What Baltimore Ravens Lamar Jackson thinks of Marquise Browns progress, rookie receivers and more – PennLive

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Even Lamar Jackson couldnt sidestep the implications of the coronavirus crisis this offseason. The Baltimore Ravens MVP quarterback said he missed training with teammates in organized team activities over the spring, and even when he brought players together for an unofficial gathering in Florida, they were limited by social distancing restrictions and closed facilities.

Still, Jackson said he found a little, regular park where he and his teammates could hold a small makeshift practice outdoors a couple months ago.

And thats where he got his first glimpse at what Baltimores group of offensive skill position players could look like in 2020.

We just wanted to go out there and get chemistry, because we didnt want to go to camp and be embarrassing ourselves, so we just got some work in, Jackson said. It wasnt how I wanted it, because we werent able to do it as much as possible, because Florida was getting shut down and stuff like that. We just got in what we [could]. Guys looked pretty good out there.

A few of those players have drawn extra attention from Ravens fans and media members as the team reports for training camp. So what does Jackson think of the prominent pieces that will surround him this season in Baltimores offense?

He offered answers Wednesday while speaking to reporters during a video conference call

Jackson on wide receiver Marquise Brown

Brown didnt need Jacksons words to balloon expectations for his second NFL season social media photos and videos showing the wide receivers new physique have already done the job but he still earned compliments from the face of the franchise. As a rookie last year, Brown caught 46 passes for 584 yards and seven touchdowns. And that was on a surgically-repaired left foot.

Now more than 18 months removed from that Lisfranc procedure, Brown is expected to be available for more practices in his second NFL season and is hopeful to avoid the pain that nagged him through 2019.

Hes packed on muscle and shown off his athleticism throughout the offseason in videos posted to social media.

I feel like he is going to have a huge jump, more than people may think, Jackson said. He was hurt last year. People didnt know that. But he went out there and battled his tail off each and every game on a messed-up foot. And now his full potential is going to show this year, I feel. Hes still young, but he is going to show off. And my job is to get the ball out quicker, because hes a lot faster with that foot at 100 percent.

Jackson on two rookie wide receivers

The Ravens took Devin Duvernay out of Texas in the third round of Aprils draft and selected SMUs James Proche in the sixth round, adding two of college footballs most prolific pass catchers to their receiving corps. Duvernay helped solidify his status as a top-flight prospect when he ran the 40-yard dash in 4.39 seconds at the NFL combine, and Proche racked up 111 receptions as a senior at SMU, tied for the most in the NCAAs football bowl subdivision.

I watched a few highlights when we drafted them, Jackson said. I feel like theyre it. Devin is fast, hes a fast guy. James Proche his route-running and his hands are different. I just cant wait to see them when we got the pads on.

Jackson on the Ravens running backs

Though Jackson led the Ravens with 1,206 rushing yards last season, an NFL record for a quarterback, he doesnt think Baltimores ground game will struggle much if he carries the ball less often in 2020. The Ravens drafted Ohio States J.K. Dobbins in the second round this year, and hell join a running backs rotation already stocked with talent.

I dont really put my mind on, Oh, well I have to run a lot, or this and that, Jackson said. Weve got great running backs. Weve got Mark Ingram, weve got Gus Edwards, weve got Justice Hill, weve got J.K. Dobbins. I feel like were going to be pretty good with the rushing part. But if I have to, if the play breaks down and no one is open, then Ill do my thing. But other than that, were pretty good.

Thanks for visiting PennLive. Quality local journalism has never been more important. We need your support. Not a subscriber yet? Please consider supporting our work.

Aaron Kasinitz covers the Baltimore Ravens for PennLive and can be reached at akasinitz@pennlive.com or on Twitter @AaronKazreports. Follow PennLives Ravens coverage on Facebook and Youtube.

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What Baltimore Ravens Lamar Jackson thinks of Marquise Browns progress, rookie receivers and more - PennLive

Look: Latest progress of Texas’ south end zone renovation – 247Sports

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The near $200 million renovation of the south end zone inside Darrell K Royal - Texas Memorial Stadium has started to take shape over the last several months as the Longhorns prepare to unveil the finished product in time for the 2021 college football season.

The home of Texas football looks nothing like it did two seasons ago before the Longhorns broke ground on the south end zone renovation project asthe construction inside Royal Memorial Stadium has progressed throughout the last several months.

Texas fans who attended any home games during the 2019 season witnessed some of the renovation process, which began by removing all of the seating in the south end zone. But further changes have happened since the Longhorns' wrapped up the 2019 football season, including constructing the multi-level south end zone enclosure and most recently putting up the Longhorns' scoreboard ahead of the upcoming season. First-year defensive coordinator Chris Ash unveiledthe latest progress on Twitter Thursday, which shows an entirely different look, as seen in the below photo.

The University of Texas broke ground on the south end zone renovation project in May 2019 and is one of the many facility upgradesthe Longhorns have plannedever sinceTexas athletic director Chris Del Conte was hired in late 2017.

In a Horns247 exclusive interview on The Flagship Podcast, Del Conte opened up about the on-going construction of the Longhorns' football stadiumand howthe time to upgrade was well past due.

That building was built for Coach Royal, and remodeled by John Mackovic on one floor, so they're having to redo everything, Del Conte said of the Longhorns stadium renovation.Everything is completely getting torn down to the studs, and the whole thing is about a 240,000 square-foot enterprise when you see how big it is when its all said and done.

"So it's going to be a completely brand new football space that were roughly spending $200 million on, which has been raised by significant donors who want to see Texas compete at the highest level.

What's next for the Longhorns? Make sure you stay in the loop and sign up for Horns247 today! New members get 30% OFF your first year of Texas scoop OR one month of Horns247 VIP access for ONLY $1!

Upon unveiling the design specs for the south end zone project, Del Conte said, "The new south end zone will provide our student-athletes, staff and fans with the finest facility in the country and one that we all can be extremely proud of.It will feature the best of the best when it comes to student-athlete amenities and training needs, first-rate coaching staff offices and meeting rooms along with state-of-the-art opportunities and experiences for our many fans and supporters."

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Look: Latest progress of Texas' south end zone renovation - 247Sports

Google Talks Progress on Flutter for Web – Thurrott.com – Thurrott.com

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Google today provided an update on its progress bringing Flutter app development to the web, inarguably its biggest potential target market.

Our vision for Flutter is to provide a portable toolkit for building beautiful experiences wherever you might want to paint pixels on the screen, Googles Mariam Hasnany writes. As weve noted previously, we are deliberately app-centric with our framework and API choices, building a layered architecture that can scale across mobile, desktop, and embedded devices without compromising performance or quality. The web is at the core of our work. Flutter was originally born out of explorations from the Chrome team. It draws inspiration from the productivity and iterative development model of the web, and many of our engineers have years of experience building browser engines and web standards. We target the web browser because it is the beating heart of the internet: the most pervasive, flexible, and extensive app model that has existed in computing history.

Flutter started off as a cross-platform app development platform for Android and iOS, but it has since expanded to include Windows, Mac, Linux, and web, and Google has plans to bring it to any device type with a screen over time. But the web is obviously a very important platform, and Googles goal is to make Flutter for web both true to the web and a no-compromise expression of Flutter.

As with other versions of Flutter, developers will use the Dart programming language to create web apps using Flutter for web. The difference is what happens under the covers: The engine component of Flutter web translates Flutter scenes into HTML, CSS or Canvas, and renders frames onto webpages as trees of HTML elements. Google calls this the DomCanvas backend.

It gives us the most compatibility across browsers with a compact code size and is well suited for apps with short lived sessions that require fast startup, Hasnany says. The firm is also working on a CanvasKit-based backend that uses WebAssembly and WebGL and allows direct access to the low-level graphics stack enabling full parity with native Flutter. For now Flutter gives you the option to choose which backend best fits your desired use case, she adds.

As an example of whats possible using Flutter for web, Google offers the Rive 2 Beta, which was completely rewritten in Flutter. You can sign-up now to test the app in beta.

Rive is an animation design application that allows designers and developers to create high-quality assets to be easily integrated to any platform, Hasnany explains. In order to combine user interface with glitch-free animations in real-time, Rive requires heavy rendering of graphics and performant experiences across modern browsers as well as other platforms.

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Trump to Throw Out First Amendment at Yankee Stadium – The New Yorker

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WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)In an event that he described as historic, Donald J. Trump announced that he will throw out the First Amendment at Yankee Stadium next month.

Its going to be an amazing and fantastic thing Ill be doing, Trump said. Ive asked a lot of history experts, and they all say that no President has thrown out an amendment before.

Obama was President for eight years and never threw out an amendment, he said. What a loser.

Trump said that he had considered throwing out the First Amendment many, many times before but had ultimately decided to preserve freedom of the press for his friends at Fox News.

But, thanks to that beauty Chris Wallace, now I know that Fox is just as nasty and fake as the rest, he said. The only real journalist left is that nice lady at OAN.

When asked how he is preparing for his Yankee Stadium appearance, Trump said that he is consulting with other world leaders who are experienced in throwing out laws.

I had a terrific conversation with Vladimir Putin, Trump said. They dont have a First Amendment in Russia, but he said that, if they did, he would definitely throw it out. So that made me feel good.

Trump grew misty-eyed as he contemplated his upcoming visit to Yankee Stadium.

I cant believe Ill be throwing out the First Amendment, he said. Every little boy dreams of this.

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Trump to Throw Out First Amendment at Yankee Stadium - The New Yorker

First Amendment Watch: Another Successful Attack On Religious Liberty In America – FITSNews

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This is not a pro-Christian post. If you are a worshipper of the moon and enjoy howling at it or gathering mask-less in confined spaces with your fellow lunar disciples while engaging in all manner of ritualistic observances (mooning?), more power to you.

Again, this is not a pro-Christian post it is a pro-freedom post.

In the United States of America, we have freedom of religion or at least we thought we did.

As long as your observances are not depriving others of life, liberty or property, have at it.

Lately, though, this inalienable right has fallen under attack and a court whose justices swore oaths to uphold it (along with our other essential liberties) are allowing it to happen.

The U.S. supreme court led by increasingly left-leaning chief justice John Roberts recently ruled against a San Diego, California church after it sought relief from a state law limiting attendance at religious gatherings. The church argued this edict discriminated against religious institutions at a time when abortion clinics, liquor stores and marijuana shops were allowed to operate without similar limits in place.

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Nonetheless, according to Roberts, the churchs claim that its constitutional rights had been violated was quite improbable. And that the elected officials who imposed the edict had acted within the broad limits granted to politically accountable officials of the states during times of crisis.

Needless to say, we were livid not only at the ruling and those who supported it, but at the door it opened for further discrimination.

This is a deeply troubling ruling one which poses a clear and present danger to the most fundamental of all American liberties, we wrote at the time. As a result of Roberts latest sellout, the highest court in the nation has formally created conditions under which it is acceptable for governments to not only suppress religious freedom but actively discriminate against religion itself.

Not surprisingly, the courts ruling has emboldened liberal politicians to take further steps against religious freedom and the court is clearly not going to do anything to stop them.

This week, Roberts once again displayed his contempt for religious liberty by joining the four liberal justices on the bench in denying a request from a church located near Carson City, Nevada. This congregation had asked the justices to overturn a similar state law capping church attendance a law imposed at a time when casinos, gyms, restaurants and other entities were allowed to operate at fifty percent of their posted capacity.

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Justice Samuel Alito ripped the majority opinion, saying while it was not surprising Nevada would discriminate in favor of the powerful gaming industry and its employees this courts willingness to allow such discrimination is disappointing.

Indeed it is

We have a duty to defend the Constitution, and even a public health emergency does not absolve us of that responsibility, Alito continued. For months now, states and their subdivisions have responded to the pandemic by imposing unprecedented restrictions on personal liberty, including the free exercise of religion.

The best response in the case, however, came from justice Neil Gorsuch.

In Nevada, it seems, it is better to be in entertainment than religion, he wrote. Maybe that is nothing new. But the First Amendment prohibits such obvious discrimination against the exercise of religion.

Here is his masterful, one-paragraph dissent

The world we inhabit today, with a pandemic upon us, posses unusual challenges, he concluded. But there is no world in which the Constitution permits Nevada to favor Caesars Palace over Calvary Chapel.

Amen to that

John Roberts has abandoned his oath, U.S. senator Ted Cruz of Texas tweeted. But, on the upside, maybe Nevada churches should set up craps tables? Then they could open?

Such is the sad state of religious liberty in the land of the free.

-FITSNews

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Creation of investment court will help conducting business in Ukraine opinion – Interfax Ukraine

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The creation of an investment court, an idea promulgated by Ukraine's Justice Minister Denys Maliuska, could facilitate doing business in Ukraine, Head of the Omerta Organized Law Group Yevhen Fedoseyev has said.

"The declared creation of an investment court will greatly facilitate doing business in Ukraine, because if investors have a virtually unconditional guarantee that in any case, their property rights and interests are practically not threatened, they will start investing more in our country," he told Interfax-Ukraine.

The lawyer noted that this initiative is not new, and similar courts already exist in a number of countries.

"Investors from all over the world are increasingly turning to investment arbitration as a way of resolving a dispute with the state every year. This mechanism for protecting the rights of an investor has proved to be effective, which is confirmed by both the number of international bilateral and multilateral agreements containing clauses on investment arbitration, and the number of initiated cases," he said.

Fedoseyev recalled that a permanent arbitration institute, the International Commercial Arbitration Court at the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, has been operating in Ukraine for more than 25 years, however, appeals to him are not too popular, since none of the agreements Ukraine concluded on mutual assistance and protection of foreign investment provides for the International Commercial Arbitration Court at the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry as an institution for resolving investment disputes, as well as because of general legal nihilism.

"Of course, the new court in Ukraine will need to develop a practice that has been built in the courts of Western Europe for decades, however, the transparency of the creation of such a body, its competence, objectivity can create a positive image not only for the body itself, but also for the state as a whole, which will ensure inflow of new investors into the country," the lawyer emphasized.

As reported, in early July at a meeting with European business representatives, Maliuska announced an initiative to create a concept for creating a separate court that would deal with investors' cases - arbitration or a separate court that would consider cases with the participation of business.

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Creation of investment court will help conducting business in Ukraine opinion - Interfax Ukraine

She Could Be Made Into a Leather Jacket – 25YearsLaterSite.com

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There is a moment in She Dies Tomorrow where the primary character, Amy (Kate Lyn Sheil), is on her laptop looking at a leather jacket for sale. Our first guess is shes impulse-buying the jacket shes looking at, the one that was always just too expensive to justify when she wasnt going to die tomorrow. Its an impulse to therapy-buy many of us understand in the middle of a pandemic. The surprise and pleasure of She Dies Tomorrow comes when Amy explains to her concerned friend, Jane (Jane Adams): I was thinking I could be made into a leather jacket. It becomes clear that by the end of the film that this isnt an idle question. The wandering journey we follow her on through the film leads to a leather shop in the desert, where the proprietor walks her through the necessary steps for preserving and treating skin to allow him to work with it. It is dark and tangential, motivated not so much by character development or backstory as by a sense of comic-nihilism.

Coming from a mumblecore background (reflected in the acting presence of Adam Wingard, Director of the recent horror classic Youre Next), Amy Seimetz has crafted an indy film equal parts Gaspar Noe, Robert Altman, and Brett Easton Ellis. She Dies Tomorrow doesnt move forward, it wanders outward in a web, like a pataphysical virus spreading through populations. We start with Amy alone in her house, fallen off the wagon, broken up with her partner, and caressing her living room floor, fascinated with the idea that the wood used to be alive. Just as she is expecting her own used to be alive very soon. She passes her fear to Jane, who then passes her fear to her brother, his wife, and the guests at her birthday party. We never learn what this sickness is, the script is intentionally short on exposition, but we learn a lot about its symptoms.

The journey of each character into their infection provides the most visually memorable moments in the film. As each of the afflicted realizes with dawning horror that they too are going to die tomorrow, they stare into the space in front of them as lights begin to flash turning the screen blue, red, purple, greentheyre different for each character, and its surely an interesting question whether the particular colors and combinations have any narrative significance in regards to a characters personality or circumstances. I couldnt identify one, but that certainly doesnt mean its not there.

Seimetz is extremely clever in her ability to walk the line between film genres and tropes. This isnt a romantic drama but we get all the elements of one in the scenes between party guests, Brian (Tunde Adebimpe) and Tilly (Jennifer Kim). After they are infected by Jane, they leave the party on a soul-searching night of discussing their feelings for each other, breaking up, pulling the plug on Brians dad without a doctor presentnormal couple things. This isnt a plague movie like the Stand or Outbreak, but Jane is an artist that takes pictures of microscopic organisms and germs, which are used as the backdrop for the opening credits, and who has several scenes crouched over a microscope muttering scientist-hero lines like Gotcha when she finds the shot she is looking for. This isnt a zombie movie but each of the characters devolves into semi-catatonic states shuffling around the screen under-reacting to the bizarre scenes they wander across. We even get the classic walk down the darkened stairs to stumble on a bloody and destroyed basement as a character comes looking for Jane.

Long before Jane wades into a strangers pool and crawls onto a flamingo float, turning the water red with blood from a wound she suffered earlier off-screen, we know that She Dies is a funny movie. Humor is used at every turn as a counterpoint to the bleakness of the situation, from characters discussing dolphin sex, to the soundtrack. Mozarts Requiem in D is used in the opening credits and several scenes throughout the film, including an extended one in Amys house after she puts a vinyl copy on her turntable (side quest: if anyone can identify the album cover leaning next to the player, I would be in your debt, I have reached out to all the audiophiles I know and have come up empty). At first glance it makes sense, its funerary, its dramatic, we all know it, but as we watch, it dawns that the song is a bit of an esoteric joke. So ponderously grand as a work of art that, in contrast to the events on the screen, it becomes comically inappropriate, the soundtrack for an explosion when the world is instead going out with a whimper.

You never really know whats happening. Were dropped into the middle of the situation with Amy already infected. I keep calling it infected throughout this review but only for want of a more precise word. We have no idea if this is a sickness. No idea if Amy started the chain. A flashback shows her on vacation with her ex-boyfriend (Kentucky Audley) who answers the doorbell for the pizza man. After a long pause at the open door, he returns with the pizza as well as the depressed aspect of all the others who believe theyre going to die.

Nothing much beyond this is explained. Its certainly suggested that this was the starting point for the affliction, at least for Amy, but the timeline is muddled. Its not certain how long before the movie begins that her relationship ended. In one flashback we see the boyfriend being shown around the house that she is currently living in, even though in the present it appears she just moved in and the relationship seems firmly in the past. Theres a possibility this confusion is intentional.

Is it a suggestion that the virus is simply a post-breakup depression? Was her boyfriend possibly manic-depressive, whose unstable mood swings combined with Amys alcoholism lead to the fracture? If that were the case, then why does it spread to others? Again, Seimetz is great at walking the high-wire between allegory and literalism. There are problems between Jane and her sister-in-law. Problems between her brother and his wife. Problems between Brian and Tilly. Is the film a dramatized surrender to the fear of intimacy? Who can say?

Towards the end of the movie, one starts to suspect that the whole thing is one big hipster parable about ennui in modern life, at least until we see Michelle Rodriguez stretched out on her floor lamenting her imminent death. She and her friend, Erin (Olivia Taylor Dudley), come out of nowhere. We havent met them prior to Jane wandering into their trendy home in the bloody pajamas she has worn the entire film. The two women have no reaction to this stranger in their home, nor to being bled on by her, and are more than happy to let her use their pool. Theyre obviously infected and presumably havent met any of the characters weve seen previously in the movie. The scene expands the scope of the story beyond what weve seen. Whatever this sickness is, its not just affecting Amy, Jane, and their circlethis is everywhere.

The irony of She Dies Tomorrow is that the nature of its illness, its virus, itswhatever it is, leaves us wanting to know more, the mysteriousness of the whole thing is both its great strength and the main criticism. The strangeness of the movie and the uniqueness of the events we witness make us want to know more, a lot more about where it all started and how. Is it supernatural or alien? Physical or spiritual?

Its hard to end not having those answers, its not even clear whether she dies tomorrow. Because of those idiosyncrasies, were left wanting a little bit more, just some clue about what exactly we just watched. But well have to be ok with it because this is Amy Seimetzs passion project through and through, funded by money she made from her role in the Pet Sematary remake. Because it is uniquely hers, its uniquely unexpected in its contours, funny in the right spots, scary in others, and it forces the viewer to ask a whole lot of questions that never get any answers. But Seimetz is a gifted director and even through the uncertainty, She Dies Tomorrow is well worth the watch.

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She Could Be Made Into a Leather Jacket - 25YearsLaterSite.com

Critic’s Notebook: The Profound Oddness of Televised Pandemic Baseball – Hollywood Reporter

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On Saturday afternoon, Adam Duvall hit a screaming line drive into the right-field stands at Citi Field in Queens. The ball reached the second row before anybody could react, hitting a spectator in the head with a resounding "Thwack!" that could be heard through the stadium. The spectator in question was a jovial-looking dog, tongue lolling, wearing some sort of Mets bandana. The pup, named Willow, belongs to Jeff McNeil and was fortunately unharmed, because the dog was one of three canine cardboard cutouts occupying an otherwise empty bleacher.

Baseball in 2020 is extremely weird, kids.

It has been less than a week since Major League Baseball officially returned, following a delay of nearly three months due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. Already, there are serious questions regarding how long this experiment will be able to last. The Florida Marlins, who were never expected to be competitively relevant this season, have become extremely relevant to jeopardizing the season: At least 15 players have tested positive for COVID-19, causing the postponement of a string of games and ample concern about the rest of the Marlins organization and anybody who has come in contact with them.

Baseball officials profess not to be concerned, and games without Marlins involvement are continuing apace. That leaves franchises and TV networks still trying to figure out the best way to make baseball without fans feel less like kids playing sandlot ball next to an eerie haunted house "Don't hit in that direction, because the witch who lives there won't throw the ball back!" and more like America's pastime. And yes, it's extra ironic that the Marlins are currently a franchise on lockdown, because if anybody would find it natural to play baseball in front of an empty stadium, it's the Florida Marlins. [And yes, they're the "Miami" Marlins, technically. I still call Tampa Bay the "Devil Rays," too.]

If you've ever seen a Kevin Costner movie, you know that in a sporting world driven by adrenaline and brutality, baseball is poetic. It's a sensory experience. The crack of the bat. The impeccably manicured infield grass. The Doppler-effect undulations of a joyous crowd engaged in the Wave. The aroma of roasted peanuts. The melodic, escapist promise of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." It's communal and it's immersive.

What baseball has become, in a world in which we're still not prepared to allow even partial crowds back to stadiums, is an experiment in minimalism, bordering on nihilism. In short, baseball has gone fromField of Dreamsto something more apocalyptic likeThe Postmanor any movie theater showingDraft Day.

Take, for example, the portrait of loneliness at Fenway Park the other night when Alex Verdugo, wearing a live mic, stood solitary in the outfield and lamented the lack of fans to gab with between innings. "At least I would have people to talk to. Now? I got nobody. I got Jackie," Verdugo said, looking balefully off into the distance at fellow outfielder Jackie Bradley. "But he's far. So I got nobody."

It's at least partially for the players' benefit that games have continued to include loud-speaker announcements as well as niceties carried over from a simpler time like how Fenway has maintained use of Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline" playing during a seventh inning stretch for nearly 37,000 empty seats. Baseball is a game of rituals, and the seventh inning stretch has also continued in stadiums loosely populated with cardboard cutouts. Cardboard cutouts don't need to stretch, nor do they chase after baseballs. Willow, while cute, was in no mood to play fetch.

Fans watching from home are in a similar situation, and the networks showing the games and the teams themselves have been trying desperately to compensate, with varying levels of success.

Although the sound levels are determined independently by each team, the ESPN games I've watched have utilized a steady hum of nearly ambient noise, a general rumble punctuated by a gentle roar to accompany a home team rally. It's better than pure silence, but it doesn't mask on-field noise. Me, I love the disorganized cacophony of five players converging around the mound calling each other off to catch a pop-up. There's something pleasantly unfiltered when a player is unable to resist swearing after a strikeout. I'm sure moments like that freak the networks out and heaven knows the announcers get instantly apologetic whenever it happens but baseball is already a sport that condenses its intensity and emotional outbursts into small pockets; it's sad watching a celebratory player consciously avoiding hugging or even high-fiving a teammate.

Announcers already have bigger problems than swearing players anyway. ESPN has been airing games called by remote crews. Sometimes it's commentators sitting in a studio watching the game on TV themselves. At least there's natural rapport there. Other games have been called with three announcers Skyping (or Zooming or whatever) together from their own homes. I can find amusement in 63-year-old Tim Kurkjian lamenting his lack of technical aptitude and struggling not to talk over his colleagues, and I can laugh at the prominently placed Baby Yoda doll in Eduardo Prez's recording space. But it's not the same.

ESPN is, if we're being honest, mostly just desperate to have baseball back. And there's something almost equally desperate about how readily the announcers are trumpeting innovations like the expanded postseason more games for ESPN! or starting extra-innings with a runner on-base. Or, strangest of all, the little-known regulation that if games last beyond 12 innings, both teams have to bat against Dr. Anthony Fauci.

Leave it to the good people at Fox, inventors of the glowing hockey puck, the glowing 10-yard-line and several other innovations that don't glow, to engage in total overkill. Perhaps coincidentally, the Fox action I've watched has been in stadiums using overbearing piped-in game audio. Not content with the occasional ersatz cheer, it has featured wolf-whistles, inopportune choruses of "Charge!" and situation-specific responses like disgruntled rumbling after too many pick-off throws to first. It's annoying because of how obviously it's just somebody at a Casio keyboard (or, more likely, on a laptop) pressing a button, making me wonder every time they miss a cue a lack of disappointment on a close two-strike pitch or the misjudged applause on a towering fly ball that looks like a home run for one second and ends up a lazy fly-out.

That's still better than Fox's erratic use of a digitally populated crowd. When you cut from a wide shot of an empty stadium to a medium shot of fuzzy-faced CG people wearing disproportionately large team logos (ordinary logos wouldn't pick up on-camera) to close-ups of fielders making plays in front of now-empty crowds, it isn't baseball that you're destroying; it's rudimentary cinematic grammar. It's disorienting and sloppy, and that's before you get to how creepy the dead-eyed crowds are. The technology at Fox's disposal is like something out of theStar Warsprequels when George Lucas was so anxious to show that he could insert a small group of ETs or "Asogians," for the nerd-sensitive that he didn't stop to think if it made any sense to have a small group of ETs represented in the Galactic Senate.

The virtual fans are robotic, nightmarish and, worst of all, none of them are wearing masks or practicing social distancing. It's bad enough that the Marlins are going to pass the coronavirus along to 29 other baseball franchises, but the virtual crowd at Wrigley Field is going to pass virtual coronavirus along to The Sims and all of your Animal Crossing characters. Buy me some peanuts and an expansion pack, indeed.

"We're not fooling you. This is just to make it a little bit more normal every once in a while," one of the announcers commented during a weekend Wrigley game.

But might I posit this controversial notion: Maybe there's nothing wrong with being able to accept that this isn't normal and that pretending anything is normal, even "every once in a while," borders on dangerous. Infection numbers are spiking in California, Texas and Florida (among other states) and yet we're pretending that it's a good idea to play baseball because we need the entertainment and billionaire baseball owners TV executives need the money. And that's fine. Trust me, I drafted an already-infuriating 60-game fantasy baseball team and I love the distraction of a baseball player beaning a cardboard canine with a fast-moving projectile.

But nothing about this is normal.

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Critic's Notebook: The Profound Oddness of Televised Pandemic Baseball - Hollywood Reporter

Bringing An Artist’s Spirituality to the Practice of Medicine – Flatland

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Published July 26th, 2020 at 6:00 AM

Dr. Nancy Tilson-Mallett is a rare combination shes both a physician and an artist. Its hard to imagine a dual career that requires more left brain/right brain balance than that.

As a doctor, however, shes aware that many people get trained as physicians without paying enough attention to the spiritual side of life. Thus, they are prone to think of patients simply as an interesting pile of body organs, not as beings with minds and spirits, too.

So for the last several years shes been teaching a class at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine called Medicine and Art.

And shes thrilled to discover that most of her students even the ones who didnt especially want to take the class but needed the credit hours have found it stretching them in unexpected ways that will almost certainly make their practice of medicine more humane and more attuned to all three aspects of humanity: body, mind and spirit.

I usually have one person per class who just didnt get it, she says. But mostly I get rave reviews. She says that not to boast but, rather, simply to report a result that she didnt really expect when she started the class in 2018.

In science classes, she says, students are taught that theres got to be a right answer. In art class, I teach them that sometimes there are right answers but there are also shades of gray and ambiguity.

This interest in holistic medicine started early for Tilson-Mallett, a graduate of Washburn University and the University of Kansas School of Medicine. She decided to be a doctor at age 14 when she was trying to navigate a home with an alcoholic father and a codependent mother, she says.

Her mother eventually became attached to Unity, the spiritualist tradition founded in Kansas City in the 1880s. Although Tilson-Mallett grew up in a Disciples of Christ church and later attended a Presbyterian church, her mothers engagement with Unity introduced the future physician to the idea that your thoughts affect your health, she says. So she began to combine her interest in medicine with her passion for art, earning a masters degree that focused on textile art.

In recent years that focus has led her to produce silk screen art depicting various cells in the body. (Disclosure: I own a silk tie made of her art that subtly includes the portrayal of a series of sperm cells, though no one who has seen me wear the tie in public has ever recognized the cells as that, even when I wear it on Fathers Day.)

In addition to having her students draw, paint and sculpt, Tilson-Mallett, who recently retired from full-time work as a hospitalist, asks them to keep a journal.

They hate it the first week, she says. But by the last week most of my evaluations say things like, Wow. I really got into my head. And It was really good to write things down. And Im so different now than at the beginning.

One of the subjects she asked the last class to write about was how the coronavirus pandemic has affected them. On an evaluation sheet afterward, one student noted this: My journal absolutely made me more self-aware and observant. I learned a lot about myself.

Art, she says, teaches observation skills. It teaches you how to look. But for the class its look, see, observe and heal. Theres so much more than just looking.

And shes convinced this will make these students better physicians because theyll be more likely to try to take care of the whole person, not just someones pneumonia or broken arm.

The readings in Tilson-Malletts classes can be unusual. For instance, she has had students read a book about clinical oddities, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, by Oliver Sacks. Then she asked them to illustrate one of the stories Sacks tells. The students produced a series of colorful human heads depicting what they imagined was going on in the brains of their characters they were depicting.

Tilson-Mallets course is uncommon, though other medical schools also have begun to offer cross-disciplinary classes to get physicians to tune into the spirituality of their patients.

The Kansas City University College of Osteopathic Medicine, for instance, partners with the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art and the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Ark., on a course called Art, Observation and Medicine, which the school describes as an interactive course that utilizes visual arts in a museum setting to enhance a students critical thinking, communications and observation skills.

And one of the medical schools most noted as a leader in this medicine-art effort is Penn State University. Beyond that, Columbia University has been using writing and other literary approaches to train physicians in an approach called narrative medicine.

Tilson-Mallett now is working to create a new class in what she calls complementary medicine, which she says means, medical approaches that are outside of allopathic, Western medicine. Since the 1970s a lot of these approaches have become mainstream.

Those methods include such spiritual and physical practices as meditation, yoga, tai chi, chiropractic, massage and aromatherapy.

As Tilson-Mallett explains, I give students exercises for empathy and trying to see the patient, walking in their shoes.

And wouldnt it be nice to have a physician who sees us as more than a pile of tissue that needs fixing?

Bill Tammeus, a Presbyterian elder and former award-winning Faith columnist forThe Kansas City Star, writes the Faith Matters blog forThe Starswebsite and columns forThe Presbyterian Outlook and formerly for The National Catholic Reporter. His latest book isThe Value of Doubt: Why Unanswered Questions, Not Unquestioned Answers, Build Faith. Email him atwtammeus@gmail.com.

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Bringing An Artist's Spirituality to the Practice of Medicine - Flatland

Spiritually Speaking: Beware those seeking a pat on the back! Disaster Ahead – Dallasweekly

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My mother used to have a phrase when she was alive. Usually referring to me and my attitude when I thought I had done something particularly noteworthy. She used it when describing somebody who started acting like they were better than someone else or, basically felt their No. 2 didnt stink. She would say that person was simply, smelling him or herself. I came to see it as fishing for a compliment. The bible says unless your deeds are done to glorify God rather than yourself, you smellin yoself. Im here to tell you its at these times that one ought to be very careful because spiritually, youre entering deep water.

Be careful not to do your acts of righteousness before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward in heaven. Matthew 6:1.

It appears that intent and motivation are the true indicators of a persons real character and ultimately how he or she is viewed by God. Doing the right thing for the wrong reasons gets you nothing, zilch, nada. I mean, supposedly, if you are trying to impress friends and family, or trying to receive honors from your fellow man for doing good deeds, youre smelling yourself and sorely in need of some Right Guard. Doing what you know is right, from forgiving your enemies, turning the other cheek, helping the less fortunate, speaking truth to power, these are the things that are supposed to be done so that others might see the deed(s) as glorifying the Almighty; not, so that people will be impressed with you. Even in prayer, the bible says, But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. your Father will reward you. Matthew 6:6.

Havent we all been unimpressed with someone who appears to sincerely help us or help another person out of what appears to be the goodness of their heart, only to find them with their hands out to get theirs, or their backs turned so the world can pat them on it? God tells us in His own ways that if you do that, talk to the Hand because the ears aint listening. You dont give to receive and you dont love to be loved. Thats blackmail. Thats extortion. Its impure and spiritually unacceptable. Give because you want to and love because its who you are. Anything else is a fraud and an affront to Jesus who gave His all and loved unconditionally, so that we all might live.

In the same way let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise the father in heaven. Matthew 5:16.

Granted, walking around with that level of purity in ones heart might be a bit much for most of us, present company included. However, its pretty easy to know, acknowledge and understand that the real reason we reach out to someone else is to be seen as a good person by others. We all want to be highly thought of by our peers, our parents and those closest to us.

But in reality, only God counts when it comes to appreciating who we really are. Anything else is show. The rest is ego. Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. Proverbs 186:18.

All of this points to being true to ones self, then talking the talk and walking the walk. The echo of mother wit resonates in my mind as I try to remember exactly what mom was trying to teach me about myself. Before I get too full of me, the real test just might be a good whiff of the fragrance underneath my arm. Nobody can pour anything into a full vessel.

How you smellin today? May God bless and keep you always.

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Spiritually Speaking: Beware those seeking a pat on the back! Disaster Ahead - Dallasweekly

Faith in protest as young people find fervor on the street – La Grande Observer

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NEW YORK I cant breathe! the crowd chanted, invoking the dying words spoken by George Floyd as a white police officer pressed a knee into his neck.

Kianna Ruff yelled it over and over along with hundreds of fellow protesters as they marched for hours through New York City, a kind of collective mantra that touched someplace deep inside those present.

I just started choking and I broke down, the 28-year-old activist and minister said. And I do feel like that that was also a spiritual experience that Ive never experienced before.

The demonstrations against police brutality and systemic racism that have raged in the wake of Floyds killing are often led by young people who find a sense of purpose, ritual and community on the streets. Many involved say the protests deepen spiritual connections and embody familiar elements of traditional faith.

The demonstrators kneel. They observe mournful moments of silence. They break into call-and-response: What do we want? and Justice! From Los Angeles to New York, Milwaukee to Minneapolis, they stand shoulder-to-shoulder and find common cause in their shared fervor.

I can say this is liturgy in the street, said the Rev. Jacqueline Lewis, pastor of the Middle Collegiate Church in New Yorks East Village. This is church in the street, it is song in the street, it is lament in the street. The tears are in the street.

When the kids say, Black Lives Matter! Lewis continued, thats a prayer.

Americans are becoming less religious in the formal, traditional sense, and the trend is more marked among young adults, according to Pew Research Center surveys from recent years. Young people, who make up a core part of the protesters, are less likely to pray daily, attend religious services or believe in God.

Still, surveys show younger Americans are just as spiritual as their older counterparts, and many have found other expressions of faith outside formal religion.

In its How We Gather study, Harvard Divinity School researchers documented wide-ranging spiritual communities for the young ranging from Afro Flow Yoga and dinner churches to public meditation groups.

Fears about the future have also led many to activism. Tens of thousands walked out of schools in 2018 to demand action on gun violence in one of the biggest student protests since the Vietnam era. Inspired by Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg, hundreds of thousands marched worldwide in 2019 demanding urgent action on climate change.

This year that has manifested in the struggle against police brutality and racism.

All of these issues intersect because they all disproportionately impact Black people, said 19-year-old Aalayah Eastmond, who survived the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, became a gun-control activist and is now organizing protests against racial injustice with the group Concerned Citizens of D.C.

Her group begins demonstrations with a collective prayer thats inclusive of nonbelievers, she said the point is closeness and togetherness.

We stand in a circle and one person just prays for us to one, be safe in the middle of these protests, because they can get very violent. ... And for folks to really feel empowered and moved while theyre protesting, Eastmond said.

Nationwide, the demonstrations have tended to be diverse in terms of markers like generation, ethnicity and gender, but Ruff, a graduate of the divinity school at Union Theological Seminary in New York, said community thrives despite such differences.

Its about being in those groups and feeling that energy, you know, that God wants you there, Ruff said.

And theres so many people, she added. Whether they believe what you believe or not, thats not whats important. Whats important is the common goal.

During a recent Buddhists For Black Lives Matter march in Los Angeles, Tahil Sharma walked with others in a slow, wordless procession whose silence had a similarly powerful effect as the chanting of other demonstrations.

That march was so different. ... The emotional swelling that we felt of every second passing as we were breathing and praying was a reminder of the seconds of air that George Floyd was gasping for, said Sharma, a 28-year-old interfaith activist born to a Hindu father and a Sikh mother.

Many demonstrations have seen protesters honoring the dead by reciting their names in what resembles a litany.

Another common element is the creation of spaces explicitly or implicitly spiritual in nature and symbolism: In Minneapolis, protesters set up a floral altar memorial at the site where Floyd died, while in Houston, a newly painted mural depicts him with an angelic halo and wings.

People bring in pictures, flowers, theyre burning candles, incense, making music and really kind of creating a physical space where theyre holding the spirit of a loved one, said Casper ter Kuile, author of The Power of Ritual: Turning Everyday Activities Into Soulful Practices.

Theres a really interesting kind of lived religion, as sociologists would call it, on the streets within these protests, ter Kuile said.

In Milwaukee, a Muslim artists collective recently spent hours painting a mural depicting a family on a sofa under the words: Our Kids Will Not Be Next, as passing drivers honked horns in solidarity.

Art is a perfect middle ground for people to unite, said Amal Azzam, the 27-year-old co-founder of Fanana Banana, which organized the event. Milwaukee is a very segregated city. ... These are the things that help connect the communities.

Thats a sentiment shared by Sharma, in Los Angeles, who became involved in interfaith literacy and social justice following the 2012 deadly shooting at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin.

When I see that entire world marching with me to fight for the rights of others, I feel I am in prayer, he said. When we shut down systems of oppression together, acknowledging our differences for a common cause, thats when I know my prayers are being answered.

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Faith in protest as young people find fervor on the street - La Grande Observer

Suikodens creators are crowdfunding a spiritual successor – The Verge

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Some of the key creators behind the beloved Suikoden franchise are attempting to crowdfund a spiritual successor. Today, a new team called Rabbit & Bear Studios announced an upcoming Kickstarter campaign to fund Eiyuden Chronicle, a roleplaying game designed to evoke PlayStation-era nostalgia. The campaign will debut on July 27th, and the team is led by Yoshitaka Murayama, director and writer on the first two Suikoden titles. This is a new title for me, Murayama tells The Verge. Or rather is a combination of all my experiences as a creator and trying to expand on that base.

Aside from Murayama, Rabbit & Bear features an impressive list of talent. That includes: Junko Kawano, the lead artist on Suikoden 1 and 4; Junichi Murakami, art director on Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow; Suikoden Tactics director Osamu Komuta; and composers Motoi Sakuraba and Michiko Naruke.

Over the past years the core creators have met up at different events, and of course you talk about the glory days as well as regrets, Murayama says. One common thing that always came up was Isnt it about time we make a game for ourselves? Something we really want to make? Something we can make for the fans? And that dream provided the spark for this current project.

For fans of the Suikoden franchise which debuted in 1995 but has been dormant for many years the new game will sound very familiar. Eiyuden Chronicle is described as an ode to the classic JRPG genre from the PlayStation era that will feature classic JRPG exploration and battles in high-resolution 2.5D graphics with a story of war and friendship and a diverse cast of 100 unique heroes. If the crowdfunding campaign is successful, Eiyuden Chronicle is expected to launch in the fall of 2022 on PC, with other platforms possible depending on stretch goals.

Heres the basic premise, according to the studio:

Our story begins in one corner of Allraan, a tapestry of nations with diverse cultures and values. By dint of sword, and by way of magical objects known as rune-lenses, the lands history has been shaped by the alliances and aggressions of the humans, beastmen, elves, and desert people who live there. The Galdean Empire has edged out other nations and discovered a technology that amplifies the rune-lenses magic. Now, the Empire is scouring the continent for an artifact that will expand their power even further. It is on one such expedition that Seign Kesling, a young and gifted imperial officer, and Nowa, a boy from a remote village, meet each other and become friends. However, a twist of fate will soon drag them into the fires of war, and force them both to reexamine everything they believe to be right and true.

Of course, even with established creators at the helm, crowdfunded video game projects can go awry. Back in 2017, the creator of PaRappa the Rapper failed to crowdfund a spiritual successor due in part to the extremely early state of the game. Other projects have run into issues around funding and delays. Even with these concerns, Murayama believes a platform like Kickstarter is the best option for this type of game.

While people have their valid complaints about crowdfunding, it still provides one of the only ways to connect to your core fans, he says. Anyone who is passionate enough to invest in a project 2-3 years in advance and have that hope and belief in something is the type of fan that you want to collaborate with. They in turn motive you and can help us get to our dream of making that game we really want to make. Its hard to say whether people will choose to believe or to just doubt in this day and age, but every person who chooses to have faith in this project, I see as a hero. They are certainly the hero of my personal story.

That said, it doesnt sound like the studio has a backup plan in case crowdfunding falls through. When asked what would happen if the Kickstarter campaign failed, Murayama said Hopefully some rich benefactor will take me in and let me live in their house.

The Kickstarter campaign will kick off on July 27th and run through August 28th.

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Preview: Halo Infinite is a spiritual reboot of the linchpin Xbox series – GeekWire

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An unidentified character from Halo Infinite. (Microsoft Xbox / 343 Industries Image)

Microsofts 343 Industries revealed more information Friday about its next game in the Halo franchise, the forthcoming Halo Infinite. In a series of closed Q&A sessions with journalists, held via Discord, 343s Chris Lee and Paul Crocker provided additional context and commentary for the campaign footage from Infinite that made its debut on Thursday mornings Xbox Games Showcase.

They described Infinite as not simply a sequel, but as a spiritual reboot to the series, and a platform that 343 can use to keep building on the Halo universe.

Microsoft is banking on Halo Infinite as a killer app for the new Xbox Series X, debuting later this year. Halo has been a tentpole franchise for the Xbox line of consoles for almost 20 years, dating back to the original game in 2001.

As part of the reboot, Infinites story campaign takes players back to basics. The high stakes and galactic scale of the last two games are, at least for now, gone. Youre once again playing as Master Chief, fighting your way across one of the Halo rings that named the franchise, up against a familiar array of Covenant aliens.

Specifically, youre fighting the Banished, a power-hungry splinter faction within the Covenant that was previously introduced in 2017s Halo Wars 2. The larger Covenant War is still over, but the Banished are still a going concern, and at the start of Infinite, have just captured a human research facility on a Halo construct. The Master Chief ends up stuck in the middle of Banished territory, under circumstances that have yet to be revealed, and is forced to shoot his way back out.

Infinite is still 100% a sequel to Halo 5, according to Crocker, but is also an attempt to distill much of the seriess traditional appeal into a single experience. The critical pillar of their design, as per Lee, is to draw on the entirety of the Halo franchise to date, to take all the things that worked and put them into Infinite at the point at which they were at their best.

When I first stepped out onto the ring in Halo: Combat Evolved all those years ago, Lee writes for Halo Waypoint, I was transported and immersed in a mysterious, awe-inspiring alien world extending into the sky With Halo Infinite, were now able to give players more freedom than ever before to explore a sprawling Halo ring.

Its a strange choice, but it explains the retro feel of the footage from the Showcase. The general idea behind Infinites design seems to be starting over, to try to recapture some of the original games impact and its difficult to overstate just how impactful the original Halo was, back in 2001 and use that as a basis for continuing to build out the Halo universe. They arent pushing the envelope here; theyre reinventing the wheel.

Lee and Crocker said that the map for Infinites campaign mode is several times bigger than that of Halo 4 and 5 put together, with more ways to explore it and rewards for doing so. Lee calls Infinite the most open, expansive campaign weve created, with the ability to reach and explore any area that you can see as you make your way across the ring.

While youll still have access to many of the traditional travel methods in Halo games, such as the seriess traditional human and alien vehicles, the big new addition introduced in the Showcase footage is the grapple shot. This is a retractable line built into the Chiefs gauntlet that lets you scale cliffs, rappel towards distant ledges, and pull both enemies and items over to yourself. The grapple shot lets you find new ways around the battlefield, to find your way to distant locations or spring sudden ambushes on enemy positions.

Youll also have access to a personal cover item that 343 calls a Drop Wall, a portable energy shield that you can use to deflect gunfire or even grenades. Both the grapple shot and the Drop Wall will be accessible in the games multiplayer modes, but as item pickups rather than standard character equipment.

Infinite runs on a new engine called Slipspace, named after the warp drives that power the Halo universes spaceships, which offers a previously-impossible degree of visual fidelity. This is a big reason why so much of the Showcase footage of Infinite was focused on the games new antagonist, the Banished warlord Escharum. His face by itself represents more fine detail in its character model than past Halo games were capable of, which opens up a lot of options for a virtual actor.

That in itself is significant. In a franchise thats traditionally known for high spectacle and pitched firefights, the big trailer moment for Infinite so far is a scene where an alien trash-talks you for a solid 90 seconds. Its a well-rendered, expressive alien, in a scene that wouldnt have been as colorful or detailed on the Xbox One, but its a strange choice for a trailer that was expected to showcase the technical might of the new Xboxs flagship title.

In fact, Infinite so far is a rough collection of strange choices. Microsoft has spent the better part of the last year hyping up the Xbox Series X as the most powerful video game console ever released, but its hotly-anticipated flagship title is a deliberate throwback to a 19-year-old game that, in the most extensively curated clip they could put together, still looks borderline retro.

However, the strategy behind Infinite also seems to mirror that of Microsoft with the Games Showcase itself. Both the Series X and Halo Infinite are foundation stones, seemingly built as something that Microsoft and 343 can build upon rather than as traditional products. The general thrust of the games shown at Thursdays Showcase was primarily towards their variety and accessibility, while Infinite is being specifically built as an easy jumping-on point that 343 can proceed to iterate upon.

Halo Infinite is still scheduled to release as a launch title for the Xbox Series X, the release date for which is still an unspecific point in the 2020 holiday season.

Infinite is the sixth mainline game in the Halo franchise, which began in 2001 with Halo: Combat Evolved. Set in the 26th century, the games initially tell the story of an interplanetary conflict between Earths United Nations Space Command and an alien coalition called the Covenant. While the Human-Covenant War ended with 2007s Halo 3, later games and related material have dealt with the events that followed the war. The franchises name comes from the Halo rings, a series of alien-built habitats that have provided the settings for several of the games, and which turned out to be the firing elements in an ancient super-weapon.

Originally developed by the Bellevue, Wash.-based studio Bungie, Halo was regarded as the killer app for the original Xbox, and the games in the franchise are a significant driver of the Xboxs overall success as a platform.

In addition to the previous core games in the series, Halo also includes a line of best-selling novels, comics, and animated films, in addition to spin-offs like the strategy-based Halo Wars. Halo is currently developed by the Microsoft-owned 343 Industries, based in Redmond, Wash.

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The spirituality of the vacations is agency regardless of Corona – Pledge Times

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Khawla Ali (Dubai)

The consequences of the Corona pandemic affected the atmosphere and rituals of the feast, and made us express our joy with its minimalistic solutions, committed to wearing the new, and willing to draw the features of this day, which looks different from the image we used to. We have come to realize the value of compassion and the importance of visiting, at a time when we are responsible towards ourselves and our community for adhering to preventive measures, to the extent that guarantees us and others safety. It remains for the feast, the glory and spirituality that we feel with the enlargements that the minarets shout in the morning, and our tongues rage behind it, cheering and arrogant, for it is the holiday that refuses to give up his spirituality in all circumstances.

In this context, Sheikha Al-Hajri (housewife) explains: We did not accustom the holiday to be from a distance, but we insist that we live in an atmosphere by adhering to showing rituals, and communicating even if it is electronic, so that we can bring joy to our children and our families, draw the joy of the feast, and create a beautiful atmosphere At home, away from the daily routine.

Our authentic customsAs Al-Yazia Al-Hosani (educational) says: The borders that we are forced to sometimes compel us to look around, instead of far away. And with the pandemic, we realized the importance of estimating things that we considered simple. Such as communication and its beautiful effect on souls, such as handshaking, kissing the heads of the elderly, family sharing dishes, and other behaviors that bring joy and joy and express the concept of the feast. On the other hand, we realized the huge amount of extravagance that we used to follow during the holidays, took simplicity, went back to our original customs, and wore the traditional dress (mkhawir), and we spent time with the most important people in our lives, whether through visual contact, or limited visits Among the first-class family, what emptied our minds of preoccupation with luxuries, and life became simpler than we imagined, and we became more concerned with moral matters, what was reflected on our souls, which became more light, and who knows? Maybe we will spend the holidays after the pandemic in new ways.

Self-discoveryJamila Al-Watani (lawyer) says: Eid, in any case, I returned, Eid What happened to a mother with an order in which you have renewal This house for the Mutanabbi in the Abbasid era, and with different times, this house stops us with the coming of Eid in light of the existential, psychological and physical spacing Imposed by the Corona pandemic, by its ability to set joys aside, including sticks, and some religious rituals, and forced us to meet by wearing gloves and avoiding handshaking, without deep embrace and spiritual smiles that appear behind the gags. And she explains: The passage of the two feasts in this case, perpetuates isolation, and steals the joy of attending the feast, but the conscious and productive man added a third feast to his life, which is the feast of challenge, when he comes out of forced isolation with important results, the first of which is creating an optimistic life model, and the second is transforming the laziness of isolation into a workshop Work, and expand the size of human and moral relations, and the third is self-discovery and self-confidence .

Positive thinkingHoda Al-Taher (housewife) confirms: The feast of 2020 will keep their memory alive. How can we forget holidays that coincided with the epidemic of the heart of the world upside down overnight, because the feeling and joy of the feast is not consistent with the word epidemic? The solution of Eid Al-Adha and the world is still Im walking the atmosphere of Covid 19, but we thank God, we lived the previous Eid Al-Fitr in the same circumstances, but we learned a lot from him, yes the Tarawih prayer did not take place in the mosques, but I will not forget my children rotating their Imam daily at home, and its conclusion with Eid prayer at home for the first time in My life, yes, it is an epidemic, we ask God to remove it from us, but it taught us to define the priorities of life: family, health and education. For her part, Maryam Fakhro (plastic artist) says: things differ from one person to another in how to deal with the events around him, the global epidemic imposed isolation on us, so that we remain safe, but in return, he charted for us a more positive way in our life, we looked at Aspects we were ignorant of, or we were not aware of its value, such as getting to know the neighbors, because the fast pace of life put us in a whirlpool, but the time of Corona was a real pause with the soul, during which we practiced a lot of sports activities, and interaction increased with the family, and we became delighted with the beauty of nature, And we realized the value of things around us. Live the moment and enjoy the positive energy in your bodies, minds and hearts, and fill life with love and generosity, she adds.

Half of the cup is fullIsraa al-Samarrai (university professor) says: These events that happen to us, make us recall the hadith of the Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him: Whoever of you becomes safe in his swarm, recovering in his body, has the strength of his day, as if the world has attained it with its fountains. Praise be to God for That is, if we program our thoughts in this way, we will be happy with what God has given us, and look at the full half of the cup, then we will feel the pleasure of what we are in, and forget what else is, so our awareness is what makes us happy, or unhappy. It is true that a feast has passed and a holiday is feast, and the world is still suffering due to the spread of the Coronavirus, but we are still alive and enjoying our health, and if we were not with pilgrims on a regular basis, we can be proud and satisfied while we are in our homes, and we feel the pleasure of that, To draw closer to God through various obedience, which in turn brings satisfaction, tranquility and calm to ourselves, and this is the height of happiness. She added: To adapt to our current circumstance, by taking the precautionary precautions and the obligation to protect ourselves and our families from the threat of the virus, explaining: This epidemic will go, and we will return to our normal life, which we did not feel its pleasure previously.

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The spirituality of the vacations is agency regardless of Corona - Pledge Times

Exorcising Quetzalcoatl: Spiritual Warfare in Guatemalaand Beyond – Patheos

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In the 1990s Harold Caballeros was minister of a church of 350 members in Guatemala City. It was growing and going well, and they had found valuable real estate at an affordable price on one of the main avenues of the city. Caballeros exulted that it was an absolute miracle.

Then everything went wrong. As he prayed one day in his office, leaning on a stool in front of a bureau, the stool began to elevate and then disappeared. In its place lay an enormous coiled white snake. As it came alive, furious and menacing, its eyes stared red, profound, and charged with hate. Caballeros began to tremble with fear. It is true that in my work as a pastor I had participated in deliverances, he reported. He had seen demonic manifestations, but nothing compared with this moment.

Then, he said, the Lord Jesus Christ intervened. From within his own chest came a voice with power and authority. Isnt My name enough? Is the authority of My name not enough for you? Caballeros realized, I wasnt alone. He was with me.

Filled with hope and resolve, Caballeros approached the ten-meter-long snake. Though it betrayed no fear, the pastor rebuked it in the name of Jesus Christ. I could see that what the serpent was losing in confidence, I was gaining. Unexpectedly I could feel that fear had disappeared from me, and the serpent started to uncoil. The fight was tougher by the moment, and I soon saw fear it its eyes. I was obtaining victory. . . The serpent backed away and suddenly, traversing the wall, it went into the street.

Surprising even himself, Caballeros took chase, following the snake into the middle of Sixth Avenue. Continuing to rebuke it for several blocks, he finally ordered the serpent with all the authority he could muster, to flee. The intervention worked. He reported that the snake moved with greater speed by the moment, fleeing, afraid.

This spiritual experience fortified Caballeros for what came next. After El Shaddai Church began to build, the governments Institute of Institute of Anthropology and History put a halt to construction. The church stood on a pre-Columbian archaeological site: The Great Mound of the Snake of the Valley of Guatemala, which had been discovered only thirty years before.

Stuck, Caballeros began doing his own research which he said was guided by the Holy Spirit. He discovered that the Mound of the Snake was made by indigenous hands about two hundred years before Christ. Built in the form of an elongated pyramid, the mound was thirty meters wide, fifteen meters high, and twenty-two kilometers long. It was used ceremonially to honor Quetzalcoatl, the flying serpent.

Caballeros agreed with anthropologists that the Mound was significant. He disagreed with them about exactly how. To this Pentecostal pastor, the Mound signified a corruption of gospel truth. He explained:

Each year, during the spring solstice, this serpent undergoes a particular process. Its skin becomes opaque and dry, all its body acquires a gray-like color, a veil falls over its eyes, as would a cataract, and abruptly the viper breaks its covering, abandons it and emerges with a new skin, alive and fresh. The it adds a new rattle. This phenomenon is called caput zijil, which means, To be born again. If we add to this that the number four is the number of the sun and of Quetzalcoatlof whom is said that he died for his people and came back to life on the fourth daywe will see that we are facing a falsification of Christ

Caballeros further reported that for the Mayas, the cult of the serpent took on such importance that they went to the extreme of taking two tablets to pressure the skull of their children and, in the process, deform them. They would file down their childrens teeth and voluntarily make them cross-eyed, in an effort to make them physically similar to the serpent.

The most important moment in Caballeross research came when he and other church leaders spotted Quetzalcoatl in Hebrew scriptures. We could barely believe our eyes. Through the book of Isaiah, God was confirming our findings. The specific passage was Isaiah 14:29: Do not rejoice, all you of Philistia, because the rod that struck you is broken; for out of the serpents root will come forth a viper, and its offspring will be a fiery flying serpent. They also found Quetzalcoatl in Isaiah 30:6: The burden against the beasts of the South. Through a land of trouble and anguish, from which come the lioness and lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they will carry their riches on the backs of young donkeys and their treasures on the humps of camels, to a people who shall not benefit them.

Caballeros determined that this prophecy had become terrifyingly true for the countries of Meso America. They had been handed over to, dedicated to, or given over to this evil spirit. The cultures of pre-Hispanic America had been given an inheritance of curse, darkness, and pain to the next generations. Instead of worshipping the true God, the Maya, Aztec, and Inca worshiped birds (the quetzal), animals (the jaguar), and reptiles (the rattlesnake). And they sacrificed humans. Caballeros explained, During all of the research process, our attention was powerfully drawn to the bloodthirstiness of that cultthe human sacrificesand the unique way in which the sacrifices were conducted.

What did this inheritance look like in Caballeross twentieth-century Guatemala? The equivalent to ancient human sacrifices, he maintained, was the radical politics of socialist guerrillas, who had destabilized society and caused economic problems. Significantly, Caballeros pointed out, the quetzal was the national bird and name of the currency. He wrote, The number of crotalic or serpentine symbols in them increased in direct proportion to the devaluation of the currency.

The bottom line: political virtue requires spiritual integrity. We understood, said Caballeros, that the intervention of the church is necessary to settle those ancestral problems spiritually if we want to see the freedom of our nations. . . . God was speaking to us, letting us know that the situation of our nation was due to spiritual circumstancesto the direct action of forces that were hidden to the human eyebut that are absolutely real.

Feeling a sense of urgency, Cabelleros conceived of a project called Jesus is Lord of Guatemala. He recruited a great army of intercessors who would redeem the nation from the hands of the enemy, and together they read the book Prayer, the Key to Revival by Korean pastor David Yonggi Cho. Based on this template, Caballeros held an exorcism in which he sought to expel Mayan spirits from strategic zones around the city. At one site, he killed an actual snake that stared hatefully at him from an aqueduct linked to ancient Mayan ruins.

It seemed to work. El Shaddai successfully built on the site, and attendance multiplied by seven in only two years. The church, said Caballeros, also grew in quality. It became a praying church, a warring church. When a member of the church, Jorge Serrano Elas, became a candidate for the presidency of Guatemala in 1991, the church prayed for his victory. Teams from El Shaddai fanned out to strategic cardinal points across the nation to clear the way of strongmen who might overtake Serrano in the polls.

When he won the election, Serrano called for a national exorcism. Members of El Shaddaialong with 75,000 other evangelicalsparaded through the streets of Guatemala City to declare to the principalities and powers that Jesus, not Maximn or any other false god, is Lord over Guatemala. This event represented an evangelical surge in a nation that was already the most evangelical in all Latin America after its Protestant population had risen from 2 percent to 40 percent in less than four decades.

This basic narrative comes from a chapter in a 2001 book published by Thomas Nelson called Victorious Warfare: Discovering Your Rightful Place in Gods Kingdom. Written matter-of-factly by Caballeros himself, How I Learned That Spiritual Warfare Exists is an exemplary articulation of Guatemalan Pentecostalism. It is impossible, says the chapter, to disentangle the material from the immaterial. Spiritual warfare can be found in everyday life. Prayer has material consequences. As Caballeros put it, Spiritual warfare really constitutes the normal way of life for the believers that have been redeemed by Christ from the slavery of the devil. Pentecostals believe that there is a spirit world populated by angels and demons warring over poverty, substance abuse, domestic violence, and the soul of every human being.

Critics, noting that the story did not end with the election, do not agree. Serrano was exiled to Panama in disgrace after he illegally suspended the Constitution, imposed censorship, and dissolved Congress and the Supreme Court. Indeed, evangelicals have remained silent about the violence inflicted by their own. As scholar Maren Christensen Bjune has contended, Pentecostal participation in politics has not transformed politics as much as preserved the status quo. Others say that spiritual warfare eradicates the nations own heritage by blaming Mayan culture for negative, superstitious, and violent characteristics of Guatemalan culture.

Whatever the case, Guatemalan Pentecostalism enjoys far greater range than just Guatemala. El Shaddai now boasts 12,000 members in Guatemala Citybut also more than eighty branch churches in several countries in America and Europe. It enjoys close ties with the New Apostolic Reformation, a Pentecostal network with ties to Michele Bachmann, Sam Brownback, Sarah Palin, Rick Perry, and Ted Cruz. The Spiritual Warfare Network, which Caballeros helped develop, covers the globe, and one of its meetingsthe 2006 World Congress on Intercession, Spiritual Warfare, and Evangelismwas hosted by El Shaddai and included representatives from twenty-four nations.

Indeed, what is most striking to me is how transnational the spiritual warfare movement is. This story alone involves a Korean prophet, an American vice-presidential candidate, an Argentinian pastor, and a Guatemalan president. The global circulation of religious ideas and practices, on overdrive since the Immigration Act of 1965, continues even during 2020 pandemic. In the last few months Caballeross podcasts and Youtube sermons on a range of issues related to spiritual warfare have been getting a lot of play in Guatemala, the United States (check out the books on his desk in this video), and around the world.

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St Mary of The Cross MacKillop the Patron Saint for Australian Catenians – Catholic Outlook

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On Tuesday 28 July, the Australian National Council of The Catenian Association and the Sisters of St Joseph announced that St Mary of The Cross MacKillop will become The Catenians Patron Saint for Australia on 8 August 2020, the Solemnity of the Saint.

The Catenian Association is an international fraternity of Catholic laymen. Founded in Manchester in 1908, it was established in Australia in 1971 and now has approximately 900 Australian members.

Speaking from the Mary MacKillop Chapel North Sydney following a Mass to celebrate St. Mary MacKillops feast day, the Associations Australian National President, George Kazs, said that following the beatification of Mary MacKillop in 1995, Australian Catenians have adopted the practice of seeking her intercession at the commencement of meetings and when new members join the fraternity.

Since then, Sisters of the Congregation through their generous support have enriched the spiritual life of Catenians through encountering the charism of St Mary MacKillopher faith in a loving and provident God, her uniquely Australian response to Gods call to provide for those in need, her respect for the dignity of all and her affection for her Sisters and for those she served.

These encounters have opened Catenians to the possibility that life as a Catenian can be lived with a uniquely Australian spirituality within an international context. That, like St Mary MacKillop, a Catenian can be truly Australian and strive to be genuinely holy, he said.

Through her example of prayerful and attentively listening for the movement of the Holy Spirit, Australian Catenians have discerned that an Australian expression of Catenian spirituality is a spirituality of interdependence, one lived through faith, friendship, respect and service. A spirituality that reflects the charism of St Mary MacKillop.

The Association wished to acknowledge that the Australian expression of Catenian spirituality reflects the charism of St Mary MacKillop by adopting her as its Patron Saint for Australia and requested the Congregation to support it in making this acknowledgment.

The Congregation has agreed to support the Association in acknowledging its adoption of St Mary of The Cross MacKillop as its patron Saint for Australia by its representatives joining with members of the Association in a ritual of adoption held at the Saints tomb during the celebration of a Mass of her Solemnity on 27 July 2020 and by joining with the Association in announcing its adoption of the Saint as its Patron Saint for Australia.

Speaking after the Mass Sister Monica Cavanagh RSJ, the Congregational Leader of the Sisters of St Joseph, said that the Sisters are delighted to share this occasion with the Catenians. She went on to observe that from the earliest days of the Institute Mary MacKillop recognised the importance of establishing partnerships with people who supported her work and mission. Mary MacKillops way of living the gospel in our Australian context aligns closely with values at the heart of what it means to be a Catenian. Her practical down to earth spirituality has much to offer the work of the Catenians in Australia today.

With thanks to the Australian National Council of The Catenian Association.

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St Mary of The Cross MacKillop the Patron Saint for Australian Catenians - Catholic Outlook

The Spiritual Theme Of the Week Ahead Is AwakeningHeres Exactly What To Expect – Well+Good

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Cosmic Health is your day-by-day source of celestial advicewith a wellness twist. Astrologer Jennifer Racioppi looks to the stars to find out whats in store for your week when it comes to food, fitness, sleep, sex, and more. See All

With the sun zooming through the early degrees of Leo, and the last week of July upon us, its time to make the most of the summer, pandemic in tow. With just a few weeks of peak-season sun left, its essential to find joy where ever you can and to savor those moments. Thankfully, astrologically speaking, the next few days allow for an enhanced experience of spiritual well-being. Even with a cardinal square brewing between Mercury in Cancer, Mars in Aries, and the ongoing stellium in Capricorn, there are uplifting aspects, like Mercury square Mars, that are worthy of highlighting and leaning into.

For starters, on Monday, Neptune, the planet of dreams, makes a sextile to Jupiter in Capricorn. When Neptune sextiles the biggest and most expansive planet in the sky, you can quite possibly catch a wave of spiritual growth. Neptune in Pisces offers a sense of transcendence, and as he approaches this harmonious angle to Jupiter, which perfects on Monday at 12:06 p.m., ET, your intuition, emotional awareness, and ability to visualize amplifies.

On the same day, Venus in Gemini makes a square to Neptune. While a square often indicates a challenge or challenges, in this situation, it amplifies the mystical. Venus is now making her third square to Neptune, with previous squares having occurred on May 3rd and May 20th. Since this is the third in the sequence (due to her retrograde in Gemini), we can potentially experience a deep spiritual knowing akin to awakening.

Venus squaring Neptune invites in the dream. After months spent refining and coming to a deeper understanding of the personal values that guide your life, its essential to now claim the essence of what youve refined since early Maya perfect activity for the waxing moon. Take a moment and reflect on what youve learned. Pay attention to what you are releasing, and connect to the new dream emerging from within.

To tap into the essence of Jupiters sextile to Neptune and the planet of dreams square to Venus, check out Taylor Swifts latest album, Folklore,which she surprise released last week, right after the sun moved into Leo. Its lyrically, sonically, and thematically on point with these transits, serving both as a therapeutic source and artistic inspiration. Like the week ahead, it embodies a whimsical, soft but deep and true to self essence of magic. The highest calling under these transits is to animate the soul voice within, possibly even unleashing your inner artist. No matter what inspires youSwift or notseek art that uplifts your soul.

As you do, you might find connection to the most pure impulse within to unlock your own mystical healingeven more so, with Mercury square Mars. Mercury represents analytical and communicative capacities, and is in Cancer, which rules the moon and represents cardinal water, which connects with emotions and the ability to self-nurture.

Mercury square Mars asks you to articulate the highest expression of your soul. In doing so, sadness may arise, as you recognize what needs to change or has already changed, as well as any losses you are still reconciling.

Mars represents dynamic action and accelerates opportunities for growth. Mercury square Mars asks you to articulate the highest expression of your soul. In doing so, sadness may arise, as you recognize what needs to change or has already changed, as well as any losses you are still reconciling. Remember, grief and pain are an important part of life. They are essential and a part of any spiritual awakening. While Marss position on Monday and throughout the entire week ahead is antagonistic, its important to lean into his antagonism. Let Mars provoke your yearnings, your drive, your determination, your feelings, and, most importantly, your passion.

As the week goes on, Mercury opposes Jupiter and Pluto, bringing more unseen and/or unintegrated emotions to the surface. Should insecurities arise, trust they are leading you to make choices that advance your healing. At the same time, Mercury will trine Neptune, bringing even more mystical vibes, unlocking your access to your own healing magic. Again, art, self-expression, and tuning into the voice of your soul are essential.

Come Friday, the sun in Leo trines Chiron in Aries. This is a very special moment. The sun in Leo asks you to tune into where you are meant to shine. Chiron in Aries asks you to look at the wounding that holds you back from self-expression. This combination of Mercury opposing Jupiter and Pluto while squaring Mars (forming a cardinal square), while trining Neptune, at the time of the sun in Leo trining Chiron in Aries, is particularly potent.

It invites you to reconcile the pain that keeps you from healing. It serves as a key to leveraging your own experiences to become more compassionate, kind, and capable of assisting others on their healing journey. Ultimately though, its about liberation. Its about forgiving the past, and finding new ways to be with the present moment. Its about accessing the courage within to self-express, stay compassionate towards others, and use your pain as an access point into your power.

The theme of the week ahead is awakening. As the sun shines, and the heat encourages growth, joy, and pleasure, let yourself feel, play and create. In doing so, you may just find yourself attuned to new heights of spiritual awareness.

Jennifer Racioppiis the creator of Lunar Logica philosophy that integrates the deep wisdom of both science and spirituality, and blends her expertise in astrology, positive psychology, and womens healthwhich she uses to coach high-achieving female entrepreneurs to reach their next level of success. Pre-order her book,Cosmic Health(January 2021), here.

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The Spiritual Theme Of the Week Ahead Is AwakeningHeres Exactly What To Expect - Well+Good

miRagen, Investigators from Goethe University and University Hospital Frankfurt and Servier Publish MRG-110 Phase 1 Pharmacodynamic Biomarker Data in…

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FRANKFURT, Germany and BOULDER, Colo., July 28, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Goethe University, University Hospital Frankfurt and miRagen Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: MGEN), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of RNA-targeted therapies, today announcedthat preliminary results from a Phase 1 trial detailing the pharmacodynamic activity of MRG-110 has been published in the peer-reviewed journal Nucleic Acid Therapeutics.

We are pleased to have these Phase 1 mechanism of action results for MRG-110 published in Nucleic Acid Therapeutics, said William S. Marshall, Ph.D., President and CEO of miRagen Therapeutics, Inc. These data show that a single systemic dose of MRG-110 reduced detectable miR-92a levels in the peripheral blood of humans and led to the regulation of several well established miR-92a target genes.

The preliminary characterization of MRG-110 pharmacodynamic activity in the peripheral blood of humans provides important insight into the development of potential blood borne mechanistic biomarkers for miR-92a inhibition, added Prof. Dr. Stefanie Dimmeler, Director of the Institute for Cardiovascular Regeneration at the Center for Molecular Medicine, Goethe University Frankfurt. We believe these data provide the basis for further development of readily monitorable biomarkers that can be employed in future clinical trials.

The article, titled Efficiency and Target Derepression of Anti-miR-92a: Results of a First in Human Study, reports mechanistic results from a single ascending dose, double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized Phase 1 clinical trial. The trial was a study where MRG-110 was administered systemically by intravenous dosing. miR-92a levels were measured in whole blood, circulating endothelial cells, and circulating extracellular vesicles before and after MRG-110 administration. miR-92a levels were found to be significantly reduced in all three of the sample types tested. Importantly, two miR-92a target genes were derepressed after treatment, indicating the intended mechanism of action of MRG-110 in normal healthy volunteers. These data may identify a strategy for measuring pharmacodynamic activity of MRG-110 in peripheral blood in future clinical trials. This would allow for monitoring the intended mechanism of action in blood samples during the conduct of clinical trials in patients, thereby providing an enhanced degree of confidence that the product candidate is affecting the biological pathway that is intended.

Work reported in the article was the result of a collaboration between Goethe University, University Hospital Frankfurt, miRagen Therapeutics and Les Laboratories Servier. Financial support for the studies was also provided by the German Centre for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK).

About miRagen Therapeutics, Inc.miRagen Therapeutics, Inc. is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company discovering and developing proprietary RNA-targeted therapies with a specific focus on microRNAs and their role in diseases where there is a high unmet medical need. miRagen has three clinical stage product candidates, cobomarsen, remlarsen, and MRG-110. miRagens clinical product candidate for the treatment of certain cancers, cobomarsen, is an inhibitor of miR-155, which is found at abnormally high levels in malignant cells of several blood cancers. miRagens clinical product candidate for the treatment of pathological fibrosis, remlarsen, is a replacement for miR-29, which is found at abnormally low levels in a number of pathological fibrotic conditions, including cutaneous, cardiac, renal, hepatic, pulmonary and ocular fibrosis, as well as in systemic sclerosis. MRG-110, an inhibitor of miR-92, is miRagens product candidate for the treatment of heart failure and other ischemic disease. In addition to these programs, miRagen is developing a pipeline of preclinical product candidates. The goal of miRagens translational medicine strategy is to progress rapidly to first-in-human studies once it has established the pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamic, safety, and manufacturability of the product candidate in preclinical studies. For more information, please visitwww.miragen.com. For information on clinical trials please visitwww.clinicaltrials.gov.

About the University Hospital FrankfurtThe University Hospital Frankfurt, founded in 1914, is one of the leading academic hospitals in Germany. It offers its patients optimal medical care in 32 medical clinics / institutes. University hospital and faculty of Medicine together operate a total of 20 research institutes. The close connection to research ensures patients the prompt implementation of new knowledge in therapeutic practice. Around 1,500 inpatient as well as day clinic beds are available. Numerous institutes are dedicated to medical-scientific specialized services. Annually we take care of 51,000 inpatients and 227,000 outpatients. The University Hospital Frankfurt has special interdisciplinary competence amongst others in the fields of neuroscience, oncology and cardiovascular medicine. As a specialist for organ and bone marrow transplantation, dialysis and cardiac surgery, the clinic takes a special task of supra-regional medical care. Over 4,500 employees (full-time positions) take care of the patients around the clock.

About the German Centre for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK)The German Centre for Cardiovascular Research unites high-ranking scientists from all over Germany. It was founded in 2011 with the aim of bundling expertise in cardiovascular research and making it more effective so that research results can be transferred more quickly into clinical application. 1800 researchers from seven partner sites and 30 partner institutions, including university hospitals and non-university research institutions, are involved in the DZHK.

Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain forward-looking statements that involve substantial risks and uncertainties for purposes of the safe harbor provided by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements contained in this press release other than statements of historical fact, including statements regarding miRagens strategy, anticipated clinical development milestones, prospects, plans and objectives of management are forward-looking statements. The words believe, may, will, estimate, continue, anticipate, intend, plan, expect, predict, potential, opportunity, goals, or should, and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements are based on managements current expectations and involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results and performance could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of many factors, including, without limitation: that miRagen has incurred losses since its inception, and anticipates that it will continue to incur significant losses for the foreseeable future; future financing activities may cause miRagen to restrict its operations or require it to relinquish rights; miRagen may fail to demonstrate safety and efficacy of its product candidates; miRagens product candidates are unproven and may never lead to marketable products; miRagens product candidates are based on a relatively novel technology, which makes it difficult to predict the time and cost of development and of subsequently obtaining regulatory approval, if at all; miRagens product candidates may cause undesirable side effects or have other properties that could delay or prevent the regulatory approval; and the results of miRagens clinical trials to date are not sufficient to show safety and efficacy of miRagens product candidates and may not be indicative of future clinical trial results.

miRagen has based these forward-looking statements largely on its current expectations and projections about future events and trends. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including those described under the heading Risk Factors in miRagens Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent periodic and current reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Moreover, miRagen operates in a very competitive and rapidly changing environment. New risks emerge from time to time.

It is not possible for its management to predict all risks, nor can it assess the impact of all factors on its business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements it may make. In light of these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, the future events and trends discussed in this press release may not occur and actual results could differ materially and adversely from those anticipated or implied in the forward-looking statements. miRagen undertakes no obligation to revise or publicly release the results of any revision to such forward-looking statements, except as required by law. Given these risks and uncertainties, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement.

Investor Relations Contact:Dan FerryManaging DirectorLifeSci Advisors617-430-7576daniel@lifesciadvisors.com

Corresponding Author: Prof. Dr. Stefanie DimmelerInstitute for Cardiovascular RegenerationCentre of Molecular MedicineGoethe University FrankfurtTheodor Stern Kai 7 60590 Frankfurt; GermanyPhone: +49-69-6301-5158 Fax: +49-69-6301-83462dimmeler@em.uni-frankfurt.de

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Therapeutic Solutions International Files Patent on Ability of QuadraMune Ingredient Pterostilbene to Reduce Inflammation while Stimulating Brain…

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OCEANSIDE, Calif., July 28, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --Therapeutics Solution International, Inc., (OTC Markets: TSOI), reported new data demonstrating that the blueberry derived compound pterostilbene possesses numerous brain protective and potentially brain regenerative activities. Pterostilbene is one of four ingredients which comprise QuadraMune, a nutraceutical being developed by the Company which is currently in a clinical trial for prevention of COVID-19. Information on the clinical trial can be found on the Government Clinical Trials website https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04421391.

"These new data confirm previous findings published on pterostilbene and also reveal novel therapeutic properties of this naturally occurring nutrient," said Dr. James Veltmeyer, Chief Medical Officer of the Company and Voted Top Doctor of San Diego. "By continually investigating mechanisms of action of our products, our ambition is to ensure we have support of the top medical and scientific leaders. In my opinion, many times, it does not matter how good your product is, what matters is that you have scientific basis for why it works. This is especially important in the current age of molecular medicine."

The data disclosed by the Company indicates:

a) pterostilbene suppresses inflammatory cytokines TNF-alpha, IL-1 beta and IL-6;

b) pterostilbene inhibits death of neurons caused by inflammatory mediators;

c) pterostilbene stimulates production of regenerative factors from cells in the brain such as BDNF, NGF, FGF-1, and FGF-2; and

d) pterostilbene allows/enhances proliferation of endogenous brain stem cells.

"The importance of possessing a deep scientific understanding of your product can be seen in the example of nutraceuticals which ended up obtaining regulatory clearance as drugs," said Timothy Dixon, President and CEO of Therapeutic Solutions International. "For example, Lovaza and Vascepa are both fish oil based products which have been developed scientifically and FDA approved through clinical trials. Lovaza, which is sold by GSK, had sales of approximately 1 billion per year and is used for reduction of triglycerides.1 Vascepa, sold by Amarin, had sales in 2019 of 410 million and is used to prevent heart attacks.2 We believe that similar developmental pathways may be possible with several of our existing products."

The Company is currently pursuing FDA clearance for its cell therapy produce StemVacs, for which an IND number was previously granted. The Company's in-licensed stem cell, the JadiCell has FDA clearance for other indications.

About Therapeutic Solutions International, Inc.Therapeutic Solutions International is focused on immune modulation for the treatment of several specific diseases. The Company's corporate website is http://www.therapeuticsolutionsint.com, our public forum is https://board.therapeuticsolutionsint.com/.

1 http://www.pmlive.com/pharma_news/teva_launches_first_generic_of_gsks_lovaza_in_us_5592732 https://www.fool.com/investing/2020/01/07/amarin-reports-preliminary-vascepa-sales-projects.aspx

Therapeutic Solutions International, Inc.[emailprotected]

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AGC to Complete the Acquisition of MolMed on July 31, 2020 – PRNewswire

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Cell and gene therapy is an innovative and rapidly growing therapeutic field that aims to treat diseases that do not have adequate treatments to date. Approximately 1,000 clinical trials are underway worldwide, with some products receiving market authorization in the last few years and approximately 50 new therapies expected to be authorized by 2030. Thanks to its two commercially authorized facilities, MolMed offers GMP services for the development and production of cell and gene therapies. MolMed brings deep experience and expertise in providing development and GMP manufacturing services for viral vectors and genetically modified cells, from the preclinical phase through commercial demand.

"While we work hard to take care of each other and our customers during this very challenging and uncertain time, it's also important that we ensure the continued growth of our company," says AGC Biologics CEO Patricio Massera. "AGC Biologics is committed to continuously expanding our offerings and growing our capacity to serve all the needs of current and future customers. We are very pleased to be adding MolMed and its great cell and gene therapy capabilities and track record to AGC Biologics' global CDMO service offerings."

About AGC Biologics:AGC Biologics is a leading global Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO) with a strong commitment to deliver the highest standard of service to clients and partners. The company currently employs more than 1,000 employees worldwide. AGC Biologics' global network spans three continents, with cGMP-compliant facilities in Seattle, Washington; Boulder, Colorado; Copenhagen, Denmark; Heidelberg, Germany; and Chiba, Japan.

AGC Biologics offers deep industry expertise and unique customized services for the scale-up and cGMP manufacture of protein-based therapeutics, from pre-clinical to commercial mammalian and microbial production. Integrated service offerings include plasmid (GMP pDNA) manufacturing, cell line development, bioprocess development, formulation, analytical testing, antibody drug development and conjugation, cell banking and storage and protein expression, including the proprietary CHEF1 Expression System for mammalian production. Learn more at http://www.agcbio.com.

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AGC to Complete the Acquisition of MolMed on July 31, 2020 - PRNewswire