Westworld is undoubtedly one of the most complex shows of our time.With the show being on hiatus for almost two years, people are likely to need a refresher as to where we last left off. So, here we are, trying to do our best to recap the sophomore season of Westworld.

While the show is getting a soft reboot in the new season and will be branching out to the real world (or is it just another simulation?), we spent almost all of our time last season in the park. We saw an uprising of hosts which resulted in a brutal slaughter of both the hosts and humans. Some of the hosts made it to the Valley Beyond, aka The Sublime, a digital sanctuary for hosts where they can lead a peaceful life, free from human predators.

And while the season 2 finale saw Thandie Newtons Maeve who is probably the only host who can pose a threat to Dolores getting decommissioned in the end (we cant wait to see where the queen will find herself next), it was not before she made sure that her beloved daughter made it to the Valley.

Doloress dearly beloved, Teddy (James Marsden) and Akecheta (Zahn McClarnon) also made it to the valley in the finale.

The end of Season 2 also saw Evan Rachel Woods Dolores escaping the park, as she entered the human world (or maybe just another simulation?) to endhuman dominance once and for all.

To escape, she disguised herself as a synthetic double of Tessa Thompsons Charlotte Hale, who was in charge of the park following Anthony Hopkins Fords death.

The real Charlotte Hale was already killed by Dolores herself a while ago. We also see Luke Hemsworths Ashley Stubbs, who was the head of the park security, helping her in her escape. The creators later revealed that Stubbs is a host created by Ford himself.

Dolores also managed to take five digitized balls with her, which contains the essence and psyches of some other hosts and could be used in different host bodies.

Dolores is using the android version of Hale as her insider within Delos, as she continues her role as an executive of the company. Although we still dont know who is inside her and we cannot wait to find out.

Jeffrey Wrights Bernard has always been conflicted between hosts and humans; after all, for so long, he thought that he was a human. During the season finale, we found out that Charlores killed Bernard, but later, he was brought back into the real world by Dolores. She explains that his presence is vital to her plan even though they will have to be enemies (seriously though??? What is up with that? We cant wait to find out.)

Ed Harriss The Man in Black, aka William, accidentally killed his daughter, who he thought was just another host and was a part of the mind game that Ford designed for him.

He also faced off against Dolores in the finale, which resulted in him injuring his hand severely and seriously hurting himself. As of now, he is the primary owner of the theme parks and is obsessed with the immortality project and the secrets that the company holds.

But intriguingly enough, in the post-credits scene, we saw him in a psychological prison just like the one where the younger William (Jimmi Simpson) used to interview Delos, being interviewed by a version of his daughter.

Meanwhile, we also found out that Delos real objective was to monitor the guests and collect their psyche data that is part of their larger and vital project, immortality itself.

Westworld Season 3 airs Sundays on HBO, Aaron Paul is the latest addition to the already star-studded cast of this superhit series.

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Westworld series refresher, what you need to know before season 3 - Show Snob

In the wake of the issue that has hit the advertising industry, the AAAI has come up with an idea to protect an agency's creative ideas.

Alan Moore, in his novel 'V for Vendetta', wrote, Behind this mask, there is more than just flesh. Beneath this mask, there is an idea... and ideas are bulletproof.

Truer words have never been spoken. Ideas are, indeed, immortal and endure the best and harshest of times in human existence. But, their immortality doesnt mean that they are immune from theft.

Yes, idea theft. It is one of the worst acts that can take place. One persons original thought is used by someone else, who ends up getting the credit for it, too. Unfortunately, the advertising industry has been a victim of this crime many times.

For instance, when Ariel released its latest ad from its long-running Share the Load campaign in March 2020, Mayank Arora, an assistant manager - social media (new Supply) at Swiggy, spoke out on social media, claiming idea theft. He said the ad was based on his insight that he had presented to an agency as a test.

In response, BBDO India, the makers of the ad, stated that they didnt have any dealings with Arora. Josy Paul, chief creative officer at BBDO India, said, "We did not meet him or give him an assignment or test. He did not present or mail anything to us. We did not work with any 'digital agency' in the conceptualisation and creation of the idea and script. The idea was originated, developed, scripted and created in-house by talent that work full time at BBDO India on the Ariel brand. Every year, we unravel a new truth about inequality at home, that no one has spoken about before. Thats what we did this year, too."

This is just one example. Unfortunately, idea theft is rampant in the industry, especially during the time of pitching, when several agencies present their creative ideas to clients.

According to a report in ETBrandEquity on March 19, 2020, the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI), keeping this issue in mind, is in the process of developing a digital locker.

Hosted on AAAI's website, agencies can upload the creatives (or ideas) that theyve created for pitches. Once confirmed, a certificate will be issued to the agencies as proof of work.

This idea was presented to agencies because, despite not choosing to work with a particular client on a project, they (the agencies) end up seeing the clients use their ideas.

In 2019, Ogilvy India (part of WPP) took smartphone maker Vivo and creative agency Dentsu Impact to court over allegations of plagiarism. According to Ogilvy India, Vivos new ad, made by Dentsu Impact (part of DAN), was similar to the amusement park storyboard idea shared by Ogilvy Indias Brand David during a pitch.

Also in 2019, production house Matheno Films said it would initiate legal proceedings against Citi, claiming the latter's Diwali ad 'Spread More Cheer This Diwali' resembled their 2017 film 'Cup of Tea'.

The digital locker idea may help clamp down on idea thefts, which hurts a lot of agencies on the creative as well as the financial side.

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AAAI enters the scene in order to prevent idea thefts - afaqs

I read with interest your editorial (The Guardian view on poetry for dark times: add Wordsworth to the stockpile, 16 March) the day after my wife and I had taken a walk on Hampstead Heath to have a break from our self-imposed isolation. On the slope in front of Kenwood House we came upon Wordsworths host of golden daffodils and a magnolia tree in full bloom. This was the spot where, 40 years ago, our daughters played as children. Recalling that this year is the 250th anniversary of Wordsworths birth, on returning home I penned this mock-Romantic poem, titled Far from the Madding Crowd, Lonely as a Cloud, for our daughters and granddaughters:

As we wandered far from the madding crowdWith Hardy thoughts and Worthy wordsAll at once appeared a golden cloudof daffodils upon the sward.The greenwood tree upon the slopewhere once two little children playedIn magnolia blossom now arrayedmay still recall their childhood games And perhaps, also their names.

Not until I read the editorial was I reminded of the romantic poets fascination with the mysterious intensity of childhood.Mike FaulknerLondon

Surely the most apposite lines of Wordsworths poetry for our era of climate crisis is the stanza from his Intimations of Immortality:

The Rainbow comes and goes, /And lovely is the Rose, / The Moon doth with delight, / Look round her when the heavens are bare, / Waters on a starry night, / Are beautiful and fair, / The sunshine is a glorious birth; / But yet I know, whereer I go, / That there hath past away a glory from the earth.

I often find myself muttering those lines these days as I contemplate the loss of variety in our natural world. Wordsworth didnt know the half of it.Isabella StoneSheffield

Like Suzanne Moore (How do we face coronavirus? Common decency is our only hope, 17 March), I too am rereading Camuss La Peste, which I studied for A-level. Ms Moore quotes the main character, Dr Rieux, as saying its not a question of heroism but a matter of common decency. Interestingly, the original French is honntet and, when asked what he means by that, Rieux replies: in my case it means doing my job. Like Camus noble character in his book, thats exactly what our NHS is doing for us against all odds.Anne AbbottBath

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We're as lonely as a cloud but the Romance isn't dead - The Guardian

The Sims 4 is a life simulation game where the player creates a character and controls their life, going through various personalities and seeing how the game plays out. Most of the challenges in the game are caused by the player, like trying to make a Sims family last for 10 generations.

Since its launch in 2014, the game has received a multitude of expansions that have lengthened its lifespan. They have included everything from career-related expansions to introducing cats and dogs.

RELATED:Sims 4 Cats & Dogs: 15 Best Mods For The Game

With the sheer amount of content and things to donot to mention challengesThe Sims 4 is not a stranger to cheating. But the game doesnt frown on this. In fact, it allows players to cheat their way to wealth, popularity, immortality, love, and more. After a regular playthrough, these cheats help to give the game a measure of replayabilityother than the expansion packs, of course. So, weve taken a look at the 10 most useful cheats in the game.

Like in real life, money in The Sims 4 is something players need to manage. At the start of the game, in particular, most of the available money is needed for basic things like paying the bills and buying groceries. And in some cases, the Sims might hardly have enough money left over to buy luxuries.

RELATED:The Sims 4: 10 Tiny Living Hacks For The Ultimate Micro-Home

For players who want their Sims to live large from the get-go, there are plenty of accommodating cheat codes. They include kaching to get 1,000 simoleons, motherlode to get 50,000 simoleons, and household.autopay_bills [true/false] to turn household bills off or on.

The Sims 4 has designated areas for players to build objects. However, there are still a number of areas that are inaccessible to the player. They might be locked lots or somewhere else. For players who want to build structures anywhere they see, these locked areas might be an inconvenience. So, the game accommodates them by allowing them to enter a cheat code or two and they can gain access to these areas.

The cheats include modebb.moveobjects which lets players put objects wherever they want; bb.enablefreebuild which lets players build anywhere they see; and bb.showhiddenobjects, which lets players buy hidden objects.

Not every Sim is sociable and finds it easy to make friends. In fact, some Sims find it as hard to socialize as some of us might have in real life. This might be intentional from the player, but if its not, theres an easy way to overcome this social awkwardness.

RELATED:Sims 4: All The Worlds, Ranked

The player can simply enter the relationship.introduce_sim_to_all_others cheat code. This will instantly introduce their Sim to all of their neighbors, breaking the ice between them. Another friendship cheat is relationships.create_friends_for_sim. This one spawns a new character who is already friends with the players Sim.

Similar to friendship, romance options in The Sims 4 are not straightforward, and not every player is successful in finding a spouse for their Sim. To help out their sim, they can just use a few cheat codes. One of the best cheats is LTR_Romance_Main. This allows their Sim to have a relationship with another one. Another cheat that players can try is modifyrelationship 'entire Sim name 1' 'entire Sim name 2' 100 ltr_romance_main. This one targets two specific Sims, and it turns the romance level between them to 100% positive.

A players Sim might be in love, in a relationship, or even married. However, they could be taking some time to make a baby. Fortunately, in the world of the Sims, this is hardly a problem. The player can simply enter a series of cheat codes that make a simor even a Ghostpregnant, and in various stages of pregnancy. For instance, sims.add_buff buff_pregnancy_trimester1 makes a Sim or a Ghost pregnant and in their first trimester. However, if a player wants to see a baby right now, sims.add_buff buff_pregnancy_inlabor makes a Ghost or Sim pregnant at term.

There are numerous ways in which a players Sim might die, and some of them are sudden and unexpected. If the player is invested in a certain Sim but they pass away, this doesnt have to remain the case. They can revive their Sim with a simple cheat code. Death.toggle [true/false] is a cheat code that prevents ones Sim from dying throughout their playthrough.

