Category Archives: Immortality

Charles Woodson is arguably the greatest cornerback to ever play football. Everyone, including Woodson himself, knew that he'd be a first-ballot Hall of Famer once the time arrived, but that doesn't make the moment any less special. Even for someone who comes off as being cooler than a polar bear's toe nail, Woodson couldn't contain his emotions once the hall became a reality.

And by the way, there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. In a sport rife with masculinity and machismo, there's something so pure about seeing a superstar overcome with emotions when a dream comes true. Anyone who has ever played football likely started doing so in grade school, so reaching the pinnacle evokes the most genuine reactions.

Woodson is the man, there's no doubt about it. He was Mr. Football in Ohio as a prep star, helped lead Michigan to a national title and became the first ever defensive player to win the Heisman while in Ann Arbor and won a Super Bowl with the Green Bay Packers. Now, he's a Hall of Famer. As he said, it's quite literally a form of "immortality" because the bronze busts should last for thousands and thousands of years. Woodson has long been one of the best Wolverines and cornerbacks of all time and now, he's simply one of the best of all time officially.

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Charles Woodson's Words Prove Just How Special The Hall Of Fame Is - Wolverine Maven

In remembrances of Cicely Tyson and Cloris Leachman, two acting titans who died last week, one couldnt help but notice parallels between their careers.

In the early 1970s when they first achieved national acclaim, both were already in their mid-40s. Leachman won an Academy Award in 1972 for her supporting role in The Last Picture Show. That same year, Tyson starred in Sounder, becoming only the second Black woman nominated for a best-actress Oscar.

Both also enjoyed success on television Leachman on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and, later, her own spinoff series, Phyllis. Tyson soared in The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman and Roots. At 80, Leachman won an Emmy, her eighth, for Malcolm in the Middle. Tyson, also a multiple Emmy winner, made a celebrated return to Broadway in The Trip to Bountiful, winning a Tony when she was 88. And each continued to work into their 90s.

Yet theres a jarring difference. On the Internet Movie Database, Leachman has 287 credits while Tyson has 94, although their career longevity was roughly the same. Of course Leachman, as a white actress, always had more opportunities. Tyson could have worked more, but instead she chose only those roles that exalted the emotional complexity of Black people, especially Black women.

I made up my mind that I could not afford the luxury of just being an actress, and I would use my career as my platform, Tyson told CBS This Morning cohost Gayle King in one of her last interviews. She was promoting her autobiography, Just as I Am, written with Michelle Burford, where she explains the promise she made to herself.

As an artist with the privilege of the spotlight, I felt an enormous responsibility to use that forum as a force for good, as a place from which to display the full spectrum of our humanity, Tyson wrote in the book, which was released two days before her death. My art had to both mirror the times and propel them forward. I was determined to do all I could to alter the narrative about Black people to change the way Black women in particular were perceived, by reflecting our dignity.

Like Lena Horne, who years earlier refused to accept roles she found demeaning, this meant that Tyson often found meaningful work scarce. If Hollywood refused to acknowledge the depth of Black lives, that would be the industrys shame. Tyson would not perpetuate its lies for more money or greater fame.

Still, I wonder what else Tyson might have given us if allowed the breadth of opportunities Leachman enjoyed. (In my casting director fantasies, I long imagined Tyson playing political trailblazer Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman elected to Congress.)

In her career, Leachman could move from the drama of a depressed woman having an affair with a much younger man in The Last Picture Show, to the narcissistic and neurotic Phyllis Lindstrom on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, to the hilarious Frau Blcher in Young Frankenstein. Her range was inexhaustible.

The same could be said of Tyson, who also carried the burden of correcting this nations disgraceful image of Black people, one very much reinforced by popular media. To be clear, I doubt she saw that weight on her petite shoulders as a burden at all. It was the cost she willingly paid for her time on this earth. Thats a choice many Black people confront throughout their lives whether to prostrate themselves for white acceptance or create a life where they can lift their people as they climb.

From Coretta Scott King to Harriet Tubman to a sharecropper fighting to save her family from the ravages of the Depression and racism, Tyson excelled in playing tenacious, undefeated Black women. She held up a mirror to her community, and what we saw reflected was beauty, substance, and self-respect. For more than six decades, Tyson refused to stand in a spotlight that shone on her alone.

Both Leachman and Tyson are icons. One will be remembered for finding that distinctive spark in every part she played. Tysons greatest role was her sacred belief that what was best for her culture would be best for her career. A love of Blackness was her true compass, and with it she defied ignorance, saw light in desolation, and traced a path from our broken places to glory and grace.

Rene Graham can be reached at renee.graham@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @reneeygraham.

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Cicely, Cloris, and two paths to Hollywood immortality - The Boston Globe

ByMichael Ormsbee, PhD,Florida State UniversityEdited by Kate Findley and proofread byAngelaShoemaker, The Great Courses DailyAging doesnt cause the dramatic drop in muscle mass that we often see; rather, it is chronic disuse of muscles due to inactivity that is primarily responsible. Photo By DenisProduction.com / ShutterstockAging and Lifting Weights

Research has repeatedly shown that lifting weights can help prevent age-associated chronic diseases like osteoporosis and type 2 diabetes. It is also a major factor in allowing you to move around and maintain your independence.

You need at least enough muscle mass to walk unassisted, get out of a chair, and carry groceries. The best part about lifting weights is that there are no age restrictions.

Now, you may need a modification of an exercise or two, but that is where a certified personal trainer can come into play and show you proper form to prevent injury and make any changes you may need to accommodate any physical limitation. Consider Ernestine Shepherd, who began to lift weights at age 56 and started competing as a bodybuilder in her 70s.

As we age, a phenomenon called sarcopenia occurs, which is the natural, progressive loss of muscle mass. Studies have shown that between the ages of 40 and 50 years old, we can lose more than 8% of our muscle mass, and that can accelerate to more than 15% per decade after the age of 75, if measures are not taken to prevent it.

Fortunately, we can do much to slow this process down. Most people think that aging alone causes us to lose muscle. Now, though, research is showing that its not simply aging but rather the lack of physical activity that is responsible for sarcopenia.

One study looked at lifelong exercisers to determine if chronic exercise could prevent the loss of muscle mass and strength in aging adults. The researchers took 20 men and 20 women between the ages of 40 and 81 years old who exercised at least four to five times per week and competed as triathletes.

These older athletes were put through a series of tests to study their health, strength, and body composition using magnetic resonance imaging or MRI technology. MRI gives us a precise view of the fat and muscle in specific regions of your body. This study used it on the quadriceps muscles of the thigh to look at muscle quality.

As you might expect, the younger people in the study did have a lower body mass index, or BMI, and body fat percentage compared to older athletes. However, the lean muscle mass and strength were no different between the younger and the older athletes.

Whats more is that these benefits were similar in both men and women. This highlights the fact that long-term exercise training can aid in preserving muscle mass and may also prevent increases in body fat as we age.

Additionally, this study helps to debunk a common myth by showing that aging alone doesnt cause the dramatic drop in muscle mass that we often see. Rather, its the chronic disuse and inactivity that are primarily to blame.

One of the most interesting people to discuss is a man who is a prime example of how exercise and a healthy diet can improve your muscle mass and quality of life, Professor Ormsbee said. Hes John Nagy.

Nagy is a participant in the Physical Activity Centre of Excellence at McMaster University in Canada. Not only does he exercise vigorously, but he is also 97 years old.

A recent interview described his daily routine like this: his warm-up begins with movements in the shower, followed by floor and ball exercises for his core and his back. Hell then walk to the Universitytwo miles each wayor make up for it on his treadmill, followed by a 90-minute workout at the University.

He also keeps dumbbells, resistance bands, and a Swiss Ball in his apartment next to the treadmill along with a stationary bike. Mr. Nagy embodies the idea of using regular exercise to maintain his quality of life and to stay able-bodied so that he can live to the fullest.

Just like Ernestine Shepherd, Professor Ormsbee said. Maybe we should all take a pageor maybe a few chaptersout of their books.

Michael Ormsbee is an Associate Professor in the Department of Nutrition, Food, and Exercise Sciences and Interim Director of the Institute of Sports Sciences and Medicine in the College of Human Sciences at Florida State University. He received his MS in Exercise Physiology from South Dakota State University and his PhD in Bioenergetics from East Carolina University.

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Regular Exercise and Lifting Weights Might Be the Key to Immortality - The Great Courses Daily News

Roblox CEO Dave Baszucki wants to inhabit the metaverse an online place where we work and play and entertain ourselves. He has dreamed about it for a long time, and he has so many followers now that Roblox will likely be one of the most credible candidates for building the metaverse, the universe of virtual worlds that are all interconnected, like in novels such asSnow CrashandReady Player One.

Roblox has 36 million people who come back daily to play on the platform. That makes the company one of the lead horses to move on to the next generation of technology. And Baszucki is a big fan of getting his own users to do the work.

People do everything from playing traditional games, to social experiences that are more around hanging out and just being together whether its working together in a restaurant or running away from a tornado, Baszucki said. And in the midst of this very difficult time, weve seen a lot of people using Roblox as a way to stay connected, whether its trying to have a birthday party, or how do we graduate from high school.

Baszuckis company is planning to go public soon through a direct listing offering, and Baszucki isnt able to talk about the latest financial details now. But Roblox has built a big war chest, raising $520 million in private capital at a $29.5 billion valuation earlier this month. It can use that money to build the metaverse and populate it with things that the users created.

Since Roblox focuses on user-generated content, Baszucki doesnt think his team will create the metaverse. His users will.

Above: Roblox CEO Dave Baszucki (right) speaks with Dean Takahashi of GamesBeat at Into the Metaverse.

Image Credit: VentureBeat

We think of ourselves as shepherds of this idea. But its an idea thats been around for a long time, he said. Our founding story goes way back to a prior company, Knowledge Revolution, where my Roblox cofounder Eric [Cassel] and I were building educational software to help people figure out how to understand physics experiments. And in the process of watching lots and lots of students use interactive physics, we saw that in addition to doing their physics homework, they were building stuff and creating stuff and watching what would happen when a car ran into a building. This kind of germinated the idea.

That origin is not so different from what Nvidia is doing today with its Omniverse physics simulation world, which is a kind of metaverse for engineers. (Richard Kerris of Nvidia will speak about that on Day Three of our event). Nvidias focus, however, is hyper-realistic.

Our hope is the metaverse doesnt just look like reality, Baszucki said. It feels like reality so that the cars in the metaverse have engines and they have axles and they have wheels. When the wheel falls off the car, the car does what we would expect in real life. So part of this hope of a physically driven metaverse is actually easier to program and easier to create emergent behavior because it kind of works like we expect.

He added, Weve all lost ourselves in a Pixar movie that is very high-quality rendering but it is not photorealistic rendering.

Above: How to make a metaverse

Image Credit: Roblox

The true metaverse will have something like eight different characteristics, Baszucki said. You have to have an avatar with a virtual identity. You can be everything from a rock star to a fashion model, and thats one big draw of the metaverse.

You can make friends with real people and socialize in the metaverse. It has to be immersive, or make you feel like youre somewhere else and you lose your sense of reality. You should be able to log in from anywhere, regardless of the country or culture where you come from. You need a low-latency connection, whether youre at a school or a business.

The metaverse has to have low friction, meaning you can go anywhere instantly. If youre studying ancient Rome at school, you should be able to transport yourself there within a second and take a tour with your class. It has to have a variety of content to support the long tail of interests people have. You need a vibrant economy to ensure that people can make a living in the metaverse not just coders but artists and designers too. And finally, you need safety and stability, so that people can come together and improve digital civility.

Above: Roblox will hold events related to Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline.

Image Credit: Roblox

Baszucki has done a couple of events with Ernest Cline, the author of Ready Player One and Ready Player Two. I asked Baszucki if he identified with the characters in the book who created the Oasis, or the books version of the metaverse. The founders of the Oasis in the book are Ogden Morrow and James Halliday.

When Ready Player One came out, I sent it to all the executives in the company because it was capturing not just societal changes but what I thought were visionary technologies that we were going to see play out as these platforms got better, Baszucki said. We really try to fade into the background. So Im not sure either one of those characters applies to us. We dont make any content. We actually dont have control of the content. We try to make really good technology and tools and a platform. And then we get amazed by the content.

He added, We almost see ourselves more as the creators of a primitive part of the electrical grid, back there in the distance, and were trying to more and more highlight the creative geniusof our creator community, which is really the real engine that works with us to power our part of the metaverse.

Baszucki compares what Roblox is doing to the invention of the printing press. The tech was so new that some philosophers at the time felt that people started reading too much. Over time, the culture came to accept book reading. Video went through the same cycle, as are games now. I joked that parents will one day tell their kids to stop reading and go back into Roblox to learn something.

Above: Lil Nas X in a Roblox experience

Image Credit: Roblox

People will know they have a physical identity and a digital identity, he said. Just as people that are very facile with books and videos and balancing them, were optimistic they will be with the metaverse as well. Were not so dystopian in our vision relative to maybe some science fiction. We think people will be able to balance this and use it in a positive way. We think it will be an integral part of learningand working.Just another tool side by side with video and books and other forms of communication.

Amid the pandemic, Baszucki said he has enjoyed seeing experiments on Roblox like concerts and parties that enable people to enjoy each other while social distanced.

Were hopeful that there are many situations where immersive 3D communication can bring people together, where its very difficult when theyre forced to be at a distance, he said. An example would be our Roblox holiday party, which we did in Robloxwith hundreds and hundreds of people.And because they were all employees, we were able to do the things we might do at a holiday party. I wish we could have been together physically. But we did have a nightclub. We did have a stage, wedid havea bar.

Quality has its own way of rising to the top. But the company has to spend a lot more time making sure the place is civil. More than 1,700 trust and safety volunteers ensure that Roblox is a safe and stable world for players.

We dont in any way filter on quality, but we have incredibly polished experiences that tend to do better, he said. We try to build systems that bubble up interesting things.We dont really know what is high quality if its safe and civil our Roblox community will vote with their feed and with their engagement and say this is interesting.

User-generated content rules on Roblox, and many young developers are starting to become entrepreneurs, forming teams or even studios focused on Roblox games. Hundreds of thousands are making interesting content, and more than 1,000 are making $10,000 or more and 250 are making more than $100,000. Those people are working alongside big brands that are making their own games for the platform.

The advances that will lead us to the metaverse are inexorable, Baszucki aid, as bandwidth, mobile devices, and other technologies improve.

Roblox has 830 employees, but Baszucki said it will need a diverse group of people to fill out its team to build the metaverse, with experts ranging from 3D game engines to corporate civility.

Baszucki believes that, if done right, the metaverse will make the world a better place by increasing the civility of the world.

The way we moderate, the way we nudge, the way we encourage civil discourse on the platform Im optimistic well be able to measure the general civility of society by watching whats happening on this platform, he said. Im also excited that at various ages, there will be various levels of appropriate nudging. There will be the ability tohave people with very different viewpointspop a little outof maybe the bubble they have and safely meet people with very different viewpoints and have a civil discussion with them.

Above: Part of the JDRF world inside Roblox.

Image Credit: Roblox

I also asked Baszucki if the metaverse is the place where well achieve digital immortality, as happens in the Ready Player Two novel.

This is such an enormous thing to think about. I think it goes way beyond the medical. Its a whole separate industry right there, Baszucki said. I do thinkover time the metaverse will be this wonderful place where [non-player characters] NPCs improve.Well see theTuring test happen not just through text and voice, but well see the Turing test happen in themetaverse.Well start to see NPCs that are harder and harder to distinguish from people over time.And this may be the foreshadowing to ultimately immortality. There may be forms of immortality that are a rough approximationof you and me. So I could imagine if you and I wore a device for our whole life that recorded everything we saw and everything we said, machine learning might be able to create an approximationof us that could live. But Im not so sure. I think its gonna be a while before we can snapshot every neuron and build that out.

So if you had to think of one, one thing you want to do in the metaverse, so what would that be?

Asked what he wants to do in the metaverse, Baszucki said his first thought was boring: just hang out with people that he knows in a social setting.

I think I want to have that ability to come together with people Ive been missing for a really, really long time.

He also wants to play a game in a virtual junkyard with friends, or two teams of five. They would build a crazy contraption with welding torches and drills and other gear, and then they would compete with each other using their contraptions.

Its all about the complexity of the physics and the interaction and emergent behavior, Baszucki said. These kinds of things are exciting to me.

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Roblox CEO Dave Baszucki believes users will create the metaverse - VentureBeat

After Diana absorbed the Book of Life, many fans questioned if that would mean she is now immortal like her vampire beau. Though this is not disclosed in the book series, Harkness addressed the question about Diana's mortality and Matthew's immortality during a fan Q&A.

While some fans have theorized that Diana may have created her own immortality spell to live out her days with Matthew, Harkness confirmed during the fan event that she will eventually die. "Shes mortal and a warm-blood, and not going to have an extended life," Harkness said.

The author added, "Matthew has an extended life, and I think, again, the sad truth is none of us really live forever, and we all have to make the best of what we get handed. So I think thats a really normal part of life. One of the things we need to do better maybe in our time is learning to say goodbye, and learning how to live without the kind of regrets."

Watch new episodes of A Discovery of Witches on Sky One or AMC.

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Does Matthew Die in 'A Discovery of Witches'? The Vampire's Fate Revealed! - Distractify

Announced in 2012, active development on CD Projekt Red's controversial Cyberpunk 2077 didn't actually begin until several years later.

Although CD Projekt Red'sCyberpunk 2077 was announced in 2012, active development on the controversial game didn't begin until much later.

According toBloomberg, CD Projekt Red employeesclaimed development didn't start until late 2016. At that time,Adam Badowski took over as director and the game underwent a massive overhaul.

RELATED:Cyberpunk 2077: Wood Hawker's Billy Joel Parody SLAMS CD Projekt Red

Cyberpunk 2077 has been marred with controversy. Even before its release, which was delayed on three separate occasions, CD Projekt Red made headlines for forcing employees to work overtime (aka crunch). Despite this, the final product was -- by CD Projekt Red's own admission -- not refined for last-gen consoles. Furthermore, players have reported that the game can cause epileptic seizures, with many requesting a warning, as well as a long-term fix for this issue. As such, Sony and Microsoft are now issuing full refunds to those who request them, while PlayStation even pulled the game from the PlayStation Store altogether.

"After 3 delays, we as the Management Board were too focused on releasing the game," CD Projekt Red Co-CEO Adam Kiciski explained. "We underestimated the scale and complexity of the issues, we ignored the signals about the need for additional time to refine the game on the base last-gen consoles. It was the wrong approach and against our business philosophy. On top of that, during the campaign, we showed the game mostly on PCs."

RELATED: Cyberpunk 2077 Modders Have Restored the Game's BIGGEST Cut Feature

CD Projekt Red has issued several apologies since the game's Dec. 10, 2020 release, with the most recent arrivingon Jan. 13. "We are committed to fixing bugs and crashes and will continue to work and improve the game via future updates to make sure you are enjoying the game regardless of the platform," thecompany wrote. "We will use this space to inform you about the progress being made on Cyberpunk 2077s further development, including information about updates and improvements, free DLCs and more."

Cyberpunk 2077 is an open-world, action-adventure story set in Night City, a megalopolis obsessed with power, glamour and body modification. You play as V, a mercenary outlaw going after a one-of-a-kind implant that is the key to immortality. You can customize your characters cyberware, skillset and playstyle, and explore a vast city where the choices you make shape the story and the world around you.

Developed by CD Projekt Red, Cyberpunk 2077 is available now on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Google Stadia and PC.

KEEP READING:Cyberpunk 2077: CD Projekt Red Head Disputes Fake Demo Report

Source:Bloomberg

Mortal Kombat: Scorpion's Weapon Is the Key to the R-Rated Reboot

Jon Arvedon is CBR's lead news editor and began working for the site in 2017. Hes been an avid superhero fan since he was a young child, though it wasnt until much later in life that he finally began venturing into the actual comic books that made those characters so popular in the first place. Nevertheless, he immediately developed a strong passion for the medium and began aggressively expanding his knowledge, using any and all downtime at his old office job to scour the depths of Marvel Unlimited, comiXology and the occasional wiki page to help fill in the gaps. His love of comics is rivaled only by that of his love for Star Wars. If you're so inclined, you can follow Jon on Twitter at @JonArvedon.

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Cyberpunk 2077's Development Was Shorter Than Anyone Realized - CBR - Comic Book Resources

The Darksaber is symbolically powerful, but a future Star Wars property could reintroduce the Dagger of Mortis, which is significantly stronger.

The Star Wars canon has emphasized the power and importance of the Darksaber in The Mandalorian, but future properties may reintroduce an even more powerful weapon: the Dagger of Mortis. This mystical weapon holds symbolic significance like the Darksaber; but whereas the Mandalorian weapon is functionally almost the same as any other lightsaber, the Mortis Dagger is capable of far more. The Dagger may appear in several upcoming Disney+ Star Wars shows, potentially being a significant plot element that brings The Mandalorian, Star Wars: Ahsoka, and Star Wars: Rangers of the New Republic together in a crossover event. But what is the Dagger of Mortis and what can it do?

The Dagger of Mortis first appeared in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, where it was fought over by the three Star Wars Force-users who were found in the mysterious Wild Space realm known as Mortis. These beings, named The Father, The Daughter, and The Son all used the Force with near-omnipotent power, so naturally, the abilities and weapons of Jedi and Sith paled in comparison to those of Mortis. The Force wielders were nearly immortal as well, but the Mortis Dagger was one of the few things that could kill them. The Dagger was used directly to kill The Daughter and The Father, and indirectly to kill The Son (whose immortality was removed upon the death of The Father).

Related:Disney Already Cast A New Young Luke, Why Didn't Mandalorian Use Him?

The Darksaber may have the most unique lightsaber blade color and origin, but it is ultimately just another lightsaber in terms of functionality, though it does increase a wielder's aggression and tugs at their dark side instincts. Still, the weapons true power comes from its historical and cultural significance to Mandalorians. One must defeat the Darksabers owner in combat to have a rightful claim to it, and the wielder of the weapon is also considered the true ruler of Mandalore (at least by the time of 9 ABY). By being able to kill a god-like Force-wielder, the Mortis Dagger far outclasses any lightsaber, including the Darksaber. Considering the connections between Ahsoka Tano, the Mortis Force-wielders, and the World Between Worlds, the Dagger could easily make its reappearance in Star Wars: Ahsoka.

Of the three Jedi visitors to Mortis, Ahsoka Tano is the only one still alive in 9 ABY. The Dagger could be pursued by both Ahsoka and Grand Admiral Thrawn (who Tano was tracking down in her episode of The Mandalorian). The Dagger was left on Mortis when Ahsoka, Anakin, and Obi-Wan left the realm, but how they ended up there (and how they left) isnt made explicitly clear in The Clone Wars, so a non-Force user like Thrawn may attempt to access the Dagger through more crude methods, as Veris Hydan did to the entrance to the Worlds Between Worlds in Star Wars Rebels.

The Mortis Dagger could also be tied to the mystical World Between Worlds, given their shared connections to the Force wielders of Mortis. Perhaps the Mortis Dagger can be used for more than killing Force wielders and is a method of entering the mysterious plane. The World Between Worlds gives visitors access to any point in time and space, which would easily make it important enough to involve Din Djarin and Cara Dune (as well as Luke Skywalker and Grogu) in Ahsokas adventures. Though unlikely, the plane (and by extension, the Dagger) could be the catalyst for a crossover between the Star Wars Canon and Legends universes.

Next:Everything We Know About The Mandalorian Season 3

Why Batwoman Is Replacing Kate Kane Instead Of Recasting Ruby Rose

David Miller is an author for Screen Rant, indie comic writer, and life-long lover of all things Star Wars, Marvel, and DC. He was born and raised in New York and has a degree in English from Rider University. When not writing, he enjoys reading comics and getting his fix of caffeine. He relates to Peter Parker maybe a little too much.

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How Star Wars Could Bring Back A Weapon More Powerful Than The Darksaber - Screen Rant

Matt James, the star of Season 25 of The Bachelor, is a boundary-breaking lead. Hes the first Black Bachelor. Hes the first Bachelor in more than a decade not to have previously appeared on The Bachelor or The Bachelorette. Hes tied for the title of tallest Bachelor. And according to a comment by one lust-struck contestant, he has 16-pack abs, which would make him an anatomical marvel.

Through the first three weeks of his season, though, Matts behavior has been about as conventional as it comes. Sure, hes boldly embraced the turtleneck despite the harsh responses to past turtleneck attempts. But he hasnt done anything to overhaul the structure of the series itself. If anything, hes helped highlight how much the ABC series needs a lead to disrupt the typical protagonists approach to finding lovea James Holzhauer of The Bachelor who would optimize the process and produce polarizing, riveting TV. Its time for a Bachelor or Bachelorette to streamline the series inefficiencies, impose order on the chaos that comes between the Bachelor and his would-be betrothed, and make host/hype man Chris Harrison promise viewers the most pragmatic season ever.

Lets concentrate on cocktail parties, staples of the series that traditionally follow the competition portions of group dates and precede rose ceremonies. Since time immemorial (or at least, like, 2002), cocktail parties have tended to be free-for-alls where contestants vie for opportunities to talk to the lead. Almost inevitably, the most aggressive guests make more than one visit, earning the ire of their mansion-mates, while meeker or more courteous contestants dont get time at all. The first two cocktail parties in Matts season, which began with a record-setting 32 contestants, were egregious examples of lousy logistics and unequal exposure. On night one, villain Victoria talked to Matt twice, and several women were left lamenting their lack of time. And on this weeks episode, contestant Sarah Trott stole the spotlight from a few angry group date participants when she crashed a cocktail party and bogarted time despite having had a one-on-one date days earlier.

It seemed like there were a lot of women he didnt talk to, and that might be because hes never been on this show before, says Rachel Lindsay, an attorney who was a contestant on Season 21 of The Bachelor, starred on Season 13 of The Bachelorette, and currently cohosts Ringer podcast Higher Learning. So he doesnt realize the importance of how necessary it is to talk to everyone, because hes never been a person whos been left out or been fighting for time.

Even experienced members of Bachelor Nation have struggled to distribute time to contestants. The disorder endemic to cocktail parties flows from the conceit of the series: As Matt said at his second rose ceremony, Theres only one of me and so many of you all. But its also partly a product of mismanagement. Matt pledged to continue to follow my heart, and while thats a start, hed also do well to follow a more rigorous game plan. To offer an analogy the former Wake Forest football star might appreciate: After the hike, the quarterback doesnt just react to the routes his receivers run. Coaches call plays. Yet on The Bachelor, most leads adopt a passive approach and leave it to the contestants to corral them or not, which prevents the stars from making informed assessments and leads to distracting strife. There must be a better way.

To find a solution to this cocktail-party tumult, I sought out a man whos found love and efficiency: John F. Shortle, professor and chair of Systems Engineering and Operations Research at George Mason University, and coauthor of the fourth and fifth editions of definitive textbook Fundamentals of Queueing Theory. Queueing theorya branch of operations research, an analytical discipline devoted to making better decisionsis the roughly century-old mathematical study of improving the process of waiting in line. If waiting in line is boring, you might think studying about waiting in lines would be boring as well, Shortle says. But I enjoy it.

Shortle typically studies waiting as it relates to air transportation, telecommunications, and other non-reality-TV activities; in 2016, he won an award for a Military Operations Research paper titled Spatial and Temporal Modeling of IED Emplacements against Dismounted Patrols. Perhaps unsurprisingly, he hasnt been asked about The Bachelor before, but he reviewed several scenes from Matts first cocktail party to prepare. Are there mathematical models that we can pull out of a textbook and apply to The Bachelor? Shortle says. Probably not so much. But I think theres a lot of principles about designing queuing systems that would apply.

In a normal scenario, Shortle explains, queueing systems are designed to reduce anxiety, eliminate confusion, and set expectations. Generally, its nice to know whos next in line and how long the wait will be; thats why automated answering systems often quote an estimated time to talk to a human. Fairness is another bedrock goal, which can sometimes be achieved by sticking to a first come, first served model or ensuring that shorter service times are associated with shorter wait times (the raison dtre of supermarket express lanes).

On The Bachelor, fairness is how much time does each person get with the Bachelor, and will they get any time, Shortle says, adding, unfairness creates a lot of stress and anxiety for the people that are waiting. Yet the way the series is set up, contestants dont know if or when theyll get to talk to the lead, or how much time theyll have before the next contestant cuts in. It seems theyve actively avoided those kinds of principles in The Bachelor, Shortle says.

Granted, social pressure discourages contestants from borrowing a Bachelor too soon, and the prospect of becoming a pariah dissuades some from double-dipping. But that only goes so far with these unwritten rules, because people dont agree on them or people will abuse them, Shortle says. Most leads allow the norm-eroding intrusions, though they may file the offenses away for future rose ceremonies. You allow them to interrupt, and you take note of it, and its probably what youre going to use against them when you send them home, Lindsay says.

Of course, the producers have every reason to craft the worst waiting experience possible. Theyre trying to maximize entertainment value, Shortle says, and thus theyre probably trying to maximize stress among contestants. So you take these queuing principles, and its almost like you do the opposite.

But the producers interests arent always fully aligned with the leads. If the Bachelor or Bachelorette genuinely wants to find love, he or she should be motivated to talk to every contestant and minimize the time-wasting sniping that stems from jockeying for cocktail-party position. Youre basically making a decision based on the short amount of time that you have, Shortle says. And so being able to spend time with everybody would be helpful, so youre not sending somebody away that would have been your first choice in the end.

Theres no way to make The Bachelors hyper-compressed process perfectly resemble real-life dating, but it wouldnt be difficult to do better than the anarchic status quo. From the contestants perspective, its just a totally unstructured system, Shortle says. And so I think the most basic thing is instilling some kind of order in the process. For example, the Bachelor could try to initiate some amount of control in terms of who he sees. If hes trying to choose among 30 people, then he wants to get to all 30. He could turn down people that come twice and try to let people know that hes going to get to everybody. I think the key things would be fairness and providing some level of reducing uncertainty.

How would that work in practice? Take night one, the thorniest challenge from a logistical standpoint. You have 30 contestants, Shortle says. You take the time, you divide it by 30, and you give each person that amount. That would be kind of the obvious solution. Its fair to everyone. Maybe you randomize the order, and then you get someone there that kind of enforces it and says, OK, your times up. Youre next.

One obstacle is that its easy for the leads to lose track of time during the interminable mixers. You dont know what time it is, Lindsay says. You dont know how long the nights gone. Whats more, the producers might not want to play the helper elves to the leads department-store Santa. But if the producers wouldnt cooperate on policing the line, maybe the Bachelor could politely and apologetically turn repeat visitors away or watch the clock and keep the procession moving. Admittedly, that would mean monitoring the time, which could be distracting. It would also mean keeping conversations/makeout sessions short, which would take discipline when the chemistry clicks. It seems like it might be a big ask for that person, Shortle says. But if they took a little more control, then some of these issues might be better.

The journey to find a romantic partner is supposed to be sexier than a trip to the DMV, and contestants taking tickets and staring at the wall until their numbers are called would be bad TV. Plus, trying to turn cocktail parties into orderly affairs could come off as anal-retentive micromanaging, a type A turnoff. Then again, it might also make a Bachelor seem considerate and assertive. Honestly, it depends if you really like them or not, Lindsay says. If you really like them then you find a reason to like what they did, and if you dont then you use it against them.

Shortle proposes a possible middle ground between being controlling and laissez-faire: One idea could be the Bachelor goes into the lounge and says, OK, Ill see you next, and then you, and then you. The Bachelor could even emerge for a few minutes to make small talk, promise that hes going to get to everyone, and put people at ease. If theres an element of service that occurs in the wait, then that improves the experience, Shortle says, who likens this solution to a restaurant serving drinks or making menus available while would-be diners wait to be seated. (The Bachelors producers do ply contestants with wine, but that may be as much about manufacturing drunken drama as it is about easing anxiety.)

Its easy for spectators (or operations research analysts) to say they would do a better job than the Bachelor. But when youre the lead, Lindsay says, You realize that youre stuck between this place of trying to find love, and then also make a TV show. For instance, Shortle notes that the uncertainty about when the Bachelors latest tte--tte is over, and the time it takes for leads and contestants to travel between conversational settings, are sources of slowdown that could be trimmed by bringing contestants in and out of one room where the Bachelor talks to everyone.

Congested systems are very sensitive to the length of the service time, Shortle says. So anything that you can shave off of that can vastly improve things. However, he concedes that while a more streamlined method would give more time for everybody, it would also sap some of the opportunity for the contestants to plan a personalized activity (and could become monotonous for fans).

That said, disrupting the traditional cocktail party and making entertaining TV arent mutually exclusive. When youve seen one argument about someone stealing or not getting time, youve essentially seen them all. And after a combined 40-plus seasons of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, novelty has a high value. Some of the most memorable moments in franchise historyKaitlyn Bristowe having sex before fantasy suites, Colton Underwood jumping the fencehave come from leads scrapping the script. And whether its Courtney Robertson not-so-spontaneously skinny-dipping or, in Rachels case, a contestant or lead breaking with tradition by bringing her dog on dates or attending church, producers are pretty willing to accommodate the leads demands.

When I brought it up, they were like, Thats amazing. Thats never been done before. Lets do it, Rachel says about her request to bring Nick Viall to church on her hometown date. The producers were similarly supportive of her desire to be accompanied by Copper, who helped her choose a fianc.

At times, though, the producers can be impediments. At one cocktail party, Lindsay says, the producers told her that she couldnt talk to a contestant because of time constraints. And when she was on Nicks season, she saw other women talk-blocked by producers. Theres manipulation within there, Lindsay says. At least in my experience, I never saw someone not try to talk to the lead. If they didnt get to talk to the lead its because they were pushed back by a producer, maybe for some drama, for some conflict, maybe because the lead wanted more time with a specific person.

Lindsay went out of her way to prevent that from happening on her season. On night one, she says, I was very emphatic about the fact that I wanted to talk to every single person. I was not sending somebody home, or keeping someone, when I hadnt had a conversation with them, even if it was for a minute. She told the contestants at the outset of the party that she planned to talk to all of them, and she repeated her preference to the producers throughout the night. They were rushing people toward the end. I was getting two to three minutes with each person, but I got to talk to everyone, and it was one of the longest first nights ever, they said, because of me.

Its time for someone to take the quest for cocktail efficiency one step further. Some of the most indelible Bachelors are the ones who did things differently, like Jake Pavelka, Brad Womack, and Jesse Palmer (who had a spy in the house). Maybe a quant could achieve Bachelor immortality by breaking the Bachelor the way Jeopardy James broke the trivia institution.

Holzhauer found a wife before he found fame, and on Jeopardy!, he wasnt trying to woo anyone; he just had to hunt Daily Doubles and answer trivia questions correctly. But his chutzpah and skill still made him a fan favorite and a geek icon. ABC built its reality juggernaut on the strapping, shapely backs of generic hunks and hotties, but The Bachelor could benefit from mixing in nerds other than Venmo John, whos off the market. (And not just self-professed nerds like Becca Kufrin and closet nerd Wills Reid, who never really revealed what they were nerdy about.) To survive the casting gauntlet, they would have to be somewhat suave and sensitive nerds, naturallyso, not Nathan Fielder in The Hunkbut their tactics and passion could shake up the franchise in a welcome way.

Maybe a lead could conduct the cocktail party blindfolded, la Love Is Blind, or eliminate long shots and focus on front-runners, or ask the contestants to rate one another and go with the wisdom of crowds. On the superb seventh season of The Bachelor Australia, astrophysicist Matt Agnew resolved a she-said, she-said standoff at a cocktail party by surveying the other contestants about an alleged incident, which allowed him to deduce that one woman was lying and astutely send her home. Maybe Aussie Matt exhibited some PE teacher energy by grilling the women about what went down. But his strategy seems smarter than the latest American Matts decision to send the seemingly innocent Marylynn home because Victoria claimed without evidence that she was straight-up toxic.

In other words, be bold. Break with cocktail convention. And tell contestants, producers, and fans to trust the process. Maybe youll find love and be a Bachelor legend.

I think leads are so scared, Lindsay says. As outspoken and independent as I am, I was still scared to do that, because you dont know what you can and cant do. Its a psychological experiment. You really do change in that world, because youve never been in it before and you dont know who to trust and what to trust, and what you have power over and what you dont. When you probably have a lot more than you think, because at the end of the day they never want their lead to look bad. They will always protect the lead.

Talking to every contestant early onand then concentrating on the true contenderspaid off for Rachel, who has been married to Bachelorette beau Bryan Abasolo since August 2019. Given the lackluster collective success rate of the series stars, future leads should consider consulting Shortle, who could be to Bachelor strategy what Neil Lane is to Bachelor bling. But The Bachelors producers probably wont be retaining his services, unless its to learn how waiting could cause even more conflict. I think their optimal strategy would be to ask me what I think would be the best thing to do, and then they would do the opposite, Shortle says. Maybe in that sense I would be a good consultant.

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How to Fix Some of the Bachelors Thorny Logistical Issues - The Ringer

The regular season is now officially in the rearview mirror for the Kansas City Chiefs. All season long there has been a little bit of a feeling that the Chiefs were just doing enough to keep winning and put themselves in a position for the playoffs. Close or ugly wins dont matter anymore. The Chiefs need to win three more games by any means possible. Period. If they do, and repeat as Super Bowl champions they will join an elite group of teams and their place in NFL immortality will be secured.

Winning any Super Bowl is amazing and secures a place in NFL history. However, winning two in a row puts a franchise in a completely different category. The NFL has only had a team repeat as back-to-back Super Bowl champions eight times in the history of the league, and every one of those teams is remembered as one of the greatest teams everor at very least one of the truly historic quarterback/coach combos. If the Chiefs can win another Super Bowl this season, they will absolutely have earned the right to put themselves in that company.

Here are the eight previous repeat champions in chronological order.

1. Green Bay Packers Super Bowls I and II

The Green Bay Packers won the first two Super Bowls. The first was against the Chiefs and then they defended their title against the Oakland Raiders. These teams have some absolutely historic names on them, including head coach Vince Lombardi who the Super Bowl trophy is now named after. Guys quarterback Bart Starr and linebacker Ray Nitschke (just to name a few) are up there too. You cant tell the history of the NFL without this team.

2. Miami Dolphins Super Bowls VII and VIII

When the Miami Dolphins won Super Bowl VII over the Washington Redskins, they completed the only perfect season in NFL history. While they didnt go undefeated again the next season, they only lost two games and beat the Minnesota Vikings to repeat as champions. This team included another legendary coach in Don Shula and had an offense with big names like Bob Griese, Larry Csonka, Mercury Morris, and Paul Warfield. The undefeated season alone secured this teams spot in history. Repeating as Super Bowl champions was just icing on the cake.

3. Pittsburgh Steelers (twice) Super Bowls IX and X and Super Bowls XIII and XIV

I thought about listing these separately, but since they were next to each other chronologically and had so many of the same players, it seemed a little repetitive. Prior to the modern-era New England Patriots, the NFL had never had a team dominate an era like these Steelers teams did. They repeated as champions in Super Bowls IX and X and then two years later they did it again in Super Bowls XIII and XIV.

These teams all were coached by Hall of Fame coach Chuck Noll and are full of all-time great players like Terry Bradshaw, Franco Harris, John Stallworth, Lynn Swann, Jack Ham, Jack Lambert, Joe Green and many more. Once again, you simply cant ignore these Steelers teams when talking about the greatest NFL organizations of all time.

4. San Francisco 49ers Super Bowls XXIII and XXIV

The San Francisco 49ers got their first Super Bowl win against the Cincinnati Bengals and then followed up the next season by beating the Denver Broncos to repeat as champions. This team got legendary coach Bill Walsh a Super Bowl win in his final season before turning the reigns over to George Seifert for their repeat season. These teams are probably best know for the historically great combo of quarterback Joe Montana and receiver Jerry Rice, both of which get mentioned as the best ever. Once again, we are talking about a team that most recognize as an all-time great team.

5. Dallas Cowboys Super Bowls XXVII and XXVIII

The Dallas Cowboys had the privilege of handing the Buffalo Bills two consecutive Super Bowl losses as the Cowboys repeated and secured their place on the list of all time great NFL teams. These Cowboys teams were coached by Hall of Fame coach Jimmy Johnson and included three all-time great offensive players in Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith and Michael Irvin. Not only were these teams great from a talent standpoint, they were flashy and entertainingwhether you loved them or hated them. To this day when you see highlights or montages of the history of the NFL, they almost always include Johnson yelling How bout them Cowboys!

6. Denver Broncos Super Bowls XXXII and XXXIII

Many were starting to wonder if John Elway was going to end his amazing Hall of Fame career without ever getting that elusive Super Bowl win. He would wind up with two to end his career. The Broncos won consecutive rings against the Green Bay Packers and Atlanta Falcons in the late 90s. While Elway is the big name historically, running back Terrell Davis was the workhorse of those teams and defenders like Steve Atwater, Bill Romanowski, and former Chief Neil Smith were big factors too. Those wins also solidified the standing of head coach Mike Shanahan.

7. New England Patriots Super Bowls XXXVIII and XXXIV

The legacy of the Tom Brady and Bill Belichick New England Patriots goes well beyond these two Super Bowl wins, but while the duo did win an amazing six championships, this was the only time they had consecutive victories. Their win over the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl XXXVIII was their second overall and the first of their back-to-back rings with the second coming against the Philadelphia Eagles (coached by Andy Reid). I dont think there is any doubt about the legacy of the Brady/Belichick Patriots, but even they were only able to repeat one time.

Thats the list. Those are all the teams that have repeated as champions, and that is the company that the Chiefs are trying to join. Should they pull it off (and there is a LONG way to go) the Chiefs have the credentials to hold their own against these all time great teams. They have a Hall of Fame caliber coach in Andy Reid. They have what will likely be an all-time great quarterback in Patrick Mahomes. Other amazing talents like Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce help the roster hold up with these other teams.

If you look at the winning percentage the Chiefs would be right there as well. If you look at the winning percentage (including the playoffs) of all these teams over their two seasons as champions you get.

If the Kansas City Chiefs were to win their next three games and repeat as Super Bowl champions, it would make their combined winning percentage over the past two seasons at 84.2 percenta mark which would tie them with the Steelers for fifth best on that list.

So the Chiefs would have the coach, the talent,and the winning percentage to belong in this elite club. That is what the Chiefs are playing for when the take the field this weekend: A place in football immortality. Frankly, they were a Dee Ford offsides call away from potentially already being there, but no need to look back now.

The Chiefs have a chance to prove their place in NFL history if they just take care of business. Now lets hope they do just that when they take the field against the Cleveland Browns this weekend.

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The Kansas City Chiefs can secure place among NFLs all-time greatest teams - Arrowhead Addict

Family isnt always blood. Its the people in your life who want you in theirs, the people who accept you for who you are. The ones who would do anything to see you smile and who love you no matter what.

These powerful and inspirational words were handwritten in a thank you card to me by Minister Christine (Gail) Blanchard.

Her words reminded me of my late brother-in-law and pastor, Hayes Long, who passed at the beginning of 2021. We were not related by blood, but he was family. He was married to my sister, Valerie, for 50 years. He often boasted that when he saw Valerie, he knew that she was going to be his wife. His niece, Jenci said, He was unapologetically in love with her! His expression of love towards her became an earthly example of how Christ loved His church unconditional and without end. He was a family man who loved his children and grandchildren.

My mother was a single parent due to the death of my father a few months after Hayes and Valerie married. Whatever Mama needed, he was there to help in any situation (painting and repairs, fixing Mamas car, taking her to the doctor, etc.). As a little girl, I grew up watching him being a son to my mother and a brother to my siblings. He was a big brother to me helping me through my teenage years by offering sound advice. He was community-oriented, and a neighbor who didnt mind helping anyone.

I know he loved the Lord. In 1976, he received the gift of the Holy Ghost and began his quest for wisdom and knowledge of the manifestation of the Spirit. He was called into the ministry and later became a Pastor. Jeremiah 3:15 says, And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding. For 32 years, I was fully fed under Pastor Longs leadership at Jesus New Testament Holiness Church.

Pastor Long helped me through so many difficult moments in my life. He never judged me. He always prayed and encouraged me throughout my professional career; the dissolution of my marriage; the raising of my children as a single parent; so many losses in our family and church, etc.

At his visitation, so many spoke of his kindness and caring toward them. Members talked about his wisdom in how he helped them with problems, and him always saying, Lets pray about it. One nephew said Pastor Long stepped in as a father to him. His sister, Lynda said, You were my brother first and you became my pastor. I couldnt have asked for a better leader. You reminded me of a tree planted by the river unmovable. One said, Whatever secrets you told him they went to the grave with him.

It read on his obituary that he transitioned from mortal to immortality and left the testimony, I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith...

In thinking about Pastor Long and his legacy ask yourself: What have I done with my time on earth? Have I impacted lives? What testimony will I leave behind? You be the judge.

JUANITA FLOYD is the vice president of finance and administration at the CREATE Foundation and a community columnist. Readers can contact her at juanita@createfoundation.com.

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JUANITA FLOYD: What testimony will you leave behind? - Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal