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AMATEUR BASEBALL: Production at the plate | News, Sports, Jobs – Marshall Independent

Posted on July 18, 2020 by Danzig

Photo by Sam Thiel Milroys Zac Cain (44) celebrates with a helmet tap to teammate Anthony Dolan (4) after hitting a solo homer during their game against Cottonwood on Friday. The Irish defeated the Cardinals 8-5.

MILROY With the end of the regular season rapidly approaching, the Milroy Irish and Cottonwood Cardinals amateur baseball teams looked to gain some key momentum heading into their final games. It was a tight battle to start, but a four-run fourth by the Irish proved to be the difference as Milroy earned an 8-5 victory over the Cardinals on Friday night at Irish Yard.

The visiting Cardinals raced out to an early lead, as Seth Boerboom connected on a single and Jacob Rausch and Chris Berg drew back-to-back walks to load the bases with no outs before Kolin Hanson brought in a pair of runs with a single to give Cottonwood a 2-0 lead.

Milroy would have a quick response, however, with Tyler Peterson and Brady Lanoue reaching on singles before Zac Cain plated a run with a single of his own to make it 2-1 after one. The Irish continued to find scoring in the next frame, this time with Luke Dolan smacking a double before Moses Dolan reached on an error to score a run. A couple of batters later, Peterson lined an RBI double to put the Irish back in front at 3-2.

After an empty at-bat by Cottonwood, the Irish added another run in the bottom of the third, as Cain blasted a shot to right field that hit the videoboard to make it 4-2. The Cardinals wouldnt go down without a fight, though, with Tyler Imes and Grant Sander getting aboard on consecutive base hits before Rausch drove in a run with an RBI single to cut the deficit to one.

Looking to keep its trend of scoring in every inning going, the Irish got a good start with a single from Moses Dolan before Lanoue smacked an RBI double. Derek Riley then lined a ball to deep center and wound up at third with an RBI triple before back-to-back RBI singles from Anthony Dolan and Peterson pushed Milroys advantage to 8-3.

Neither side would find scoring over the next couple of frames, but Cottonwood broke that scoreless streak in the top of the eighth. After a single and an error, the Cardinals brought in a pair of runs off a base hit from Rausch to cut the deficit to three at 8-5. Cottonwood would get a pair of runners aboard in the top of the ninth, but the Irish were able to turn a double play to end the game and secure the win.

Peterson and Cain led the way for Milroy with three hits and two RBI apiece while Lanoue and Anthony Dolan each added two hits and an RBI.

Beau Priegnitz earned the victory on the mound, going five innings while allowing three runs on six hits and struck out seven.

Imes led the way for Cottonwood with three hits while Rausch added two hits and two RBI and Hanson added a hit and two RBI.

Wyatt Schuster took the loss on the mound, going four innings while allowing eight runs on 12 hits and struck out one.

Up next

The Irish will wrap up their regular season on Sunday with a 2 p.m. matchup against Adrian while Cottonwood will face Morris in Granite Falls on Sunday at 2 p.m.

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AMATEUR BASEBALL: Production at the plate | News, Sports, Jobs - Marshall Independent

Pirates Outlaws Offers Deck Building On the High Seas – GameIndustry.com

Posted on July 18, 2020 by Danzig

I dont know about you gamer, but when I think of pirates and swashbuckling I think of card games. You all remember Long John Silver and his early years as a Magic: The Gathering tournament winner before he turned to all that piracy. While this may seem like an odd concept for a game, I was more than willing to give it a whack and see if I would be surprised. While not blown away, I still found a game that is enjoyable.

Pirates Outlaws takes place somewhere. I will be honest the games story is so light it would blow away in a stiff breeze. You are a pirate that does pirate things to other pirates because pirates. There are different characters you can unlock with different unique abilities. The characters are more like manikins than characters as they dont talk and have the same personality as my garden hose.

The main point of Pirates Outlaws is to explore islands, beat other pirates and get cards for your deck. The main mechanic is ranged cards taking ammo and melee cards not affecting enemies hiding behind other enemies as much. It is really simple, but effective and allows the game to flow well.

I know simplicity can sometimes be a bad thing, but in this case, it allows the game to move at a pace to keep it entertaining. If it introduced some convoluted combat system (looking at you Here Be Dragons) it would have killed the main thing that made the game playable.

The audio in this game was on the annoying side and I quickly listened to audiobooks instead. Each little sound and grunt lost its novelty within twenty minutes. Honestly, I recommend playing the game on mute as you can then multitask as the game doesnt make you think on a level that many other turn based strategy games do. Again, this works to its credit, but means you can sneak in the twelfth Dresden Files book while shooting pirates.

Is the game fun? Allow me to wax philosophical for a paragraph and ask you, dear reader, does playing a game for a few hours without thinking about quitting make it fun? I kept playing and playing, but was not exactly having fun. It is a weird place to be in when I realize I missed lunch and my cats are hungry enough to plot my demise, all while not really enjoying it. It plays on youre want to do better than last time desire to try and unlock things to use to do better than your last battle. Its a casual game, through and through.

If you are looking for a deck building game, Pirates Outlaw is a good looking title and will offer good playability for the money. If you want sexy, you will want to go elsewhere. Looking for a pirate game, there are pirates in here, but its far from a standard pirate game. I think Pirates Outlaws offers a great pickup if you want something that will gobble time and not stress you out. Otherwise, it will eat some hours from your week and eventually you will stop for lunch and may or may not come back.

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Pirates Outlaws Offers Deck Building On the High Seas - GameIndustry.com

Piracy RPG ‘King of Seas’ announced for fall this year – Micky News

Posted on July 18, 2020 by Danzig

According to dev 3DClouds, King of Seas is their most ambitious project to date. The game, much like many modern titles, have a Zelda-esque vibe to it. Subsequently, the art is not only beautiful, but the announcement trailer shows as much.

Piracy and naval warfare games have propped up a ton over the last few years. Devs gained confidence with the genre through the success of Assassins Creed IV: Black Flag. Above all, naval games have become better than ever as technology improves.

According to a press release, 3DClouds wants players to enjoy the genre even further. They want to set sail on a deadly adventure set in the golden age of pirates.

We are thrilled that after a year of hard work, we are finally ready to unveil King of Seas, our most ambitious project to date, said Francesco Bruschi, Founder, and CEO of 3DClouds. We have poured all our creative talent into creating this stunning pirate world and cant wait to share more with you in the coming weeks.

There is sparse detail about King of Seas so far. However, the games description is one thing to consider. King of Seas dynamic game world will react to your every action forcing you to evaluate your strategy at every turn and adapt to the new challenges facing you, says the description. Naval routes might change meaning you will need to look for new ways to conquer settlements or adverse weather conditions might require new, more dangerous routes to be navigated when heading to islands to trade goods or upgrade your ships.

Engage with an intriguing cast of characters who may steer you towards hidden treasures or lead you into deadly traps as other pirates look to plunder your gold. One thing is for certain, there are adventures to be had and battles to fight as you shape your empire on the high seas.

From what is available on the trailer, it seems the game is a reactive world. The game feel for the title seems to revolve around a robust and colorful world full of adventures.

Every decision will likely have its consequences on the environment. Furthermore, this can be a superb source of adventure, action, and lore. King of Seas does not have an official release date as of yet.

Featured image courtesy of 3DClouds/Official Press Release

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Piracy RPG 'King of Seas' announced for fall this year - Micky News

Breaking News – Nickelodeon’s Brand-New Preschool Series "Santiago of the Seas" Sets Sail for Action-Packed Adventures, Friday, Oct. 9, aT…

Posted on July 18, 2020 by Danzig

PIRATAS AHOY!

NICKELODEON'S BRAND-NEW PRESCHOOL SERIES "SANTIAGO OF THE SEAS" SETS SAIL FOR ACTION-PACKED ADVENTURES, FRIDAY, OCT. 9, AT 12:30 P.M. (ET/PT)

BURBANK, Calif.-July 14, 2020-Preschoolers will set sail for swashbuckling adventures in Nickelodeon's brand-new animated series Santiago of the Seas, premiering Friday, Oct. 9, at 12:30 p.m. (ET/PT). Infused with a Spanish-language and Latino-Caribbean culture curriculum, the action-adventure series (20 episodes) follows 8-year-old Santiago "Santi" Montes, a brave and kind-hearted pirate, as he embarks on daring rescues, searches for treasures and keeps the high seas safe in a fantastical Caribbean world. Following the U.S. launch, Santiago of the Seas will roll out on Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. channels internationally.

In the series, Santiago's (Kevin Chacon) steadfast and loyal crew consists of: Toms (Justice Quiroz), his clumsy energetic cousin whose magical guitar can be used to harness the wind; and Lorelai (Alyssa Cheatham), a knowledgeable mermaid who can speak to sea creatures and transform into a young human girl. Together, Santi and his best mates sail the seas on the majestic ship El Bravo, using their smarts, pirate skills and moral compasses to guard their home of Isla Encanto from villains like the nefarious pirate Bonnie Bones (Kyndra Sanchez) and her Palm Crow sidekick Sir Butterscotch (John Leguizamo).

In the Santiago of the Seas series premiere, "The Legend of Capitn Calavera," Santiago and his friends become the new pirate protectors of Isla Encanto after discovering the lost treasure of the legendary Capitn Calavera. Following the premiere, NickJr.com and the Nick Jr. App will feature original short-form content and full-length episodes. Episodes will also be available on Nick Jr. On Demand and Download-To-Own services.

Santiago of the Seas is created by Niki Lpez, Leslie Valdes and Valerie Walsh Valdes. Valdes and Walsh Valdes (Dora the Explorer) serve as executive producers with Lpez co-executive producing. Santiago of the Seas is produced by Nickelodeon Animation Studio in Burbank, Calif., with production overseen by Eryk Casemiro, Senior Vice President, Nickelodeon Preschool.

Nickelodeon, now in its 41st year, is the number-one entertainment brand for kids. It has built a diverse, global business by putting kids first in everything it does. The brand includes television programming and production in the United States and around the world, plus consumer products, digital, location based experiences, publishing and feature films. Nickelodeon and all related titles, characters and logos are trademarks of ViacomCBS Inc. (Nasdaq: VIACA, VIAC).

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Breaking News - Nickelodeon's Brand-New Preschool Series "Santiago of the Seas" Sets Sail for Action-Packed Adventures, Friday, Oct. 9, aT...

Nothing is certain, but it’s a good time to plan your future travel – The News Star

Posted on July 18, 2020 by Danzig

About the only thing certain in the travel business right now is that nothing is certain.

Last week, the president and CEO of Carnival Cruise Corporation, which operates a fleet of over 100 ships including such popular brand names as Carnival, Princess, Holland America, Cunard, Seabourn, Costa, and Windstar, announced the sell off of 13 of his ships and the delay in the delivery of 5 of the 9 new builds they had expected to be sailing the high seas in 2021, the ripples of disappointment and shock was heard all across the travel industry.

Alas, we all understood too well his goal to "emerge a leaner, more efficient company, to optimize cash generation, to pay down debt, and to return to providing strong returns to our shareholders," but, still, this mega-giant's painful decision certainly gave me reason to pause and ponder.

Pausing and pondering is not an easy thing to do.

I learned that at a very early age, because it was my mother's favorite form of discipline. You see, I was the middle child in a family of 3 girls.My older sister was only 9 months older than I so we were pretty much inseparable playmates.Then, just as we got old enough to "run" the neighborhood, ride bikes and play pretty much unsupervised, mom threw our younger sister into the mix.

The fact that she was too small, too slow, too whining, and too much of a tattle tale created serious challenges for the dynamic duo thing we had going. So, because we sometimes had trouble sharing or including her, Mama created pause and ponder. Today's woke parents would call it time-out. For us, it was something to be avoided like the plague. Slowing down to ponder the why, what, and when that caused the pause was simply not in our DNA: we were born to play--not ponder.

Yet, when Miss Helen, my Sunday School teacher, explained the Christmas story, beginning with Mary and the "yes" that changed the world forever, I, too, had an epiphany. The wonder of it all became so vivid, so beautifully dramatic in my young mind: the donkey ride to Bethlehem, the manger, the star, the shepherds, the wisemen, the angels.

I loved the whole event, but my epiphany came when Miss Helen ended our lesson with this Bible scripture.And Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart.

At that moment,I got it!I suddenly realized Mama's "pause and ponder" sessions were not designed to be punishment. Rather, like Mother Mary, they were an opportunity to treasure, reflect, and think carefully about something.

During this time of almost zero revenue for the travel industry, I will admit to having a lot more time to pause and ponder. I worry about the children and the parents who are facing difficult decisions about school and the missed opportunities of sports and other events we have grown to love.I worry about seeing businesses, like mine, stumble, eke by, or remain closed.I worry about the economy and if it can sustain such a blow...and I ponder on and on.

I have never met the president of Carnival Cruise Line, but my heart breaks that travel has devolved to the point that it is necessary to divest themselves of 13 ships to stay afloat. These are strange and scary times.There seems to always be a low-lying cloud just hanging over us lately, which is probably why I like Mother Mary!

Mary's road was certainly not an easy one. How hard it must have been for her to let go of the special child she had loved, nurtured and cared for every step of the way and, then, following God's instructions, turn Him over to a world that was not always kind.

Even with Jesus,I am sure Mary had some of those "pause and ponder" moments . You know, those times as parents when we scratch our heads and go hmmmm as we second guess the decisions or choices we must face. Certainly, having God as the Father would have had some challenges too!

Yet, from Bethlem to Golgatha, Mary was always there. It seems only fitting that she was the first to see His resurrection and the one chosen to tell the disciples He had risen! Needless to say, that's another reason I really like Mary: she always just showed up!

So, my friends, during this lifequake experience that is Covid, maybe we all need to be a little more like Mary. We need to follow instructions and, every now and then, we should just pause and ponder all the good things that we have enjoyed and can still enjoy. We need to hold them close to our heart, and just keep on showing up.

I am trying to do that, and, luckily, I can honestly say even at Monroe Travel Service, I am beginning to see a glimmer of hope for an industry shattered by COVID-19.We are starting to book trips for late fall, 2021, and even 2022, and would love to send you away.

Maybe it's time to start kicking the tires again and seeing what's out there!I don't think travel will be resurrected in 3 days, but I believe it's coming!

Dianne Newcomer is a travel agent at Monroe Travel Service. At this time, our office is closed and our travel advisors are working from home. Please call 318 323 3465 or email us at dianne@monroetravel.com for help with your future travel plans. We would love to send you away!

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Nothing is certain, but it's a good time to plan your future travel - The News Star

State Library of Kansas announces the 2020 Kansas Notable Books – Leavenworth Times

Posted on July 18, 2020 by Danzig

TOPEKAState Librarian Eric Norris announced today the 15th annual selection of Kansas Notable Books. The fifteen books feature quality titles with wide public appeal, written either by a Kansan, set in Kansas, or about a Kansas related topic.

"I am proud to present the 2020 Kansas Notable Book list. This years list covers a wide swath of our cultural and natural history," said Eric Norris, State Librarian. "The rich array of works on this years list examine petroglyphs across the prairie and go on fantastical high seas adventures with pirates; explore the careers of academics, athletes, and aviators; and consider the importance of family from the viewpoint of a young Exoduster in the 1880s and as a world traveler in a present day small western Kansas town. This years list will both educate and entertain. I encourage every Kansan to contact their local public library and celebrate the artists and artistry of Kansas."

A committee of librarians, academics, and historians nominated titles from a list of eligible books, and state librarian Eric Norris selected the final list. In 2006, the first Kansas Notable Books list was announced. Since then more than 200 books have been recognized for their contribution to Kansas literary heritage.

Kansas Notable Books is a project of the Kansas Center for the Book. The Kansas Center for the Book is a program at the State Library of Kansas and the state affiliate of the Library of Congress Center for the Book. The Kansas Center for the Book exists to highlight the states literary heritage and foster an interest in books, reading, and libraries.

For more information about Kansas Notable Books, visit https://kslib.info/2020KNB, call 785-296-3296, or email infodesk@ks.gov.

2020 Kansas Notable Books

Birds, Bones, and Beetles: The Improbable Career and Remarkable Legacy of University of Kansas Naturalist Charles D. Bunkerby Charles H. Warner (Lawrence) University Press of Kansas

A Constellation of Rosesby Miranda Asebedo (Manhattan) HarperTeen

Crumbled! (The Misadventures of Nobbin Swill)by Lisa Harkrader (Tonganoxie) Yellow Jacket

Follow Me Down to Nicodemus Townby A. LaFaye (Glen Carbon IL), illustrations by Nicole Tadgell (Oxford MA) Albert Whitman & Company

Headwinds: A Memoirby Edna Bell-Pearson (Overland Park) Meadowlark

The Healer's Daughter: A Novelby Charlotte Hinger (Hoxie) Five Star Publishing

How to Be a Family: The Year I Dragged My Kids Around the World to Find a New Way to Be Togetherby Dan Kois (Arlington VA) Little, Brown and Company

Journey to a Promised Land: A Story of the Exodusters(I Am America) by Allison Lassieur (Schenectady NY) Jolly Fish Press

Kansas City Chiefs Legends: The Greatest Coaches, Players and Front Office Execs in Chiefs Historyby Jeff Deters (Lawrence) Deters Publications

A Perfect Silhouetteby Judith Miller (Overland Park) Bethany House Publishers

Petroglyphs of the Kansas Smoky Hillsby Rex C. Buchanan (Lawrence), Burke W. Griggs (Lawrence), Joshua L. Svaty (Ellsworth) University Press of Kansas

The Reckless Oath We Made: A Novelby Bryn Greenwood (Lawrence) G.P. Putnams Sons

Steel Tide: A Seafire Novelby Natalie C. Parker (Lawrence) Razorbill

The Topeka School: A Novelby Ben Lerner (Brooklyn NY) Farrar, Straus and Giroux

What Color Is Night?by Grant Snider (Wichita) Chronicle Books

The State Library of Kansas To learn more, visit kslib.info.

