Due to COVID-19 concerns, Babylon Village officials have canceled the annual Halloween parade this year.

As an alternative to the parade, the village will be hosting a trunk-or-treat and costume contest on Oct. 31 in the municipal parking lot behind Swell Taco.

The event will run from noon to 3 p.m. and the costume contest will be split into one hour sessions.

Mary Adams, a village trustee, said participants are encouraged to decorate their vehicles and there will be judges for the costume contest.

Candy will be handed out to children in individual goodie bags and merchants in the downtown area will have candy outside for the kids as well.

Participants must pre-register for the trunk-or-treat and costume contest by emailing the village at bvrec2020@gmail.com.

So far, the event has around 12 to 15 cars for the trunk-or-treat, and around 40 kids registered to participate.

Face coverings and social distancing will be enforced at the event, and the number of children in each one-hour session will be monitored.

The village has done such a great job in keeping our numbers low and keep everyone healthy, Adams said. I think residents are appreciative of it and I think anything that we could offer the children in a safe environment they will participate in.

In regards to trick-or-treating on Halloween, the village is leaving it up to the discretion of Babylon Village residents.

From 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., select businesses in the village will be giving away candy to trick-or-treaters. Participants will have a pumpkin in their windows.

Mayor Ralph Scordino said he feels that the village must continue to be smart during these times, as the COVID-19 outbreak is ongoing.

Its not going away, we cant let our guard down, and we have to prevent any upswings in cases, and thats the priority we have in Babylon Village, Scordino said.

Be Babylon Village smart.

For more information about the trunk-or-treat event, visit the village website or Facebook page.

Top: Scene from last years Halloween parade in Babylon Village

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Trunk-or-treat event to replace Babylon Village's annual Halloween parade - GreaterBabylon

(Adobe Max image courtesy of Adobe)

Adobe ADBE is weaving its artificial intelligence capabilities into even more of its biggest creative applications, including Premiere Pro and Photoshop, it announced today. The company also launched an iPad version of its Illustrator vector-drawing program, and an iPhone version of its Fresco drawing software.

Those were just some of the many product announcements from the software giant, all timed to the start of its three-day Adobe MAX creativity conference this morning.

Thanks to the pandemic, the conference is virtual only, and free. Max features dozens of panels on using Adobe software, as well as appearances by creative notables such as photographer Annie Leibowitz, film directors Ava DuVernay and Taika Waititi, actors Zendaya and David Tennant, talk-show host Conan OBrien, writer Roxane Gaye and electronic musician Marshmello.

The biggest news, though, may be the ways Adobes AI and machine learning tools, which it calls Sensei, are being woven even more deeply into its programs, typically to simplify or speed complex, often repetitive parts of the business of creating images.

The company calls Photoshop, its flagship image-editing program, the worlds most advanced AI application for creatives as it released new versions for desktop computers and Apples iPad.

Our goal is to systematically replace time-intensive steps with smart, automated technology wherever possible, the company said in a blog post. With the addition of these five major new breakthroughs, you can free yourself from the mundane, non-creative tasks and focus on what matters most your creativity.

Photoshop gets five major new AI features, including Sky Replacement, with 25 replacement sky presets, and two Refine Edge Selections, to simplify the painstaking process of selecting hair and complex objects.

Adobe touted another new AI-based function, Neural Filters, as a reimagining of the ways Photoshop uses filters and image-manipulation tools. Neural Filters ships with a large group of new, non-destructive filters to modify images, though Adobe cautioned that many are still in beta stage, and will need further refinement.

The Neural Filters dashboard suggests groups of actions, such as Skin Smoothing or Smart Portrait, to improve an image with a single click or manipulation of a slider. Smart Portrait can tweak details such as where a subject is gazing, or the tilt of their head.

A new Sensei-based Discover panel adds better context-aware search, help and other tools and tips to help creators work faster within the program, which has long been known for both its power and brain-melting complexity.

