Month: November 2024

RALEIGH, N.C. – In addition to fixed sites, Mobile Disaster Recovery Centers (M-DRCs) continue to operate in Buncombe County. M-DRC locations, dates and hours of operation are listed below:Swannanoa Fire Rescue – Bee Tree Fire Sub Station510 Bee Tree Rd. Swannanoa, NC 28778Open: 8 a.m. – 7 p.m. Nov. 2–5, and November 11–14. Buncombe County Sports Park (Parking Lot)58 Apac Dr. Asheville, NC 28806Open: 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. Nov. 6–9, and Nov. 15–18. A DRC is a one-stop shop where survivors can meet face-to-face with FEMA representatives, apply for FEMA assistance, receive referrals to local assistance in their area, apply with the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) for low-interest disaster loans and much more.  FEMA financial assistance may include money for basic home repairs, personal property losses or other uninsured, disaster-related needs, such as childcare, transportation, medical needs, funeral or dental expenses. To find all DRC locations, go to fema.gov/drc or text “DRC” and a zip code to 43362. Additional recovery centers will open soon. All centers are accessible to people with disabilities or access and functional needs and are equipped with assistive technology.   Homeowners and renters in 39 North Carolina counties and tribal members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians can visit any open center, including locations in other states. No appointment is needed.  It is not necessary to go to a center to apply for FEMA assistance. The fastest way to apply is online at DisasterAssistance.gov or via the FEMA app. You may also call 800-621-3362. If you use a relay service, such as video relay, captioned telephone or other service, give FEMA your number for that service.  […]

This has been a very weird NFL season. If you went back to June and told someone that the Commanders would be leading the NFC East, the AFC East wouldn’t be close at all, and the 49ers would be locked at .500 with two other teams in the NFC West, nobody would believe you.
If 2024 has taught us anything it’s shifting trends in football have made it very difficult to predict futures in the league. Also, the best coaches show their chops by being able to adapt to changing conditions inside the season and find ways for their teams to win regardless.
So, who are the front runners for Coach of the Year in a season as unpredictable as this one?
Dan Campbell — Detroit Lions
A lot about COY comes down to past recognition. Voters love to give this award to first-time winners, and when you couple that with Campbell’s resume this season it’s a pretty safe bet.
The Lions are cruising at 6-1 right now, and if you look at their remaining schedule it’s not outside the realm of possibility they finish the regular season at 13-4 (at the very worst). If they win the NFC North and go on a run to the NFC Championship game or better, there’s no doubt Campbell would be a favorite for the award.

This is a body of work situation, where it’s not just what Campbell has achieved this season, but in totality as he’s turned the Lions from a two-decade laughing stock of the NFL into one of the most terrifying compete teams in football.
Dan Quinn — Washington Commanders
There’s a similar case to be made for Quinn as Campbell, though slightly less pronounced. What give him the slight rub is the mammoth jump Washington has taken from 2023 to now.
A year ago this was a 4-13 team picking No. 2 in the NFL Draft. Now they’ve already surpassed their win total from a season ago, and have more hope entering the second half of the year than at any point in years.

