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Red Hat’s Ansible Automation Comes To IBM i – IT Jungle

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August 3, 2020Alex Woodie

Big Blue is now supporting IBM i with Ansible, the open source configuration management software developed by Red Hat. By including IBM i and AIX as a supported target in Ansible, companies that run IBM i will be able to remotely configure and manage IBM i and AIX servers using the same Ansible tools and techniques that they use to manage mainstream X86 and cloud server environments.

Ansible was created back in 2012 by Michael DeHaan, the author of the Cobbler provisioning server and co-author of the Fedora Unified Network Controller (Func) framework for remote administration. Its been widely adopted across the Linux community, where it competes with the likes of Chef, Puppet and other remote configuration tools, and today it also supports Windows, cloud, containerized, and virtualized environments in addition to IBM i and AIX through the new content offerings unveiled in July by IBM.

Ansible was developed to provide a lightweight and reliable configuration management system. The only dependencies that it imposes on the servers that it manages are support for OpenSSH (which Ansible uses to create connections) and Python. Ansible uses an agentless approach to control other servers, and unlike other management frameworks, does not require a single controlling machine when it begins its work (although a centralized controlling machine is soon created).

Administrators interface with the software by constructing playbooks, which are based on a control language based on YAML and Jinja templates. These playbooks define the configurations, deployment, and orchestration activities that Ansible will perform on the managed servers. Admins assign each server environment with a specific role, which Ansible can call as tasks.

The configuration framework also supports the creation of standalone modules written in standard scripting languages, like Python, Perl, Ruby, or Bash. Red Hat, which acquired Ansible Labs in 2015, also provides a centralized Ansible environment for enterprise accounts.

Now, IBM i shops can get into the Ansible swing of things. Ansible is a radically simple IT automation system, write IBMers Wang Yun and Zhu Li Jun in a June 2 post on the IBM i Cloud Blog. It handles configuration management, application deployment, cloud provisioning, ad-hoc task execution, network automation, and multi-node orchestration.

With its new offering, dubbed the Ansible Content for IBM Power Systems, IBM is bringing Ansible content to IBM i, where content refers to sample playbooks, modules, and action plug-ins that make specific IBM i routines supported in the Ansible framework.

Currently, IBM supports 20 automations for IBM i with Ansible, which support things like command execution, system and application configuration, work management, fix management, application deployment, etc. By the end of the year, IBM will introduce 50 more automations, for a grand total of 70.

Ansible automation, along with IBM Cloud Paks, are key aspects of IBMs strategy to simplify the management of cloud and hybrid cloud environments on Power.

IBM provides a bit more detail on the GitHub page for the IBM i collection for Ansible. Among the Ansible action plug-ins that are supported on IBM i are things like ibmi_copy (for copying a SAVF file to a remote IBM i node); ibmi_fetch (for fetching objects from the IBM i node); ibmi_reboot (for rebooting [or IPLing] an IBM i node); ibmi_script, for running CL and SQL scripts on IBM i nodes); and ibmi_synchronize (for synchronizing SAVF objects).

IBM provides a list of 35 additional Ansible modules in its IBM i kit that support more detailed actions, such as scheduling a batch job, ending an active subsystem, or restoring a library. You can see the full list here.

The main motivation in supporting Ansible on IBM i (and AIX) was providing a common management interface across Power Systems and open systems environments, says Dylan Boday, the director of offering management for systems, hybrid cloud, and AI solutions at IBM.

At the end of the day, Power has great capabilities and we want to minimize the skills needed to use those and bring consistent and common skills that theyre doing with X86 in their other event, and we really believe Ansible is a key aid in helping our clients achieve that, Boday told IT Jungle recently.

Ansible will allow IBM i and AIX customers to manage Power servers using the same tools as they use to manage X86 environments on prem and in the cloud.

We have over 20 Ansible automation that are certified by Red Hat today, he continued. Well be expanding that by 50-plus more, so 70 in total for us by the end of this year, and theres many more that are open source. Typically Red Hat . . . has a certified version, then you have an open source version. Well have both of those.

IBM has been experiencing a lot of demand for supporting Power with Ansible, at least from the AIX crowd. At one virtual AIX meeting earlier this year, 70 percent of the clients said they were already using open source Ansible, says Steve Sibley, vice president of IBM Power Systems offering management.

The potential to standardize on a single set of skills around Ansible will be a boon for AIX and IBM i shops alike, Sibley says.

If you really think about it, now you need one set of skills, one set of processes, he says. You dont have to have AIX experts, IBM i experts. Youll have to have one or two. But most of your processes can be the same for your entire infraorder, including now through the public cloud, because you use Ansible to deploy, provision your VMs in the cloud as well.

I think its going to be really significant to our client base, as well, as I think it will bring new clients to Power when they say Oh, you mean I dont have to manage this differently? I dont have to go hire a different infrastructure team to manage Power? he says. Its one of the most exciting things I think we have.

IBM i customers can get Ansible in one of two ways: installing the Ansible Galaxy application, or installing directly from open source.

Power Systems Slump Is Not As Bad As It Looks

Some Insight Into Utility Pricing On Entry Power Iron

More Open Source Databases Coming To IBM i

Open Source Is the Future, So Where Does IBM i Fit In?

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Red Hat's Ansible Automation Comes To IBM i - IT Jungle

Not Everyone Needs 8 Hours of Sleep, New Research Reveals – TIME

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For as long as Seemay Chou can remember, she has gone to bed at midnight and woken around 4:30 a.m. Chou long assumed that meant she was a bad sleeper. Not that she felt bad. In fact, sleeping just four hours a night left her feeling full of energy and with free time to get more done at her job leading a research lab that studies bacteria. It feels really good for me to sleep four hours, she says. When Im in that rhythm, thats when I feel my best.

Still, in an effort to match the slumber schedules of the rest of the world, she would sometimes drug herselfwith melatonin, alcohol or marijuana ediblesinto getting more sleep. It backfired. If I sleep seven or eight hours, I feel way worse, she says. Hung over, almost.

Although the federal government recommends that Americans sleep seven or more hours per night for optimal health and functioning, new research is challenging the assumption that sleep is a one-size-fits-all phenomenon. Scientists have found that our internal body clocks vary so greatly that they could form the next frontiers of personalized medicine. By listening more closely to the ticking of our internal clocks, researchers expect to uncover novel ways to help everybody get more out of their sleeping and waking lives.

Human sleep is largely a mystery. We know its important; getting too little is linked to heightened risk for metabolic disorders, Type 2 diabetes, psychiatric disorders, autoimmune disease, neurodegeneration and many types of cancer. Its probably true that bad sleep leads to increased risks of virtually every disorder, says Dr. Louis Ptacek, a neurology professor at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). But details about whats actually going on during shut-eye are sparse. We know almost nothing about sleep and how its regulated, says Ptacek.

Some people are morning larks, rising early, and others are night owls, who like staying up late. Those patterns are regulated by the bodys circadian rhythm, a 24-hour internal clock. People can manipulate their circadian rhythm through all kinds of external factors, like setting an alarm clock or exposing themselves to light. But the ideal sleep duration has long been thought to be universal. There are many people who think everyone needs eight to eight and a half hours of sleep per night and there will be health consequences if they dont get it, says Ptacek. But thats as crazy as saying everybody has to be 5 ft. 10 in. tall. Its just not true.

Ptacek and his wife Ying-Hui Fu, also a professor of neurology at UCSF, are pioneers in the relatively new field of sleep genetics. About a decade ago, Fu discovered the first human gene linked to natural short sleep; people who had a rare genetic mutation seemed to get the same benefits from six hours of sleep a night as those without the mutation got from eight hours. In 2019, Fu and Ptacek discovered two more genes connected to natural short sleep, and theyll soon submit a paper describing a fourth, providing even more evidence that functioning well on less sleep is a genetic trait.

The researchers are now collecting data on short sleepers in order to figure out just how rare these mutations are. If we can get a better understanding of why their sleep is more efficient, we can then come back and help everybody sleep more efficiently, Fu says. Among the participants is Chou, who also happens to work at UCSF. One day at a faculty meeting, she and Ptacek chatted about his work. She immediately recognized herself when he described short sleepers. I had never heard of this. But once I started reading about it, it was sort of an epiphany.

Chou doesnt know yet if she has the identified genetic variants. But after the researchers interviewed her about her familys sleeping patterns, she realized her mom is also a short sleeper. I have memories of when I was younger, and my dad being frustrated with her for staying up really late, but she always seemed fine, she says. The researchers took blood samples from both women.

Doctors once dismissed short sleepers like Chou as depressed or suffering from insomnia. Yet short sleepers may actually have an edge over everyone else. Research is still early, but Fu has found that besides being more efficient at sleep, they tend to be more energetic and optimistic and have a higher tolerance for pain than people who need to spend more time in bed. They also tend to live longer. Chou says the first three hold true for her; by nature, she is sunny and positive, and though she often finds bruises on her body, she usually doesnt remember getting them. I find it annoying how much people complain about little physical pains, she says.

So far, these are just intriguing observations. But by studying genetic short sleepers, Fu and Ptacek believe theyll eventually learn lessons for the rest of us. As we identify more and more genes and we think about the pathways in which they function, at some point, a picture is going to emerge, and we will begin to have an understanding of how sleep is regulated in greater detail, Ptacek says. This, they hope, will lead to targeted treatments, like pills or vitamins, to improve sleep efficiency in everyone.

Researchers are also looking beyond sleep to other circadian bodily processes that might benefit from a personalized or targeted approach. While a master clock in the brain acts like a conductor, setting time for the whole body, the rest of the body is like orchestra players with clocks of their own. All your organs have rhythms, says Steven Lockley, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School who studies circadian rhythms and sleep. Theres a clock in your heart, a clock in the lungs, a clock in the kidneys. Just about everything in the bodymetabolism, hormones, the immune system, reproductive function and the way DNA is translatedis influenced by a circadian rhythm, he says.

And not everybodys is the same. Peoples internal clocks are often hours off from one another, Lockley says. The range of individual differences is much bigger than anyone really understands yet.

The bodys complex clock system has implications for both healthy people and those with medical conditions, and scientists are already seeing glimpses of how they can time certain tests and treatments to get more accurate or potent results. A cholesterol reading, for example, might be affected by what time of day you go to the doctors office, because the liver (which makes cholesterol) has a circadian rhythm. The time of day at which you measure something could make someone look clinically abnormal, even though theyre not, Lockley says.