Elsewhere, the Roto Brush 2 tool uses Sensei to greatly simplify the time-consuming task of rotoscoping. It smartly automates much of the process of closely outlining a moving figure in video, extracting the movement from the rest of the video and dropping it into another one. Roto Brush is in both the film-editing app Premiere Pro and the 3D and visual-effects tool After Effects.

Premiere Pro also gets a Sensei-based automated captioning tool that captures speech in a video scene, converts it to text, then uses machine learning to properly place the text in cadence with the speech on screen. The launch version works with 11 languages and multiple speakers. The company is also taking applications from people who want to beta test the new Captions Track, which allows a creator to modify the look, color, font, placement and other aspects of captions on screen.

Another app, Character Animator, is also adding AI smarts, with speech-aware animation and more accurate lip synching to allow creators to essentially puppeteer and capture a digital image so that its mouth and body parts move in concert with the live humans movements and speech.

The ability to capture arm movements, through what was previously called Arm IK, now extends to other body parts, such as knees, in Limb IK.

Other announcements on the day include:

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Photoshop, Premiere Pro And Other Adobe Programs Get More AI Smarts - Forbes

At the Oct. 5 Great Bend City Council meeting, Councilman Dana Dawson raised concerns about the boarding of windows and the public eyesores this practice creates. It was determined that the matter would be discussed when the council next met, which was this Monday night.

Dawson requested looking at possible alternatives to address broken windows in buildings being replaced with wood or similar materials. No action was taken, and the matter was tabled indefinitely pending further discussion, possibly at a council study session.

First impressions are everything, Dawson said. Great Bend has a lot to brag about, but what stands out are things that dont look so nice.

There are a lot of factors to be considered, City Administrator Kendal Francis said. These include such things as enforcement, cost, the grandfathering properties not currently meeting the new standards, and others.

I have concerns about the magnitude of the issue, Francis said. It is very widespread throughout the entire city and encompasses both residential and commercial properties.

As a starting point, he prepared a draft ordinance that would require broken windows to be replaced with glass or plexiglass. Failure to do so would result in municipal court fines.

Violations can also be met with abatement by the city at the recommendation of the code enforcement officer. Standard abatement procedures, time lines and hearing guidelines apply.

This would make a lot of difference in how things look, Dawson said. His biggest concern were commercial properties along Main and 10th streets, including the dilapidated former Highland Hotel.

The town ought to look nice, he said. This might cause owners to take action and show some pride in their properties.

But. Im afraid were opening a can of worms, said Mayor Cody Schmidt. He worried about the fairness of singling out businesses, as well as how it would be enforced.

Francis shared similar trepidation. Where do you draw the line?

When a property is abated, city crews can come in and clean it up, and bill the owner. But, in these cases, the city doesnt want to be the one to make the repairs, making taking the cases to municipal court the only option.

I would caution you not to rush into anything, Francis said.

According to the draft ordinance, windows in any permanent building or structure may be temporarily boarded for a period of not-to-exceed 30 days. After that time, windows must be replaced with glass or Plexiglas.

As for the plywood, windows and similar openings shall be temporarily boarded with exterior grade plywood of minimum 7/16 of an inch thickness or its equivalent. All boarded openings shall be painted with a minimum of one coat of exterior paint which is of a color compatible with the exterior color of the building or structure.

Should offender fail to comply with the notices to abate or request a hearing, the code enforcement officer shall file a complaint in the municipal court against them and, upon conviction, be punished by a fine of $500 dollars or a jail sentence of up to 30 days in jail, or both.

Each day during or on whicCh the violation occurs or continues after notice has been served shall constitute an additional or separate offense.

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Council tables action on boarded windows - GREAT BEND TRIBUNE - Great Bend Tribune

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) Its an act of vandalism against the vulnerable. Someone shattered the windows at the Society For The Blind building in downtown Sacramento early Monday morning.

This is the second time the facility has been hit in just months. Its an attack that is personal for Priscilla Yeung.

I think we were really shocked this morning, Yeung said.

Yeung, who is blind, also works at the Society For The Blind. Its a place where she learned to gain her own independence and where she now teaches others.