Couple this with a soft schedule in the back-stretch with four easy-to-win games and a handful off toss ups, and we have a very real situation where Washington could be a 12+ win team. That mammoth year-over-year improvement is what has won coaches the award in the past, and the defensive jump this team has taken as well as their skill with a rookie quarterback has made them a juggernaut.
Andy Reid — Kansas City Chiefs
There are two ways you can view the Chiefs in 2024: One is a team that has taken a step back and looks much shakier than either of their last two Super Bowl seasons. The other is a 7-0 team, still surging, while dealing with mammoth injuries on offense and an unpredictable season from Travis Kelce.
Sure, you could focus on narrow wins over the Raiders, Bengals and Falcons — using that as a sign the team really isn’t all that, but the truth is that the 2024 Chiefs operate on ruthless efficiency over flashy plays and when you look at roster quality top-to-bottom it’s difficult to put them on par with some of the other best teams in the league.
If Reid has the Chiefs cruising to their third Super Bowl appearance in a row, and if rumors start bubbling up that this is his final season then we could very well see the 2024 COY as a lifetime achievement award of sorts.
Mike Tomlin — Pittsburgh Steelers
Nothing Mike Tomlin does as a coach is flashy, but the greatest testament to his ability is that he never, ever is in a position where the Steelers aren’t competitive. The man has an unnatural ability to get his staff on the same page, roll with the punches of the season, and continually find ways to keep the team competitive and a playoff threat.
The Steelers of 2024 don’t have a true No. 1 receiver. They have started two quarterbacks to equal success. Najee Harris has been up-and-down as a rusher. Still they’re 6-2 and in control of the AFC North, the league’s most-competitive division. Some of that has been aided by abject disaster in Cleveland a defensive struggles on the Bengals — but it’s still damn impressive that he has this team rolling in spite of it all.
Tomlin is an outside shot for this award if we’re being totally honest, and his job in 2024 requires more nuance — which is something the award hasn’t rewarded in the past. Still, outside of winning the Super Bowl you’d be hard pressed to find a more impressive season from any coach this year.
Other potential coaches to watch
Jonathan Gannon — Arizona Cardinals
If the Cardinals win the NFC West with their roster then Gannon will deserve some attention.
Matt LeFleur — Green Bay Packers
Bouncing back since trading away Aaron Rodgers and being one of the best teams in the NFC is an incredible feat.
Kevin O’Connell — Minnesota Vikings
The rock-bottom expectations for the Vikings this season have been absolutely trounced by their stellar performance on the field. […]

ZeroTech Unveils New 1x Prism Optic | thefirearmblog.com […]

Intel says it will now be unable to meet its goal of $500 million in Gaudi 3 sales due to software issues. Meanwhile, AMD plans to rake in $3 billion from its AI GPUs, and while Nvidia doesn’t specifically state the amount it makes from AI GPUs for the data center, it is expected to be well north of $50 billion.  Intel claims its Gaudi 3 accelerator for AI offers tangible performance improvements compared to its predecessors, and given its claimed advantages amid relatively low prices, Intel expected sales of these products to exceed half a billion dollars this year. However, the new unit was formally launched in late September, and Intel now says the software was not fully baked. Still, some Gaudi 3 accelerators will be available at IBM Cloud.”While the Gaudi3 benchmarks have been impressive, and we are pleased by our recent collaboration IBM to deploy Gaudi 3 as a service on IBM Cloud, the overall uptake of Gaudi has been slower than we anticipated, as adoption rates were impacted by the product transition from Gaudi 2 to Gaudi 3, and software ease of use,” said Pat Gelsinger, chief executive of Intel, at the company’s earnings call with analysts and investors. “As a result, we will not achieve our target of $500 million in revenue for Gaudi in 2024.”Intel’s Gaudi 3 relies on two interconnected chiplets housing 64 tensor processing cores, designed with a 256×256 matrix structure that uses FP32 accumulators and eight matrix engines using 256-bit wide vector capabilities. It also includes 96MB of internal SRAM cache, offering data transfer rates up to 19.2 TB/s. Additionally, Gaudi 3 has 24 networking interfaces running at 200 GbE and 14 media processors capable of handling video and image formats like H.265, H.264, JPEG, and VP9 for visual data processing. The chip has 128GB of HBM2E memory across eight stacks, delivering a high bandwidth of 3.67 TB/s. Compared to its predecessor, Gaudi 3 marks a substantial leap forward as Gaudi 2 contained only 24 tensor cores, two matrix engines, and 96GB of HBM2E memory.(Image credit: Intel)Intel says the new Gaudi 3 accelerator offers tangible performance advantages over Gaudi 2 and can even challenge Nvidia’s H100 (at least when this GPU does not use sparsity) in some cases. It is just as important that Gaudi 3 is significantly cheaper than the H100. Earlier this year, Intel disclosed that a kit featuring eight Gaudi 3 chips on a baseboard would be priced at $125,000, roughly $15,625 per chip. In comparison, a single Nvidia H100 card is currently priced at $30,678, around two times higher.However, despite all the advantages that Gaudi 3 has, it looks like Intel’s software was not exactly ready for prime time, which slowed down hardware purchases. Now, Intel expects Gaudi 3 sales to ramp up in 2025.Get Tom’s Hardware’s best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox. […]