Medicine might also be more effective if taken at a certain time. Because theyre metabolized in the liver, drugs change their effects throughout the day, Lockley says. Other circadian bodily processes, like cell function, can also affect how medication acts. Early research suggests certain drugsincluding some for colorectal cancer, pain and asthmaperform better or are less toxic when taken at different times of day.

Exercise, which can be as powerful as medicine for some conditions, is good for you whenever you do it. But I do think that the time of day may have an influence, on top of the effects of exercise, on our metabolic health, says Juleen Zierath, professor of physiology at Karolinska Institute in Sweden. In one small study published in 2018 in the journal Diabetologia, Zierath and her team started 11 men with Type 2 diabetes on a high-intensity interval training program. The men exercised either in the morning (around 8 a.m.) or the afternoon (4 p.m.) for two weeks, then switched schedules. The researchers expected that regardless of the time of day, men in both groups would see improvements in blood-sugar levels. But when they exercised in the morning, they actually had slightly higher levels of blood sugar [than baseline], which we didnt expect at all, Zierath says. Its not clear to what extent the type of exercise and other variables matter, but the study provides an intriguing hint that time of day might make a difference for exercise.

Scientific knowledge is nascent when it comes to optimizing testing and treatment by the clock. Our understanding of individual circadian time is even more primitive. But Lockley believes its the key to personalized medicine; he and others are exploring ways to measure a persons internal circadian time through simple clinical tests. Hopefully in the next five to 10 years, youd go to the doctor, give a breath test or a pee sample, and the doctor would know your biological time, he says. Then all your test results and treatments could be based on your real internal time, which is going to be very different between you and me based on our internal clocks.

For now, even the understanding that our bodies often operate according to different clocks is a big scientific advance. Its already changed the way Chou sleeps, lives and works. Ive just become more comfortable with accepting my sleep, she says. She now asks her employees about their sleep schedules to anticipate when each will be at their peak. She also informs everyone about her own abbreviated schedule, so they know she doesnt expect an immediate response to an email she sends at 4:05 a.m. Thats just when my brain is working, she says.

This appears in the August 17, 2020 issue of TIME.

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Write to Mandy Oaklander at mandy.oaklander@time.com.

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Letters: Zoom medicine could never beat the stethoscope – HeraldScotland

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I COULD not agree more with the sentiments of Dr Hamish Maclaren (Letters, August 4) when he cautioned against Zoom medicine being accepted as the new norm. While at medical school in Glasgow I benefited very much from the teachings of Macleods Clinical Examination and learned that in sitting talking with a patient, checking the rate, rhythm and volume of their pulse while examining the eyes for any sign of anaemia or jaundice can be very helpful signs as to how well or otherwise that person might be.

While video consultations are able to give us some of the clinical picture, I have not yet mastered the art of ascertaining as to whether there are any crackles or wheezes in the chest by way of Zoom rather than by my use of the stethoscope.

Dr Alan Mitchell, Motherwell.

I SHARE the serious concerns expressed by Dr Hamish Maclaren on the subject of "Zoom medicine". The views of a politician temporarily in the post of Health Secretary for England should not be allowed to lead to such a radical change in the nature of the centuries-old traditional relationship between doctor and patient.

Further, I would invite doctors to consider how readily such a definitive change, other than in exceptional circumstances can be equated with part of the Hippocratic Oath, which in a modern version states inter alia: "I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy and understanding may outweigh the surgeon's knife or the chemist's drugs." It is difficult to imagine Zoom medicine generating comparable amounts of those three highly desirable and beneficial elements of the human condition.

Ian W Thomson, Lenzie.

CAN I voice my complete agreement with David Bryson (Letters, August 4) in his comments regarding opening pubs but not gyms?

Sadly this reflects politicians' inability to see beyond short-term problems: the health of the nation has a massive impact on our health services, but that is in the future so why not let someone else sort it out later? Physical health has been shown time and again to improve our medical needs as we age, even to the extent of shortening recovery times post-operations.

So why are pubs opening when only a fantasist would believe that after several drinks customers will adhere to social distancing guidelines? In our tennis and fitness centre in Prestwick we have utilised one of our indoor courts to space out gym machines and exercise classes, so everyone adheres to social distancing and our members' judgment will not be impaired by alcohol. Yet we cannot open. I appreciate there are problems with large gyms, especially those which are unsupervised, but gyms like ours which are constantly supervised by qualified instructors must represent a far lesser risk than certain pub chains.

Until our politicians are willing to face up to the massive hidden costs of obesity and poor physical fitness they will continue to burden the NHS with unnecessary costs.

David Stubley, Prestwick.

I AM sure Nicola Sturgeon is very aware of the obesity crisis, however you do not have to visit a gym to lose weight and stay healthy.

I make sure I have a good healthy diet and I take plenty of (free) exercise by walking, working in my garden, keeping myself busy around the house and not sitting about eating junk food.

I am a fit and healthy 81-year-old and have never visited a gym in my life.

Ellen Japp, High Blantyre.

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Children, teens, and the safety of psychotropic medicines – Harvard Health Blog – Harvard Health

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Medicines prescribed for attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), depression, anxiety, and other mood disorders known as psychotropic drugs have largely been studied in adults. This concerns many parents whose children take these drugs regularly. Studies have most often looked at the effectiveness of these medicines in teens and children. Now a recent systematic review of multiple studies done in children and adolescents offers new guidance on safety for commonly used medicines.

The aim of this study was to comprehensively synthesize current evidence on the safety of four major classes of psychotropic drugs given to children and adolescents. This helps clinicians make decisions when prescribing, and assists in developing well-grounded guidelines. It also helps identify areas needing further research.

The researchers focused on adverse events, such as side effects or other problems, linked to 80 medicines in four categories: antidepressants, antipsychotics, anti-ADHD medications, and mood stabilizers. Altogether, the studies considered data from 337,686 children and teens. Most study participants were taking either anti-ADHD medicines or antidepressants (roughly 149,000 and 121,000, respectively). Smaller numbers took antipsychotics or mood stabilizers (roughly 67,000 and 1,600).

The study looked at safety profiles and common side effects, which were available in the scientific literature for some, but not all of the medicines: 18 antidepressant medicines; 15 antipsychotic medicines; seven anti-ADHD medicines; and six mood stabilizers. While side effects were modest overall, the researchers found the following:

The authors acknowledge that there were limited data about adverse events for many of these medications. Therefore, a more comprehensive reporting of adverse events is necessary in future research on the use of psychotropic medications in children and adolescents. Additionally, long-term and rare side effects are likely underrepresented here, due to the limited availability of longer-term data.

While medication is one of the stronger treatment tools in mental health care, its not the only one. Especially for children and teens, it is essential to approach behaviors holistically by considering biology, psychology, and social and environmental factors. Frequently, medication is combined with other approaches, such as individual therapy, family therapy, and multidisciplinary, system-based approaches like developing an IEP (individualized education program) for school. A comprehensive assessment can guide the care team in making appropriate plans aimed at an optimal outcome.

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Children, teens, and the safety of psychotropic medicines - Harvard Health Blog - Harvard Health

Partnership produces business innovation grant to be offered as marketing boost – Medicine Hat News

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By Medicine Hat News on August 6, 2020.

A business innovation grant in Medicine Hat will now include up to $1,500 for the use of a professional photographer and marketing specialist.

Grant recipients must be registered for ShopHERE powered by Google.

On July 13 APEX Alberta, Medicine Hat and District Chamber of Commerce and Invest Medicine Hat announced their collaboration with the ShopHERE powered by Google program. The goal is to get 250 businesses online this year providing businesses and artists an opportunity to build a digital presence and minimize the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic without any additional costs.

Our businesses must be able to expand their businesses online in order to remain competitive in todays world, said Mayor Ted Clugston. We are now able to offer our businesses the support to build an e-commerce website for free and up to $1,500 to create a professional website with local photography and marketing services. We are looking to keep the grant dollars local wherever possible.

A registered business for the program is eligible to receive up to $1,000 that can be used to hire a local Medicine Hat photographer to feature products displayed on the e-commerce website. They may also be eligible for up to $500 for the use of a local marketing firm to guide the photo shoot and provide a promotional strategy for the newly designed e-commerce website.

You can register your business at http://apexalberta.ca/shophere

To apply for the CMHBIG for ShopHERE users, visit the Community Futures Entre-Corp website at:

http://entre-corp.albertacf.com/mhbig

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Partnership produces business innovation grant to be offered as marketing boost - Medicine Hat News

How Blockchain can Benefit the Government – CIOReview

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The government can use blockchain to increase the security related to personal details of the citizens by gaining their trust and offering transparency.

FREMONT, CA: The reformation that the internet has brought is similar to the one that blockchain carries. But the typical difference between the revolutionary technology is blockchain plays its role in the background, and the internet does it from the foreground.

Blockchain is used in the various industrial sector, and it is also possible to utilize it in the government services and public sector. It can be used to make the governmental offices secure, trustworthy, efficient, and speedy.

However, the digital government based on blockchain will be noticeable in every interaction with the public, which they will have with a decentralized system.

How Can Blockchain Change Government?

Today, the world is witnessing the hyper-connectivity giving birth to numerous data, and it also has brought valuable information about the economy. It shows how the economy is interacting and operating.

Therefore, the continuous economic transformation is forcing the government officials also to become more efficient, real-time, transparent, and cost-effective. With the system, the government can become more citizen related.

However, dealing with this new demand can be challenging for the government because it will transform the bureaucratic government body. This change can be possible by implementing a secured blockchain structure and other elements to the technology. There are various benefits for the government if they apply blockchain in the system.

Developing Trust with Citizens

The trust that the citizens generally have on their government is low at this point, but it is necessary to change the emerging trend of this constant distrust.

The government, along with blockchain and its various features, can use this to solve the issue. The primary element of the blockchain is transparency, and the government can utilize that by permitting the citizens to view and verify the data. It will even allow people to conduct their verification of the claims made by the government.

Safety of Sensitive Data

Today data hacks and stolen identities have become a reality. As the government is the manager of the society, they have become the primary target of hackers all over the world.

In the past few years, there have been many incidents when the government sectors were attacked, and numerous citizen's details and social security numbers got exposed. There were also situations when the government employee's data got compromised.

Another feature of the blockchain-based solution, which is immutability, can help the government offices. It can make an entire nation block-proof. The blockchain data structure increases the strength of the network. It can be done by removing the chance of a single point of failure, and by continuously doing it, the system will become unhackable.

See Also:Top Blockchain Technology Solution Companies

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Theres One Cloud on Mars Thats Over 1800 km Long – Universe Today

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Mars massive cloud is back.

