Things To Do In SW Florida

Joe Field needed something to write about.

“I came up with the idea for Free Comic Book Day when I was a columnist for an industry trade magazine,” says Field, who is the owner of the Flying Colors Comics and Other Cool Stuff store in Concord. “I was scratching for ideas when my deadline was looming, looked out the front window of my shop to see a long line of people and none of them were coming into my shop. They were headed next door to Baskin Robbins for Free Scoop Night.

“I thought ‘comics are cooler than ice cream — let’s do this!’ So I wrote a column outlining the idea.”

That was 2001 and the first Free Comic Book Day (FCBD) was held in 2002. It was a massive hit right from Year One, with hundreds of comic book shops taking place in the promotion of giving out free publications to those who visited the participating stores. It now stands as, by far, the biggest annual event at comic book stores worldwide.

“The first FCBD was on May 4, 2002, so this year’s event, also on May 4, is the 23rd annual Free Comic Book Day,” Field says. “Over the last 22 years, FCBD shops have given away tens of millions of free comic books in more than 2,000 shops in more than 60 countries the world over.” read more

Construction

Brian R. Cline has joined T&T Construction Management Group Inc., Casselberry, as senior project manager working on projects in Central Florida and the Southeast Region.

Clete Luartes was appointed executive vice president of operations at T&T Construction Management Group Inc., Casselberry.

Health care

Jonathan Armstrong was appointed chief financial officer at AdventHealth DeLand.

Technology

Amanda Allen has joined the Florida High Tech Corridor as its Cenfluence Learning Sciences + Human Performance Cluster Manager.

Carol Nasseh has joined the Florida High Tech Corridor as its Cenfluence Life Sciences Cluster Manager.

Lisa Rain has joined the Florida High Tech Corridor as its Cenfluence Energy + Environmental Sciences Cluster Manager.

Submit professional appointments, management-level promotions and significant awards for individuals, along with photos as .jpg attachments, to peopleonmove@orlandosentinel.com.

Christopher Snowbeck | Star Tribune (TNS)

A hugely disruptive cyberattack in February exposed clear technology flaws at a UnitedHealth Group subsidiary, lawmakers said Wednesday, and raised difficult questions about whether the Minnetonka-based health care giant has just gotten too big.

Andrew Witty, the UnitedHealth chief exeutive, offered an apology during testimony before the Senate Finance Committee as he disclosed that a hacked server at the company’s Change Healthcare unit lacked multifactor authentication protections.

This was a significant failure to comply with “cybersecurity 101,” said committee chair Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon.

Sen. John Barrasso, a Republican from Wyoming, said he was “just not sure why you haven’t had this in place yet.”

Witty said he was “disappointed and frustrated” by the flaw, as well, explaining that UnitedHealth was in the process of upgrading security and systems after acquiring Change Healthcare in October 2022. While the CEO said the company’s massive size and scope has enabled a speedy response to the incident, Wyden promised further investigation both of the cyberattack and broader questions surrounding the company. read more

By Jim Rossman, Tribune News Service

It is high school (and college) graduation time and that usually means some gift-giving.

I’ve got a few gift ideas for your graduates that will be welcomed whether they’re headed off to college or still trying to figure out what’s next.

Here are three gadgets, and oddly, two of them are named Flow.

Tribit Stormbox Flow

I think Bluetooth speakers are an underrated gift.

Everyone loves listening to music or podcasts, and if you’re not wearing earbuds, you’ll want to be listening through a nice wireless speaker like the Tribit StormBox Flow ($79.99 at Amazon, but it’s been on sale for a bit less).

The Flow measures 3.5 inches by 7.9 inches by 2.1 inches and it weighs 1.5 pounds. It is made of smooth plastic with rubber feet on the bottom and the back, so you can have the sound pointing toward you or straight up.

Once you pair the Flow to your phone, it’ll stream all the sound, including phone calls. The Flow has a microphone so it acts as a speakerphone. There are buttons on the top of the Flow to turn it on and to raise and lower the volume and to pickup and hang up phone calls. read more