Signor Worked Hard to Start as a Senior - Zip06.com

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By By Dan Fappiano • 09/30/2021 01:45 p.m. EST

Lexy Signor’s path toward becoming the starting libero for the North Haven girls’ volleyball team was filled with speed bumps after she picked up the sport during her freshman year. However, Lexy was determined to prove that she belonged on the varsity floor and earned her spot as North Haven’s libero as a senior this season.

Lexy was a softball player in 8th grade, but was open to trying different sports. North Haven volleyball Head Coach Brianna Kleckner was Lexy’s guidance counselor at the middle school at the time. After meeting with Kleckner and then attending the team’s summer camp prior to her freshman year, Lexy decided that volleyball would be the new sport for her.

“She had a meeting with us, talking about volleyball. I thought about it for a while. I really wanted to start a new sport. I just didn’t know which one I wanted to play,” Lexy says. “I went to the week-long camp and fell in love with it. I wanted to do this. Everyone on the floor has to work together to achieve the same goal. It’s not a one-man sport. You rely on everyone else.”

During her freshman season, Lexy competed for North Haven’s JV team as she figured out the game and what position she wanted to play. That year, Lexy was coached by Kristen Bataille, who is now a volunteer coach who goes by PK. Under Coach PK’s tutelage, Lexy realized she wanted to play libero for North Haven.

“I was definitely nervous playing my first year of high school volleyball. I’m a very athletic person, but playing volleyball was new to me,” says Lexy. “PK was my coach back then. She was a big reason why I decided to keep going in the back row as a libero.”

Lexy earned her chance to be the starting libero for North Haven’s JV team in her sophomore season. Lexy enjoys manning the libero position, because she has an impact on almost every play. A self-described “aggressive player,” Lexy likes being vocal on the court and making sure that everyone knows where they are supposed to go.

Lexy got called up to North Haven’s varsity squad as a junior last year, but it wasn’t necessarily the debut that she expected. With numerous players who had more varsity experience in front of her, Lexy spent a lot of time on the bench. While she was willing to fill any role the team needed, Lexy wanted to be on the court more than anything.

Lexy kept working hard to secure a starting spot for her senior year. Lexy’s parents, Cami and Chris, told her to keep trying her best and show everyone that she deserved to be a varsity starter. Every time that she stepped on the court after that, Lexy held those motivational words from her parents close to her heart.

“My mom has been my drive to do anything. There were a lot of days I’d come home and I was upset. I just wanted to play,” says Lexy, who also played for the North Haven softball team as a junior. “My mom told me not to give up. She told me I had to prove to them that I wanted this. My dad was the same way. Every practice, that’s all that went through my head. I needed to prove that they could put me on the court.”

As she entered her senior season, Lexy was once again on North Haven’s varsity roster, although her position wasn’t finalized. Coach Kleckner spoke with Lexy and a few other back row players, telling them that the coaching staff wanted to see who deserved the position the most. So, Lexy did everything she could by diving for loose balls and giving a 100-percent effort on every play. When North Haven faced Shelton in its season opener, Lexy was named the starting libero and helped the team defeat the Gaels. Lexy and company have continued to rack up the victories and are now 6-0 on the season.

“I didn’t know I was the libero until the day before our first game. Coach Bri met with all three back row players and said they weren’t naming a libero. They wanted to see who wanted it,” Lexy says. “Every day leading up to that game, I fought my hardest. I gave everything I had. I showed them that I wanted this position. My mom always said you have to show how hungry you are. Even though I have it, that’s all I do every practice.”

After encouraging Lexy to play volleyball a few years ago, Coach Kleckner feels proud to see much she’s progressed through her senior season. Kleckner says that Lexy always gives her best effort and keeps striving to get better each day.

“Lexy has done a tremendous job as our libero this season. Every day, she comes to practice and applies the skills and concepts we are asking her to. She always wanted to get better and constantly pushes herself to do so,” says Kleckner. “Lexy has put in a great deal of work this season, which you can see when she steps on the floor. She has been a wonderful asset to our starting roster, and we couldn’t be more proud of her.”

Lexy has gotten everything that she wanted out of volleyball while competing alongside a group of teammates who have become an important support system for her. After she graduates from North Haven, Lexy is hoping to play volleyball in college and pursue a degree in elementary education.

Four years ago, Lexy was a brand-new volleyball player who had no idea where the sport would take her. Lexy feels that playing for the North Haven girls’ volleyball team is one of the most significant achievements of her life, and now she’s encouraging other people, including her seven year-old sister Averi, to follow in her footsteps and give the sport a shot.

“To call myself a volleyball player, especially for North Haven, is the biggest accomplishment I’ve ever made,” Lexy says. “In the beginning, the program was off to a rough start. But if you look at our record and stats now, we have grown so much as a program. If you want to play volleyball, I’d start now. It means a lot to be on a team like this.”

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October 01, 2021 at 01:45AM
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Signor Worked Hard to Start as a Senior - Zip06.com

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Report: Blacks, Latinos hit hard by evictions - BayStateBanner

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A report released Tuesday by the housing activist group City Life/Vida Urbana (CLVU) found that evictions in Boston during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic had an undue impact in communities of color.

Helen “Homefries” Matthews, communications director for CLVU, said at a virtual press conference Tuesday that evictions are a major challenge in Boston, especially considering the pandemic.

“Evictions are violent, devastating and dangerous in our communities, but nonetheless, well over 3,000 evictions have been filed in Boston during the pandemic and over 20,000 evictions have been filed in Massachusetts during the pandemic,” Matthews said.

The report, which was led by recent MIT graduate Ben Walker, found that about 70% of Boston evictions that occurred during the first year of the pandemic occurred in communities where Black and Brown residents constitute the majority of renters, despite those same communities containing 43% of the city’s rental housing.

The CLVU report also found that Black communities were hit especially hard compared to Boston’s white neighborhoods, with 51% of eviction filings in the city occurring in census tracts where the number of Black residents is in the top quarter of all tracts in Boston; these areas contain 27% of Boston’s rental housing.

In contrast, census tracts where the number of white residents was in the top quarter of all tracts saw 22% of evictions.

“The implication is clear: When politicians stripped away tenant protections, this choice exposed Black and brown people to needless precarity, illness and potentially death,” Walker said. “Now the pandemic, as we know, is far from over. Thousands of renters still sit on the edge of potential eviction, a crisis deferred through incremental policy, as these policies are left to expire or go underutilized.”

Arlyce Porcher, a resident of Georgetowne Homes in Hyde Park, said she and other residents in her apartment building felt the negative effects of the threat of eviction when the real estate firm Beacon Communities, which operates Georgetowne Homes, issued mass evictions. According to the report, Beacon Communities issued more than 100 evictions in March 2021.

“A lot of us were struggling and suffering with anxiety, not understanding because we could not get through to management to talk about our individual cases,” Porcher said.

Ana Fajardo, an East Boston resident, said her landlord tried to evict her and her family when he wanted to sell the property. She said that facing eviction during a public health crisis was especially daunting.

“During a pandemic, how are we going to leave, with our kids, to go to the streets?” Fajardo said through an interpreter at the conference.

Noemi Rodriguez, who attended the conference Tuesday, said the issue of evictions is intertwined with the impact of gentrification in Boston.

“This is something that is impacting not only new families, but also families who have been fighting for a long time, and something that is terrible is that in a system that is so racist, we are the most vulnerable with this so negative impact of the pandemic,” Rodriguez said.

Matthews and Walker said they see the results of the report as confirming the need for the COVID-19 Housing Equity bill, currently making its way through the state legislature.

