Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

On the hunt for cute small porch ideas? Well, we have your covered. We can't all have an extra living room stuck on the front of our homes (despite what Instagram would have us believe) but that doesn't mean we can't make the most of the space and add a ton of curb appeal.

We have rounded up our fave small porch decor ideas to inspire you to give your outdoor space a bit of a makeover. And if you are after more fall decor for inside your home too, check out our feature.

No matter how small your porch, you can always squeeze in some fall decor. With a smaller porch, we would say keep things simple, a scattering of small pumpkins and some orange foliage could be all you need to give the space a fall makeover. If you have seating on your porch, switch out the soft furnishings on that too for some more autumnal hues.

Loving this chic and simple small porch, plus the dog makes it even more inviting! The key to this look is the lack of clutter, making the porch feel more spacious. If you want to add seating to a diddy space just pick a chair that's compact, not too fussy and can be styled in lots of different ways throughout the seasons. Mix in some smaller potted plants that aren't going to overwhelm the space, pick a cute doormat that's not too visually heavy and there you go.

It's interior design 101: use lighter colors in a small space, and that can be true of porches too. Using a paler color pallet will disguise the small dimensions of the space, keeping it feeling light and airy. If you want to add a hint of color, stick with muted pastels and add in a few darker colors in your decor for balance and contrast.

If your porch is big enough to cope with a few pieces of furniture, just keep those pieces to a minimum. All you need to make your porch feel like an extension of your lounge is some seating and possibly a small table for perching a coffee. A compact swing seat works well in smaller porches because they are off the floor, allowing light to flow around it so it won't look too bulky. Decorate your porch with light but cozy pillows and throws so even if the space does feel a bit crowded, it just adds to the intimate feel.

If your porch really is just a set of stairs leading up to your front door, greenery is going to be your best bet. Get climbers going up your rails to soften the look and dot an array of potted plants in different sizes on the porch itself. Again, this will disguise the size and make a pretty plain space feel more like an inviting entrance to your home.

Note the painted floor of @timberfields' fab small porch. The grey 'runner' make the space feel bigger as it almost zones it, creating a walkway down the center and edges to add decor. Throw down a doormat too to add some texture to the floor this cute pumpkin one was actually a DIY job just a stencil and some paint. Check out the full how-to in Katie's highlights over on Instagram.

If theres one message that 2020 has hand delivered (with a gloved hand, of course), its that I need to let go... let go of control and expectations. Inspired by that, I created a new banner for our porch and Ill be showing you how tomorrow on my blog. For now, Im going to be ballsy and share a poem I wrote about letting go and how Im feeling right now... maybe you can relate? What have you had to let go of this year? It is said that we learn how beautiful letting go can be in the fall. With each leaf that fades from green, blazes orange, then ultimately releases itself from the tree, I let go. I let go of the expectation that this was finally going to be my year. Maybe it still is my year, even more brilliant than I could have imagined. I let go of the vision of the woman I was going to be, and let myself sit in stillness as a new image starts to sketch itself. I let go of doubt, and allow the space for trust to replace it in a new season. I let go. I let go. I let go. And I rest. Cassie Bustamante

A photo posted by @cassie_bustamante on Sep 8, 2020 at 6:59am PDT

Working with a tiny porch? You can always add some interest with your doormats, because why have one when you can have two? Stick with a practical heavy doormat onto but then add something cute and patterned underneath we love a checked pattern at this time of year, but you can switch it out with the seasons.

How ever you decorate your small porch, at whatever time of year, keeping it symmetrical will always make it feel larger. Decorate your steps with potted plants and lanterns; as a general rule, start small at the top and get larger as you go down the stairs to draw out the space.

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Small porch ideas: 10 stylish ways to make the most of your space whatever the size - Real Homes US

Let me say something nice about the Forsyth city council. They recognized that their mask mandate, written and pushed by the Georgia Municipal Association and not their constituents, was worthless. And so after imposing it on Sept. 8, they let it expire after 30 days. Its a waste of time, conceded councilman Julius Stroud, noting in his visits around stores in Forsyth, no one is complying. After six months of governments using this pandemic to overreact and exercise arbitrary powers as if government action can stop a virus we will take small victories where we can get them. So now, in Forsyth, if you want to wear a mask, wear a mask. If you dont, dont. This is almost sounding American and sane. Progress!

