North vs. Brown County in North Sectional, 4:30 p.m. Columbus East vs. Hauser in Columbus North Sectional, 4:30 p.m. Trinity Lutheran vs. Seymour in Seymour Sectional, 4:45 p.m. Jennings County vs. Southwestern (Hanover) in Jennings Sectional final, 5 p.m. SPORTS ON TV TODAY College football South Carolina State at South Carolina, 7 p.m. (SEC) Utah State at BYU, 8 p.m. (ESPN) Women’s college soccer Notre Dame at Boston College, 6 p.m. (ACC) Nebraska at Purdue, 6 p.m. (BTN) Texas A&M at Arkansas, 7 p.m. (ESPNU) Butler at Providence, 7 p.m. (FS1) NC State at Clemson, 8 p.m. (ACC) Michigan at Minnesota, 8 p.m. (BTN) FIBA women’s basketball World Cup: Semifinal, 3 a.m. Friday (ESPN2) Golf DP World Tour: The Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, 7 a.m. (Golf Channel) LPGA Tour: The Volunteers Of America Classic, 12:30 p.m. (Golf Channel) PGA Tour: The Sanderson Farms Championship, 3:30 p.m. (Golf Channel) NYRA: America’s Day at the Races, 1 p.m. (FS2) MLB Phillies at Cubs, 2 p.m., or Royals at Tigers, 1:10 p.m. (MLB) Rays at Guardians, 6 p.m., or Marlins at Brewers, 7:40 p.m. (MLB) Dodgers at Padres or Rangers at Mariners, 9:30 p.m. (MLB) NBA Preseason: Warriors at Wizards, 6 a.m. Friday (NBA) NFL Dolphins at Bengals, 8:15 p.m. (PrimeVideo) NHL Preseason: Devils at Rangers, 7 p.m. (NHL) Preseason: Kraken at Caunucks, 9:30 p.m. (NHL) Tennis Seoul-ATP, Tel Aviv-ATP, Sofia-ATP, Tallinn-WTA Early Rounds; Parma-WTA Quarterfinals, 6 a.m. (Tennis) Seoul-ATP, Tel Aviv-ATP, Sofia-ATP, Tallinn-WTA Quarterfinals; Parma-WTA Semifinals, 8:30 p.m. today and 6 a.m. Friday (Tennis)

AXA Enters Metaverse With The Sandbox To Offer Interactive Space For Customers – Marketing Interactive https://dentoncountynewsonline.com/axa-enters-metaverse-with-the-sandbox-to-offer-interactive-space-for-customers-marketing-interactive/ AXA has partnered with The Sandbox, a decentralised gaming virtual world and a subsidiary of Animoca Brands, to enter the metaverse. The insurer has acquired a 3×3 LAND where it will provide an innovative interactive space for its customers. Through its LAND, AXA Hong Kong will endeavour to provide fresh digital experiences to its customers, partnering to co-create the future of insurance in the metaverse. Gary Ho, chief technology officer, AXA Hong Kong and Macau, said: “I’m honoured to announce that AXA has partnered with The Sandbox to expand our digital presence by setting foot in the metaverse. This collaboration has reflected AXA’s vision and interest to create the insurance of the future by bringing immersive experiences around sustainability, wellness, healthcare, and so much more. Stepping into the metaverse, we are thrilled to discover more captivating capabilities and use cases for AXA’s customers and the communities.” JH Tang, digital transformation & strategy director, AXA Asia, said: “We are proud to be the pioneer in the Hong Kong insurance industry to partner with The Sandbox. AXA Hong Kong is dedicated to connecting the world by unfolding all kinds of inventive digital experiences. Stepping into the metaverse opens the door for cultural synergy and creates unlimited opportunities for us to explore the unknowns. Through our partnership, we aim to revolutionise the wellness and healthcare experiences for our customers and our markets in the broader regions by continuously driving innovation and technological development.” Sebastien Borget, COO and co-founder of The Sandbox, said: “AXA’s milestone as the first insurance company in Hong Kong1 to join The Sandbox is another step toward our vision of the open metaverse as a new digital economy where industries, brands, and cultures from around the world interact with players and creators for mutual benefit. We’re glad to support AXA’s commitment to being a force for good and look forward to creating shared value for our communities.” AXA has joined over 400 partners who have entered The Sandbox, including Warner Music Group, Ubisoft, The Rabbids, Tony Hawk, Gucci Vault, The Walking Dead, Snoop Dogg, Adidas, Deadmau5, Steve Aoki, Richie Hawtin, The Smurfs, Care Bears, Atari, ZEPETO, and CryptoKitties, all following The Sandbox team’s vision of empowering players to create their own experiences using both original and well-known characters and worlds Related articles: AXA debunks health and wealth myths with new playful campaign AXA brings me-time to sandwich generation in Asia

A Kitchen Torch Is The Tool You Deserve (But Probably Don’t “Need”) – Bon Appetit https://dentoncountynewsonline.com/a-kitchen-torch-is-the-tool-you-deserve-but-probably-dont-need-bon-appetit/ I’m not here to tell you that you need a kitchen torch; if you’re like most home cooks, you probably don’t. A culinary torch is the kind of kitchen tool that is necessary in only very specific situations—caramelizing the sugar on a crème brûlée, for instance, or blast-browning a sous vide steak—and if those situations don’t apply to you, well, use that cupboard space for something else. Let’s be real, though: There are plenty of kitchen tools you don’t need but covet anyway. And in my humble opinion, the best kitchen torch is a whole lot more awesome than, say, a purpose-built squash seed-scraper, or a WiFi-enabled spoon rest. Because playing with fire is fun. And so are you. This is me giving you permission to buy one of the most fun kitchen gadgets out there just for the hell of it, even if all you ever do is dig it out of the cabinet every once in a while and click it on a few times when no one is looking. And who’s to say a cooking torch is just for cooking? Scare/impress your guests by using it to light some candles or get really into shou sugi ban—a propane torch is a multipurpose tool. You don’t need it, but you do deserve it. If this entreaty is speaking to you in any way, here are some of the best kitchen torches to consider. For culinary butane torch newbies: Jo Chef Butane Kitchen Torch This little refillable butane torch can reach flame temperatures of up to 2730°F and is what you want for toasting a baked Alaska or lemon meringue pie, melting cheese atop French onion soup, or browning the marshmallow topping on a s’mores-inspired situation you found on Pinterest. You’ve seen something like this on The Great British Bake-Off, I’ll bet, a show I hear is very charming. The Jo Chef kitchen torch is lightweight, doesn’t take up too much space, and comes with about as much butane fuel as you’ll probably use in 10 years. (And if the fuel gauge shows you’re running low, not to worry, you can purchase additional compatible butane canisters.) This cutie is great for kitchen blow torch beginners because of its intuitive design, safety lock to guard against accidental ignition, and adjustable flame size. It’s ideal for desserts because it’s easy to wield in tighter spaces—a tight little tongue of concentrated flame that won’t accidentally set your tablecloth on fire when you’re trying to torch a dessert tableside. It is also great for lighting rows of birthday candles for your grandma without getting Lighter Thumb. Jo Chef Butane Kitchen Torch For the pyromaniac in all of us (…just me?): Bernzomatic TS8000 High Intensity Torch Often sold in hardware stores, Bernzomatic offers a wide array of professional-grade torches for everything from soldering to woodworking, with varying fuel types and flame intensities. While this particular model, the Bernzomatic TS8000, sounds like a character from the Terminator movies, it’s basically a small flamethrower, with the angled nozzle producing a whooshing jet of intense flame that, in all honesty, is kind of scary, but in a cool and fun way. The trigger unit itself is small and easy to stash in a drawer, which is a plus, but it needs to be attached to one of those bulky green propane cylinders you use with a camping stove in order to work, which makes the whole thing fairly heavy and awkward.

Bitcoin Rebounds, And Circle CEO Discusses What To Expect From Crypto Regulation – CNBC https://dentoncountynewsonline.com/bitcoin-rebounds-and-circle-ceo-discusses-what-to-expect-from-crypto-regulation-cnbc/ ShareShare Article via FacebookShare Article via TwitterShare Article via LinkedInShare Article via Email CNBC Crypto World features the latest news and daily trading updates from the digital currency markets and provides viewers with a look at what’s ahead with high-profile interviews, explainers, and unique stories from the ever-changing crypto industry. On today’s show, Jeremy Allaire, the CEO of Circle, discusses his outlook for crypto regulation. 10:46 Wed, Sep 28 20223:14 PM EDT

U.S. VP Harris To Slam North Korea Missile Test, Visit DMZ – Reuters.com https://dentoncountynewsonline.com/u-s-vp-harris-to-slam-north-korea-missile-test-visit-dmz-reuters-com/ US Vice President Kamala Harris arrives at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek on September 29, 2022. Jung Yeon-je/Pool via REUTERS SEOUL, Sept 29 (Reuters) – U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris is set to condemn North Korea’s weapons tests in Seoul ahead of her first visit to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the Koreas on Thursday, just hours after the isolated country test-fired missiles. Harris landed in the South Korean capital early on Thursday and will condemn North Korea’s latest missile launch during planned talks with South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, a White House official said. She will also discuss Seoul’s concerns over changes in U.S. electric vehicle subsidies, trilateral relations involving Japan, and China’s action in the Taiwan Strait, the official said. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Aides said the visit to DMZ is intended to show unwavering U.S. commitment to South Korea’s security but took on new urgency after the two short-range ballistic missiles were shot off North Korea’s east coast on Wednesday. U.S. President Joe Biden’s aides have been shoring up alliances to manage China in the region, including over Taiwan. But South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol told CNN in an interview aired on Sunday that in a conflict over Taiwan, North Korea would be more likely to stage a provocation and that the alliance should focus on that concern first. The missile test is the second since Sunday and comes two days after South Korea and U.S. forces conducted a military drill in waters off South Korea’s east coast involving an aircraft carrier. North Korea’s Kim Jong Un has said it is developing nuclear weapons and missiles to defend against U.S. threats. Following a stop at a military base in Japan, Harris called recent missile launches part of an “illicit weapons programme which threatens regional stability and violates multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions.” Harris’ visit to the DMZ is the first by a senior Biden administration official and is expected to follow a meeting with Yoon. Several former U.S. presidents, and Biden himself before he became president, have visited the DMZ, but former President Donald Trump became the first to have met a North Korean leader there when he held a third meeting with Kim Jong Un in 2019 as part of his unsuccessful effort to persuade Kim to give up his nuclear and missile programs. The DMZ is often described as the world’s last Cold War frontier and has existed since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a armistice rather than a peace treaty. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Josie Kao and Stephen Coates Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Aussie Cricket’s $2m Problem Finally Fixed – News.com.au https://dentoncountynewsonline.com/aussie-crickets-2m-problem-finally-fixed-news-com-au/ After years of begging and pleading, Australian cricket fans finally got their wish. Cricket Australia has confirmed that DRS technology will be available for every Big Bash League match this summer, along with 24 games in the women’s competition. Each team will receive one unsuccessful review per innings during the popular T20 competition, with the fielding captain or batter allocated 15 seconds to call for a review. Ultra Edge, commonly referred to as Snicko, and ball-tracking will be available to the third umpire, but not Hotspot technology. Catch the T20 World Cup Live on Kayo. Don’t Risk Missing All Your Teams’ Matches. New to Kayo? Start your free trial now Meanwhile, the Bash Boost point and X-Factor substitution rules, which divided cricket fans after their introduction in 2020, have been scrapped. The Power Surge innovation, where batting sides can take a two-over Powerplay after the 10th over, has been retained and make its debut in the Women’s Big Bash League this season. Also, fielding teams in the men’s competition will now be put on a countdown clock to ensure they start the final over of the innings within 79 minutes. If they fail to do so, only four fielders will be permitted outside the inner ring for the remainder of the innings. “Implementing DRS has been a challenging task for the BBL, which is the most logistically complex T20 league in the world,” Big Bash boss Alistair Dobson said in a statement. “That, plus the impact of the pandemic on travel and movement, have meant the technology has not been possible to introduce until this season. “Additionally, the League is pleased with the outcomes of the wider Playing Conditions review process, with the introduction of the Power Surge to WBBL and the BBL innings clock both major wins for fans. “We retain a clear desire to innovate and drive our Leagues forward but are also willing to review decisions that have not realised the intended positive impact, such as the Bash Boost point and X-Factor substitution.” Due to logistical and financial complications, partly caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, CA has been reluctant to introduce the DRS, which has become commonplace in international cricket and overseas tournaments such as the Indian Premier League and The Hundred. The BBL will be played across 14 venues this season, and ensuring the review system is available for all 61 matches is a huge logistical challenge to CA — transporting equipment and operators from state to state was practically impossible last summer due to border restrictions. Taking the full suite of technologies to regional venues is particularly costly — it’s estimated that having Snicko and ball-tracking available for the entire competition could cost up to $2 million. “This game is moving forward quicker than a lot of people realise,” England batter Laurie Evans, who was retained by the Perth Scorchers at the Big Bash League Draft, told reporters last month. “There’s a lot on the line for a lot of people … just an individual decision can change a career. “A competition of this magnitude needs to have everything available to it, and be played at the highest possible level. “DRS is one of those things we’re getting used to now as players around the T20 circuit, so it’s a great decision to have it.” The late Shane Warne was also an outspoken advocate for DRS technology in the Big Bash, telling Fox Cricket in 2020: “Enough is enough. If we want to take this competition seriously, we’ve got to have DRS. “Cricket Australia just have to pay for it. We can’t have these decisions.” The 12th edition of the Big Bash League gets underway on Tuesday, December 13, while the women’s competition kicks off on Thursday, October 13.

PREP PREVIEW: Walker Valley Hopes For Turn-Around Against Rhea Co. – The Chattanoogan https://dentoncountynewsonline.com/prep-preview-walker-valley-hopes-for-turn-around-against-rhea-co-the-chattanoogan/ CLEVELAND, Tenn. – So far the three-game losing streak Walker Valley is striving to work through hasn’t had an affect on the postseason outcome. All that will change this week, however, when the Mustangs play their first region game since early September Friday against Rhea County in Evensville. It will be imperative for the Mustangs to clean up the myriad of mistakes made against Cleveland last week in a 34-3 loss. “Obviously, we made some mistakes offensively where we had some open guys. We seemed to not all be clicking at the same time,” Mustangs head coach Drew Akins. “If we were blocking well up front, we don’t make the the throw. If we make the throw sometimes we don’t catch it.” The mistakes can be traced to a lack of experience at key positions according to Akins.  “When you go back to not having a lot of returning starters and you don’t have a lot of Friday night inexperience, you’re going to have bumps in the road. (Last) Friday night was a glaring example of that,” Akins said. “When you look at our talent we’re still very talented on offense We’ve just got to find a way to put it all together.” The Mustangs will definitely need to put it all together quickly as hosting a postseason playoff game will likely hinge on their performance against the Golden Eagles in the Region 5-4A battle. Currently, the Mustangs are 1-0 in region play behind 2-0 McMinn County and ahead of 1-1 Rhea. “I fully believe (quarterback) Evan (Schwarzl) is the guy. He’s one of the best quarterbacks that will ever come through here. He’s just going to have to gain experience and the more experience you gain the better you get,” stated the coach. Schwarzl has enjoys a solid receiving corps featuring Tucker Ownby who has catches so far with more than 400 receiving yards and seven touchdowns. The bad news is Ownby is now drawing double and triple coverage leaving Schwarzl to look for open options. Defensively, Akins feels the Mustangs did well even in a 31-point loss to the Blue Raiders.  “I think we had four, three-and-outs and a fourth-down stop. That’s five possessions they got us the ball right back. At the end they just got tired,” the coach admitted. “Zeke Garrison has really stepped up for us. He had eight tackles and an assist as a sophomore.” Akins acknowledged his Herd is frustrated with the outcome the last three weeks, but said he knows Walker Valley wants to win a region championship and host a playoff game. He and his staff have worked hard to get the team to put frustrations in the past and look forward to what is still possible. “There is something we can do about the region championship, it’s here in front of us. There is something we can do about hosting a playoff game, it’s here in front of us. That’s the conversations were having,” he said. “Our leadership understands that the games that matter are the region games. If we are able to fight through these next two games and find ways to win, we have a chance to host playoff games here. The biggest thing is, we can’t keep doing the same things and expect different results.” One of the keys for the Mustangs is physically correcting mistakes made on the field to match the continued positive mental attitude Akins said they continue to hold tightly to. The Mustangs’ wrangler said he and staff are working to get back to what proves to be successful in the early going and that is the running game. “We’ve kind of neglected the run game. When Evan has had his best games he’s throwing the ball 15 to 20 times a game. When he’s had his worst games he’s throwing 15 to 30 times a game,” Akins emphasized. “We’ve got to do a better job of running the football, managing the clock and limiting possessions. We’ve put more on Evan’ shoulders and really that’s not fair to that kid.” If the Mustangs are able to put up a running game against the Eagles no doubt the defense will benefit by being able to rest between possessions.  “We’ve got to get back and trust our run game. We’ve proven we can do it,” Akins said. “We’ve got to work that better in practice and trust in on Friday nights.” The time is now for Akins and the Mustangs. Every game so far has mattered, but it didn’t matter in the long run. But, now every game really matters. Three of the final four regular season matchups come with postseason implications. “I think our guys came back (from last week) with a great mentality. Their moral is really high. They are still doing what we ask them to do. They are still trying in practice and they are still giving us great effort. We still have their attention. We’re not fighting our own team. Our kids are willing to do whatever it takes to go win a ballgame, we’ve just go to make sure we are asking the right things as a coaching staff. Our leadership has been outstanding.” Akins praised Jackson Gibson, Eli Denton — who leads the state in tackles with 72 solo stops and 38 assists — Tucker Ownby and Bradly Montgomery, who have, according to the coach, “have been awesome.” “You can’t talk about hard times and then when you get in hard times you decide to quit. These kids aren’t quitting. They are giving great effort every single day,” Akins said. “We have to make sure as coaches we are asking them to give the effort in the right direction. I think we’ve done a good job building a plan this week that puts that effort in the right direction.” Though the night wasn’t a successful on on the football field for the Mustangs, the team and community took pride in pregame ceremonies to bring focus to children and families battling childhood cancer. “I was so proud of the “Go Gold” night we did last week. It was a really special night. I think the pregame of bringing the families out on the field was really cool. It was a special night for our community. Friday is the last day of September and it’s the last day of Pediatric Cancer Month. It was a cool night for our community to be able to recognize the importance of Pediatric Cancer awareness.”

As Adventure Travel Explodes, Guides Say Goodbye To The Dirtbag Life – Backpacker – Backpacker Magazine https://dentoncountynewsonline.com/as-adventure-travel-explodes-guides-say-goodbye-to-the-dirtbag-life-backpacker-backpacker-magazine/ “], “filter”: { “nextExceptions”: “img, blockquote, div”, “nextContainsExceptions”: “img, blockquote”} }” Mike Kmit didn’t always have his sights set on becoming a full-time outdoor guide. Fresh out of business school in 2017, he was juggling two part-time jobs as a night camp instructor at the Phoenix Zoo and as a footwear specialist at the REI store in Tempe, Arizona “I had a coworker at REI who worked as a guide and he always had exciting tales about the gig,” said Kmit. His interest piqued, he signed up for a wilderness first responder class with NOLS and soon landed a job leading day hiking, biking, and rafting trips out of Scottsdale for local outfitter Arizona Outback Adventure (AOA), ”  “I was hired, largely, to smile and point out waterfalls while the senior guides handled most of the real guiding,” he said. “I didn’t know it at the time, but my training would be short and went like this: Come along as a guest for two training trips, learn all you can, and then fly, little birdie!” Five years later, guiding is Kmit’s day to day. He now leads backpacking and camping adventures as a full-time multi-day interpretive guide with REI Experiences.  In 2020, 160.7 million Americans ages six and over participated in at least one outdoor activity—a total of 7.1 million more participants than in 2019, according to the Outdoor Industry Association. As more and more novices venture outside, guiding them has become big business. REI in particular saw a more than 60 percent increase over the last 12 months for its REI Experiences offerings, a growing roster of 124 multiday adventure travel trips led by professional local guides around the U.S.  As the business has grown, so have opportunities for guides. After REI acquired AOA in 2019 to grow its guide and trip capacity, Kmit says his life as a guide completely changed. Up until that point, he scrambled for consistent hours, scraped by on entry-level pay, and played it safe on backcountry adventures because of his limited health insurance coverage.  Post-acquisition, REI changed its pay format from a daily rate to an hourly rate to gain a competitive edge in a tight job market. Kmit’s upgraded gig guaranteed a 16-hour workday and overtime, which adds up quickly. To boot, guides received health insurance with an HSA option and they became eligible for paid vacation and sick time, a 401k plan, annual bonuses, and even sabbaticals—all the benefits of a quality, well-balanced occupation. He was no longer living the dirtbag lifestyle. Mike Kmit at Utah’s Delicate Arch “[Before guiding with REI], I remember feeling like it was a privilege to be doing the work I do,” said Kmit. “But that’s not to say you shouldn’t be making a decent living—especially when you’re responsible for keeping people safe in the backcountry and in potentially life-threatening situations.” Kmit’s story mirrors many US-based guides’ paths into the industry—a journey that demands grueling hours of work, technical know-how, and life-saving wilderness skills (built over many tireless years in the field). Colby Brokvist, an expedition leader, guide, trainer, and author of The Professional Guide’s Handbook, says leveling up to full-time work, or even leading global expeditions, requires an additional tier of experience, leadership, and professionalism in the guiding world. “It’s easy to go out there and lead a river rafting trip or a top-rope climb for a day—but it’s not until [the guides] have long-term wilderness experience that they reach the heart of guiding: The real-life leadership, team, and risk management, and operations and logistics execution,” said Brokvist. “These sorts of things require operating at a higher level and come with more experience, training, and bigger knowledge base.” Both Kmit and Brokvist also attest to the fact that guiding is a job of many jobs.  Not only are they providing an entertaining and awe-inspiring experience in the wilderness; They also take on the job of leader, role model, coach, environmental teacher, and literal lifesavers.  “Every guide has different skills, stories, and passions they bring with them to work every day,” said Kmit. “If [travelers] want to hone their backpacking or camping skills, or learn more about flora, fauna, geology, indigenous cultures, and other elements of the natural world—guides will be able to speak to those things. You walk away from a trip not just loving a place, but feeling a depth of connection you wouldn’t get by merely showing up and reading a few signs.” In his book, Brokvist describes one of many roles that guides must play as “The Interpreter.” This role requires guides to develop curiosity among travelers by helping people think more deeply about the places that they’re in. “Being the Interpreter means guides can provide insight and commentary along trips that focus on things like responsible visitation and conservation, social empowerment, and amplifying local voices. Guides can help connect the guests with local stories—whether they be ecological, cultural, social, economic—to build deeper connections with the people and the places and the wildlife that they’re visiting with.” The market for guides may only be growing, too. In addition to multiday adventure trips, REI also continues to host day trips and educational programming in 14 cities to teach and help people sharpen their outdoor skill sets for activities like camping, cycling, paddling, and climbing. Mark Seidl, REI Experiences divisional vice president, says the company has big goals for meeting and driving demand for multiday adventure travel trips, tours, and rentals; the goal, he says, is to get 3 million people outside every year. The company also recognizes that the quality and output of its team of thousands of guides remain a major reason for their success. “We believe the guide is the product and they are the most important part of the customer experience. REI is committed to ensuring we attract and retain the best guides in the industry—whether they are seasoned or just starting their career—and our benefits and pay reflect this intention.” As interest in guided outdoor adventures continues to explode, outfitters like REI have their work cut out for them to continue attracting and hiring high-quality guides fit for leading groups into the wilderness. “What used to be a dirtbag summer hustle has evolved into a year-round respectable gig with long-term desirability in pay, benefits, and quality of life,” said Kmit. “There’s now an opportunity to view guiding in a professional light.”