I want to be able to feel safe when I come to work as well, Yeung said. So when a space like this is shattered, it hurts us.

Photos show the shattered glass in the front and back doors. Someone targeting both sides of the building.

Earlier this year thieves also stole a Society For The Blind van. The organization has now built a steel cage for parked vehicles to prevent further thefts.

Shari Roeseler is the executive director for the organization and says the combined costs of the criminal acts will cost the organization $25,000. Its money that will not be pulled from its important programs.

Non-profits, we dont typically have big slush funds, Roeseler said. How quickly you can get things repaired, we still havent replaced our van, because again you gotta secure those funds.

A series of attacks on a place meant to protect the vision impaired.

You know, why would somebody do this, Yeung said. I feel the hurt of it.

Police are searching for a suspect with no sense of shame.

This organization serves 6,000 clients a year. They are now looking for funds to help them cover the costs of these crimson acts.

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Vandals Shatter Windows Of Society For The Blind Building In Sacramento - CBS Sacramento

Back in 2014, after the Giants won their third straight title and the Astros limped to a 70-92 record, I group-chatted my high school friends (I grew up in the Bay Area), and I told them that they had a great run, but the Giants wouldnt have a better record than the Astros for at least another decade.

On the facts of it, I was wrong (2016 was a backslide year) but the basic idea was correct. The Astros window was open, and the Giants was closing, compounded by a GM who was behind the times and a fanbase that expected a winning team.

What struck me about Luhnow in the early years was a claim he liked to make: he didnt want the Astros to be a lightening in a bottle team like the 2003 Marlins, but instead to compete for championships over multiple years. Thats what weve done, with the exception of 2016, for the past six years: either winning the World Series, or losing to the eventual winner (well see if Tampa can continue the if we get by the Astros we win it all verity).

With 2020 in the books for the Astros, the entire starting OF headed to free-agency, and the Astros best starter and reliever out for 2021, its worth asking whether the Astros window is closed.

After 2016, Luhnow used the deep farm system and the cost-controlled core in order to sign for complementary pieces or trade for front-end guys in order to build a team that would win 100 games three years in a row. We know that story and those pieces.

Well get to that window, but first a brief detour is in order. The biggest failure of Luhnows developmental program was the development of a #1 or #2 starter. Keuchel was drafted by the previous regime, Aiken, Folty, and Appel didnt work out, McCullers has helped the team during this window, but not to the extent theyd hoped for. In addition, promising, top 100 prospects from Frankie Montas and David Paulino to Michael Feliz, Josh James, and Forrest Whitley never yielded that guy. So they traded a raft of prospects for Cole, JV, and Greinke. These werent deadline deals even when they were; they were about building and sustaining a World Series-level team.

Many of us missed it in between the endless flow of relievers and the other drama of 2020, but this past season was a breakthrough in terms of the development of potential starting talent. The biggest breakthrough was Framber Valdez, who looks like he can throw 200 IP and front a rotation of a division-winning team. Equally notable was the bounce back of McCullers from surgery. We never quite know if the stuff is back, but except for a clunker or two, McCullers is back. In addition, Cristian Javier emerged as a potential starter. Urquidy, meanwhile, proved that 2019 was no fluke. Brandon Bielak struggled, but Luis Garcia literally came out of nowhere and flashed four potential plus pitches.

All of those guys, excepting McCullers, have one thing in common: theyre cheap. You know who else is cheap: Yordan Alvarez. Kyle Tucker. Every team has guys making minimum. The MVP of the ALCS is probably making minimum. But the injury and COVID emergency of 2020 forced the Astros hand, and a farm system ranked in the bottom 10 showed itself capable of still producing a yield of cheap, controllable talent.

The classic case of a window closing was the post-2015 Kansas City Royals. They had a group of players that gradually aged out of their peak, or were too expensive to keep, and they either lost them (Cain, Moustakas, Hosmer) or regretted overpaying them (Gordon). Meanwhile, years of drafting at the back end of the rounds, plus trading away talent to make deadline deals, made it harder to reload.

