COVID-19: Lockdown envelopes film and entertainment sphere – United News of Bangladesh

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The ongoing COVID-19, recently announced by WHO as a global pandemic around the whole world, has been causing a global shutdown in several sectors including media and entertainment even the most famous event on the annual film festival calendar, at Cannes, has been postponed. The entertainment and film industry of Bangladesh is no different.

All activities of Bangladesh Film Development Corporation (FDC) have been paused due to the virus fear, although a rally was held from FDC on Saturday by the Bangladesh Film Artistes Association and attended by its president Misha Saudagar, General Secretary Zayed Khan, actor Dipjol, Ilias Kanchan and more. They distributed masks and requested fans to be aware and avoid panicking about the Coronavirus.

Amid the fear of the COVID-19, the government in Bangladesh has recently shut down many institutional activities after the confirmation of local transmission and death cases of coronavirus cases to prevent the virus from spreading, and cinema halls all over the country are currently going into lockdown mode from March 18 to April 2 due to the pandemic, according to Bangladesh Film Producers-Distributors Association President Khorshed Alam Khosru.

While asked about the ongoing crisis and possibilities of a nationwide shutting down of the cinema halls, Khosru told UNB that the association has decided to close all the halls until April 2.

As the virus passes from human to human in close proximity, people inside crowded arena such as cinema halls are at a higher risk to be contaminated with the virus - so we decided not to continue the shows in any of the halls including the cineplexes from March 18 to April 2, Khosru told UNB.

If the crisis continues, the longevity of the decision can get extended until the situation gets normal he further added.

However, countrys top cinema multiplexes including Blockbuster Cinemas at Jamuna Future Park and all branches of Star Cineplex (Bashundhara City, Shimanto Shambhar and SKS Tower) have postponed their activities since March 20; two days after the declaration came out from the association and health authorities.

Regarding the movies being showcased prior to the ban, Shakib Khans movie Shahenshah was the only one significant release that came out on March 6, and was running at over hundred halls before the closing.

As of now, movie lovers and hall owners are counting days for Shakibs upcoming movie Bidrohi and Nabab LLB, Arifin Shuvoo starring action extravaganza Mission Extreme, Siam Ahmed starring action film SHAAN, Ananta Jalils Bangladesh-Iran joint venture Deen - The Day, Tollywood star Dev starring Bangladeshi spy thriller film Commando, to name a few for the Eid-Ul-Fitr releases which they expect to make up for the loss in the meantime, due to the Coronavirus only if the uncertain situation get normal within the time.

Actors and actresses at home and abroad had already taken necessary steps to warn their admirers about the virus, either with the news about their own isolation or promoting safety measures via social media. Dhallywood stars including Shakib Khan, Siam Ahmed, Arifin Shuvoo, Riaz Ahamed and Bollywoods megastars including Salman Khan, Shahrukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan and more have either posted video messages or status posts, requesting fans to be aware and safe from COVID-19.

At the same time several production houses, actors, directors and producers in Bangladesh and India have opened joint fundraising platforms online, for the production crews who might suffer devastating financial loss due to the lockdown.

Coming back to the theatre sphere of Bangladesh, all activities including shows, rehearsals and others have been suspended by the Bangladesh Group Theatre Federation from March 17 to 31 to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Besides, Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy (BSA) has also suspended activities on all of their theatres and auditoriums till March 31.

On last Thursday, representatives of Actors Equity, Directors Guild, Television Programme Producers Association of Bangladesh and others met information minister Hasan Mahmud, discussed the circumstances and decided to postponed shootings of small screen productions including Television commercials (TVC), drama serials and others from March 22 to 31.

Every one involved in the entertainment and media sphere at home and abroad are eagerly waiting to see the damage of COVID-19 minimised and for the world to come out of the grip of the pandemic.

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COVID-19: Lockdown envelopes film and entertainment sphere - United News of Bangladesh

Journaling during the pandemic, for yourself and the historians – The Boston Globe

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As people across the country are told to work from home and practice social distancing, historians recommend a simple practice to fend off boredom and contribute to the history books: daily journaling.

Written accounts of events, especially during times of turmoil, have proven crucial to historians as they seek to grasp a full picture of a time period. And during the current pandemic, physical documentation from ordinary people is as important as ever.

As historians, we rely on those daily reports to figure out what actually happened on the ground, said Victoria Cain, an associate professor of history at Northeastern University. It really offers us insight into how society and culture worked at a time of tragedy, or crisis, or just chaos.

Personal journals helped capture the struggles and horrors of history. The Great Plague of London was documented by Daniel Defoe, drawing on his own childhood memories, his uncles journal, and extensive research. And generations have learned of the horrors of World War ll through the experiences of Anne Frank.

However, in the age of social media, virtual writing has taken precedence over pen and paper. Photographs, e-mails, and text messages may document the essence of an era, but their longevity could be limited.

Digital media and technology is amazing in many ways, but it also has a lot of problems, said Dan Cohen, the dean of libraries at Northeastern University, whose extensive documentation of firsthand accounts following the Sept. 11 attacks is in the Library of Congress. A physical diary, if you stick it in your attic, youll likely be able to read that in a century or two. That really doesnt happen with digital media.

In some instances, the physical documentation can tell a story itself. While Cain was completing her doctoral dissertation years ago, she recalls analyzing the diary of a naturalist who was sent to France during World War l. As she was reading, she began to cry.

You can see his handwriting, and hes scared hes going to die, she said. Theres teardrops on the page, and the ink is running. I remember being in the archives I started crying, and Ill never forget that experience.

Cain and Cohen stressed the benefits that not only for historians but also for the writers; the act of putting pen to paper has been found to bring certain therapeutic benefits.

It helps to contextualize [the event] and put it into a longer time horizon, Cohen said. That can kind of help to lower the blood pressure a little bit.

I think it just helps us slow down and reflect a little bit about what extraordinary times these are, Cain said.

Caeli Chesin, a junior at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, described her experience with journaling during the pandemic as cathartic.

As much as we are locked in and nervous, I think there is a lot of potential to use the time to connect with loved ones, slow down, reflect, and create, she said. The most effective way to keep me on that track and not get too slumped down is by journaling.

If people decide to take up the hobby, families can read their relatives accounts of what life was like for generations to come, which can be a profoundly moving experience, Cain said. By keeping it physical rather than virtual, the authors can rest easy knowing their memories wont be lost because of a forgotten password, and, in Cohens experience, an obsolete floppy disk.

[Journals] remind us of our common humanity across time and space, and that's something that we will always need as human beings, Cain said. As historians and scholars certainly, but as citizens and people, it's really important to have a glimpse of the human mind and the human heart. Diaries give us this.

Matt Berg can be reached at matthew.berg@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @mattberg33.

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Journaling during the pandemic, for yourself and the historians - The Boston Globe

COLUMN: Living history, and pondering books to be written – Baker City Herald

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As we live through historic events that arrive not every day but every hour, Im thinking of the future as well as the present.

It is ever fascinating to me to wonder what I might remember, years and decades from now, about changes which in their immediacy and sheer volume seem so monumental that their vibrancy cant be tarnished by time.

Sept. 11, 2001, for instance, was a milestone one of a handful of epochal days in American history and probably the most notable in my lifetime (I was born in 1970).

Yet my recollections of that sunny September day lack the clarity I would have predicted, even at the span of nearly two decades.

I think the coronavirus might well be different dramatically so.

Indeed I think its plausible to believe that for Americans old enough to form lasting memories of these days in the winter and spring of 2020, the coronavirus crisis will attain a prominence not so dissimilar to that of World War II among the generations that lived through that conflict.

I dont mean to suggest the two events are comparable on certain levels, to be sure.

America was directly involved in the Second World War for close to four years, and nearly half a million service members died.

There is good reason to believe that coronavirus in our country will not approach the wars longevity or death toll.

But no single event since that war has caused such upheaval to our society, at the most fundamental levels, as coronavirus has done.

The repercussions arrived so rapidly that Ive felt a trifle overwhelmed, as though I were caught in one of those terrible dreams in which the tasks accumulate but I seem helpless to deal with even one.

(And like as not, while clad only in my underwear.)

In the span of a few days, all manner of traditions that seemed as reliable as the passage of the seasons became casualties.

Sports all but ended.

March Madness, a symbol of spring as certain as the chilly north wind buffeting Baker Valley (but much less annoying), was canceled.

Schools closed.

Sit-down meals at restaurants are banned, and theaters dark and silent.

Terms such as social distancing have entered the vernacular, and I suspect they will be more difficult to dislodge than the slogans of past crises gas lines, for instance.

It is natural, and reasonable, to compare these precautions, some of them unprecedented in our lifetimes, with the level of the threat and decide for ourselves whether we think the scales are balanced.

I understand why some people say they are not indeed, that the response is grossly exaggerated.

Doctors agree that the coronavirus, though quite infectious, has a relatively low fatality rate of roughly 2% and much lower yet for young, otherwise healthy people.

I suspect many people, including those who dismiss the more dramatic precautions as hysteria, assumed if they ever thought about the subject that only a disease that was both easily spread and widely fatal would prompt this level of response.

There is, Ill concede, a certain comfort in the statistics. The same is true for our individual risks of, say, dying in a car crash. Most of us, after all, probably will not contract coronavirus. And most of those who do will survive, quite likely without even knowing the virus breached our defenses.

Yet despite this relatively remote risk of any one of us suffering severe illness, much less dying, I dont believe Americas response to coronavirus is unreasonable.

This is partly because of the uncertainty.

We know much more about how dangerous coronavirus is now than we did even a few weeks ago. But I am not comfortable making broad assumptions about a virus that, until around the turn of the year, few people who dont work in virology likely had heard of.

Moreover, the restrictions we have either taken voluntarily, or that have been imposed by the government, are indisputably effective at reducing the spread of the disease.

And although the short-term effects can be serious most notably the economic harm absent these precautions the coronavirus would infect far more people, and the blow to business likely would be even more persistent and dire.

None of this, obviously, can be proved now.

Which returns me to my original point about pondering the future.

It seems to me that budding sociologists and other observers of human society will have plenty of topics to keep them academically occupied for years, if not decades.

By 2040 bookshelves will sag, I suspect, with the work of historians who have examined every aspect of the great coronavirus crisis of 2020 (ideally, of course, it will be confined to a single year).

I like to think Ill pass enjoyable hours in my dotage reading some of these.

But I wonder how much Ill remember of what it was really like. How vividly will I be able to recall when the closures were arriving in my inbox with stunning rapidity, when toilet paper jokes were the epitome of humor, and when the issue of airborne droplets was suddenly, shockingly, more important than the Final Four.

Jayson Jacoby is editor of the Baker City Herald.

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COLUMN: Living history, and pondering books to be written - Baker City Herald

Coronavirus: 14-hour Janta curfew will not break the cycle of infection – Deccan Herald

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On March 19, Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave a29-minute addressto take precautionary measures including observing a Janta Curfew on March 22 from 7 AM to 9 PM to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in India.

Since then, several social media users have posted a text claiming that the coronavirus has a life cycle of 12 hours and a 14-hour curfew will help to break the chain and curb the further spread of the virus. This text is viral inEnglish,Hindi,andTelugualong with the hashtag #JantaCurfew.