Sadly, were unlikely to have any such reasonableness at our Democrat-controlled Monroe County school board. In a fit of sanity, Bulloch Countys school board voted unanimously on Oct. 8 to end its healthy quarantine policy. School officials faced mounting parent anger at the policy since 900 students had been quarantined for being exposed. Yet only 13 of those 900 ever wound up showing any symptoms, i.e. runny nose or fever. Bulloch County school officials said some teenagers had been forced into 2-week quarantine on three separate occasions, meaning they had six weeks without school or activities. School officials there said they recognized that the health of children encompassed more than just COVID-19. They noted that social, academic and athletic development are also important and must be considered in health policies. Hallelujah! But within a week, they got an ugly letter from Dr. Kathleen Toomey, the head of Georgias Department of Public Health, warning them that allowing students to violate DPC guidelines was a misdemeanor offense. Who the @#$# elected her?!? Gov. Brian Kemp has leaned on Doctor Too-Me, as he says in his Clarke County twang, during the virus. And Kemp, derided as a serial killer by the left-wing media when he re-opened the state in May, has actually led better than every governor except Govs. Ron DeSantis in Florida and Kristi Noem in South Dakota. Georgia now has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation and hasnt suffered the massive deaths that the fear-mongers promised. But Kemp now needs to rein in Toomey. She has no authority to impose laws on Bulloch County schools that have never been voted upon by our elected representatives in the legislature. Thats why theyre called guidelines and not OCGA dash whatever. Nevertheless, the Bulloch County school board allowed Toomey to bully them into postponing some implementation of its relaxed policies. I wonder if Dr. Toomey sleeps better at night knowing that her actions are forcing perfectly healthy teenagers in Statesboro to be stuck in their rooms for two weeks learning nothing, doing nothing and left vulnerable to unsupervised down time with only the bilge on the world wide web to entertain them? Idle hands are the devils workshop, and our government officials have tried to put us in that workshop for six months now. Which brings us back to the Monroe County school board. Our school officials have resisted calls to relax the ridiculous healthy quarantine guidelines saying that no other school system in Georgia has done it. When Bulloch County did it, some hoped they may reconsider. But if Bulloch Countys BOE cowers before Dr. Toomey, Im sure that will mean the four Democrats on our BOE wont budge and relax the guidelines. For shame.

As south Monroe County continues to grow, both Monroe and Bibb counties are under increasing pressure to resolve their long-standing county-line dispute. Developers want to build subdivisions in the disputed areas off New Forsyth Road and Zebulon Road. But both are in limbo by uncertainty about the county line. In response, now Monroe County commissioners plan to send tax bills to every property owner who falls in Monroe County under the county line drawn by surveyor Terry Scarborough. Will landowners be shocked to get tax notices from both Monroe and Bibb counties next summer? Yes. Perhaps theyll be angry enough to call secretary of state Brad Raffensperger and tell him to record the Scarborough survey, the only legitimate line. Its unacceptable that the two counties have spent $3+ million in attorney fees and still dont have an answer. It is the job of the state of Georgia to set county boundaries. Were giving Raffensperger time to get through the election. But after that, he needs to keep his word and resolve the dispute.

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ON THE PORCH: Will BOE relax guidelines? | Free - Monroe County Reporter

From palm-sized to several-hundred-pound prize-winning giants, consumers have scores more pumpkin choices than there were just a short decade ago. (Betty Cahill, Special to The Denver Post)

Move over, Cinderella: Your orange, carriage-shaped pumpkin has some competition for fall decorating.

Porches are now sporting new colored pumpkins in shades of beige, green, red, white, gray, mustard, brown, even blue pink (yes, there is such a color). From palm-sized to several-hundred-pound prize-winning giants, consumers have scores more pumpkin choices than there were just a short decade ago.

The latest trend is the unexpected imperfection of conspicuous warts, raised blemishes that add ornamental character to the iconic orange pumpkin.

Ask any kid: The wartier and weirder the pumpkin, the better for the Halloween season. Naturally, wart popularity is growing. Because people want more warts, plant companies and university researchers are breeding for more warts. This all translates to selling more warty pumpkins. (Ah-ha! The mighty wart dollar!)

Creating all these pumpkin bumps, different sizes and colors has to do with plant flowers engaging in cross-pollination, which can happen unintentionally in the home garden or on purpose by plant breeders who specialize in bringing these various colored, bumpy and knuckle-like covered gourds and pumpkins to your favorite garden center, grocery store and farmers market.