Big market teams can chart another course. For all of the crap Crane took at the beginning of his tenure, which writers like Evan Dreilich accented and highlighted repeatedly, he opened the checkbook big time. If neither Springer nor Correa stay around, it will be a huge loss. But it wont be because Crane refused to make a serious offer to either of them.

The Astros are not the Cubs, Yankees, or Dodgers, all of whom are basically printing money in a normal year. But they can spend, and they have, in extending Altuve, JV, Pressly, and Bregman. They also have a core of players who figure to add a lot of wins at minimum salary cost (Tucker, Alvarez, Urquidy, Valdez, Javier, Paredes). What crushes teams is paying for past performance. The 2020 Astros paid Josh Reddick 13 million to produce negative 0.6 WAR according to Fangraphs. In 2021 theyll pay a 38-year-old 33 million to rehab. But there is no Albert Pujols contract on the books. The biggest commitments post -2021 are to Altuve and Bregman. And Altuves postseason showed that hes still in his prime (1.229 postseason OPS with 11BB and 8Ks).

The 2021 Astros are unlikely to produce a team that wins 108 games. But they can integrate younger talent into a team that, with the right offseason acquisitions, can win 95 games. And if James Click can continue to use the IFA market to find pitchers who can contribute to the MLB club, there is no reason this window cannot remain open.

The biggest misnomer to tanking is that drafting 1-1 ensures you the ability to get the top talent. This not the NBA, where 1-1 can turn a franchise around (Tim Duncan, Shaq ONeil, Zion, etc...). Drafting high helps, but development and evaluation are names of the game.

The 2007-2009 Astros were an aging team locked into a cycle of 74-88-type seasons, with two All-Stars in their primes (Pence, Oswalt) and two aging out of their primes (Lee, Berkman). The 2021 Astros are nothing like that. They have a rotation of Greinke, McCullers, Valdez, and Urquidy. They have a top 6 lineup of Altuve, Bregman, Correa, Tucker, Alvarez, and Gurriel. Thats before either re-signing or replacing Springer and Brantley.

Besides Matt Chapman, the As have no player you can pencil in as an All-Star. They have an impressive array of pre-arb talent (Laureano, Luzardo, Murphy, Puk) but theyre losing Billy Beane and their owner wont spend to keep Hendriks, Semien, and Grossman, especially given how many of their guys are are in line for large raises in arbitration. If you see another team in the AL West you think can win 90 games, let me know.

If you think the Astros should get out ahead of this and sell, my only answer is: to what end? To create another window? If thats the goal, it may take awhile? In which case, youd be wasting the cost-controlled talent you have now. And who wants to trade for minor league players after a year in which none of them played competitively?

2021 will tell us much more than 2020 did. Maybe Urquidy and Valdez disappoint, and Forrest Whitley quits baseball. Maybe Kyle Tucker looks more like an average regular than an All-Star. Maybe the team limps to an 83-79 record. Not even James Click knows the answer, but 2021 can be a banner year for the Astros.

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Windows, Rebuilding, and Reloading - The Crawfish Boxes

I grew up in the heart of the city, in a row house that shared walls with the neighbors to either side. Trees were few and far between, growing up through iron grates that replaced the cement sidewalks beside the stone curbs. Grass simply did not exist anywhere that I can recall, and perhaps this is why I do not remember encountering any outside bugs in my childhood world.

I do remember, however, that cockroaches roamed wild in our basement. We would switch on the light and they would scurry across the flagstone floor, seeking refuge in the dark crevices. Whenever one happened to venture upstairs into our living spaces, my mother would chase it across the floor, stomping like a wild woman. I, however, felt sorry for my mothers victims,and when I found one scurrying about upstairs, I would quietly rescue it. I built a roach house out of a shoebox, that I hid under my bed, and made miniature furniture for them out of toothpicks and cardboard, small beds, tables and chairs.

As I should have expected, though, the roaches did not seem to like my attention and usually ate their way out of their houses to be greeted by my mother. None of our urban windows had screens, yet I cant recall any flying insects ever entering our home, and we always had openwindows, even in the dead of winter.