The viral message has been shared onTwitter,Facebookand WhatsApp.

False:

Also Read:What can you do to kill time during 'Janta Curfew'?

FACT-CHECK

A viral infection can be transmitted from one individual to another in multiple ways.

1) Direct: From one individual to another individual either via means of touch, or if the infected individual coughs or sneezes in close vicinity of another person.2) Indirect: When an infected individual touches a surface, and another individual touches the same surface.

In the course of this article, we will demonstrate that a 14-hour self-imposed curfew will not break the cycle of infection as the coronavirus persists 2-3 days later on surfaces. However, social lockdown is an effective strategy for reducing new infections that flattens the curve.

Also Read:Janta Curfew: Stay at home call may deepen slowdown in Indian economy

Infected individual can pass the infection for upto two weeks

The novel CoV infection has a high incubation rate. The scientists at Imperial College, UKestimatethat each coronavirus patient infects on average 2.6 others, making it almost as infectious as yearly influenza outbreaks. While the common influenza virus has a short incubation period and is self-resolving, the 2019-nCoV can be incubated for up to two weeks, hence increasing its chances to infect other people. So, someone who is infected with CoV would be able to pass it on to someone else till upto two weeks, even if the former isnt yet displaying any symptoms.

Coronavirus can be detected on surface for upto 3 days

Alt News Science recently published anelaborate fact-checkregarding how long can coronavirus live on various surfaces. Research(Doremalen et al 2020)published in the New England Journal of Medicine conducted by American scientists (preprint here) suggests that the new coronavirus (COVID-19) can live in the air for several hours and on some surfaces for as long as 2-3 days. They tested the virus by spraying into the air by a nebuliser mimicking the coughing action of an infected person. They found that it could be detected up to a minimum of 3 hours later in the air, up to 4 hours on copper surfaces, up to 24 hours on cardboard and up to 2-3 days on plastic and stainless steel surfaces.

The longevity of the virus was determined by studying the decay time or half-life of the virus, which is the time it takes for it to reduce in 50% tissue-culture infectious dose (TCID50) per litre of air. It was determined that the virus stayed on cardboard, stainless steel and plastic for the longest period, in comparison to copper and aerosol droplets.

On average, the half-life of the virus on plastic surface was the highest, with an average of 15.9 hours (high 19.2 hours), copper was lower 3.4 hours (high 5.11 hours), and stainless steel was 13.1 hours (high 16.1 hours). No research was conducted on fabric at all.

For latest updates on coronavirus outbreak, click here

The study also suggests that the virus can spread through the air, from touching things that were contaminated by those who are infected, and through direct human contact. The virus was formerly known as HCoV-19, but is referred to as SARS-CoV2 in this study as the comparison of longevity was in comparison with the virus found in the previous coronavirus outbreaks, known as SARS-CoV or SARS-CoV1 in the study quoted above.

Thus, an individual infected with coronavirus can pass on the infection to another person for upto 14 days. Also, the coronavirus could be detected up to 2-3 days on plastic and stainless steel surfaces. The results from this study indicate that the coronavirus can be transmitted through aerosols (clusters of the virus in the air) aerosol and fomites (objects such as plastic, steel, other metals contaminated with the virus) are plausible, as the virus can remain viable in aerosols for multiple hours and on surfaces up to days. Hence, a 14 hour self-imposed curfew cannot break the cycle of infection as it is being claimed on social media. Despite the fact that the curfew will not break the cycle of infection as the Coronavirus still persists 2-3 days later on surfaces, the social lockdown is an effective strategy for reducing new infections that flattens the curve

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Coronavirus: 14-hour Janta curfew will not break the cycle of infection - Deccan Herald

16 Style Essentials You Should Have at Home – gearpatrol.com

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Style starts at the home before you go to bed when you moisturize your face, in the shower after you wake up and when you go to your closet to choose your outfit. It happens outside of work hours when your shoes need some TLC or a button needs sewing. Little upgrades here and there can set you up for the day and the right tools can keep your style going for much longer. For that, weve put together this list of style essentials for the home, from head to toe.

First things first: be gentle on your clothes. Use a detergent thats mild and easy on your clothes. While we like our fragrances and cant deny that the smell of laundry is objectively good, save the perfumes for your person and not your clothes.

This goes for the drying cycle, too. It may take more time to air dry your clothes, but that time you put in pays dividends on your clothes longevity (not to mention the Earth).

Once your garments are clean and dry, make sure to hang them up with a good hanger. Avoid the flimsy, thin plastic ones if you can. Clothes are made to hang on a human body (which is three-dimensional). When theyre not on you, they should be hung on a hanger with wider shoulders, lest you want your clothes to slowly deform and lose shape over time. Hangers made from cedar wood help to defend your clothes from moths, so opt for these if you can.

Nobody wants to see a wrinkled shirt. Invest in an iron, especially if the occasion is meeting with investors or your future in-laws.

For the love of Ralph Lauren, do not try to iron your clothes on your bed or coffee table. Invest in an ironing board, preferably one that has a rack to hold your iron.

Steaming your clothes in the shower does not work. Its good for wasting water and developing black mold in your bathroom. Instead, get an actual steamer that will quickly and effectively get those wrinkles out.

Your clothes will eventually need some tune-ups. Plus, learning to sew and mend clothes is a skill you should know since home ec isnt really a thing anymore.

After a good bath soak replete with bubbles, surrounded by candles and meditative tunes, maintaining your leather shoes is the next most-relaxing thing. For that, start with some leather soap like this one.

Once youve cleaned your shoes, make sure to condition them with some leather lotion or oil. Its just like the shower.

Oh, and before you go to town on your shoe care regimen, make sure youre using the proper tools.

Lint happens. Rather than using lint rollers that you constantly have to refill, try a reusable lint brush.

Now lets shift the focus to you. Unless youre going for a world record, keep your nails trimmed and neat.

Taming a mane, trimming the hedges or having a Britney Spears moment, an electric trimmer is there for you.

For those who are deft with scissors to do some mane maintenance, a solid pair of grooming scissors stretches your dollar more than trips to the barber.

Like treating and caring for your clothes, you want to be gentle on your skin, too. Try a soap for sensitive skin thats free of scents and harsh ingredients.

Even the most gentle soap can wash away some of your skins natural oils. Follow up the wash with a good lotion to prevent dry skin and keep your natural moisture barrier intact.

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The Beckwith Blog: In the Eye of the Storm! – National Mortgage Professional Magazine

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Here I am, sitting at a rented lake house in central New Hampshire, in my hometown from my childhood. Its a Friday morning and I am in the rare place to have my folks and siblings be able to drop by for a visit. I am home for a birthday party weekend for yours truly, my a-hem (insert cough) 50th, I mean 39th Birthday. I am feeling nostalgic now so writing my Blog for this month feels a little melancholy, but with that said, I want to provide value at a time I know you will be reading this over the holidays. This time of year breeds a long-awaited pause or slowing for everyone in our field, a welcomed one for a year that gifted us with lower rates and lots of volume for those who dialed in and worked hard.

Over the prior six months, I have traveled across the nation, truly, to incredible conventions, to speaking gigs and events, too many to mention, and along the way, I found myself amid others doing the same. Professionals who, by and large, were trying to grab market share, sling their product and of course, connect with new opportunities. That said, in the midst of this storm, I began to watch and absorb the true magnitude of the chaos and rapid-fire environment that would represent the greatest year and closest thing to a return to our prior great market years that had been experienced in over a decade.

So, what did I learn? Living in the Eye of the Storm is quite incredible. I learned that at the core of our human spirit lives a desire for people to join forces, to come together, to laugh, to help one another and to truly support each others businesses. I learned that you can consistently travel for a dozen straight weeks at a time, run a business, pack and unpack, show up in stellar mode, perform and check the box until the next stop. A rock star life ensued for me this year, while trying to maintain some form of normalcy at the home front, stopping home for four days in-between to do kids activities, home activities, personal accounting, family time, sports and God willing, a little rest. As the weeks would wear on this year though the faade and glamour of the mortgage industry convention circuit, I would have some of the most incredible and tender moments that you can only recognize as powerful in hindsight.

1. Networking is still in our new age of technology, is the greatest way to form relationships that lead to long-term business: There was no greater ROI on any other marketing avenue than this for me this year. It is and has been the tried and true way to cultivate, vet and grab market share.

Personal lesson: There are the most beautiful souls out there in our business who are filled with the entrepreneurial spirit people who I know will change the landscape of our tomorrows in this industry. I also fell in love with those OG mortgage professionals who are still evolving and re-defining themselves in a new era and there are many!2. Technology is at the top of everyone lists: The mortgage industry wants to evolve into a more mobile and automated world. I heard, in many conventions, the quotes of ancient systems and dinosaur ages when describing our technical world here and how its truly time for evolution. People seemed to be listening. I certainly was and I am excited for once to see where this goes.Personal lesson: Instead of cringing about the need for technology I did not welcome, I could see even my own sentiment on this topic had changed. Listening to so many rooms on this topic, I can see people are embracing this era and time. We will see evolution in this area in the years ahead finally.3. PC is so yesterdays news: No matter what surrounds the mortgage industry and all of its many minute details, at the core of our existence remains the human experience and what seemed to jump off the pages of social media this year was the more personal stories of homeownership successes, businesses successes and authentic story-telling from human-minded messages from the B2B entrepreneurs are now filling our space. Those companies that continue an aesthetic-minded approach to their social media might as well throw their money out the window of their moving car.Personal lesson: I say Thank God! I dont know how else to be but real, raw and authentic, I am grateful it is in style this year.4. No more fake news: Its now time for everyone to listen to the entrepreneurs. Our salesfolks, the loan originators, brokers and front-line men and women are where the real news lies. These folks are taking to their social media outlets, videos in hand, and are letting us know what is real or not real. Its beautiful and it trumps (pun intended) the contrived news stories paid for by commercialized news-telling. I write for this magazine and many others that I know do diligence to their news-telling and this is not intended to be a slam to that format, I think those news companies who are employing a story-telling philosophy and bringing the voices of those people to their pages, podcasts and stories, its the smartest thing they could have done.Personal lesson: Me and my organization are the real deal, and I run with a real deal crew. Get real its the best advice I can give you.5. Life is short, in business and for real: To live a long life in the mortgage profession, which I have somehow accomplished, staying put is not an easy task. I wrote an article in early 2018 about staying in a Safe Seat of musical chairs and gave advice. That advice was never more poignant than this year when the grass is greener philosophy and the waving of company flags were being shaken harder than ever before. Volume would be the glue that kept loan officers in their seats and many business development managers found themselves in the hot seats trying to explain slow recruiting because nobody who wasnt suffering truly where they were was moving. For many mortgage professionals, their homes seem short-lived. The life of the mortgage originators job or longevity with a firm, has been truly shortened this past year and movement has been an acceptable thing that hiring firms have learned to accept on resumes that show lots of past employers. That is changing. Everyone is getting into their Happily Ever After Seats for the next decade and living their lives in their best way.Personal lesson: After watching three of my family members weather terminal illnesses, I truly have accepted the shortness of our lives and careers. In the past two years, I have left a firm I worked at for 12 years and started my own company. I turned 50 as I said at the start of this article and I am realizing time is a precious commodity. So, my advice here is simply that we must live our best life and our absolute most genuine life.Time is of the essence and I think everyone should be operating with the ideology of that every single day. There is no greater piece of advice I can offer to people. I hope you heed this advice.In ending this short Blog, I offer that living in the Eye of the Storm this year was beautiful, meaningful, rich in relationship and experience, rewarding and quite frankly far more compelling than sitting on the sidelines. I would highly recommend that you all get out there, out of your seats and out of your comfort zones and get into the mix. There is beauty in the buzz. Be part of the buzz. I feel like this year, I became part of the buzz. I like it. Long live the storm!

