Monthly Archives: July 2020

13Jul2020

The 100km-long "A-68" iceberg, which calved from Antarctica in 2017, is now 1000km away from birthplace and shrinking.

When it calved, A-68 was about twice the size of Luxembourg and one of the largest icebergs on record, changing the outline of the Antarctic Peninsula forever. Despite its size, however, it is remarkably thin, just a couple of hundred metres thick.

Over the last three years, satellite missions such as the European Space Agency's Copernicus Sentinel-1 have been used to track the berg as it drifted in the Southern Ocean. For the first two years, it remained close to its parent ice sheet, impeded by sea ice.

However, it lost a chunk of ice almost immediately after being calved, resulting in it being renamed A-68A, and its offspring became A-68B. More recently, in April 2020, A-68A lost another chunk: A-68C.

Antarctic icebergs are named from the Antarctic quadrant in which they were originally sighted, then a sequential number, then, if the iceberg breaks, a sequential letter. Although A-68A is a relatively thin iceberg, it has held together reasonably well, but satellites will be key to monitoring how it changes in open waters.

Pace of drift increasing

Captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-1 radar mission, the image above shows the berg on 5 July 2020, a few days before its third birthday. Satellites carrying radar continue to deliver images regardless of the dark and bad weather, which is indispensable when monitoring the remote polar regions which are shrouded in darkness during the winter months.

Other maps available from ESA show the different positions of A-68A during its three-year journey. The map not only highlights how long it remained close to the Larsen C ice sheet, but how, over the past year or so, its pace of drift has increased considerably. The map also includes historic iceberg tracks, based on data from a number of satellites including ESAs ERS-1 and ERS-2, and shows that A-68A is following this well-trodden path.

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Copernicus Sentinel-1 tracks progress of giant iceberg over three years - Optics.org

Katie Swan, sixth in the country and 254 in the world when the WTA list was frozen in March, is the topranked player in the Progress Tour championship intended to kickstart the disrupted season for British women in south-west London on Tuesday.

The world No 50, Heather Watson, was the No 1 seed but pulled out on Monday afternoon with an ankle injury, joining the third seed and world No 146 Harriet Dart, who has a groin strain, the world No 14 Johanna Konta, who showed no interest in the 30,000 event, the improving veteran Samantha Murray Sharan (WTA 180th) and the promising Naiktha Bains (223) as absentees from a noble venture. Even in a seriously shredded draw the one-time star of British womens tennis, Laura Robson, who had a second hip operation last year, was not tempted to enter.

Instead of matching the efforts of the successful mens Battle of the Brits two weeks ago, the tournament, bedevilled by a flurry of late withdrawals and high-calibre no-shows, takes on the look of a county event with only coaches and the LTA staff watching at the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton. Watson had been added as a late wildcard so her withdrawal compounded the absence of Konta, by a distance Britains most successful woman of the past decade.

Watson said: I have a foot injury. It happened last week and has been getting worse. I have pain simply walking, so I wont be playing at all for at least three days. Its such a shame. I was playing really well and was excited to compete again.

Dart was similarly disappointed. I was looking forward to competing again but, after training today, I realised that Im not quite ready, due to a groin issue. Ill definitely be watching on TV.

Swan, mentored by Andy Murray, has spent much of the closed season in her home-away-from-home, Wichita, Kansas, staying fit and delivering food to households doubly disadvantaged by the coronavirus, but returned to the UK recently.

By default, she will be favourite to win an event that will be shown on the LTAs YouTube page, and on the BBCs digital platforms from Tuesday until Saturday.

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Katie Swan favourite for Progress Tour hit by Watson and Dart withdrawals - The Guardian

Its been nearly half a year since the first case of COVID-19 was identified in the United States, in the Puget Sound area, on Jan. 21.

While the state eventually shut down in late March in an effort to slow the diseases spread, Washington began the gradual process of reopening after little more than a month.

But as counties began moving through the stages of the states phased reopening plan, the coronavirus was just beginning its wider spread outside the Seattle area and into other parts of the state, including to Yakima, the Tri-Cities and, eventually, Spokane.