Walker said the bill would take what he thinks are important steps in protecting renters, including requiring landlords to pursue rental assistance before filing an eviction, prohibiting evictions based on rent debt incurred during the COVID-19 pandemic and pausing no-fault evictions for 12 months after the end of the Massachusetts state of emergency, which was terminated by Governor Charlie Baker in June.

He said he also sees the report as an indication that more action is needed in the long term to address the root causes of the virus’s disproportionate effect on Black and Brown communities. These actions could include instating rent control; encouraging tenant opportunities to purchase the buildings they live in when landlords put them up for sale; and implementing just cause ordinances, which would limit evictions brought for arbitrary and insubstantial reasons.

“We know that policy reforms aren’t a silver bullet; the pandemic’s effects will endure, and the pandemic is ongoing, so we also know it will take a real movement to uproot white supremacy and its deep legacy,” Walker said. “But, when thousands of Black and brown people face profound threats to their lives, it’s imperative to take immediate steps to keep people housed and to advance a powerful vision for shared flourishing.”

Walker said the report and its findings are a starting point, but the topics explored in it need further research.

The data used for the project was limited by the sources it came from. Walker said the COVID-19 data they had access to was often generalized, and the number of evictions filings they had data for was limited. As such, they could not assess other factors, beyond struggles with housing, that impacted communities with especially high rates of COVID-19 infections.

“What the report offers is a description of geographic overlap between race, eviction and COVID-19. These findings are suggestive and descriptive,” Walker said. “I feel like it’s the job of future research, future analysis, to identify strong correlations between race, eviction and COVID in Boston.”

The report had to lump some neighborhoods together, because of how the Boston Public Health Commission grouped COVID-19 infection numbers. For instance, Chinatown was grouped in with Beacon Hill and Back Bay, identified only as “Downtown.”

Walker said further research regarding the impact of evictions on the spread of COVID-19 in immigrant neighborhoods like Chinatown is “absolutely necessary and important moving forward” as immigrants from Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean might be at higher risk for evictions that don’t pass through an official or legal process. The CLVU report looked only at evictions that were officially filed through the housing court.

Despite the statistics in the report, Porcher said she and other residents must keep fighting.

“As a Black person, you feel like you’re constantly fighting — fighting for your job, fighting for your education, now you’re fighting to live in your home,” Porcher said. “You feel defeated, you feel beaten down, but we got to keep going. Our ancestors fought too hard and too long and we have to keep going.”

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September 30, 2021 at 05:12PM
https://www.baystatebanner.com/2021/09/30/report-blacks-latinos-hit-hard-by-evictions/

Report: Blacks, Latinos hit hard by evictions - BayStateBanner

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Is Hard Seltzer Bubbling Up or Fizzing Out? - Convenience Store Decisions

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Qualities from packaging to added benefits matter to consumers, according to new study that reveals beverage industry’s trendiest category offers growth opportunities.

By Thomas Mulloy | September 30, 2021

A new study of U.S. hard seltzer drinkers revealed growth opportunities still remain for the alcoholic beverage industry’s trendiest category. Veylinx, a consumer insights platform that uses behavioral research to predict purchasing habits, studied eight hard seltzer brands and eight added benefits to determine which potential product innovations consumers value most, and which will impact their willingness to pay.

According to findings, nearly all added benefits tested (high alcohol, low alcohol, vitamins, kombucha, immunity, energy, sustainable packaging and CBD) drove greater purchase interest from consumers. The study found that adding CBD boosted demand by 12% on average, while enhancing the drinks with kombucha lowered demand by an average of 6%. Other variations, such as sustainable packaging, showed potential for some brands, but not others.

“We wanted to study the hard seltzer category because it has disrupted the alcoholic beverage space so profoundly in such a short time,” said Anouar El Haji, CEO of Veylinx. “There are widely divergent predictions about if and how it will sustain its tremendous growth, so we wanted to shed light on which brands and innovations are best positioned for the future.”

The findings showed that all eight brands enjoy a positive product perception across multiple dimensions, including credibility, premium quality and uniqueness, signaling strong potential for additional growth.

White Claw drives the greatest demand, but benefits the least from adding product extensions. CBD-infused, energy-boosting, and high-alcohol versions performed well across most brands, and while market leader White Claw commanded the highest demand score, potential product line extensions actually drove less demand for the brand. Every other brand tested had at least one added benefit that lifted demand. For Topo Chico, five of the eight added benefits drove higher demand — including CBD, which provided an 18% lift.

Consumers drink hard seltzer for its refreshing taste, not because it’s healthier. “Refreshing taste” was listed by a majority of respondents (54%) as a primary purchase driver. Somewhat surprisingly, the perceived healthfulness of seltzers compared to other alcoholic beverages was not an important demand driver (only selected by 22% of participants).

Nearly 75% of respondents indicated that they consume hard seltzer at home. But regional preferences vary. Consumer demand for individual brands differed across regions.

The CBD-infused product variation drove the greatest purchase interest in the Northeast, South and Midwest. The most popular product variation in the West proved to be sustainable packaging.

Unlike typical surveys where consumers are simply asked about their preferences, Veylinx uses behavioral research to reveal how much consumers will pay for a product through an actual bidding system. Consumers reveal their true willingness to pay by placing sealed bids on products and then answering follow-up questions about their reasons to buy or not to buy.

The study was conducted in July and August 2021 among 2,702 U.S. consumers over the age of 21.

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September 30, 2021 at 09:30PM
https://cstoredecisions.com/2021/09/30/is-hard-seltzer-bubbling-up-or-fizzing-out/

Is Hard Seltzer Bubbling Up or Fizzing Out? - Convenience Store Decisions

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2021 smartphone production being hit hard by chip shortage – Counterpoint - 9to5Mac

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A new market intelligence report says that 2021 smartphone production is being hit hard by the global chip shortage, and that means growth will be significantly slower than expected.

iPhone production is faring better than other brands, but is still being slowed – with iPhone 13 cameras a particular issue …

Background

A global chip shortage has been brought about by a combination of three factors. First, a steep increase in demand for chips as a result of increasing use within the automotive sector. Second, production disruption caused by the pandemic. Third, the long lead time involved in bringing new chip fabrication capacity online, meaning that chipmakers cannot quickly boost production to meet demand.

Apple’s buying power and supply chain expertise means that the company is able to negotiate priority supplies a long way in advance, insulating itself from much of the disruption. However, the company warned investors that its own production is not immune, and that Mac and iPad would be hit first, followed by iPhone.

We saw examples of the two sides of the equation just yesterday, with Taiwanese camera component suppliers prioritizing Apple, while camera module assembly was slowed in Vietnam. Camera components appear to proving a particular challenge.

2021 smartphone production being hit hard

Counterpoint says that things were looking good earlier in the year, but not so much now.

The smartphone industry was set for a strong rebound this year after COVID-19 had hit the market hard in 2020. Smartphone vendors placed large component orders from the end of last year, and consumer demand coming from delayed replacement purchases buoyed the market in the first quarter.

However, some smartphone OEMs and vendors are reporting they had only received 80% of their requested volumes on key components during Q2 2021, and the situation seems to be getting worse as we move through Q3 2021. Some smartphone makers are now saying they are only receiving 70% of their requests, creating multiple problems.

Counterpoint Research believes 90% of the industry is affected and this will impact the second half forecast for 2021.

The company says the market is still growing, but has downgraded its 2021 smartphone shipment forecast.

According to Counterpoint Research’s latest Global Smartphone Quarterly Shipment Forecasts, total units shipped for 2021 are expected to grow by only 6% annually to 1.41bn units; Counterpoint had previously called for 9% annual growth to 1.45bn units.

The hit to Apple is likely to be less severe than most of its competitors, however.

Check out 9to5Mac on YouTube for more Apple news:

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September 30, 2021 at 07:17PM
https://9to5mac.com/2021/09/30/2021-smartphone-production-hurting/

2021 smartphone production being hit hard by chip shortage – Counterpoint - 9to5Mac

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Princeton men's soccer loses hard-fought game to St. John's - The Daily Princetonian

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A late scramble to a loose ball by St. John’s forward Micaah Garnette gave St. John’s (7–2–0) the only goal of the game in the 79th minute, lifting the Red Storm to a 1–0 win over the Princeton Tigers (3–4–0) on Tuesday night. 

The match was physical throughout, with the referees letting the teams play for the most part. Each team was able to get a number of runs towards the 18, but once in the box, found it difficult to remain on target. The Tigers attempted 11 shots, with four reaching the keeper, while the Red Storm attempted only seven with three on target. Princeton senior defender Alex Charles picked up the only card of the match, a yellow for a slide tackle trying to stop a counter with the goalie pulled in the 88th minute.

The game started off slow for the most part, with neither team seeing a truly dangerous chance. Princeton got the first scare in the 31st minute when St. John’s midfielder Einar Lye found defender Johan Aquilon streaking down the right wing for a shot that skittered on the ground wide left. Princeton created a chance of their own two minutes later, when senior midfielder Kevin O’Toole beat his man, put a cross into the box, and had it knocked on goal by a Red Storm defender, forcing a tough save. Each team had a couple more chances, but none succeeded. 

Princeton controlled most of the half, and attempted seven shots to St. John’s three. They also attempted five corners, while St. John’s only had one. 

The second half was more balanced. St. John’s got off to a quick start, getting two chances in the box four minutes into the half, but had them both blocked. The Tigers’ best chance of the half came in the 65th minute when junior forward Daniel Diaz-Bonilla laid off a pass to sophomore forward Walker Gillespie, who gained space and hit a curling shot that forced St. John’s keeper Luka Gavran to make a diving stop to keep it scoreless. 

However, St. John’s finally broke through 14 minutes later. Red Storm midfielder Atila Ashrafi tried to pass off a ball that missed his intended man, and the Tigers tried to box out and allow senior goalkeeper Jack Roberts to grab it. But St. John’s defender Lucas Bartlett had a different plan and tapped the ball to Garnette, who chipped it into an open net for his first career goal. 

Princeton pressed the attack in the final 10 minutes, but came up empty. Sophomore midfielder Malik Pinto nearly had the equalizer when found the ball on his foot with seconds left off a deflection, but Bartlett intervened again, deflecting the shot to allow time to expire. The red-hot Red Storm takes on the UConn Huskies this weekend, while the Tigers look to bounce back Saturday at Dartmouth. 

Ben Burns is an Associate Sports Editor at the 'Prince.' He can be reached at bwburns@princeton.edu.

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September 30, 2021 at 08:28AM
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Princeton men's soccer loses hard-fought game to St. John's - The Daily Princetonian

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Hard to Swallow - nejm.org

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A 20-year-old woman is admitted to the hospital after presenting to the emergency department with pain in her throat and the left side of her neck, fever, foul-smelling breath, and an inability to clear secretions. She reports three recent bouts of nonbloody, nonbilious emesis, a deepening of her voice, and severe pain when she tries to open her mouth. The throat pain as well as malaise and occasional chills developed 10 days before presentation. . . .

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September 30, 2021 at 04:00AM
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New cards unveiled to help deaf/hard of hearing residents communicate with police - Delaware First Media

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Revised communication cards are now available to help Delawareans who are deaf or hard-of-hearing communicate with law enforcement.

Listen to this story

The State Office for Equality for Deaf and Hard of Hearing created the cards in 2009 in conjunction with the State Police Chiefs Council so police officers would know card-holders had communication needs.

But the cards were - for the most part - language-based and in English.

“During the past few years, we’ve started to notice that there was a lot of news about deaf people interacting with police officers and not having a very successful interaction," said Gail Garner, a steering committee member for Deaf Outreach. "So we started looking at what we could do in Delaware. And we looked at our communication card and we decided it was not really something that would facilitate communication.”

Garner says the nonprofit worked with local law enforcement, the deaf and hard-of-hearing community and various agencies to redesign cards.

Instead of words, Garner says they now use icons and pictures so that police officers and deaf or hard-of-hearing individuals can just point to the card to communicate.

“We traded words for icons and pictures so that we could actually point out what was needed on the card and the officer could communicate with the resident in a traffic stop or in a situation," said Garner. "There are actually two versions. The first version is about 5X7 and it’s a visor card, so it just fits in the visor in your car.” 

Garner ays the second version is wallet size and is popular with bicyclists, pedestrians and motorcyclists.

And every active police officer statewide now carries one of these cards. 

 

Deaf or hard-of-hearing individuals can apply for the card online. And you can also add a self-certified Medical Indicator to your driver's license or State-issued ID card.

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September 30, 2021 at 04:55AM
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New cards unveiled to help deaf/hard of hearing residents communicate with police - Delaware First Media

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Accountants' liability insurance: Heading for a hard market - Accounting Today

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The act of purchasing professional liability insurance, or renewing a policy, is one that only rarely appears on an accountant’s work list. Yet there are many areas where that choice can have consequences that go beyond the normal day-to-day decisions in an accounting practice.

“A CPA can spend their entire career building their brand, but they overlook their due diligence when it comes time to purchase a liability policy,” said Stan Sterna, vice president at Aon, the broker and national administrator of the American Institute of CPAs’ Member Insurance Program. “They will purchase a policy without putting any thought into the quality of claim or risk control services offered by the carrier.”

The insurance market itself is currently headed toward a “hard” market, say observers. (For more on insurance, see the 2021 Malpractice Insurance Buyer's Guide as a table or a list.)

“Generally speaking, in a hard market the premiums go up and underwriting tightens up,” said Stephen Vono, senior vice president at McGowanPro. “We’re seeing that now in several different types of insurance that accountants typically purchase — cyber liability and employment practices, in addition to professional liability. The reason we’re in a hard market is COVID-related claims and defense costs are going up. There are a lot of favorable court rulings against insurance carriers. And the fact that one carrier paid a $40 million ransomware fee didn’t help.”

“When a claim goes beyond the policy limit, there are other insurance companies that share in the risk,” he said. “That’s reinsurance, and the costs for that are rising as well. Almost all companies have reinsurance.”

Premiums will go up for the rest of 2021 and 2022, predicted Vono, with states that have larger metropolitan areas seeing more of the hard market effect — states like California, New York, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Texas, Florida, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Illinois. “All states with major metropolitan areas will see larger increases than, say, Iowa or Idaho, because there is a lot more claims activity in those states,” he said.

What do you want?

The most important thing to look for in a policy is its definition of professional services, said Vono: “It needs to be broad enough to cover all the services that the firm provides. Look for broad coverage as opposed to restrictive coverage.”

“We see a lot of CPAs and Enrolled Agents, especially smaller independents, who are not properly insured,” observed John Torvi, vice president of marketing and sales at Landy Insurance. “They started out as preparers, but gradually moved into doing payroll, audit and compilation. Their policy didn’t encompass the expansion of their business.”

Ron Parisi, a former insurance executive and president of Orchard Accounting and online firm CPA On Fire, agreed: “As a result of all the different COVID-related government programs, CPAs have extended themselves beyond the typical accounting firm services. It’s important to pay attention to engagement scope creep. For example, simple tax work and bookkeeping might have evolved into applying for Paycheck Protection Program loans and Employee Retention Credits. Whatever you do for your clients should be named and documented.”

Liability industry expert Ricard Jorgensen concurred. “The profession continues to expand beyond the traditional services of tax, audit and accounting, and looks to serve more unconventional businesses,” he said. “Many firms are establishing practices focused on the cannabis industry. But all professional liability policies contain an exclusion related to criminal acts which could potentially inhibit coverage for services to this industry — federally, and in certain states, the sale and production of cannabis is a crime. If a firm intends to serve the cannabis industry, they should check with the insurer to make sure the criminal acts exclusion does not apply to this work.”

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New threat vectors

“The number of cyber attacks against CPA firms has grown exponentially,” Jorgensen observed. “This is especially so where remote operations during the COVID pandemic have created a heightened network security risk. Firms should make sure that liability arising from the theft of personally identifiable information or loss of client funds due to social engineering is covered by their policy. Ideally, all firms should consider securing separate comprehensive cyber coverage in a standalone policy.”

Gary Florian, vice president of underwriting and policy services at Camico, agreed. “We recommend a complete cyber insurance program that includes the breach response services needed to help safeguard a firm’s information and reputation,” he said. “In the event of a cyber incident, a number of steps need to be taken, and breach response services will coordinate these steps in conjunction with an insurance program that may provide coverage for some or all of the related expenses.”

“For example, the cyber risk advisor with the cyber insurance carrier should coordinate an investigation to verify whether the incident is a breach as defined by current state and/or federal laws,” he continued. “An IT forensics expert should investigate the incident to determine whether there was a security breach and if client confidential information was accessed. IT forensics experts also respond to ransomware events to assist in decrypting and restoring files, as well as eradicating malware from the system.”

If the incident is determined to be a breach, notification letters to clients may need to be prepared and mailed, Florian noted. “Clients who receive notification letters may have additional questions about the breach, and a call center can initially handle those questions. Clients may also request credit monitoring services in a post-breach environment. If state laws require law enforcement to be notified in the event of a theft, reports in the media may affect the firm’s public image, and media relations firms may be retained to help protect the firm’s reputation.”

“It’s also important for firms to have access to cyber risk management tools and resources to prevent cyber breaches in the first place,” Florian added. “If an incident does occur, a firm will want access to breach response services and experts who can manage the incident or breach and the related insurance claim.”

It may not be a question of “whether,” but “when” a business will suffer a breach, observed Torvi. “No matter how careful you are, in some ways the depth of the cyber criminal is beyond anyone’s reach,” he said. “Just consider the big names of entities that have been hacked. And accounting professionals are a huge target.”

Rising prices

There is an uptick in the cost of policies, according to John Raspante, director of risk management for McGowanPro. “Everyone who renews gets a little bit of an increase. In some cases, firms have capitalized on consulting opportunities, and when revenue goes up, premiums do also.”

“Some carriers have lines of business other than CPA professional liability, and when they get hit with catastrophic losses, it affects all insured. There was a lot of property damage related to last year’s civil disobedience and natural disasters. This resulted in business interruption claims, debt and damage to physical property, which led to a number of bigger carriers passing the costs on to other lines of business.”

There are a number of policy options that can reduce the cost of insurance, but the insured should carefully consider the risks, Raspante indicated. And in some cases, the insured aren’t aware of them.

“There are policies sold where any legal costs reduce the policy limits,” he said. “Other policies are sold ‘outside the limits,’ which will defend claims without reducing the coverage. Naturally, an ‘outside the limits’ policy is more expensive.”

“There are also ‘per-claim’ deductibles and ‘aggregate’ deductibles,” he said. “With an aggregate deductible, once the aggregate is reached, the insurance company pays everything else, but if it’s per claim, you have to pay the deductible for each claim. The per-claim policy would cost less, but it can also cost you — you have to assess the chances of your getting sued more than once in the same year. If you have multiple claims and a per-claim deductible, paying the deductibles can erode the policy limits, leaving nothing to cover the indemnity.”

There may be different deductibles for different services, observed Raspante, noting that the insured has the responsibility to read the entire policy. “Some people only look at their policy when there’s a claim against them, but then it’s too late,” he said.

“There are a lot of components that go into the algorithm that determines the premium,” he said. “You can manage the price of the policy by changing certain components, but there’s a risk involved.”

Ideally, the professional liability carrier should be focused on only serving accountants’ professional liability matters, Aon’s Sterna suggested. “Accountants’ claims are very technical and specialized, so you want a claims staff dedicated to working on these types of matters,” he said. “Some companies handle a variety of policies, and their claims managers have a large number of claims in their inventory. Each strategy on a claim may be different — certain defenses are right for accountants’ liability that might not be acceptable to others. They’re doing triage claim management.”

This can create service issues, he indicated: “Where a company has limited market presence, they don’t have the bandwidth to have a dedicated staff. Some are reluctant to fully commit to insuring the profession in the long term. They get in and out of the market without dedicating specific resources to accounting.”

And with the proliferation of lawsuits and the subpoenas they generate, the policy should include subpoena assistance, Sterna added: “For example, divorce actions often seek financial records of the opposing party. Subpoena assistance offers legal advice to help the accountant respond to document requests. They don’t want to give away too many documents that might feed into a fishing expedition against your client.”

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September 30, 2021 at 05:19AM
https://www.accountingtoday.com/news/accountants-liability-insurance-heading-for-a-hard-market

Accountants' liability insurance: Heading for a hard market - Accounting Today

https://news.google.com/search?q=hard&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en

Bacon Says He's Angry About Afghanistan Withdrawal, Supports Hard Infrastructure Bill - NET Nebraska

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Congressman Don Bacon said Wednesday he’s never been angrier with a President as an adult as he is with the way the Afghanistan withdrawal was handled by the Biden Administration. The Republican from the Omaha area has been part of several days of hearings reviewing what went wrong.

Bacon is a member the House Armed Service Committee and had a long career in the Air Force before his political career. He’s been in on a high-profile hearing this week, including testimony from the U.S.’s top military officer, General Mark Milley, who testified he did recommend leaving some troops in Afghanistan. Bacon said it’s clear the nation was lied to.

“The President was not being honest with the American people,” Biden said. “The top two military guys in this operation told the President that we should keep troops in Afghanistan and not do this withdrawal. He overrules them and then tells the Americans that no military leader recommended differently and that enrages me when the President lies to the American people.”

Bacon is also in the middle of Congress’ efforts to pass a continuing resolution for the upcoming fiscal year that starts on Friday and avoid hitting the debt ceiling limit, which could happen in a few weeks and cause a massive default. Congress is also considering a $1 billion-plus hard infrastructure bill that’s tied to a larger spending proposal.

“I want to support a hard infrastructure bill but I oppose the Bernie Sanders, $3.5 trillion social welfare bill that he’s got out there, but right now what I’m hearing is the Republican leadership [doesn’t] want to vote for the hard infrastructure because they’re afraid of giving a victory to Biden, and I don’t think that’s right.”

Bacon said he’s confident the spending bills and debt limit issues will be addressed in the coming days but isn’t sure about the infrastructure bills.

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September 30, 2021 at 04:43AM
https://nebraskapublicmedia.org/en/news/news-articles/bacon-says-hes-angry-about-afghanistan-withdrawal-supports-hard-infrastructure-bill/

Bacon Says He's Angry About Afghanistan Withdrawal, Supports Hard Infrastructure Bill - NET Nebraska

https://news.google.com/search?q=hard&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en

Why it's so hard to recycle electric-car batteries - Business Insider

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• Dead electric-vehicle batteries could become a huge waste stream as the cars gain popularity.
• Recycling the batteries would prevent them from being landfilled and reduce the need for mining more rare metals.
• One company uses a shredding system submerged in liquid to safely recycle the batteries.