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State Library of Kansas announces the 2020 Kansas Notable Books - Leavenworth Times

The CDC Has Banned This One Thing Until October, Thanks to COVID – Best Life

Posted on July 18, 2020 by Danzig

The travel industry has taken an unprecedented hit thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, with airlines reporting record losses and tourism-related businesses such as hotels and restaurants held in limbo due to forced shutdowns and travel restrictions. But the cruise industry may be the most affected in both the short and long term, as the large ships that were once the early flashpoint sites of COVID-19 outbreaks have been legally unable to set sail since mid-March. Now, it would appear that they'll be sitting in port for even longer: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says it's extending its ban on cruises through September 30, thanks to increased COVID-19 cases.

While the agency's current moratorium on cruising through U.S. waters was set to lapse on July 24, recent figures have highlighted the danger of hitting the high seas before it's safe to do soespecially as an environment that is already known to spread contagious diseases. With 2,973 reported coronavirus infections and 34 COVID-19-related deaths on cruise ships in 2020, CDC Director Robert Redfield, MD, said in a statement that the numbers "revealed a total of 99 outbreaks on 123 different cruise ships, meaning that 80 percent of ships within U.S. jurisdiction were affected by COVID-19."

The CDC's no-sail order was originally issued on March 14, then extended the first time on April 15 before this most recent extension. The agency's decision comes weeks after the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), whose members include the largest cruise lines in the world, voluntarily extended their own agreement to suspend operations through September 15.

"Although we are confident that future cruises will be healthy and safe, and will fully reflect the latest protective measures, we also feel that it is appropriate to err on the side of caution to help ensure the best interests of our passengers and crewmembers," they announced in their June 19 press release, saying they would also be consulting with the CDC on appropriate safety measures.

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Cruise lines are now struggling with a way to update their experiences for a new post-pandemic future. The $45 billion industry is currently grappling with the fact that the older demographic that makes up the bulk of their repeat business is also the most likely to be seriously affected by coronavirus.

"The cruise industry is taking a holistic approach to planning for COVID-19 safety, when sailing is allowed, that would ideally entail a door-to-door strategy beginning at the time of booking through the passengers' return home," Bari Golin-Blaugrund, a spokeswoman for CLIA, toldThe New York Times in late June. However, in regard to any concrete plans or ideas on how to make the high seas safer for cruise passengers, she replied, "We're not there yet." And for more on how travel has been impacted by coronavirus, check out 13 Things You May Never See on Airplanes Again After Coronavirus.

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The CDC Has Banned This One Thing Until October, Thanks to COVID - Best Life

Coastal flooding in US will continue to increase as seas rise, report says – USA TODAY

Posted on July 18, 2020 by Danzig

Not all flood alerts are the same. Here's what you should take seriously. USA TODAY

It doesn't take a storm to inundate the coast with potentially ruinous floodwaters.

"Nuisance" or "sunny day" high-tide flooding is becoming more commonplace in the U.S., and a federal report released Tuesday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration warns that such flooding will worsen in the decades to come as seas continue to rise.

Americas coastal communities and their economies are suffering from the effects of high-tide flooding, and its only going to increase in the future, said Nicole LeBoeuf, acting director of NOAAs National Ocean Service.

As sea-level rise continues, damaging floods that decades ago happened only during a storm now happen more regularly, such as during a full-moon tide or with a change in prevailing winds or currents, according to NOAA.

Although not mentioned in the report Tuesday, seas are rising in part because of climate change: According to an online NOAA fact sheet, "The two major causes of global sea level rise are thermal expansion caused by warming of the ocean (since water expands as it warms) and increased melting of land-based ice, such as glaciers and ice sheets."

In a call with reporters Tuesday, LeBoeuf saidthat "climate change and carbon emissions are a factor at play when we look at how tides are rising.

In 2019 alone, 19 locations along the east coast and Gulf coast set or tied records where rapidly increasing trends in high-tide flooding have emerged, NOAA said.

Evidence of a rapid increase in sea-level rise related flooding started to emerge about two decades ago, and now is very clear, the report said. NOAAs National Weather Service is issuing record numbers of watches (and) warnings for coastal flooding. This will become the new normal unless coastal flood mitigation strategies are implemented or enhanced.

Last year, the Southeast saw a threefold increase in flooding days compared to 2000. For example, Charleston, S.C., had 13 days where flooding reached damaging levels, compared to the two days that were typical in 2000.

Rob Kramer removes debris from a drain as tidal flooding inundated many downtown streets in Charleston, S.C., on Oct. 27, 2015, in Charleston, S.C. Just weeks after historic rains drenched the state, more flooding along the South Carolina coast brought another round of astronomical high tides often called king tides.(Photo: Paul Zoeller, AP)

And along the western Gulf coast, percentage increases were the highest, greater than fivefold. In Texas, Sabine Pass and Corpus Christi had 21 and 18 flooding days in 2019, and in 2000 those locations would typically only experience about one and three days, respectively.

"As a Chesapeake Bay resident, I see the flooding firsthand, and it is getting worse," said William Sweet, a NOAA oceanographer with the National Ocean Service and lead author of the report. "Records seem to be set every year. Communities are straddled with this growing problem."

By 2030, long-term projections show seven to 15 days of high-tide flooding for coastal communities nationally. By 2050, it rises to 25 to 75 days, suggesting high-tide flood levels may become the new high tide.

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Coastal flooding in US will continue to increase as seas rise, report says - USA TODAY

Ammonia could be the fuel of the future for shipping – Telegraph.co.uk

Posted on July 18, 2020 by Danzig

Typically, ammonia is made in a process known as steam reforming. Hydrogen is generated from a reaction involving methane, water and air, and then combined with nitrogen in a process known as the Haber method. However,carbon dioxide is produced as a byproduct.

Dr John Constable, director of the Renewable Energy Foundation, sees one fix for this that banks on carbon capture and storage, a relatively unproven technology that reels carbon dioxide from the air and stores it deep underground. If you can capture the carbon from steam methane reforming, it may be clean at the point of consumption, he says.

Another method picking up traction from Wrtsil involves the use of electricity generated by wind farms to split water into its constituent components of hydrogen and oxygen through a process known as electrolysis.

That hydrogen can then be combined with nitrogen pulled from the atmosphere to create ammonia in a way that has cut carbon emissions altogether. For years, the method has proved too costly given the high price of renewable energy, but it is getting cheaper. Hystad claims 400gW of wind turbines are due to be installed in the North Sea between now and 2050, more than 20 times the current output.

With clean options of generating ammonia emerging, the next challenge involves turning it into a form that can be used as fuel. Wrtsil is exploring the possibility of pumping ammonia 70m below sea level where high pressure can turn it into a liquid, while another option involves cooling the gas to -40 degrees C to liquefy it.

Once in a liquid form, ammonia can be used in a retrofitted internal combustion engine, such as the ones Wrtsil are looking at in existing ships, or can generate electricity in a reaction driven by a device known as a fuel cell.

The ability to create green ammonia is opening up potential applications far beyond the high seas too. A study led by Davennes team in Harwell has been investigating the potential for ammonia to replace kerosene as the go-to fuel in the aviation industry.

At a cruising altitude, ammonia could sit in the wings of a plane as a liquid, given the sub-zero temperatures 30,000ft in the air, and the engine would need few changes to accommodate for ammonia according to their research.

But there are some real hurdles to overcome to get ammonia working as a fuel.

In planes, ammonia could struggle as its energy density is a lot lower than kerosene, meaning much more fuel will be needed onboard. On the ground, wings would have to be refrigerated as ammonia is a gas in that atmosphere, Davenne says.

New players emerge in Venezuelas oil industry amid U.S. sanctions – Global News

Posted on July 18, 2020 by Danzig

As U.S. sanctions scare away the worlds largest shippers from Venezuelas oil industry, new players are willing to brave the heightened risks and help keep socialist leader Nicolas Maduro afloat, according to a new report.

In the first year since the Trump administration imposed crushing economic sanctions on Venezuelas oil industry, port calls to Venezuela plunged by 46 per cent, according to C4ADS and IBI Consultants, two Washington-based think tanks focused on national security issues that authored the report.

But while overall tanker activity is down, less-scrupulous carriers are filling the void.

Relying on data from tracking systems that are mandatory on tankers, C4ADS identified 214 vessels that visited Venezuela in the year after sanctions were imposed, but not in the previous 12 months. Collectively, those ships accounted for 33 per cent of the countrys maritime traffic since the U.S. banned Americans from doing business with Venezuelas oil sector on Jan. 28, 2019. Almost half of those vessels visited Venezuela for the first time.

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As the Trump administration has sought to deprive Maduro of easy cash from Venezuelas vast oil reserves, it has sanctioned more than 50 vessels. Its also issued new guidelines urging the maritime industry to beef up its vigilance for sanctions-busting activity on the high seas.

Some ship captains and their employers have responded by turning off their transponders and going dark for weeks to hide tankers brimming with crude. The ships then frequently unload their hidden cargo on the high seas in risky ship-to-ship transfers, making it harder for authorities to track their ultimate destination.

‘The Old Guard review’: A superhero film that manages to be profound too – The New Indian Express

Posted on July 18, 2020 by Danzig

Netflixs new action entry, The Old Guard, establishes Charlize Theron, who plays the amaranthine Andromeda aka Andy as a bonafide action star.

Shes female Ethan Hunt who turns into a John Wick whenever the situation demands. Leading a four-member team of immortal crime fighters whove been watching over the world and combating evil, her new assignment is to find a gang of child kidnappers.

The mission goes awry when a bereaved ex-CIA officer betrays them.

His plan is to save mankind pain using their deathless DNA; their bodies have regenerative properties which have kept them alive for centuries.

The snoop is on the payroll of a greedy pharma billionaireshades of Planet of the Apes?who eventually gets his just desserts.

The characters dont feel fresh if youre familiar with X-Men and Deadpool. But then the trend of turning superhero comics and graphic novels started with Marvel and DC.

The Old Guard is an effective action-entertainer that manages to find space for philosophical musings.

The characters, whose names sound straight out of Game of Thrones, have adapted well to our times.

What begins as a routine rescue mission snowballs into something far more perilous when Andy and gang learn, through dream-sharing, of the existence of another immortal warriorthe clueless young Marine, Nile (Kiki Layne).

After two of their companions are captured, Andy and gang go berserk and leave a trail of dead bodies. Theron is terrific in the action sequences, just like she was in Atomic Blonde and Mad Max: Fury Road. In pursuit of breathless action choreography, most films leave you a bit confounded over whos punching who, but The Old Guard has no such problems.

Its careful not to let the pyrotechnics overshadow its humanity by raising profound questions about immortality, relationships, and the nature of life itself. Friendship and courage are the motifs that bind this racy film.

Andy is ridden by guilt that an old comrade of hers was captured centuries ago and doomed to a living hell.

Asthe film hurtled towards its end, I wondered whether catching it in a multiplex wouldve been better, considering the calibrated action choreography and larger-than-life sequences.

Given that the final scene hints at a sequel, willAndy recover her fading immortality?

The Old GuardGenre: Action/FantasyPlatform: NetflixDirector: Gina Prince-Bythewood

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'The Old Guard review': A superhero film that manages to be profound too - The New Indian Express

Warrior Nun Ending Explained What Happens to Ava and Adriel at the End of Warrior Nun? – Esquire

Posted on July 18, 2020 by Danzig

Warrior Nun. It's a show about warriors who are also nuns. Pretty simple stuff, right? But for a show with a two-word premise, things get pretty complicated over the course of the Netflix series' 10-episode first season.

The show tells the story of Ava, a 19-year-old ward of a Catholic orphanage who is implanted with the angel Adriel's halo and finds herself imbued with mystical powers. It turns out that she's the latest in a 1,000-year-old line of women who've borne the halo, women who have all been nuns of the Order of Cruciform sword. Here's how the story shakes out in the end.

Throughout the first half of the season, Ava grapples with her newfound powers and debates whether or not she wants to align herself with the OCS. But by the end of the season, she's decided to team up with Father Vincent, Shotgun Mary, Sister Beatrice, and the rest of the warrior sisters. Inventor Jillian Salvius, who has built a portal to other realms called the Ark with the help of the mystical element divinium, initially seemed to be the Big Bad, but was revealed to be doing her research to help her ailing son Michael, and she too teams up with the OCS.

Instead, the real problem player is Cardinal Duretti. The OCS pieces together that he was behind the killing of prior halo bearer Sister Shannon. He wants the halo to pass to someone loyal to him, as he needs to use its power to allow its bearer to pass through walls to enter the tomb of Adriel. The angel gave up his divine immortality when he gave his halo to Areala, the original warrior nun, and now his bones lie in the catacombs of the Vatican, behind a stone wall that's 20 feet deep. His remains are said to have the power to make whoever controls them the "lord of demon kind," and Duretti, who's elected to Pope near the end of the season, seems to like the sound of that. So the OCS heads off to Adriel's tomb to foil Duretti's evil plan.

Courtesy of NETFLIX

Ava, Father Vincent, and the sisters locate the tomb, and, pumped up from a phasing workout regimen, Ava successfully travels through the stone. Inside, she finds not Adriel's bones, but Adriel himself. As it turns out, he never lost his immortality, and has been trapped there for centuries.

At first, Ava and Adriel are pretty chummyhe's an angel, she's pretty much a novitiate, it's a match made in heaven. But when Adriel touches her, Ava receives flashes from Areala's memories that make her suspicious. When Adriel tries to take the halo from her, she blasts him with its power, just as the OCS dynamites its way in and saves her.

Meanwhile, Mother Superion confronts now-Pope Duretti, only to find out that he has no clue about the killing of Sister Shannon or the underground tomb. He's not the bad guyand Adriel's no angel. Ava reveals to the team that Adriel is in fact a devil. Father Vincent calls the newly-freed Adriel his master and tells him that his machinepresumably the Ark, which Michael has just leapt into, bound for dimensions unknownis waiting for him. Vincent killed Shannon, and he's been the baddie all along.

The sisters fight Adriel while Ava waits for her halo to recharge its mystical batteries, but Adriel summons an army of demons who posses the bystanders and swarm the women. And that's where the season ends! The fate of the OCS, the duplicitous Father Vincent, and little Michael, wherever he is, will have to wait for season two.

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Warrior Nun Ending Explained What Happens to Ava and Adriel at the End of Warrior Nun? - Esquire

Worlds Without End – The Good Men Project

Posted on July 18, 2020 by Danzig

PHOTO: Detail from a depiction of thought transference, the man behind dictating the movement of the other, fromMagnetismus und Hypnotismus(1895) by Gustav Wilhelm Gessmann Source.

This article, Worlds Without End was originally published in The Public Domain Review under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0.By Philip Ball

William Barrett was puzzled by flames. As the young assistant of the eminent John Tyndall at the Royal Institution in London in the 1860s, he noticed that flames seemed to be sensitive to high-pitched sounds. They would become flattened and crescent-shaped, as Barrett put it, like a sensitive, nervous person uneasily starting and twitching at every little noise. He was convinced that this unseen connection was mediated by some immaterial intangible influence it was, he admitted, an effect more appropriate for a conjurors stage than a scientific lecture table.

Certain people, Barrett decided, were analogues of the sensitive flame, exquisitely attuned to vibrations that others could not perceive, to forces unrecognized by our senses. He considered these persons able to receive messages from supernormal spirit-beings existing in an intermediate state between the physical and the spiritual a phenomenon that might account for telepathy.

This sounds like a strange and surprising conclusion for a scientist to reach. But in the late nineteenth century, with invisible phenomena such as electromagnetic fields becoming central to physics, unexpected new discoveries of emanations such as X-rays and radioactivity causing much head-scratching, and radio proving that invisible telecommunication was possible, it wasnt easy to distinguish the plausible from the fantastical. Some researchers forecast a new union of science and religion: a kind of theoretical proof of beliefs such as the immortality of the soul. Others began to suspect that ours was not the only universe that others might stretch away unseen in other dimensions or on spiritual planes. The ether, a tenuous and all-pervasive medium that all physicists considered to be the carrier of light waves, was regarded as a potential bridge between these worlds.

It is commonly asserted today that physics at the fin de sicle was believed by scientists to be on the point of completion. But that could not be further from the truth. On the contrary, at that moment almost anything seemed possible.

Barrett was no marginal figure: he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1899, and knighted in 1912. In 1881, while Professor of Physics at the Royal College of Science in Dublin, he published his findings on thought transference in the journal Nature. The ensuing controversy motivated him to convene a group of like-minded individuals who would conduct psychical research as a systematic science. After Barrett met with Edmund Dawson Rogers, vice president of the Central Association of Spiritualists, in 1882, the two men formed the Society for Psychical Research.

The societys first president, Henry Sidgwick, was Professor of Moral Philosophy at Cambridge and doubtful about the claims of spiritualism. Other presidents have included William James, Lord Rayleigh, and the later British prime minister Arthur Balfour; and its members have included J. J. Thomson, Lewis Carroll, Alfred Tennyson, John Ruskin, and the former prime minister William Gladstone. The society still exists today, and its output is an odd mixture of scholarly historical studies of the field of the paranormal and reports and theories that are strange, vague, speculative, and most definitely on the scientific fringe.

Figure showing the telepathic transference of images between two people, fromPhantasms of the Livingpublished by the Society for Psychical Research in 1886 Source.

***

Barrett suspected that some psychical phenomena might be explained as the interventions of invisible, immaterial beings not souls or ghosts, but natural, living creatures. In On the Threshold of the Unseen (1917) he wrote that it is not a very incredible thing to suppose that in the luminiferous ether (or in some other unseen material medium) life of some kind exists. He imagined such beings to be human-like, but not really human, intelligences good or bad daimonia they may be, elementals as some have called them. But where, then, did they dwell?

One answer was proposed by the Irish physicist Edmund Edward Fournier dAlbe, who, like Barrett, taught in Dublin until moving in 1910 to the University of Birmingham in England. Fournier dAlbe was interested in electromagnetic phenomena and conducted experiments in radio and nascent television technology. He merged these interests with a belief in invisible beings and worlds with which we stood on the verge of making contact.

Diagram showing the telepathic transference of numbers between two people, from Frank PodmoresThe Naturalisation of the Supernaturalpublished by the Society for Psychical Research in 1908 Source.

***

In Two New Worlds (1907), Fournier dAlbe argued that the recent discoveries in radioactivity and atomic structure implied the existence of an unseen spiritual universe continuous with ours. The material universe must now properly be regarded as an infinite series of worlds within worlds, which Fournier dAlbe considered to differ only in the size of their elementary constituent particles. He discussed two of them: the infra-world of atoms and electrons, and the supra-world of cosmic proportions. Both are, like our own world, teeming with purpose and life.

Fournier dAlbe expanded on these views in New Light on Immortality (1908), where he tried to come to terms with what the notion of a human soul could mean in the atomic age. To pronounce on immortality, he said, who now was better placed than the physicist, who understood the most about energy and matter? He supposed that what we call the soul might be a real substance, albeit more tenuous than vapour, composed of particles called psychomeres that possess a kind of intelligence and ability to act together via telepathic contact.

Fournier dAlbe claimed to deduce something of the nature of psychomeres, although in truth it was sheer guesswork. To estimate the number of psychomeres in a single human soul, he plucked a figure of ten trillion out of thin air. From this he calculated the mass of a soul as about fifty milligrams, and asserted that, were the soul-matter of a person to be condensed into a body just six inches high, it would have the same density as air and would float freely in it. Such a concentration of psychomeres might border on visibility: it could resemble a will-o-the-wisp. And thus it comes about that all the fairies, pixies, sylphs, and gnomes fly before the flaring light of science, Fournier dAlbe proclaimed triumphantly. They are not so much sent away as explained away.

If, once this soul has left the mortal body, its earth memories should be awakened, and become dominant, then it might gather again into its remembered earth-form: first, a fine mist, then a cloud, a tall pillar of filmy vapour, from which a complete form, moulded and clothed to suit the character assumed, would then emerge, to walk the earth as before for a little while. In other words, it would be what we have traditionally called a ghost.

There was not a shred of real scientific evidence in support of these wild speculations. But wasnt Fournier dAlbe in the end doing no more than what science has always done: to reduce complex, puzzling phenomena to a minimal set of propositions that could rationalize them? Besides, the invisible world that Fournier dAlbe was invoking could offer consolation for the increasingly barren picture of the world that modern science seemed to insist on. From natural history, he wrote,

theology has been ruthlessly evicted. The visible world being henceforth closed to it, it has taken refuge in the invisible world, where it feels free to make what declarations it likes. And that invisible world continues to be the home towards which the weary heart turns from a world that has become indeed clean and bright and sanitary, but utterly hopeless and empty, if not unjust and cruel.

The idea that there might be an entire immaterial yet populous realm of existence was emboldened by the new discoveries of the late nineteenth century, particularly the mysterious X-rays first described in 1895 (and invoked by H. G. Wells in The Invisible Man two years later). Although these speculations might seem now to be an extraordinarily elaborate way to explain questionable events reported at sances and attested to by mystics like the theosophists, we should remember that the Christian faith already supposed such things. If some nineteenth-century scientists, such as Tyndall and Thomas Henry Huxley, started to question them, most people considered them unexceptional. As a scientific understanding of the world advanced, some scientists still felt a need to reserve a space for God, the soul, and the afterlife. No telescope or microscope was going to locate these things; they would have to be invisible.

Perhaps the most notable and thorough effort to provide a scientifically plausible account of invisible spirit worlds within a Christian context was made by the distinguished Scottish physicists Balfour Stewart and Peter Guthrie Tait in their book The Unseen Universe (1875). Although Stewart became president of the Society for Psychical Research during the 1880s, both men were sceptics of spiritualism, seeing in it nothing more than evidence of human suggestibility. Tait attacked spiritualists at the British Association meeting of 1871, bracketing them alongside Circle-squarers, Perpetual-motionists [and] Believers that the earth is flat. Yet he and Stewart were eager to understand how the invisible order of things that the Bible seemed to demand the existence of immortal souls might be consistent with the laws of physics. They aimed to refute Tyndalls attack on religion in his address to the British Association in Belfast in 1874, in which he asserted that religion should not be permitted to intrude on the region of knowledge, over which it holds no command. On the contrary, Stewart and Tait insisted, science and religion were fully compatible. Yet their version of Christianity, on the evidence of The Unseen Universe, was starkly materialistic: they fit within a long tradition of both advocates and opponents of religion who insist on making it a set of beliefs about the physical world that may either be rationalized or disproved.

We are forced to believe that there is something beyond that which is visible, they wrote: an invisible order of things, which will remain and possess energy when the present system has passed away. This unseen realm need not be remote, but is present right alongside us within reach, if only there were anything to touch. Its fabric might lie at the extreme of the gradual dematerialization of substance we already see in the physical world, where solid, liquid, and vapour were deemed to be followed by the semi-material existences of electricity, magnetism, heat, light, and gravity.

Life itself, Stewart and Tait argued, is a peculiarity of structure which is handed over from the invisible to the visible. This transfer relies on interaction between the two realms: something enabled by the rainbow bridge of nineteenth-century physics, the ether. This ether-mediated communication is vital to the authors theory of the immortality of the human soul. We each possess a spiritual body in this invisible world, they said, which becomes energized by our actions and impulses in the tangible world. Certain molecular motions and displacement in the brain are in part communicated to the spiritual or invisible body, and are there stored up as a kind of latent memory. This accumulated energy makes the spiritual body free to exercise its functions even after bodily death. By living, we store up immortality.

There was, however, a problem. In 1850 the German physicist Rudolf Clausius formulated the first and second laws of thermodynamics: the conservation of energy and the irreversibility of heat flow from hot to cold. A year later William Thomson (later Lord Kelvin) pointed out that such a flow of heat inevitably dissipates energy, which flows into random motions of molecules and can never be recovered. This process, he said, must eventually create a universe of uniform temperature, from which no useful work can be extracted, and in which nothing really happens. But how can this heat death of the universe be consistent with immortal souls?

Here Stewart and Tait fell back on an idea proposed by their mutual friend, the Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell, who worried about the implications of the inexorable second law of thermodynamics for human free will. Maxwells solution was first articulated in a letter to Tait in 1867. What if, he said, there exist invisibly small beings later dubbed demons by Thomson that could cheat the second law by identifying hot atoms and separating them from cold in a random mixture, creating a reservoir of heat that could be tapped to do work? Such beings, Stewart and Tait now proclaimed, might restore energy in the present universe without spending work. It isnt clear that Maxwell ever intended his demons to be more than hypothetical. But for Stewart and Tait they were essential agents of eternal life.

The unseen universe could account for almost any article of faith. The scientific difficulty with regard to miracles will, we think, entirely disappear, if our view of the invisible universe be accepted, Stewart and Tait claimed. Christ, if He came to us from the invisible world, could hardly (with reverence be it spoken) have done so without some peculiar sort of communication being established between the two worlds.

This, then, is where invisible forces and rays pointed for some scientists in the late nineteenth century: towards what we might regard as a thermodynamic theory of God, Christ, the afterlife, miracles, and an eternal Hell. Perhaps concerned about how far they had gone, Stewart and Tait published their book anonymously.

Physics has never looked back from this dematerialization of the world that began a century and a half ago. The speculations of Barrett, Fournier dAlbe, Stewart and Tait, and others (such as the prominent English scientists William Crookes and Oliver Lodge) were proposals that our visible world is not the only reality. That is just what physicists still assert today with their notions of the multiverse, 11-dimensional string theory, extra dimensions (brane worlds), and quantum-mechanical many worlds where parallel versions of ourselves go about their business. Contemporary metaphors such as a hidden reality (see physicist Brian Greenes popular book The Hidden Reality [2011]) recommend themselves precisely because they have a history. Can there be any doubt that spiritualists would have delighted in dark matter and dark energy, these unseen particles and forces that supposedly dwarf the meagre quantities of visible matter in the universe and propel it on a trajectory that opposes gravity? When, in describing such concepts, cosmologists speak of unraveling the mysteries of the invisible universe, they are unwittingly invoking a long legacy.

History teaches us that attempts to patch over gaps in understanding by inventing invisible phenomena are both useful (they prevent science from stalling in the face of mysteries) and usually wrong. The echoes between contemporary fundamental physics and cosmology and the late-nineteenth-century visions of unseen worlds extra dimensions, invisible intelligences, matter as knots of pure energy, atomized constituents of immeasurably small extent should alert us to the territory we are entering, in which traditional tropes are informing the pictures we create. They are a reminder that science is constantly resurrecting old dreams in new guises. It seems inevitable that some of the current ideas about the hidden universe will one day appear as quaint and archaic as Fournier dAlbes soul-particles or Stewart and Taits thermodynamic immortal soul. If our descendants are fair-minded, they wont laugh at that, but will recognize the well from which such ideas were drawn.

***

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Worlds Without End - The Good Men Project

Fun, Guns, and Mum: New Stuff to Watch! – Omaha Reader

Posted on July 18, 2020 by Danzig

Three movies about immortality vs mortality and not being an asshole have arrived for your viewing pleasure!

Whats more fun than a trilogy you assemble yourself? The correct answer is Hugging a family member without fear that your touch could infect them with a deadly pathogen. Still, finding three streaming movies that weirdly go together is arguably the second safest way to have a good time right now, after nap until phase 3 vaccine trials are over.

Three new sci-fi/horror-adjacent films recently dropped that weirdly explore oddly similar themes about the horrors of immortality/mortality and how empathy is the only way to fight the bogeyman. In the spirit of 2020, lets start with the sad one!

Relic (Available via most streaming rental services)

Although possessed of less baba and zero dook, Relic does follow in The Babadooks footsteps. Its an Aussie horror flick that offers a metaphor as explicit as can be metaphored.

When grandma Edna (Robyn Nevin) goes missing, daughter Kay (Emily Moritmer) and granddaughter Sam (Bella Heathcote) move into her place and look for her. Edna suddenly returns, but she aint right. What follows is a grief-laden exploration of dementia as a literal monster and the pressures and perils of what different generations of women owe one another.

Writer/director Natalie Erika James and cowriter Christian White somehow timed their film about compassion towards the demons faced by the elderly to a moment in history when we seem to have stopped giving a shit about old people. Too literal to be a parable, Relic uses the horror genre as the social magnifying glass it can be, demanding that we see the shared humanity in those who are suffering around us.

Oh, and if COVID didnt already have you decontaminating your domicile like a proper lunatic, Relics copious mold will get you scrubbin bubbles. So its good for your emotional growth and your hygiene!

Grade = A-

The Old Guard (Netflix)

A squad of immortal mercenaries are being hunted by big pharma while also adding a new recruit to their team. Is that silly? Yes. Does it feature Charlize Theron whacking bad dudes across the face with a colossal axe-type weapon? Also Yes! Does something real bad happen to the evil pharma boss? My lips are sealed, but Martin Shkreli voodoo dolls can take some time off!

Director Gina Prince-Bythewood and writer Greg Ruckawho also penned the comic this was adapted fromdeliver an oddly sentimental, deceptively thoughtful film that remembers people actually like to see and follow the action in an action movie. Weird, right?

Editor Terilyn A. Shropshire and cinematographers Tami Reiker and Barry Ackroyd dont cower behind shaky-cam or epileptic editing but compose simply impeccable fight sequences. Meanwhile, Prince-Bythewood gives us the first comic book team that actually feels like a family. And all of this is set in a story that emphasizes how caring for others and doing whats right sets of ripples that are felt for millennia.

Were it not for its wholly inappropriate, incredibly distracting, poorly chosen, Europop-trash soundtrack, it would have been as flawless as Charlize Theron whacking bad dudes across the face with a colossal axe-type weapon!

Grade = B+

Palm Springs (Hulu)

Of all the Groundhog Day riffs, Palm Springs is the first to allow JK Simmons to hunt another man for sport. Finally!

This timey-wimey rom-com sees Andy Samberg as Nyles, a narcissist in need of a haircut, who gets trapped in an infinite time loop after stumbling into a magic-laden cave. When Sarah (Cristin Milioti) gets accidentally sucked in as well, the two repeat the same day together until the inevitable happens: She learns quantum physics, and he learns hes an asshole.

Writer Andy Siara and director Max Barbakow deliver absolutely nothing new. But they deliver on every cliched expectation with clever and quirky humor. This, while condemning callous, me-first behaviors that dont consider the implications of personal actions on others. Totally unrelated, but wear a mask out there folks!

Samberg remains charming, even if the reforming manbaby trope feels like its been stuck in a recycling time loop itself. Milioti is less endearing, although perhaps thats what happens to the female lead when your rom-com has very few women behind the scenes

Palm Springs is ultimately a wholly endearing diversion perfectly suited for a year where we all feel like were living the same day every goddamn day.

Grade = B+

Other critical voices to consider

Austin Collins at Vanity Fair says Relic exposes the problems with elevated horror.

Sherin Nicole at Idobi describes Old Guard as deeply human and circumspect.

Adrian Gomez-Weston at The Cinema Soloist points out how Palm Springs tackles the big questions.

Fun, Guns, and Mum: New Stuff to Watch! - Omaha Reader

The 8 desires of human life and how to fulfill them – Times Now

Posted on July 18, 2020 by Danzig

The 8 desires of human life

Desire is an intrinsic part of human life. We all wish for a variety of things; many are materialistic and some emotional. We want health, wealth, comfort, good relationships, success, good progeny and fame. There are also spiritual desires - we have a desire to know about life after death, about how to remain detached and equanimous under all kinds of circumstances and we want to be at peace. But these myriad wishes arise from some basic human desires. On Day 10 of Hari Katha during Lockdown, Morari Bapu, the well-known narrator of Ram Katha analysed the innate desires in any human being.

He felt that there are eight contraptions of human want:

Morari Bapu explained how Ram Charita Manas through different sequences shows how these desires can be fulfilled as per our patrata (eligibility).

PEACE, STRENGTH AND KNOWLEDGE

Shantam sasvatamaprameyamanagha nirvanashantipradam

(Ram - the bestower of supreme peace in the form of final beatitude, placid, eternal, beyond the ordinary means of cognition, sinless and all-pervading.)

II Ram Charita Manas Sundar Kaand Shloka 1II

In the first Shloka of Sundar Kaand, Lord Ram has been described as the bestower of peace and it is to him that his holy name that we need to turn to obtain serenity of mind.

Another basic characteristic we would need to imbibe in our endeavour is to take refuge at the feet of a spiritual master. Our strength will derive from our complete surrender to a Guru. And such a strength which derives from a spiritual master is superior from personal power as it is free from our ego.

Not only physical strength, Ram Charita Manas explains that an intellectual prowess is also a form of power.

Dana parasu budhi shakti pracanda, bara bigyana kathina kodanda.4.

(Again, charity is the axe; reason, the fierce lance and the highest wisdom, the relentless bow.)

II Ram Charita Manas Lanka Kaand Ch 80 (A)II

In addition to a sharp mind, if we have nirmal mati (uncontaminated thinking or), it can also lead us to Vishram or peace.

Takey juga pad kamal manavu, jasu kripa nirmal mati pavau 4.

(I seek to propitiate the pair of Her (Sitas) lotus feet, so that by Her grace I may be blessed with a refined intellect.)

II Ram Charita Manas Bal Kaand Ch 18II

FREEDOM

To remain a dependent or under the shelter of a Guru can provide us real freedom.

Ram gives Bharat full freedom to choose the way forward after the demise of their father Dasratha, but Bharat chooses to choose whatever Ram chooses.

Bharat shows complete surrender as he pleads:

Jehi bidhi prabhu prasan mun hoi, karuna sagar kijiye soi 1.

(Do that, O ocean of mercy, which may please your heart, my lord.)

II Ram Charita Manas Ayodhya Kaand Ch 269II

BEAUTY AND IMMORTALITY

Beauty should not be seen as only externally extant but must manifest as an inner magnificence. And immortality should be interpreted not just by the measure that we are alive. The quality of our thoughts and our contribution in adding to the vitality of the world during a lifetime also lend to our immortality.

LOVE AND BLISS

Immortality can be understood only by those who are ready to consume poison (hardship, criticism etc.) like Mira. Sacrifice is a by-product of love, which in turn helps us obtain bliss.

However, anyone who is free from these desires can be called as ascetic or a Sanyasi. In the Bhagvad Gita, Lord Krishna in his address to Arjun defines such a person Nitya Sanyasi who holds no malice for anyone, neither does he desire anything.

The views expressed by the author are personal and do not in any way represent those of Times Network.

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The 8 desires of human life and how to fulfill them - Times Now

The only shame is that Liverpool brilliance will escape history books – Football365.com

Posted on July 18, 2020 by Danzig

Date published: Friday 17th July 2020 8:10

No shame here for Liverpool fans they should do nothing other than shrug their shoulders at their club stumbling before the 100-point mark who have celebrated and will continue to celebrate a first title win in 30 years claimed with consummate ease and with football that transcended all other iterations of this great club in the Premier League era. The only shame may be that the trophy was both won and presented without fans but that still leaves them with a delicious cake only shorn of icing. And the icing is often too sweet to eat anyway.

Jurgen Klopp insisted that he would lose no sleep over failing to breach Manchester Citys 100-point mark but the telling part of his denial were the six words that followed I dont know if it comes because anybody with that degree of competitiveness and perfectionism will obsessively reflect on any missed opportunity. And this was undoubtedly a missed opportunity to claim a place at the table of immortality.

A place at that table would not automatically make this Liverpool side any better in the minds of those that watched those relentless victories claimed with both style and resilience, but it would make at least the idea of this Liverpool side better, especially to those looking back in the next decades. Is that important? It might not seem that way now but in 2032, when we are looking back at 40 years of the Premier League, will people credit this Liverpool side if this is their only title? When stacked against the Treble winners, the Invincibles and the Centurions, will Liverpools extraordinary season look ordinary on paper?

Dropping two points in 27 Premier League games and leaving an accomplished Manchester City side trailing in their wake should be enough to ensure this wonderful Liverpool side will never be forgotten but to those poring over league tables in the years to come, it will look like City failure rather than Liverpool triumph. And they really do deserve more than that. They deserve to be spoken about in the same terms as those great teams because their dominance was remorseless.

Some have argued that records mean nothing before listing records already broken (consecutive home wins, earliest title win) but unless you knew who held those records before, its ridiculous to claim that they should carry any importance now. Rightly or wrongly, only certain measures count and Liverpool have breached none of them. There is no catchy moniker available to a team aside from perhaps the self-referential Unbearables that will be remembered more for the circumstances of this season than their own brilliance. Unless they win more Premier League titles to leave their own legacy, they will always be the Covid champions who received their trophy in an empty stadium. The ignorant will even claim that was a factor when decades lie between this triumph and half-arsed analysis.

Its not fair and there will be many who say they do not care, chief among them Liverpool fans high on triumph, but as the history of football gets longer and longer and it becomes harder to spot the bright spots of brilliance, we use records and milestones as our guide. It is inevitable. And the extraordinary nature of this Liverpool side will fade over time, just as Carlo Ancelottis free-scoring Chelsea side have become a footnote in the history books.

This is not a time to laugh at Liverpool for falling short of an arbitrary number its embarrassing for any other clubs fans to laugh after being force-fed so much dust but it might be a time to commit the excellence of this near-faultless team to memory before it is forgotten. Now that would be a shame.

Sarah Winterburn

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The only shame is that Liverpool brilliance will escape history books - Football365.com

Forget gold and Bitcoin. This is how I’d invest in stocks to get rich – Yahoo Finance UK

Posted on July 18, 2020 by Danzig

Today I want to talk about how to invest in stocks. This might seem strange, given that the FTSE 100 is down by nearly 20% this year, while gold and Bitcoin have both risen by nearly 30%.

However, I believe that if you want to invest and get rich, the stock market offers far bigger long-term opportunities than Bitcoin or gold. Let me explain why.

Bitcoin was originally invented as an alternative currency. Despite this, hardly anyone actually uses it. Most people who own Bitcoin only seem to want to trade it in the hope that the Bitcoin price will rise. I dont see this as a sensible way to invest its just gambling to me.

Things are a little better with gold. Although the yellow metal will never expand or generate income, gold has been used to store wealth and make payments for thousands of years. I think that will continue. I also like golds portability and security unlike Bitcoin, physical gold cant be hacked.

However, the reality is that the last time gold rose above $1,800/oz. was nine years ago. That peak was followed by a six-year slump that saw the yellow metal lose up to 45% of its value.

I dont think this is a good time to buy gold. But falling share prices mean that I do think its a good time to invest in stocks.

When you own shares, you own a slice of a real business. Assuming you invest in profitable, successful companies, this means that the value of your shares is backed by profits, assets and cash dividends.

Unlike Bitcoin and gold, shares do have an intrinsic value the value of the business you part-own. Most good businesses grow over time. They add new customers or products, or increase their prices to reflect stronger demand. This is reflected in rising share prices and larger dividends.

Getting started in the stock market is easier than you might think. The first thing Id do is open a tax-free Stocks and Shares ISA. You can pay up to 20,000 a year into an ISA and all future profits and income will be free of tax.

The simplest way to start buying stocks is to just put cash into a cheap tracker fund, such as a FTSE 100 index ETF. However, many indices especially the FTSE 100 are heavily weighted to a few sectors.

Almost 30% of the FTSE 100 is made up of oil stocks, miners and banks. Technology stocks account for less than 1%. Personally, I want more exposure to sectors with good long-term growth potential, such as tech and pharmaceuticals. Im not so keen banks.

The way I approach building a stock portfolio is to choose 15-20 good quality stocks that Id be happy to hold for at least five years. I then start to buy them gradually, investing a fixed amount of cash each month.

By investing regularly, I can profit from periods when prices are low. I can also avoid any risk of putting all my cash into the market just before a crash. Dividends get reinvested whenever I buy new stocks.

This is how I invest in stocks. Its not sexy and exciting like Bitcoin, but Im pretty certain its a better way to get rich.

The post Forget gold and Bitcoin. This is how Id invest in stocks to get rich appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.

‘Fiat and Money Printing’ Street Mural Earns $500 in Bitcoin Donations in Five Days | News – Bitcoin News

Posted on July 18, 2020 by Danzig

A Parisian street artist is receiving hundreds of dollars every day in bitcoin donations from his painting that speaks about fiat and money printing.

Pascal Boyarts latest mural, Confessions of a Red Jester, is a modern interpretation of the 1862 painting Staczyk by Polish romanticist painter Jan Matejko. The original depicts a lonely jester against a lively ball in the background.

Boyart said he has earned about 0.0514 bitcoin (BTC) or around $500 in the five days to July 10. Since 2017, the artist, famed for his practical graffiti frescoes, has received over 1.3 BTC or $12,100 in donations from various artworks. His website also accepts donations in ethereum, litecoin and monero.

The latest piece, which can be seen on Paris rue de Montmorency, features a QR code, together with a spray-painted Bitcoin logo and a wallet address, allowing for direct BTC donations from admirers.

Boyarts rendition takes the crypto-angle a step further, with fiat money littering the floor around the solemn jesters feet.

The French artists past work has examined the relationship between art and money. In an interview published on Medium in 2018, Boyart said that digital financial assets represent a type of freedom thats reminiscent of the early days of the internet.

He stated that bitcoins decentralization is a good thing for creativity, and, therefore, good as a means for facilitating donations. Boyart said the top cryptocurrency provides a more direct relation with the people who love art and more horizontality in the business of art.

What do you think about Boyart tying art to bitcoin? Let us know in the comments section below.

Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons

'Fiat and Money Printing' Street Mural Earns $500 in Bitcoin Donations in Five Days | News - Bitcoin News

New study of oldest light confirms age of the universe Tunis Daily News – Tdnews

Posted on July 18, 2020 by Danzig

The age of the universe is around 13.8 billion years, an international team of astrophysicists has said in a study published Wednesday.

From a mountain high in Chiles Atacama Desert, astronomers with the National Science Foundations Atacama Cosmology Telescope have taken a fresh look at the oldest light in the universe. Their new observations, plus a bit of cosmic geometry, suggest that the universe is 13.77 billion years old, give or take 40 million years.

The new estimate matches the one provided by the standard model of the universe and measurements of the same light made by the Planck satellite, a space-based observatory that ran from 2009-2013.

This adds a fresh twist to an ongoing debate in the astrophysics community, said Simone Aiola, first author of one of two new papers on the findings posted July 15 to arXiv.org. The trouble is that research teams measuring the movements of galaxies have calculated that the universe is hundreds of millions of years younger than the Planck team predicted. That discrepancy suggested that a new model for the universe might be needed, and sparked concerns that one of the sets of measurements might be incorrect.

Now weve come up with an answer where Planck and the Atacama Cosmology Telescope agree, said Aiola, a researcher at the Flatiron Institutes Center for Computational Astrophysics in New York City. It speaks to the fact that these difficult measurements are reliable.

The age of the universe also reveals how fast the cosmos is expanding, a number called the Hubble constant. The Atacama measurements suggest a Hubble constant of 67.6 kilometers per second per megaparsec. This result agrees almost exactly with the previous estimate of 67.4 by the Planck satellite team, but its slower than the 74 inferred from the measurements of galaxies.

Making this independent measurement is really exciting because theres a mystery in the field, and this helps us sharpen our understanding of that mystery, said Jeff McMahon, an associate professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the University of Chicago who led the design of the detectors and other new technologies used to make this measurement. This confirms the ongoing discrepancy. And we still have much more data to analyze, so this is just the beginning.

The close agreement between the Atacama Cosmology Telescope and Planck results and the standard cosmological model is bittersweet, Aiola said: Its good to know that our model right now is robust, but it would have been nice to see a hint of something new. Still, the disagreement with the 2019 study of the motions of galaxies maintains the possibility that unknown physics may be at play, he said.

Like the Planck satellite and its earthbound cousin the South Pole Telescope, the Atacama Telescope peers at the afterglow of the Big Bang. This light, known as the cosmic microwave background, or CMB, marks a time 380,000 years after the universes birth, when protons and electrons joined to form the first atoms. Before that time, the cosmos was opaque to light.

If scientists can estimate how far light from the CMB traveled to reach Earth, they can calculate the universes age. Thats easier said than done, though. Judging cosmic distances from Earth is hard. So instead, scientists measure the angle in the sky between two distant objects, with Earth and the two objects forming a cosmic triangle. If scientists also know the physical separation between those objects, they can use high school geometry to estimate the distance of the objects from Earth.

Subtle variations in the CMBs glow offer anchor points to form the other two vertices of the triangle. Those variations in temperature and polarization resulted from quantum fluctuations in the early universe that got amplified by the expanding universe into regions of varying density. (The denser patches would go on to form galaxy clusters.) Scientists have a strong enough understanding of the universes early years to know that these variations in the CMB should typically be spaced out every billion light-years for temperature and half that for polarization. (For scale, our Milky Way galaxy is about 200,000 light-years in diameter.)

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope measured the CMB fluctuations with unprecedented resolution and sky coverage, taking a closer look at the polarization of the light. The Planck satellite measured the same light, but by measuring its polarization in higher fidelity, the new picture from Atacama reveals more of the oldest patterns weve ever seen, said Suzanne Staggs, the telescopes principal investigator and the Henry deWolf Smyth Professor of Physics at Princeton University.

This measurement was possible thanks to new technology designed and built by McMahons team. Basically, we figured out how to make the detectors measure two colors and to pack as many into each camera as possible, McMahon said. Then we developed new lenses out of metamaterials. (Metamaterials are a type of material thats engineered to produce properties that dont exist naturally.)

From conception to deployment at the telescope to analysis, the process has spanned nearly 10 years, McMahon said. Working with this amazing team to develop this project all the way from concept sketches to producing results at the forefront of cosmology, has been absolutely fantastic.

Sara Simon, now at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, made significant contributions to detector design; UChicago graduate student Joey Golec developed methods to fabricate the metamaterial optics; and UChicago graduate student Maya Mallaby-Kay is now working to make the datasets public.

As the Atacama Cosmology Telescope continues making observations, astronomers will have an even clearer picture of the CMB and a more exact idea of how long ago the cosmos began. The team will also scour those observations for signs of physics that doesnt fit the standard cosmological model. Such strange physics could resolve the disagreement between the predictions of the age and expansion rate of the universe arising from the measurements of the CMB and the motions of galaxies.

Were continuing to observe half the sky from Chile with our telescope, said Mark Devlin, the telescopes deputy director and the Reese W. Flower Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Pennsylvania. As the precision of both techniques increases, the pressure to resolve the conflict will only grow.

I didnt have a particular preference for any specific value it was going to be interesting one way or another, said Cornell Universitys Steve Choi, first author of the other paper posted to arXiv.org. We find an expansion rate that is right on the estimate by the Planck satellite team. This gives us more confidence in measurements of the universes oldest light.

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New study of oldest light confirms age of the universe Tunis Daily News - Tdnews

A website by science enthusiasts gains traction during the lockdown – The Hindu

Posted on July 18, 2020 by Danzig

If it is Comet Neowise that enthuses Padmasree, an engineering student from Thiruvananthapuram, Keerthana Vengatesan, an undergraduate student in mathematics from Attur, is fascinated by the length of a lightning bolt. Neha P, a physics graduate from Bengaluru, is obsessed with black holes, whereas Indhirakumar Balakrishnan, a biotechnologist from Namakkal, has gone deep into the food habits of tribesmen in the Kalahari desert.

They are among 100-plus science enthusiasts who form the backbone of the portal shasthrasnehi.com. The pandemic-induced lockdown has seen the formation of several online communities and this science portal is among them. Within two months or so, the forum has emerged as a growing community of science buffs spread across India.

A group of us had attended a course on astrophysics and cosmology conducted by Amateur Astronomers Organisation (AASTRO) in Thiruvananthapuram in 2018. We kept in touch and used to hold discussions and interactions that eventually resulted in the launch of a science blog in Malayalam. We shifted to English to make it accessible to non-Malayali friends. During the lockdown we shared articles among our network of friends and that did wonders. The write-ups were widely read and when more people joined the group we launched the website in May, says Arun S, a physics graduate and co-founder of the forum.

Among those who contribute articles on the page are school and college students, graduates and postgraduates, engineers, researchers, lecturers, scientists and technology experts. Anand Narayanan, associate professor, Department of Earth and Space Science, Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology, is the resource person. Co-founders of the page are Abhijith Prakash Mangattu, currently working with the Ministry of Education in the UAE and Sreebala PS, final year undergraduate student in Physics at St Johns College, Kollam.

Our motto is Science for Society. So we convey scientific information in simple language and try to avoid all jargon. Whenever our members come across a scientific fact or development in a journal or any platform, they write on that topic in a way that can be understood by all, says Arun. The articles, vetted by the editorial board, fall under categories such as technology, general science, space science, earth science, chemistry, mathematics and puzzles and life sciences. The team maintains the website and designs images for the articles. Writers themselves can choose the topic and are expected to give at least one article per month.

The team adds that the forum has been appreciated by scientists and experts from other countries. Arun cites an article by Suad Kadeem Khan on ancient crocodiles that walked like dinosaurs. Suad, pursuing BSc Biotechnology in UAE, had based her piece on the findings of Anthony Romilio, a palaeontologist and research associate at The University of Queensland. When we contacted the University to give us permission to use the images, they wanted to know the reason for our request. Once we explained the mission of the forum, Dr Anthony himself mailed us and allowed us to use the images. They have extended their support for our website, says Arun.

While the one-minute read section is popular, many follow the science calendar as well. The latter gives information about important scientific events scheduled every month. For example, programmes like the space walk and launch of NASAs Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, which can be watched live on the page of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), have a keen following. Lecture series have also been a hit, especially the one on astrophotography by Abhijith. Shastrasnehi, meaning science lover, has also started Childrens blog for school students to post their articles.

Audio interviews with eminent scientists/researchers and a YouTube channel are in the pipeline. The team plans to reach out to children in tribal areas as well. We will soon launch Sisterblogs, where members can write in their own regional language. Looking ahead, we hope to reach 1,000 members in a couple of years, including enthusiasts from across the world. We also want to highlight scientific research in India and throw light on achievements of scientists in the country, Arun says.

To become a member, contact shasthrasnehi@gmail.com or 97465 20118 (WhatsApp).

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