RELATED:Sims 4: 10 Best Packs For Legacy & Family Players, Ranked

But the player can also have some fun with their Sim. For instance, one can turn their Sim into a ghost for a brief period4 in-game hours. The cheat code for this is sims.add_buff Ghostly.

Death is a constant occurrence in The Sims 4, but with the above revival cheats, it doesnt necessarily have to happen. On the flip side, however, the player might wish for the demise of their Sim. And they might be looking for a creative way to die. The game caters even to these players.

The game has a series of cheats that creatively kill ones Sim, like sims.add_buff buff_death_electrocution_warning, which causes a Sim to die while repairing an electrical item. Another creative cheat is sims.add_buff buff_mortified, which causes a Sim to die from embarrassment in a mere five hours.

Sims typically have needs and wants. However, they cannot achieve all their motives at the same time. In fact, some Sims might never fully get all their motives. A simple workaround to this is the cheat code sims.fill_all_commodities. This fills all of their motives. Other cheats worth considering are fillmotive motive_hunger, fillmotive motive_fun, fillmotive motive_energy and fillmotive motive_hygiene, all of which fill specific motives like hunger, fun, energy and hygiene respectively.

RELATED:Sims 4: Secret Cheat Codes for Playstation 4 (& How To Use Them)

To complete the aspirational goal of a Sim, one can also use aspirations.complete_current_milestone. And, for more control over the level of satisfaction their Sim has, the player can decide on the satisfaction points to give them through sims.give_satisfaction_points X.

Not every cheat code is meant to give the Sim an unfair advantage. In fact, some cheat codes are quite helpful if the Sim is stuck somewhere. One such cheat code is resetsim [SimFirstName] [SimLastName]. Another one is Reset Stuck Sim. When a Sim is stuck, both of these cheat codes send them to a location they are able to move freely.

RELATED:Sims 4: 15 Completely Functional Tiny Homes (That Use No Custom Content)

Other cheats include Dirty Object, which makes an object clean; Object, which resets an object; Ground, which teleports the players Sim to a certain location; and Mailbox, which resets the mailbox.

Not every item is visible to the player, and especially not early on in the game. Some players dont mind this because they want a sense of accomplishment as they slowly unlock things in the game. But if its a replay, others might not be so patient. Thats where the Debug Cheats come in.

When TestingCheats is enabled, these are codes that show nearly every object available in the game, whether or not they are functional. For instance, the player might unlock non-functional objects like background houses and undrivable cars. They can also unlock functional objects like public toilets.

NEXT:The Sims 4: 15 Must-Have Mods For Better Gameplay

Next10 Awesome Shadow Of Mordor Mods That Make The Game Even Better

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The 10 Most Useful Sims 4 Cheats, Ranked | TheGamer - TheGamer

[Ed. note: This article contains major spoilers for The Good Place season 4, Altered Carbon season 1, and the Black Mirror episode San Junipero.]

Fiction is filled with depictions of hell. From Buffy the Vampire Slayer to Event Horizon, writers and directors have imagined the horrors of endless torture, and graphically demonstrated the way that experience could break victims body and mind.

Visions of heaven are far rarer. Thats understandable, since fiction is typically built on conflict, and theres a lot less of that in places traditionally defined by peace and goodness. The Buffy spinoff Angel and Amazon Prime Videos adaptation of Good Omens imagine heaven as boring compared to life on Earth, but other works take a much darker view of eternal bliss. The Matrix posited that human minds would reject any paradise that didnt have some form of suffering. And several recent TV shows have delved deeper into the idea, exploring the philosophical and cosmic ramifications of immortality, and how living forever would affect our sense of pleasure.

Pleasure in eternal life was one of the dominant themes of season 1 of Netflixs Altered Carbon, a cyberpunk show set in a future where the ultra-rich use a mix of cloning and alien technology to avoid death. The conceit is primarily used to explore the illusion of upward mobility, as power and wealth stay permanently consolidated in a few peoples hands, while everyone else is condemned to age and die as humanity always has. Yet the writers also posit that even having everything cant save people from their own natures.

After living for hundreds of years, the Meths (named for the long-lived biblical figure Methuselah) have become jaded with typical pleasures. As with Frank Cotton in Hellraiser, their boredom leads them to dark places. Season 1 depicts a party hosted by Laurens Bancroft, one of the oldest and most influential Meths. Its a display of decadence and cruelty, including guests eating a white tiger, and cheering as a married couple fights until one of their bodies is destroyed. During a party game where each guest shows off something unique they brought to the event, one attendee reveals that she put the mind of a death-row inmate in the body of her pet snake, just to see what would happen. She laughs as she explains it broke his mind.

The Meths push the boundaries of morality even further when it comes to finding sexual pleasure. Laurens daughter apparently gets a thrill from having sex in the body of one of her mothers clones. Miriam Bancroft offers a man shes trying to seduce the chance to have sex with several of her clones at once. Laurens himself enjoys sexual sadism, beating and sometimes killing prostitutes, then making it up to them by replacing their bodies with enhanced versions. Its another way the writers get across the shows main theme of the terrible power imbalances caused by wealth. The women consider this a fair transaction, even though being killed is deeply traumatic..

Psychologists have observed a phenomenon called the hedonic treadmill, where something new and exciting might make someone happier for a short period of time, but eventually, theyll revert back to their baseline. The Meths experience the same phenomenon, seeking more dramatic and illicit thrills as they age. Season 1s biggest twist reveals that a high-end brothel is giving the Meths a chance to permanently kill people, and that Laurens was drugged and persuaded to partake of this forbidden pleasure. Confronted by what hes done, he realizes hes lived too long, and that any future pleasure he would achieve would come at too high a cost for others. The only solution was to kill himself.

Altered Carbons writers posit that physical pleasure cant be reasonably sustained over eternity. But what if the pleasure response was removed from the body? Season 2 briefly reveals that some people have renounced physical form to upload their minds into a virtual paradise. This concept is only explored as a subplot of a single episode, so its unclear whether it really is a better solution within the shows world. But another show has explored the concept in more detail: Charlie Brookers Black Mirror, in the episode San Junipero.

In the episode, terminally ill, totally disabled, and physically dead people have uploaded their minds into a virtual realm. San Junipero is a party town where people can live in young, beautiful bodies, have casual sex, drink, dance, play games, and go to the beach. As the episodes ending song makes clear, its meant to be heaven created on Earth.

And yet, as is always the case in episodes of Black Mirror, the technology has darker aspects. Doctors ration how long living patients can spend in the simulation, saying they would go crazy if they spent too much time there. While Altered Carbon just gets into sadism, San Junipero explores the search for pleasure in sadomasochism through the Quagmire, a club that features bondage and people suffocating or assaulting each other.

The episode centers on two women, Yorkie and Kelly, who meet and fall in love in San Junipero and debate whether they should stay together there after they die. Neither believe in a real afterlife, but Yorkie thinks the simulations pleasures are real and worth enjoying. Kelly disagrees, and she has some evidence on her side. She points out that smoking there doesnt taste like anything, and people who have been in San Junipero for a particularly long time tend to pursue more extreme sensations. She tells Yorkie, You want to spend eternity somewhere nothing matters? You want to wind up like all those lost fucks at the Quagmire trying anything just to feel something? Go ahead.

One of the ways Yorkie persuades Kelly to change her mind is by pointing out that she can disconnect whenever she gets bored of their heavenly life together. That solution is also at the core of the representation of a functioning heaven in The Good Place. That show launched by focusing on Eleanor Shellstrop, a selfish woman who winds up in the titular heavenly realm by mistake, then tries to become a better person to avoid being kicked out. But by the end of season 1, viewers learn that she and the other main characters are actually in the Bad Place, being subjected to a new form of psychological torture.

The hedonic treadmill works both ways: people will also become miserable when something bad happens to them, but will eventually adapt to most downturns, and return to their previous state of happiness. The demons in The Good Place have an arsenal of bizarre and terrible tortures, like butthole-spiders and penis-flattening, but those tools have become less effective over time, leaving even the torturers feeling bored and unsatisfied with their jobs. In an inversion of the idea that heaven is dull compared to Earth, they decide that their methods cant compare to the hell that is other people, so they devise a way to let humans eternally torture each other.

Michael Schur gave his series a decidedly humanist and uplifting tone, so his characters actually wind up banding together and becoming better people. Eventually, they earn their spots in the actual Good Place, which turns out to have just as many problems at the Bad Place. After spending centuries or millennia being given everything they could want, the humans there have become pleasure zombies who have lost all the intelligence, curiosity, and desires they had in life. They barely react to the new arrivals. The architects of the Good Place try to fix things by offering up even more impossible pleasures, but their charges dont even know what to ask for.

Thats a more wholesome version of the problem depicted in Altered Carbon and San Junipero, and the solution also remains the same. The Good Place denizens are offered the chance to leave whenever theyre ready. They have eternity to enjoy time with their loved ones, learn new skills, or just read trashy novels. When all those joys lose their luster, they can simply move on to something else a peaceful state fundamentally detached from human consciousness. In the tear-jerking series finale, the shows main characters find all the pleasure they could want, and then seek the ultimate fulfillment by taking one last step into the unknown.

Theres a traditional Jewish folk tale about a king who asks for a ring that will make him happy when he is sad, and sad when he is happy. His trusted advisor realizes that no magic can accomplish this, but he solves the problem by bringing the king an ordinary ring inscribed with the message, This too shall pass. It is a reminder that all pain and pleasure is finite, as is human life itself. That truth can be comforting and terrifying, and its what makes imagining the possibility of eternity so appealing and challenging. The shows currently pondering immortal, eternal joys all conclude that the human mind cant really handle endless pain or endless pleasure, so we should just try to make the most of the time we actually have.

Originally posted here:

How Altered Carbon, The Good Place, and Black Mirror explore eternal pleasure - Polygon

According to one theory in quantum mechanics, you are immortal.

One interpretation of a theory called quantum suicide ironically leads down a train of thought that makes your immortality completely absolute.

Now, we're going to be discussing quantum mechanics here, so try to keep your eyes from glazing over and stay with me, because at the end of this, you're going to be immortal.

Theorized and published by Hans Moravec in 1987 and Bruno Marchal in 1988, the quantum suicide thought experiment proposes the same setup as the famous Schrodinger's Cat experiment with one minor change that you are the observer as well as the test subject inside the box.

Stepping back a little, and stay with me here, the Schrodinger's Cat experiment places a theoretical cat in a box. As we observe the box with a cat inside, the state of the cat is both alive and dead due to the readily accepted view of quantum mechanics. The theoretical cat's life is tied to a quantum event that may or may not occur, so until we open the box, the cat exists in a state of being alive and dead, called superposition.

In the quantum suicide experiment, as you sit awaiting possible death inside the box being both the observer and test subject, your odds of survival are 50% per the probability of a given quantum event occurring per run of each experiment. The experiment repeats onward to infinity. The theory of quantum suicide essentially suggests that by the second attempt, you would be decisively dead.

But let's focus on the other interpretation of the quantum thought experiment that gives you immortality because that's much more fun.

First, we have to assume that there are infinite worlds. Stay with me here again, this is actually a common belief in quantum mechanics. It essentially states that every possible world and every possible past and future has and will exist on a quantum level. Under this theory, there could be an identical version of you reading this article exactly where you are, with the only difference being that they're eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Trippy.

So, un-mush your mind for a second and let's keep digging down this quantum rabbit hole... Like I said, you'll be immortal at the end of this.

RELATED: MAX BORN AND THE FORMULATION OF QUANTUM MECHANICS

If we re-run the quantum suicide experiment assuming that the many-worlds theory is true, then in every test instance, in one or more worlds, our consciousness survives, no matter what. Since you being the observer and the test subject are in a state of superposition, you must live by a matter of quantum necessity, otherwise, you fall out of superposition which is a contradiction to the original experiment.

So, no matter the number of iterations of the experiment, it is physically necessary that you survive, suggesting that you have quantum immortality.

But what does this actually mean? Could you go run off a bridge and survive? Sure, if there are actually infinite worlds and you follow the strict parameters of the quantum suicide experiment. But let's see what this really means.

Max Tegmark, a famous cosmologist made the most famous response to this immortality thought experiment. He acknowledged that if the logical parameters of the experiment follow correctly, then everyone should be immortal. However, the flaw, he believed, was that death is rarely a binary event.

RELATED: QUANTUM MECHANICS HELPS EXPLAIN WHY HUMANS SOMETIMES MAKE FOOLISH DECISIONS

In the experiment, each test is a binary event, either you live or die. Tegmark suggests that dying is more of a progressive process, which relies on the results of previous events. When this is the case, the theory of quantum immortality breaks down.

So, if there are in fact endless worlds and you place yourself in a quantum box being both an observer of quantum experiments and a test subject of them, then you will live forever. That, is how you become truly immortal.

If you could, would you hop in the quantum box and live forever?

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A Theory of Quantum Mechanics That Suggests Everyone is Immortal - Interesting Engineering

Okay, first of all, this is Dolores. Shes a robot. Photo: HBO

Its been almost two years since the second season of Westworld ended, so if you barely remember what the heck has happened in this show, then youre not alone. It certainly doesnt help that Westworld season three looks distinctly different than what weve come to expect from HBOs sci-fi epic: Gone is the theme park with robots concept of the first season and most of the second, replaced by something that looks closer to A.I. or Blade Runner than the original source material by Michael Crichton. But many of the characters are the same. Sorta?

How did we get here? Let us guide the way.

The second season of Westworld revealed the true purpose of the park: Its not just a place for rich people to get their rocks off in fake saloons, but the home of a massive data collection site called The Forge, which gathers and stores personal information about every single guest. (Yes, the dopey cowboy hats were secretly scanning every guests brain.) Delos, the company that created Westworld, essentially wanted to use all that data as a means to unlock immortality imagine a world where a humans consciousness could be uploaded into a host but the original hosts, led by Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood), revolted against their puppet masters. In the season finale, after a ton of carnage erupts in the park, Dolores escapes after seemingly uploading the Forges data to a location that only she can find.

Once a victim of her creators and anyone else willing to pay the price to visit Westworld, Dolores is now the leader of the robo-revolution. Before leading her team to the Forge, it seemed like she wanted to destroy Westworld by wiping out all of the data stolen from the guests, but she had much grander plans in mind. After helping a handful of hosts escape to the Valley Beyond a virtual nirvana stored in the Forge where hosts can live free from their human persecutors she changed the coordinates of the upload, sending the Valley Beyond and all that data to a different location that couldnt be found. She then transplanted her own consciousness into a host body built as an exact replica of Charlotte Hale (Tessa Thompson), and after gunning down the real Charlotte, she left the park with five hosts brain balls in her possession. (Theyre called pearls or control units in the world of the show, but lets be honest, theyre brain balls.) Which hosts did she take with her? Where is she taking them? And what does she plan to do with them in season three? We dont know yet.

The arc of Old William (Ed Harris), a.k.a. The Man in Black, was arguably the most divisive of season two, and it didnt even end until after the finale credits. We learned in season two that the Williams wife committed suicide, possibly because of what a monster William became at the park. His daughter Emily came after him and he killed her, thinking it was still just a part of Fords game for his best contestant. Then things got even weirder: William tried to kill Dolores and then was rescued by Delos before everything went haywire. However, the post-credits scene featured William alive in a flooded Forge where he sees a host version of his daughter, and hes ushered into a room much like the one that was used to train the host version of company founder James Delos. Emily assures him that this is the real world, but how do we know for sure? When does this scene even take place? William appears in the previews for season three out in the real world, so its possible that Delos got William out of Westworld after all. But is he the real thing or a host?

If you saw Maeve (Thandie Newton) in the season three trailer and thought, Hey, didnt she die in the finale? dont worry, youre not misremembering. A lot of characters died. Season two revealed that Maeve had a glitch that basically allowed her to control nearby hosts. She escaped captivity and torture, traveling with Hectors gang and Westworlds pompous narrative writer Lee Sizemore to the showdown in the season finale. But she was then gunned down after watching her daughter escape to the Valley Beyond. However, her body remained. And we saw Felix and Sylvester, the two dopey park technicians who joined Maeves revolution earlier in the season, being told to retrieve important bodies from the scene. They shared a look that makes it clear theyre going for Maeve, and Newton is prominent in the season three trailers, so you can connect the dots. But will she start the season under Delos control, or finally free?

Much of season two was aboutBernards struggle, as he was torn between being a puppet master and a puppet. After all, he was modeled after one of the creators of Westworld and worked for years alongside Ford to control it, never knowing he was actually a host. In season two, despite a tense relationship with Dolores, he helped her spark a revolution and she chose to save him in the finale. The last image before the post-credits tag is of Bernard, no longer in the park and opening a door to the real world. (He also joins Dolores in a safe house left to them by Ford, where he creates a copy of her original host body in case you were wondering how Evan Rachel Wood is still on this show.) We also learned in the finale that Bernards flashback conversations with Dolores were meant to test his fidelity. What role he will play in season three is really up in the air, but Wrights presence is an essential one to Westworld, so were sure Dolores will find something for him to do.

Its remarkably easy for dead characters to return on Westworld, so dont be surprised if some old faces of the deceased show up. The Ghost Nation leader Akecheta (Zahn McClarnon) traveled with Maeves daughter to the Valley Beyond at the end of season two, abandoning the physical world for life in the cloud, but his voice can be heard in the season three trailer. How will he come back? Teddy (James Marsden) shot himself in the head after learning Dolores true endgame, but could his data have been offloaded or even smuggled out of Westworld in Dolores/Charlottes purse? Clementine became a tool of Delos in season two, forcing the hosts to kill each other, but even her body may have been recovered from the scene, so she might returntoo. Dont forget: After Dolores escaped Westworld, she got a new version of her old host body, which means theres an unused sleeve of Charlotte Hale that could be used by one of the hosts that Dolores smuggled out of the park. Its anybodys guess who itll be.

Ashley Stubbs (Luke Hemsworth), the guy who ran Westworld security, didnt have too major of a role in season two. But he got a key scene in the finale: Hes the one who allows Dolores to leave the park in Charlottes host body, although hes tasked with specifically stopping any hosts who attempt to sneak out, and even implies that he has been a host all along too. Will he return as a Dolores ally in the war against the humans? Theres only one way to find out.

Continue reading here:

A Very Quick Recap of Westworld Season Two - Vulture

After the disappointing loss to Lenoir City in the 1958 finals in the Sweet Sixteen State Tournament at Vanderbilt University in Nashville some might have asked if the defeat might adversely affect the players who had come so close to immortality in the history of Central High athletics.However, every player on the team either graduated from college or served honorably in the military.

Eddie Test played both basketball and baseball at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. Freshmen were not eligible to play in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) at that time, but as a Sophomore he was elected on the All Sophomore team.After obtaining a Business Degree with a minor degree in Finance, he initially taught and assisted Coach Smith at Central. In 1986, Test went into business for himself and established Test Medical Equipment in Ringgold, Georgia, which is an ongoing and successful medical supply business with his wife and other members of the family.

The only other senior on the 1957-1958 squad was Bill Culpepper who was an important contributor to the success of the team on several occasions.Bill was the star of the Pounders upset victory over the top-seeded Kingsport Dobyns Bennett Indians in the third round of the State Tournament on March 14.He graduated in the Class of 1958 and did not go to college but he did play on the semi-pro Peerless Woolen Mill squad in the Southern Textile League prior to the plant closing down in the 1960s.

He served three years in the United States Army, was honorable discharged and married his high school sweetheart, Susie Hartman, and they had three children, William, Jr. , Joella and Nathan.After returning from his Army service, Bill worked at Singer-Cobble Manufacturing Plan and National Life Insurance Company before starting a 40-year career at Colonial Baking Company.He died in 2003.

After the Kingsport victory, Coach Gordon Smith was very specific about Bills performance to the press.Bill Culpepper made the difference for us tonight.

Diminutive 57 junior guard Ken Connelly was a solid and consistent player for three years, including the 1959 season where he was co-captain with forward Ron Cole after the exciting 1958 season.He also was an outstanding baseball pitcher for the Pounders and was selected to be on the All City Team along with several other Pounders. After graduating from Central in 1959 he attended Austin Peay University on a baseball scholarship and was chosen Most Valuable Player both his junior and senior years and was an all Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) selection his senior year.

Following his graduation from Austin Peay in 1963 with a Bachelor of Science degree, Ken worked for 42 years with the Boy Scouts of America, rising through the ranks from District Executive through various positions in the United States and elsewhere in Europe and the Carribbean to Assistant Chief Executive Officer for the national organization headquarters in Dallas, Texas.He was recognized as one of the top fundraisers for the Boy Scouts of America and was primarily responsible for raising $45 million in Capital and Major Gifts for various programs of the organization.

James Ron Cole was a 61 forward under the backboards along with Bill Culpepper and Webb Cate.Ron was selected to be co-captain along with Ken of the 1959 team and would be selected as an All City and second team All-State player from Central. Following graduation in 1959 he was awarded a basketball scholarship at the University of Chattanooga where he played for four years. Ron graduated with a degree in Fine Arts and subsequently served in the United States Army during the Vietnam War in that combat theater.He later obtained a Master of Arts Degree from the University of Georgia. He relocated to Lumberton, North Carolina where he served as an Adjunct art professor at Pembroke College and Southeast Community College and also established his own business in the field of art.He died in November, 2009.

Webb Cate was the third of the 61 forwards who contributed much to the success of the team.Not as muscular as Cole and Culpepper, he nevertheless played an important role in the success of the Pounders under the goal and on the backboard. Following graduation from Central he attended Austin Peay University in Clarksville, Tennessee and played basketball for the Governors during the 1961-1963 seasons.

Webb graduated in 1963 with a degree in Accounting and a minor in Economics.He subsequently enlisted as a naval lieutenant and served in the United States Navy for four years. After leaving the Navy he and his family relocated to the Escondido, California, area where he became involved in the investment field for 34 years and subsequently retired in 2005.He also served on the City Council and as the Mayor for a total term of public service of 15 years. During that time he was employed as a manager with several investment firms in California and retired as an Executive with A.G. Edwards.His upward advances clearly indicated that he was extraordinarily talented and successful in the financial world.

Junior Blaine Allen at 64 was the tallest player on the 1958 squad and primarily was a substitute, but on occasion Coach Gorgon Smith would start him against the taller teams to try and offset the Pounders lack of height. Blaine attended the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.After graduating from UT, the Allens moved to Greeneville, Tennessee where Blaine became the operator of Allen Petroleum in Greeneville and Dogwood Oil in Johnson City, Tennessee. He prematurely died at the age of 41 allegedly caused by a latent gene that was present from his childhood.

Sophomore Paul Smith would be the third guard that would occasionally relieve the two starting guards. Paul did not go to college but served in the United States Army for 20 years and eventually settled in the Dallas, Texas area after serving in Vietnam.

Sophomore William Millsaps 62 played on the record team and got playing time when he relieved one of the starting forwards.William entered the University of Tennessee Knoxville (UTK) and was a walk-on-player on the freshman basketball team for the Volunteers. He also got a job that ultimately led to his newspaper career at the Knoxville Journal as a sports writer. He later joined the Richmond Times-Dispatch in the sports department in 1966 and in 1973 he was the newspaper's sports editor until 1991 when he became the managing editor.

As a sports writer he has acquired remarkable success, being an 11-time Virginia Sports Writer of the Year Award winner.In 2011 he was the recipient of the Red Smith Award from Associated Press Sports Editors, for career contributions to sports journalism. Bill has also been elected to the Virginia Communication Hall of Fame, the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame, and the United States Basketball Writers Hall of Fame, in addition to being a juror for the Pulitzer Prize in journalism for 2001-2002.

The 10thplayer on the 58 team was 56 junior Jerry Cox.Jerry was unique in that in spite of getting limited playing time he was a loyal and dedicated member of the team.After graduating from Central in 1959, Jerry attended Georgia Tech.An Honor Society member while at Central, he graduated with a degree in electrical engineering from the Atlanta school in 1963.After serving in the Army for two years, he attended the Wharton School of Business in Pennsylvania and obtained a Masters in Business Administration advanced degree. After starting and selling several companies, he went to work around 2009 for Coastal States Insurance Company in the investment division in Atlanta and became a successful financier.

In spite of the 34-33 loss to Lenoir City the 1957-1958 squads demonstrated that they were all successes in their life after March 15, 1958.

(The other starting guard who missed the last shot has probably survived!)

* * *

Jerry Summers

jsummers@summersfirm.com

Link:

When Central Fell 1 Shot Short Of Winning The State Basketball Championship (Part 2) - The Chattanoogan

In the ruins of the Kotla lived a Mast Qalandar. Every day he would walk down to the tomb of Bhure Shah in the vicinity of the Red Fort and pray to the saint with the fiery temper. A big-built man with a barrel of a chest and a shaggy beard, his prayers were not the silent outpourings of a heart, but the mutterings of one who had lost contact with his surroundings. He would walk up to the shrine of Hare-Bhare and beat his chimta (iron tongs) to announce his arrival. Like Zanoni, from the 1842 book of Edward Bulwer-Lytton, who had the gift of immortality, he was likened to an order of mystics who thrive for centuries.

Sufi Rafiq Khan had this tale to tell about the Mast Qalandar. When Firoze Shah Tughlak took the reins of government into his hands after the sudden death of Mohammad bin Tughkal in Sindh, he was reminded by a young fakir that the emperor had died not because of the after-effects of a dish of bad fish, but because of cruelty to his subjects. So it was Firozes lot to undo the harm done by his cousin. The new Sultan was impressed by the words of the fakir and brought him along to Delhi. And when he built his Kotla, a special place was marked in it as the fakirs abode.

Firoze Shah died after a very long reign. Taimur came and devastated Delhi. The Tughlaks were ousted by the Sayyids, who in turn lost their kingdom to the Lodhis. Next came the Moghuls and the British, but the fakir was still around. In 1857, during the revolt, he was at Kashmiri Gate, encouraging the bhistis (water carriers) to carry water to the sick and wounded.

The Qalandar was seen right up to 1947, but after the riots, he just disappeared. Some said that he had migrated to Pakistan and others that he had decided to make himself scare because of the disgusting events. Nobody could imagine that he might have been killed such was the aura that surrounded him.

Abdul Hai, a man who kept track of goings on in Delhi, and whose religious and other beliefs were tinged more by logic and reason than blind faith, had a more plausible story to offer. The Mast Qalandar was a member of an order of dervishes who lived in secluded areas, and what was better than the ruins of the Kotla? Even if one came and another passed on, wed never know the difference.

You can still find them visiting the Jama Masjid area, especially during the Ajmer Urs, when some of them strike strident poses at the grave of Hare-Bhare, shouting Maula Bhej, Bhej meaning, Send money to visit Ajmer or Ill break this shrine. To supplement their threat they either lift up their chimta or pick up a huge stone. But somebody or the other always fulfils their wish and so the threat is warded off.

It is generally assumed that the order of Mast Qalandars originated in Iran, where before the advent of Islam it was almost unknown. It came to India with the Arab invasion of Sind and its adherents spread as far as Bengal. Mast Qalandars entered South India too sometime in the 13th century, but in Delhi they have existed since the time of the Slave dynasty. Some, however, claim that the order was mostly of Afghan origin.

One remembers a Mast Qalandar who used to stand in front of the sweets shop of Haji Kalan in Jama Masjid and beat his back with a chimta from time to time. He wore a huge black shirt and was quite wild in his habits, but people were somehow attracted to him though he hardly seemed to care, and the more alms he got the wilder he became. He used to come all the way from Basti Nizamuddin on foot and lived in one of the ruined dargahs. But he is long dead.

The writer is a veteran chronicler of Delhi

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Why the belief that some men have advanced stages of being still persists - The Hindu

I hadnt thought about Ross Perot for many years, but he came back to mind a few weeks ago when my wife and I drove to Texas.

While in Dallas on family business, we spent a cold and rainy Sunday afternoon at the Perot Museum of Nature and Science, which is named for the five Perot children who endowed it. That got me thinking again of the funny little man with the crew cut and cowboy twang who ran for president in 1992 and 1996.

Perot pioneered the tradition, still in fashion, of billionaires campaigning for the nations highest office, though, of course, he didnt make it to the White House. His most memorable legacy might be the natural history museum his children supported.

Men of wealth often think of politics as the path to immortality. But its Americas grand museums, funded by the barons of industry, that might best sustain the profile of successful capitalists for generations.

Theres the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York and the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology in Boston, to name but a few. The Perot Museum can proudly stand with the rest, and we welcomed the chance to wander its exhibits on a wet, gray day that seemed not much good for anything else.

Shaking off the citys chill as I entered the Perots ticket line, I thought about a column called Astronomy Without Pain that the late Brooks Atkinson wrote for The New York Times long ago. Atkinson loved nature, but he also celebrated the paradoxical joy of appreciating the outdoors while snugly indoors. Referring to a popular landmark in Manhattan, Atkinson wisely observed that it is pleasanter to gaze at the winter sky in the Hayden Planetarium than on the wind-bitten roof of an apartment house. The Planetarium is warm and the chairs comfortable.

I felt the same way as we settled into the museum theater and donned cardboard glasses for a 3-D documentary called Tornado Alley. For 40 minutes or so, we cheerfully endured the illusion of twisters rolling into the audience a threat that felt immeasurably better than the real weather outside.

Such three-dimensional wonders aside, the most startling dimension at a natural history museum is time, its breadth unfolding in the dinosaur bones in the main exhibit hall. Like anything in Texas, the Perot prides itself on lavish scale, as evidenced by the Alamosaurus skeleton, about 100 feet long, that reaches to the ceiling, as if the long-necked herbivore were still grazing a treetop for dinner.

The children visiting a dinosaur exhibit are accustomed to being the smallest creatures in the room and dont look so shocked by the huge beasts. That kind of humility is in scarce supply these days, but its not a bad thing.

For an afternoon at the Perot, I was usefully reminded how small I was, too.

Originally posted here:

Danny Heitman's 'At Random': Standing beneath dinosaurs, I was reminded how small I was - The Advocate

Death stalked many shows at the festival this year. In darkened auditoriums, this art offered catharsis for my own recent, complicated loss of a parent. Fortunately, this Requiem gave us joyous folk dancing too.

The images were indelible; a spectacular distraction from the texts absurd damnations. Performers in all-white posed against a car wreck like crash victims granted immortality by paparazzi. Chorus members poured bright paint upon the head of a girl, then sacrificially hoisted her face first against the wall. A boy soprano kicked a skull across the stage.

The closing opera, Breaking the Waves, fresh from the 2019 Edinburgh Festival, had US soprano Sydney Mancasola breathe fresh life into Bess, an outsider subject to religious and misogynistic judgment on the Scottish isle of Skye, although the operas long arc meant the work could not quite sustain the tension of Lars von Triers original 1996 film upon which the opera was based.

Sydney Mancasola as Bess in Breaking the Waves.Credit:James Glossop

Mancasola rose vocally to Royce Vavreks engaging text, which posed Bess body as a map of goodness and faith, while Missy Mazzolis dramatic score brought to the fore Bess rich inner life, underscoring her agency and a personal musical schema as epic as the islands landscape.

The Belgians at Adelaide Festival, meanwhile, served two dark comedies on death. The first, Dimanche, blending marionettes and human performance, was a family show, though the laughing children in the audience went quiet as global warming scythed through life forms: a polar bear separated from her cub; a cameraman drowning under ice; an elderly woman puppet electrocuted. Grim with hilarious timing.

Dimanche at the Adelaide Festival.Credit:Alice Piemme

The second Belgian work, Cold Blood, had performers create a live film using tiny sets, their hands as actors. On screen we saw seven suggested scenarios in which we might die, portrayed through flips in scale, angle and point of view, the manner of our demise ranging from romantic to sleazy to absurd. We never know when its coming, deadpanned our narrator, but its coming for us all. Doom aside, this was gorgeous work.

Cold Blood at the Adelaide Festival.Credit:Julien Lambert

Lucinda Childs opening Grand Fugue for 12 dancers in Lyon Opera Ballets Trois Grandes Fugues proved safe and unmemorable, although Anne Teresa de Keersmaekers post-interval Die Grosse Fugue for eight dancers was exhilarating. EnterAchilles, by Lloyd Newsons DV8 Physical Theatre, was both a hilarious and poignant satire of pack-male mentality, while Nick Powers pairing of Darwin and Cambodian street dancers in Between Tiny Cities was fierce. But I wondered why Adelaide Festival was not presenting more Asia-Pacific performing arts.