   

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September 30, 2021 at 02:48AM
https://www.businessinsider.com/why-its-so-hard-to-recycle-electric-car-batteries-2021-9

Why it's so hard to recycle electric-car batteries - Business Insider

https://news.google.com/search?q=hard&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en

Soccer Team From Moldova Defeats Hard-To-Beat Real Madrid - WVTF

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Soccer Team From Moldova Defeats Hard-To-Beat Real Madrid  WVTF The Link Lonk


September 29, 2021 at 04:52PM
https://www.wvtf.org/2021-09-29/soccer-team-from-moldova-defeats-hard-to-beat-real-madrid

Soccer Team From Moldova Defeats Hard-To-Beat Real Madrid - WVTF

https://news.google.com/search?q=hard&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en

Giving Birds Little Anklets Is Hard Work. Here's Why It's Important For Studying Climate Change - WBUR

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Evan Dalton hears the catbird long before he sees it.

The bird has a distinctive squawk that sounds sort of like a cat in distress — once you hear it, it's hard to forget. On a recent morning in Plymouth, Dalton hears a catbird call and picks up his pace.

"I think Megan got a bird," he says.

Dalton is the director of the Manomet Observatory in Plymouth, one of the oldest bird banding labs in North America. By placing numbered ankle bands onto birds passing through through their 40-odd acres of woods, they’ve been tracking the rise and fall of species for more than 50 years.

Manomet has banded more than a quarter million birds since 1966, and as one of a network of bird observatories across North America, it has helped answer pressing questions about habitat loss, ecological shifts and climate change.

Manomet Director Evan Dalton removes a catbird from the netting to take it back to the lab for banding. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)

Birds do a lot for humans, says Dalton: they attract tourists, they eat lots of bugs and they give us clues about how the planet’s holding up. When the birds aren’t doing so well, it’s usually because something in the ecosystem is out of whack, and that’s not great news for us.

The information collected at Manomet over five decades shows a striking decline in 60% of bird species migrating through Plymouth, echoing findings by Mass Audubon and other organizations. Data collected through Manomet's International Shorebird Study have contributed to other landmark research, like the 2019 study reporting 3 billion fewer birds in the U.S. and Canada now than in 1970. Scientists called that finding “a staggering loss that suggests the very fabric of North America’s ecosystem is unraveling.”

"I think many people have come to the realization that birds are fantastic indicators of ecological health," says Dalton. "We're actually able to study movements of birds throughout hemispheres at this point, just through simple bird banding practices."

September is the height of fall migration, and millions of birds are winging their way through Massachusetts on their way south for the winter. Some of them stop in Plymouth to stuff themselves with bugs and berries and fatten up for the long flight ahead.

One visitor this morning is a catbird; and judging by the way it's squawking, it's not thrilled to be caught in one of Manomet's mist nets.

Dalton catches up with Megan Gray — one of the lead banders at Manomet — just as she stoops down and gently untangles the bird. It’s slate gray, a little smaller than a pigeon, with a sweeping, graceful tail. It's a gray catbird, one of the most commonly banded birds at Manomet. This one already has a band.

Megan Gray walks through the woods to check nets for migrating birds at Manomet in Plymouth. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)

Manomet Direcror Evan Dalton releases a catbird after it’s been banded. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)

Gray says they banded the bird about a week ago. "He's been fattening up for migration, and we just caught him again."

Gray gently slides the bird into a small cloth bag made from an old pillowcase, and keeps walking. This time of year, the banders can catch 100 birds a day in the half-mile of "mist nets" stretched alongside paths in the woods.

"It basically looks like a 7-foot-tall, 40-foot-long hairnet," says Dalton. "We've kept our nets in the same location, and by keeping track of when our nets are open, we can actually statistically control year to year, and we're able to compare the numbers from year to year."

Along the paths in the woods at Manomet, netting is used to collect migrating birds for tagging and research. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)

The team walks the nets exactly once each hour, from about dawn to dusk, carefully gathering every bird they find, including woodpeckers, wrens, the occasional hawk, and lots of catbirds.

The banders bring the birds back to the lab, measure and weigh them, check their ages and sex. Then they give each bird a tiny numbered band around its ankle — except for repeat visitors that already have a band, like that first catbird they found. They record all the information on the computer, before then setting the birds free. The whole process, from capture to release, takes about 10 minutes.

Manomet Director Evan Dalton measures the wing of a catbird. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)

Manomet bird banders Amy Hogan, Lauren Michael and Megan Gray band migrating birds that were just caught. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)

"People that do this, they care immensely about the birds that we’re handling. We've got it down pretty much to an art," says Amy Hogan, one of the bird banders. "The data is not more important to us than the bird is."

The data are important, though. Manomet is one of about 100 banding labs globally; the few dozen labs in North America send data to a centralized office run by the U.S. Geological Service and the Canadian Wildlife Service. The data from Manomet are contributing to a growing understanding of how bird numbers are declining overall, and what role climate change is playing.

Dalton says the reasons for population decline vary from species to species. There are still lots of catbirds in Plymouth, for instance, but they can travel thousands of miles each year. Losing a remote habitat — to development, sea-level rise or wildfires — can hurt them.

"This bird could have a dozen or more spots that are very important to its annual cycle. The loss of one of those could completely throw them on a tailspin," says Dalton. "It is through banding that we can actually determine some of these spots that they do use, so we can try to prioritize the sites that they might frequent."

Climate change has actually helped some birds expand their range. Warmer winters have led to more Carolina wrens and northern cardinals in the Northeast than there used to be.

But warmer, earlier springs are leading to earlier flower blooms and insect hatchings, and that could throw migrating birds off their game. For instance, the birds may show up in May to gorge on green caterpillars, only to find the bugs have already come and gone. It’s called an “ecological mismatch,” and it can become more common with climate change.

Manomet director Evan Dalton holds a blackpoll warbler, preparing to release it after it has been banded. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)

"It's really through long-term research that you can start to tease out these patterns," says Dalton. "That's how people start noticing them in the first place."

Back at the lab, the banders look up the number of the catbird they caught earlier. Turns out it was born last summer.

"That bird hatched out in a nest last year, and then it migrated south somewhere — it could have gone as far as the Yucatán," says Dalton.

That’s a long way for a little bird to fly. And that’s part of why studying them is so valuable, he says.

Birds see the world without borders, as one interconnected, interdependent ecosystem. To protect them — and ourselves — from the worst effects of climate change, he says, maybe a birds-eye view is just what we need.

Manomet bird bander Amy Hogan releases a young downy woodpecker after it’s been banded. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)

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September 29, 2021 at 05:09PM
https://www.wbur.org/news/2021/09/29/manomet-observatory-banding-birds-climate-change

Giving Birds Little Anklets Is Hard Work. Here's Why It's Important For Studying Climate Change - WBUR

https://news.google.com/search?q=hard&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en

Soccer Team From Moldova Defeats Hard-To-Beat Real Madrid - NPR

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Nearly everyone thought Real Madrid would easily beat the Moldovan club Sheriff Tiraspo. Surprise! Moldovan's win is considered one of the biggest upsets in recent Champions League history.

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September 29, 2021 at 04:52PM
https://www.npr.org/2021/09/29/1041408695/soccer-team-from-moldova-defeats-hard-to-beat-real-madrid

Soccer Team From Moldova Defeats Hard-To-Beat Real Madrid - NPR

https://news.google.com/search?q=hard&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en

North Korea Says New Missile Has Hard-to-Stop Hypersonic Glider - Bloomberg

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North Korea said its latest rocket launch was a successful test of a “hypersonic missile,” suggesting the regime had come closer to putting nuclear warheads in high-speed gliders that can evade U.S. missile defenses. 

The new missile launched by North Korea added a weapon of “great strategic significance” to the country’s arsenal, the official Korean Central News Agency said Wednesday regarding the test a day earlier. State media also released a photo of a rocket that weapon experts said appeared to be a modified version of an intercontinental ballistic missile first launched in 2017, with what looked to be a winged glider perched on top. 