My mother insisted that fresh air even city air was good for a growing child, and so she always left my bedroom window open, though only slightly cracked in the coldest weather. I remember that the glass of water I always kept by the side of my bed, would often freeze solid in the dead of winter. Imagine reaching for a refreshing sip and finding your lips greeted by smooth ice. It is thismemory of bedside water, and household bugs, that brings me to the creek valley where Greg and I have made our home.

I still fall asleep every night with a glass of water on my bedside table. Thankfully, the fire in our woodstove keeps out house toasty warm, yet I still crack open a loft window to let in the fresh valley air. During this early fall time of year, before we have lit our first fire, I usually keep many of our windows open. Perhaps this is why I see so many stinkbugs walking across the screens, looking for a way into our inside world.

Ahh, the stink bug. I have learned that these creatures have only been in our neck of the woods since 1998, and that they originally hailed from the Orient. The very first stateside stinkbug was found in Allentown, Pa., where it is believed to have been somehow accidentally introduced. They have since spread far and wide. I learned that these bugs have some good characteristics and are known to eat caterpillars, beetles and other crop-eating insects, but come fall they look to overwinter in warm places, such as our creek valley home, and can become rather a nuisance.

I am now noticing more and more of them every day, gathering on our window screens, crossing from one side to the other, looking for a way to get inside. Greg and I do share the creek valley with many rural bugs, and so we have screened windows, but still, I know, that at least a few of these large, brittle, flying bugs will find their way inside.

I learned how stink bugs acquired their name. When they are threatened, or crushed, they are said to release a noxious odor, that some say smells like cilantro. The odor actually shares some biological properties with the culinary herb, but Ive never actually noticed a stink bug scent. One night a few years ago, I reached across my bedside table for a sip of refreshing water, but as I touched the glass to my lips, I realized that I was really quite thirsty, and I took a healthy swig.

The water passed across my lips and was heading down my throat, when I felt a spiky catch. I instantly knew that I was swallowing a stink bug. I gagged and coughed to no avail. The bugwas quite stuck half way down my gullet. I had no recourse but to swallow more water and wash it all the way down. I immediately googled whether stink bugs were poisonous, and to my relief, I learned that they are not, but as I read further, I learned that if I had chewed the bug, the noxious taste could have upset my stomach.

It appears that I have a strong constitution, for I not only ingested, but digested the bug without any complication whatsoever. My psyche, however, was rather wounded.

Just the sight of the bugs now causes me to feel an unpleasant catch at the back of my throat, and I now know not to rely on our rural window screens. I still have a glass water on the nightstand by my side of the bed, but I always make certain to covered it with a protective lid. I carefully remove the lid before taking that refreshing midnight sip of water.

Without a doubt, I will not be building any shoebox houses for our creek valley stink bugs.

Christine Tailer is an attorney and former city dweller who moved several years ago, with her husband, Greg, to an off-grid farm in south-central Ohio.

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Stink bugs return - The Highland County Press

Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher has urged the club to sign a first-class replacement for Virgil van Dijk in January after losing their defensive rock for the season with a knee injury.

Van Dijks campaign is reportedly over after just five games after he suffered a serious ACL injury in the weekends Merseyside derby, following a shocking tackle from Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford.

Getty Images - Getty

Carragher admits its a huge loss for the Reds and believes it could well hand the Premier League title to rivals Manchester City.

But the Anfield icon insists Jurgen Klopps side can still defend their title as long as they land a world-class centre-back in January.

He believes RB Leipzigs Dayot Upamecano is the perfect fit, and has explained why its key the Reds act early as soon as the window re-opens to get their man.

Liverpools next big signing had to be a centre-back anyway and I am talking next summer, Carragher said onSky Sports Monday Night Football.

Dejan Lovren went and they didnt replace him so they only have three centre-backs and one of those, Joel Matip, is always injured.

There are question marks now about Joe Gomez.

So there is no doubt that Liverpool had to go big in the transfer market next summer. That was the next one. That has now got to be brought forward to January 1st, whoever the target was in the summer. Not the end of January. Not [wasting time that month] negotiating with a club.

AFP or licensors

With so many top clubs looking for quality at the back, Upamecanos name has come up a lot in the transfer rumours mill over the last year or so.

The 21-year-old has been linked with moves to Arsenal and Manchester United in the Premier League after his impressive emergence in Germany.

He played a key role in the Bundesliga sides run to the Champions League semi-finals last season, and was even named man-of-the-match for Leipzigs quarter-final win over Atletico Madrid.

And Carragher has urged Liverpool not to waste time and snap up the in-demand star at the soonest opportunity even if it means spending top dollar.

There is a young man everyone was talking about at Leipzig, Dayot Upamecano, there is talk of him. Whether he has the profile of Van Dijk, I think he is only 61 or 62, so he is maybe not that aerial, but if he is the one they wanted then bring it forward.

Pay extra money and do it on January 1st.

Getty Images - Getty

That means getting through 11 league games without Virgil van Dijk.

One thing to say about Virgil van Dijk is that in the last 23 games they have only kept five clean sheets, and Van Dijk played all of them, so it is not like everything was perfect. We saw the seven against Aston Villa and we saw the Leeds game.

But I think they have to go big with a signing.

If a replacement for Van Dijk comes to Anfield this season, Carragher believes it will resurrect the clubs hopes of defending their title.

The Reds have endured a mixed start to the season, with three wins, one defeat an a big one, at that and one draw in their opening five games.

But Carragher believes the unpredictability of the Premier League this season means the Reds will not have to reach the same level of the last two years to reclaim their crown.

The good news for Liverpool is that this season you will not need 99 points to win the league, the legend added.

I think it is going to be in the eighties. Liverpool and City have already dropped five points. For it to be another 99-point season you can only afford to drop another 10 and that is not going to happen.

So Liverpool have dropped from a 98 average for the last two seasons, but if they drop 10 to 12 points, even 15 from there, they will be there or thereabouts for the season.

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Jamie Carragher tells Liverpool they MUST sign Dayot Upamecano in January to replace injured Virgil van Dijk - talkSPORT.com

When it's cold outside, is it safe to bring a socially distanced gathering into your house if the windows are open for a short bit and then shut so indoor temperatures don't plummet? We answer this question below. Tessa Bunney/Corbis via Getty Images hide caption

When it's cold outside, is it safe to bring a socially distanced gathering into your house if the windows are open for a short bit and then shut so indoor temperatures don't plummet? We answer this question below.

Each week, we answer frequently asked questions about life during the coronavirus crisis. If you have a question you'd like us to consider for a future post, email us at goatsandsoda@npr.org with the subject line: "Weekly Coronavirus Questions."

I live in a cold (North Dakota) climate and will very soon have to give up outdoor socializing. If I want to try indoor socializing, it'll be too cold to keep windows wide open for a long stretch. Would it help to open a window or door for a minute or two every so often?

Brr! Around the U.S., as colder temperatures set in, outdoor social gatherings can be harder to swing. Even our dearest friends would find it hard to join us for a snowy, windy backyard picnic or around-the-block stroll.

So from a comfort perspective, it makes sense to consider moving social activities indoors. But you're definitely incurring more risk: The outdoor air can disrupt potentially infectious exhalations. Is there a way to use open windows, air filters and other strategies to make the indoors more like the outdoors?

Before you go down that road, Sonali Advani, an assistant professor of medicine at Duke University, warns that there are limitations to focusing on ventilation via open windows as a way to prevent viral transmission.

"Ventilation is one of the many interventions we recommend," she says. "All of these measures, from masks to social distancing, work together in symphony. Relying on one alone will inevitably cause gaps in protection."

Those latter two measures masks and distancing are probably more important than just ventilation alone, Advani explains. So the best way to minimize risk is to mask up and stay 6 feet apart.

If you do end up meeting friends indoors and Advani says you should seriously think about that decision because of the heightened risk of transmission associated with inside spaces she's not sure how meaningful opening the windows for a short spell every 15 to 20 minutes would be when it comes to reducing risk. The total effect, she says, would likely be marginal.

Ventilation itself is only really helpful, she argues, when it's highly robust: windows open on both sides of a room to allow for cross-ventilation and an open, airy space with very few people, for example. Most people can't guarantee that at home. "When we talk about ventilation, what we really care about is air exchanges," or the number of times that air gets replaced in each room every hour. That can be accomplished with a robust air-handling system think airplanes and properly outfitted buildings. But, she says, "there's no controlled way of doing that when opening a window."

Stephen Morse, an epidemiology professor at Columbia University, agrees but adds that some ventilation is probably "better than none." So if you feel inclined to blast open a window in the middle of your North Dakota weather, go for it. Just do so while understanding the severe limitations.

And those limitations? Well, as Morse explains, there are potentially lots of them. For instance: "You can't really tell if the virus is in the air just at the moment when the window is not open in which case, you haven't gotten much benefit."

Plus, since there's little to no data on this, Morse says it can be hard for experts to give a definitive answer on risk.

"Opening windows and doors intermittently may have some effect on helping with creating more airflow, but the specifics of each room and situation would be different," Harvard Medical School physician Abraar Karan says.

But one thing is clear, Morse says: "If people are willing to wear masks and commit to social distancing [inside], that will help quite a bit even [indoors with windows closed] in cold weather."

Does holding your breath while walking by an unmasked (or masked) person help reduce the odds of transmission?

It's every pandemic precautionist's worst nightmare. You've followed all the rules siloing yourself to your house or apartment and leaving only for a CDC-approved walk around the block.

But what if an unmasked person passes by? And stops to ask you a question?

What if that person is infected and expelling viral particles? Would holding your breath prevent you from inhaling any potentially infectious bits?

Chances are sorry to report probably not to a great extent.

To begin with, the chances of transmission from a mini-encounter like the one above are rather small, Advani, of Duke, explains especially if you're outdoors and you don't stop to speak with the person you're passing.

"Transmission is unlikely to happen in seconds, so [holding your breath] likely won't make a difference," Karan, of Harvard, says. "If someone just sneezed in front of you, I wouldn't recommend inhaling that, but generally we believe it takes several minutes at least for transmission to occur."

Advani recommends carrying a mask with you to pop on in case a situation like this occurs.

Would spraying some kind of oil like WD-40 or a silicone or lube-type spray on the outside of my mask help trap viral particles better?

When it comes to DIY upgrades on masks, our sources are skeptical.

For one, Advani worries about the impact that rubbing on such an oil would have on filtration efficiency the main purpose of a good mask. And there might even be added risks.

"Oil may cause bacteria to grow and affect the filtration process of the mask," she says. "That might possibly increase the risk of bacterial infection."

In general, our sources stress that people should stick to the basics of COVID-19 protection and try not to get too fancy with it.

"The virus itself largely travels within droplets or aerosol particles. Using an oil coating on a mask has not been studied in this manner to have any effect. Altering mask materials could negate efficacy," says Karan.

He concludes, "I wouldn't put an oil coating on a mask."

Pranav Baskar is a freelance journalist.

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Would Spraying A COVID-19 Mask With Oil Be A Good Thing ... Or A Bad Thing? : Goats and Soda - NPR

Q: I keep getting a message on my PC, which has Windows 10 version 1903. It says Your version of Windows 10 is nearing the end of service. Restart now to get a newer version of Windows. Otherwise well try to restart outside of your active hours. Just make sure to leave your device on and plugged in. How do I know if I should allow this?

Dianna Kincade, Maple Grove

A: You should allow it. By restarting your PC, you will receive a newer version of the Windows 10 operating system. Thats important because the version you have now is about to become obsolete. As a result, it wont receive security updates after Dec. 8.

Why is this happening? Microsoft introduces a new version of Windows 10 for consumers every six months, so there are always several flavors of the operating system in use. Each version becomes obsolete on a predetermined date chosen by Microsoft.