This article originally appeared in the November 2019 print edition of National Mortgage Professional Magazine.

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The Beckwith Blog: In the Eye of the Storm! - National Mortgage Professional Magazine

State House Dome: Early 2020 bellwether to come in Hooksett special election – The Union Leader

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New Hampshire voters will soon pass judgment on the first special election of 2020 in the town of Hooksett.

The race on Tuesday, March 10, is to replace the late Republican State Rep. Dick Marple, and features a young GOP contender against a local Democratic activist and educator.

Party registration clearly favors the GOP as Hooksett is one of those unusual communities where there are more Republicans registered to vote (3,820) than there are independent voters (3,781). Democrats lag considerably behind (2,749).

The election is also on Town Meeting Day which tends to boost voter turnout which, all things being equal, should favor the Republican contender, Elliot Axelman.

In the GOP primary, Axelman soundly defeated two rivals with more longevity in town than he.

Axelman only moved to New Hampshire in 2017 as a follower of the Libertarian-driven Free State Project.

After it initially slipped my mind, I was reminded about the Free State Project while finishing up my research for the freest state and preparing to move to Wyoming. Once my memory was refreshed, I spent some time on the Free State Projects website, and I re-watched the video I had seen years ago, 101 Reasons Liberty Lives in NH. This tipped the scale from Wyoming to New Hampshire, Axelman posted in 2017.

If elected, hes vowed to support the agenda of Gov. Chris Sununu but has some other controversial ideas all his own such as getting rid of Medicare and the Department of Homeland Security, and calling Global Warming the biggest hoax in human history.

Axelman has proven himself to be a pretty capable fundraiser having attracted nearly $5,200 in donations for the job that pays $100 a year.

Among his supporters include former GOP State Chairman and Concord developer Steve Duprey ($500); current Republican National Committeeman Chris Ager ($100); State Reps. Jesse Edwards ($200) of Auburn, Mark Warden ($100) of Manchester and Carol McGuire ($100) of Epsom; along with the NH Liberty Alliance ($200).

The Democratic rival, Kathleen Martins, has been outgunned financially having raised $1,517 to this point. As a union member and educator, its little surprise that organized labor makes up the bulk of her donations, from the State Employees Association ($500), National Education Association ($100) and Merrimack County Democrats ($500).

She ran for the same seat in 2018 and was the top vote-getting Democrat finishing in fifth just 87 votes behind Marple.

Checklist totals are revealing

There were both good and troubling signs for both political parties as Secretary of State Bill Gardners office published at the end of last week the final numbers on registered voters in the wake of the first-in-the-nation primary.

Democratic Chairman Raymond Buckley should be pleased that the new totals mean his party is the biggest (324,593) in history. Prior to Feb. 11, Republicans had a slight edge in party registration but thats been wiped out now, though Republicans for the first time broke 300,000 as well (306,542).

For Republican Chairman Stephen Stepanek, what was real promising for President Trumps reelection efforts was that even without a real challenge there were still nearly 40,000 (39,685) independent voters who bothered to show up to cast a GOP ballot.

Democrats had many more independents taking part (130,758).

Then there are the new registered voters in the college towns where Democratic campaigns have often gone to harvest voter advantages every four years.

In the four biggest college towns (Durham, Hanover, Keene and Henniker), the number of new voters this time (3,169) was quite a drop down from those (4,731) that turned out in 2016.

Four years ago there was competition in both parties so one would think the new voter total would be higher but this kind of decline will surely spark questions about whether the new laws linking voter registration to residency did have a chilling effect.

Pro-abortion rights group endorse state senators

Emilys List, the largest political action committee supporting female Democratic candidates who support abortion rights, endorsed four incumbent state senators at the end of last week.

They are Senate President Donna Soucy, D-Manchester, along with Sens. Cindy Rosenwald, D-Nashua, Melanie Levesque, D-Brookline, and Shannon Chandley, D-Amherst.

Soucy is the only seasoned senator on that list; the other three are serving their first terms.

Democratic race for governor getting chippy

It appears the two declared Democratic candidates for governor, Senate Majority Leader Dan Feltes and Executive Councilor Andru Volinsky, both of Concord, are looking forward to getting after it.

After Volinsky first raised the idea of having debates prior to the dog days of summer, Feltes quickly responded hes all for it and proposed having 10 debates, one in each county.

The two campaigns also got into it over Feltes decision to return corporate PAC money and checks from limited liability companies (LLCs) that had exceeded the individual contribution limit. Feltes has sponsored legislation in past years to get rid of the so-called LLC loophole.

Feltes initial campaign fundraising reports had shown, and there were published reports that, he had taken corporate PAC money.

New Hampshire Public Radio reported last week Feltes had been airing Facebook ads about his opposition to taking corporate PAC money.

In response to the latest report, Feltes said he was returning $11,000 in donations.

People are increasingly concerned about corporate money in politics which is why in this campaign we are not accepting corporate contributions; weve returned any and all such contributions received to date, Feltes said in a statement.

Earlier last week, Feltes Campaign Manager Nick Taylor took to Twitter to accuse the Volinsky campaign of sending out a misleading email of his own to raise money.

However, its so disappointing to see the Volinsky campaign send a fundraising email tonight that they know is false. We had private conversations with their campaign this weekend to clarify our position, any timeline or narrative that was unclear in the NHPR story, Taylor posted.

Volinsky has declined to comment publicly on the controversy.

Conservative senator heading to NH

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., will come to New Hampshire to help raise money for the state GOP and also for U.S. Senate candidate Don Bolduc.

Cotton will be the keynote speaker at the Lincoln-Reagan Dinner for the Hillsborough County GOP Committee on May 1 at the Sky Meadow Country Club in Nashua.

DNC adding more staff to NH

The Democratic National Committee announced it is expanding its Battleground Build-Up 2020 program to include six states including New Hampshire.

These states will end up with additional field offices and double the number of organizers and operations staff.

Meanwhile, the top spokesman for NH Democrats, Holly Shulman, was dispatched to South Carolina last week to assist the media staffers of that state in the run-up to its primary.

Its fun to be able to use my skills accumulated over the last few weeks to help out people who have no idea the barrage of questions theyre about to get from reporters all around the world, Shulman said.

Lawmakers back in action

Fresh off school vacation week, the New Hampshire State Senate and House of Representatives resume business sessions this Thursday.

The House will take up the three dozen or so bills that were not completed prior to the break due to the long debate over issuing reprimands against House GOP members who did not attend a training session to prevent sexual harassment.

The House is expected to kill bills to impose a tax on the sale of electronic equipment and to subject ski lift tickets to the Room and Meals Tax.

The Senate will debate mandatory seat belts and is likely to kill a controversial measure aimed to impose restrictions on shooting ranges.

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State House Dome: Early 2020 bellwether to come in Hooksett special election - The Union Leader

Government Finds New Ways to Develop and Retain Talent – Government Technology

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With ongoing workforce shortages in the technology sector, much has been said about the need for government to get more creative in its IT recruiting efforts. But theres a second half of the equation that often gets overlooked. As recruiting gets ever more competitive, theres a growing need for enhanced IT resiliency.

CIOs need to look at workforce planning for the long term. Its no longer enough for IT to just keep the lights on, maintaining a functional and secure infrastructure. In a successful IT team, skilled professionals need defined pathways, continuous training opportunities and a sense that government offers them a place to build a career within a positive work culture.

In a sense, demographic changes work in favor of state and local efforts to promote IT longevity. For a generation of workers who saw their parents work lives disrupted by the recession, a long-term career in government may look tempting. In government agencies, you dont get fired easily. They also have defined benefits: You have a timeline to retirement, you have safety over time, said David K. Johnson, a Forrester principal analyst serving chief information officers. Two big sources of uncertainty are wiped off the table.

In order to leverage that advantage, government CIOs need to work hand-in-glove with human resource professionals. They must emphasize ongoing training and build a strong workplace culture. They also need to meet emerging demands for a flexible workplace. And then theres the money: When corporate dollars lure top talent away, government has to raise the stakes, without busting the budget.

All this may sound like a tall order, but workforce resiliency is an IT imperative. With state and local government spending more than $107 billion a year on technology according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, a stable workforce is a must-have, and it starts with a solid relationship between IT and HR.

In Fulton County, Ga., the top HR executive considers himself a lead partner in promoting IT resilience.

We try to have conversations on a monthly basis to figure out what their needs are, said Kenneth L. Hermon Jr., chief human resources officer. When we hear that they are losing a database administrator to Dekalb County for $2,000, HR can scour all our counterparts and develop a retention policy. Then if we hear an employee is leaving for another entity, IT has the ability to counter that offer.

When such relationships dont emerge organically, experts say the burden falls to IT leadership to initiate stronger ties. Its the role of the CIO to build a more proactive and consistent relationship with HR, so that they fully understand the challenges that IT is facing, said Gartner analyst Alia Mendonsa. When the two are working in sync, a powerful synergy can occur. IT can provide HR with modernized management tools, and HR in turn can provide key market information to help make compensation packages more competitive.

When IT and HR are teaming effectively, one of the first areas they will likely address is training a key component in the overall formula for IT resilience.

Because IT is a moving target, most technology professionals rank ongoing training among their top professional concerns. Some 63 percent of government entities devote funds to employee development, according to the Center for State and Local Government Excellence (SLGE) 2019 workforce survey.

On the flip side, a lack of skills enhancement will undermine team longevity. When government employees are frustrated, its because they dont have the basic tools they need to do their job, Johnson said.

In Cabarrus County, N.C., CIO Todd Shanley offers a range of online training opportunities, and he backs up those classes with a comprehensive training plan developed in collaboration with supervisors and staff members. What does the county need, what are you interested in? Then we build the plan around the places where those come together, he said.

Hermon said that Fulton County has been focused more acutely on employee development lately, specifically as a part of its IT employee retention efforts. You might have been here for five or 10 years, and weve never sent you to a formal certification program or a training program, he said. It was obvious to us that employees were clamoring for those kinds of things. They wanted us to show that we believe in them and that we would invest in them.

In Tennessee, Chief Learning Officer Antonio Meeks oversees a four-tier certificate program, a pyramid of learning that includes both nontechnical and technical skills. For IT professionals, it is a strategic methodology for developing employees and ensuring they can be successful in their roles, he said.

People arent required to follow the path, but for those seeking advancement within the department, it helps to have a well-defined avenue for training opportunities. Its a way of letting employees know that you are invested in them, you are invested in their growth and invested in their development, Meeks said. We know that 90 percent of millennials think learning and development opportunities are a reason to stick with an organization, so this is a driver for retention.