Since April, after a particularly bad first wave in Western Washington, Central and Eastern Washington have been hit with their own first waves of the virus, leading to newly reopened restaurants shutting down all over again, to outbreaks in prison units and food processing plants, and to community spread, even in rural counties.

Case rates statewide are higher now, with half the counties partially reopened, than they were in April, and state public health officials have paused any further reopening for now.

In Spokane, hospitalizations have doubled in a month, and intensive care capacity remains a concern due to questions about staffing levels.

In Yakima, where Gov. Jay Inslees masking orders first went into effect , patients were sent to hospitals outside the area when staff needs hit capacity.

Franklin County has the highest percent-positive rate in the state, with 32% of individuals tested in the last two weeks returning positive results.

Six months into the pandemic, it feels like not a lot has changed.

Test results are backed up again, with people having to wait a week to 10 days in isolation to see if they are positive or negative. Community spread, when the virus is contracted without known connections to other cases, is back on the rise, as it was in March and April.

The rising number of cases has put increased challenges and pressure on contact tracing efforts, which began with reopening and are now incredibly strained and overwhelmed.

Despite the state training hundreds of workers and National Guard members to do contact tracing, counties like Spokane have opted to hire outside companies to conduct contact tracing. With more than 460 cases confirmed this week alone, the work has eclipsed what local epidemiologists can handle.

Washington was on lockdown from late March to early May, giving public health officials and state leaders an opportunity to prepare outbreaks underway and on the way, predominantly in long-term care facilities across the state and more broadly in the Puget Sound area.

By May, residents were antsy, and reopening lurched forward, with Ins-lees phased plan taking effect.

Despite state leaders efforts to ensure counties were ready to move ahead, its apparent now they miscalculated in some cases. Some counties hadnt had their first wave yet.

According to Eric Lofgren, an epidemiologist at Washington State University, some took the absence of cases in some areas as evidence the virus had been safely contained. In reality, he said, the first wave hadnt fully reached parts of Eastern Washington, including Spokane and the Tri-Cities.

If you dont have cases, that means either your epidemic hasnt started yet or youve successfully controlled it, Lofgren said. So I think everyone said we successfully controlled it, and what we discovered was that in several states we discovered that your epidemic was a little slower in coming.

The same story played out across the country in states that reopened this summer after seeing relatively low case counts but are now seeing hospitalizations and case counts surge.

Washington is now seeing higher daily case counts in July than April.

Testing capacity is back to waits of 10 days to two weeks for results , largely due to rising demand and growing backlogs at national laboratories, where the majority of the countrys testing capacity lies.

We are truly back to where we were in March, Spokane County Health Officer Bob Lutz said Friday, noting the challenges felt in Spokane are felt statewide and nationally .

Long wait times make it challenging for public health officials asking people to isolate at home until they get test results.

Delays are harmful because they dont allow us to quickly contain a case, Secretary of Health John Wiesman told reporters Thursday. We know people are most infectious early on and thats why we say to anybody getting a test that if you have any reason to get a test, we want you to stay home until you get your results.

With more testing, came more cases, but that doesnt paint the full picture of the disease burden.

The statewide percent-positive rate has also steadily increased this summer, as has the rate of people testing positive in counties per 100,000 people. Only 16 counties statewide are meeting case rate goals set by the governors Safe Start plan.

Could more have been done during the states lockdown to prevent the COVID-19 resurgence? Lofgren thinks so.

I think at both a national and local level, what happened is we did sort of waste the opportunities we had to get things in place for people to start taking this seriously, to put testing strategies in place, he said.

The states positive rate is back up to nearly 6%, and modelers are now confident the epidemic was growing in both Eastern and Western Washington in mid- to late June.

While the resurgence in cases was originally limited to a few hot spots, upward trends are now prominent in most counties, the most recent state modeling report says.

Summer is nearly half over, and schools are set to open in less than two months. With so much of the response feeling like dj vu, health officials lament the lost time.

We had breathing room, and weve largely used it on politicizing the epidemic, Lofgren said.

In half a year, treatment options for COVID-19 have improved, but doctors and researchers are still far from a treatment that works even half the time on patients who are hospitalized with the virus.