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September 29, 2021 at 06:19AM
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-09-28/north-korea-says-it-tested-new-hypersonic-missile

North Korea Says New Missile Has Hard-to-Stop Hypersonic Glider - Bloomberg

https://news.google.com/search?q=hard&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en

Are New Mexico Students Learning? Hard to Say Without Tests - U.S. News & World Report

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Are New Mexico Students Learning? Hard to Say Without Tests  U.S. News & World Report The Link Lonk


September 28, 2021 at 07:46PM
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/new-mexico/articles/2021-09-28/are-new-mexico-students-learning-hard-to-say-without-tests

Are New Mexico Students Learning? Hard to Say Without Tests - U.S. News & World Report

https://news.google.com/search?q=hard&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en

Dumoulin and Marino "Pushed Each Other Hard" This Summer - BlueJackets.com

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Brian Dumoulin has been skating alongside Kris Letang for years now, and that pairing is unquestionably the anchor of Pittsburgh's blue line. But during the offseason, Dumoulin partnered with another member of the Penguins' defensive corps: John Marino.

Dumoulin invited his fellow New England native to train with him all summer, both on and off the ice, back in Boston. They would skate together before working out at the gym Dumoulin had built in the garage of his home in Charlestown, about 10-15 minutes from where Marino lived in the Seaport District.

"Obviously it was nice having someone else there with me, because during COVID I was by myself," Dumoulin said. "So it was nice that he joined me and I mean, it was perfect for the both of us. We pushed each other pretty hard."

It was a particularly beneficial experience for Marino, as the 24-year-old defenseman is looking to find another level to his game entering his third NHL season after first making the team as a rookie out of training camp in 2019. Both he and the Penguins feel like there is untapped potential that could help solidify the blue line, and when it comes to discovering that untapped potential, there is really no one better to learn from than Dumoulin.

Dumoulin, who turned 30 on Sept. 6 and has been a regular in Pittsburgh's lineup since the 2015-16 season, is as reliable as it gets on the ice. Penguins general manager Ron Hextall called Dumoulin a "tower of strength," which is an apt description for the stabilizing presence he provides. And the way Dumoulin helped show Marino the ropes this summer is yet another example of the incredible team leader that he's grown into.

"He's one of the most disciplined guys on the team," Marino said. "He's been around it forever, obviously winning a couple Cups and everything. So to have him take you under his wing or treat you like any other guy is pretty special. You just kind of follow his lead a little bit."

Dumoulin and Marino would get to work around lunchtime, where they would skate with a group of NHLers at a rink in Braintree, Mass. Right after they finished, the two of them would head over to Dumoulin's house and work out there from about 2:30-4:30 PM.

"It was a good little routine," Dumoulin said.

Pittsburgh's strength and conditioning staff had helped Dumoulin order the proper equipment to train from home when the NHL first pressed pause last March, including a wall mounted squat rack, specialty hex bar, bands and other accessories, and gym flooring.

"It wasn't a big space, but it all fit and we had everything that we needed, so it was fun," Dumoulin said.

If they wanted to get outside and get some fresh air, there was a track nearby. And if they really wanted to switch it up, there was also a basketball court - where, at one point, Dumoulin posted a story to his Instagram account of Marino shooting hoops - and a tennis court. They worked with Penguins strength and conditioning coaches Alex Trinca and Alexi Pianosi to modify their program when needed.

"Me and Johnny would just feed off each other, honestly," Dumoulin said. "We communicate pretty well, so we'd talk to each other and tell each other how we were feeling. Every day we'd walk in and be like, how's the body feeling? It was nice because we could go at our pace and we could communicate with each other and see what hurt, what didn't, and what we wanted to work on the most."

For Marino, there was certainly a focus on trying to add a little more weight and muscle to his 6-foot-1, 181-pound frame, which meant he was eating more. He would make a shake and have some eggs before training, and once they finished, he'd get a salad from a chain like Sweetgreen before finding a restaurant for dinner.

It's a good thing that Boston has plenty of options to choose from, because although Dumoulin loves to cook, he didn't whip up any meals for Marino (though he did pass along some good wine tips).

"I didn't make him any dinners," Dumoulin said. "He's a big boy now, he can do his own dinners (laughs). That's the thing in Boston, though. You can get pretty much anything."

Now that they're back in Pittsburgh and in the midst of training camp, Marino is focused on becoming a more consistent professional entering a full 82-game season. And when it comes to that aforementioned untapped potential, Dumoulin said it all starts with Marino's two-way ability.

"I think that's one thing that is amazing about him," Dumoulin said. "He can get up in the play, he's strong, he can skate. Makes really good decisions, and he can defend really well. He's got a good stick. He's deceptive. So a lot of it is just little plays that he makes that make it easy on other guys.

"If you need him to play the power play, he can play the power play. If you need him to play on the penalty kill and in the D zone, he's really reliable at that. So I think just his two-way overall game is really, really steady."

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September 26, 2021 at 02:00PM
https://www.nhl.com/penguins/news/dumoulin-and-marino-pushed-each-other-hard-this-summer/c-326413516

Dumoulin and Marino "Pushed Each Other Hard" This Summer - BlueJackets.com

https://news.google.com/search?q=hard&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en

Knicks will have hard time duplicating their stingy defense - New York Post

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Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau only can hope the 2021-22 Knicks will be as nasty a defensive team as last season’s history-making unit.

The reigning NBA Coach of the Year/defensive mastermind knows it will be a challenge to duplicate 2020-21 when the Knicks turned the World’s Most Famous Arena into the Garden of Defense.

According to an NBA source, Thibodeau lobbied hard to bring back the team’s defensive heart-and-soul in starting shooting guard Reggie Bullock but team brass went another direction. The coach was disappointed.

The Knicks could have had the free agent for roughly the same three-year, $30.5 million package ($25 million guaranteed) the Mavericks offered him, according to a source. But on Day 1 of practice Tuesday, Bullock was in the Big D, not leading the Knicks D.

Knicks president Leon Rose didn’t even need cap space to re-sign Bullock because the Knicks held his Early Bird Rights.

As much as point guard Elfrid Payton disappeared offensively late in the season, his physicality and size aided the Knicks’ vaunted defense, too.

With Kemba Walker and Evan Fournier swapped in for Payton-Bullock, it’s hard to imagine the Knicks’ defense being as stingy.

The Knicks’ defense likely won’t be as stingy without Reggie Bullock (left) and Elfrid Payton.

Getty Images

Maybe it won’t affect last season’s .569 winning percentage because of an offseason improvement plan of pumping up the offense with more 3-point shooting, but they may have a slightly different identity.

“There’s the challenge of being strong on both sides of the ball,’’ Thibodeau said. “So we feel that we have to make that same commitment. Defensively, it was one of the best in history in terms of points allowed, field-goal percentage and 3-point percentage. Maybe the commitment goes away and we can’t be that. I think one of the things that really helped us last year was our commitment to play for each other.’’

The players have talked about becoming a faster-paced team (they were dead last in pace last season) and aim to launch more 3-pointers. Last season, the Knicks ranked 24th in 3-point frequency (percentage of total shots that are 3-pointers).

“Obviously losing Elfrid and losing Reggie, those are two huge pieces for us last year,’’ All-Star Julius Randle said. “They did a lot for our team. Those guys had the toughest assignments on defense every night. They were tremendous for us. They were great teammates. They were like brothers to me, so it was tough losing them.’’

Will the Knicks lead the NBA in the three major defensive stat categories like they did last season?

They were tops in points per game allowed (104.7), opposing field-goal percentage (.440) and opposing 3-point field-goal percentage (.337). Thibdoeau’s club was just the second team in NBA history to lead the league in those three major defensive categories. The other was Pat Riley’s Knicks of 1992-93. Great company.