He noted that while practical skills factor high on the states training regimen, IT leaders also need to put a heavy emphasis on the soft side. We are shoring up their people skills: working with others, team building, he said. Theres nothing worse than having to go to the mean IT person in order to get things done, or the IT person who makes you feel like you are dumb for asking the question.

In addition to training and certification, HR and IT have another area of common interest: They can work collaboratively on job classifications in order to ensure the right people are in the right places, and are receiving appropriate compensation.

The duties for a person in technology can change pretty frequently, and we need to refresh those duties so that when we look at the market, the job description truly aligns with the work that person is performing, Shanley said.

In addition to ensuring accurate salaries, job reclassification can be used as a means to hang on to rising talent. We grew someone off our help desk to support our physical security systems, Shanley said. We saw what he was interested in, and were able to pull him in that direction. To retain that individual long term, we reclassified a position in order to give him those additional responsibilities.

This kind of strategic use around job classification can be a boon to long-term personnel management.

When people have a sense that they are working outside their classification, they can get frustrated if they feel like they are being asked to do things that were never part of the job description, said Gerald Young, senior research associate at the Center for State and Local Government Excellence. If you can reclassify a position and bring it up to date, there can be recognition and perhaps even compensation for those additional tasks.

These specific areas of overlap between HR and IT, areas such as training and job classification, can also be seen in a broader context. They are part of the cultural fabric of the institution. That fabric not just what we do, but who we are and how we work forms the backbone of any IT resiliency effort. In order for people to stay around long term, they need to feel personally invested in the enterprise.

To that end, its worth taking a deeper look at the ways in which that culture gets communicated. The ins and outs of employee engagement are another key element in the overall retention effort.

For Joe Cudby, engagement begins with the work itself.

The language I use with my team is play, said Cudby, Indianas chief technology officer. When you can find something that is really interesting and engaging, then you can deal with the other things a challenging culture or lower compensation. If the work is engaging and you can see the impact of what you do, that can compensate for a lot.

He says the best way to foster that sense of engagement is to give people choices in their work. Hell define the big job, the major task at hand, and then invite his team members to carve out for themselves the bits that seem most interesting. When I give people the opportunity to have some selection in what they would do, they tend to be more engaged in it, he said.

Across state and local government, the most successful employee engagement efforts are those that start with the employees themselves. Rather than pushing information from the top down, successful agencies invite workers to take the lead.

This is a participatory model, one that listens and encourages ideas to be explored and implemented, Young said. Those employees are more likely to feel valued within the organization.

This approach goes beyond empowering employees to try out new approaches or take on new tasks. Its about letting them voice their ideas and concerns, their satisfactions and dissatisfactions along the way, Young said. You need an organizational culture that can hear from them and grow as a result.

In Fulton County, Ga., Hermon makes that tangible with an employee engagement survey, conducted annually for each of the past four years. Hes not alone: 29 percent of respondents in the SLGE report said they use such tools.

Hermon said the key to success is not just listening, but also acting on what he hears. We try to fix the things that can be fixed quickly and we put plans in place to tackle the others, he said. Responsiveness in turn drives engagement: People feel empowered when those above respond to their concerns.

Its about developing trust between myself and the IT people, Hermon said. We also have chat sessions where we invite employees from the IT department, with no managers in the room, so that they can speak freely and can tell us what is on their minds.

Others look to drive engagement through transparency. When people have a solid understanding of whats going on across the IT shop, the theory goes, they are more likely to be personally invested in the outcomes.

In Cabarrus County, for example, Shanley uses wellness dashboards to track the progress of a wide range of projects. When people have a better understanding of what is going on in the entire environment, it improves the mood across the entire department, he said.

State and local IT leaders can listen thoughtfully and create a supportive culture. They can offer training and partner with HR to shape career paths. But lets get down to brass tacks: Can they let you work from home, or pay you more? These are arguably harder questions, but some are finding practical answers.

We have a good cross-section of IT people who telecommute, Hermon said. But weve learned from the mistakes of industry. We set a maximum of three straight days of telecommuting, so you still get that level of accountability and those interactions with colleagues.

Cudby has been working from home for years and he encourages his staff to do the same. But he admits it is a balancing act. When its all in the cloud and nothings on prem, I dont need you to be physically here to do your work, he said. But we need to teach managers new ideas about accountability how to work in that kind of environment and how to manage in that kind of environment.

Striking that balance is critical to long-term success. While just 56 percent of government workers say their pay is competitive, 88 percent say their benefits are on par with industry, Young said. Flexible work, including work-from-home and flexible scheduling, helps to drive that stat.

Money can be trickier theres only so much but some have found creative ways to close the gap. For example, some 40 percent of state and local entities encourage retention with merit-based salary increases, according to the SLGE survey.

Fulton County has implemented raises of up to 3 percent every three years based on departmental performance. We wanted to incentivize the entire workforce to work as a team, so every department had to tie their specific goals to the countys broader goals, Hermon said. The compensation piece is important. Our salaries will never be private-sector levels, but we need them to be competitive.

In Cabarrus County, HR conducts a salary survey every two years and adjusts pay rates accordingly. In Tennessee, the average employee salary has gone up $5,000 over the past five years. We are really working on that, including looking at IT and reclassifying positions, which has led to salary increases, Meeks said.

Money fixes a lot of things, but its not the only factor on the table. Even when salaries are stuck, there is much that IT leaders can do to position state and local government as an employer of choice.

Government is constrained financially, but pay is only one dimension of satisfaction, Johnson said. You can provide training and growth opportunities that people couldnt get in the private sector. You can give them the chance to build their skills and to find something meaningful in their work.

All that together can add up to an IT team that is resilient over the long haul.

Originally posted here:
Government Finds New Ways to Develop and Retain Talent - Government Technology

Finding value in F2P – iGaming Business

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Free-to-play has existed for two decades now, so why do questions persist over its sustainability? Sam Forrest argues that the model can be profitable, provided that operators focus on engaging players for the long term and treat payers and non-payers fairly

Two decades ago, the South Korea-based company, Nexon, pioneered a new model known as free to play (FTP). It was widely believed to be the answer to combating piracy, one of the most prevalent issues in the industry at the time.

The logic tracked well why would you steal what you can get for free? No one could have predicted the widespread and enduring success of the model, which has since been regularly modified and improved to suit the changing needs of the industry.

FTP titles drove the bulk of spending last year, accounting for 80% of total digital game spending in 2019 according to Nielsens SuperData Research Group.

While once solely associated with casual mobile and PC games, FTP has since made its mark on the console market, attracting global attention for premium titles including Fortnite: Battle Royale, Dota 2 and League of Legends.

The core methodology behind the FTP model is that players can access most of the content within a gaming title without incurring any costs, while those players who want to progress through the game more quickly or access additional content can pay for the pleasure.

Despite a large portion of their content being free to users, developers still make a profit as, in the vast majority of FTP games, the paying players subsidise the FTP players. The truth in this claim is apparent in a recent 2019 monetisation report from Swrve, which states that 64.5% of total revenue comes from the top 10% of paying users.

Prioritising fair playPaying users can purchase perks that they would not have access to as a free player, resulting in access to hidden features or obtaining superficial cosmetic items such as new skins or gadgets.

So, how do developers ensure equality among payers and players? Guaranteeing that FTP and paying players are treated equally within the game, beyond what they pay for, is a tricky task. While paying players are an integral revenue stream for developers, the active player base that comes from FTP has immense value within the game.

If the two distinct player bases are treated fairly, it creates longevity in the game, allowing it to grow in terms of liquidity and revenue.

Evidence of this strategy being successful can be seen in a number of online games. In the social casino genre, KamaGames Pokerist allows paying players to buy virtual chips that permit them to play for longer or to access pro tables where chip requirements are high.

In terms of equality for all players, however, the companys random number generator guarantees that, regardless of how many chips are purchased, the odds of winning remain the same for all players. While the purchased chips facilitate continued access to the game, the act of buying chips in no way enhances a players chances of winning, nor skews the odds of winning in their favour.

There is a brief and recent history of games developers unfairly prioritising paying users, providing them with significant in-game advantages not available to others.

When this occurs beyond allowing paying players to access diverting content such as a mini game or more creative skins, the gaming world is quick to accuse developers of diverging from FTP to a pay-to-win model.

For true gaming enthusiasts, this anger stems from the knowledge that, no matter how many hours they spend toiling away in their chosen game, they are incapable of reaching the same level of success as that of a paying user. In effect, the free experience is cheapened to such an extent that the prospect of winning is rendered impossible.

Anyone even remotely within the sphere of gaming is aware of how global organisations have inspired a widespread backlash following the over-milking of in-game microtransactions. For EA, Star Wars Battlefront II should have been one of the biggest gaming success stories of 2017.

Yet, its onerous and expensive microtransactions, on top of an initial cover charge, instigated an animosity in gamers that spread industry-wide like wildfire. First-week sales were 60% down on Battlefront I, hitting the companys share price and leading it to overhaul its approach to microtransactions.

Talk of loot boxes and microtransactions have the industry buzzing, with many now regularly targeting operators who prioritise microtransactions over gameplay, or worse, those who may encourage a gambling mentality among impressionable players. This global criticism has resulted in several countries banning games that host loot boxes.

This confluence of events, along with the appearance of EA and Epic Games at the UK Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, serves as a warning of what can happen when titles quietly attempt to transform from an FTP or pay-to-play game to a pay-to-win scenario.

Why bankroll free players?Some question how the FTP model can be profitable for developers, even when executed perfectly, as the majority of users wont ever part with a single cent. While its clear that FTP is not foolproof, empires have been built by those who can crack the formula.

Companies such as KamaGames, Supercell, Tencent and Niantic can boast annual revenues in the millions (and, for some, billions). In many cases, it has been done without the impressive budget of AAA titles.

The fact is, despite 72% of players only ever making one purchase and 47.7% of purchases being made on the first day of installation, according to Swrve, the sheer number of players that these titles attract ensures profit.

For developers, one of the greatest advantages of FTP will always be that it creates a recurring revenue stream instead of solitary, one-off payments. Also, in exposing a higher number of players to the game, the likelihood of down the funnel conversions increases as players continue to enjoy the game and become more invested.

This is why operators who adopt this model are becoming increasingly more devoted to introducing mechanics which guarantee continued, long-term engagement. On its most basic level, and as far as it relates to the traditional mobile standard of FTP titles, players can either slowly grind and progress through a games content for free or choose to pay and speed up their progression.

Outside of revenue garnered from direct monetary transactions, for some developers, customer data such as social media and demographic information is of notable value. This data can highlight the type of user, in terms of gender, age or even income, who is most interested in their product, allowing operators to direct future campaigns and promotions at this audience.

Furthermore, when you are looking at a multiplayer game, the most vital contribution non-payers make is simply their engagement with the game. Their presence alone is enough to champion the argument for the FTP model. After all, little can compare to the challenge of going head-to-head against an authentic human rival and emerging the undisputed victor.

Through increasing player liquidity, non-payers enhance the overall quality of experience for the payers and have rightfully earned their place within the game.

The ideal FTP title is fair, enhances gameplay for payers but doesnt create a negative experience for non-paying users. Yet, just like a simple app game, mastering FTP has proven to be harder than it looks.