Every year during Mars summer solstice, a cloud of water ice forms on the leeward side of Arsia Mons, one of Mars largest extinct volcanoes. The cloud can grow to be up to 1800 km (1120 miles) long. It forms each morning, then disappears the same day, only to reappear the next morning. Researchers have named it the Arsia Mons Elongated Cloud (AMEC).

The massive extinct volcano that is home to the cloud is Arsia Mons, a 20 km high (12.4 miles) landmark on Mars surface. Mars is too cold for liquid water, so the cloud is made of water ice. Though it looks like it could be a plume from the volcano, its not. All of Mars volcanic activity ceased a long time ago.

The cloud is seasonal, and observers were expecting it around this time of year.

We have been investigating this intriguing phenomenon and were expecting to see such a cloud form around now, explains Jorge Hernandez-Bernal, PhD candidate at the University of the Basque Country (Spain) and lead author of the ongoing study.

This elongated cloud forms every Martian year during this season around the southern solstice, and repeats for 80 days or even more, following a rapid daily cycle. However, we dont know yet if the clouds are always quite this impressive, added Bernal in a press release.

The southern solstice is when the Sun is in its southernmost position in the sky. Since a Martian year is about twice as long as an Earth year687 days compared to 365the seasons last about twice as long. This cloud grows each morning during the season, for about three hours. Then, it disappears.

The extent of this huge cloud cant be seen if your camera only has a narrow field of view, or if youre only observing in the afternoon, says Eleni Ravanis, a Young Graduate Trainee for the Mars Express mission who works specifically for the VMC instrument.

The ESAs Mars Express spacecraft spotted the cloud with its Visual Monitoring Camera (VMC.) While other cameras on orbiters try to zoom in and get as much detail as possible, VMC is different. Its been described as a web cam in space, and its wide angle helps it see things like the cloud.

Luckily for Mars Express, the highly elliptical orbit of the spacecraft, coupled with the wide field of view of the VMC instrument, lets us take pictures covering a wide area of the planet in the early morning, said Ravanis. That means we can catch it!

The spacecraft is on a wide elliptical orbit, which takes it as far as 10,107km (6,280mi) away from the planet. From that distance, it can image the entire planet, and can capture large-scale features like this cloud.

The Martian atmosphere is dominated by carbon dioxide, which makes up over 95% of the atmosphere. Water vapour is only a trace gas, and has high variability seasonally, daily, and spatially. Researchers hope that watching this cloud will help fill in the picture of Mars atmosphere, including how carbon dioxide behaves.

The cloud is an orographic cloud, meaning that its formation is shaped by geography. Theyre common on Earth, where mountain ranges force approaching air to rise. When the air cools, the water vapour condenses and becomes visible.

Arsia Mons is one of the three extinct volcanoes that make up the Tharsis Montes region on Mars, along with Pavonis Mons and Ascraeus Mons. Arsia Mons is the southernmost of the three. To the northwest of those three lies Olympus Mons, the tallest mountain in the Solar System.

The massive Olympus Mons also plays host to clouds of water ice. Those clouds dont form an elongated stream like AMEC does, but theyre still orographic. They form due to Olympus Mons altitude, which is greater than 21 km (13 miles.)

With a human mission to Mars somewhere on the horizon, the planet is being scrutinized more than ever before. Currently, there are six orbiters operating at the planet, and two surface missions. A third surface mission, NASAs Perseverance Rover, is en route to the red planet.

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Mars’ Teddy Ruffner turning heads on baseball diamond this summer | Trib HSSN – TribLIVE

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By: Greg MacafeeTuesday, August 4, 2020 | 2:33 PM

Courtesy of Louis Scavnicky

Mars senior Teddy Ruffner competes for the Pittsburgh Diamond Dawgz during the 2020 summer season.

Courtesy of Louis Scavnicky

Mars senior Teddy Ruffner competes for the Pittsburgh Diamond Dawgz during the 2020 summer season.

Chaz Palla | Tribune-Review

Mars Teddy Ruffner gains yards outside on North Hills Friday, Oct. 4, 2019 at Martorelli Stadium.

Despite the circumstances surrounding the coronavirus pandemic, Mars senior Teddy Ruffner has stayed busy this summer, and hes making the most of the situation.

The Mars catcher has made up for his lost junior baseball season. He said between the Youngstown Class B league and his Pittsburgh Diamond Dawgz team, hes been playing four or five games per week and is putting on a show while doing it.

The kid is a really good player and he plays at a really high speed, Pittsburgh Diamond Dawgz coach Frank Merigliano said. Hes probably the most physical player that weve ever had in terms of what he brings to the table physically. I mean hes a 6.6 (60-yard dash) runner as a catcher, which is ridiculous, and hes a 195-pound spark plug. He plays the game at an intensity level that you dont see very often.

After his junior season was canceled in the spring, Ruffner figured he would get to play baseball at some point this summer, he just didnt know when it would happen. He expected July or August but as leagues took form, Ruffner was quickly playing multiple games a week.

He also has caught the attention of college coaches, and his recruitment has started to take off. Ruffner said he has several options on the table for his post-high school plans.

(Recruiting) has picked up a lot especially in the last few weeks, Ruffner said. My travel ball coach, Frank Merigliano, has done a great job of getting in contact with coaches and sending them video and texting them and getting my name out there. Ive talked to a lot of schools in the past week or two, just constantly on the phone with coaches and it really has picked up. Its good to have a lot more options right now.

Ruffner said hes talked to some Division I and III schools for baseball. Hes also announced football offers from Carnegie Mellon and Bowdoin College and despite the circumstances, it doesnt look like it will slow down anytime soon.

Since joining the Pittsburgh Diamond Dawgz, Merigliano has seen Ruffners game reach a new level over the past year.

With the work hes put in and all the stuff that weve done, I think he went from being an unknown to a kid that is a legitimate Division I prospect, Merigliano said. When he came to us in the fall, he was still doing football so he was doing as much as he could, but I wasnt sure where he would end up, but I knew the physical part of it was there. But he put the work in, hes elevated his game and hes a different guy than what he was last year. Theres no question.

Ruffner (5-11, 195) carried the ball 263 times for 1,919 yards and averaged 7.3 yards per carry for the Fightin Planets last fall as they made a WPIAL Class 5A playoff appearance.

Ruffner said hes been playing both sports since he was a little kid and knows at some point, hes going to have to pick between the two. But he isnt quite ready to make that decision yet.

Im keeping both options open at the moment, Ruffner said. I want to see after I get all the offers and talk to all the coaches, whatever school is the best fit thats where Im going to go. I dont want to limit any options right now. Ive been playing both sports since I was like 5 or 6 years old so its going to be hard to definitely give up one.

When he does make that decision and if he does choose to play baseball, Merigliano believes Ruffners game could take another giant leap forward when hes focusing solely on baseball.

Once he becomes a full-time baseball player and football is out of the picture, I think youll see another jump, Merigliano said. When it becomes a full-time focus on baseball, I think youll see that next level jump again.

Greg Macafee is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Greg by email at gmacafee@tribweb.com or via Twitter .

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New SpaceX Starship fails to fire, but the Mars rocket has more chances – CNET

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Putting humans in the picture gives a better idea of just how big the Starship orbital prototype will be. SpaceX founderElon Musk shared this behind-the-scenes lookat workers in Texas with Starship on a transporter in September 2019.

Update, Aug. 4., 5 p.m. PT: The hop went off successfully. Read about it here.

SpaceX's latest Starship prototype had another false start Tuesday morning, as a test "hop" of the next-generation rocket was aborted before ignition.

This follows an earlier attempt, Monday evening, in which the engine of the SN5 test model failed to ignite.

Subscribe to the CNET Now newsletter for our editors' picks of the most important stories of the day.

Elon Musk tweeted that crews may try again later Tuesday, but the company also secured backup launch opportunities for Wednesday and Thursday, according to Federal Aviation Administration notices.

Though the roughly 9-story-tall test craft is designed for orbital flight, it'll make an attempt at what amounts to slowly rising in the air to about 150 meters (492 feet).

According to airspace closures issued by the FAA for the area, the hop could still happen Tuesday anytime before 6 p.m. PT.

You might recall that an earlier test craft called "Starhopper" performed such a short flight last year.

Now playing: Watch this: SpaceX aces Starhopper rocket test

2:41

On Thursday, crews at the SpaceX development facility in Boca Chica, Texas, completed a successful static fire of the prototype's raptor engine, clearing the path for a hop attempt.

"Starship SN5 just completed full duration static fire. 150m hop soon," Musk said on Twitter.

Musk said on Twitter lastmonth that SN5 "will attempt to fly later this week," but Hurricane Hanna had other plans, forcing SpaceX to batten down the hatches at Boca Chica and postpone all major tests.

It's been a struggle to get the SN series of prototypes off the ground.

So far, SN4 exploded after a static fire test, SN3 crumpled during a pressure test, and SN1 suffered a similar fate.

This, of course, is why you test. SpaceX suffered a similar string of failures before Falcon 9 launches and landings became a routine thing.

And so the company is pressing forward with Starship.

It's possible we could still see the big silver rocket fly Tuesday. Of course, we've heard this all before. Fingers crossed.

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New SpaceX Starship fails to fire, but the Mars rocket has more chances - CNET

Mars Hill facility to begin outdoor visits with family – The County

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Northern Light Continuing Care (1)

The Northern Light Continuing Care facility in Mars Hill. (David Marino Jr. | The Star-Herald)

The Northern Light Continuing Care facility in Mars Hill. (David Marino Jr. | The Star-Herald)

Northern Light Continuing Care in Mars Hill will begin outside family visitation on Thursday, according to local hospital officials.

MARS HILL, Maine Northern Light Continuing Care in Mars Hill will begin outside family visitation on Thursday, according to local hospital officials.

Visitation at Northern Light A.R. Gould and its outreach facilities was halted in most cases when the COVID-19 pandemic began in late winter, in order to help protect patients, staff and visitors and slow the spread of the virus.

We are thrilled to be able to offer the opportunity for families to come and visit their loved one, said Kelly Lundeen, director of the facility. This has been such a challenging time for our residents and their families, and we are doing all we can to help them reconnect in a safe way.

For now, as a trial period, outdoor visits will be available by appointment only during limited hours Monday through Friday. Family members, up to two people over the age of 10, can visit a loved one for 20 minutes.

At this point, each block of time will be reserved for one family only. Visits will be weather dependent.

To make this successful, it will be important that all involved follow the safety guidelines we have in place, Lundeen said. Our residents are at high risk by nature of their age, their overall health and living in a congregate care environment. We wont be able to continue to allow visits if we cant do so in a safe manner.