“I feel like we gotta keep growing as a team,’’ Derrick Rose said. “Defensively, we were great last year. I think our staple was defense. Now that I feel like we got better on the offensive side of the ball, it’s about adding little things. Last year, we only shot 30 3s [per game]. This year, now we have 3-point shooters. We gotta get up to 37-40 attempts.”

Actually, they’ve got to find a perimeter defensive stopper who succeeded as well as Bullock did last season. Fournier is hard-nosed, can shoot the 3 and create off the dribble. Thibodeau noted he’s more than a 3-and-D guy because he can create for himself. Except Fournier is more of a “3-and-d’’ — as in lower case.

Who gets the opponent’s most dangerous perimeter sniper is what training camp will determine. If not Fournier, it’s third-year man RJ Barrett, who didn’t get drafted third for his defense.

“Being a two-way player is always something I strive for,’’ Barrett said Monday. “That’s how I want to be known. If coach puts me in the position to be that guy guarding that guy every night, I’m all for it. I’m up for the challenge.”

In the analytic spectrum, the Knicks went from 23rd in defensive rating in 2019-20 to fourth last season with much the same group, save for their first-year coach in Thibodeau.

If that rating falls in 2021-22, it’s hard to imagine the Knicks being as successful as last season’s gemstone of a 41-31 campaign. A healthy Mitchell Robinson at center, along with Nerlens Noel, will help as Thibodeau raved about the Knicks’ potential “rim protection” Tuesday.

But Robinson is still being treated like a pane of glass.

“I think the biggest thing last year was we came in, we did the right things every day.’’ Randle said. “Because we created those good habits, we had a plan for what we were doing every night. It doesn’t change. We just want to stand by that.”

But will they stand for, “Dee-fense, Dee-fense, Dee-fense”

Thibodeau is never happy but he was happy about the 2020-21 “Dee-Fense.”

“I think that was one of the things our team was great at last year,’’ Thibodeau said.

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September 29, 2021 at 06:45AM
https://nypost.com/2021/09/28/knicks-will-have-hard-time-duplicating-their-stingy-defense/

Knicks will have hard time duplicating their stingy defense - New York Post

https://news.google.com/search?q=hard&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en

Hit the ground running in Insurgency: Sandstorm with 10 hard-earned tips - PlayStation.Blog

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Hi everyone! I’m Logan Robb, community associate at New World Interactive. I’m delighted to say that Insurgency: Sandstorm, our tactical co-op shooter, arrives tomorrow on PlayStation 4, and is available to pre-order now. It’s also playable on PlayStation 5, enhanced with 60fps and 4K resolution.

Insurgency: Sandstorm is a hardcore FPS featuring dangerous run-and-gun moments where the low time to kill means teamwork and strategy are essential before any firefight. To get you battle-ready, we’ve prepared some tips for combat!

1. Cooperate and learn

While it may be tempting to dive straight into PvP, we recommend starting out with one of Insurgency: Sandstorm’s co-op game modes. Here you will join a team of fellow players in battling squads of AI to accomplish a variety of objectives. Still intense combat, but you’ll have a bit more room to get a handle on Sandstorm’s tactical gameplay. 

2. Play your role

When starting a match of Insurgency: Sandstorm, you have a wide range of classes to choose from. Each has its own gameplay style and role to play. For example, the Commander is a vital component of any team, able to use their map knowledge to call in fire support at the most optimal place and time. Another class, the Observer, should stay close to the Commander in order to defend them and take orders to call in strikes with their radio. These are very specific roles, but there are some more beginner-friendly options like…

3. Start with the Rifleman

If you’re new to Insurgency: Sandstorm, the Rifleman is probably your safest class pick. The backbone of any team, the Rifleman’s versatile range of weapons and equipment means you can gear up for any type of engagement. You don’t have to worry about effectively using any important or unique gear with this class, so it’s a great way to learn Insurgency: Sandstorm’s basic gameplay, maps, and modes.

4. Start smoking

Your smoke grenades are an incredibly useful tool in battle – a single smoke can make or break an engagement. Whenever you use one, remember that it is going to limit visibility for both sides. Try to throw it where you’re limiting the visibility of the enemy team, while still keeping options open for your own. Your teammates will be unhappy (and sitting ducks) if you throw smoke on your own position.

5. Save your RPGs

RPGs are always fun to use, and they can be used to devastating effect on infantry in cover. Consider holding back until only the most opportune moments though, as they are one of the most effective ways of taking out the vehicles, which are otherwise immune to standard weaponry.

6. Control your fire

Insurgency: Sandstorm features realistic weapon handling, which means you can quickly lose control by just holding down the trigger. Practice trigger control with each weapon, consider switching to burst fire when possible, and fire in short bursts for medium and long-distance engagements whenever your weapon is set to full auto.

7. Watch your weight

When selecting your loadout at the start of a match, your carrying weight changes depending on what you’re bringing into battle. The less you’re carrying, the faster you can draw your weapon and traverse the map, so think hard about whether or not you really need that extra grenade.

8. Talk to your team

Communication is important in any team game, but particularly in Insurgency: Sandstorm. There’s a lot of information to share that can benefit your allies, such as signaling a push for an objective, confirming your kills, or announcing incoming fire support. Voice chat is always best, but you also have access to a handy comms wheel if that’s more your jam.

9. Know your attachments

You have a lot of options when building your Insurgency: Sandstorm loadout, and that extends to the wealth of weapon attachments. For recoil, you’ll usually have access to a grip and/or compensator – the grip is for lessening vertical recoil, while the compensator lessens horizontal recoil. Tracer rounds can also help for zeroing in on your target, but note that they will quickly reveal your position to friends and foes alike.

10. Play the objective

Our final tip is probably the one your teammates will thank you the most for. In Insurgency: Sandstorm, it’s all about playing the objectives to best achieve victory. Have a plan, play your role, and try to keep up with your teammate’s movements. If you can do all that, no one will mind if your aim is a bit off sometimes.

Insurgency: Sandstorm arrives tomorrow on PS4, alongside the Deluxe edition (including Year 1 Pass) and the Gold Edition (including the Year 1 and Year 2 Pass), and is enhanced for PlayStation 5 at 4K resolution and 60 FPS. In 2022, we’re planning to bring further PlayStation 5 enhancements – stay tuned for more info. 

See you on the battlefield!

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September 28, 2021 at 10:00PM
https://blog.playstation.com/2021/09/28/hit-the-ground-running-in-insurgency-sandstorm-with-10-hard-earned-tips/

Hit the ground running in Insurgency: Sandstorm with 10 hard-earned tips - PlayStation.Blog

https://news.google.com/search?q=hard&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en

IRS Must Improve Wiping Sensitive Taxpayer Data on Hard Disks - MeriTalk

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The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) found through an audit that the IRS needs to do a better job of wiping sensitive taxpayer data on laptop and desktop hard disks.

In addition to not using an approved sanitation product to overwrite sensitive taxpayer data on hard disks, IRS isn’t annually testing its sanitization equipment and procedures at the Memphis Sanitization Site to verify the intended sanitization results are being achieved. Further, the IRS’ process to independently verify the sanitization of each laptop and desktop is ineffective.

“The IRS is required to protect the confidentiality of taxpayer information, including taxpayer information stored on laptops, desktops, and smartphones,” TIGTA wrote in an audit report. “Sanitization is a key element in assuring confidentiality. If an unauthorized disclosure of tax or Personally Identifiable Information occurred, it could result in substantial harm, embarrassment, and loss of public confidence in the IRS.”

Explore increasingly hot button cyber issues that are top-of-mind. Learn more.