Two standout treatments, remdesivir and dexamethasone, appear to have some positive results, although the studies are ongoing and results are still preliminary in both clinical trials.

A study from a large drug trial led by Oxford University researchers found that dexamethasone, a common steroid, was helpful in treating patients with COVID-19 who were on oxygen or ventilated. While their study has not yet been peer-reviewed or published, their early results look somewhat promising. The steroid kept one person in a group of 20 with severe symptoms from dying .

These results are impressive in the drug trial world, but they have a long way to go before proving entirely useful.

Both MultiCare and Providence hospitals have enrolled in the clinical trials for remdesivir guided by the National Institutes of Health, and Dr. Henry Arguinchona, an infectious disease practitioner at Sacred Heart Medical Center, said initial trials of the drug also look promising.

Patients receiving remdesivir in the trial are faring better than those who get the placebo. The trial will soon move into its third phase; second phase results are forthcoming.

Early in the pandemic, ventilators were an in-demand lifesaving tool . While they are still being used for some patients, physicians are not immediately putting patients on them anymore. The National Institutes of Health now recommends a less invasive intervention a high-flow nasal cannula over a ventilator in some instances.

Some patients are doing well and able to get more oxygen to their lungs when they are simply flipped onto their stomachs, Arguinchona said, another technique doctors, nurses and intensivists are using.

I feel that we know better now how to take care of these patients, but I am hopeful that one or two or three or four months now, we know even more, Arguinchona said.

Recovering from COVID-19 is far from a linear process, and some people have experienced ongoing symptoms or side effects of their bodys fight with the virus for months. As The Atlantics Ed Yong notes, some people with COVID-19 and ongoing illness call themselves long-haulers. Yong writes that they are navigating a landscape of uncertainty and fear with a map whose landmarks dont reflect their surroundings.

Arguinchona said the phenomenon of patients not getting better is being seen more and more in COVID patients, but he noted that lingering health conditions are not necessarily indicative of persisting virus in the person.

There are many infections a person can get, and afterwards they can get a postinfectious syndrome, Arguinchona said. They can be left with lingering symptoms. With regards to post-COVID-19 symptoms, its not known what the causes or etymology of those is.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers a patient who is not admitted to the hospital with the virus as having a mild case, but Lofgren notes that mild doesnt really give weight to potential symptoms and conditions patients experience.

There are a lot of people who had supposedly mild cases of COVID who are still struggling with lung function and struggling with cardiovascular issues, Lofgren said.

The virus has exposed the inequities that already run rampant throughout the American health care system, including here in Washington.

When adjusted for population size, Hispanics and Pacific Islanders have nine times the number of COVID-19 cases than white people in Washington. The disproportionate rates of the virus trickle into hospitalizations and deaths from the virus , and nonwhite communities are hit hard by the virus statewide.

In Spokane County, the Marshallese community has experienced devastating effects of the virus.

The pandemic has exacerbated the underlying and persistent inequities among historically marginalized communities and those disproportionately impacted due to structural racism and other forms of systemic oppression, a July 8 report from the Department of Health says.

The department allotted a half-million dollars to get community organizations funding to bolster virus prevention and response efforts in a large swath of communities statewide. DOH awarded dozens of community organizations contracts that ranged from $5,000 to $20,000 to fund communication and emergency outreach services for communities that are disproportionately impacted by the virus.

Some pregnant women are also not faring well if they contract COVID-19. A CDC report found that pregnant women with COVID-19 are more likely to be hospitalized and are at increased risk for ICU admission than nonpregnant women. Nationwide, 11,312 pregnant women have contracted the virus, and 31 of them have died.

Arguinchona said some pregnant women have become very ill with COVID.

Young people, who were not as impacted at the beginning of the pandemic, are now driving case counts locally, statewide and nationally.

Twenty- and 30-somethings make up 38% of confirmed COVID-19 cases statewide and 45% of cases in Spokane County.

In recent weeks, health officials have pleaded with young people to stop gathering in large groups and to wear masks when around one another. Most young people might experience mild symptoms with the virus, but the fear is that they will bring the virus to their older parents or grandparents, or spread the virus when they are at work.

We have a lot of work to do with younger folks here in Washington limiting their social interactions and make sure theyre wearing masks, State Health Officer Kathy Lofy told reporters on July 8.

With the start of the school year less than two months away, community members and public health officials remain skeptical that kids will be back in their classrooms.

Dr. David Line, the public health program director at Eastern Washington University, says the county will pay for our actions, including July 4 gatherings with case counts and hospitalizations.

At the end of the first wave, if enough of the community has started wearing masks and adhering to small gathering requirements, it should be doing well, he said.

If we arent doing well at the end of (the next) seven weeks, if we dont have a low caseload, we are in really big trouble because thats when school starts, Line said. If we miss that window that occurs right now through the rest of the summer, we will not be able to contain that wildfire at least through all next school year.

Wearing masks and face coverings could determine what school districts do when school begins.

Lofgren has studied how schools can stay open and avoid transmission of infectious disease.

Its possible we can have school, but its not as fun as it used to be, he said. Its possible we cant get a 5-year-old to wear a mask, but we can get an 8-year-old to wear a mask.

Measures such as not allowing group activities such as band and choir, having teachers instead of students move from classroom to classroom, and having students eat in the classroom, could help minimize widespread interaction of students in schools.

Schools might use hybrid models of partial reopening , depending on the district and the countys phase of reopening . The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction wants schools to reopen in-person but officials acknowledge districts in Phase 1 or modified Phase 1 counties might have to implement additional safety measures.

DOH guidance for schools requires universal masking but leaves additional measures at the discretion of school districts.

As for colleges, research indicates congregate living settings like dorms are perfect breeding grounds for virus transmission.

A group of college students from the University of Texas who went to Cabo San Lucas for spring break in March ended up in a perfect COVID environment. Three symptomatic students were tested when they returned, and the contact tracing investigation revealed 64 total people had contracted the virus.

Shared housing both on-campus and during their spring break trip led researchers to believe that patterns of living and interacting in close settings could lead to propagated spread, similar to the continued person-to-person transmission observed in long-term care facilities.

As Washington and other states experience a surge in cases this month, health officials insist widespread mask use is key to bringing down transmission rates in the near future.

For EWUs Line, it comes down to community buy-in on masking and cooperation with contact tracing efforts.

We could do nothing and let the whole thing burn up. We could do this fake open-close thing and suffer the whole way through. Or we can do some pretty simple things and get full support by everybody and not have to suffer and be fine in seven to eight weeks, he said.

The Department of Health and the CDC recommended the use of face coverings in early April, but mandates took longer. Leaders hoped residents would take the advice and wear face coverings, in place of hunkering down at home. That didnt work.

In mid-May, some local jurisdictions, including King and Spokane counties, mandated masks, though the mandates werent always enforced.

Statewide, however, masks were not required for all residents until late June. That requirement is likely to remain in place for a long time.

Wear a mask, social distance, try to take responsibility for your own part of this outbreak, and that means things arent going to be fun for a while and thats hard, but those sacrifices mean maybe kids can go to school, maybe those stressed households are less stressed, Lofgren said.

The notion that we will be done with COVID-19 soon is not realistic, Lofgren said.

We need to start engaging with the idea that this isnt a couple months, he said. Its the better part of the year.

Researchers and health care providers are working overtime around the country and the world to find out just how effective and long-lasting antibodies are, and how effective a vaccine could be as a result.

Were not promised a treatment or a vaccine, Lofgren said.

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After 6 months and little progress controlling the pandemic, return to normal remains out of sight - The Spokesman-Review

Back during the December 2019 State of Play, Square Enix and PlatinumGames shared a Babylons Fall trailer. At the end of it was a promise. More information next summer. Well, next summer is here, and theres an update that might not be what people expect. While the developer and publisher confirm things are continuing to progress well, the promised information isnt here.

The statement was shared on the games Twitter account.

Thank you to all fans whove been following along for updates on Babylons Fall.

While we hoped to reveal more about the game this summer, we can share that development on Babylons Fall is continuing to progress well, with the team working safely from home.

Square Enix and PlatinumGames are committed to delivering an exhilarating experience and we look forward to showcasing much more on Babylons Fall to you as soon as we can.

This Square Enix and Platinum title was first announced back in June 2018. At the time, it was a part of the Square Enix E3 2018 showcase and had a tentative 2019 assigned to it and PlayStation 4 and PC platforms named. A follow-up promised more information in 2019, which eventually led to that State of Play appearance.

Babylons Fall is currently in development for the PlayStation 4 and PC.

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Babylons Fall Development Is Continuing to Progress Well - Siliconera

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Penn Hills Progress area real estate transactions for the week of July 12 - TribLIVE

Elon Musk unveiled Neuralink back in July 2019 as a startup specialising in brain-computer interface (BCI). The premise is simple wherein numerous thin wires can be implanted in a brain to intercept signals being fired by a group of neurons. However, the presentation where Musk introduced the technology and talks about the possibilities is definitely exciting. Now, Elon Musk is gearing up to release new updates on the project.

In last years presentation, Elon Musk said that the first generation Neuralink devices would be used to treat brain diseases such as Parkinsons, before allowing people to ultimately achieve a sort of symbiosis with artificial intelligence. The next update on where the company has reached in its milestone will come in August.

Musk is known for cryptic tweets and he recently tweeted, If you cant beat em, join em, Neuralink mission statement. This was followed by, Progress update August 28 and AI symbiosis while you wait. The second tweet is straightforward and suggests that another briefing regarding Neuralinks progress will happen on August 28. However, the first and third tweets are rather unique.

Rather than reading too much into them, theres a good possibility that the tweets are simply a play on words. Musk views AI as a threat to humanity if its development is left unchecked. So, If you cant beat em, join em could simply mean ramping up our capabilities to match an AIs, which is one of the things Neuralink aims to ultimately accomplish.

its not yet known what could be unveiled on August 28 at the next Neuralink progress. However, speculations and rumours making rounds on the internet are ranging from possible to sci-fi. Since Neuralink is yet to receive regulatory approval for human trials, we dont expect to see the technology in action.

A video of how the tech has been used in animals could be revealed since Musk previously said that a monkey was able to control a computer with his brain, thanks to Neuralink. But we will have to wait until the official announcements are made as this is merely speculation.

Neuralinks Brain Computer Interface uses thin wires that can be implanted in a brain to intercept neuron signals. Intercepting these signals could enable the company to understand and treat brain disorders such as Parkinsons, and preserve and enhance brain function, and more.

Musk has also made some futurist claims regarding Neuralinks capabilities. One of them is making language obsolete within the next decade. You wouldnt need to talk we could still do it for sentimental reasons, he said on the Joe Rogan Podcast. You would be able to communicate very quickly and with far more precision Im not sure what would happen to language. In a situation like this it would kind of be like The Matrix. You want to speak a different language? No problem, just download the program.

Check out the innovations that took home the Blue Tulip Awards this 2020

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Are we there yet? Neuralink progress update next month could give us a deeper look into Elon Musk's brain-computer - Silicon Canals

SAN JOSE (CBS SF) A wildfire ignited in the grasslands in the hills above San Jose Saturday, sending a large smoke plume skyward that was visible for miles and bringing crews from Santa Clara County and Cal Fire to battle the blaze.

Cal Fire air support joined dozens of firefighters who managed to halt forward progress of the 30-acre fire shortly after noon

Fire officials said the Alum Fire was burning at the top of a hillside near Mount Hamilton Rd. and Crothers Rd. east of the San Jose Country Club and south of Alum Rock Park.

Forward progress of the fire has been stopped. All fixed wing aircraft have been released and reported to be 30 acres, San Jose fire officials tweeted.

The National Weather Service tweeted that blaze was burning so intensely it had generated enough heat to trigger an alert from a GOES satellite orbiting over the West Coast.

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Firefighters Halt Progress of Alum Fire in Hills Above San Jose - CBS San Francisco

These are uncertain, divided times for our nation.

Unemployment is at mind-boggling levels, a virus we still don't fully understand is stifling the course of ordinary life, many businesses are struggling, nationwide protests continue against systemic and deep-seated racism, and local policymakers face rising questions about policing and public safety.

It's no surprise that this is one of those rare moments of national reflection about our future course.

It's also a moment of great attention to our political system because that's how we're going to work these things out. For me, this raises a fundamental question: What are politics and government all about, and how do we use them to make progress on such fundamental issues?

At heart, I'd argue, our political and economic systems try to provide an environment that enhances each person's quest for happiness and a good life. We lay the framework in part through government, and through the politics that determines who runs our government and what they do once in office.

We do this through a representative democracy, a system by which citizens elect men and women to represent them in a national or state legislature in order to make the laws of the country. It's an elaborate, complex effort, especially in a country as diverse as ours. Disparate interests are rampant at every level, and for government to work you have to try to build a consensus among those groups while seeking collective security, economic growth, and protection for individual rights and liberties.

That's because our democracy promotes the idea that individuals are equal before the law, and that the rights we've enshrined in the Bill of Rights need to be protected.

Representative democracy does not demand that its citizens participate, but it fails if enough of them don't. It encourages civic engagement, community service, citizens living up to their obligations to their neighbors and, of course, voting.

It also makes room for all manner of communications, from letter-writing to participating in boycotts and protests. And it works best when people are well informed and educated on the political issues. That places a burden on us all to find high-quality information and use it effectively and prudently.

The system encourages competition for political power among a wide range of groups and interests, and nothing is ever settled. If you lose, you're given a chance to win in future elections. If, finally, you win, you've got the temporary power to achieve your legislative goals. But winning is never total.

Congress and our legislatures represent the diversity of the population, and pretty much require cooperation and consensus-building to accomplish anything. This is both a weakness it can be cumbersome and a strength, since it allows for reasonable stability as all kinds of groups, including minorities of all sorts, strive to exert influence.

All of this creates a dynamic, energetic political sphere that challenges us. It's remarkable, if you think about it: The system was crafted for a country of about 4 million. Here we are more than200 years later, with 330 million, with the same system helping to organize a country of enormous power, reach and complexity.

It's evolved over that time, thanks to constant tinkering, reform and improvement, and those needs will never go away. That's what our system does: It calls on citizens to make it work and to make it better.

There's no doubt we face great stresses, and while we may make progress in enhancing individuals' pursuit of happiness, it's rarely straightforward. We take steps ahead then retreat; we celebrate victories and suffer setbacks.

But overall, when citizens speak up and become involved, we progress.

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Progress demands participation by the many | Columns | Journal Gazette - Fort Wayne Journal Gazette

The last year of Dak Prescotts contract impasse moved like two hours on a gym bicycle: exhausting but stationary. And as the Cowboys and their franchise quarterback spun their wheels, unable to broker a deal, the surrounding landscape changed significantly.

A new collective bargaining agreement with the seeming promise of long-term league prosperity was enacted. A Chiefs quarterback was paid like an Angels outfielder. Now, a pandemic threatens to cancel the upcoming season.

Moving in place is no longer an option.

By 3 p.m. Wednesday, the Cowboys and Prescott must sign or get off the cash pot.

That is the NFL deadline for any player who has been franchise-tagged to finalize a multiyear contract. Otherwise, no such deal can be completed until after the conclusion of the 2020 season.

One way or another, barring a change to the NFL calendar, the days of wondering how soon a blockbuster Prescott contract could come are numbered. It is either a few days away or several-plus months away.

Deadlines tend to drive action. Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott can attest to that.

Last summer, Elliott skipped all of training camp during a 40-day holdout, chowing on sushi rolls for dinner between workouts and friendly poker tournaments at a Cabo San Lucas resort. His contract was not agreed upon until nearly 5 a.m. on the Wednesday before a Sunday season opener against the New York Giants.

A last-ditch deal happened then. It can happen now.

Then again, Prescott might not necessarily feel tremendous urgency as Wednesdays deadline nears. Under his signed franchise tag, he is scheduled to earn $31.4 million in 2020. If the Cowboys tag him again in 2021, the salary value increases by 20% to about $37.7 million.

This is a meaningful jump in any year. Its especially consequential when the COVID-19 pandemic is sure to disrupt the leagues revenue this season.

Revenue and the salary cap are directly correlated. While the exact repercussions of the pandemic are still developing, the NFL and NFL Players Association probably will have to borrow from future years in order to buoy the 2021 cap to a respectable figure, keeping it flat instead of allowing the current $198.2 million figure to tank.

So, Prescotts 20% salary increase would come at a time when the cap is static.

Last Monday, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes signed a 12-year, $477.6 million contract with incentives, the potential value is about $503 million. This contract was a landmark development, but it bears little relevance on what the Cowboys and Prescott are working to accomplish.

Mahomes was still playing on his rookie contract. Apples.

Prescott is on the franchise tag. Oranges.

Prescott appears sure to earn more than Mahomes over the next four to five years, at which point he could be scheduled to hit free agency again. By that point, the COVID-19 probably wouldnt be holding back the cap, and Prescott could strike again while still in his prime.

He turns 27 this month.

The real question, the one that only Prescott and his agent Todd France at CAA can answer, is how the uncertainty surrounding COVID-19 impacts their willingness to stay the course. Few answers are available regarding what would happen to player salaries if the 2020 regular-season schedule is shortened or canceled outright.

How much of that $31.4 million would Prescott lose?

How much of that would he keep if, by Wednesday, he signed a multiyear contract that turned most of the money into a signing or roster bonus?

There is much to decide in the coming days. The Cowboys and France have gone months, at certain times during this grueling process, without achieving progress toward a multiyear contract. They must deliberate now to change that. They have hurdles to clear. They have to give and take.

This wont be like riding a bike.

Find more Cowboys stories from The Dallas Morning News here.

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After months of little progress, will Dak Prescott make a deal with the Cowboys? Time to decide is running out. - The Dallas Morning News

AweRay, an international remote desktop service provider, released AweSun updated version which supports macOS in the US and worldwide. Since its initial launch, AweSun solutions for remote desktop have already covered Windows, iOS and Android devices.

And now, its support for macOS comprehensively achieve the goal of cross-platform connections. The technology firm is dedicated to achieve their work ambition: make connections anywhere, anytime.

AweSun Remote Desktop enables people to connect to remote work computer, from home laptop, iPad or iPhone. It facilitates remote access to any device as if users were right in front of them. As the most affordable remote desktop solution on the market, AweSun offers free yet powerful features which users expect to find in other paid software.

Including all the features the Free Version provides, the upgraded Pro Version enables users to perform Remote CMD and access to the remote camera. IT professionals and experts can get more convenience from the enhanced features.

AweSun Game Version, which attracts much attention, makes the software stand out among its competitors. The Game Version enables users to customize a gaming keyboard on the mobile device. Users can therefore freely play favourite PC games on their phones.

As a remote access service provider, AweSun is deeply aware that our users pose great emphasis on security and privacy. Out of security concern, AweSun adopts a two-factor authentication with RSA/AES (256-bit) encryption method to ensure a secure line. Privacy security is AweSuns priority.

Meanwhile, AweSun has never stopped continuously updating and developing products. In March, 2020, AweSun launched the AweSun Client app installed for mobile devices. The app offers a great solution for users who want to assist their family, friends, or clients with phone setup, app installation, or troubleshooting.

In June, 2020, AweSun for Windows 1.5 provides users with a series of new features and upgrades, including two-way audio, dual-authentication access to optimize remote connection.

Maybe thats one of the reasons that AweSun received many thanks letters this year. Remote work is not an experimental trail or an ideal concept today. Technology firms like AweSun are making smart tools for all.

During recent work from home wave, the surge in the number of users is obvious and many users expressed their gratitude to AweSun for providing a free and practical tool that help them quickly adapt to remote work, said Joseph Chan, CEO of AweRay Limited.

The release of AweSun for macOS strengthens AweSuns position in the market as the most reliable and most affordable remote desktop solution available. Multi-platform remote connection offers our customers a more effective user experience. As AweRays vision goes, empowering everyone with the tools they need to do great work and have great fun.

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AweSun update supports macOS to accelerate the progress of building connections from anywhere - Help Net Security