Sam Forrest, the director of global communications for KamaGames, is a highly proficient PR and communications veteran with over 25 years of experience in the interactive entertainment sector. Throughout his career, he has worked with a wide number of well-known global entertainment brands including Disney/Pixar, WWE, UFC, DreamWorks, Nickelodeon, Hasbro and Marvel.

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Finding value in F2P - iGaming Business

The power of collaboration in business – Thrive Global

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There is a special place in hell for women who do not help other women

This quote by Madeliene Albright certainly gets one to sit up and make the intention to help, pull up or support people from their tribe. Be it a women community or a business group that you are a part of, a key element for collective growth for entrepreneurs is Collaboration.

A Stanford University study emphasizes that A defining aspect of human society is that people work together toward common ends. Business collaboration has the potential to fulfill the growth gaps in your venture. Whether it is getting complementary competencies, backward-forward linkages or expanding into new markets; working together is the secret sauce for a successful business.

I am a great advocate of collaborations and strategic partnerships. But we also need to look at how to make them more effective and work for us in a meaningful way. Here are the top 3 ways to do it:

Identifying the right collaborator:

Its very important to make collaboration last. And for that you need to have partners that synergize and complement your business. For this begin with defining who they are, what domain, profile, are they a part of your supply chain or value chain or they are market linkages that help you get to new clients. You are teaming up with them for a specific agenda. So commercial arrangement alone cannot be the deciding factor. Think through and make a list of criteria to select the right partners.

The correct way to approach:

When you meet people at events, digital networks or through referrals, approach with the intention of building relationships rather than transactions. Share your personal stories, walk them through your entrepreneurial journey to find similarities and tie a hook to the common areas. Apart from developing a trusting relationship, you need to clearly define the roles and responsibilities for each kind of the collaborator. Its not only about how they are relevant to you, but also about what they are looking for and how you can add value to them

Making it a win-win:

Clarity is of prime importance in making a business arrangement work. So a well communicated partnership strategy, defined goals and objectives, workable operational plan and systems for monitoring and measurement must be established in initial stages. If there are cultural and geographic differences, make sure you have project management and communication plan in place at the very beginning. It is always a good idea to have things documented as well as get your collaborator agreement contract with the mutually agreed upon clauses. Remember, we are thinking long-term.

Fern Koh, the founder of luxury beauty products Fernberry in Hong Kong says Collaborations are an amazing way to extend your clientele, as well as to tap into new markets that youve never thought of before.

The power of collaboration for any business whether a startup or a small business or multinational mainstay can result in sustainable growth and longevity. We understand the importance of coming together, lets put the focus on making it more effective.

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The power of collaboration in business - Thrive Global

Movie Review: ‘The Call of the Wild’ – Lewiston Sun Journal

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Last week in my Sonic the Hedgehog review, I lamented that the title character was a cleaned-up cartoon rather than the realistic CGI abomination we were promised that would have made the movie a classic of terrible cinema. This week, with The Call of the Wild, we do indeed get a realistic CGI abomination of a main character, but unlike Sonic, the movie surrounding the character is halfway decent. Its no fun having a distracting, unnerving computerized animal in this one.

The film, based on the classic novel by Jack London, follows a dog named Buck from his spoiled life in California to his dognapping and sale into service to his stint as a sled dog under a determined mailman (Omar Sy) to his role as a companion to grizzled loner John Thornton (Harrison Ford). The spoiled portion is full of predictable dog hijinks. Hes told not to eat food off the picnic table, but then he walks up to his owner (Bradley Whitford) with a drumstick in his mouth, and you know hes eaten food off the picnic table. I know this sounds horrible to say, but I was glad when Buck got dognapped so this could no longer be a dog eats food off the picnic table movie.

Buck is shipped to the Arctic, and cruelly taught obedience by a guy with a club that Buck frankly seems perfectly capable of taking. He learns the value of teamwork while helping to pull the mailmans sled, so much so that he eventually replaces the power-hungry lead dog and helps the mailman be on time for the first time ever. Then hes sold to arrogant fortune hunter Hal (Dan Stevens), who wants him for a trek to a legendary river of gold, even though the guy seems incapable of forging even the tamest of streams. Thornton rescues Buck from the villain and the two go off on adventure of their own, here Buck struggles to fight the temptation (call if you will) to run off with a pack of fellow canines. It turns out that the two are camping at the site of the very river Hal wanted to find, and he tracks them down for a confrontation, even though our heroes braved an arduous journey and Hal has been established as terrible traveler in a plot hole Im not willing to overlook.

Whatever problems there may be with the script (and dont blame London, Hal doesnt enjoy such longevity in the book), theyre nothing compared to the problems with the very look of Buck. Its not like hes animated in the traditional sense, hes rendered using motion capture technology. Lets say the movie wants Buck and Harrison Ford in the same scene, one where Ford talks to the animal. Forget having Ford talk to a real dog or even a blank space where a dog will be added later. He has to talk to a guy wearing a highly sophisticated motion capture suit for a movie set in the 19th century. Ford actually pulls it off, its the visual effects that fail. Motion capture is great for fantastical creatures, but the technology hasnt yet reached the point where I can look at a motion capture dog and recognize it as an actual dog.

There are actually a number of positive elements to The Call of the Wild: Bucks journey is compelling, the scenery is beautiful, Sy is affable in his role, and Ford gives a dignified performance. But its all undone by the fundamental truth that the dog looks phony. I suppose it could be worse. Buck could be designed to look like an animal/human actor hybrid, but I dont see any non-musical being dumb enough to do that.

Grade: C

The Call of the Wild is rated PG for some violence, peril, thematic elements and mild language. Itsrunning time is 100 minutes.

Contact Bob Garver at [emailprotected]

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Movie Review: 'The Call of the Wild' - Lewiston Sun Journal

The ultra-rich are investing in companies trying to reverse aging. Is it going to work? – CNBC

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If you can't defeat death, what if you could postpone it, or at least postpone the diseases commonly associated with getting old?

Many people, especially the ultra-wealthy in Silicon Valley, are investing money into companies trying to answer exactly those questions.

Amazon CEOJeff Bezos and billionaire PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel have both invested in South San Francisco-based Unity Biotechnology, a company whose mission is to "extend human healthspan, the period in one's life unburdened by the disease of aging."

In 2013, Google formed aging research company Calico. Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison has donated hundreds of millions of dollars to aging research, The New Yorker reported.

There are a slew of other companies tackling aging, including BioAge, BioViva, The Longevity Fund, AgeX and the Methuselah Foundation.

"Whenever you meet a fundamental human need, there's a market," said Michael West, a gerontologist and CEO of AgeX Therapeutics."And in this case, the market for age-related disease and aging is a trillion dollar market."

But people claiming to know what you ought to do to live longer isn't anything new. Historically, as is still the case today, a lot of it just doesn't work. So what's real? And what's just wishful thinking?

Watch the video to find out more.

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The ultra-rich are investing in companies trying to reverse aging. Is it going to work? - CNBC

What are Ecobricks and are They a Solution to Plastic Pollution? – AZoCleantech

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Image Credit: yinfui/Shutterstock.com

The general premise of an ecobrick is very simple: gather all of the materials you cannot recycle at home or locally, and pack them as tightly as you can into a plastic bottle. This tight tube of plastic becomes a building block, which can then be used for a range of things from sculptures to construction projects. Could this be the best solution to plastic pollution, or do they pose more problems further down the line?

The ecobrick movement has gathered momentum over the last few years as plastic pollution has made phenomenal global headlines. It has become an increasingly popular material to build with, especially in developing countries, as plastic is exceptionally easy to come across at home or littered in the streets.

Typically mixed with natural building methods such as cob, adobe, or wattle & daub, the ecobricks provide an excellent structure to build with. They also act as a natural insulator due to the tightly-packed insulating plastics.

The Global Ecobrick Alliance has been active since 2015, and have provided extensive guidelines on how to properly make ecobricks. Their principles encompass a circular, cradle-to-cradle design to increase the longevity of the ecobrick and its components. For example, they recommend silicone and not glue to adjoin each brick, so that it can be easily taken apart and re-purposed if needs be.

Using natural building materials as opposed to cement also ensures that the bricks can be extricated undamaged, should the building be taken down. From homes to chairs to sculpted works of art: the whole premise of up-cycling plastic to form useful products is inherently sustainable.

There are many positive aspects of using non-recyclables in this way. The BBC expos War on Plastic reported that over 60% of the plastic that the UK recycles is being sent overseas and dumped in countries in Asia, like Malaysia. Waste is littering the shores, as many countries simply do not have the recycling infrastructure to deal with the number of plastics produced.

Ecobricks are part of a solution that enables people to not only clean up their rivers and coastlines, but these once-wasted materials can be used to build things of direct benefit to local communities. Several NGOs are also offering plastic incentives, whereby individuals are paid to collect waste plastics and make ecobricks for various projects.

Their design also reinforces the need to close many of our industrial loops and start investing in circular economies as opposed to the throwaway culture that is causing harm to the natural world. Plastic has received hugely negative press lately, but it is important to remember that, often, it is a highly useful material.

Creating homes from plastic waste and natural materials is smart: the plastics are sturdy and will stand the test of time, and they can be used over and over again for decades to come.

Despite their obvious benefits, there are concerns that making external structures from plastic may not be beneficial for the planet. These non-recyclable plastics are made from inorganic chemicals, which may leech into the surrounding environment as the ecobricks are exposed to the sun. This could cause immediate harm to the soil and eventually reach the water table where these chemicals threaten aquatic plant and animal life.

The photodegradation also makes the plastic brittle and susceptible to breaking, thereby releasing micro-plastics into the area: proven to be detrimental to animal and human health. There is criticism that ecobricks do not offer a solution to the plastic problem, and instead is simply delaying dealing with these problems for another few hundred years.

Ecobricks certainly offer a ready-made solution to the immediate problems posed by plastic. They are a hugely powerful tool for cleaning up local areas, educating schools and communities, and creating structures that will stand the test of time.

Further thought should certainly be given to the longevity of the plastics and the potential environmental impacts further down the line. However, ecobricks certainly form a potent reminder of humankinds poor management of waste and reinforce the need for radical change across the plastic industry.

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are those of the author expressed in their private capacity and do not necessarily represent the views of AZoM.com Limited T/A AZoNetwork the owner and operator of this website. This disclaimer forms part of the Terms and conditions of use of this website.

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What are Ecobricks and are They a Solution to Plastic Pollution? - AZoCleantech

Steer clear of the dry fasting diet trend – York Dispatch

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A new fad diet includes consuming no water or liquids of any kind for many hours or days at a time, which is dangerous. (Dreamstime/TNS)(Photo: Dreamstime / TNS)

A new fad diet making the rounds on wellness influencer Instagram wont actually help you lose weight. And it could cause dehydration, urinary tract infections, kidney stones, organ failure even death.

Its called dry fasting. It goes beyond what most of us would consider fasting abstaining from solid food or liquid calories and requires consuming no water or liquids of any kind for many hours or even days at a time.

Instagram and other social media sites have provided a glossy new platform for extremely dubious health and nutrition claims. Posts about dry fasting often tout the need to heal or rest or reset your kidneys, or boost their filtration. In practice, what dry fasting will do is make you look a bit more toned, because your body is using up the water in your cells for energy.