Between January and March 2021, TIGTA did a statistical interval sample of 87 laptops and desktops from a population of 3882 sanitized computers. TIGTA found that one computer wasn’t sanitized and two others were missing hard disks. TIGTA projected the sample results to the total sanitized computer population and estimated that 45 computers may not be properly sanitized and 89 computers may be missing hard disks. There were also “six computers in the sample with bad sector error messages, which could potentially allow readable information to be recovered.”

TIGTA made six recommendations for the IRS CIO, including:

1. Ensure that IRS only uses approved sanitization products;
2. Test sanitization equipment and procedures annually;
3. Ensure hard disks that weren’t sanitized or that had bad sector errors are degaussed or destroyed;
4. Make sure hard disks separated from their respective computers are properly accounted for throughout the sanitization process;
5. Clarify guidance to further define accounting for damaged or missing hard disks; and
6. Ensure hard disk sanitization results are independently verified using an approved verification software tool.

IRS agreed with all the recommendations and plans to purchase and implement approved sanitization tools; implement annual testing of Memphis sanitization tools and procedures; degauss or destroy hard disks identified during the review that weren’t sanitized; implement procedures to account for hard disks separated from their computers; revise the standard operating procedures to clarify and further define procedures to account for damaged or missing hard disks; and evaluate the Memphis hard disk sanitization process.

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September 29, 2021 at 01:01AM
https://www.meritalk.com/articles/irs-must-improve-wiping-sensitive-taxpayer-data-on-hard-disks/

IRS Must Improve Wiping Sensitive Taxpayer Data on Hard Disks - MeriTalk

https://news.google.com/search?q=hard&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en

Cardano’s Alonzo hard fork was a success but real utility could be a while - Cointelegraph

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After the market “sells the news” after the successful Cardano Alonzo hard fork, there is a slow realization that real utility could still be on the distant horizon for the network.

Cardano (ADA) reached a major milestone in its roadmap on Sep. 13 as its blockchain launched Plutus-powered smart contracts as a part of the Alonzo hard fork. 

The Alonzo hard fork has been highly anticipated in the Cardano community as well as the cryptocurrency sphere at large.

The smart contract functionality is meant to allow Cardano to become a platform on which developers can build decentralized applications (DApps) and even mint nonfungible tokens (NFTs). This milestone has been hailed as the point in the development of the network where the “mission truly begins.”

However, the news of the execution of this milestone didn’t prevent the network’s native token, Cardano (ADA), from falling into the wider slump that has gripped the crypto market since Bitcoin (BTC) flashed crashed below $43,000 on Sep. 7. In the aftermath of the Alonzo hard fork on Sep. 10, ADA dropped 10% to hit an intraday low of $2.3 while BTC and Ether (ETH) only fell 4% and 6.97%, respectively.

Marie Tatibouet, the chief marketing officer of crypto exchange Gate.io, told Cointelegraph:

“This changes everything for Cardano! For the longest time, Cardano was known as the smart contract platform without the smart contracts, but now the critics will have to change that narrative. With the advent of actual contracts, Cardano's utility and usability goes through the roof.”

Cardano developer activity amongst the highest

According to a report by Outlier Ventures titled, “Blockchain Development Trends Q2 2020/21,” Cardano is one of the most actively developed blockchains out there, with the highest average monthly commits per month on Github code repositories at 701 commits per month (CPM). 

The average CPM for all protocols considered in the report is 107 CPM. These “commits” essentially represent any additions or amendments made to the network’s source code on Github.

In terms of these commits, Ethereum comes in second with 447 CPM, IOTA stands third with 394 CPM with Filecoin and Flow rounding up the top five with 368 CPM and 306 CPM, respectively. This shows that Cardano is 555% more active than Ethereum and 317% than the average of all the blockchain networks connected.

In terms of the total number of developers building a particular blockchain network, Ethereum is still ranked at the top with 168 monthly active developers (MAD). Cardano follows closely in second place with 165 MAD, showing a higher year-over-year increase of 31.8%. The network already has the functionality that allows the creation of NFTs. According to data provided by Cardano to Cointelegraph, there have been 780,436 NFTs minted on the network.

Such an active developer community is a testament to how fast the network is developing and adapting to the changing needs of the ecosystem. Cardano has a high developer count with the highest development activities amongst similar blockchain protocols thus improving the security and transparency of the network. The Alonzo hard fork bringing in the smart contract functionality will only push these trends to greater heights.

Cardano DApps are still on the distant horizon

Even though the Alonzo upgrade, a part of the Goguen phase of Cardano’s roadmap, allows developers to deploy Plutus-powered smart contracts on the network, the network hasn’t quite reached that stage. 

Despite the belief in the market that over 2,000 smart contracts have been deployed on the network, according to data from Vercel app, a third-party data provider that uses data from adapools.org, there are only 26 Plutus-powered smart contracts that have been deployed at the time of writing.

There is also a market-wide perception that these smart contracts are in timelock. But, a spokesperson from Cardano clarified to Cointelegraph that the network has had timelock scripts since the Allegra era of the project’s roadmap. These time-locked scripts are used for activities like aiding NFT minting by making NFTs run unique for-instance and multisig schemes. Smart contracts highly differ from these scripts and cannot be placed “in timelock.”

Hunain Nasser, senior analyst at OKEx Insights — the research team at cryptocurrency exchange OKEx — told Cointelegraph:

“Timelocks are used to protect users from changes made to contracts after they are created. Not all 2,300 or so scripts seen on the Cardano network are actual apps, most of them are minting policies for tokens and NFTs on the Cardano network, and they are time locked to prevent changes.”

However, timelocks can be used once DApps are created and widely used. They can also be used to provide users alerts once any changes to a smart contract are triggered. This feature prevents the implementation of these changes instantly, giving users time to review them and act on them if necessary before they get implemented.

It remains to be seen how fast real utility could come to the Cardano network in terms of DApps and other decentralized finance features. But it also could be a case of managing expectations. Johnny Lyu, CEO of crypto exchange KuCoin, told Cointelegraph that even though the Alonzo upgrade is a landmark event for Cardano, one shouldn’t expect lightning-fast achievements in a short period of time.

“Users need to be patient, and developers need to move on and do a lot of work to prevent mistakes that can lead to hacks and loss of funds on smart contracts.” 

An instance of smart contracts being fast-tracked into a network can be witnessed in the case of the Binance Smart Chain, the most recent one being the $12.7 million BTC hack from the pNetwork.

Related: DeFi hacks on Binance Smart Chain rise as TVL and volumes increase

“At the same time, I believe that after launch, it will take more than two years for DApps to be deployed and operate at full scale on Cardano, as it was with the Ethereum network, “ Lyu said, adding “I think everyone is ready to start now and offer some new products and applications to users, but it is necessary to make sure that they are safe.”

Since Cardano is a blockchain project that has always focused on the fundamentals, one might assume that they will allow funds to flow through smart contracts only once they are deemed safe and secure. The Founder of Five Binaries, Marek Mahut, who ran the first smart contract on Cardano said that “Safety and scalability are major features for any developer. Cardano’s accounting technology, eUTXO, provides a novel approach, which makes writing secure smart contracts easier.”

The Cardano Foundation held the Cardano Summit 2021 on Sept. 25–26. IOHK, the blockchain research and development company that backs Cardano’s infrastructure, discussed the planned upgrades and improvements to the smart contract functionality at this summit. It remains to be seen when the deployment of actual DApps can be done on the network, but it’s not an instantaneous process. 

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September 28, 2021 at 07:27PM
https://cointelegraph.com/news/cardano-s-alonzo-hard-fork-was-a-success-but-real-utility-could-be-a-while

Cardano’s Alonzo hard fork was a success but real utility could be a while - Cointelegraph

https://news.google.com/search?q=hard&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en