Anirudh Devgan, the CEO of Cadence, recently remarked that the company’s AI-assisted chip design tools enable chip performance and density benefits similar to the transition to a next-generation process node, but without moving to a new node. Devgan cited strong performance, power, and area (PPA) improvements, the most important metrics for chipmakers (along with cost), and also cited drastic improvements in productivity and examples with the company’s own custom processors. Discussing the EDA company’s latest suite of AI-assisted software tools, Devgan said, “So, overall, we are pleased with the benefit we are getting, especially with the improvement in PPA. And productivity improvements can be anywhere between 5x to 10x, but the PPA benefits are truly remarkable and almost equivalent to one kind of node. One process node migration typically gets [s] 15% to 20% PPA improvement, and we can get that with AI.””As you may know, we have five major AI platforms [in the Cadence.AI portfolio], analog, digital, verification, PCB and package and system analysis, it is a pretty rich portfolio,” said Anirudh Devgan, chief executive of Cadence, during the company’s earnings conference call with analysts and investors (via SeekingAlpha). “The customers are routinely seeing anywhere from 5% to 20% improvement in PPA, which is significant.”Modern process technologies give fairly limited node-to-node performance and transistor density scaling. Compared to TSMC’s N5 (a 5nm-class process technology), the company’s N3 (a 3nm-class node) offers a 10% to 15% performance improvement, and TSMC promises a similar enhancement for N2 compared to N3. Therefore, getting up to a 20% performance boost by just using a set of AI-optimized tools is a very significant achievement akin to a step forward to a new node.Cadence is primarily known for its electronic design automation (EDA), simulation, and prototyping software for chip development. However, not everyone knows that the company also designs its own Palladium processors, some of the most complex chips built by TSMC, to accelerate simulation workloads. Enhancing performance and increasing the transistor density of these Palladium processors is crucially important for Cadence, both from a competitiveness and cost point of view. Therefore, the company uses its own tools to refine design of these processors and get these benefits as well.”We are also applying our own solutions internally,” Devgan added. “So, these are like true comparisons of AI versus non-AI solutions. So even in the latest Palladium Z3 chip, we saw like a 15% improvement in power using Cadence Cerebrus. In the latest AI IP we designed, we saw anywhere from 13% to 20% improvement in our IP group using our own Cadence.AI solutions, which is very consistent with what we see with top customers.” Beyond PPA enhancements, the company claims Cadence’s AI tools drive substantial productivity increases, often ranging between 5 to 10 times the usual output. If borne out, this level of efficiency should make the Cadence.AI portfolio a very compelling offering for an industry that has to build more sophisticated designs that offer higher performance than their predecessors while managing costs.Get Tom’s Hardware’s best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox. […]

We’ve come across our fair share of music-based Raspberry Pi projects before but this is the first one we’ve seen that’s powered by a Raspberry Pi Pico 2. Maker and developer Rheslip20, as they’re known as over at YouTube, has put together this really awesome rig known as the Pico 2 Groovebox from scratch. It’s got everything you need to put together a stellar music performance from scratch all in one snazzy little device.

Raspberry Pi Pico 2 Groovebox Project – YouTube

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If you’re not familiar with a groovebox, you might recognize it as a sample player. It’s a device which contains a selection of audio tracks that can be set up to play on demand or in a sequence to create music. This particular build is using not just a Raspberry Pi Pico 2 but rather Pimoroni’s Pico 2 Plus board which has 8MB of PSRAM and 16MB of flash memory, the top spec available to the RP2350 SoC.According to Rheslip20, this groovebox has support for up to 16 separate tracks and scenes. It has other features too including a sample slicer, song mode and the ability to build sequences as long as 128 steps. It also lets you copy and paste clips as well as load WAV files from a microSD card. Rheslip20 even threw in a semi-generative pattern generator.Image […]