Typically, you arent warned about these expiration dates, because Microsoft replaces your version of Windows 10 well before it expires. This time, Microsoft seems to be running a little behind. I have the same aging version of Windows 10 that you do, and Im still waiting for mine to be replaced.

But Im not concerned about it because:

Microsoft is in the process of updating hundreds of millions of PCs to Windows 10 version 2004, which was introduced in May and wont expire until Dec. 14, 2021. That takes time.

Even if my copy of version 1903 expired before I received the upgrade, it would keep working. And Microsoft could always extend the deadline for cutting off security updates.

But because of this pending update, there are a couple of things Windows 10 users should do:

See if this situation affects you by finding out which version of Windows 10 you have. Click the Windows icon at the lower left of your screen, select the Settings icon (looks like a gear wheel) and click on update and security. Scroll down to OS build info, click the link and look at Windows specifications.

If you havent restarted your PC for a while, do so. If the version 2004 upgrade is already available for on your PC, that will install it.

Q: We used the Legacybox service to convert some old home VCR tapes to a digital format that could be stored on a USB flash drive. We now realize there are some video segments on the flash drive that wed like to remove. Is there a program that would make this easy?

Fred Klietz, Brooklyn Park

A: Try some of the free video editing programs that are available for Mac or PC, such as HitFilm Express 14, Apple iMovie, VideoPad or DaVinci Resolve (see tinyurl.com/yyx4m257). Because Legacybox digitizes VCR tapes in the widely used .mp4 format, any of those programs should be able to edit your videos.

But theres another problem you are likely to face: The video segments you want to discard are probably not individual. mp4 files that are easily deleted. Each Legacybox. mp4 video file will most likely contain an entire VCR tape, and thus might contain two or more hours of video, depending on the speed at which the original VCR tape was recorded. If thats correct, you will find yourself trying to edit out small sections of a very large video file.

E-mail tech questions to steve.j.alexander@gmail.com or write to Tech Q&A, 650 3rd Av. S., Suite 1300, Minneapolis, MN 55488. Include name, city and telephone number.

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What to do if your copy of Windows 10 is obsolete - Minneapolis Star Tribune

Windows 10 is braced for an replace that may include fixes for a irritating flaw that customers have been reporting for a couple of 12 months now.

For some units, Windows 10 has been going critically improper when making use of updates from Windows Update. In some circumstances, customers are offered with an error that might probably go away their units caught in an replace set up loop.

Following numerous chatter, experiences and grievance on numerous on-line boards, Microsoft has confirmed that theyre conscious of the bug that might put your laptop in an infinite replace set up loop.

The drawback has been significantly noticed with Intel drivers and customers obtain a message saying A current driver on your PC may be better than the driver were trying to install. Well keep trying to install.

In addition, the Windows Update bug additionally makes an attempt to downgrade Windows 10 graphics drivers once youve newer and higher drivers already put in.

In a submit on Feedback Hub, Microsoft said that theyve made modifications primarily based on the suggestions and the repair will probably be accessible in future builds.

Weve made an update with the Insider Dev Channel builds so that this error will no longer be shown going forward, Microsoft said.

Its not clear what number of units are affected by this glitch, however weve noticed that customers are nonetheless reporting the issue nearly each week.

In reality, weve seen a number of experiences round Windows 10 replace driver difficulty popping up after customers utilized the Windows 10 May 2020 Update. Its doubtless that extra customers will report the issue once more after the launch of Windows 10 model 20H2.

Previously, the primary workaround talked about by customers was eradicating current drivers, utilizing Microsoft fundamental show drivers, after which putting in the accessible replace utilizing Windows Update.

Another workaround concerned reinstalling Windows 10 or system reset, however now you dont have to fret about these points as Microsoft has lastly confirmed it.

The repair is already accessible in Insider preview builds and we dont know when it will likely be backported to older variations of Windows 10, such because the October 2020 Update and May 2020 Update.

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Windows 10 replace will lastly repair the irritating bug with PCs - Enter21st