ISEEK Has Acquired South Australian Data Centre, YourDC – Tech Business News https://dentoncountynewsonline.com/iseek-has-acquired-south-australian-data-centre-yourdc-tech-business-news/ Leading Australian digital infrastructure operator iseek has expanded its national footprint, acquiring South Australia’s premier data centre, YourDC The acquisition broadens iseek’s co-location, cloud, and connectivity offering to seven data centres across Brisbane, Northern Queensland, Sydney, and Adelaide. YourDC operates South Australia’s biggest ecosystem of data centres, clouds, and managed services, and two of those are in Adelaide andprovides data centre co-location and connectivity services to government, defence, and enterprise customers. YourDC’s highly experienced management team, led by co-founder and CEO Scott Hicks, will continue to operate, and remain invested in the business.  Queensland-headquartered iseek has been providing critical digital infrastructure and connectivity services to  government and national enterprises for more than two decades.  iseek founder and CEO Jason Gomersall said, “Our acquisition of YourDC is game-changing for our growth trajectory.” “It provides us a large footprint in South Australia, strengthens our national offering, and increases our exposure within the defence and education sectors.”  “The complementary businesses are market leaders in their respective states with proven track records of delivering secure and reliable critical infrastructure to large-scale government and enterprise customers.” “Importantly, YourDC’s customer-centric culture aligns with ours and we are retaining its high-performing team and valuable long-term customer relationships.” says Gomersall YourDC founder and CEO Scott Hicks said, “Our acquisition by iseek will facilitate our next growth phase, expanding our data centre capacity to capitalise on significant market demand and growth opportunities.” “As founder-led businesses, YourDC and iseek have multiple synergies with the acquisition enabling us to offer additional digital and co-location services.” said Hicks “As the largest data centre provider in South Australia, YourDC is already increasing its IT load capacity to cater to the state’s growing digital infrastructure requirements with future facility expansion opportunities available at its existing sites.” added Gomersall The acquisition also enables YourDC to leverage iseek’s platform to cross-sell additional digital infrastructure solutions to its customers.”   Amber Infrastructure, a specialist infrastructure investor and manager, acquired a majority stake in iseek last year to grow the business’ footprint and service offering.  Amber Infrastructure Investment Director, Tristan Evans said, “We see strong growth opportunities for iseek, supported by the industry shift towards outsourced digital infrastructure. “This shift is being driven by increased demand for data storage, greater data sovereignty, and the need for data protection in regions,” said Evans. YourDC operates two data centres north and south of Adelaide, which are connected by a dedicated fibre ring. These include: ADL1 Hawthorn has 580 square metres (6,250 square feet) of technical space across two data halls with capacity for 220 racks ADL2 Edinburgh Parks was opened in 2016 and offers 2,280 metres (24,550 feet) of technical space in up to 20 rooms capable of accommodating up to 800 racks. Brisbane-based iseek has been offering cloud and connectivity services from five data centres in Brisbane, Northern Queensland, and Sydney since 2000. Earlier this month iseek was also awarded the Queensland State Government’s core network data centre as-a-service (DCaaS) contract after a competitive procurement process undertaken by CITEC. Editorial Team The TBN team is a well establish group of technology industry professionals with backgrounds in IT Systems, Business Communications and Journalism.

Cooking Class To Help Reduce Risk Of Gynecological Cancers At Northern Westchester Hospital’s Center For Healthy Living – TAPinto.net https://dentoncountynewsonline.com/cooking-class-to-help-reduce-risk-of-gynecological-cancers-at-northern-westchester-hospitals-center-for-healthy-living-tapinto-net/ Cooking class to help reduce risk of gynecological cancers at Northern Westchester Hospital’s Center for Healthy Living  TAPinto.net

NFL Week 4 Injuries: Tua Tagovailoa, Jaylen Waddle Questionable; Christian McCaffrey Misses Practice – CBS Sports https://dentoncountynewsonline.com/nfl-week-4-injuries-tua-tagovailoa-jaylen-waddle-questionable-christian-mccaffrey-misses-practice-cbs-sports/ Another week, another list of notable NFL players whose health statuses are the topic of major conversation. Dak Prescott kicked things off earlier in the week when he did not rule out playing this Sunday after having the stitches removed from his surgically repaired thumb. Prescott is itching to get back on the field after watching teammate and backup Cooper Rush lead the Cowboys to a pair of wins over the past two weeks.  Prescott isn’t the only notable player who is dealing with an injury. Christian McCaffrey sat out Panthers practice nursing a thigh injury. Tua Tagovailoa’s status for Miami’s Thursday night game in Cincinnati remains in question after he was injured during this past Sunday’s dramatic win over Buffalo. Keenan Allen is hoping to play for the first time since injuring his hamstring in the Chargers’ season-opener. Jets fans are hoping that Zach Wilson get make his season debut this Sunday in Pittsburgh, where Steelers fans are keeping their fingers crossed that Minkah Fitzpatrick can play after entering the concussion protocol.  Here’s a look at each of those injuries as well as every other significant injury entering the NFL‘s fourth week of the regular season.  Dolphins at Bengals (Thursday night)  Dolphins: TE Cethan Carter (concussion), TE Hunter Long (ankle) OUT; OT Terron Armstead (toe), CB Xavien Howard (groin/glute), S Brandon Jones (chest), QB Tua Tagovailoa (back/ankle), WR Jaylen Waddle (groin), DT Raekwon Davis (knee), WR Ced Wilson (ribs/toe) QUESTIONABLE Bengals: DT D.J. Reader (knee), TE Drew Sample (knee) OUT; OT La’el Collins (back), LB Germaine Pratt (knee) QUESTIONABLE  The Dolphins have a myriad of injuries this week to be wary of. Their left tackle, Armstead, is questionable with a toe injury, and two wide receivers, Waddle and Wilson, are questionable as well. Both were limited participants Tuesday and Wednesday, which bodes well for their statuses tomorrow night. The headline of course is Tagovailoa, who is dealing with back and ankle issues. While he’s officially listed as questionable, he did say Wednesday that he plans to play, and he was limited in the final two practice sessions. The star cornerback, Howard, was limited Tuesday and Wednesday as well with groin and glute issues.  Reader and Sample did not practice at all this week for the Bengals, so them being ruled out for Thursday night is not surprising. Cincy will certainly want its right tackle, Collins, in the starting lineup. He sat out of practice Monday and Tuesday but returned as a full participant Wednesday — which bodes well for his status. As for Pratt, he was a full participant in the final two practice sessions after being limited Monday.  Vikings at Saints (London) Vikings: Cornerback Andrew Booth Jr. (quad), running back Dalvin Cook (shoulder), fullback C.J. Ham (foot) and pass-rusher Za’Darius Smith (knee) did not practice Wednesday for the Vikings. Linebacker Eric Kendricks (toe) and safety Harrison Smith (concussion) were also listed on the injury report, but they were full participants.   Saints: QB Jameis Winston did not practice Wednesday, as he has been dealing with back and ankle injuries, but he is expected to practice on Thursday. Receivers Michael Thomas (toe) and Jarvis Landry (ankle) did not practice along with offensive guard Andrus Peat (concussion), while running back Alvin Kamara (rib) was limited. Cornerback Paulson Adebo (ankle), defensive end Marcus Davenport (shoulder), defensive back J.T. Gray (shoulder), wide receiver Deonte Harty (foot), wide receiver Tre’Quan Smith (concussion), tight end Taysom Hill (rib) and safety Marcus Maye (rib) were limited participants.  Browns at Falcons  Browns: Myles Garrett did not practice Wednesday as he continues to recover from Monday’s single-car accident. Garrett, who suffered minor injuries during the crash, has not been ruled out for Sunday’s game. Offensive guard Joel Bitonio (biceps), defensive tackle Taven Bryan (hamstring), defensive end Jadeveon Clowney (ankle), offensive tackle Joe Haeg (concussion), linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah (groin) and cornerback Denzel Ward (back/ribs) did not practice Wednesday, either. Offensive tackle Jack Conklin was limited with a knee injury. Falcons: Cordarrelle Patterson was the only Falcons player who did not practice Wednesday. Atlanta’s dual threat was given the day off to rest his injured knee.  Bills at Ravens Bills: For the Bills, defensive tackle Jordan Phillips (hamstring), offensive guard Ryan Bates (concussion) cornerback Christian Benford (hand), offensive tackle Dion Dawkins (illness) and wide receiver Jake Kumerow (ankle) did not practice on Wednesday. Defensive tackle Ed Oliver (ankle), tight end Dawson Knox (back/hip), safety Jordan Poyer (foot), wide receiver Gabe Davis (ankle), cornerback Dane Jackson (neck), cornerback Cam Lewis (forearm/knee), center Mitch Morse (elbow) and offensive tackle Justin Murray (foot) were limited participants. No doubt about it, the Bills are banged-up.  Ravens: The Ravens that missed Wednesday’s practice session for medical reasons were pass-rusher Justin Houston (groin), offensive tackle Patrick Mekari (ankle) and nose tackle Michael Pierce (biceps). Running back J.K. Dobbins was limited with a chest injury. Maybe the headline of Baltimore’s injury report Wednesday was that offensive tackle Ronnie Stanley was a full participant with his ankle injury.  Commanders at Cowboys  Commanders: Four Washington offensive linemen either didn’t practice or practiced in a limited capacity Wednesday. Tackle Charles Leno (shoulder) and center Wes Schweitzer (concussion) did not practice, while Saahdiq Charles (shoulder) and Sam Cosmi (knee) were limited.   Cowboys: Star quarterback Dak Prescott again did not practice due to his right thumb injury. Safety Jayron Kearse (knee), defensive lineman DeMarcus Lawrence (foot), offensive lineman Connor McGovern (ankle) and tight end Dalton Schultz (knee) were limited participants on Wednesday. If you were wondering about wide receiver Michael Gallup, he was a full participant with his ACL injury. He is nearing his season debut.   Seahawks at Lions Seahawks: Analysis to come.  Lions: The Lions were missing many players at practice on Wednesday. Among them were linebacker Chris Board (knee), defensive end John Cominsky (wrist), tight end T.J. Hockenson (foot), offensive guard Jonah Jackson (finger), wide receiver Josh Reynolds (ankle), kicker Austin Seibert (right groin), wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown (ankle) and running back D’Andre Swift (ankle/shoulder). Wide receiver D.J. Chark was limited with an ankle injury.  Chargers at Texans Chargers: Chargers coach Brandon Staley announced Wednesday that pass rusher Joey Bosa will be placed on injured reserve as he is dealing with a groin injury. Bosa, who will undergo surgery, is expected to return at some point this season. Wide receiver Keenan Allen (hamstring), quarterback Justin Herbert (ribs), cornerback J.C. Jackson (ankle), center Corey Linsley (knee) and tight end Donald Parham (hamstring) were limited participants on Wednesday. Texans: For Houston, defensive tackle Maliek Collins (knee), offensive tackle Austin Deculus (ankle), defensive lineman Kurt Hinish (foot), tight end Brevin Jordan (ankle) and linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin (back) did not practice on Wednesday. Linebacker Blake Cashman (hip), running back Dameon Pierce (hip), cornerback M.J. Stewart (hip) and cornerback Isaac Yiadom (thigh) were limited participants.   Titans at Colts  Titans: The Titans had several starters miss practice on Wednesday, as wide receiver Treylon Burks (illness), linebacker Zach Cunningham (elbow), safety Amani Hooker (concussion) and tight end Austin Hooper (neck) sat out. Pass-rusher Ola Adeniyi (neck), cornerback Kristian Fulton (knee) and wide receiver Kyle Phillips (shoulder) were limited.   Colts: The Colts have some injuries worth keeping an eye on this week. Star running back Jonathan Taylor missed his first-ever NFL practice with a toe issue. Joining him as inactive on Wednesday were safety Julian Blackmon (ankle), defensive tackle DeForest Buckner (elbow), cornerback Stephon Gilmore (hamstring), center Ryan Kelly (knee) and defensive end Yannick Ngakoue (back). Offensive tackle Bernhard Raimann was limited with an ankle injury as well, but what was really good news for the Colts was that Shaquille Leonard was a full participant with his back issue. Bears at Giants Bears: Bears running back David Montgomery did not practice on Wednesday due to ankle/knee injuries, and how he progresses through the week will be something to watch. Linebacker Matthew Adams (hamstring), safety Dane Cruikshank (hamstring) and cornerback Jaylon Johnson (quad) also did not practice. Tight end Ryan Griffin (Achilles), wide receiver Velus Jones Jr. (hamstring) and linebacker Roquan Smith (quad) were limited participants.  Giants: Sterling Shepard (knee) did not practice, which was expected as he is slated to go on injured reserve after tearing his ACL in Monday’s loss to the Cowboys. Fellow wideout Wan’Dale Robinson also did not practice on Wednesday as he is dealing with a hamstring injury. Defensive lineman Leonard Williams (knee), linebacker Jihad Ward (knee), wide receiver Kadarius Toney (hamstring) cornerback Nick McCloud (hamstring) and cornerback Cordale Flott (calf) also did not practice on Wednesday. Cornerback Justin Layne (concussion) and Aaron Robinson (appendix) were limited participants.  Jaguars at Eagles Jaguars: The Jaguars had just a couple of names on their Wednesday injury report, as offensive guard Cole Van Lanen did not practice with a hamstring injury, and cornerback Shaquill Griffi...

Metaverse Stocks: How To Invest In The Top 5 Companies In Virtual Worlds – BeInCrypto https://dentoncountynewsonline.com/metaverse-stocks-how-to-invest-in-the-top-5-companies-in-virtual-worlds-beincrypto/ Metaverse stocks: The metaverse is fast becoming the most anticipated technological development of our generation. The emerging technology is still many years away from being a widespread mainstream success. Yet investors are already seeking opportunities to invest in this brave new interconnected digital landscape, says Rebecca Barnatt-Smith. The sheer volume of computational power required to fuel the metaverse, and its reliance on virtual and augmented reality, has paved the way for many existing stocks to stand as key beneficiaries in a Web3 environment. But where can wise investments be made on Wall Street? Top 5 Deep Dive Let’s take a deeper look into five of the most exciting metaverse stocks available to invest in today, and how each company could grow:  Metaverse stocks #1: Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) Firstly, let’s explore a company that could play an essential role in powering the metaverse. Nvidia’s graphics cards and data center chips are best positioned to bring the metaverse to life by delivering the computational power required for individuals to interact with one another within a sprawling digital environment.  Crucially for investors, we’re already seeing Nvidia graphics cards powering Meta Platforms’ AI Research SuperCluster (RSC) supercomputer. The company hopes to create a framework for handling the metaverse’s processing requirements.  The stock itself has slipped following a blistering 2021. But NVDA’s strong rebound from its Q2 2022 bottom shows that investor confidence in the stock remains strong.  The company has a strong relationship with Meta, a company hell-bent on building into the metaverse. Nvidia’s strong hand comes from the scale of the task at hand in powering the new Web3 landscape in a way that can cater to all users. According to estimates from Intel, the successful rtttttt of the metaverse would require a 1,000x increase in the computing capacity commonly available today.  It’s this requirement for the introduction of more processing hardware that’s likely to provide Nvidia with a golden opportunity for strong growth as the development of the metaverse gathers pace.  Metaverse stocks #2: Unity Software (NYSE: U) Much like Nvidia, Unity Software is set to be another key player when it comes to powering the metaverse. The company specializes in enabling game developers to create high-quality graphical content that can operate on a cross-platform basis. This can bring together users based on computers, smartphones, games consoles, and VR hardware.  Significantly, Unity had a 61% market share of the gaming market by the end of 2021. This makes the company’s stock performance throughout much of the year unsurprising. Unity has been impacted by the tech stock sell-offs of 2022. But the stock’s proximity to the gaming sector is likely to make it a trailblazer as Web3 develops.  It is thought that the company’s software has been incorporated into the development of more than 60% of the world’s 3D content to date. This can be significant for not only game designers but also metaverse development studios like BORN, which can use the technology to render vast 3D creations in the metaverse for its clients.  Today, Unity is working on a number of platforms like Insomniac Events in order to generate new metaverse worlds. With key industry figures like the Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella, claiming that the “metaverse is essentially creating games,” it’s likely that Unity will play a central role in the landscape’s development.  Metaverse stocks #3: Roblox (NYSE: RBLX) Roblox has built a reputation as an early iteration of the metaverse. As a gaming company, social network, and content creation platform, the stock incorporates many of the foundations of the metaverse as we know it today. Furthermore, Roblox’s market cap of $41.9 billion at the time of its 2021 NYSE listing shows that the company is already a metaverse star in the eyes of Wall Street.  Significantly, Roblox has become a leading entertainment hub, with 3D concerts for leading artists like Lil Nas X, and David Guetta among many others. At the time of writing, Roblox has hosted more than 24 million 3D experiences for users to involve themselves in.  We can also see strong evidence of growth for Roblox. In Q4 2021, Roblox counted 49 million active daily users on average, representing a 33% increase from the same time last year. Should the platform build on its growth, it could become the world’s metaverse of choice in the future.  Metaverse stocks #4: Snap (NYSE: SNAP) The artist formerly known as Snapchat may be acknowledged as a social media giant in its own right. But the company has been making waves in the field of augmented reality throughout recent years.  In fact, SNAP’s AR investments are generating healthy levels of growth within the platform. They could form an intricate bond with the metaverse as the technology leans further on the development of augmented reality.  Despite 2022 being a tough time for Snap’s stock market fortunes, 250 million of its users used the platform’s AR tools during Q1 2022. Accompanying Snap’s famous Lenses tool will soon be a fully-fledged pair of AR glasses which may become a precursor to metaverse compatible eyewear.  Metaverse stocks #5: Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) MSFT stock is performing exceptionally well, despite widespread tech sell-offs in comparison to some of its counterparts on this list. Whilst this may mean that there are fewer opportunities to pick up discounted stock, this blue-chip company has proven time and again that it can keep up with new innovations.  In early 2022, Microsoft announced the acquisition of Activision Blizzard, a leading gaming firm. The $70 billion deal provides access to Activision’s gaming titles like the wildly popular ‘Call of Duty.’ Furthermore, Microsoft will be capable of marketing to Activision’s seismic 390 million monthly users.  The company has made no secret of the fact that it views gaming as an intrinsic part of the development of the metaverse. In this acquisition, we can see a clear play by Microsoft to emerge as a leader in metaverse-based games.  Microsoft is also actively working to utilize its HoloLens as a means of creating mixed reality spaces for Teams. Microsoft has a rich history for innovation, and it seems certain that the company will be front and center of metaverse developments, if its recent market movements are anything to go by.  Tips for investors For investors, it’s essential to continually research the metaverse companies that they are thinking to add to their portfolios. The space is still very much in its formative stages and things can change quickly.  With this in mind, no metaverse stock is certain for long-term growth. However, with the right level of metaverse exposure, investors are likely to benefit significantly from the space’s winners over time.  About the author Rebecca Barnatt-Smith is a freelance journalist and multi-media marketing executive, interested in the future of the metaverse and what it could mean for investors. She covers tech-based topics, the future of crypto trading and NFT trends. Got something to say about metaverse stocks or anything else? Write to us or join the discussion in our Telegram channel. You can also catch us on Tik Tok, Facebook, or Twitter. Disclaimer All the information contained on our website is published in good faith and for general information purposes only. Any action the reader takes upon the information found on our website is strictly at their own risk.

The Coolest James Bond Car Ever Just Sold For Over $3 Million – DMARGE https://dentoncountynewsonline.com/the-coolest-james-bond-car-ever-just-sold-for-over-3-million-dmarge/ The James Bond series is famous for its cool cars, particularly the Aston Martin DB5… And now the coolest DB5 ever made has just sold – for a serious figure. Famed British auction house Christie’s and EON Productions are currently an amazing auction event called Sixty Years of James Bond: an official two-part charity sale celebrating the 60th anniversary of the iconic spy film franchise that boasts 60 iconic lots spanning the 25 Bond films. The 60 lots, split between an online and a live auction, include a treasure trove of Bond goodies, including Timothy Dalton’s tuxedo from License To Kill, a Casino Royale script signed by the actors, producers and screenwriters; and even one of the Day of the Dead skeletons from Spectre. But the vast majority of items come from the most recent Bond film, No Time To Die – the 25th in the franchise and Daniel Craig’s last stint as the famous fictional British agent – including the Aston Martin DB5 stunt car from the thrilling opening scene, which we reckon might just be the coolest Bond car ever. A car that’s been shaken, not stirred. Image: Christie’s The DB5, of course, is a staple of the franchise and one of the most iconic movie cars of all time. This DB5 is a cut above the rest, however. One of only eight built specifically for James Bond and, to date, the only DB5 stunt car to be released for public sale, this was exclusively engineered and handcrafted by Aston Martin’s Special Projects division for No Time To Die, Christie’s explains. All the DB5 stunt cars were modified in different ways, with this car being one of a few to include the bespoke No Time To Die gadgets and mocked-up side panel damage. RELATED: Sebastian Vettel Takes James Bond’s Classic Aston Martin DB5 Drifting At Silverstone What’s really cool is that this car is actually functional, as it was built specifically to perform dynamic stunts. Under the hood, it boasts a modern 3.2L inline-six petrol engine plus a manual gearbox. The body panels are all carbon fibre, as is much of the interior, and it boasts a beefed-up bespoke suspension and braking system uniquely engineered by Aston Martin Special Projects. It’s not just some mocked-up shell: this is the real deal; as close as one can get to driving a functional Bond car. Cool, right? What’s the catch? Well, you might technically be able to drive it, but it was sold as a ‘non-runner’ collector’s item and is not approved for use on any public roads or homologated. This is just a technicality – I mean, you’d probably be crazy to drive around something so rare on the streets anyway… Very expensive donuts. Image: Christie’s The DB5, part of the live portion of the auction, ended up selling for 2,922,000 of His Majesty’s finest pounds (~ 3,172,050 USD / 4,869,395 AUD), far surpassing Christie’s auction estimate of 1,500,000 – 2,000,000 GBP. RELATED: ‘Most Expensive Ever’: $202 Million Mercedes-Benz Smashes Car Auction Records This DB5 wasn’t the only cool car that went under the hammer, either. A bunch of vehicles from No Time To Die were up for grabs – most of which smashed their auction estimates – including Bond’s 1981 Aston Martin V8 (which went for 630,000 GBP), Nomi’s Aston Martin DBS Superleggera (403,200 GBP), the Triumph Scrambler motorbike from the Italy opening sequence (138,600 GBP) plus two of the villainous Land Rover Defenders from the Norway chase scene (which didn’t beat their estimates and sold for 163,800 and 189,000 GBP respectively). Other cool lots at the Sixty Years of James Bond live auction included the OMEGA Seamaster Diver 300M 007 Edition worn by Daniel Craig in the film (226,800 GBP) and a five-night stay at the luxurious Goldeneye estate in Jamaica where Ian Fleming wrote all fourteen Bond books (52,920 GBP). While the live portion of the auction is over, the online portion is still running until October 5th, and contains goodies like signed posters and a bunch of outfits worn by Daniel Craig and others in the films. WATCH our guide to James Bond’s best watches below. Read Next Where To Stream No Time To Die in Australia OMEGA Dropped An ‘Australian’ Speedmaster… And It’s A Bloody Ripper, Too

US Lawmakers Propose Amending Cybersecurity Bill To Include Crypto Firms Reporting Potential Threats – Cointelegraph https://dentoncountynewsonline.com/us-lawmakers-propose-amending-cybersecurity-bill-to-include-crypto-firms-reporting-potential-threats-cointelegraph/ Under the proposed amendment, the 2015 legislation would be renamed the Cryptocurrency Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act. 336 Total views 25 Total shares United States Senators Marsha Blackburn and Cynthia Lummis have introduced proposed changes to a 2015 bill that would allow “voluntary information sharing of cyber threat indicators among cryptocurrency companies.” According to a draft bill on amending the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015, Blackburn and Lummis suggested U.S. lawmakers allow companies involved with distributed ledger technology or digital assets to report network damage, data breaches, ransomware attacks, and related cybersecurity threats to government officials for possible assistance. Should the bill be signed into law, agencies including the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency would issue policies and procedures for crypto firms facing potential cybersecurity risks. The original bill, which passed in the Senate in October 2015, essentially set up a framework for the U.S. government to coordinate cybersecurity reports from “private entities, nonfederal government agencies, state, tribal, and local governments, the public, and entities” and recommend possible methods to prevent and protect against attacks. Under the proposed amendment, the legislation would be renamed the Cryptocurrency Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act. Blackburn reportedly told TechCrunch the amendments to the cybersecurity bill would provide a means for crypto firms to “report bad actors and protect cryptocurrency from dangerous practices,” given potential illegal uses. Lummis has also co-sponsored bills in the Senate aimed at providing regulatory clarity to the space by addressing the respective roles of the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission over digital assets. Lummis-Gillibrand would empower the Securities and Exchange Commission to enact clear regulations that define which cryptocurrencies are securities. https://t.co/9oNd5FX89N — Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) September 8, 2022 Related: Blockchain and cybersecurity awareness on the rise — PolySwarm CEO The original cybersecurity bill stated it would be in effect for 10 years starting on the date of its enactment. As of October 2015, Congress reported the bill was held at the desk of the House of Representatives.

Report Urges Improvements In US Approach To Hostage Cases – Marine Corps Times https://dentoncountynewsonline.com/report-urges-improvements-in-us-approach-to-hostage-cases-marine-corps-times/ The Biden administration should create an additional senior-level position at the White House National Security Council to focus on cases of Americans who are wrongfully detained in foreign countries, and fund an interagency office tasked with helping free hostages, according to a report Wednesday from a leading advocacy group. The report from the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation also recommends that Congress authorize funding to pay for hostage families to visit Washington to meet with U.S. government officials, as well as to provide support — whether clothing, temporarily housing or medical care — for returning hostages. The annual research report is based on interviews with 60 people, including former hostages and wrongful detainees and their relatives as well as former government officials. It was released amid heightened public attention on the plight of American hostages and detainees, thanks in part to the continued imprisonment in Russia of WNBA star Brittney Griner on drug-related charges. The U.S. has been trying to bring home Griner another American jailed in Russia, Marine veteran Paul Whelan, but those efforts have so far not been successful. RELATED There have been some high-profile releases in the last six months, including an April prisoner swap with Russia that secured the release of Marine veteran Trevor Reed and a deal with the Taliban that freed an American contractor, Mark Frerichs, who had been abducted in Afghanistan more than two years ago. Two Americans, including an oil executive, were released from Venezuelan government custody in March, though Caracas is continuing to hold numerous other Americans. In addition, family members of detainees have demonstrated in recent months outside the White House and in New York, and a mural unveiled this summer in Washington depicting faces of Americans jailed abroad added to the publicity. Yet more than 60 Americans are still being held hostage or wrongfully detained, and the report’s authors say such cases appear tougher to resolve than they were a decade ago. Nearly half of the U.S. nationals who are still detained have been held for five years or longer, the report says. The report also says the number of countries holding Americans captives has grown over the last decade, totaling 19 in 2022. Seventy-five percent of currently detained Americans are being held by China, Russia, Iran and Venezuela, the report says. The Biden administration has said publicly that it regards the release of hostages as a top priority, though officials have also noted that such resolutions can involve difficult decisions — particularly in the case of prisoner swaps involving lawfully convicted felons in the U.S. — and that the U.S. is not the only country with a say in the matter. In the case of Griner and Whelan, for instance, the administration says it has not received a productive response from Russia to a substantial offer it made several months ago for their release. The report makes 10 recommendations, including empowering and funding the Hostage Recovery Fusion Cell, a unit based at FBI headquarters but comprised of representatives from different agencies. Because the interagency cell is led by the FBI, the report says, it creates the perception that the unit operates on the FBI’s behalf rather than the whole of government. It recommends that the cell be supervised by rotating leaders from across different agencies, “so it can remain neutral, impactful, and influential across the interagency,” and that the Biden administration consider relocating it away from the FBI and elevating the position of director to a more senior role. The White House does already have senior administration officials dedicated to detainee and hostage cases, including a director for counterterrorism for hostage and detainee affairs. But the report envisions the creation of a new, high-level position at the National Security Council under the title of deputy assistant to the president and special coordinator for detentions. The person would also engage with regional directorates within the NSC to make sure that hostage and detainee concerns are prioritized alongside other diplomatic considerations — interests that can sometimes be in conflict. “In addition,” the report says, “having direct access to the president is critical to ensure that wrongful detainee issues are better prioritized and understood.” The foundation was named after James Foley, a freelance journalist who was among a group of Westerners brutally murdered in Islamic State captivity in Syria in 2014. Two British IS militants, El Shafee Elsheikh and Alexanda Kotey have either pleaded guilty or been found guilty by a jury in connection with those deaths and are serving life sentences. The murders of Foley and other Americans at the hands of IS operatives reshaped the U.S. government’s approach to hostage-taking, spurring the creation of the fusion cell as well as a new office within the State Department known as the special presidential envoy for hostage affairs.

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-3/ Good morning. It’s Thursday, the day before Friday, the day before a long weekend across Australia (unless you live in Victoria, WA or the NT). Let’s get you up to speed. 1. Google’s Search On presentation Overnight, Google held an event called Search On 22, demonstrating how AI is transforming the company’s products. Google wants to make searching more of a visual experience and is opening up its previously-in-beta feature called ‘Multisearch’, which lets users search with images and text simultaneously. Google also revealed a powerful tool that translates text and contextual background images on pictures, along with a massive, multidimensional update to Google Maps, letting users walk around listed areas online. 2. Amazon’s new device range Also overnight, Amazon debuted several new devices, including an update to its Fire TV range with a new Fire TV Cube and Alexa Voice Remote Pro, along with four new Echo devices and upgrades to Echo Studio Audio. The company also introduced the Halo Rise, a bedside sleep tracker that uses machine learning to adapt to your sleep patterns and the Kindle Scribe. 3. Advertisers flee Twitter Moving onto another Silicon Valley giant, and advertisers are fleeing Twitter due to a rash of accounts on the platform peddling child sexual exploitation material. Reuters first reported on Wednesday that major brands discovered their ads had been appearing alongside tweets that were soliciting child abuse materials. The outlet said there were 30 advertisers, including the likes of Walt Disney Company, Coca-Cola, Dyson, NBCUniversal and more that appeared next to the profile pages of Twitter accounts active in selling and soliciting such material. 4. Blade’s director steps down Bassam Tariq and Marvel Studios are nothing but complimentary towards each other in their notes issued after Tariq’s departure. Due to the shifting nature of the MCU’s production schedule, Tariq has gracefully bowed out of leading the new Blade film. He will remain on as an executive producer, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Blade is scheduled to release in 2023, but other issues have come up since Tariq’s exit. New report on #Blade • Mahershala Ali is frustrated with the process • Script is only 90 pages long • Features just two ‘lackluster’ action sequences • Kevin Feige is said to be ‘spread too thin’ (via @theinsneider) pic.twitter.com/1cGmadPaGd — Culture Crave (@CultureCrave) September 28, 2022 5. NFT sales have lost nearly all their allure Bloomberg first reported on data hosted in Dune Analytics that showed trading volume for NFTs has gone from $US17 billion ($24 billion in Australia) to just $US466 million ($647 million) from January to September this year. That’s a precipitous 97 per cent drop in just nine months. The data was collected from NFT trading platforms including OpenSea, NFTX, LarvaLabs, LooksRare, SuperRare, Rarible and Foundation. Web3 is going great. BONUS ITEM: Was Chess champion Magnus Carlsen aided by a set of vibrating anal beads in an early September match? Vice has the buzz, after speaking to software engineer Ron Sijm. Have a nice Thursday.