How does cross-pollination and cross-breeding intentionally happen? It all has to do with pollination and the scientific group where the plants belong.

Cucurbits (for short), the botanical group that includes pumpkins, are monoecious in their flowering habit, which is fairly unique among vegetable crops. This means separate male and female flowers are produced on the same plant. For fruit to form from the female flower, pollen from the male flower must be transferred to the female flower. This pollination is done with the much appreciated and vital help of bees.

Certain bees have plant flower preferences, too. As you would guess, squash bees prefer to pollinate squash flowers and leave watermelon flowers to the other heroes: honeybees, bumblebees and solitary bees.

Scientific names of plants have two parts: the species and the genera (plural of genus). Plants in the Cucurbitaceae (gourd) family contain many species and genus of squash, pumpkins, melons and cucumbers. Example: The cantaloupes scientific name is Cucumis melo, with Cucumis as the genus and melo as the species. Cucumber is Cucumis sativus, so even though both cantaloupe and cucumbers are in the same Cucumis genus, they are not the same species, so do not cross-pollinate.

Think of each different species within the cucurbit family like horses and cows: They simply cannot create offspring together. So your cucumber plant will not cross pollinate with your summer squash.

Only cucurbits within the same species can cross-pollinate and produce a unique pumpkin or gourd with different outcomes like color, shape, size, taste and warts. Think of pumpkins, summer squash and some winter squash types that are in the same species Cucurbita pepo. So a poodle and labrador will create a labradoodle. What would happen when a dark green acorn squash crosses with a yellow summer zucchini? Perhaps a super hard-shelled, bright yellow carriage for Cinderella?

The effect of crossing is not usually seen the first season. The wacky cucurbit combinations result from saving cross-pollinated seeds and planting them the next growing season. A home gardener may end up with an unusual pumpkin by letting a chance crossed seedling grow from the previous gardening season.

James J. H. Gregory from Marblehead, Mass., is a famous breeder of hubbard squash, dating all the way back to 1897. His book Squashes and How to Grow Them is still in print today, and his Victor (or Red Warty Thing) seeds are also in commerce. And what a beautiful, warty sight they are to behold.

Today, Stokes Seeds Inc. is one of the leaders in cross-breeding to make cucurbits that are decoratively covered in warts and sold under the Super Freak Label. It can take up to 10 generations to bring some of these knobby lookers to market.

Planning ahead for next springs planting for the fall pumpkin harvest, dont overlook the various choices from seed sellers of bumpy, bewitching pumpkins including Warty Goblin, Miniwarts, Knucklehead, Pumpkin Warty Gnome, Ugly Mugly, Goosebumps and Goosebumps II, Warts Galore, Warts Plethora, and Bunch O Warts, to name a few. Shop early for seeds;, they may sell out quickly!

In addition to intentionally breeding warty pumpkins, there are other reasons that cucurbits actually get warts:

So where does this all leave us in the big scheme of fall pumpkins for decorating, Halloween trick-or-treating and Thanksgiving?

Nowhere, really. Just sayin, some pumpkins have warts.

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The more warts, the better: How pumpkins get all those warts - The Know

(Mass Appeal) Its time for Mass Appeals pet of the week were introducing you to not one, not two, but three guinea pigs, ready to join your family. Lee Chambers from Dakin Humane Society introduces us to our Pets of the Week.

Name:Oreo, Peanut and Sabel to be adopted together

Breed: Guinea pigs

Age: 1 year (Oreo and Peanut) 2 years (Sabel)

Sex: Female (all)

Color: Black w/ white (Oreo), white w/brown (Peanut), white w/gray (Sabel)

Guinea pigs like us need a spacious habitat equipped with hiding and napping spots, things to climb on, safe wood to chew, and guinea pig toys. Our diet should consist of grass hay available at all times, with a small amount of timothy pellets. We dont naturally make our own vitamin C, so we must get it daily from our diet. Snacks like red pepper, kale, mustard greens, dandelion greens, and other leafy greens will do the job nicely! In fact, we love these snacks so much that we will call wheet, wheeeeet when we see you bringing us some! Our average lifespan is 5 to 7 years. If you are interested in more information, contact the adoption staff at springfield@dakinhumane.org and include your name and phone number.

Pet profiles:Oreo: https://www.dakinhumane.org/adopt/oreo-45523796.htmlPeanut: https://www.dakinhumane.org/adopt/peanut-45523806.htmlSabel: https://www.dakinhumane.org/adopt/sabel-45523789.html

Events/Other Topics

The Return of Bad Photoshopsnow through October 31!

BAD Photoshops are back and we havent gotten any better at it! Just in time for Halloween, our unskilled, but enthusiastic photoshop goblins will transform your pets photos into spooky works of art. Visit our Bad Photoshop Facebook page, make a gift to Dakin (suggested donation is $10 but the skys the limit!), post a photo of your pet that youd like photoshopped then check back on your post for your masterpiece in the comments. Youll get a big laugh and can celebrate that your monetary gift is helping Dakin maintain essential services including curbside vaccine clinics, animal adoption, spay/neuter services, and more. Dont forget to share your masterpiece with your friends! (It wont be THAT bad. Probably.)

Porch Portraits A great way to celebrate your pet and you! October 24-25

There are still a few appointments left for Porch Portraits this weekend! Porch Portraits is a collaborative fundraiser for Dakin Humane Society with photographers in our community. Each Porch Portrait registration includes a short photography session that takes place right on your doorstep or porch and features you and your pet(s). You will receive two digital photographs from this session. All photography sessions must allow for safe social distancing outdoors and there can be no exchange of items. Cash tips accepted only inside envelopes. Sessions are $25 and days/times vary by photographer. Visit dakinhumane.org to book a session with a photographer or find out more. Availabilities vary depending on the photographer and your location.

For more information about Dakin Humane Society, please visitdakinhumane.org

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Pet of the Week: Meet a trio of guinea pigs looking for a new home - WWLP.com

Ted Sarandos attends the Ted Sarandos panel during Netflix 'See What's Next' event at Villa Miani on April 18, 2018 in Rome, Italy.

Ernesto S. Ruscio | Getty Images

It wasn't Netflix's finest quarter, but if you're a long-term Netflix believer, you've got reason to smile.

The streaming video giant reported 300,000 fewer global net subscriber additions than it forecast. Netflix shares fell about 6% after hours.

The quarterly results shouldn't distract faithful Netflix bulls from the driving reason they've been investing in the company, summed up concisely in three sentences from the company's shareholder letter.

"For the full year 2020,we forecast [free cash flow] to be approximately $2 billion, up from our prior expectation of break-even to positive," Netflix wrote. "We expect our FCF profile over the coming years to continue to improve as we increase our profitability and our transition to the production of Netflix originals matures."

And then:

"With $8.4 billion in cash on our balance sheet at the end of the quarter plus our $750m credit facility (which is undrawn), our need for external financing is diminishing."

The exact numbers aren't the important part. Here's the bottom line: Netflix is no longer burning cash.

It has been borrowing billions each year to fund its plethora of original and licensed shows and movies. Believers in Netflix have predicted that as the company's price-value proposition wins over the global population (with a product far cheaper than traditional pay TV in almost all regions of the world), it will eventually be able to fund its own programming without lending. This will propel the company into a reliable money-maker with plenty of growth runway ahead of it.

The company said Tuesday that it's closer than ever to getting there. The grand plan is on track. Sure, the subscriber trajectory isn't great -- from 15.8 million additions in the first quarter to 10.1 million in the second quarter to 2.2 million in the third quarter. But Netflix warned investors of this earlier this year, saying last quarter that most people who wanted Netflix for pandemic quarantines had already signed up.

The big story isn't the subscriber miss. It's that Netflix gets closer to self-funding. And that's music to the ears of Netflix shareholders.

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Netflix loses the battle, but it's still on target to win Wall Street's war - CNBC

Michigan added 2,015 newcoronavirus cases and 14 more deaths on Friday, for the second consecutive day of cases topping 2,000casesandputting October on pace to be thebiggest month for the spread of the diseasesince April when the virus peaked.

The additions bring the state's total number of cases to 143,106and total deaths to 6,987.

Michigan's numbers are higher when probable cases are included.Michigan has 156,913 probable and confirmed cases and 7,302 confirmed and probable deaths, according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.

Three portable toilets and a wash station are situated in front of the State of Michigan Department of Health & Human Services building, that is under construction at 44777 Gratiot in Clinton Twp., Wednesday, March 25, 2020.(Photo: Todd McInturf, The Detroit News)

Michigan set a new daily record for reported coronavirus cases on Thursday with 2,030 revealed, amid fears of a potential second wave and questions of how state officials will respond.

While some of the COVID-19 cases disclosed Thursday were from the priorday and their reporting had been delayed because of a processing problem, the seven-day average for new cases in Michigan reached its highest point since early April.The daily average for new cases has increased each month since June.

Deaths and hospitalizations linked to the virus are also trending upward but remain well below where they were during the initial COVID-19 peak here in the spring.

"You may not see yet the rise in hospitalizations and deathsbecause it depends a lot on the age group getting it," said Nigel Paneth, a professor of epidemiology at Michigan State University. "But it doesnt stay that way.

"(Infected people) go to the store, next thing you know, some older person gets infected and it doesnt have to be an older person. Young people die. It happens."

Before this week, Michigan hadn't experienced a week with at least two days when 30 or more new deaths were reported since early June. Thirty deaths were revealed on Tuesday.

Hospitalizations tied to the virus have also been on the rise. Health care facilities are concerned about the impact of the flu and the coronavirus potentially both sickening people and testing medical capacity.

As of Thursday, 1,017 adults were hospitalized with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 cases in Michigan, an 80% increase from the 564 hospitalizations reported a month earlier.

As of last week, 104,271 people were considered "recovered."

State health officials were aware of a "slowdown" in laboratory processing that began on Tuesday, delaying the processing of some entries into the state's disease surveillance system, said Lynn Sutfin, spokeswoman for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.

As a result, Thursday's report featured some data that would have normally been included Wednesday, Sutfin said.

While the reporting issue might have inflated Thursday's total, the seven-day average for daily new cases now stands at 1,293, the highest seven-day average since April 5-11, when it was 1,395.

"We know case numbers are going up across the state, which is why we continue to urge all Michiganders to take precautions against COVID-19, including wearing masks, social distancing, washing hands and staying home if they are ill," Sutfin said.

The number of virus outbreaks were also updated Monday to include those reported as of Oct. 8.

Michigan's schools have recorded 26new outbreaks as of Monday. Of the outbreaks, 18 were at K-12 schools. See an updatedlist of school outbreaks online.

Overall across the state, Michigan has 123outbreaks, which are defined as two or more cases with a link by place and time indicating a shared exposure outside of a household.

srahal@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @SarahRahal_

Read or Share this story: https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2020/10/16/michigan-covid-cases-top-2000-second-consecutive-day/3681507001/

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Michigan COVID cases top 2,000 for second consecutive day - The Detroit News

Winter Garden commissioners will be making decisions regarding local development plans during their Oct. 22 meeting.

Headed to a second reading is Ordinance 20-47, which would bring townhomes and commercial space to a 5.83-acre parcel of land at 855 and 955 S. Dillard St. Dubbed Central Parc at Winter Garden PCD, the development would include 19 townhomes, 14 condominiums and commercial/office space.

The property is located east of South Dillard Street and south of East Palmetto Street, north of West Colonial Drive and west of Grand Royal Circle. It currently hosts a 4,000-square-foot professional office building that once was used as a church administrative property.

Additionally, commissioners will hear the first reading of Ordinance 20-19, which would rezone 1.07 acres at 199 S. Main St. and 158 S. Woodland St. from Central Commercial District to Planned Unit Development. This would pave the way for a new two- or three-story building containing 38 apartments and a small caf on the first-floor corner unit.

Other agenda highlights include approval of site plans for a Home2 Suites and 7-Eleven at 12301 W. Colonial Drive, as well as site-plan approval for the second phase of development for Foundation Academys Tilden campus. Foundation Academy plans to develop an additional 105,107 square feet as the second phase of the school buildout plan, which will consist of education buildings, a maintenance building, a field house, a cafeteria and some additions to already-existing buildings.

The City Commission meeting takes place at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 22, in the Winter Garden City Hall Commission Chambers. Remote electronic attendance also remains available. For more information, click here.

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Winter Garden to discuss Central Parc project, other development plans - West Orange Times & Windermere Observer

Verizon posted strong broadband additions in Wednesday's third quarter earnings across its residential and consumer sectors. Verizon had 139,000 Fios Internet net additions, which was a marked increase from the 30,000 Fios internet net additions in third-quarter of last year.

Combining its business internet customers, Verizon added 144,000 net new broadband subscribers in Q3, which it said was the most since the fourth quarter of 2014. Verizon's broadband additions were boosted by remote workers and students that stayed home for online learning.

RELATED: Despite Covid-19, Verizon adds 10,000 residential broadband customers in Q2

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By contrast, Verizon added 10,000 residential Fios broadband subscribers in the second quarter, which was markedly down from 59,000 Fios broadband connections in the first quarter.

Verizon's second quarter broadband numbers were impacted by its technicians not being able to enter customers' homes for installs due to the coronavirus pandemic. In April, Verizon was able to somewhat mitigate the impact of not being able to enter customers' homes with its "Fios in a box," which enables customers to self-install their services.

Along with the robust broadband additions, Verizon's bottom line was also lifted by strong demand for its phone services. Verizon added 283,000 postpaid phone subscribers in the third quarter, which easily beat the average estimate of 268,000, according to research firm FactSet. Consumer wireless service revenues were $13.4 billion in third-quarter 2020, a 0.7 percent decrease year-over-year.

Verizon continued to bleed out video subscriber losses in the third quarter. Citing the ongoing shift from traditional linear video to over-the-top services, Verizon lost 61,000 Fios video customers.

As businesses of all sizes worked to re-open in the third quarter, Verizon Business' revenues were $7.7 billion, down 1.7 percent year-over-year.

Verizon's net income slipped to $4.50 billion, or $1.05 per share in the quarter, from $5.34 billion, or $1.25 per share a year earlier. Verizon said Covid-19 led to a 5-cent net negative impact in the quarter.

Verizon reported third-quarter profit of $4.36 billion. Excluding some items, Verizon earned $1.25 per share, above analysts average estimate of $1.22.

Verizon posted revenue of $31.54 billion in the third quarter, which just missed Wall Street forecasts of $31.57 billion. Verizon said it now expects full-year 2020 adjusted EPS growth of 0% to 2% after a previous guidance range of -2% to 2%.

Wednesday's third quarter results marked the second full quarter for Verizon's results during Covid-19.

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Verizon posts strong broadband gains in the third quarter - FierceTelecom

President Trump backed hydroxychloroquine for weeks and publicly asked whether Americans should inject themselves with disinfectants or put ultraviolet lights which can cause burns and break human DNA, which leads to cancer inside their bodies.

Mr. Pattison said he had a staff of only five, although the agency subscribes to NewsGuard, a service that hunts for new rumors springing up on the internet. His staff examines NewsGuard alerts, consults medical experts, posts accurate information on the W.H.O. website and then calls its contacts at social media agencies and asks them to link to it.

In contrast, collaborating with Wikipedia is like having an army to work with, he said.

Wikipedia has about 5,200 Covid-related articles in 174 languages, Mr. Merkley said. More than 82,000 contributors have written or edited them, including 3,000 who worked on the main article in English Wikipedia.

Because some contributors insert errors or make malicious changes, he said, there are several levels of safeguards. Some pages can be locked and cannot be changed until one of more than 200 volunteer editors on WikiProject Covid-19, many of whom are doctors or academics, review it.

More than 1,100 volunteers have set alerts to notify them when any page they are interested in is changed. And, if necessary, changes by any account that has existed for less than 30 days can be blocked.

The W.H.O. also works with Google, but in a different way, Mr. Pattison said. For instance, Google analysts alerted his team that searches for an unfamiliar product as a Covid cure were peaking in Peru. The W.H.O. looked at the product, realized it was a type of bleach and alerted Google.

They gave us $50 million worth of free ads on Google, he said.

The agency posted public service announcements that read, Learn the truth about Covid and chlorine.

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Wikipedia and W.H.O. Join to Combat Covid Misinformation - The New York Times

Middle chapters are always a complicated thing. When a story adheres to the classic three-act structure, one could argue that the second act is the most important one. Without a solid way to tie the beginning of a plot to its end, youre left with a story that feels rushed or incomplete. Nioh 2 just got its second piece of DLC, Darkness in the Capital, and as the middle chapter of a trilogy, it has some issues. However, as just a chunk of more Nioh 2 content, its even more spectacular and fun than what the rest of the game already was.

When it came out, Nioh 2 was a fantastic game. Its first DLC, The Tengus Disciple, remained fun but had a weaker story than I expected. Now that were here, two-thirds of the way done with the planned post-launch content for Nioh 2, its hard not to think about the inevitable end. For better or worse, Darkness in the Capital answers most of the doubts I had about The Tengus Disciple and its nature as a setup for the conclusion of the story. The truth is that the answers I got werent really what I wanted.

Just like The Tengus Disciple before it, Darkness in the Capital has our character travelling back in time. While we still are visiting the Heian era of Japan, this time around we go to the year 976 to meet with the legendary Minamoto no Yorimitsu and Abe no Seimei. Both are famous figures of Japanese folklore, and in Nioh 2 they have integrated into the story thanks to the object that seems to be the focus of the DLC trilogy: the Sohayamaru. This is the sword that ultimately becomes the protagonists yokai-banishing dagger, and it was present in the previous DLC. Here, Minamoto no Yorimitsu is its wielder and it becomes clear that the sword has always been in the hands of important warriors.

As interesting as that setup sounds, this second piece of DLC runs into some of the same storytelling problems that affected The Tengus Disciple. We have yet again another time travel story, which means that the characters from the DLC itself are the ones that have to carry the narrative. The main problem that these new stories share is that their short length and their somewhat self-contained nature dont really allow for the same emotional investment that the main narrative did. With only three main missions that have our character go to the past and come back to the present, Darkness in the Capital doesnt have enough time to establish these new characters.

While this narrative issue is the only real problem Ive had with the DLC, it does worry me in regards to the next one. Given that this batch of DLC expansions are being presented as a trilogy, there is a pattern that each individual piece of content has followed so far that might also repeat for the final DLC: two or three main missions that involve travelling to the past to meet a previous wielder of the Sohayamaru. That would make for interesting context as a side-story, but as a trilogy that takes place after Nioh 2, it feels a bit weightless. There arent any real stakes because theres no real setup for conflict; at least not until the very end. The third DLC, whenever it launches, will have to do some serious lifting in order to not make the whole additional trilogy feel unnecessary at least in terms of story.

All that being said, Darkness in the Capital might just be some of the most fun Ive had with Nioh as a series in terms of gameplay. Just like the previous DLC, this one introduces a new type of weapon: fists. Whether you pick up a regular fist weapon or a clawed one, these open up a moveset so unique to the game that left me in awe. While you could use your bare hands before, with fist weapons you essentially perform different types of martial arts that vary depending on your stance. A low stance fist, for example, bears resemblance to the drunken fist martial art, while a high stance fist uses heavier, more deliberate punches and stomps.

Key to making the fist weapons work is their unique gimmick. One of the very first skills you can unlock in its skill tree allows you to cancel Active Skills into either normal attacks or other Active Skills, while giving you a stackable buff based on the number of cancels you perform. All of a sudden, fist weapons make Nioh 2 feel a lot like a fighting game, where you can truly think of combos in a more traditional sense instead of just linking attacks one after the other. Its truly commendable how Team Ninja always finds ways to make every new weapon fun and interesting, but with the fist weapons they really outdid themselves.

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Of course, fun weapons would mean nothing without the content to support them, and Darkness in the Capital delivers in this regard in spite of its storytelling problems. The few new maps are very fun to explore, and the new enemy designs are even better than those in the first DLC. Whats more, the boss fights in this expansion are truly incredible, which is hard to believe considering that The Tengus Disciple was already excellent in this aspect. If there is one word to describe the fights in Darkness in the Capital its spectacle, and that applies both in a visual sense as well as in gameplay.

Along with these new missions, Darkness in the Capital continues the Nioh tradition of adding reasons to engage with the endgame. Once again, we have a new difficulty level that represents New Game +++, and with it comes a new tier of rarity to grind for. Of course, not every Nioh 2 player will get there, but for those who do this will keep them busy enough trying to optimize all their cool new gear. In fact, one of the most interesting additions to gear improvement is the ability to upgrade your accessories, something that Nioh 2 lacked and that I, personally, really wanted in order to make my build even stronger.

Now that two out of the three DLC packs that the Season Pass offers are out, its easier to answer if its worth it or not. Darkness in the Capital definitely paints a less-than-optimistic picture for the overall narrative of this trilogy. The people who are looking for more story content will surely find some here, but not of particularly great quality. However, if just the act of playing Nioh 2 is enough to get someone back into the game, then this DLC is outstanding. Even if the narrative doesnt hold its end of the bargain, all of the improvements and additions to gameplay carry the entire DLC on their own. It remains to be seen how the third and final DLC will wrap things up, but if Team Ninja can keep up delivering gameplay of this high quality, then Ill consider it a success in spite of everything else.

Disclaimer: A copy of this game was provided to RPG Site by the publisher.

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Nioh 2 Darkness in the Capital Review - RPG Site