We’re not quite at midseason yet, but there’s still been more than enough time to rank NFL MVP candidates so far. This season has been an interesting one, with the usual MVP candidates like QBs Patrick Mahomes and Joe Burrow having either a down season individually or the team not having much success as a total unit. Yet, in their place we have so many more candidates coming to the forefront, from some usual suspects to players who have surged to the top of the list. So let’s rank them at this point of the season, starting with the reigning MVP.
1 . Lamar Jackson, QB, Baltimore Ravens
Aaron Rodgers was the last player to win back to back MVPs in 2020 and 2021, but Jackson has the chance to change that this season. You can make the argument that Jackson is even better than his MVP-winning season last year, leading the NFL in Success Rate as a passer and has thrown 17 touchdowns compared to only two interceptions this season.
On the ground, he’s added 500 yards and two touchdowns. If he keeps up his pace of 56 rushing yards per game and over 200 passing yards per game, he could hit 4,000 yards passing AND 1,000 yards rushing in a single season, which would make him the only player to hit that mark. Add in the Ravens being one of the most feared offenses in the league, and you get a great case for a back-to-back MVP.
2. Josh Allen, QB, Buffalo Bills
Despite a minor lull in production, Allen is still near the top of the MVP rankings. He’s thrown for 14 touchdowns and is only one of two QBs with at least 150 passing attempts and has only thrown one interception. As the Bills run away with the AFC East in their retool year, Allen has consistently been a force of nature, while still evolving his game in the short area and handling much more at the line of scrimmage and his play still hasn’t fallen off a cliff this season. The addition of WR Amari Cooper has really helped open up the offense much more, allowing for receivers like Keon Coleman and Khalil Shakir to thrive in adjusted roles. If the Bills keep up this success, Allen will definitely get MVP votes.
3. Derrick Henry, RB, Baltimore Ravens
Henry will definitely end up stealing votes from his QB if he continues this high level of play. Most would say running backs hit a wall at the age of 30, but Henry is both defying Father Time and powering a rushing offense that is once again historic. He leads the NFL in rushing yards, big plays (runs over 20 yards), rushing touchdowns and among all high volume carriers, first in the NFL in yards per carry.
Again, he’s doing this all at 30 years old.
His resurgence has helped drive one of the most feared run games in the entire league, and his ability to hit both the big play and keep the offense on schedule has been exactly what the Ravens needed. If not MVP, he’s definitely at the top of the list for Offensive Player of the Year.
4. Jared Goff, QB, Detroit Lions
Mr. Perfect has finally shown up.
People are going to knock his performances because of the surrounding talent the Detroit Lions have, but Goff’s growth within this offense has been super fun to watch. His confidence in himself and the structure of the offense has led to an offensive explosion, especially in recent weeks. We all remember his 18/18 performance against the Seahawks, but he’s played at that same level in recent weeks as well. Detroit is by far and away the best team in the NFC, with the QB playing at the highest level. If Detroit is able to make a run to the Super Bowl like we expect them to, Goff should receive some MVP votes.
5. Jayden Daniels, QB, Washington Commanders
The last rookie to win MVP was Jim Brown in 1957, but in a year where most of the superstar veterans are having down years, Daniels could seriously get some votes. He’s led the resurgent Washington Commanders to a hot start, while proving electric play with his arm and legs, like the leader on this list. Daniels has only thrown for seven touchdowns this year, but his underlying advanced stats are much more impressive. He’s sixth in Success Rate, and while EPA is a team stat, he’s second in adjusted EPA per play. His electrified the NFL with the Commanders being where they are to start this season, and if he keeps this up we’ll see his name on a few MVP ballots.
Honorable mention: Saquon Barkley, RB, Philadelphia Eagles, Patrick Mahomes, QB, Kansas City Chiefs, Penei Sewell, OT, Detroit Lions, Tristan Wirfs, OT, Tampa Bay Buccaneers […]

Unexpected legal issues may arise after a disaster that can leave individuals and families devastated. If you are facing legal issues resulting from Tropical Storm Helene in Tennessee, you can get free legal advice.Disaster Legal Services are now available to low-income, elderly and other vulnerable residents in Carter, Cocke, Greene, Hamblen, Hawkins, Johnson, Unicoi and Washington counties who were affected by the storm and are unable to afford their own lawyer. You may call the toll-free hotline anytime at 844-HELP4TN (844-435-7486). If no one answers, leave a message and your call will be returned. Callers can get help with legal issues including:FEMA and U.S. Small Business Administration benefitsHome repair contracts and property insurance claimsRevising wills and other important legal documents destroyed in the disasterPrice-gouging, scams or identity theftLandlord or tenant problems, or threats of foreclosureDisability-related access to federal, state or local disaster programs.Attorneys cannot help in all cases including ones in which a settlement could result in legal fees or an award. These cases will be referred for other legal help.The Disaster Legal Services program works with FEMA and its state and local partners including the American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division, the Tennessee Alliance for Legal Services, Legal Aid of East Tennessee, and the Tennessee Bar Association Young Lawyers Division. […]