Liberty County Elections Administrator Addresses Questions About Upcoming Election – Bluebonnet News https://dentoncountynewsonline.com/liberty-county-elections-administrator-addresses-questions-about-upcoming-election-bluebonnet-news/ Liberty County Elections Administrator Klint Bush speaks at a Q & A session his office arranged on Tuesday, Sept. 27. With important federal, state and local elections being decided in the upcoming Nov. 8 election, and the integrity of elections being questioned across the nation following the November 2020 presidential election, the Liberty County Elections Administration Office held a question-and-answer session with local citizens on Tuesday, Sept. 27, at the Jack Hartel Building in Liberty. Elections Administrator Klint Bush fielded questions from the public and these were his responses: Q: What is the position of the Republican Party regarding hand-counting the elections? A: I can’t speak for the Republican Party. We are a non-partisan office and handle all elections – Democrat, Republican, Green Party, Independent and Libertarian, and write-in. People nowadays expect immediate results on anything. If you go to McDonald’s, you want your coffee right then. If you have to wait five minutes, then that’s too long. People expect election results instantly when the polls close at 7 o’clock. If you don’t check what you are doing, that’s when mistakes happen. If we didn’t have machines that printed out the results at 7 o’clock, we would have to manually count 18,000 ballots. It’s a slow process because the human body, the human mind, the human eye messes up. State law says one person can’t count anything alone. You have to have four people count one ballot. That’s because you have three people counting – making ticker marks – and one person calling. We have done a lot of recounts in the county. Nine times out of ten, the three people will not agree. You have to have two of the three to agree on each ticker mark. By the time you’ve counted thousands of ballots, the eyes play tricks. That’s my concern with 100 percent hand-count ballots, but we can do it. It’s not a problem, but we won’t have election results at 7 p.m. on election night. It might be the next day. Q: Is there a risk? Are we using Dominion software or a machine connected to the Internet? Note: Dominion Voting Systems have been blamed for having vulnerabilities that allow for election tampering; however, these machines are not allowed in Texas elections. A: Texas uses two voting machines, period. In this state, that’s the only thing that is allowed. They are rigorously tested, and Dominion is not one of them. You have Hart Intercivic and ES&S. Those are the only two companies from which you can buy. It is prohibited by law to be on the Internet or to be allowed to be on the Internet. These machines cannot touch the Internet ever. There isn’t a port in here, there is no Bluetooth. These machines in Texas do not get online. If anyone tells you otherwise, they do not know what they are talking about. Texas is Texas. We are not Virginia. We don’t allow Dominion. Dominion did try to get in Texas a couple of years ago and did not pass state standards. Q: What can be done to reassure voters of election integrity? A: Go vote. If you have questions, ask. Don’t believe everything you see on Facebook. There are a lot of folks who just don’t know. Get involved in your government. Your government is only going to be as good and responsive as you put into it. If you don’t trust your elections, then get involved in your elections, then you will see. It’s your neighbors running the elections. It’s the seasoned citizens out working the polls. You go to church with them. You eat lunch with them. You see them at Walmart. They are not rigging elections in Liberty County or in Texas. Q: Has a recount ever changed election results in Liberty County? A: They have not, not ever to my knowledge, and I have been involved in a lot of elections in Liberty County. Q: Are elections audited? A: We actually audit every election, you just don’t know that. We actually audit every election. You just don’t know that. We have audited every election for the past several years, at least five years. We’ve had a partial manual recount. Out of the 22 boxes you will vote in this November, the Secretary of State is going to send me three different candidates, three different boxes. I don’t know what they are, and I don’t know the candidates (in advance). They will pull those randomly and say, “Klint, these are the numbers you reported. This is the number that your machine reported, and this is the number that you verified. I need you to hand-count these boxes and the numbers have to match, or we start opening more and more boxes.” They have matched every time … We test the machines three times before an election and once after an election to make sure that what the state certified is still on here and no one has altered the internal codes. It better be what it’s supposed to be so that we can make sure that the machine counted it correctly. We do a private test to make sure our programming worked, a public test, pre-election day test and after-election day test to make sure they are counting what they are supposed to be counting. Q: What happens if I move from one area to another? A: Nothing. The voter has the responsibility to update their address. If you say you want to live in Tarkington, you can vote in Tarkington. You have a right to vote in this county one time and in one place. You should notify the voter registrar’s office that you are moving. Here’s an example, the Escapees in Livingston – that’s 13,000 folks who live in RVs. They go all over the country but they say that [Livingston] is their home address. They get a right to vote. They say that is where their house is so that is what they do. They all register at the Escapees facility. Thirteen thousand voters live in that one box. That’s where they all mail their ballots. It’s so many ballots that it changed the dynamic of the community from Democrat to Republican. You get to say where you want to vote.  A local example, a person called me. Her brother was running for city council in Liberty. He got to vote in Daisetta but lived in Liberty for six years. He used to live in Daisetta six years ago but never changed his voter registration. Even though I know he lives in Liberty, you know he lives in Liberty, it’s against the law for me to change where someone resides. Homeless people get a right to vote as well. Where are they registered to vote? Wherever they say they are registered to vote. It might be the nearest stop sign. That’s where they sleep at night. That’s their residence. That’s where they are registered to vote. I am going to get their voter registration card back after it’s mailed but they are entitled to vote as well. Q: How do you maintain the voter roll? A: We work with the voter registration list every single day. With 50,000 registered voters, we are adding registered voters every single day. We are moving voters, folks that pass away. The county clerk has seven days to get me a death record. I try to beat the county clerk to it because that is a personal preference of mine. I watch the obituaries for the county, and I put them on hold and try to remove them from the voter roll. I can do that if I get the deceased record. Officially we take them off the voter roll after we get the record from the county. We do try to stay in front of that. If I know you have moved, then I will send you a change of address. If I know something personally, I can’t do anything unless you sign that document. We do try to find out everyone who is turning 18. I try to send them a voter application and say, “Here, you need to register to vote and here are some opportunities to get involved in.” We try to encourage young people to get involved in government. That’s how I got involved in government. Q: Can you address what happened in the suit filed in the Pct. 4 commissioner race that resulted in a new election after a judge found there were 22 errors? A: We had 20 days from the time commissioners court completed redistricting. That means changing every map in this entire county – every district. I have 120,000 people, actually 92,000. We know that’s wrong and they undercounted Liberty County (in the Census). I have 50,000 registered voters [whose precincts and voting boundaries] had to be moved in 20 days. We worked, we brought in extra staff, we missed some districts, and they were right on the line. The judge and the court said that we may – they didn’t say we did because we did a complete audit on it – have had 22 people vote in a commissioner’s race that shouldn’t have voted in that election. The challenger lost by five votes and the incumbent won by five votes. I do not like close races no matter who wins. I want the numbers to be big, I want them to be accurate and I want folks to trust the elections because it’s their elections. In this country, if you don’t trust elections, our democracy is lost. You need to get involved. With that race, we went through all 14,000 registered voters in that one commissioner’s race. We only found four that we messed up on. A lawsuit was challenged, and a judge ruled to throw the election out. I was okay with that because it’s part of democracy. Of course, I want things to be perfect but that is an option that the losing candidate had, and he should have taken it. Q: Why are sample ballots no longer published by the news media for every election? A: You can publish them but there are 52 different ballots. I live in Hardin, Texas. My friend over here lives in Liberty. I have a different city council than she has. The sample ballot is going to look much different. You live in Moss Hill, you live in Dayton. They are all going to be different. That’s four right there. We have more than 30 governmental jurisdictions in this county. We have 22 votin...

5 On Your Side: Act Fast If You’re Dealing With Canceled Vacation Plans From Ian – WRAL News https://dentoncountynewsonline.com/5-on-your-side-act-fast-if-youre-dealing-with-canceled-vacation-plans-from-ian-wral-news/ RALEIGH, N.C. — You may find yourself with a canceled flight as Hurricane Ian bears down on Florida, forcing airports to close. You have rights you have if your travel plans are interrupted. So far, thousands flights have been canceled because of Ian. That’s led to many people seeking refunds. The good news is canceling your lodging is often the easiest part of your trip to nullify. But you need to act fast. According to AAA, the industry standard for hotels is a 48-hour cancelation notice. Some will even let you cancel 24 hours ahead. You need to check your policy. If you booked at a discounted rate, without a refund policy, you’re probably out of luck. If you booked through a travel site like Expedia. You’ll need to cancel through them as their cancelation policy is usually in alignment with the hotel you booked at. If you snagged a deal such as an ‘unpublished rate,’ meaning you didn’t get to see the hotel you booked at in exchange for a lower rate. you won’t be able to cancel. Now let’s talk about vacation rentals. According to the North Carolina Attorney General’s website, If you’re ordered to evacuate and you were not given a chance to purchase insurance, the rental is required to refund your money. If you had the chance to purchase insurance and turned it down, the rental does not owe you money in that case. Florida also requires rentals to refund your money if an evacuation is ordered. Many Airbnb hosts have their own individual policy so be sure to check. This is why 5 on Your Side stresses purchasing the trip insurance. It often costs a little extra, but can save you during times like this. If your flight is canceled, the airline has to give you a refund. A significant schedule change or delay should also end in a refund if you want it. However, there is not a definition of “significant delay.” The U.S. Department of Transportation actually decides on a case-by-case basis. Travelers should understand that if you have to rent a car or hotel room or buy extra meals because of a delayed or canceled flight, the airline is not required to cover those costs. Keep a close watch on your flight status before heading to the airport and if you run into trouble, here’s a link to fliers refund rights.