Even more dubious claims suggest that dry fasting forces your body to burn toxins, or fat, or inflammation, or tumors. It does not. When you stop feeding your body calories, it breaks down muscle and fat. The toxic byproducts of that breakdown process build up in your system, requiring extra hydration to flush them out.

In other words, if youre abstaining from food, your body needs more water, not less.

Experts agree: There is no dietary or nutritional reason to go on a dry fast.

I dont recommend it at all, said Dr. Pauline Yi, a physician at UCLA Health Beverly Hills who regularly treats patients in their late teens and early 20s. She said intermittent fasting and other fasting-type diets are a popular topic with patients, and she has no problem with people trying them out.

But I also tell them when youre fasting you have to drink water, she said. You cannot go without hydration.

The majority of the human body is water. Your individual water consumption needs depend on your height, weight, health and the climate, but generally speaking, Yi said people should be consuming at least 68 ounces almost nine cups of water every day.

Cary Kreutzer, an associate professor at USCs schools of gerontology and medicine whose area of expertise includes nutrition and diet, says digestive systems arent meant to have extended breaks. She likened making your kidneys go without water to letting your cars engine run out of oil. You can basically burn out some parts of the car that youre going to have to get replaced, she said. You dont want those replacement parts to include your vital organs.

Another unintended consequence of dry fasting: It sets your body in water-conservation mode.

Your body likes homeostasis, said Yi, the physician. If youre going to cut back on water, your body will produce hormones and chemicals to hold onto any water.

So while you might gain a very short-term benefit by looking a tiny bit more toned while youre severely dehydrated (body-builders have been known to dry fast before competitions for that reason), once you consume liquid again, your body rebounds and desperately hangs on to even more water than before. Its like yo-yo dieting in fast motion.

Dry fasting is not the same thing as intermittent fasting, which has become a popular fad diet in recent years. There are different variations of intermittent fasting, but most people start with 16 hours of fasting followed by eight hours of eating. Martin Berkhan created the LeanGains 16:8 intermittent fasting guide and is widely credited with popularizing the diet. On his website, leangains.com, Berkhan writes that during the 16-hour fasting window, coffee, calorie-free sweeteners, diet soda, sugar-free gum and up to a teaspoon of milk in a cup of coffee wont break the fast.

The subreddit for fasting, r/fasting, has an Introduction to Intermittent Fasting guide that contains the following tips for surviving the fasting portion of your day:

Drink lots of cold water

Always carry water, a canteen, a bottle, or keep a full glass within sight

Water, water, water, water

Valter Longo has studied starvation, fasting and calorie restriction in humans for nearly 30 years. Hes currently the director of the Longevity Institute at USC and a professor of gerontology. He developed the Fasting-Mimicking Diet, or FMD, a fasting-type diet with small prepackaged meals intended to provide the health and longevity benefits of a five-day fast without requiring a doctors supervision. Fasting-type diets have grown in popularity in recent years for a simple reason, he said: Because they work.

But he said hes not aware of any reputable studies about the effects of dry fasting, and said he wouldnt even consider putting one together, also for a simple reason: Its incredibly dangerous.

For sure, the body needs to reset, but there are safe ways of doing that, and dry fasting is not one of them, Longo said. We require water.

His work has also involved looking at how cultures and religions have engaged with starvation and fasting throughout human history, and says he hasnt heard of any that involved extended fasting without water. The closest is Ramadan, during which observers go without food or water during daylight hours but at most, that lasts for 16 hours, and its preceded and followed by extensive hydration.

If someone tries dry fasting for a full day, Longo said, they risk side effects like developing kidney stones. Longer than that, and you start risking your life.

Some proponents of dry fasting eschew water but recommend hydrating with fresh fruits and vegetables. Hydrating with fruit is certainly better than not hydrating at all. An orange has about a half-cup of water in it; to get to the recommended 68 ounces of water a day, youd have to eat around 17 oranges. Thats a lot of peeling.

So, in conclusion: Dry fasting puts you at risk of kidney stones or organ failure. There are no known, proven long-term benefits to doing it. Though different types of fasts and fasting diets can be beneficial, there is no medical evidence to suggest you need to stop consuming water for any period of time, or that water from fruit is better for you than filtered drinking water. Do not take medical advice from a photo of a person in a sarong.

Please drink some water.

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Steer clear of the dry fasting diet trend - York Dispatch

The Human gRace Project: Start your week with positivity, tools to cut through negativity – The Denver Channel

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Denver7 has partnered with Dr. James Rouse, a renowned naturopathic doctor, to launch an initiative called The Human gRace Project, which is designed to give you tools to help lessen stress and deal with the chaos of modern life.

This project will utilize science, spirituality and personal development to bring positivity and peace to your week. The Human gRace Project will help bring relief from our stress filled, fast-paced, always-connected world with solutions to help with never-ending worries about bills, traffic, growth and safety of families.

Each topic will be presented Sundays on Denver7 social media accounts. On Mondays on Denver7 news at 6 a.m., Dr. Rouse will share insights to help you start off your work week.

Professionally, Im a big believer in lifestyle medicine. said Dr. Rouse. I love how we cultivate diet, how we cultivate certain rituals in our day, who we spend time with. All of those things have a major impact on our physiology on our neurochemistry and our longevity.

Each week, Dr. Rouse and Denver7 reporter Micah Smith will then go in-depth on each topic. Those segments will be available on the Denver7 streaming app on services like Roku, Apple TV and Amazon Fire.

The goal of The Human gRace Project is to help provide strategies to cut through the negativity on social media and beyond and provide useful information to lessen stress.

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The Human gRace Project: Start your week with positivity, tools to cut through negativity - The Denver Channel

Cellular Reprogramming Tools Market to Witness Robust Expansion Throughout the F – News.MarketSizeForecasters.com

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Market Study Report, LLC, adds a comprehensive research of the ' Cellular Reprogramming Tools market' that mentions valuable insights pertaining to market share, profitability graph, market size, SWOT analysis, and regional proliferation of this industry. This study incorporates a disintegration of key drivers and challenges, industry participants, and application segments, devised by analyzing profuse information about this business space.

The research report on Cellular Reprogramming Tools market provides a granular assessment of this business vertical and includes information concerning the market tendencies such as revenue estimations, current remuneration, market valuation, and market size over the estimated timeframe.

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Major factors underlined in the Cellular Reprogramming Tools market report:

Considering the geographical landscape of the Cellular Reprogramming Tools market:

Cellular Reprogramming Tools Market Segmentation: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific & Middle East and Africa.

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An overview of the Cellular Reprogramming Tools market in terms of product type and application scope:

Product landscape:

Product types: Adult Stem Cells, Human Embryonic Stem Cells, Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells and Other

Key parameters included in the report:

Application Spectrum:

Application segmentation: Drug Development, Regenerative Medicine, Toxicity Test, Academic Research and Other

Specifics offered in report:

Additional information mentioned in the report:

Other insights regarding the competitive scenario of the Cellular Reprogramming Tools market:

Vendor base of Cellular Reprogramming Tools market: Celgene, FUJIFILM Holdings, BIOTIME, Advanced Cell Technology, Mesoblast, Human Longevity, Cynata, STEMCELL Technologies, Astellas Pharma, Osiris Therapeutics, EVOTEC and Japan Tissue Engineering

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Highlights of the report:

Key questions answered in the report:

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Chapter 1: Methodology & Scope

Definition and forecast parameters

Methodology and forecast parameters

Data Sources

Chapter 2: Executive Summary

Business trends

Regional trends

Product trends

End-use trends

Chapter 3: Cellular Reprogramming Tools Industry Insights

Industry segmentation

Industry landscape

Vendor matrix

Technological and innovation landscape

Chapter 4: Cellular Reprogramming Tools Market, By Region

Chapter 5: Company Profile

Business Overview

Financial Data

Product Landscape

Strategic Outlook

SWOT Analysis

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Sonic the Hedgehog movie review: a satisfying walkthrough for any fan – Vox.com

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Film adaptations of video games never arrive quietly. Gaming is a billion-dollar industry; fans are notably, even infamously, hardcore. And when it comes to transitioning particularly cartoonish gaming heroes from their fantastically illogical worlds to a conventional, human-filled, real-life Earth, filmmakers face an even more daunting task of suspending our disbelief.

And for protective fans of classic video gaming mascots like Pikachu, Mario, or Sonic the Hedgehog, it would be especially impossible to forgive any crew who turned a beloved character into an unrecognizable figure. Its hard to trust Hollywood, the land of the Minions, to not reduce beloved, familiar faces into sentient, insufferably quippy Happy Meal toys.

When various studios announced live-action films based on all three of the above characters in the mid-2010s, fans grimaced. Sonic the Hedgehog, Paramount Pictures stab at the electric-blue Sega mainstay, is the second to make it to theaters. But as early marketing efforts were rolled out last year, concerns that Sonic would be manipulated by the Hollywood machine into a catchphrase-spouting terror mounted.

Perhaps fears of Sonics move to live-action feature films were needlessly alarmist, especially following Detective Pikachu. 2019s live-action Pokmon adaptation had its own prerelease concerns, since Pokmon is a multimedia franchise full of hundreds of characters and lore much more beloved and expansive than Sonics. But that movie succeeded in honoring the world upon which it was based, even if the story itself was a little flat and kiddy. Know-nothings might have sometimes struggled to follow along. But for Pokmon lovers, it was a wonderful realization of the games world.

Pikachu is a character without a preexisting personality, however; Pokmons internal logic is what most compels its fans. Sonics video games, conversely, are light on story. Its Sonic himself who has been their main attraction since the 1990s, when he was Segas high-speed challenger to Nintendos slow and stubby Super Mario.

Where Mario was a mustachioed man who could jump and jog and little else, Sonic was the Blue Blur, radiating the rad ethos of the 90s. That sensibility was best typified by a disdain for authority (think Bart Simpson), an obsession with rock stardom, eyerolls, and sarcasm. But theres a lot about the 90s that does not hold up, including Sonics personality.

People who loved Sonic and his games in his heyday continue to defend him, to respect him, to wish the best for him. Its still fun to watch him zip through loop-de-loop levels, dashing into robots and other creatures in his path without taking a breath. The classic games different bits of theme music remain unforgettable; the franchise has spawned years worth of memes and in-jokes, a true testament to longevity. Sonics supporting cast is similarly beloved in its own right, even as it has continued to expand at a sometimes infuriating rate. For a Sonic movie to be successful, it had to acknowledge the truly cool parts of classic Sonic, not just the sick, dude ones.

Pleasing nostalgic video game fans is rarely easy. What provided Sonic the Hedgehog its biggest barrier was a design gaffe appalling to everyone, not just hedge-heads. The movies first marketing materials, released in December 2018 (a poster) and April 2019 (a trailer), revealed an ... interesting ... reimagining of Sonic, with muscley calves and a full set of human-like teeth. He had bare hands instead of his trademark gloves; his eyes were small and wide set, not the shiny, oversized eyes hed always had in games.