There was also Bugul, the emotionally affecting symphonic and dance tribute to the late Dr G Yunupingu which I had seen at its Sydney Festival premiere but otherwise there was a broad lack of Australian Indigenous performing arts. Compared with the Sydney and Perth festivals emphasis on Indigenous performance, Adelaide fell short, notwithstanding strong Indigenous visual artists installations at the separately curated Adelaide Biennial.

Adelaide Festival should consider collaborating with their local Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute. During the overlapping Adelaide Fringe Festival, Tandanya presented many Indigenous works as a First Nations hub. I caught Tessa Roses gorgeous one-woman play The Daly River Girl, which premiered in Darwin, a work that grappled with this countrys colonial history through the personal.

Meanwhile, my favourite work of the 2020 Adelaide Festival season was The Doctor, from Britains Almeida Theatre. Starring Juliet Stevenson as a Jewish doctor who refuses to allow a Catholic priest to administer last rites to a teenage girl who is dying from septicaemia from a botched self-abortion, Robert Ickes radical rewrite of a century-old play about anti-Semitism became a televised, Kafkaesque debate that simultaneously examined the pitfalls of tribalism while interrogating the power of language to oppress minorities. Stevenson was commanding.

Juliet Stevenson in The Doctor at the Adelaide Festival. Credit:Tony Lewis

Traverse Theatre Company of Scotlands Mouthpiece, a two-hander in which an impoverished teenage artist saves a 41-year-old playwright who is contemplating suicide, was terrific too. The female playwright in the story plunders the teens life story to revitalise her career, and takes sexual advantage of him. Kieran Hurleys witty work is pungent about power, working-class access to culture and the self-delusions of storytellers about personal responsibility for their source material.

Angus Taylor in Mouthpiece.Credit:Lara Cappelli

I hope more Australians might eventually see some of Adelaide Festivals enriching premieres, but broader commissioning from Indigenous Australian storytellers and our geographical neighbours would have presented a more inclusive picture.

Steve Dow is an arts writer for The Sydney Morning Herald.

Continue reading here:

Adelaide Festival laid on a feast, but where was the Indigenous work? - Sydney Morning Herald

Andy Warhol

Tate Modern show features the late pop artists hairpieces along with 100 works

Tue 10 Mar 2020 11.22 EDT

Three precisely coiffured wigs Andy Warhol probably glued to his head because he feared they would fly off are to go on display in the UK for the first time.

Tate Modern will this week open its first big Warhol show for almost 20 years, featuring more than 100 works from his career.

Gregor Muir, the co-curator, said the London gallery wanted to display the wigs because they shone a unique light on the artist.

They are incredible objects, which he would have had a say in, in terms of their design the way they are dark at the back and blonde at the front, he said. The wigs are part of Warhols persona, and Warhol himself was an artwork.

Muir recalled seeing the wigs for the first time at the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh and thinking they had to be part of the Tate show. It was a little eerie, it has to be said but at the same time it is him.

Warhol was bald from his 20s and his early wigs were quite conservative. They are a man who wants to blend in, Muir said. As Warhol got older they became wilder, more silvery and, in some ways, scarier.

He used strong glues and lots of product, Muir said. He was so fearful of the idea it would fly off.

Next to the wigs is one of Warhols instantly recognisable fright wig self portrait, created in 1986.

Muir said: You have to ask yourself, what has given him the fright? It is as if he has seen a ghost. I get very poetic here but perhaps he is his own ghost.

The show includes a number of artworks that will go on display in the UK for the first time. They include Sixty Last Suppers, a 10-metre wide canvas created months before Warhol died.

The work is a meditation on death, immortality and the afterlife and has been hung in the exhibitions final room, which is dark and feels more like a chapel.

Another is a large screen print of dozens of Marilyn Monroes lips from his Marilyn series, made months after she was found dead after a drugs overdose in 1962.

Warhol will be all over Tate Modern for the duration of the show, including a homage to his sweet tooth with a Death by Cheesecake pale ale available on draft and in cans. In the kitchen and bar there will be frozen hot chocolate, a nod to New Yorks Serendipity Cafe, where it was the signature dessert.

Continue reading here:

Andy Warhol's 'fright wigs' go on display in UK for first time - The Guardian

Xiwangmu (), whose name means Queen Mother of the West is a goddess in the Taoist pantheon, and worshipped in Chinese folk religion. Xiwangmu is considered to be one of the most prominent female deities in early Chinese mythology, and her importance continued in later times as well.

Due to her significance in Chinese folk religion, Xiwangwu appears in many myths and legends. In some of these legends, certain historical figures are said to have had the opportunity to encounter Xiwangmu. In addition, there are many artistic representations of Xiwangwu, and she is often portrayed in paintings and sculptures. Xiwangwu is still worshipped by the Chinese today, and has even been incorporated into popular culture.

Although Xiwangmu is originally a Chinese goddess, she is also worshipped in other East Asian countries. In Japan, for instance, she is called Seiobo, whilst in Korea, she is referred to as Seowangmo. Even in Chinese mythology, Xiwangmu is known by a number of titles. One of the most popular of these is Jinmu Yuanjun (), which means Primordial Lady Golden Mother. Colloquially, Xiwangmu is known as Wangmu Niangniang (), which means Aunt Queen Mother.

Seiobo, the Queen Mother of the West, in Japanese art. (Xianshan / Public domain )

The earliest mention of Xiwangmu is found in the Shanhaijing (), meaning Classic of Mountains and Seas. This work may be regarded to be an early geography of China , and tradition states that it was written during the semi-mythical Xia Dynasty . Modern scholars, on the other hand, believe that the Shanhaijing was compiled over a long period of time, i.e. from the Warring States period until the early Han Dynasty.

Xiwangmu is mentioned in the second section of the Shanhaijing, the Xishan Jing (), meaning Classic of the Western Mountains, in which she is said to reside on Yushan (), meaning Jade Mountain. The Shanghaijing presents Xiwangmu as a powerful and terrifying figure, and she resembles a monster more than a goddess. Although Xiwangmu is portrayed as having a human body, she is also sad to have a leopards tail, and the fangs of a tiger. In addition, she wears a crown over her wild and tangled hair. Xiwangmu is also said to preside over the catastrophes of the sky, and the five destructive forces, hence making her a dangerous and inauspicious character. Xiwangmu is believed to have the power to cause natural disasters, including floods, famine and plagues.

In another section of the Shanhaijing, the Dahuang Xi Jing(), meaning Classic of the Great Wilderness: The West (Section 16), Xiwangmu is said to live on the mythical Kunlun Mountain (not to be confused with the Kunlun Mountains on the Tibetan Plateau), between the Red River and Black River.

In yet another section, the Hainei Bei Jing (), meaning Classic of the Regions within the Seas: The North (Section 12), Xiwangmu is described as sitting on a raised stool, and holding a staff in her hand. She is attended by three green birds who gather food for her. At this point of time, Xiwangmus male counterpart and husband was Dongwanggong (), meaning King Father of the East, who ruled in the East. Xiwangmu, however, was more popular than her husband, and overshadowed him.

Depiction of the goddess Xiwangmu, the Queen Mother of the West. (Dr. Meierhofer / CC BY-SA 3.0 )

As time went by, Xiwangmu is said to have repented, and was therefore transformed from a ferocious monster into an immortal deity. The beastly attributes of Xiwangmu were discarded, and she is now presented as wholly human. In one instance, she is described as having whitish hair, indicating that she is an elderly woman. Although Xiwangmu retained her powers, she is now a benevolent force, rather than malevolent one.

According to some versions of the myth, Xiwangmu became the consort of the Jade Emperor, one of the most important gods in Chinese folk religion. This is testament to the power and importance that she retained after her conversion from monster to goddess. As the wife of the Jade Emperor, Xiwangmu is said to have been the mother of many deities, the three most important being Zhusheng Niangniang, Yanguang Niangniang, and Zhinu.

Depiction of the Chinese deity, the Jade Emperor who was the husband of Xiwangmu, the Queen Mother of the West. ( Public domain )

The first was a fertility goddess whose aid was sought by couples wanting to have children, whilst the second was the protector of the blind. The third is immortalized in one of the best-known Chinese folk tales, The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, in which she falls in love with a mortal cowherd, and is punished for this transgression.

In many accounts, Xiwangmu is reputed to live on the Kunlun Mountain . One representation of the goddess realm is seen in an earthenware lamp from the 1 st / 2 nd century AD, kept today in the Yale University Art Gallery. Xiwangmu is the central figure of this artefact, and is shown seated on a throne. The goddess throne is flanked by the moon and the sun, which represent the two cosmic forces, yin and yang, and she is attended by three of her followers a rabbit pounding the elixir of immortality, a three-legged bird, and a nine-tailed fox.

Below the goddess are two supplicants with staffs kneeling before an open door. It has been suggested that the door represents the entrance to the realm of immortality, which the goddess presided over. On top of the goddess is a drum on the back of a feline creature topped by a canopy-parasol, and flanked by a pair of mounted drummers, one on each side. Below the drummers are a pair of cup-bearing attendants on the back of tigers. This assemblage is supported by a bear-like creature, who is standing on a giant tortoise, the latter reflecting the belief that the Kunlun Mountain rests on the back of tortoise.

Xiwangmu is closely associated with the secrets of immortality, in particular, the Peaches of Immortality. In Chinese mythology, these peaches are known also as Pantao (), meaning Flat Peach, and are reputed to grow in Xiwangmus garden. According to one version of the story, the peach trees bear fruit once every 3000 years, and a sumptuous banquet would be hosted by the goddess to celebrate the joyous occasion.

Such a banquet is also believed to be held on Xiwangmus birthday. In some artistic representations of Xiwangmu, the goddess attendant is shown holding peaches. Additionally, the Peach Banquet is a popular subject amongst Chinese artists.

A Qing Dynasty porcelain depicting Xiwangmu, the Queen Mother of the West, and her attendant holding peaches. (Vassil / Public domain )

The most famous story regarding Xiwangmus banquet is found in the Journey to the West , one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. In this tale, one of the novels main character, Sun Wukong, known also as the Monkey King, was appointed as by the Jade Emperor as the Protector of the Peaches. On the first day of work, Sun Wukong learned that there were 3600 peach trees in the orchard. These were divided into three groups, each bestowing on those who ate them certain miraculous properties,

The ones growing at the front have tiny blossoms and small fruits, and they ripen every three thousand years. Anyone who eats them becomes an Immortal and understands the Way, and his body becomes both light and strong. The twelve hundred in the middle have multiple blossoms and sweet fruits, and ripen every six thousand years; whoever eats them can fly and enjoy eternal youth. The back twelve hundred are streaked with purple and have pale yellow stones. They ripen once every nine thousand years, and anyone who eats them becomes as eternal as Heaven and Earth, as longlived as the Sun and Moon

The Queen Mother of the Wests Peach Banquet. ( Public domain )

In the next few days, not only did the mischievous Sun Wukong neglect his duties, he also stole the most valuable peaches, i.e. the ones that ripen once every 9000 years. Sun Wukongs misdemeanor was realized when Xiwangmu sent her attendants to the orchard to collect peaches for a banquet. At that time, Sun Wukong had shrunk himself, and was sleeping under a leaf, having had his fill of peaches.

Xiwangmus attendants began picking the peaches, but when they came to the trees at the back, they realized that there were no ripe peaches left, except one, and went to pluck it. The peach, in fact, was Sun Wukong, who had shape-shifted into the fruit. The Monkey King, thinking they were thieves, shouted angrily at them, and questioned them, thereby learning about Xiwangmus banquet.

Sun Wukong also learned that he might not have been invited to the banquet, and left the orchard to find out. On the way, however, he encountered the Barefoot Immortal, and came up with a trick to attend the banquet. Having sent the immortal away, Sun Wukong took his form, and attended the banquet. The Monkey King arrived at the banquet before the other deities, got himself drunk, and wrecked the banquet. Only at this point did Sun Wukong realize that when the other gods arrive, they would be furious with him. Therefore, he hastily fled the scene. What Sun Wukong did after this is another story.

Although the Peaches of Immortality are believed to be reserved for the immortals alone, legend has it that Xiwangmu bestowed some of these divine fruits to certain Chinese emperors. For instance, a story about Emperor Wu of Han and Xiwangmu is related by Zhang Hua, a writer during the Western Jin period. According to this tale, Emperor Wu was on a quest for immortality, when Xiwangmu sent an embassy presenting white deer to him.

Xiwangmu, the Queen Mother of the West, visiting Emperor Wu of Han. (Ding Guanpeng / Wang Fanyue / Public domain )

On the night of the seventh day of the seventh month, Xiwangmu herself visited the emperor. Incidentally, this date, known also as the Qixi Festival (meaning Evening of Sevens), is believed to be the only time in the year that Zhinu, one of Xiwangmus daughters, is allowed to meet with her mortal lover. In any case, when Xiwangmu visited the emperor, she took out seven peaches, and gave five of them to him.

Emperor Wu ate the peaches, and expressed his desire to plant the stones. At this, Xiwangmu laughed, explaining that it took 3000 years for the peaches to grow. In the former tale, it is not stated if Xiwangmus peaches bestowed onto Emperor Wu immortality. In a later adaptation of Zhang Huas story, however, Xiwangmu is said to have provided the emperor with a set of instructions, which would grant him immortality, if he were to follow them faithfully. As may be expected, the emperor fails to follow the goddess instructions, and therefore inevitably dies.

The secrets of immortality were not the only gift presented by Xiwangmu to the Chinese emperors. In some accounts, the goddess is said to have presented the emperors with the Mandate of Heaven, which legitimized the rule of the emperor. For example, Emperor Shun, the last of the legendary Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, is said to have received the Mandate of Heaven from Xiwangmu. As another example, Qin Shi Huang , the first emperor of imperial China, is said to have had the opportunity to meet Xiwangmu, but wasted it. As a result, he did not receive the Mandate of Heaven, and his dynasty was destroyed not a few years after his death.

Throughout Chinese history, Xiwangmu retained her importance as a major deity in the Taoist pantheon. As early as the late Tang Dynasty, Taoist literature shows that the status of Xiwangmu is second only to the Three Pure Ones, the highest gods of the Taoist pantheon. In addition, Xiwangmu was an extremely popular deity amongst the common people.

She is believed to wield power over health, longevity, and fertility, and her blessings are often sought by the people. In some instances, people prayed to Xiwangmu for rain and good harvest. It may be mentioned that these areas of everyday life are normally associated with other deities. The fact that people were praying to Xiwangmu for these things shows that she was both a powerful and important goddess.

The worship of Xiwangmu continues even today, and the goddess has even been absorbed by popular culture. For instance, she is a character in several video games, and mentioned in literature. An example of the former is Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom , in which she appears as a hero, whilst an example of the latter is Amy Tans The Joy Luck Club , the last section of which being entitled Queen Mother of the Western Skies. This is evidence that Xiwangmu is still regarded to be relevant in todays society, not only in a religious context, i.e. as a goddess, but also in a cultural one, i.e. as a representative of Chinese culture.

Top image: Representative image for Queen Mother of the West. Source: wichansumalee / Adobe Stock

By: Wu Mingren

en.chinaculture.org, 2020. The Queen Mother of the West -- the Wife of the Jade Emperor. [Online]Available at: http://en.chinaculture.org/gb/en_aboutchina/2003-09/24/content_25164.htm

en.daoinfo.org, 2009. The Queen Mother of the West. [Online]Available at: http://en.daoinfo.org/wiki/The_Queen_Mother_of_the_West

Hamilton, M., 2020. Xiwangmu, Queen Mother of the West. [Online]Available at: https://mythopedia.com/chinese-mythology/gods/xiwangmu/

New World Encyclopedia, 2008. Jade Emperor. [Online]Available at: https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Jade_Emperor

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2010. Pantao. [Online]Available at: https://www.britannica.com/topic/pantao

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2014. Xiwangmu. [Online]Available at: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Xiwangmu

The Metropolitan Museum of Art., 2020. Paying homage to Xiwangmu, the Queen Mother of the West. [Online]Available at: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/45666

The Metropolitan Museum of Art., 2020. Queen Mother of the West. [Online]Available at: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/45736

The Yale University Art Gallery, 2020. Lamp Representing the Realm of the Queen Mother of the West (Xiwangmu). [Online]Available at: https://artgallery.yale.edu/collections/objects/61132

Theobald, U., 2010. Xiwangmu , the Queen Mother of the West. [Online]Available at: http://www.chinaknowledge.de/Literature/Religion/personsxiwangmu.html

Wu Chengen, Journey to the West [Online]

[Jenner, W. J. F. (trans.), 1955. Wu Chengens Journey to the West .]Available at: http://www.chine-informations.com/fichiers/jourwest.pdf

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Queen Mother of the West and Her Peaches of Immortality - Ancient Origins

Photo: Emma McIntyre/BAFTA LA/Contour by Getty Images

Zoey Deutch is fixing me with a soft stare that does not match the intensity of the questions she just asked me, which are: Do you believe in an afterlife? Do you believe in reincarnation? What do you believe in? Were nursing pots of black tea at the Plaza Hotel across from Central Park, and shes been interviewing me for nearly two hours.

I dont think its fair for a writer to come and look me up and me not look them up, she says, explaining that shed Googled me extensively; I read all your stuff, looked through your things. And she had, including a small novel on immortality; apparently, now, she wanted to get her moneys worth by asking me about death and God and other things I wasnt prepared to talk about at high tea.

Shes barefaced today, with her hair in a tiny ponytail and a minimalist, designer outfit; its focal point is a Kenzo coat covered in Illuminati eyes. I call it my conversation piece, I could talk about it all the time. I wear it so much that I have my lines I got eyes everywhere, I got eyes everywhere! she hoots, throwing out finger guns.

The bit reminds me a little of Peg Dahl, the fast-talking heroine of Deutchs new movie Buffaloed. The film is sort of like a blue collar Big Short, with Peg as its charismatic center; she dreams of a college education and financial freedom, but ends up in prison after scalping Buffalo Bills tickets. Eventually, she starts running her own debt-collection business in Buffalo, New York; mafia-style shenanigans with a rival business ensue.

Like Peg, Deutch speaks in quick, full paragraphs, dad jokes on hand. But her in-person demeanor is more like Harper Moore, her character in the 2018 Netflix romcom Set It Up, a 20-something intern trying to figure it out in New York. Deutch, who is 25 now, has the same kind of intense, self-deprecating moxie that makes Harper so charming.

Photo: Emma McIntyre/BAFTA LA/Contour by Getty Images

As we talk, Deutch, who calls herself a connection junkie continues to turn on me with her what about you? refrain. I havent been a journalist for long, but one thing I have experienced when speaking with celebrities is that they mostly know the bare minimum about whom theyre speaking with; who you write for, your name, maybe. I was bewildered by Deutch, who knew things about me that are hard to find on the internet. But wed had some Champagne, so I explained to this woman Id just met my thoughts on death and God. That I was raised in a mixed-race, Sikh household that was religious and fractious and isolated. Probably, as a result, Im extremely not religious.

Deutch nods thoughtfully. She starts to tell me about her approach to spirituality, which she qualifies comes from a place of privilege. She recalls, fondly, her Bat Mitzvah, and how religion for her is all about being a part of something greater and asking questions and being curious. Given this sort of liberal spiritual oeuvre, I wonder why she passed on palm reading, the activity Id suggested in lieu of fancy tea. Well what if I found something scary? she shudders. Her grandmother, Deutch says, was a psychic, and her mom, actress Lea Thomspon (Back to The Future) is a little bit too. Ill get scared about something and Ill be like, What if Im psychic? she says of her own intuition, but itll be so wrong.

Inevitably, she faces charges of nepotism her father is director Howard Deutch (Pretty in Pink, Some Kind of Wonderful) but critics agree on her talent, labeling her with terms like powerhouse, force of nature, scene-stealer, and virtuoso in reviews. And her work is good, and versatile: she recently starred as a baby-voiced victim of Munchausen syndrome by proxy in The Politician and a late-aughts Paris Hilton composite in Zombieland: Double Tap. I loved her most as a high-school mean-turned-nice-girl in Before I Fall, a sort of YA Russian Doll. For the most part, like the real-life Deutch, her characters are smart, funny women who are more complicated than they first seem.

Deutch lives in Chinatown now, where she says no one recognizes her. But it may not always be that way. I dont know. I dont really know anything at all, she says of whats up next. But acting, she says, is what shes always wanted to do. Her tattoos including a giant YES to remind her to stay optimistic are all ankle-down so she doesnt have to spend too much time in makeup. I would love to know. Literally right before we met I was on a call, like trying to figure out that question, whats in the future.

She gazes at a neighboring table; her expression one that I recognize in myself and my peers. Those decisions are hard, but I havent made them yet. Theyre fine right now, because Im here having tea with you. What about you?

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Talking Death and God With Zoey Deutch - The Cut

Richard Mann Journalist

07:19 March 04, 2020 6 min read

Richard Mann ponders whether the mighty Alitor and Ronnie O'Sullivan can defy father time in their quest for sporting immortality this spring.

It might have been Alastair Down who once quipped that 'Cheltenham is no place for old bones.'

It's certainly a saying that has stuck with me over the years and the sight of Kauto Star and Istabraq before him being pulled-up in their respective bids for one last hurrah did nothing to weaken that theory.

The white-hot heat of the Cheltenham Festival is a gruelling test for horses and punters alike. The track provides a unique test for the thoroughbred with its undulations and stiff uphill finish requiring horses to be nimble enough to travel and jump well through the early part of their races before having the guts and desire needed to navigate the final and famous climb for home.

For punters and racegoers it isn't much easier, four days of top-class and incident-packed action often leaving even the strongest feeling weary by Friday evening.

In many respects, Cheltenham is the ultimate test, particularly for the chasers who must negotiate some notoriously difficult fences, and you can usually feel satisfied that winners of the Champion Chase and Gold Cup are deserving champions, blessed with that rare mix of class and heart that sets the very best apart from the chasing pack.

One horse who has done just that at the last four Cheltenham Festivals is the mighty Altior, a brilliant winner of a vintage renewal of the Sky Bet Supreme Novices' Hurdle before bolting up in the Arkle and then claiming glory in the Queen Mother Champion Chase two years running.

Put simply, Altior is a racing superstar and while arguments will rage across the land, in public houses and on social media platforms, about just where he stands in the pantheon of National Hunt greats, he remains, until a week on Wednesday at least, the undisputed king of the two-mile chasing division.

With a CV as decorated and distinguished at the one Altior can boast, it is hard to believe there is anything left for him to achieve or to prove to anyone, not least the racing public that have taken him to their hearts, if not to the same level of adoration enjoyed by former stablemate Sprinter Sacre or indeed Tiger Roll.

Should he claim a record-equalling third Champion Chase at Cheltenham, there will be no question that he will have elevated himself to racing immortality but for now, the vultures are circling on and off the track.

On it, Defi Du Seuil and Chacun Pour Soi are two young pretenders with age on their side and in the midst of stellar campaigns.

In the case of Defi Du Seuil, he has already this season brushed aside the same rivals Altior had to work hard to see off at Cheltenham last year and as an improving seven-year-old with an impressive record at Prestbury Park, he looks to have a huge chance of dethroning the reigning champion.

It's not just the prospect of two progressive, younger rivals snapping at his heels that will worry Alitor fans either. Nicky Henderson's stable star lost his proud unbeaten record over obstacles when left toiling in Cyrname's wake at Ascot in November as plans for a possible tilt at the King George were torn to shreds in the Berkshire mud.

Seventy-seven days later, Altior finally returned to the track to defeat old foe Sceau Royal in the Game Spirit at Newbury but there are chinks in his armour now that we hadn't seen previously. His big, bold jumping is now making him appear slow and sluggish at his fences while his customary flat spot threatens to see him caught out with fatal consequences against younger, fresher legs in the Champion Chase.

Henderson's faith in Altior is unwavering but his charge is now ten years old and just about to face the toughest test in a career that has already seen him dig deep at four previous Festivals and again as recently as November when finishing very tired at Ascot.

Just how much is left in the tank will be revealed next week but there is no doubting the Champion Chase is brewing up to be the race of the week. A clash of the titans, young rising star against old champion, the prince hoping to dethrone the king and take the crown as his own.

It's not just at Cheltenham where this narrative promises to play out this spring, with Sheffield once again hosting the World Snooker Championship where Ronnie O'Sullivan appears to be going all out in his quest for a sixth Crucible crown and record 37th ranking title.

Like Altior, O'Sullivan has entered the twilight of his career and despite dominating snooker for much of the last 30 years, he now finds himself fighting to hold off the advances of a relentless Judd Trump, whose richly fruitful last 18 months have already seen him rise to the top of the world rankings.

When O'Sullivan lifted the UK Championship for a record seventh time in December 2018, passing Stephen Hendry's record for Triple Crown victories in the process, he appeared untouchable as he belied his advancing years with a level of snooker we thought might never be bettered.

Ronnie O'Sullivan reigns supreme in York

Of course, elite sport moves quickly and within a matter of months Trump had become world champion for the first time, routing John Higgins in the final, while O'Sullivan currently finds himself out of the top 16 in the one-year world rankings having failed to enjoy the level of success this term we have become so accustomed to.

Last week's Players Championship went ahead without its defending champion, O'Sullivan having failed to quality, and in claiming his fifth ranking title of the season in that event, Trump will line up as hot favourite for this month's Coral Tour Championship with The Rocket again a notable absentee.

The most significant thing about O'Sullivan's slide down the rankings is that it can't be blamed on a lack of focus or the carefree approach to the game that undoubtedly cost him titles earlier in his career, when he was troubled by personal problems.

O'Sullivan has remained dedicated to the sport and despite opting to skip this year's Masters in a bid to freshen himself up for the latter part of the season, he fought tooth and nail when beaten by Graeme Dott in the World Grand Prix recently and again in the semi-finals of the Welsh Open against Kyren Wilson a week later.

It was the same in the quarter-finals of the Scottish Open and when losing out to Trump in a high-quality final of the Northern Ireland Open earlier in the campaign.

The hunger and desire remains but at 44 years of age, his powers are on the wane and he is struggling to keep the wolves from the door.

The pack, led by Trump, Neil Robertson and Shaun Murphy, are circling for the kill but beware the wounded warrior, especially one as good as O'Sullivan, and his earlier victory at the Shanghai Masters and that final defeat to Trump in Belfast illustrate that he remains a very fine operator.

We might ponder where Altior stands amongst the National Hunt greats of the past but most observers have already concluded that O'Sullivan will leave snooker as the best the sport has seen and while his peers will arrive in Sheffield on the back of long and arduous seasons, he won't.

As Eurosport pundit Neal Foulds has suggested in recent weeks, that might work in O'Sullivan's favour given his last two World Championship bids saw him fall early at the end of trophy-laden campaigns and while 37 remains the magic number, he is sure to prepare well for what might be his last realistic chance of again tasting Crucible glory.

Passing Hendry's record remains the ultimate goal, the icing on the cake for a career that has seen O'Sullivan master his craft like no other, and it would be typical of the man to become the most decorated player in snooker history by winning the World Championship in the most iconic snooker venue of them all.

Like Altior, O'Sullivan is fighting to defy Father Time and a host of younger pretenders snapping at his heels in two of the most intriguing sporting events I can recall.

Cheltenham might be no place for old bones, The Crucible Theatre, too, but these great warriors aren't listening and they'll need to be carried out on their shields if they are denied one final triumph in the autumn of two remarkable careers.

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Alitor and Ronnie O'Sullivan chase sporting immortality at the Cheltenham Festival and World Snooker Championship - Sportinglife.com

Its been a long period of time given that a Leaf racked up 50 objectives. Its been an also longer time given that a Leaf won the Hart Trophy.

This year, Auston Matthews is damn near certain to complete the very first accomplishment and also he can additionally locate himself in the discussion for the various other. At this factor, we must be discussing where Matthews period rankings amongst the most effective in Leafs background.

You need to go back to 1993-94 to locate the last time a Leaf racked up 50 objectives. That was when Dave Andreychuk hidden53 Its occurred 4 various other times. Rick Vaive did it 3 times, when in 1981-82 when he racked up 51, once more the list below year in 1982-83 when he racked up 54, which is the franchise businesss all-time single-season document, and also again in 1983-84 when he racked up52 Gary Leeman additionally racked up 51 objectives in 1989-90

So, yeah. Its been a while given that a Leafs struck the 50- objective plateau. John Tavares came close in 2015 when he racked up 47 in his very first period with the club after notoriously signing up with the group in complimentary company, however Matthews, that has 45 objectives with 66 video games and also an additional month to play, must lastly obtain it done.

The concern for Matthews currently isnt whether hell strike the 50- objective mark. Its whether hell pass Vaive for the majority of objectives in a period in Leafs background.

Matthews has 16 video games delegated deal with and also the Leafs require him to be at his ideal as the playoffs are much from a warranty. As I stated, Matthews has 45 objectives in 66 video games. Thats helpful for a 56- objective speed over the training course of 82 video games. 10 objectives in his last 16 video games, which the basically the precise speed hes run in any way period, would certainly suffice to obtain it done.

If Matthews does capture Vaive, his period will most certainly be discussed as one of the most effective in franchise business background. As it must be. Breaking the franchise businesss all-time single-season objective document in a period in which racking up objectives is far more challenging than it remained in the 80 s and also very early 90 s is extremely excellent.

But could Matthews period be the most effective? Its truly challenging to state since were considering efficiencies throughout numerous various ages. I imply, exactly how do you contrast Matthews 2019-20 period to what Busher Jackson or Charlie Conacher carried out in the 1930 s? Or what Frank Mahovolich carried out in the 60 s? Or what Darryl Sittler carried out in the 70 s? Or also what Mats Sundin carried out in the dead-puck very early 2000 s?

Its also challenging in baseball, a sporting activity in which statistics have actually been videotaped given that the 1860 s, to contrast gamers from age to age. But Hockey-References Point Shares device efforts to accomplish the exact same feature as baseballs BATTLE device, affixing a worth to gamers based upon their payments, readjusted by age.

Based on that particular device, Matthews has actually deserved 10.4 factor shares this period, which places 7th in Leafs background. Tavares launching period in 2015 places 4th at 11.3, Dave Andreychuk abovementioned 53- objective period places 3rd at 11.4, Babe Dyes 1924-25 period in which he racked up 46 factors in 29 ready theSt Pats places 2nd at 11.7, and also Darryl Sittlers 117- factor 1977-78 period places initially at 12.2.

At his present speed, Matthews would certainly additionally wind up passing Tavares, Andreychuk, Dye, and also Sittler for the best period in Leafs background based upon factor shares. Obviously, the device isnt excellent, however, at least, it assists us pile gamers that played a century apart side-by-side, which is something thats basically difficult to do or else.

Weve discussed the objectives, however what regarding the equipment? Again, its been a long period of time given that a Leaf won the HartTrophy A truly, truly long period of time. You need to go back well past their latest 50- objective period to locate their latest Hart Trophy recipient right to Ted Kennedy in 1954-55 That was a lot more of a recognition of his occupation than a real Most Valuable Player nod, as he completed greater than 20 factors behind Boom Boom Geoffrion and also Maurice Richard for the racking up lead.

Though he has an uphill struggle to really take house the honor, Matthews should have to be in the conversation for the Hart Trophy this year. Hes conveniently been the Leafs MVP, a constant, steadying existence in the center of a period ripe with dramatization. Matthews has actually racked up objective after objective after objective while his colleagues have actually coped depressions and also a wide range of injuries.

Without Matthews efficiency this period, points truly can have wound up really going southern. Leon Draisaitl will likely wind up taking the Hart Trophy house because of leading the organization in factors and also dragging the Oilers with Connor McDavids injury, however, for the very first time in a long period of time, therell be a Leaf in the thick of the conversation.

If I needed to fill in a tally now, I would certainly have Draisaitl primary, Artemi Panarin 2nd, Matthews 3rd, David Pastrnak 4th, and also Connor Hellebuyck 5th. Theres still plenty of time, however, so a great deal can transform. Draisaitl will not obtain that love if the Oilers elope of the playoffs. If Matthews can leap over Pastrnak and also win the Rocket Richard race and also the Leafs run warm right into the playoffs, his instance all of a sudden ends up being more powerful.

Well see what occurs over the following month. Matthews has probably the best period by a Leaf all-time within his reach. Itll be amazing to enjoy.

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Auston Matthews' Pursuit of Maple Leafs Immortality TheLeafsNation - The Union Journal

Holi, a traditional Hindu festival whichcelebrates the beginning of spring as well as the triumph of good over evil, is set to takeplace next week.

Although the festival originated in India and is still widely celebrated there as a religious festival, it has been adopted in many places around the world.

Here is everything you need to know about it, from where it came from to why the powder, known as gulal, is thrown.

Every year the festival celebrations take place over two days, beginningaround the time of the full moon that comes in 'Phalguna' (between the end of February and the middle of March). This year, the Holi Festival takes place on Monday March 9,the same day theWorm Moon will grace our skies, and Tuesday March 10.

The first evening is known asHolika Dahan, or Chhoti Holi. Festival-goers traditionally gather around a bonfire to celebrate the victory of good over evil. They perform religious rituals, which include prayers that any evil inside of them is destroyed.

The following day is calledHoli, or Rangwali Holi. This is when the famous colourful powdersare thrown, mixing with water from water guns and water balloons so that the powder sticks to people.

Holi's different celebrations come from various Hindu legends, although one is widely believed to be the most likely origin.

In it, the celebration's name refers to Holika,the sister of the Hindu demon king Hiranyakashipu. The demon king was granted immortality with five powers:

When his immortality turned him evil and he began to kill anyone who disobeyed him,his son, Prahlad, decided to kill him. When the king found out, he asked his sister Holika for help; in their plan she would wear a cloak which stopped her from being harmed by fire and take Prahlad into a bonfire with her.

However, the cloak flew from Holika's shoulders while she was in the fire and covered Prahlad; he was protected but she burnt to death.

In the legend, the Lord Vishnu then appeared to killHiranyakashipu by sidestepping his five powers.

He took the form of Narasimha, who was half-human and half-lion; he met him on a doorstep, which is neither indoors nor outdoors; he appeared at dusk, which is neither daylight nor dusk; he placed his father on his lap, which is neither land, water nor air; and he attacked him with his lion claws, which are neither projectile nor handheld weapons.

While Hiranyakashipu and Holika came to represent evil, Vishnu and Prahlad came to represent good. The story shows the victory of good over evil, which is why it is tied to the festival.

The other most popular origin of the festival is the legend of Krishna. The Hindu deity, embarrassed by his dark blue skin, told his mother he was worried his love Radha would not accept him. She told him to colour Radha's facewhatever colour he wanted; when he did, they became a couple.

The coloured powder - or gulal -thrown on the second day of the festival comes from the legend of Krishna. Anyone at Holi is fair game to be covered in the perfumedpowder as a celebration of Krishna and Radha's love, regardless of age or social status. The powder also signifiesthe coming of spring and all the new colours it brings to nature.

Historically, the gulal was made of turmeric, paste and flower extracts, but today synthetic versions are largely used.

Thefour mainpowder colours are used to represent different things. Red reflects love and fertility, blue is the colour of Krishna, yellow is the colour of turmeric and green symbolises spring and new beginnings.

Peshwari naan

A delicious side dishfor aHoli Festival feast. The coconut in this naan bread also makes it a great sweetener to any spicy meal.

Sweet potato and lentil curry

This healthy, yet tasty, curry, is perfectfor a Holi Festival-inspired lunch.

Red lentil tarka dal

Packed with garlic, ginger and chillies, this dish can be enjoyed as a soothing soup on its own, or with a dollop of yogurt.

Spring onion bhajis

These crispy onion bhajis, made with spring onions, shallots, fresh coriander,turmeric and chilli flakes,offer a zip of freshness.

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Holi Festival 2020: how the thwarting of a Hindu demon king led to the colourful celebration - The Telegraph

If Act Twenty One Trap proves anything about Blade of the Immortal, it's that the show might finally be starting to do justice to its female cast, even if it still has a somewhat juvenile preoccupation with boobs and butts. For the longest time, Rin was the sole woman that we could consistently rely on to get any manner of character development, and even then it often felt like she was mostly there to motivate Manji's requisite bouts of bloodletting. Makie was a welcome addition to the story, but her presence in the overall tapestry of the show has been fleeting, and she too exists mostly as the distaff counterpart to Kagehisa. Things picked up quite a bit when Hyakurin became a semi-regular addition to the cast, though we wouldn't get a woman whose character arc wasn't in some way explicitly defined by romantic trauma/sexual assault until Doa joined Rin in rescuing the victims of Habaki's immortality experiments.

Now, not only has Rin's agency and role in the story been much more clearly defined, we also have Meguro and Tanpopo to add some much needed comic relief while still being competent warriors in their own right. None of the women in Blade of the Immortal have roles that are not in some way tied to the men in their lives, but we've at least reached the point where they feel like individual people in their own rights, with desires and strengths that allow them to stand apart in the ensemble. The opening scene where Magatsu, Meguro and Tanpopo help nurse Rin and Manji back to help works because we've come to care for these men and women in spite of their mixed and muddled allegiances. Even when the show's pacing isn't exactly doing the scripts any favors, the heart and soul of the story comes through in the end in moments like these, where a handful of barely held-together killers (and one incredibly stubborn teenager) are able to be friends, if only for a little while.

I wish I was as on board with Renzo's presence in the story, which hasn't lived up to its dramatic potential for me. I always figured the cost of Rin's vengeance would come back to her eventually, but the show is intent on drawing out story beat with unnecessary obfuscations. It takes forever for Rin to admit her role in the death of Renzo's father, and she still refuses to implicate him in the torture and murder of his parents; even Magatsu insists on sending Renzo out to discover the truth about his old man and the Itto-ryu on his own. I get why Rin would want to preserve whatever respect the child has for his dad, but it makes for a decidedly unsatisfying payoff to a story thread that can't have many more places to go in the few episodes that remain in Blade of the Immortal's run. We're at the point where the worst thing the show can do is waste time. Just tell the kid his pop was a sociopathic monster, hash out whatever drama comes from that, and move on already.

Even if Rin and Manji don't accomplish much other than standing up on their own two feet again in the first half of Trap, the plot keeps moving at the very least, whisking us back to Ryo's mission to fulfill her role in her father's clan and destroy the Itto-ryu. This second half of the episode begins somewhat slowly, but it eventually picks up into yet another thrilling battle to the death, which Blade of the Immortal has been excelling at lately. She's joined by Inroku Ban, a shifty warrior who favors pistols over the blade, and though Ryo and Inroku get within a hair's breadth of killing each other, they eventually join forces when they come to blows with one of the most fascinating Itto-ryu members yet: Koji.

Koji is an elderly fighter who uses subterfuge and his expertise in survival and poison-making to launch his solo assault against Habaki's troops. What makes this sequence especially fun is how trippy it gets; Ryo and Inroku both get asphyxiated with the jars of carbonic acid Koji has littered across the mountainside, giving the episode a chance to flex the surreal visuals that have marked some of the series' most compelling chapters. It's also just a great fight, with Inroku's painful death and Ryo's incredibly close victory giving the whole thing a sense of shifting balance and momentum, a hallmark of all great fight scenes.

Ryo's conflict is a bit simplistic compared to the other women in the cast she wants to live up to Habaki's expectations, though she's his last living descendant, which puts her at odds with Habaki's men but it is powerful indeed. I would never want her to actually win against Rin and Manji, but I'll be upset if she doesn't get some kind of vindication before her story is done. There are only a few weeks left before the Blade of the Immortal story concludes for good, and all of these disparate warriors are bound to meet eventually. It is possible Ryo might get her happy ending, just as it is possible that Hyakurin and Giichi might find some kind of peace in their life together, or even Rin and Manji for that matter. There are no guarantees in this web of revenge, though, and I can't even hold out too much hope that our heroes will be able to make it out intact.

Rating:

Blade of the Immortal is currently streaming on Amazon Prime.

James is a writer with many thoughts and feelings about anime and other pop-culture, which can also be found on Twitter, his blog, and his podcast.

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Episode 21 - Blade of the Immortal - Anime News Network

By TNH Staff March 4, 2020

Meeting of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis with His Beatitude Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens and All Greece.(Photo by Eurokinissi/ Christos Bonis, File)

ATHENS The Holy Synod of the Church of Greece issued an announcement recommending to the faithful that they remain calm, follow the prescribed preventive measures and, of course, pray to Jesus Christ Who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light.

Prime Minister of Greece Kyriakos Mitsotakis met with Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens and All Greece and asked for the Churchs assistance in informing the faithful. Archbishop Ieronymos reassured Prime Minister Mitsotakis that the Church of Greece stands by the Greek State and will lend all its support to the progress of the Greek people.

The Holy Synod in an encyclical, calls on the faithful to intensify all our prayers to Jesus Christ, Who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light, in order to safeguard His creation in a healthy and complete way.

In addition, the Holy Synod recommends that those who have symptoms of the disease temporarily refrain from public activities as well as from embracing and kissing other people for the sake of public health.

Finally, the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece points out that that every difficulty even disease can be an opportunity for cohesion and highlights the positive side of human relations, which can be expressed with courage, calmness, and solidarity, adding that all Orthodox Christians are called to serve the will of God, knowing that the divine and dignified treatment of illness constitutes peoples participation in the martyrdom of conscience and sacrifice before God[their] essential help and co-operation in order to prevent the diseases transmission leads to love.

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Church of Greece Urges Prevention and Prayer on Coronavirus - The National Herald

Thu, 03/05/2020 - 13:59pm | By: David Tisdale

Dr. Sheldon Solomon, a professor of psychology at Skidmore College whose research focuses on the effects of the uniquely human awareness of death on behavior, will present The Worm at the Core: On The Role of Death in Life at the next University of Southern Mississippi (USM) Philosophy and Religion Forum. This free event is set for Tuesday, March 10 at 6:30 p.m. in Gonzales Auditorium in the Liberal Arts Building on the Hattiesburg campus.

The co-author of In the Wake of 9/11: The Psychology of Terror and The Worm at the Core: On the Role of Death in Life, Dr. Sheldon is an American Psychological Society Fellow and recipient of an American Psychological Association Presidential Citation (2007), a Lifetime Career Award by the International Society for Self and Identity (2009), and the Association of Graduate Liberal Studies Programs Annual Faculty Award (2011).

Dr. Sheldons research on death and its intersection with human behavior has earned support from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and Ernest Becker Foundation, and was featured in the award-winning documentary Flight from Death: The Quest for Immortality.

"We're really looking forward to having Dr. Solomon with us for the March 10 Philosophy and Religion Forum, said Dr. Amy Slagle, an associate professor of religion in the USM School of Humanities and coordinator of the forum series. His research on the ways that the existential fear of death, and its denial, impacts the formation of human cultures and conflicts is compelling. I believe his talk will have broad appeal to USM students and faculty, and members of the Hattiesburg community."

For information on this event, contact Dr. Slagle at a.slagleFREEMississippi.

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The Role of Death in Life Topic of March 10 Philosophy and Religion Forum | The University of Southern Mississippi - Southern Miss Now