Family members who visit will be required to follow safety steps, including: arriving only at the appointed time; being screened upon arrival; sanitizing hands; wearing a mask (both residents and visitors) that cannot be removed during the visit; maintaining a physical distance of at least six feet; and not bringing in food or gifts.

Lundeen said staff will be available during the visits to assist with any tools that may be needed to help visitors and their loved ones hear each other through masks and distance.

For those who might not be able to come in person right now, either because they are not feeling well or have traveled out of state recently, we encourage you to take advantage of other alternatives for staying in touch, said Lundeen.

We have cell phones and iPads for our residents to use who do not have their own. Calls, FaceTime, and Zoom are all great technical options for staying in touch. We have staff who will help residents who are not technically savvy get connected. Window visits are another option, she added. You can be outside of the facility and view your loved one through the window while talking on the phone.

Appointments for visits can be made by contacting Vicki, activities coordinator, at 207-768-4964.

Thank you for reading your 4 free articles this month. To continue reading, and support local, rural journalism, please subscribe.

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Mars Hill facility to begin outdoor visits with family - The County

Coronavirus Impact Editon of AYUSH and Alternative Medicine Market Research Study 2020 Future Development, Top Manufacturers, Technological…

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Report is a detailed study of the AYUSH and Alternative Medicine market, which covers all the essential information required by a new market entrant as well as the existing players to gain a deeper understanding of the market.The primary objective of this research report named AYUSH and Alternative Medicine market is to help making reliable strategic decisions regarding the opportunities in AYUSH and Alternative Medicine market. It offers business accounts, industry investors, and industry segments with consequential insights enhancing decision making ability.nicolas.shaw@cognitivemarketresearch.com or call us on +1-312-376-8303.

Request Report from CMR Website:https://cognitivemarketresearch.com/medical-devicesconsumables/ayush-and-alternative-medicine-market-report

Global and Regional AYUSH and Alternative Medicine Market Segmentation by Type: Ayurvedic Medicines, Herbal Medicines, Aroma Therapy, Homeopathy, Reflexology, Others

Global AYUSH and Alternative Medicine Market Segmentation by Applications: Women, Men, Kids

Major Market Players with an in-depth analysis: Baidyanath, Himalya Herbals, Ganga Pharmaceuticals, Patanjali, Hamdard

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The AYUSH and Alternative Medicine market report offers the current state of the market around the world. The report starts with the market outline and key components of the AYUSH and Alternative Medicine market which assumes a significant job for clients to settle on the business choice. It additionally offers the key focuses to upgrade the development in the AYUSH and Alternative Medicine market. Some fundamental ideas are likewise secured by reports, for example, item definition, its application, industry esteem chain structure and division which help the client to break down the market without any problem. Also, the report covers different factors, for example, arrangements, efficient and innovative which are affecting the AYUSH and Alternative Medicine business and market elements.

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The research comprises primary information about the products. Similarly, it includes supply-demand statistics, and segments that constrain the growth of an industry. It also includes raw materials used and manufacturing process of AYUSH and Alternative Medicine market. Additionally, report provides market drivers and challenges & opportunities for overall market in the particular provincial sections.

Competitive Analysis has been done to understand overall market which will be helpful to take decisions. Major players involved in the manufacture of AYUSH and Alternative Medicine product has been completely profiled along with their SWOT. Some of the key players include Baidyanath, Himalya Herbals, Ganga Pharmaceuticals, Patanjali, Hamdard. It helps in understanding their strategy and activities. Business strategy described for every company helps to get idea about the current trends of company. The industry intelligence study of the AYUSH and Alternative Medicine market covers the estimation size of the market each in phrases of value (Mn/Bn USD) and volume (tons). Report involves detailed chapter on COVID 19 and its impact on this market. Additionally, it involves changing consumer behavior due to outbreak of COVID 19.

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Regional Analysis for AYUSH and Alternative Medicine North America (United States, Canada)Europe (Germany, Spain, France, UK, Russia, and Italy)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, India, Australia, and South Korea)Latin America (Brazil, Mexico, etc.)The Middle East and Africa (GCC and South Africa)

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Chapters Define in TOC (Table of Content) of the Report:Chapter 1: Market Overview, Drivers, Restraints and Opportunities, SegmentationOverviewChapter 2: COVID ImpactChapter 3: Market Competition by ManufacturersChapter 4: Production by RegionsChapter 5: Consumption by RegionsChapter 6: Production, By Types, Revenue and Market share by TypesChapter 7: Consumption, By Applications, Market share (%) and Growth Rate byApplicationsChapter 8: Complete profiling and analysis of ManufacturersChapter 9: Manufacturing cost analysis, Raw materials analysis, Region-wiseManufacturing expensesChapter 10: Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream BuyersChapter 11: Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/TradersChapter 12: Market Effect Factors AnalysisChapter 13: Market ForecastChapter 14: AYUSH and Alternative Medicine Research Findings and Conclusion, Appendix, methodology and data source To check the complete Table of Content click here: @ https://cognitivemarketresearch.com/medical-devicesconsumables/ayush-and-alternative-medicine-market-report#table_of_contents

The qualitative contents for geographical analysis will cover market trends in each region and country which includes highlights of the key players operating in the respective region/country, PEST analysis of each region which includes political, economic, social and technological factors influencing the growth of the market. The research report includes specific segments by Type and by Application. This study provides information about the sales and revenue during the historic and forecasted period of 2015 to 2027.

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Natural brain booster: Drink ginger tea to improve focus and concentration – TheHealthSite

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Ginger (Zingiber officinale) is one of the most commonly consumed spices in the world, usually used for seasoning. Apart from adding flavour to your dishes, ginger has multiple medicinal properties and benefits. It has played an important role in both traditional Chinese and Indian Ayurvedic healing practices for ages. Also Read - World Brain Day 2020: Step-by-step guide on how your brain functions

Ginger is an incredibly versatile home remedy. Ginger is a versatile home remedy and is known for relieving nausea, aiding digestion, soothing an upset stomach, fighting colds, helping with menstrual cramps, contributing to weight loss and more. The root of the ginger plant is also an excellent brain booster. Several studies have linked it to improved cognitive performance and memory. Also Read - Weight loss: This is how ginger diet will help you battle the bulge

The main active constituents found in ginger are gingerols and shogaols, which are known to have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-tumour properties. Also Read - Brain health: Tips to prevent eventual memory loss

A study published in 2012 issue of the Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine suggested that ginger can help support memory and cognitive function in middle-aged women. The study included 60 healthy women who were between 50 and 60 of age and reside in Thailand. They were given either a placebo or a ginger standardised extract of 400 milligramme or 800 milligramme daily for two months.

Women who received the ginger supplement reported a significant improvement in cognitive functions and an enhanced working memory compared to the placebo group. According to the study, daily ginger intake improved four key brain functions: power of attention, accuracy of attention, speed of memory, and quality of memory. Based on their findings, the researcher concluded that ginger is a potential brain tonic to enhance cognitive function for middle-aged women.

They believe that the cognitive enhancing effect of ginger might be partly due to its antioxidant properties.

Ginger contains more than 100 compounds, most of which are antioxidants that are particularly important for brain health. Since it uses a lot of oxygen, the brain is more susceptible to free radical attack than any other part of the body. Antioxidants act as free radical scavengers and helped prevent or slow damage to cells.

Chronic inflammation of the brain may lead to brain disorders including depression, anxiety, ADHD, brain fog, and Alzheimers. Gingers anti-inflammatory property may be beneficial for brain health. Gingerol and shogaol are the compounds are believed to play main role in gingers anti-inflammatory effects on the brain.

Like turmeric, ginger also contains the compound curcumin, which has anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antiviral, antibacterial, and antifungal properties. Curcumin a popular herbal ingredient used to treat depression, anxiety, brain aging, and neurodegenerative diseases. Here are 5 ways ginger benefits your brain and mental health

What to get improve your memory and attention? Chew on ginger candy or drink ginger tea daily. If you dont like the taste, add a few drops of ginger essential oil to a diffuser and inhale the aroma.

Published : August 6, 2020 11:30 am | Updated:August 6, 2020 12:13 pm

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Natural brain booster: Drink ginger tea to improve focus and concentration - TheHealthSite

Vyripharm International, Inc. and the National Yang-Ming University Signed a MOU to Develop VYR-206 as a Novel Diagnostic Approach for Neurological…

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Vyripharm International, Inc. (VI), is a subsidiary of Vyripharm Enterprises, LLC, a privately held company formed for Partnerships and Joint Ventures with International Public or Private Organizations. VI, which is located in the Texas Medical Center in Houston, Texas, announced today that it has executed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with National Yang-Ming University (NYMU), a research institution in Taipei, Taiwan. NYMU is famous for its research in medicine, life sciences and biotechnology. The MOU expresses the intent to develop the bio-distribution information and targeting profile of VYR-206 for diagnosis and monitoring treatment outcomes of neurological disorders.

Vyripharm's drug platform technology is a personalized medicine application for diagnosis, monitoring and treatment of some infectious diseases, neurological disorders and cancers. Moreover, the platform provides a means for labeling diagnostic and therapeutic agents to allow for tissue specific targeted diagnostic imaging and radiotherapy. The company developed VYR-206 as one of its lead compounds from several of its platforms for both proof of concepts and commercialization development.

The endocannabinoid system's (ECS) integration into the central nervous system (CNS) and immune system is extremely complex. Furthermore, the identification of cannabinoid receptors (CB1 and CB2) expression and exactly what roles they play in the ECS remains a mystery and makes development of therapies highly challenging. For example, epilepsy has been the primary focus of research due to anecdotal success in cannabis-derived medication providing significant benefit to intractable childhood seizures, which led to Epidiolex ultimately being the first FDA approved cannabis-derived medication. However, further investigations expanding to other neurological conditions and the role of the ECS as an efficacious therapeutic target are emerging very slowly. Hence, Vyripharm developed VYR-206 to functionally target the ECS through specific binding to CB1 receptors. We believe that VYR-206 will allow us to diagnose and monitor neurological disorders through targeting CB1 receptors and further correlate to treatment and how other cannabinoid receptors play a role in this highly efficient system. CB1 receptors have been shown to be expressed in many neurological disorders including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), treatment-resistant depression (TRD) and neuropathic complications with diseases such as diabetes. Although effective treatment has remained elusive for such disorders as PTSD and TRD, CB1 receptors may serve as an efficacious target for therapy.

NYMU's Brain Research Center and Translational Medical Imaging Center is one of the leading institutes in cognition and behavioral research along with functional and structural brain imaging. NYMU has worked extensively with various experimental models for neurological disorders including PTSD and TRD. NYMU serves as an excellent partner for investigating the role of CB1 receptors as a diagnostic and therapeutic target in PTSD and TRD with the company's VYR-206 technology. We are excited at the prospect of a great collaboration to effectively study these challenging neurological disorders.

A binding contract agreement with NYMU and VI is soon to follow.

About Vyripharm International, Inc.

VI is our international footprint to our biopharmaceutical/biotechnology firm and is focused in neurological disorders and cancer. Our global mission is the integration of Traditional medicine with Alternative medicine. The company has patents in sectors such as Regulatory Testing, Pharmaceutical and Diagnostic Drugs, Bioinformatics, Medical Informatics, Monitoring Technology, and Drug Delivery Systems. The company holds exclusive licenses, issued patents, patents pending and trademarks. For more information visit http://www.vyripharmbio.com

About National Yang-Ming University

NYMU is a research university focused in biomedical education located in Shipai, Beitou District, Taipei, Taiwan. It is well known for research in fields of Medicine, Life Sciences and Biotechnology. Founded in 1975 as a college of medicine, NYMU has expanded to become the first medicine-oriented comprehensive university in Taiwan with more than 20 research centers with emphasis on cancer and immunology, brain research, biophotonics, aging and health, and biomedical engineering. For more information visit http://www.nymu-e.ym.edu.tw

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200805005382/en/

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Vyripharm International, Inc. and the National Yang-Ming University Signed a MOU to Develop VYR-206 as a Novel Diagnostic Approach for Neurological...

Why alternative assets are a good home in a Covid-19 world – Portfolio Adviser

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We have witnessed another market crash in global stock markets and a highly polarised sectoral response, with significant recovery in some sectors and continued depression in others.

However, alternative assets such as venture capital can be somewhat decoupled from immediate macro influences. This is partly due to the nature of the business models that venture funds look to back. These often involve disruption to traditional models or looking for the opportunity that arises from macro influences negatively impacting traditional models.

In addition, by backing smaller, earlier stage companies, these can be more agile in their responses to negative market influences and find their growth niches more effectively, while larger competitors struggle, locked into their incumbent models.

The impact of the pandemic on most unlisted investment portfolios appears, so far, to have been modest. For example, many of our private company investments in one of our funds are in early stage life science companies, and these have proven resilient despite short-term disruption from medical laboratories being closed and patients not being able to take part in clinical trials. Indeed, funding in these sectors remains close to near term highs. Other funds we manage are invested heavily in software for businesses and many of these are holding up well.

Over the long term however, there are plenty of business and market opportunities. The pandemic has resulted in a demand for innovation and technology in many sectors, to provide resilience and to service people and industries in their new ways of working. In particularly in software, on-line retail, healthcare and life sciences we expect there to be a lot of capital chasing that innovation over the next five years, whilst some sectors such as leisure, tourism and aviation will struggle and may never recover.

Covid-19 has resulted in a new way of working and this remote aspect will require improved and enhanced technology to drive it as the population becomes more home-based. We expect to see a massive uptick in the use of technology in healthcare service delivery, particularly in primary care, mental health and follow ups.

In life sciences, the way clinical trials are run will change at a faster rate than before, with the adoption of technology at a much greater speed, shortening sales cycles, and with a greater appetite to innovate and try new, more agile approaches; there was a case for using this technology prior to Covid-19, but now it is becoming a necessity. We have seen the acceleration of between three-to-five years of normal cycle adoption in barely two months, which is great if you are invested in those business models.

These trends are feeding into an overall trend for using technology in the healthcare and life sciences sectors. In the US this is leading to unprecedented levels of investment activity, where digital health investment during H1 2020, according to Rock Health, was at an all-time high of $5.4bn (4.1bn) and looks set to be a record year.

During this period of disruption, we are continuing to see a myriad of innovation coming out of UK universities renowned as the worlds leading research institutions, particularly in the arena of cell and gene therapies. These have been invested in and developed over decades of research funding, and so short-term disruptions, such as the recent pandemic, will have minimal impact on that flow in the long-run.

UK universities excel in life sciences and, in particular, standout on the global stage in high impact innovation in personalised medicines, a particularly strong current theme driven by the need and demand for highly tailored treatments. There are a lot of interesting technologies being developed, especially at UCL, from gene therapies for rare terminal illnesses or blinding eye diseases such as those developed by UCL Tech Fund investee companies Orchard Therapeutics (ORTX) or MeiraGTX (MGTX) to personalised cell therapies for previously incurable cancers.

There are world changing technologies emerging that have been worked on for the last 20 or 30 years, but are now coming to market. We are witnessing a confluence of technologies, building on previous work, and we are seeing the coming together of technologies such as Crispr gene editing, gene vectors and genomic sequencing, all powerful tools for precision medicine.

Prior to Covid-19 there was a lot of liquidity in the private market, with a lot of available dry powder, capital allocated to funds but not yet deployed. As public equities have crashed in value over the past few months many portfolios, with exposure to both public and alternative assets, have become automatically overweight in alternatives, since re-balancing these assets intrinsically takes time.

Many investors may therefore pause before allocating these funds back towards alternatives such as venture capital. However, some will see the immediate opportunity in high-demand growth sectors such as life sciences, digital health and software-based technologies and others will come back over the mid-term, as drivers such as low interest rates and volatile public markets, force investors to look to alternatives, such as private equity and venture, for their returns.

Andrew Elder is deputy managing partner at AlbionVC and manager of the UCL Technology fund

By Portfolio Adviser, 6 Aug 20

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Why alternative assets are a good home in a Covid-19 world - Portfolio Adviser

Alternative treatment for anxiety – Medical News Bulletin

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This post contains affiliate links. When you shop using these links we earn a commission that helps support the website at no extra cost to you allowing us to continue to bring you up to date health and medical news.

Stress is unavoidable. People have their own strategies when coping with loss, grief, trauma, and other stressors. Some may relieve stress through physical activities, journal writing, or hanging out with family and friends; while others seek treatment, which can include alternative treatment for anxiety. Stress and anxiety go hand-in-hand. Anxiety is a normal response to stress resulting in nervousness, worry, and unease. Other symptoms of anxiety involve increased heart rate, breathing rapidly, and insomnia. Unfortunately, stress may appear more severe in individuals with an anxiety disorder that can intensify their mood, existing anxiety, and depression.

Anxiety disorder occurs when an individual possesses irrational fears and experiences frequent, severe anxiety symptoms. The severity can significantly impair their normal daily functioning. Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is the most common type of anxiety disorder.

The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) recommends psychological therapies, as the first line treatment for anxiety. These psychological treatments include relaxation techniques, meditation, biofeedback, and stress management, supportive counselling or family therapy and cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). Current research shows that CBT is the most effective. If the anxiety disorder has no response to psychological therapies, then there are medications that have also been proven effective for treating anxiety.

There has been a recent resurgence of Chinese and Ayurvedic herbs, known as adaptogens, as an alternative treatment for anxiety. Adaptogens are marketed to potentially improve the bodys ability to handle physical or biological stress. However, there is relatively little scientific research on how adaptogens truly work. Dr. Brenda Powel, a co-medical director from the Cleveland Clinics Wellness Institute, quoted from a 2018 Time article, Each adaptogen has a slightly different function, so the best one for you depends on the specific ailment youre experiencing. Theyre meant to bring us back to the middle.

Ashwagandha is one of the most commonly used and extensively studied adaptogens. It is also known as Withania somnifera Dunal, Indian Ginseng or Winter Cherry. Ashwagandha literally means smell of horse. It was believed that the consumption of the herbs extract gives the consumer the strength and vitality similar to a horse! In Ayurvedic medicine, ashwagandha is considered a royal herb for its diverse healing effects on the human bodys nervous system, immune system, energy-production, endocrine system, and reproductive system.

Pharmacological studies have identified the major chemical components that relate to ashwagandhas healing effects. Animal studies have reported that the herb can reduce stress, reduce depression, protect the loss of neurons, and influence sex hormone production.

Ashwagandha human trials are still limited but show promising results, especially in people with anxiety. Recent human studies have revealed that ashwagandha reduces anxiety in adults with GAD and reduces stress hormones (such as cortisol), heart rate, and blood pressure in chronically stressed adults. It must be noted however, that these human studies had a small number of participants and short-term treatment duration.

Two 60-day studies assessed the safety and effectiveness of ashwagandha extract in reducing stress, anxiety and depression in adults, aged 18 to 65 years. Both studies evaluated stress levels using stress-assessment questionnaires.

A recent study determined the safety and effectiveness of ashwagandha extract in patients with insomnia and anxiety.

Overall, ashwagandha has the potential to safely and effectively improve stress and overall well-being. It is also a potential natural treatment for reducing anxiety, depression, and insomnia. Healthy adults using ashwagandha have reported good tolerability with no significant side effects. Future research with larger and diverse sample sizes and long-term duration of treatment will reveal a more robust understanding of the effects of Ashwagandha and its use as an alternative treatment for anxiety. If you are planning to start herbal supplements with other medications, it is important to consult with your doctor before starting. Herbal supplements may have the potential to interact with other medications.

Written by, Manuel Bangsil, PharmD, MBA, BCMAS

References:

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Alternative treatment for anxiety - Medical News Bulletin

On this day: August 6 – Metro Newspaper UK

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Todays birthdays

Andy Warhol, pop artist (pictured), died 1987

Sir Chris Bonington, mountaineer, 86

Barbara Windsor, actress, 83

Ron Davies, Welsh politician, 74

Oliver Tobias, actor, 73

Reece Dinsdale, actor, 61

Michelle Yeoh, actress, 58

M. Night Shyamalan, film director, 50

Geri Halliwell, singer-songwriter/actress, 48

Leslie Odom Jr, actor, 39

Robin van Persie, footballer, 37

1504: Matthew Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury, was born. He had an extremely long nose and was extremely inquisitive, hence the expression Nosey Parker

1637: The first Poet Laureate, Ben Jonson, died in poverty

1844: The first press telegram in Britain was sent to The Times, announcing the birth of Prince Alfred to Queen Victoria

1859: Worth a guinea a box appeared on Beechams Powders packets the first known advertising slogan

1881: Alexander Fleming, Scottish bacteriologist who discovered penicillin, was born

1889: The Savoy Hotel in London opened

1890: Murderer Walter Kemmler was the first man to die in the electric chair, at Auburn Prison, New York

1932: The first film festival was held in the Hotel Excelsior, Venice

1945: The first atomic bomb was dropped, on Hiroshima, Japan, from a B29 bomber Enola Gay (pictured)

1962: Jamaica gained independence after being a British colony for more than 300 years

1990: The UN Security Council imposed economic sanctions on Iraq, ruled by Saddam Hussein, for its invasion of Kuwait four days earlier.

2011: A march in protest of the death of Mark Duggan in Tottenham, sparked a wave of rioting.

2012: NASAs robotic vehicle Curiosity landed on Mars and soon began transmitting images of the planets surface.

Puzzles have become big. Were all sitting on the floor around the table where the puzzle is now permanently set up and then we sit down for dinner and we talk some more former first lady Michelle Obama (pictured), speaking on staying at home during lockdown

Always go with your passions. Never ask yourself if its realistic or not Author and alternative-medicine advocate Deepak Chopra

Originally posted here:

On this day: August 6 - Metro Newspaper UK

The Golden Rule: Treat Others the Way You Want to Be …

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The golden rule is a moral principle which denotes that you should treat others the same way you would like to be treated yourself. For example, the golden rule suggests that if you would like people to treat you with respect, then you should make sure to treat them with respect too.

The golden rule is an important philosophical principle, which has been formulated in various ways by many different groups throughout history, and which can be used to guide your actions in a variety of situations. As such, in the following article you will learn more about the golden rule, see how it can be refined, and understand how you can implement it in practice.

The golden rule can be formulated in three main ways:

Different people tend to be exposed to different forms of the golden rule to a different degree, based on factors such as the predominant religion in their society.

However, all these forms of the golden rule revolve around the same underlying concept and around the same underlying intention. Namely, all forms of the golden rule aim to help you treat others better, by using the way you yourself would want to be treated as a guide of how to behave.

Note: in some cases, the negative form of the golden rule is referred to as the silver rule, though this distinction isnt always made. In addition, the general concept of the golden rule is sometimes also referred to as the ethic of reciprocity. Finally, in some contexts, the term golden rule is used to refer to an important rule or principle in a certain field (for example the golden rule of engineering), rather than to the golden rule in the context of morality.

There are many examples of ways in which the golden rule can be implemented, in its various forms. For example:

The underlyingprinciplebehind the golden rule has been proposed in many different formulations throughout history, by various individuals and groups.

For instance, many philosophers proposed variations of this concept, as you can see in the following examples:

That character is best that doesnt do to another what isnt good for itself. Zoroaster, Persia (circa 500 BC)

What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others. Confucius, China (circa 500 BC)

We should conduct ourselves toward others as we would have them act toward us. Aristotle, Greece (circa 350 BC)

What you shun enduring yourself, attempt not to impose on others. Epicetus, Greece (circa 150 AD)

To do as one would be done by, and to love ones neighbour as oneself, constitute the ideal perfection of utilitarian morality. John Stuart Mill, England (1861)

Similarly, the golden rule has also been featured in various formulations by many different religions:

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. (Christianity)

That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. That is the entire Law; all the rest is commentary. (Judaism)

No one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother that which he desires for himself. (Islam)

Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful. (Buddhism)

This is the sum of duty: do naught unto others which would cause you pain if done to you. (Hinduism)

Keep in mind that many of these variants of the golden rule are translations from versions of it in other languages, such as the Latin quod tibi non vis fieri, alteri ne feceris, which can be translated as do not do to another what you do not want to be done to you.

In addition, keep in mind that the exact origins and phrasing of some of these quotes remain unclear. Nevertheless, the main takeaway from these varied examples is the fact that the underlying concept behind the golden rule was prevalent among a diverse range of groups throughout history.

When it comes to morality and ethics, there are various concepts that are closely associated with the golden rule.

The most notable of these concepts is Kants categorical imperative, which states that you should act only according to that maxim whereby you can, at the same time, will that it should become a universal law, meaning that you should only take action if you would be willing to have everyone else act in the same way.

Another such concept is referred to as Clarkes Rule of Equity, and states that Whatever I judge reasonable or unreasonable that another should do for me, that by the same judgment I declare reasonable or unreasonable that I should in the like case do for him.

The main criticism that people mention when it comes to the golden rule, and particularly when it comes to its implementation in practice, is the fact that the golden rule suggests that others would like to be treated the same way you would like to be treated, which is not necessarily true.

This can lead to problematic situations, where one person might mistreat someone else under the guidance of the golden rule. For example, this problem could lead someone to make an overt romantic gesture toward someone that isnt interested in it, simply because the person making the gesture wishes that someone would do the same for them.

This issue has been described by writer George Bernard Shaw, who famously said:

Do not do unto others as you would that they should do unto you. Their tastes may be not be the same.

However, while this issue is important to take into consideration, it doesnt invalidate the potential benefits of the golden rule, and its something that can be accounted for by refining this rule.

Essentially, based on this criticism, there are two main issues with the golden rule:

To avoid these issues, the golden rule can be refined into a variant of it which is called the platinum rule, and which states that you should treat others the way they themself would like to be treated. Simply put, the platinum rule means that instead of assuming that other people want to be treated the same way you do, you should make sure to discover how people actually want to be treated, and then treat them that way.

Note: the platinum rule is sometimes referred to by other names, such as thecopper rule.

Another notable criticism of the golden rule is the fact that, in certain situations, its application can lead to undesirable outcomes, when it conflicts with other guiding principles.

For example, if someone is convicted of a crime and sentenced to prison, the golden rule would suggest that we should let them go, because we would not want to be imprisoned ourselves. This remains the case even if we use the platinum rule, since the prisoner would likely also prefer to avoid going to prison.

However, this issue with the golden rule can be dealt with in a general manner, by viewing this principle as one of several principles that we use to guide our behavior as individuals and as a society.

Specifically, in the example described above, the golden rule would not be enough to prevent that person from going to prison, because most individuals and societies choose to place other laws and ethical principles above the golden rule, while still taking the golden rule into account. This means that they strive to implement the golden rule whenever possible, as long as it doesnt clash with the implementation of a more important concept.

This notion is described, for example, in the writing of philosopher Henry More, who said that:

The Evil you would not have done to your self, you must abstain from doing the same to another, as far as may be done without prejudice to a Third.

In Enchiridion Ethicum (1667), Chap. 4, Noema XV

The basic way to implement the golden rule is relatively straightforward: simply treat other people the way that you yourself would want to be treated.

However, as we saw above, there are potential issues with this approach, and accounting for them will allow you to implement the golden rule in a more effective manner.

First, when implementing the golden rule, its generally preferable to use the more refined version of it (i.e. the platinum rule). Essentially, this means that you should strive to treat others not necessarily the way that you yourself would want to be treated, but rather in the way that theywant to be treated.

The easiest way to accomplish this is to wait before taking action which involves someone else and ask yourself is this how this person would like to be treated?. If the answer to that question is yes, then proceed. Otherwise, modify your plan of action accordingly, before moving forward.

Keep in mind that from a psychological perspective, we can sometimes struggle to see things from a perspective that is different than our own, due to a cognitive bias known as the egocentric bias, which could make it difficult to implement this version of the golden rule.

If you believe that this is an issue for you, then there are various debiasing techniques that you can use; this includes both general debiasing techniques, such as slowing down your reasoning process, as well as debiasing techniques that are specific to the egocentric bias, such as using self-distancing language.

In addition, when implementing the golden rule, its important to remember that this rule is meant to be used as a beneficial rule of thumb, rather than as an absolute law. This means that you should strive to use the golden rule only as long as it doesnt conflict with other guiding moral principles that are more important than it.

For example, if someone wants you to treat them in a way that you know would cause them serious harm, you can refuse to do so, if you believe that avoiding harm in this case is more important than treating them the way they want to be treated.

Note that deciding which principles to prioritize over others can be difficult to do in some situations. Nevertheless, using the golden rule as an initial rule of thumb can be helpful in a variety of situations, both to the people who implement it as well as to those who they implement it toward.

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The Golden Rule: Treat Others the Way You Want to Be ...

Heres Everything You Need To Know To Hold Your Own In Any Group Chat Life Throws Your Way – BroBible

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As we gradually transition into the technocracy that will eventually serve as the foundation for our post-quarantine world, human interaction continues to evaporate. Interpersonal communication had already been hit with some pretty brutal body blows over the past few decades thanks to email, cellphones, and other forms of technology that allowed us to greatly reduce the amount of real conversations required to function, but the widespread use of Zoom and FaceTime during a pandemic that made six feet the standard unit of personal space was a devastating blow to the jaw it may never recover from.

Not everyone is happy about this development but I honestly couldnt be more thrilled. Sure, Ive known some of my best friends since middle school but that doesnt mean Im even remotely comfortable interacting with them when we meet up. Theyre also human beings, which means its in their very nature to judge and criticize me at every opportunity and do so in an even harsher manner than a random stranger would because they view me as a friend. There arefartoo many uncontrollable variables that can come into play during an in-person conversation, and now that Ive experienced a reality where I am the God of the domain where my end of the exchange takes place, I dont know if I can ever go back to how things used to be.

However, I might be even more partial to another alternative that rose to prominence in the earlier part of the previous decade, one that eliminates virtually every undesirable element from the equation so people are forced to focus on what youre actually saying as opposed to the three chins you appear to have thanks to a combination of crappy lighting and the worlds most unflattering angle. Im talking, of course, about one of the greatest inventions in the history of mankind: the group chat.

For the uninitiated, group chats are a modern marvel that allow people to tell themselves theyre being social without ever having to leave the comfort of their own home and subsequently grants them the luxury of avoiding all of the awkward exchanges they wouldve encountered if the discussion had transpired with all of the participants in the same physical location.

As a strong, independent INTJ, group chats are probably the best thing that have ever happened to me, as you get to hang out with your buddies and strengthen your friendships but the only physical exertion required is moving your thumb around a screen. Its the best of both worlds. There are some lunatics out there who seem to needto physically be around people to thrive, which I get (well, not really), but thats just not my style.

If you want a bit more insight into how my brain works when it comes to the social aspects of life, comedian Mark Normand managed to sum it up better than I ever could.

The group chat was basically invented for people with that frame of mind. You can carefully engineer all of your comments and respond on your own time, essentially eliminating the need to improv on the spot like you would if during an in-person interaction, which far too often results in you having to apologize for something you said the next day.

Group chats are also easily the best option when it comes to communicating with friends you mightve had previously been forced to text individually. Do people even still text one-on-one? That seems like it could only go poorly. How would you even end the conversation? I always feel like I need to say the last thing or Im going to feel like Ive somehow lost a competition that doesnt exist.

However, group chats are also littered with opportunities to embarrass yourself if you dont know what youre doing. If you approach them the same way as an email, an individual text, or a face-to-face exchange, youre going to come off like an absolute psycho.

So what do you need to know about proper group chat protocol? How do you handle yourself in different situations? What do you do when you find yourself in one you want to escape? Luckily for you, I have ample experience in this territory and Ive decided to share my wealth of knowledge to help people navigate these occasionally murky social waters.

The first thing you need to understand is that all group chats are not created equal. Youll likely find yourself using them to interact with best friends, immediate family, college friends, extended family, high school friends, co-workers, old co-workers, and similarly defined groups at some point in time. Youll mostly harness them to communicate with your closest family members and the people in your various friend groups, but there are some sadly inevitable occasions where your aunt will use the chat that was used to coordinate the food everyone was bringing to the Fourth of July three years ago to ask a personal question about the ointment she suggested for that, um, problem you told her about, resulting in an awkward parade of HaHa reactions from your closest relatives.

You likely have at least a couple of group chats that see at least a little bit of action on a daily basis, and once youre locked into them, it shouldnt take long to get a feel for the various archetypes that are represented in almost every single oneincluding three youll encounter more often than any other.

Its worth noting there arent many people who will fall exclusively under one of these umbrellas and there may be some days where theyll suddenly be in an entirely different category. It happens; people take Adderall, feel that euphoric rush, and feel compelled to type a novel concerning the itinerary for the upcoming trip with the boys and then go radio silent for a week after it wears off.

With that said, there are three distinct levels of activity that you can use when it comes to evaluating the contributions of almost every participant.

This guy is always starting conversations, responding to others, and reacting to every single text and development. If hes not actively involved in a conversation for more than 10 minutes, you should call 911 because something is probably seriously wrong.

Also, this person is almost always single.

As a proud, longtime member of this group, I think I can shed some valuable light on what makes us tick. People in this category constantly feel like they are bothering the group with their endless stream of random texts, but because they dont have a girlfriend they can annoy with mundane shit, other people end up being subjected to it. Every once in a while, they scroll through old conversations and realize there is a truly disproportionate amount of blue (or green, if you have a friend with an Android you somehow havent disowned) and resolve to chill with the texting only to inevitably relapse in less than 24 hours.

I dont want to psych anyone out, but if youre in this category, the people in the following two probably have their own group chat where the primary topic of conversation is your inability to shut the fuck up. If you keep trying to clean things up but cant follow through, maybe thatll give you some motivation.

This is pretty straightforward. This guy almost never initiates a conversation, but once someone else does, theyll happily contribute to the discussion until they feel its run its course or they find something more interesting to do in real life. This person almost always has a girlfriend, because he is willing to talk but rarely feels the need to spark a dialogue because he can bounce whatever he needs to get off his chest with bae.

You can always rely on this guy to bring something to the tablejust dont expect him to set it or youre going to be hungry as hell.

You rarely find a person under the age of 30 who fits this bill because being hopelessly addicted to technology is just kind of something most members of younger generations have accepted is a defining aspect of their existence.

Now, this guy is a pragmatist who only gets in on the action when he has a very good reason to. If he sends a text, its because he viewed whatever he shared as essential information. Hes basically the parent of the chat who doesnt have time for any of the juvenile nonsense everyone else is frequently engaged in. However, every now and then, hell let his hair down and come out of the clouds with a joke no one saw coming and you will never see the chat as fired up than during those rare moments.

In addition to those universally recognized archetypes, there are also a number of unwritten rules that govern the group chat worldlike this ancient adage:

Ive never actually been part of that kind of subchat, but after spending eight years familiarizing myself with the ones that spawn them, Ive identified several unspoken laws everyone should abide byrules that I have broken on countless occasions over that span but which I am nonetheless aware of and that you should be as well.

This may as well be the Golden Rule of group chats: respond to others the way you want to be responded to. If youre coming into the chat with a funny story or hypothetical scenario that you know will spark a heated debate, the least you can do is acknowledge the response youre blatantly steering the conversation away from.

You dont have to spend too much time on the segue but you should at least toss an Emphasize or Thumbs up to the previous message, even if youre basically just saying, Hey guys, Mikey said this earlier. We all saw it and ignored it because it was stupid, so I am now moving on to something much less shitty.

The exception to this rule is if the last text was a natural end to a conversation more than one person participated in. If thats the case, youre good to go, but if youre sharing some wild stat you stumbled across after someone else informed everyone their grandma died only to be met with crickets, you need to react with a thumbs down so they know A) you saw it and B) you dislike their grandma dying.

Once thats taken care of, you can send that Did you guys know that Barry Bonds set the record for intentional walks with a number thats higher than the combined total of the players in second and third place? text that will inevitably garner a much better reception than that downer that preceded it.

Major Talkers are the label I use to describe the individuals who fall into the first of the three major categories previously discussed; the ones who crave human interaction as much as everyone else wants him to find love so they dont get a notification every hour.

As I mentioned above, one of the worst parts about earning this reputation is that you feel compelled to frequently contribute because you know people will become concernedor even worse: disrespectedif you suddenly go dark. If youre the dude who barely talks, you can keep your interactions to a minimum and no one notices or cares. Those people can occasionally ramp up production and scale back without any issue, but once youve established yourself as a Major Talker, you can never be anything else.

I know some of you may be thinking, Well, what if youre not near your phone? Its a valid question. People actually have jobs and personal issues to attend to that require them to put their phones down from time to time (or at least thats what Im told. I cant say Ive ever let real life get in the way of my sworn duties). If you encounter such a scenario as a Major Talker, youre obliged to make up for lost time with a flurry of responses to all of the messages you missed.

Will it annoy the hell out of everyone? Yes, but youre a Major Talker. Annoyance isthedefining aspect of your existence. You might as well embrace it.

This is similar to the Golden Rule, but while that simply applies to the next person to respond to something no one cared about, everyone has to adhere to this. You can ignore a shitty story or a dumb joke, but when someone throws in a YouTube video, a TikTok, or a link to something described as a great read, someone needs to hit them with an lol, or damn, good stuff, or some other perfunctory response in the timeliest manner possible

You dont even have to watch or read whatever it is they took the time to share because they thought it might provide you with some enjoyment. In order to avoid arousing suspicion with an unrealistically prompt response, you should probably click the link so you can see the length of the video you were expected to sit through or how long it wouldve taken you to read the article you rapidly scrolled through instead, but thats the extent of the effort you have to exert.

Now, these scenarios feature a bit of a conundrum concerning collective obligation that economics majors such as myself instantly recognize as being a textbook example of the free-rider problem (at least I think thats what its called; I graduated with a 2.3 GPA so there is a very good chance Im wrong). The term refers to a phenomenon thats frequently observed when a group of people is given a task that can be completed by a single individual only for everyone to assume someone else will take care of it, meaning it either gets put off for longer than necessary or simply never gets done at all.

As a result, the onus is on you to pull the trigger if no one else has by the time it comes to your attention. Youll provide whoever youre responding to with some gratification at no real cost to yourself and earn the appreciation of everyone else you took the pressure off of with your reply.

If someone gets engaged, lands a promotion, has a kid, or shares any kind of news society has deemed exciting, you need to take the time to craft a thoughtful response to acknowledge it. Choosing from the lineup of default reactions isnt going to cut it here.

There is nothing I would love more than to just Emphasize! the text concerning the second promotion my friend as gotten since I became unemployed and hope he understands Im trying to say, I hate you with every fiber of my being, but I cant. We are living in a society!

A group chat is like Mecca, a psychiatrists office, and a Planet Fitness all rolled into one; its a sacred place, a safe space, and a judgment-free zone. Simply alluding to the information thats shared inside that sanctum with someone outside of it is a grave violation of trust and it should go without saying that sharing a screenshot or *gasp* allowing an outsider to scroll through a chat is grounds for immediate expulsion.

Its almost like the code inThe Matrix: the uninitiated might recognize the symbols on the screen but theyre impossible to understand unless youre privy to the code necessary to interpret what is really being said. Its easy for someone to read dozens of texts concerning scenarios where pooping in the shower is acceptable and jump to some ill-formed conclusions without being able to supplement them with years of context and inside jokes. Would some of those conclusions still be accurate nonetheless? Probably, but they dont know whichones theyd be right about which is really all that matters in the end.

Finally, if a group chat ever reaches a point where it earns the highest honor that can be bestowed upon onegetting its own nameit is your duty to never reveal the meaning behind it to any prying minds that might inquire. Not only is it like giving away the password to your secret club, its likely some obscure reference youll spend way too long explaining and theyll ultimately just awkwardly respond, Umsure? and quickly steer the conversation in another direction.

Thats basically all you have to know to hold your own in a group chat, but before we wrap this up, there is one major dark side I alluded to earlier that I feel obligated to address.

A couple of years ago, my core group of friends teamed up with some people outside of our primary chat to rent a beach house, which theyve stayed at for the past two summers. If you remember my previous article related to that topic, you know I am not the biggest fan of the beach, whichin addition to my negative bank account balanceis why Ive declined to go in on either occasion.

However, I have visited for a few days each year, which I guess made them think it would be a good idea to add me to their chat in what may have been the most misguided friendly gesture in human history. It. Is. Miserable. I have never reacted or responded. Im justthere. I normally view myself as a hybrid of the first two archetypes I outlined, but in this scenario, Im the most extreme example of the third one that youll ever encounter.

Its been especially rough this year because they all made the decision to isolate together within walking distance of the ocean, meaning I regularly get woken up by late-night texts about their drunken hijinks because Im currently living with my parents and go to bed at 10 PM because Ive found sleep is the most effective cure for my boredom.

But what am I supposed to do? Leave? Why? So they can all get the Tj Francis left the chat notification that signifies its open season for roasting me harder than they probably already have been in the actual conversations within the non-virtual group chat that is the beach house? Hardpass. Theyll also have no way of knowing why I left, which will likely lead to multiple people texting me variations of, Dude, whats the deal? Ive already made it clear how I feel about individual conversations so thats basically off the table.

So, Im stuck between a rock and a hard place. At this point, its either leave and deal with the fallout or stay in the chat and feel like a complete loser as I see them having fun and living life as I do the exact opposite. Every time I get a new notification, I debate leaving but I can never force myself to follow through thanks to my crippling fear of the unknown (yes, I have it muted, but Im not one of the lunatics who canjust go through life with red bubbles reminding me about the 37 texts and 45,689 emails Ive ignored).

I think the best solution here would be for Apple to get its shit together and allow you to disable the notification informing everyone else in the chat you abandoned that youre a spineless coward but I guess thats a bit too tall of an order for a trillion-dollar company to tackle.

I understand this is a lot of information to process, but above all, theres nothing more important than understanding your place in a chat and knowing what you bring to the table. If you can keep those unwritten rules in mind and just have some self-awareness, you should be able to avoid making any disastrous mistakes you cant recover fromunless you end up in Group Chat Jail. In that case, good fucking luck.

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Heres Everything You Need To Know To Hold Your Own In Any Group Chat Life Throws Your Way - BroBible

Five maps that show spread of Hezbollah activity – The National

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Hezbollah is stockpiling weapons around the globe in preparation for a new terror offensive, a US presidential security adviser has disclosed.

The warning from Kash Patel, deputy assistant to the president for counter-terrorism at the US National Security Council, comes as a new map of the terror groups plots, financing and global reach has been released online.

The golden rule of Hezbollah, and the key to its success, was the less you know the better, said Dr Matthew Levitt, the creator of the Lebanese Hezbollah Select Worldwide Activity map.

Mr Levitt hoped the research tool, which includes almost 1,000 entries on Hezbollah's activities since the 1980s, would punch a hole in the secrecy around the terror group.

The former FBI agent and other US intelligence officials were clear that the extremists were using Europe as a centre to raise funds and recruits for its political wing and the war in Syria.

The section with the most recent entries is the "Finance and Logistics" tab, which highlights fund-raising reports in European countries including Germany, Austria, Belgium and the Balkan states.

It appears that the cash is coming from many varied and lucrative operations, nearly all of them criminal.

They range from stolen cars, sometimes packed with drugs from South America, to money laundering and false charity donations.

The cash is needed to fund Hezbollahs political wing in Lebanon and the comfortable lifestyle of its senior commanders, who have shown an ability to become rich at the end of a gun.

What also becomes clear from the map is Hezbollahs global reach, potentially through the Lebanese diaspora that extends from Chile in South America to Angola and Ethiopia, and on to China, Japan and Australia.

Mr Levitt has unravelled a well-structured organisation that permeates the criminal world while hiding in plain sight.

He has now created a tool that will allow government agencies, journalists and politicians to view, at a couple of clicks, the extent of the organisation.

The map also establishes that for now, at least, Hezbollah has set aside its bombings, hijackings and kidnappings outside the Middle East for a bigger cash prize to be had in Europe.

With the continuing war in Syria, it can still answer the military urge of younger supporters by sending them off to battle but it is the smart business model that is paying dividends.

Washington is clearly irritated that only Britain among major European powers has fully proscribed Hezbollah as a terror group.

Its view is that continental Europe has allowed itself to become a comfortable place to raise funds, which is possibly why, as the map shows, there has been little military activity there in recent years.

Hezbollah chiefs are reluctant to kill the golden goose.

This is what frustrates advisers such as Mr Patel.

Hezbollah is actively plotting and stockpiling weapons for terrorist attacks around the world, including in Europe, he said at the map launch.

Only Kosovo has followed Britains lead. Mr Patel encourages other European states to designate Hezbollah a terrorist group and shut down its terrorist activities.

With Irans funding dropping to $700 or $800 million as sanctions bite, and low oil prices and the coronavirus pandemic have an impact, now was the time to clamp down, he said.

Updated: August 5, 2020 02:06 AM

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Five maps that show spread of Hezbollah activity - The National

38 Rules ‘Dancing With the Stars’ Contestants Have to Follow – GoodHousekeeping.com

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There's something extremely entertaining about seeing Buzz Aldrin do the cha-cha and Michael Bolton dressed in ruffles and that's exactly why Dancing With the Stars has remained a staple on ABC for the past 28 seasons. But what goes into the stars getting to compete for the Mirrorball Trophy? From the grueling rehearsals to the makeup guidelines that often get pushback, we're breaking down all of the rules the Dancing With the Stars competitors have to follow.

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You have to get an offer from the casting director.

Deena Katz works as the show's executive talent producer and her job is to seek out the most interesting stars for the show. In Hollywood, DWTS is now seen as a great career move and celebrities clamor to get cast on it. "For your marketing, for your career, this is like Willy Wonka's golden ticket," Katz told Slate.

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You don't have to be a trending celebrity.

Sometimes the cast of DWTS reads like a crazy dinner party from a dream. That's because Katz purposefully includes a mix of celebrities from across the entire pop culture zeitgeist. She chooses nostalgia picks, people in the news, and even people who "the idea of them dancing makes you laugh," Katz told Slate.

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Being a fan could help you get cast.

The show looks for celebrities who are fans of the show when scouting for potential contestants. This move increases the odds that the star will sign on and helps assure a good attitude during the process.

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You aren't locked into the show after the cast reveal.

With all the fanfare that goes into announcing the DWTS cast, one would think that the contestants would be locked into an iron-clad deal by the big reveal. Nope. There are always loop holes in show business that keep stars from actually filming.

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You can (but shouldn't!) drop out at the last minute.

"Vincent Pastore was the guy from The Sopranos and was rehearsing with Edyta Sliwinska but had heart issues, so that's when John Ratzenberger joined. And Mark McGrath dropped out and Rocco DiSpirito came in," Katz told Galmour. Producers even say some stars have kept them guessing if they were going to show until right before filming started.

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Some stars are cast as a backup.

In the event that a celebrity contestant doesn't show up, the show usually has a backup star who can take their place. When producers were afraid Master P wasn't going to show, they had Kill Bill star David Carradine rehearsed and ready to go in a trailer on set, just in case.

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There's no disclosed age limit.

Dancing with the Stars has never disclosed an age limit and the youngest contestant to ever compete was a 14 year old Willow Shields. ABC also produced a spin-off show, Dancing With the Stars: Juniors, for child stars and children of celebrities.

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You're matched with a pro dancer strategically.

Ever wonder how the DWTS pairings come to be? Showrunner Rob Wade told E! News it's a simple formula, "based on height, build and personality and compatibility."

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Producers make sure partners like each other.

After all, the stress and rigor of live ballroom dancing is enough to serve up plenty of drama for the cameras. "We don't pair people who aren't going to get on. It's too intense. It's not like The Bachelor or something, we couldn't do that," Wade told E! News. "You don't want to see two people who don't like each other."

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Cast romances are encouraged.

Romances between contestants are a big topic of debate on DWTS and producers love them, because they help generate buzz for the show. While a host of legitimate relationships have come out of the reality show, most of the flings fade with the spotlight.

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You don't get to choose your dancing partner.

"There are some celebs that have wishes, and we always say we can't guarantee," Katz told Glamour. In the end though, the producers have the final say.

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Dancers don't get to choose their star either.

Although fans think they've spotted trends in partners why are Mark Ballas's partners always young? the professional dancers have no input on who they compete with.

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Producers choose the music for the dances.

According to Kym Johnson, the dancers are allowed to suggest songs at the beginning of the season, but since there are so many pairs to coordinate performances with, producers take the lead on deciding who will dance to what.

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You can't choose the theme either.

Whether it's cha-cha night or all about Disney, the teams don't pick the themes and they vary from season to season.

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If you're part of the cast, you'll get paid.

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You can compete for bonus payments.

How do stars make more than their $125,000 signing bonus? Their paycheck increases the more they advance on the show, with finalists earning up to $50,000 for the final two episodes. This creates an incentive to keep stars committed to the competition.

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Dancers don't get paid as much as the stars.

It's been reported that the professional dancers make close to $5,200 per episode, which adds up to about $100,000 per season.

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You have to practice seven days a week.

DWTS has a reputation for having a demanding rehearsal schedule and, according to former Olympian Amy Purdy, there are "no days off." Celebrities meet and rehearse with their partner every day to prepare for the Monday night live show.

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You have to use the show's hair and makeup teams.

The show receives a lot of pushback on this rule. "Women have had this fear about [wanting] to have their own hair and makeup artists, but you can't have that here. Our team is award-winning and fantastic. Kirstie Alley had a really hard time with it and really fought it. Now Kirstie uses our makeup artist for her. I get that fear, but they just have to take a leap with all of it. We promise they're going to look great," Katz told Glamour.

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Contestants have to get spray tans every week.

The show's rumored "Spray Tan Sundays" are all too real, as the show's head makeup artist, Courtney Zena Shteysel, revealed. Each contestant gets bronzed from head to toe once a week in preparation for taping.

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The same rule applies to wardrobe.

The wardrobe team is award-winning and is specially versed in ballroom dancing costumes. Because of this, the show insists that all wardrobe decisions are made by their team.

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You have to be flexible with wardrobe.

Former dancing pro Tony Dovolani says that costumes usually aren't finished until an hour before the show. "People don't get to wear their costumes until dress rehearsal," Tony told Glamour. "There are alterations being made from dress rehearsal until the live show."

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You have to arrive early the morning of the live show.

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The dress rehearsal is mandatory.

This is when producers and the show's director make sure that the show is mapped out the way they want.

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Producers can change anything in a performance.

During the dress rehearsal, producers and the director have control over the performance and are allowed to tweak any aspect of it, which could mean anything from wardrobe to lighting changes.

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Celebrities are expected to contribute to the choreography.

While the pro dancers take the lead, celebrities aren't just along for the ride. Both team members are expected to contribute which often ends up being a great source of drama on the show.

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For the group number, stars don't get a say.

The group opening number that fans have come to love is choreographed by an on-staff head choreographer. Contestants don't have any say in the creative direction for this dance and are required to participate each week.

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You have to give an interview after every performance.

As soon as the team steps off of the dance floor, they're thrown in front of the camera for an interview. While it may be a welcome distraction for some of the stars, as they wait for their scores to be determined, it's also necessary for the show to get their reactions to their performance.

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Producers have control over the storylines.

Although some claim that the show is faked or fixed by producers, showrunner Rob Wade insists that they merely follow emerging storylines that develop from the contestants. To do this, producers keep a close eye on whats going on with each team and build on any potential drama.

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You have to be willing to share on camera.

The show's producers told Glamour that there's a lot that doesn't make it onto TV, but the stars opening up to viewers is one of the key parts of the show. "You have to open yourself up to the process. Seeing Maks [Chmerkovskiy] at his most vulnerable with Meryl [Davis] made people want to see his journey," executive producer Joe Sungkur said.

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38 Rules 'Dancing With the Stars' Contestants Have to Follow - GoodHousekeeping.com