The unveiling of the design did not go well, inspiring such vaunted accolades as nightmare, ugly [and] toothy, and frightfully realistic. So hated was Sonics original design that its director apologized and recalled it, announcing that the character would be entirely reworked for the final film. Thats a whole lot of CGI to redo on a main character, so the news elicited concerns about animators working overtime to make the movies fall release date. Sonic the Hedgehog was eventually pushed back three months, from November 2019 to February 2020, to accommodate the redesign work. But the debacle cast a pall over a production whose video game-fan audience was already skeptical.

Id count myself strongly among those initial skeptics, whose affection for Sonic is both defensive and begrudging. Even when Sonic talks too much in his video games, or the games fall apart as in the 2006 game Sonic the Hedgehog, in which he kisses a human woman on the lips theres a joyous charm to someone still so stuck in the 90s. Hes a nostalgic object wed oft-prefer to leave encased in amber.

In making the character work for a broader audience, the team behind Sonic the Hedgehog didnt sacrifice the at-times embarrassing, at-times lovable parts of Sonic. In fact, its self-aware of how tiresome Sonic can be, while still reminding fans of why we remain attached to him.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Sonic the Hedgehog manages this by telling a unique origin story, reimagining Sonic for an unfamiliar audience while winking heavily to his history. The film paints the character (voiced by the always charming Ben Schwartz) as an excitable teen whose enthusiasm belies his loneliness. Blessed with the hypnotic power of super speed, hes been hiding for most of his life, evading bad actors who would harness his speed to wreak havoc across the universe. He lives in the tiny town of Green Hills, Montana (the name is a reference to the video games), and he passes his time running around the area just quickly enough to go unseen by the folks who would freak out if they found him.

Those include Sheriff Tom Wachowski (James Marsden), a cop from Green Hills who wants to make a name for himself by joining the San Francisco Police Department. Toms life in Montana is mundane, he says; what is his purpose? Sonic poses that same question to himself, as he struggles to make peace with his solitude. So when Sonic and Tom cross paths, and Sonic reveals that hes been watching Tom and his wife from afar and imagining a life with them, its a little creepy. But mostly its the universe bringing together two guys who want fulfillment, so they can pair up to go out and find it.

Sonic is a buddy comedy in this way, focused heavily on the relationship between a grown man and his teenage, talking-hedgehog pseudo-son. Its funny and sweet, if a little plodding and bogged down by bathroom humor (for the kids!). But delving into a side of the Sonic backstory thats hardly been broached by the video games works well enough, as its hard for fans to get too annoyed with it, and it plops kids right into Sonics world without confusing them too much. Theres no Tom in the video games, but hes a decent straight man to Sonics exuberant big kid, one who can help calm down what could have easily become a hyperactive movie.

Sonic the Hedgehog is a road trip movie and an action-comedy, too. Sonic and Tom end up on the run (heh) from Jim Carrey as the evil genius Dr. Robotnik, whos trying to harness Sonics power for his own use, under the guise of helping the FBI protect the country from an unidentified speeding blue hedgehog. Toms involvement in helping Sonic flee is a contrivance designed to give Jim Carrey another human to play against, which is a little tiresome. But Carreys face is the human embodiment of Play-doh, which helps make an otherwise flat villain from the video games into a more entertaining, cartoon-y one, which feels fitting for this movie.

Sonic is a video game character first and foremost, and the movie never forgets that. Its equivalent of fight scenes, when Sonics speed is really put to the test, are easily its most delightful we watch the world from his hyperdrive perspective, as everything halts around him and he begins to move enemies ever-so-slightly out of position. Sonic was as much a mileage-per-hour as he was a hedgehog, to the point where if anyone dared seem faster than him, it was a major offense. The loyalty to this aspect of the character, even if being fast does become a one-note gimmick after 90 minutes, is welcome.

There are Easter eggs, too, that suggest that this team really does care about Sonic as more than just a marketing tool for a younger generation. If the name Sanic means anything to you, youll be pleased. Familiar sound effects play on occasion. One of the games most famous musical motifs shows up at the end, and it took me by tearful surprise. And the tiny post-credits scene (yep, theres one of those) introduced a friendly face who made me want a sequel, like, yesterday. Most importantly, the movies final rendering of Sonic, although not perfect, is so much more pleasant to look at than its first attempt. This is a Sonic we can learn to love.

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Sonic the Hedgehog movie review: a satisfying walkthrough for any fan - Vox.com

Token Economics: In The Long Run, Decentralization Will Survive – Traders Magazine

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Money exists to serve a fundamental purpose as a medium of exchange for goods and services. A central authority designates a certain currency as legal tender and people can proceed to trade with it, trusting in its function as a unit of account and a store of value. Simply put, the traditional system of money thus far has revolved around four main participants: governments, central banks, intermediary banks, and users of money. Its a system that has been built over centuriesone not easily dismantled or replaced, as significant cost and physical infrastructure has been put into supporting its integrity and performance.

Changing the game

Relatively speaking, traditional money and the financial system it runs on have weathered much of the digital revolution unscathed. Rather than changing to fit the times, digital technology has been integrated around the usual way banks and financial institutions function, leaving the underlying fundamentals of the system untouched, along with its inherent inefficiencies and costliness. To say that legacy finance is now under threat, however, might be to jump the gun; nevertheless, we can see some challengers to the status quo emerging, as technology advances and becomes a more pervasive part of human life.

Cryptocurrencies have been lauded as one of the biggest game-changers within the centralized system of banking and finance. With the distributed ledger that underpins cryptocurrency, decentralization and disintermediation is made possible, and instead of a centralized entity validating transactions, the process is distributed across a network of validators. In a truly decentralized financial system, the middlemen and their fees are cut out, while the speed and efficiency of transactions are greatly improved. Clearly, such a system would be able to directly challenge the function and use of the traditional financial order.

Good governance and incentivization

While the technical aspects of cryptocurrency and distributed ledger technology have moved beyond theoretical whitepapers and into real-world applications, relatively little attention has been paid to the economic relevance of cryptocurrencies and the forces that govern the price and value of digital assets. Called cryptonomics, tokenomics, or just token economics, this field of study focuses on how incentivization and validation is used to encourage token adoption and subsequent ecosystem building around that token. While the utility of fiat currencies is largely limited to exchange and trade, crypto tokens can be put into service in a myriad of ways, and token economics explores the use cases of digital assets beyond their utility as currency.

There is so much to unpack when trying to understand the forces that govern functioning crypto ecosystems. Crucial issues, such as the incentives for blockchain participants to cheat or the endogenous value of a token in exchange, are still poorly understood and yet are pivotal to understanding the optimal design for a mainstream blockchain-based form of payment. How should a system be built to reinforce desirable behaviors amongst users, while discouraging cheating and market manipulation? Any platform looking for longevity and sustainability in a fast-changing industry must ask this question first and foremost. Currently, most cryptocurrency platforms incentivize users to perform governance decisions by awarding them newly-mined cryptocurrencies. They manage the rate at which new units are created to keep the supply of available tokens in check; therefore, the total amount of currency in the system is limited by the protocols written by the creator of the blockchain. Having these limits in place creates an impression of scarcity amongst users that allows the system to maintain the value of the crypto token.

Breaking the rules

It is this quality of scarcity that breaks the rules of inflation that already govern legacy money standards. Under the forces of inflation, the power of money to buy the same basket of goods is expected to be less in the future compared to today. These same forces do not have to apply to cryptocurrencies; not when they offer an opportunity for monetary experimentation and the potential for new ways of managing monetary supplies. Major platforms like Ethereum place community governance of token supply at a higher priority to maintain the ethics of a decentralized system, while privatized foundations of cryptocurrencies like Binance and VeChain use coin burning techniques to limit supply and temporarily increase the value of tokens. Essentially, the supply and value of a given digital asset is dependent upon the participants of the network and the algorithm it is built on, which places cryptocurrencies largely outside of the influence of geopolitical flux that otherwise affects traditional markets. For this reason, people from Venezuela and Argentinaboth countries experiencing hyperinflationare putting their money into bitcoin and other digital assets to hedge against the risk of inflation in the traditional market.

As the industry moves on from the crypto hype and market correction of the past, it has become clear that decentralized finance holds incredible potential for the global financial and economic system. The technology is constantly evolving, but sound principles of business and a strong token-flow model are more necessary than ever to keep the industry sustainable in the long-run, particularly in the face of tightening global regulations on crypto tokens and exchanges. Governance, incentivization, revenue sharing, and accessibility are all crucial metrics to consider before building an economic model for digital tokens and cryptocurrencies.

In the coming years, we can anticipate a future where both tangible and intangible assets are tokenized and easily used in real-time transactions on decentralized platforms and exchanges. We are on the precipice of a new global economy, one that is undergoing massive transformation. The steady development of decentralized finance, regulatory clarity, crypto-specific taxation policies, and central bank digital currencies are all positive steps towards shaping the new financial ecosystema decentralized token economy characterized by greater accessibility to financial services, safer transactions, and lower transaction costs. With full decentralization on the horizon, its becoming apparent that the face of global finance will never be the same again.

Neeraj Khandelwal is Co-founder of CoinDCX, Indias largest cryptocurrency exchange

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Token Economics: In The Long Run, Decentralization Will Survive - Traders Magazine

How We Can Use The Power Of Our Brains To Help Us Stay Healthy – Forbes

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Are you one of those individuals who starts their day off at 5 a.m. with vigorous exercise before heading out to a busy day full of meetings, negotiations and interviews with talents who will make scaling your business possible?

If your answer was yes, you may soon discover the missing piece in your well-built puzzle the missing piece that could not only benefit you but your coworkers, business and family.

Through this article, I will manifest to you how you can use your brainpower to help prevent sickness and anxiety.

Before I begin, I'd like you to ask yourselves these next few questions and answer without giving it too much thought:

Do I have a healthy immune system?

Am I pursuing an active and healthy lifestyle?

How well do I feel about my commitment to my personal wellness?

Our mindset is essential to our health.

A study from Stanford University discovered that when people believe they are less healthy than others, they are more likely to die sooner, even if they are pursuing a more active and healthier lifestyle in comparison to others.

How can that be? If their way of life tends to be healthier than others, why are they dying sooner?

Our mindset is as vital for our health as our actions.

The perception of our health and how good we feel about our immune system can be more important than our actions when it comes to our well-being and longevity.

We all know the saying, "Our thoughts become our reality."

Scientists support this hypothesis by expanding on the impact of our mindset on our health and longevity. It has been proven that longevity is increased by positive self-perceptions of aging.

Today, we also know that chronic stress, negative thoughts and pessimism tend to shorten our lives. They damage our body, hasten our aging and wreck our immune system. Biologist and TED speakerElizabeth Blackburn claims that the scientific explanation lies in the "telomere effect." Telomeres are the chromosomes located inside the cell's nucleus, which contains our genes and genetic information. In her book on the subject, Blackburn claims that negativity, hostility, pessimism and a lack of presence were proven to shorten longevity and lead to accelerated aging.

Biologist Bruce Lipton claims in his book The Biology of Belief: Unleashing the Power of Consciousness, Matter, and Miracles that "our beliefs control our bodies, our minds, and thus our lives."

When my daughters were in kindergarten, they would come home with a new illness every other week. I was at a crucial point in the development of my career at the time I couldn't afford to get sick. So instead, I embraced a mindset that "moms don't catch sickness from their children," and indeed, this became my reality.

Several weeks ago, one of my three daughters, Kim, reminded me of this sentence and asked, "Mom, how come other mothers get sick from their kids when you never have?" All these years, Kim was led to believe that mothers have alleged innate protection against their children's sickness.

Is it a proven fact? Of course not. It's a belief I planted in her mind and mine throughout the years.

Our minds possess incredible power, and you can harness this power and use it to a much greater extent for the benefit of your business, your employees and, most importantly, yourself and your family.

But how does this relate to the recent coronavirus outbreak? Without undermining the importance of conventional medical treatments and tips for protection against sickness, it is crucial to understand that our mindset holds a significant influence, as well.

Choosing a healthy mindset is in our hands.

We can choose a healthy mindset that will positively affect our cells and bolster our immune system to its maximum capability. We can even embrace the mantra that "we have an optimal immune system." This mantra can instill a sense of reassurance and confidence. If necessary, we can follow up with actions that will help us believe it to be the truth (such as exercise, meditation or consuming vitamins). Embracing this mindset can support preventing sickness.

The fear of the coronavirus is yet another threat to consider.

Fear can create chronic stress and damage the functionof our immune systems. The release of stress hormones can shut down our immune system.

When we feel anxious and frightened, we weaken ourselves mentally and physically and become more vulnerable to that which we fear.

The human brain struggles to experience fear and pleasure at the same time.

In his book The Brain That Changes Itself, Norman Doidge explains the concept of "globalization," which happens when we are in love with life and enjoy everything around us. These moments when our pleasure centers are active hinder potential simultaneous pain center activity. The emotion of love not only brings us closer to happiness but also distances us from misery and suffering.

So how can we utilize this knowledge to break away from the cycle of fear?

Instead of tuning in to more frightening news and statistics, we can search for new opportunities for creating moments of joy, fun and happiness. Participating in meditation workshops, guided imagination journeys, physical activity, hiking or listening to music can assist us in disengaging the circle of suffering actively.

Happier people are healthier people.

Studies show that people who are happy are less likely to become ill when they are exposed to a cold virus.

When we actively shift our focus from a state of fear to a state of joy and happiness, we not only escape our anxiety but bolster our immune system.

Conclusion

As a leader, one of the most important things you can do in the following months is to aid your employees to embrace the right mindset in the context of their health and immune system. When you do that, you will help guarantee fewer sick-leave requests, lower anxiety levels, motivated employees, loyalty and commitment to the organization and its leader.

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How We Can Use The Power Of Our Brains To Help Us Stay Healthy - Forbes

How Loneliness Hurts Us and What to Do About It – Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley

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When Dr. Vivek Murthy served as the U.S. Surgeon General during part of the Obama and Trump administrations, he became increasingly concerned at how many people across the country were experiencing loneliness. Even in the hubbub of populated cities, many didnt have close personal relationships, a supportive group of friends, or a sense of belonging within a community, all of which are central to our well-being.

In his new book, Together: The Healing Power of Human Connection in a Sometimes Lonely World, Murthy synthesizes the research on loneliness, giving us a primer on what it is and how it hurts our physical and mental health and decreases our longevity. He also dispenses advice on how to build better relationships and create a more relationship-centered society.

I spoke to him about his book and its implications, both generally and during this time of sheltering-in-place, where social connection is even harder to come by.

Jill Suttie: Research shows that we tend to underestimate other peoples loneliness compared to our own. Why do you think that is, and how does it affect loneliness?

Vivek Murthy: I think part of the reason we underestimate the loneliness of people is that its often hidden. Loneliness, unfortunately, carries stigma with it. People who feel lonely often are ashamed to admit it. They think its equivalent to admitting that they are not likable or that theyre socially insufficient in some way.

It can be hard to admit loneliness, even to a spouse. We can be at a party, surrounded by people, and still feel lonely. We often look around us and see people who are seemingly leading happy livescertainly on their social media feedsand we assume that were the only ones who are struggling.

Also, loneliness is hard to see because it doesnt always look like the stereotype of a person sitting alone in a corner. Loneliness can actually manifest in different ways with different people. It can look like irritability and anger, fatigue, reclusiveness, depression, or anxiety. We may chalk these up to other conditions or concerns, but many of these states have their roots (at least partially) in loneliness.

JS: You write that a third of Americans over 45 years old consider themselves to be lonely. Is that pattern common around the world or more unique to the U.S.?

VM: Many societies that would consider themselves part of modern-day culture are finding that they have high levels of loneliness among older populations. There are several reasons why thats happening. One is that, as people get older, sometimes they experience greater illness, which can limit their ability to physically go out and see others. Second, as people get older, they often encounter difficulties with hearing and vision, and not being able to hear well, in particular, can be a significant barrier to engaging with others.

Its important to note that in the United States health care system, we tend to focus on physical illness and dont focus enough on mental health or on vision, dental care, or hearingareas where we really need to support people. You see that reflected in reimbursement policies; its still expensive for many older adults to get hearing aids, even if they have coverage from Medicare.

Some of these practical barriers to connecting with others become significant as we get older, but theres also a cultural element here. In the United States and other modern societies, there is extraordinary value thats placed on youth, and as people get older, they often feel less useful to society or less valued simply because theyre not young anymore. If we feel were just a burden on other people, that can impact how we engage with other people and how fulfilling our interactions are.

JS: You write that we need three levels of connectionintimate (partner or spouse), relational (circle of friends), and collective (community)to avoid loneliness. Why is community important?

VM: As human beings, we evolved to need each other and to be part of a community. Theres something deeply ingrained in us about wanting to be a part of a shared identity. So, we find ourselves gravitating toward various affinity groups based on shared religious beliefs or shared race and ethnicity or shared nationality or shared interest, and we derive a lot of meaning and value from a common identity with others.

One thing that COVID-19 is highlighting for so many people experiencing physical distancing is not only how important relationships with family and friends are, but also how meaningful our interactions with neighbors, relatives, and strangers in our communities are. How nice it would be to just sit in a coffee shop and work while being surrounded by strangers or to go and shoot hoops on the basketball court with other people! There is a sense of connection we experience, even with strangers, thats very valuable, that makes you feel like youre part of something bigger.

When you understand that we need intimate connection, good friends, and community, you start to recognize why somebody can be in a deeply fulfilled marriage and still feel lonely. And that doesnt mean that your spouse isnt giving you what you need; it just means that we need different types of connection in our life.

JS: You write that loneliness is bad for you, but solitude can be good. What are the differences between these?

VM: Its important to recognize that loneliness is a subjective state. Its not about how many people you have around you; its about how you feel about the connections that you have in your life. Loneliness results when the connections we need are greater than the connections we have.

Solitude is an experience of being alone, but its pleasant, centering, and grounding, and its actually quite important in maintaining our emotional well-being. If we allow ourselves moments of solitude and let the noise around us settle, we can reflect on whats happening in our life and simply be in a world that is constantly about doing and taking action. When we approach other people from a place of being grounded and centered, we find our interactions are often more positive, because we can show up more authentically as ourselves.

I believe that in this time of turmoil, when the world seems to be racing faster and faster, the moments of solitude are even more important than they were before. Those few minutes that we take to simply be, to feel the wind against our face, to feel gratitude by remembering three people or three things to be thankful for, can be really grounding and renewing.

JS: The current pandemic is presenting some unique challenges for people in staving off loneliness. What can we do?

VM: Loneliness was a problem long before we had COVID-19. But I worry that the physical separation were being forced to observe, and the fear that many people are experiencing right now (about other people being infected and transmitting infections to them), run the risk of deepening our separation from each other, contributing to a social recession that is just as important as the economic recession we will be facing.

It doesnt have to be that way. We can use this moment to step back and take stock of our relationships and ask ourselves, What role do we want people to play in our lives?

We can use this moment to take simple steps to strengthen our connections now for after the pandemic is over. One is making a commitment to spend at least 15 minutes a day with people we lovewhether on video conference or by phone. That time can be valuable in helping elevate our mood and make others feel better, too.

Second, we can focus on the quality of the time we have with other people, by listening carefully and by sharing more openly when were with others. One of the most tangible ways to do that is eliminating distraction. Like many people, Ive been guilty of catching up with a friend on the phone while also looking at my inbox or jotting down a question that just popped into my mind.

Even if you spend less time with someone, making that time count is really important. Five minutes of conversation where were open, listening deeply, and showing up fully is often more fulfilling than 30 minutes of distracted conversation.

Third, you can look for ways to serve others, recognizing that service is a powerful antidote. When were chronically lonely, our focus shifts inward and our threat level rises. Over time, our sense of ourselves starts to erode as we start to believe that the reason were lonely is that were not likable. But service is powerful, because it breaks those harmful cycles by shifting the focus from ourselves to someone else in the context of a positive interaction.

Serving others also reaffirms to us that we have value to bring to the world. During this time of COVID-19, service can look like checking on a neighbor, calling a friend to see how theyre doing, delivering food to a friend who might be struggling to telework and homeschool their children. Service can be a lifeline in terms of connection.

JS: Do you hold out hope that the mutual concern and cooperation were seeing during the pandemic will last into the future?

VM: We were designed as human beings to be connected with each other and to help and support each other, and we see those instincts arise during times of crisis. When a hurricane or a tornado devastates a community, people rise up and come together to face the adversity. The challenge is that they often retreat back to their ways of life prior to that and the lessons of community often get forgotten.

I think with COVID-19, were seeing a pandemic that well remember for the rest of our lives. The intensity, duration, and challenge of this experience are unlike anything weve seen in our lifetime. I hope that will increase the chance that we can hold on to the lessons that we are learning now about the power of community, the importance of relationships, and the truth of our interdependence.

I think one of the most important challenges of our time is deciding whether to continue down the path of deepening loneliness or use this opportunity to choose a different way forward, to build a people-centered life and society. In a truly people-centered world, we prioritize our relationships and where we put our time, attention, and energy. We also design workplaces to strengthen human connection and design schools and curricula to give children a foundation for healthy relationships from the earliest ages.

And we recognize that relationship is at the heart of healthy dialogue and, without dialogue and community, people cant talk about the big challenges theyre facing and find a way forward. When were faced with big challengeslike climate change, future pandemics, and health care and economic disparitieswe need to be able to work together, which stems from our ability to talk to and truly listen to one another. You dont bring people together in dialogue just by putting them in the same room and hoping something happens; dialogue is built on relationships.

Medicine is intuitively built on an understanding of relationships, but that wasnt a prominent part of my training. Our doctors and nurses need to be able to understand just how important loneliness is for the health outcomes that theyre trying to optimize. They should be able to identify loneliness when it exists and have a conversation with patients about it, without taking on the entire burden of solving loneliness themselves.

We need more partnerships between the health care system and community organizations, which can step in and help support people who need stronger connections. This is whats behind the social prescribing movement in the U.K. and other countries, where health care systems are partnering with community organizations to identify people who are struggling with loneliness and then getting them resources, support, and the community they need.

Once we ask the question, How do we put people first?, we get a different answer than if our primary objective is to maximize revenue or maximize power or another outcome thats not human-centered. If I had a single credo for this book, it would be three simple words: Put people first. Thats the credo we need to guide ourselves in our own lives and as we design our institutions and public policy.

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How Loneliness Hurts Us and What to Do About It - Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley