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There's a new trend emerging of AAA open world games built for longevity that flop at launch, only for the studios behind them to spend months, even years trying to save them.

No Man's Sky is one shining example of a rally that worked. Anthem, despite sputtering along for a year already, is just now beginning the process. And in about a month we'll see whether the results of Bethesda's attempt to save the flopped launch of Fallout 76 will bear any fruit.

That's because on April 7, Bethesda is launching the Wastelanders expansion, a supposedly massive free overhaul that adds -- among many other standard expansion components -- a huge change for the world of Fallout 76: non-player characters.

"We learned from launch was that there was a lot to do, but what we needed for a lot of our audience was to bring the humanity back"

If it seems odd that an open world game in a series known for its characters and writing might launch without any NPCs to support its world-building or quests, yeah, everyone else thought so too. The game launched in late 2018 to criticism for being "soulless," lacking a "strong focus," and "boring" -- problems which were all tied in some way to the lack of in-world characters with stories and stakes to provide motivation. While all the other additions included with Wastelanders -- new locations, enemies, equipment, and quests -- will likely improve Fallout 76's chances, lead designer Ferret Baudoin feels the NPCs are the most important key to righting the ship.

"There was quite a lot that worked at launch," he says at Bethesda's PAX East fan event. "If you're a person who liked exploration, for example, from our traditional games, it was possibly one of the best worlds to explore that we've ever had. It was just huge, full of stories and stuff like that. But there was a large portion of our audience that wanted people. They wanted an emotional connection. And if you know everyone is dead, and you come across a holotape from someone, it loses that hope that you might meet that person and help them out.

"I think what we learned from launch was that core combat was fun, it was great to explore, there was a lot to do, but what we needed for a lot of our audience was to bring the humanity back."

Baudoin acknowledges the humorous contradiction of needing computer-controlled NPCs to provide "human" experiences, but he adds that Fallout 76 isn't totally devoid of humanity. Because players only have one another to interact with, he says, the team has seen all sorts of unusual and uniquely human stories unfold just from players interacting in strange and often wonderful ways.

"The funny thing is that in some respects [the players] added the most human things of all," he says. "The role-playing, for example, or some of the stories you hear about people dressed up as Santa Claus giving out gifts. That was something we didn't anticipate.

"We had whole plans for ways to let players murder each other, and they just wouldn't do it"

"We had all these plans for PvP, and actually, we have the least PvP audience ever. We had whole plans for ways to let players murder each other, and they just wouldn't do it. We have a weird, wonderful audience that would rather help each other out even when they have the other options."

Baudoin is also candid about launching the game without a world full of characters not being the best decision. Had the team known what the response would have been at the time, he admits, they would have included more of what's coming in Wastelanders in the launch version of the game. But because of Fallout 76's relative novelty, Baudoin doesn't think there was any way the team could have known that not having NPCs would be so frustrating.

"At the time, there was no clear analog to what we were making," he says. "So it was very tricky, because you would make arguments as to what you think the game should be, but there was no clear right decision.

"As soon as we saw what people were saying, there was a real fire in the belly to say, 'No, we can address this.' If we solve these problems, there's a whole package here that is very enticing to people, and we just need to provide that extra step... It's far more of a Bethesda experience than we were at launch."

"At the time, there was no clear analog to what we were making"

Because it's such a well known series, Fallout 76 was met with rapid, vocal disapproval at launch. There have been plenty of suggestions across forums and social media outlets for how to improve the game, and while Baudoin says he tries to read as many of them as possible -- he checks one particular popular message board at least twice a day for feedback -- there's a degree of filtering that takes place when the team designs what to change, and how.

"In some respects, our own internal team makes suggestions which are mirrored by the community. We're experts at dealing with that. But you can definitely notice trends.

Originally, Fallout 76 was empty, with the player character the first to leave the vault after a nuclear apocalypse. But in Wastelanders, new faces arrive from outside Appalachia

"Neil Gaiman has that quote, 'When people tell you something's wrong or doesn't work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong.' If there's an itch somewhere and it's bugging people, it's our job to figure out as experts how we can address the problem. Sometimes communities get it right, but you have to think of the millions of factors that go into that and make the best decision to address the problem that makes the itch go away and doesn't create further itches down the road."

"This is one of the first times I've been able to, before launch, see what people are reacting to and course-correct"

Later on, he adds:

"As a developer this is one of the first times I've been able to, before launch, see what people are reacting to and course correct. It's been fantastic."

Because the Wastelanders update is free, Baudoin is optimistic that a good chunk of the community that bought the game over a year ago will make their way back to see what's changed. He's hopeful, too, that an overarching love for the Fallout series among the community will keep them in the game.

"I think [Wastelanders] looks a lot more like a traditional Fallout game," he says. "The tagline in my head a lot of the time is: 'Fallout 76 is Fallout with friends.' I think now we've added more of the Fallout into it, the things you expected from Fallout 3, Fallout 4, are now in there. I think we're more properly delivering on that expectation that some people had."

Though Bethesda isn't revealing anything else new for now, Baudoin says that Wastelanders won't be the end of the team's work on Fallout 76. He describes the game as "a chance to tell an evolving story," with those opportunities only expanded by the addition of the characters and plotlines of this new update.

"You have to take risks," Baudoin says. "You have to reach for the stars sometimes. Sometimes you'll fall short, but if you don't, if you lack that ambition, the game is going to feel flatter. It's not going to be as interesting. Some of the things we've done...at the time sounded insane, but then we worked on it and we did it and lo and behold it really works. If we hadn't been willing to take that risk, it wouldn't've been there."

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Bethesda wants to bring humanity to Fallout 76 through NPCs - GamesIndustry.biz

Carlo Allegri / Reuters

Manhattan

Lets just say it: The longest economic expansion in U.S. history may already be over, killed by Covid-19.

It might seem crazy to talk about a recession when jobs are plentiful. Today the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced a decline in the February unemployment rate to 3.5%, tying a 50-year low.

But a recession isnt when things are bad. Its when they arent quite as good as they were at the peak. (Conversely, an expansion begins when the economy hits bottom and starts back up.)

When economic historians look back, they may pick February as the peak of the expansion that began in June 2009. That would give it a longevity of 128 months, the longest in records maintained by the National Bureau of Economic Research going back to 1854.

This wouldnt be the first time the U.S. was in a recession without knowing it. In the summer of 2008 policymakers of the Federal Reserve were still predicting decent economic growth for that year and the nexteven though a recession had begun the previous December, as later determined by the business cycle dating committee of the National Bureau of Economic Research.

The February jobs report that just came out is based on household and business surveys conducted in the week containing the 12th of the month. A lot has changed since then. On Feb. 12 there were still almost no cases of Covid-19 reported in the U.S. By March 5 there were 99, including 10 deaths, reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

New research from State Street Associates and Massachusetts Institute of Technology indicates that the U.S. economy was vulnerable to a recession even before Covid-19 struck. In January the chance of recession over the next six months was about 70%, even though the stock market was then up about 22% over the previous year, it says.

Related video: Larry Summers Sees 80% Chance of U.S. Recession

UP NEXT

The stock markets sharp decline since January damages growth by making households feel poorer and businesses more pessimistic. The chance of a recession with stock prices where they were this week is around 75%, according to Will Kinlaw, a senior managing director and head of Cambridge, Mass.-based State Street Associates, the research unit of financial giant State Street Corp. If stocks give up all of their gains over the past 12 months, Kinlaw says, the likelihood of a recession will grow to 80%.

In addition to the stock market, the State Street Advisers forecasting model takes into account industrial production, the shape of the Treasury yield curve, and jobs. Its based on a statistical concept called the Mahalanobis distance, which was developed to comparehuman skulls in India.

Covid-19 hit an economy that was less robust than it might have appeared. Nonfarm payroll employment was up 1.4% in January from a year earlier, which is OK. But industrial production was down 0.8% in January from a year earlier. And the Treasury yield curve was perilously close to inversion in January. (Inversion of the yield curvein which long-term interest rates are lower than short-term onesis a strong indicator of recession.)

The only strong indicator in January was the stock market, and now, thanks to the coronavirus, that indicator is flashing red as well.

While few economists have said the economy may already be in recession, some are beginning to say one is probably imminent. Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moodys Analytics, says the chance of a recession this year is at least 50%.

In the financial markets, in contrast, recession talk is rampant. This is what the start of a recession after a long bull market feels like, John McClain, a portfolio manager at Diamond Hill Capital Management, told Bloomberg News today. This is the first day of seeing some panic in the market.

Kissing is frowned upon in the age of the coronavirus, but you might want to think about kissing goodbye to the longest economic expansion in U.S. history.

Read more: Coronavirus Could Cost the Global Economy $2.7 Trillion. Heres How

More:
The US might already be in a recession - msnNOW

If you need any further convincing that artificial intelligence (or AI to you and me) represents big business in the digital age, you simply need to see the level of investment in this technology and its associated start-ups.

However, this burgeoning market remains in its infancy, while AI is still a relatively under-used technology in the typical workplace. In this post, we'll discuss some of the key challenges facing AI brands and ask why it's still so difficult to build a functional robot.

What are the Challenges Facing AI Brands in 2020?

Unsurprisingly, one of the main challenges facing AI brands is creating robots that can function without being connected to an external power attachment. This issue is commonplace in the contemporary technology market, with smartphones and similar mobile devices facing significant challenges in terms of battery performance and longevity.

Of course, the development of Lithium Ion battery technology has helped to improve the lifespan of such devices on a single charge, while further research in this field has also helped to fuel the expansion in robot runtime and functionality.

While the available technology has advanced at a rapid pace during the last few years, however, much work is to be done to create fully functional robots that can operate for the requisite period of time.

More specifically, innovators must identify ways of maintaining power and longevity without introducing heavier battery units, as this would also increase the level of power consumption required, add further weight and subsequently and limit functionality in some instances.

Today's robots also struggle with perception, despite the advancements in machine learning and the increasingly intuitive nature of individual components such as microcontrollers. Sold widely through supplier such as RS Components, this component effectively serves as a mini-computer that sits on an integrated circuit chop and enables robots to carry out a number of core functions.

While such components are now capable of enabling devices to name pictures with sentences, however, they still lack the ability to recognise function and association.

Even though modern sensors have evolved to improve functionality and recognition amongst robots, they still lack the intuition to understand context and operate outside of simple processes and automated tasks.

The Last Word

This arguably provides the biggest to AI in the modern age, as while today's robots are increasingly effective that controlling pre-characterised processes and routines, they lack the capability to perform more intuitive tasks with the same efficiency as a human.

There's no doubt that machine learning is evolving at a rapid pace, however, while the increased level of investment in AI will expedite the speed with which the technology grows over the course of the next decade or so.

The increased spend in the market will also make it easier to build more effective and durable robots in the future, while potentially driving down the cost of construction and procuring individual components.

Read the original post:
Why Making Robots is Hard, Even in the Age of AI - University Herald

Even large ecosystems the size of the Amazon rainforest can collapse in a few decades, according to a study that shows bigger biomes break up relatively faster than small ones.

The research reveals that once a tipping point has been passed, breakdowns do not occur gradually like an unravelling thread, but rapidly like a stack of Jenga bricks after a keystone piece has been dislodged.

The authors of the study, published on Tuesday in the Nature Communications journal, said the results should warn policymakers they had less time than they realised to deal with the multiple climate and biodiversity crises facing the world.

To examine the relationship between an ecosystems size and the speed of its collapse, the authors looked at 42 previous cases of regime shift. This is the term used to describe a change from one state to another for example, the collapse of fisheries in Newfoundland, the death of vegetation in the Sahel, desertification of agricultural lands in Niger, bleaching of coral reefs in Jamaica, and the eutrophication of Lake Erhai in China.

They found that bigger and more complex biomes were initially more resilient than small, biologically simpler systems. However, once the former hit a tipping point, they collapse relatively faster because failures repeat throughout their modular structure. As a result, the bigger the ecosystem, the harder it is likely to fall.

Based on their statistical analysis, the authors estimate an ecosystem the size of the Amazon (approximately 5.5m km2) could collapse in approximately 50 years once a tipping point had been reached. For a system the size of the Caribbean coral reefs (about 20,000 km2), collapse could occur in 15 years once triggered.

The paper concludes: We must prepare for regime shifts in any natural system to occur over the human timescales of years and decades, rather than multigenerational timescales of centuries and millennia.

Humanity now needs to prepare for changes in ecosystems that are faster than we previously envisaged through our traditional linear view of the world, including across Earths largest and most iconic ecosystems, and the social-ecological systems that they support.

The paper says this could be the case in Australia where the recent Australian bushfires followed protracted periods of drought and may indicate a shift to a drier ecosystem.

Scientists were already aware that systems tended to decline much faster than they grew but the new study quantifies and explains this trend.

What is new is that we are showing this is part of a wider story. The larger the system, the greater the fragility and the proportionately quicker collapses, John Dearing, professor in physical geography at the University of Southampton and lead author of the study, said.

What we are saying is dont be taken in by the longevity of these systems just because they may have been around for thousands, if not millions, of years they will collapse much more rapidly than we think.

Dearing said he was concerned that one of the possible implications of the study was that complete destruction of the Amazon could occur within his grandchildrens lifetimes.

This is a paper that is satisfying from a scientific point of view, but worrying from a personal point of view. Youd rather not come up with such a set of results, he said.

A separate study last week warned the Amazon could shift within the next decade into a source of carbon emissions rather than a sink, because of damage caused by loggers, farmers and global heating.

Experts said the new findings should be a spur to action.

I think the combination of theory, modelling and observations is especially persuasive in this paper, and should alert us to risks from human activities that perturb the large and apparently stable ecosystems upon which we depend, said Georgina Mace, professor of biodiversity and ecosystems at University College London, who was not involved in the studies.

There are effective actions that we can take now, such as protecting the existing forest, managing it to maintain diversity, and reducing the direct pressures from logging, burning, clearance and climate change.

These views were echoed by Ima Vieira, an ecologist at Museu Emlio Goeldi in Belm, Brazil. This is a very important paper. For Brazil to avoid the ecosystem collapse modelled in this study, we need to strengthen governance associated to imposing heavy fines on companies with dirty supply chains, divestment strategies targeting key violators and enforcement of existing laws related to environmental crimes. And we have to be quick.

However, the methodology was not universally accepted. Erika Berenguer, a senior research associate at the University of Oxford and Lancaster University, said the regime shifts paper relied too much on data from lakes and oceans to be useful as an indicator of what would happen to rainforests.

While there is no doubt the Amazon is at great risk and that a tipping point is likely, such inflated claims do not help either science or policy making, she said.

The authors said their study was not a forecast about a specific region but a guide to the speed at which change could occur.

Excerpt from:
Ecosystems the size of Amazon 'can collapse within decades' - The Guardian

Paige Vickers for BuzzFeed News

We were in the middle of having sex when D. said to me, I want us to be official. I want to be your boyfriend. The elation I felt a warm sensation I remember so vividly was tremendous, especially since we had only been seeing each other for about three months. Is this a decision you want to make while naked and horny? I thought to myself, but I pushed aside that fleeting moment of rational inquiry and replied, happily, Yes. Of course I want to be your boyfriend too.

D.s unprompted admission that he wanted to be exclusive was a surprise to me because just days before, hed expressed reservations about taking the relationship to the next level. Five weeks before he asked me to be his boyfriend, Id had a major anxiety attack, stemming from a lack of sleep and unexpected, stressful travel. D. had gradually become the first person Id speak to in the morning and the last person Id talk to at night. He was someone Id answer FaceTime calls for with no need for prior notice, and so I decided to open up about my various anxieties. He was becoming my person, and with the relationship going so well, I felt comfortable letting him in a bit more.

But, alas, my black gay romantic fairy tale was not meant to be at least not with this guy.

While he calmed me down on the phone during that initial anxiety attack, I would later learn that this very human moment where I expressed my worry that my depression and anxiety would ruin the good thing we had going was something he couldnt quite shake.

Alas, my black gay romantic fairy tale was not meant to be.

My explanations for why the anxiety attack occurred never seemed to be good enough, which in retrospect was a red flag. He once told me that we shouldnt see each other until Id spoken with my therapist a blow to the heart, considering how intertwined wed become. In my defense, its so much easier to rationalize and diminish why your needs arent being met when youre falling for someone. As the exceptional animated series BoJack Horseman puts it, When you look at someone through rose-colored glasses, all the red flags just look like flags.

I dont think were a match, D. told me, three days after he'd asked me to be his boyfriend while in bed. We were at the popular gay club Therapy, an ironic location in retrospect, since I had once asked him if hed ever seen a therapist and he told me he had and had been informed that he was completely fine. Wed been having a date night, which I thought was going well. Earlier, wed gone to Rockefeller Center, taken a photo by the tree (the picture was his suggestion), and gotten dinner before making our way to the club. I was stunned by D.'s comment and didnt know how to respond, so I blurted out, Who tells someone that they want to be with them, only to recant that statement three days later?

Tears began to stream down my face, so I grabbed my coat and walked outside to get some air. After a few minutes in the freezing cold, I went back into the club and tried to talk to D., but he refused and suggested I go home and wed talk about everything in the morning. I remember feeling devastated and crying in the Uber back to Brooklyn, wondering how the night had begun so perfectly and ended so poorly. And even though we hadnt had a discussion about how to salvage the relationship that would happen the following day I knew in my heart that things were already over.

I had been through breakups before and was fairly comfortable being alone, but the abrupt ending of this relationship felt destabilizing in a new way. I could not think about anything or anyone other than D., how isolating it felt to be broken up with before we could celebrate the New Years Eve plans we had been excitedly texting about just days before. My appetite was nonexistent, showering felt like a chore, and going for a brief walk to get sunlight each day which my therapist insisted on felt impossible, mostly because I couldnt help thinking that everyone I passed could clearly see the pain I was trying to camouflage.

Amid the unimaginable hurt I was feeling, I wondered how other people were navigating the often disappointing and demoralizing venture of dating. In search of answers, I set out to see how others stung by love mostly millennials were dealing with dating, breakups, and loneliness.

I think we've gotten to a point where we're just taking what you can get, even if its not serving you really, said Mary Beth Barone, 28, a New Yorkbased comedian, improviser, and actor who hosts a comedy show called Drag His Ass: A Fuckboy Treatment Program.

Like, I felt like the attention was really nice, Barone told me in an interview after her sold-out show at the end of January, describing the ups and downs of a relationship with a recent fuckboy whod occupied her attention. And when things were good, they were good. And then when things were bad, it almost got to a point where I was like, Well, he's already hurt me so much; you can't hurt me more.

Drag His Ass, held every three months and alternating between New York and Los Angeles, is a place where singles can come and laugh or cry together about dating, which Barone says seems to be going pretty poorly for everyone.

I think weve gotten to a point where were just taking what you can get, even if its not serving you really.

She got the idea for the show a year ago, after deciding to start holding myself more accountable by not going out with terrible guys. She even bought herself a whiteboard and began marking each day she successfully made it through fuckboy-free. Sometimes she would make it to 30 days and then would sleep with someone who turned out to be horrible. And you can't always tell [that they are a fuckboy] before you sleep with them, Barone joked, which is the hard thing about it. The goal was to make it to 100 days.

Last March, Barone posted that shed finally completed 69 fuckboy-free days as a gag to her Instagram followers, and emboldened by the support she received, she decided to create a show. I felt like a lot of my friends and especially comedians, because they're so open about everything, would have really relatable stories about dating and fuckboys, Barone told me. And just feeling like, What are we doing? Like, what does dating even look like right now?

At each show, mostly packed with women attendees, a rotating roster of Barones comedian friends and acquaintances get onstage and regale the audience with stories about their dating train wrecks. At the end of each show, Barone tries to rehabilitate a fuckboy which is a term the comedian said doesnt apply to any specific gender and her attempts have paid off in some instances.

Mary Beth Barone (left) and Alex Linde during Drag His Ass.

During the show I attended, a woman named Alex Linde who was emanating an aggressive devil-may-care sort of attitude approached the stage and was questioned by Barone about her chaotic dating life. Barone began with a sampling of texts from guys who had once messaged Linde. "But I'm about to not answer my phone so if you show up I'm here if not okay, Linde had messaged to a guy named Jon. Alex. I'm literally in a car On my way to you rn. Keep your phone handy, he said in a series of messages back. When Jon texted Linde that he was at the location, he received a reply that said: wait, who is this lol.

Throughout the evening, the audience nervously laughed at Lindes bold approach to dating, which also included how she once had three different men she had dated or had just been casually talking to and who were strangers to one another help her move into an apartment. Toward the end of the conversation, Linde finally opened up about what caused her to treat with such disregard the men she comes into contact with, admitting that a former sexual partner in high school had given her a sexually transmitted infection, which had a significant impact on her. Its unclear if Linde was transformed by the end of her rehabilitation, but the line of questioning definitely led to a better understanding of her seemingly detached way of dating.

Do you have any hope for fuckboys? I asked Barone after the show, to which she replied, I do. Because a lot of the ones I've spoken to want to change, and I think they just don't know where to start. Barone added that its totally fine for people who are in their early twenties to want to fuck around and be crazy and irresponsible, but the problem with a lot of fuckboys is that theyve been stuck behaving this way for years. How do you switch that off? she said.

She gave me another example of a guy who had been a self-proclaimed fuckboy for years and found himself in the middle of an identity crisis once he fell in love with someone and entered a monogamous relationship with her. He said he lost all sense of self because pursuing sex with women has been so rooted in his identity now for almost a decade, Barone said of the guy, who eventually freaked out and broke up with the woman. He was like, I know I'm in love with her. I cant commit. There was another man, named Tom, who messaged Barone after attending her show in August to let her know hed ended things with two girls before sleeping with them because he knew it wasnt going anywhere.

And that, to me, was like, if it helps two people, thats enough, Barone said. I know it sounds crazy to say that, but thats why I want to do this.

The thing about dating is that you often dont know that someone is a fuckboy until after youve slept with them. When I think about my relationship with D., I have a hard time characterizing him completely as a fuckboy, especially when thinking about the glimpses of his personality that initially attracted me to him.

Hed been my neighborhood crush for a few months in the beginning of 2019 before we actually had a real conversation. Last May, he messaged me on the predominantly black gay hookup app Jackd, and we made plans to go on a date, but when he didnt take the initiative to choose a location to meet up, I decided I couldnt be bothered and didnt follow up. But later that fall, after coming to the conclusion that I wanted to date seriously and try a long-term relationship, I mustered up the courage to ask him out via the app and he said yes. We met at a bar in the East Village later that week, and its still one of my favorite first dates. He showed up a little late because of work, but I can still recall how he looked when he turned the corner and our eyes met. I remember instantly feeling at ease with him, which I credit to the copious amounts of alcohol we drank. And when he began to gently rub my left thigh, a sign that he was surely interested in more than just lighthearted conversation, it was clear to me that the night would likely end with us sleeping together.

We saw each other three times that first week of dating, which is honestly a lot for people living in New York City. Communication was fun and steady, never too much, never too little. We made time for each other, prioritized each other even though we had busy schedules, and for a while, that was enough. I began to fall for him because there was reciprocity, and for the most part he ticked all the boxes of what I wanted in a partner. I loved the way his eyes squinted when he laughed and when he flashed his dazzling smile; I loved the mesmerizing sway of his tiptoed gait, the random debates wed have because he loved being playfully argumentative. And his dedication to helping black and brown children at an after-school program signaled to me that he valued community.

But while D. could be charming and delightful to be around, those positive attributes could disappear in a second, and Id find myself on the receiving end of criticism that felt unfair. He would make cutting remarks about how I seemed unstable and was too sensitive and emotional. It often felt like he despised me for being aware of my emotions, and even more for wanting to talk about them. He said that he processed his emotions differently, but I didnt understand why he needed to judge me for the ways in which I processed my own. When youre dating someone and considering commitment, arent you supposed to want to talk to your partner about these things?

The thing about dating is that you often dont know that someone is a fuckboy until after youve slept with them.

Thirty-four-year-old Donovan Thompson, a Brooklyn-based executive producer for The Grapevine, a YouTube series that gears its content to a young black audience, said hes noticed that millennials tend to compartmentalize sex and intimacy. Because of the ability to quickly swipe left or right on potential partners on various dating apps, Thompson said, you reduce the conversation of intimacy off the bat, based on just the physical, which is not necessarily the case when you meet someone live in person.

Thompson is not alone in his assessment. In 2018, an Atlantic magazine story about how Tinder revolutionized the dating landscape noted how the relative anonymity of dating appsthat is, the social disconnect between most people who match on themhas also made the dating landscape a ruder, flakier, crueler place. That cruelty comes in many forms, including ghosting, which has become par for the course in a depersonalized dating landscape.

A New York Times story from September even highlighted how a number of IRL mixers like DateMyFriend.ppt, where folks in their twenties and thirties make slideshow presentations in an attempt to woo suitors for their friends, have started popping up to counteract the drudgery of online dating. Its telling that one of the most discussed dating shows of the year so far is Netflixs Love Is Blind where singles who have been unlucky in finding love get to know potential partners by only listening to their voices highlighting how fatigued people have become with the impersonality of dating.

Thompson said he believes that social [media] has become a drug and, in some ways, has made us more averse to wanting to fully commit to someone and more afraid of vulnerability. Theres no opting out of an argument; theres no Im just going to swipe off of this person. So then weve developed ghosting as a mechanism to protect us from the real-life awkwardness that we cant escape.

Weve developed ghosting as a mechanism to protect us from the real-life awkwardness that we cant escape.

Having some distance from your breakup undoubtedly brings clarity, and now, a couple of months later, I often think about how D. viewed me. Dealing with a 6-foot-1, large-framed black man who is open about his feelings can throw a lot of people, even men who date men. I often think my ex was drawn to me because of how I looked, and likely thrust his own beliefs on me about how I should act. But I think, as it became more apparent that I wasnt just going to be some aloof person who was fine with surface-level conversations, he panicked. I often go back to our horrible argument the night before our breakup, where I asked him, Why are you so upset with me just because Im asking you how youre feeling? to which he responded, Because youre making me feel like a bitch! Misogynistic undertones aside, the response hurt because it made me feel weird for being concerned about a person I felt I loved.

Before going over to D.s place that morning for our final conversation, I stopped by the corner store to pick up two cups of coffee. I hated myself for knowing how he took his black with two sugars, no cream. It was a reminder of what he seemed to dislike about me: that I cared too much.

I can still remember the look on his face when I entered his apartment: tired and sullen. I had a sinking feeling that there was something else weighing on him besides the fight that wed had the previous night at Therapy. I petted his dog as we talked running my fingers through the pups fur kept me at ease. D. kept going on about how he felt like I was guided by my emotions and that the way I reacted in the club was indicative of this. I countered by saying that I was hurt and there was no other way I could have responded, considering wed been out all night seemingly having fun when he sprang this bombshell on me that he didnt feel we were compatible, just days after saying he wanted me to be his boyfriend. Our conversation was going in circles when I asked him if there was anything else he needed to tell me. He said there was but that he didnt feel like it would be helpful.

Look, Ive clearly indicated that theres something on your mind. Were having an open conversation, so just be out with it, I said.

D. got up from his couch and moved over to his bed. I remember how drained and stripped of color his face looked as he lay down and finally told me what was on his mind.

He said that about 24 hours after telling me he wanted to be my boyfriend, while he was coming back home on a Friday night, he was complimented by a guy on the train who made a remark about the book he was reading, and he decided to sleep with him. He said he didnt want to tell me because he knew Id be hurt and because he vowed to himself that it wouldnt happen again. I laughed upon hearing his revelation because it was comical that the person who so often tried to make the case that my mental health was unpredictable ended up being the one who was volatile.

But even with his admission of infidelity, I still had a hard time letting go at that moment. I joined him on his bed, lying by his side. Soon we were embracing, comforting each other in this agonizing moment. I remember him asking if I still wanted to make things work, and then in the next breath saying he actually didnt want to make a determination right then. We talked about being in an open relationship, but it felt like his transgression was so out of left field that I wouldnt be able to trust him ever again. I remember kissing his soft, full lips one last time and leaving the apartment, completely devastated.

In the hours and days after our breakup, it seemed like no matter what I tried to do, the crying wouldnt cease. I couldnt stop thinking whether there was something I could have done differently so our relationship couldve been more successful. And even though I had the company of my roommate while dealing with this traumatic ordeal, I was overwhelmed by a sense of loneliness that felt debilitating.

Its better this happened now and not six months into the relationship, my roommate told me. I could understand his remark on an intellectual level, but it did nothing to assuage feeling like I was inside a black hole, being ripped apart.

After the breakup, I couldnt stand to be alone, which shocked me because I value my alone time. Id stay on the phone for hours with friends who lived in other states, sometimes just sitting with them in silence because I just needed to feel a connection to someone. Even now, I worry that I overstay my welcome whenever Im invited out because I dont want to be alone, still feeling intensely sad.

But according to Josh Klapow, 51, a clinical psychologist who has spoken at length about the loneliness epidemic, There is a big difference between being alone and being lonely. Klapow added that being lonely is a part of the human condition. We all get lonely. That's a normal experience. Persistent or chronic loneliness, he said, is a problem that, when left untreated, can have major effects on an individuals health, including depression and suicidal thoughts.

I knew the breakup had me feeling emotions that didnt always make a lot of sense. Id oscillate between sadness and anger, and then thered be moments where I only thought about the good things D. did, like when he checked up on me and brought me tea when I was sick with strep throat. As someone who has depression, I tend to self-isolate, triggered by feeling alienated from everyone around me. With D. no longer in my life, I felt like a boat in the middle of the sea, unmoored and longing, desperately, for attachment, for comfort, for safety.

Mary Beth Barone during her show Drag His Ass.

He is not someone you needed in your life, my friend Octavia, who once worked in the city but moved away last year to attend law school in North Carolina, said to me over the phone, right around the time when I was feeling the worst about the breakup. Anyone who would do that to you clearly doesnt care about you. Our phone conversations were comforting because listening to her talk about her experiences with dating, especially as it related to being cheated on, helped me see that I wouldnt always feel this way. Her last relationship was with a guy who cheated with another woman two years into their relationship. It hurts, but I promise you will get through it, she told me.

So why, even despite this, was D. the only person my brain kept telling me could fix my heartache? I began to have the crippling fear that Id never find anyone to connect with. Klapow told me that having the foresight to make social plans ahead of time is important, specifically for someone like me, who has been plagued by feelings of loneliness post-breakup.

If you want to not be lonely in life, you do not have to rely on romantic relationships to combat your loneliness.

You dont like being alone; thats okay, Klapow told me. Then you need a plan to address situations like this. Sometimes you can stay with friends and say nothing. You also [have to be] be honest and authentic, he added, saying that I should let friends know about my feelings and offer to help them with an activity or plan an experience together. You also can build in structure into your week so you identify those times when you feel particularly bad about being alone and again have a plan, he said. Although this is helpful in the aftermath of a breakup, it cant be used as a crutch forever. It is important to learn to be comfortable alone. In the end, if you cant self-soothe and be okay being alone, you will never fully be okay, he added.

In the last year, most of my closest friends had moved out of New York to pursue graduate degrees in other states or take jobs on the other side of the country. In a bustling city where it seems like everyone else is constantly connecting and going out with friends and lovers, no longer being in close proximity with each other has been difficult, especially for simple things like asking a friend to dinner or a movie.

If you want to not be lonely in life, you do not have to rely on romantic relationships to combat your loneliness, Klapow told me. You dont even have to rely on longevity of a friendship; what you have to rely on is authentic connection. When I asked him what alternatives there were, Klapow recommended going to a pet shelter, a senior center, or a church or community center where you can potentially form meaningful human connections as a way to combat loneliness. The right person in your life could be somebody who's in a hospital you have a deep connection with who was a stranger youve come to know, he said. And I can't underscore how important that is, because we don't tend to go there naturally, particularly younger folks.

So while my feeling of loneliness may not have been unusual following the breakup with D., being cognizant of the fact that I also have depression was important in making a distinction between feeling alone in the moment and pervasive loneliness. Since my experience with D., Ive decided to take a hiatus from dating, mainly because I cant seem to even drum up serious interest in anyone at the moment. Im also very aware that I am not a person who is living in the world without a single soul to connect with, so Im saying yes to as many social events as my introverted nature will allow. And while I can recognize when men are attractive, I dont feel compelled to go up to anyone and strike up a conversation, and I havent had the courage to redownload any dating apps.

Thompson, the digital producer for The Grapevine, believes that the compartmentalization of emotions in the dating space doesnt give us the opportunity to work through our complex emotions, which is essentially what a relationship is. Because we dont engage in pain, because we dont engage in regular compromise, because once again were outfitted with so many options.

I think things will get worse before they get better, Barone, the creator of Drag His Ass, told me. But I do think theyll get better.

At heart, Im also an optimist. And as Ive continued working through my own breakup, I keep revisiting a moment D. and I had in early December, where we discussed bell hooks All About Love. One quote that has stuck with me goes, When we understand love as the will to nurture our own and another's spiritual growth, it becomes clear that we cannot claim to love if we are hurtful and abusive. Love and abuse cannot coexist. That night, after talking about our favorite parts of the book, we Ubered back to his apartment, his head in my lap. The thought of us cuddling that night is now just a warm memory to revisit every once in a while. But thats all it was, because it wasnt love.

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The Guy I Was Dating Asked To Be My Boyfriend. Three Days Later, He Broke Up With Me - BuzzFeed News

Watching him carve down an Austrian mountainside, throwing up a huge rooster tail of snow, its hard to imagine professional snowboarder Jeremy Jones stalking the corridors of power in Washington DC. Yet increasingly, this is where the 45-year-old American spends his time, swapping his Gore-Tex jacket for a suit, and lobbying lawmakers directly about the issue closest to his heart: climate change.

Its no secret that winter sports are facing an existential crisis. Glaciers are melting at an unprecedented rate, experts predict that the Alps will lose 35 percent of their snow coverage in the next 15 years, and even Japan often billed as the ultimate powdery paradise has been struggling for snow this winter.

Few are more acutely aware of the problem than Jones. Widely recognised as one of the best freeriders ever to strap on a snowboard, hes enjoyed a long and decorated career thats seen him win accolades that include Snowboarder magazines Big Mountain Rider of the Year (an award voted for by his fellow professionals) a record-breaking 10 times. His longevity also means hes witnessed the changes wrought by global warming up close.

Back in 2005, he told me over an aprs-ski beer in the Austrian resort of Damls, I was in northern Canada, in Prince Rupert, on the Alaska border. I was hiking with some locals in February and they were showing me restaurants that had closed. We don't get enough snow anymore, they said.

Realising the devastating impact that the climate crisis would have on mountain communities everywhere, including his hometown of Tahoe, California, Jones set up a charity, Protect Our Winters (POW), in 2007. His aim was to use his profile to raise awareness and campaign for change within the industry. In recent years however, the growing scale of the crisis has forced him to change tack. When we started, we were talking about low-energy light bulbs and reusable water bottles, he said. But as we got more climate experts on board, they said: Look your light bulb is not getting you where we need to go.

POW, Jones he told me, is now a full-on political organisation, and a highly effective one. In 2013, Jones was given a Champion of Change award by then-President Barack Obama for his work on the climate crisis. Yet whats interesting about this move into more direct lobbying is just how apolitical Jones has managed to remain.

Recognising that he risked alienating many of the outdoor enthusiasts that hed need to bring on-side including fishermen, and even hunters hes always been careful to keep any discussion of party allegiances at arms length. POW is, he stresses, a bi-partisan group. If you're a Republican and you're going to take votes on climate action, we've got your back.

In fact, many of Jones recent efforts have been focused specifically on reaching across party divides. He gives the example of a trip he took to Washington with Josh Jespersen, a POW activist and fellow snowboarder whos also a retired NAVY Seal. He did two tours of duty, hes a Republican, a proud American, and hes really fired up about climate change. When Jespersen walks into a Republicans office in Washington, Jones says, people sit up and listen.

Once POW has got their attention, Jones said, our message is simple. This is an economic issue, this is a jobs issue. This is happening, we're seeing the effects, and it's killing us. Given the size of the outdoor recreation industry in the US, the numbers are hard to ignore. According to the latest US government statistics, the sector is worth US$427 billion (329 billion), or 2.2 percent of GDP, and employs hundreds of thousands across the country.

Its bigger than the pharmaceutical industry, it's bigger than the extraction industry and it's bigger than the gun industry, says Jones. And as a CEO himself (he founded his own company, Jones Snowboards, in 2010) hes more than happy talking business with lawmakers.

Of course, politics is about more than whats happening in Washington. POW has off-shoots around the world (including a very active UK branch, based in Aviemore) and with an election coming up, Jones finds himself increasingly focusing on what politicians refer to as the ground game.

Again, his approach is avowedly non-partisan. It revolves around talking to outdoor enthusiasts of all political stripes in a language they can understand, and persuading them to make climate the defining issue when casting their vote. North Carolina, for example, is a big climbing zone. So well go on a climbing gym tour with Tommy Caldwell [star of 2017 extreme-climbing film The Dawn Wall,] and talk about climate change. Or well do events where we bring in a high profile hunter to give a talk. You get people going yeah Im Republican, but Im out in the woods every day and I see the problems.

Putting himself out there as a climate campaigner has meant Jones own behaviour coming under increasing scrutiny. Im hyper aware of my carbon footprint, and I improve every year, he told me, but admits that its far from perfect. He gave up using helicopters and snowmobiles to get to backcountry snow fields years ago, and uses Jones Snowboards as an example of how to run a company as sustainably as possible. Yet most of the constant online attacks he endures are over this issue.

If you look under any post [about me], there will be 400 comments saying I'm the worst human in the world, Jones said, adding that those who write POWs message off because of his personal carbon footprint are missing the point entirely. We need people who eat meat, hop on a plane, or drive a snowmobile - we need those people to vote for climate action. Giving up the personal stuff is good, I mean you need to do everything you can, but really, we need large-scale systemic change.

In the end, any criticism Jones puts up with is a price worth paying, he believes. Its not just a sport he loves thats on the line, but the livelihood of his friends and family, and an entire way of life. Recently I was in the Arlberg [in Austria], looking down over a whole valley. You can see the infrastructure, you can see the fancy lifts, and the villages and the whole lot. I was thinking what happens to all of this?

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Meet the professional snowboarder leading the battle against climate change - The Telegraph

Philippines, Mar 10: Passengers wear protective masks inside a crowded train following new cases of coronavirus in Manila. Image Credit: ANI

Dubai: As people across the globe look at the growing number of COVID-19 cases, now over 116,000, and the death toll of over 4,091, one key figure is being ignored - the recovery rate.

On Tuesday, China reported that a whopping 70 per cent of coronavirus cases in the country had'recovered'.

The total global number of recoveries, at the time of publishing, stands at 64,750 with 60,113 recoveries in China alone. Iran, the worst affected in the region, reported 2,731 recoveries.

recoveries out of over 116,000 coronavirus cases worldwide

In Macao, all 10 cases reported recovered, showcasing a 100 per cent recovery rate as of March 10. Sri Lanka, Gibraltar and Nepal also reported 100 per cent recovery - one case reported and recovered for each.

China

In China, recent days have seen more recoveries than new cases.Chinese President Xi Jinping visited the coronavirus epicenter of Wuhan for the first time since the disease emerged, state media said, a trip intended to project confidence that his government has managed to stem its spread domestically.

Xi arrived Tuesday morning in the capital of hard-hit Hubei province, the official Xinhua News Agency said. Wuhan, where the disease first emerged in December, has been quarantined since January 23.

What does a COVID-19 infection look like

In most cases, a person with COVID-19 or coronavirus infection has a fever which then goes away without specific treatment. This progression is called a 'mild case' and the World Health Organization reported thatnearly80 percent of all COVID-19 cases are mild.

Most involve fever, dry cough and, in some cases, shortness of breath. People with mild cases are expected to recover without any issues, and in many cases they may not be aware they're ever sick.

A report in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) studied the COVID-19 infection in 138 patients in Wuhanand came up with the most common progression seen in cases. 99 per cent of the cases surveyed,all of whom were hospitalised at Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University during January had fever as a recorded symptom. Dry cough and fatigue were also common symptoms.Patients who developed complications did so within five days after they first started having the symptoms.

In the cases that do get worse, pneumonia is a common ailment which then could lead to further organ dysfunction.

What aids in the recovery?

The new coronavirus has no vaccine or cure yet, but what can be attributed to the 70 per cent recovery rate then?

Nothing in particular yet, studies and accounts show, except the humanimmune system. Many people who recovered had mild symptoms to begin with and did not develop further complications.

She initially tested negative for the virus on her return to India from Wuhan (January 24) but later developed symptoms. The student, who preferred to withhold her name and details, said she put herself in home-quarantine despite testing negative and having no symptoms. She got her temperature recordedregularly before getting a sore throat and she alerted her local government facility (January 27).

Despite no fever at the time, she was put on antibiotics and kept in quarantinewhile tests were done. In 48 hours her test came back positive (January 30), by which she also had a fever.The student prescribed anti-viral drugs,Oseltamivir IP 75 mg also known by the brand name Tamiflu, for five days.

She said, "I had no diet restrictions or anything. I continued in quarantine until February 20 and was tested every alternate day. A blood, urine, stool sample and nasal or throat swab was taken and samples sent to the NIV Pune. After testing negative for nearly a week I was declared free of COVID-19 and have returned home, resumed normal life."

None of her family members or friends contracted the virus from her, she said, as she had put herself in quarantine and followed necessary protocol.

From the time she tested positive, according to her account, it was 14 days before she started testing negative for nearly one week and being declared free of the virus.

Not every recovery story is the same

In Italy, a 38-year-old man named Mattia - who is believed to be patient one in the Lombardy area - was moved out of the intensive care unit and is on the way to recovery, authorities reported on Tuesday.

At the San Matteo hospital in Pavia, there was a sigh of relief after Mattia began breathing on his own Monday with just a small amount of oxygen assistance, said Dr. Francesco Mojoli, head of intensive care. He was moved out of the ICU to a sub-ICU unit and was speaking with doctors.

"This disease has a long life,'' Mojoli told RAI state television. "Now we hope that the fact that he was young and in good shape will help him get back to his normal life.''

Mattia first went to the hospital in Codogno on February18 complaining of flu-like symptoms. He was sent home but came back the next day after his condition worsened dramatically. He was only tested for coronavirus after doctors learned that in early February he had met with a man who had been to China.

By then, however, he had infected his wife and several doctors, nurses and patients at the Codogno hospital, creating what was thought initially to have been Italy's main cluster.

This case is an example of a case that went well over the 14-day mark due to complications and a lack of awareness. In most cases, however, 14 to 20 days is considered standard for monitoring symptoms and getting a conclusive positive/negative test.

The best route to recovery

As seen from many cases worldwide, the best way prevent infectionis basic hygiene and following quarantine protocols when necessary. The best route to recovery is to depend on one's own immune system.

Following the first reported recovery in the UAE,Gulf News spoke to a specialist in internal medicine, Dr Smitha Muraletharan, from Aster Hospital in Al Ghusais, to find out how patients can be cured of coronavirus infection in general.

UAE has reported 17 recovered cases as of March 10.

If you are healthy, you could just pass it off as a cough or cold, Dr Muraletharan told Gulf News. Theres no treatment or cure just support to help your immune system clear it.

Patients with mild to moderate infection when detected early and isolated can get their immune system strong enough to fight the virus, she added.

Risk of getting COVID-19 a second time

Reuters reported that Japan reported its first case who recovered from coronavirus and then became ill with the disease for a second time. This gave way to fears of getting re-infected post recovery and questions regarding the virus's life span.

A small study out of China on four medical professionals who had the virus, published by JAMA, suggests that the new coronavirus can persist in the body for at least two weeks after symptoms of the disease clear up.All of the cases recovered, and only one was hospitalized during the illness.

Recovery is determined if tests for COVID-19 come out negative for two or more consecutive days.The cases studied in Chinacontinued to get throat swabs for the coronavirus after five days for up to 13 days post-recovery - which showed positive.

"These findings suggest that at least a proportion of recovered patients still may be virus carriers," the study concludes.

It is not uncommon for a virus to live on in the human body despite 'recovery'. Viruses such as the Zika virus, Ebola etc. tend to live on in recovered patients for months. The mono virus or the Epstein-Barr Virus can exist in the body for an entire lifespan, in most cases staying dormant and without any issues. The virus that causes chicken pox, for example, remains in your nerve tissues after infection in a dormant state.

Immunity against coronavirus

The human body's response to viruses is what is called 'immunity' where antibodies are created to recognise and destroy viruses. The reason most people are immune to chicken pox post an infection is because of the antibodies created to respond to that particular virus -varicella zoster virus - which is still in the human system but is dormant. In another example, when testing recovered cases from the 1918 Spanish flu in a 2008 paper published in Nature science journal, 90 per cent of survivors still had a high concentration of antibodies against that specific virus strain.

In the coronavirus infection, the immune system is able to create antibodies as it does with all viruses which is what ultimately results in recovery. However, factors such as the strength and longevity ofthese antibodies along with the mutation pattern of the virus could lead to possible relapse.

- Krys Johnson, an epidemiologist at Temple University's College of Public Health

In the case of the Japanese woman who got sick again post a COVID-19 recovery, experts have various opinions.

The efficacy of antibodies created and the longevity of these is one angle.

Zhan Qingyuan, director of pneumonia prevention and treatment at the China-Japan Friendship Hospital, had warned that this could happen. "For those patients who have been cured, there is a likelihood of a relapse," Zhan said in a press briefing on January 31. "The antibody will be generated; however, in certain individuals, the antibody cannot last that long."

In another angle, experts suggested dormancy of the virus andlater exacerbation.

Once you have the infection, it could remain dormant and with minimal symptoms, and then you can get an exacerbation if it finds its way into the lungs, Philip Tierno Jr., Professor of Microbiology and Pathology at NYU School of Medicine told Reuters.

Yet another angle is the mutation rate of the new coronavirus which is unknown as of now.

Krys Johnson, an epidemiologist at Temple University's College of Public Health told Live Science that viruses that stay behind in dormant states have a low chance of re-infection.

However, he added, there is always the possibility that the new coronavirus would mutate as it moves through populations, changing into a version that already-exposed immune systems can't recognize.

"The challenge is, how fast does this mutate?" Johnson said.

Testing for re-infection, recovery: Methods

There are many tests being researched as the best way to determine the presence of the virus. Some are very sensitive while others are not as sensitive in possibly dormant cases.

The study of the four Chinese medics with COVID-19, for example, showed positive results days after recovery from symptoms in a highly sensitive test that amplifies even the smallest viral molecule - the RT-PCR test (Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction). This test studies RNA and DNA to analyse the presence of the virus.

In a paper published on February 26 in the Radiological Society of North America, it was found that a chest CT scan has a high sensitivity for diagnosis of COVID-19 and that it could be used as a primary tool for the current COVID-19 detection in epidemic areas.

As of now, the most common and easily accessible method of testing is the throat swab which is widely used in airports, hospitals and other quarantine facilities globally. TheCentre for Disease Control (CDC) recommends four swabs daily to determine recovery.

What does a recovery mean?

When the viral load or concentration goes down in a person, so much so that his immune system is able to fight back symptoms, his throat swabs start showing low or no evidence of the COVID-19 virus. This usually happens in a span of 15-21 days. The patient is tested every alternative day until his swabs test negative for the virus. Under such circumstances the patient is said to have recovered from COVID-19.

Explaining the process, Dr Mohammad Rafique, Medical Director of Prime Hospital, Head of Infection Control and specialist pulmonologist said recovery from COVID-19 infection did not mean one was completely virus free but the virus load had become lower and the bodys immune system had created antibodies to fight back.

Dr Mohammad Rafique

In general from studies conducted on patients one has learnt that the virus presents mild to moderate symptoms with headache, fever and cough, gastro-intestinal symptoms and so on, in younger people. Only those above 60 and with co-morbidities have severity and fatality. What makes it contagious is its high shedding rate. But when kept in isolation and with symptomatic treatment in many cases with double dose of anti-virals, the load of the virus comes down.

Dr Rafiqe added that simple Polymerase Chain Reactor tests (PCR) records the ability of the virus to replicate. When the PCR rates fall and the virus is present in very low copies it does not show in the assay. Naso-pharyngeal and throat swabs are taken every 24 hours and when these turn up negative, a person is said to have recovered. It means that the virus load is so low that it does not show up in the swab tests. That is when a persons immune system has be activated creating enough anti-bodies to combat it and he or she is said to have recovered.

Dr Satyam Parmar, head of Pathology at RAK Hospital explained : As per the guidelines of the Centre for Disease Control, four swabs, in 24 hours gaps are taken totally from the nasopharyngeal and throat area to check if the patient has recovered.

Dr Satyam Parmar

"When all of these turn negative only then is patient declared to have recovered from COVID-19. it is advisable that a patient who has recovered must still continue to be in isolation for four to five days as his immune system has developed antibodies but the virus might still be lurking in small numbers.. This is what happens in other strains of coronavirus such as MERS and SARS, explained Dr Parmar.

*All numbers and toll taken fromhttps://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/ as of 6pm onMarch 10.

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Coronavirus: What does a COVID-19 recovery mean for you - Gulf News

In Parks and Rec, Rob Lowes Chris Traeger is a perennially positive, supplement-popping 45-year-old who glides through the rooms of Pawnee City Hall with golden retriever energy. He brings vegetable loaves to birthday parties, regularly runs 10 miles during his lunch breaks and touts just 2.8% body fat. In Season 2 of the show, Traeger reveals his lifes goal: to live to 150.

Scientists believe that the first human being to live to a 150 years has already been born I believe I am that human being. At first, it sounds like just another quotable line from a show thats famous for them. Traeger isnt to be taken seriously, after all. One of his other signature adages is simply Stop pooping. (On the exceedingly rare occasions that Traegers body fails him, he lands in a dark place.)

Believe it or not, though, Traegers right. At least one scientist has been predicting humankinds potential to live to 150 for the better part of a decade, a man whos furthered the notion of aging as disease since he arrived at MIT in the late 1990s. That would be Australian Dr. David Sinclair, a biology rockstar and former Time 100 honoree with an Order of Australia (Down Unders version of knighthood), and his own genetics lab at Harvard Medical School.

In September of last year, Dr. Sinclair released Lifespan: Why We Age and Why We Dont Have To. Its an explosive call to arms detailing Dr. Sinclairs core belief, which hes spent decades researching: most humans leave decades of high-quality life on the table simply because society doesnt afford aging the same attention and dollars it reserves for other health crises like cancer and heart disease. The book is one part memoir (Dr. Sinclair recalls the drawn-out final decades of his mother and grandmothers lives), one part crash-course in epigenetics (we hold far more in common with yeast cells than the common person knows) and one part sneak peek into the advancements being made in the worlds preeminent genetics labs (Dr. Sinclairs team has successfully cured blindness in mice).

Most refreshingly, though, Lifespan delights in giving answers. On top of the many science-fiction-esque wonders on display at Harvard Medical School each week (Dr. Sinclair is a pioneer of a practice called cellular programming, which effectively means resetting cells back to a younger age), the book includes functional day-to-day advice on how the layman or woman can activate survival processes in their epigenome, engaging specific sirtuin proteins (a class of protein that helps regulate cellular aging) to help foster greater longevity.

Basically, Sinclairs hypothesis is that eating a certain way, working out a certain way and exposure to a certain kind of temperature can make living past 100 a relative breeze. We recently caught up with Dr. Sinclair to discuss his book, intermittent fasting, Benjamin Button and more.

InsideHook: This book definitely doesnt mince concepts or words. Why was it important to you to write so boldly on aging as a disease?

Dr. David A. Sinclair: The world is in a stupor when it comes to aging. Theres a blind spot. I wrote the book to shake things up, and hopefully wake up those who dont think aging is important or worth working on. We focus as a society far too much on the end consequence of aging, playing whack-a-mole with these diseases that kill us. We ignore whats actually driving these diseases. The more we study aging, though, the more we realize that the diseases we treat are all manifestations of an underlying process. And its treatable.

Some of your peers in the field have said it isnt a good look to be so declarative in your predictions on aging. Have they changed their tune since the book was released?

I havent had any criticism from colleagues since the book came out. Either they havent read it, or theyre okay with my arguments. But also, the world is changing. What used to be considered crazy 10 years ago is no longer crazy. For example, scientists didnt used to say the phrase reversal of aging. But now, its a fact thats doable. Our field has proven that many aspects of aging are reversible, including blindness. Its also partly that I was ahead of the curve, and that things which were once forbidden are now in the realm of discussion and debate.

Im fascinated by the cellular reprogramming work your lab has done. In the book, you invoke F. Scott Fitzgeralds Benjamin Button story to describe how a 50-year-old could soon begin a routine that will have him/her feeling and looking 30 again. Are we actually close to seeing that sort of treatment in the developed world?

The first thing to say is we now understand that changes in your lifestyle can dramatically improve your age and physiology. We used to think that aging was just something that was in our genes, something that we couldnt modify. But very rapidly, within months of changing diet and exercise, you can reverse many aspects of aging. Its never too late, unless youre on your last legs. The fact that its that easy to slow down and reverse aspects of aging just with lifestyle changes totally fits with our understanding of molecular mechanisms. We should be able to slow aging even better with the reprogramming of cells. I see the work weve done as a proof of concept. While its true that Im working hard towards restoring eyesight in people whove lost their vision, its really just the beginning. This work is proof that its possible to restore the age of a complex tissue. In the same way that the Wright brothers werent building rockets to the moon, they could at least imagine that one day it would be possible. Weve shown that there is a backup copy of a youthful epigenome that we can turn on to reset the cell and get it to work again. If thats doable in the eye, it would be rather pessimistic to say we were just lucky to choose the right body part for this to work.

High-intensity training is one of the practices you cite as vital to this process. What about it encourages longevity genes?

Weve found that high-intensity training will induce the sirtuin defenses in the body, similar to what intermittent fasting does. When those genes come on, they defend the cell against diseases, and aging itself. When we dont engage those sirtuin genes, we dont reap the benefits. High-intensity training is particularly good at turning on the sirtuins, because it encourages a hypoxic response, which weve shown leads to the activation of these defense mechanisms. While walking is good, its not as good as doing high-intensity training.

Im glad you mentioned intermittent fasting, another practice you endorse. Are there any mistruths or misunderstandings in the way that popular media portrays it?

Based on recent results in animal studies, its not so much what you eat but when you eat. Of course, you cant eat a hamburger morning, noon and night, then fast the next day and expect to get the maximum benefits. That said, it seems to be more about just having a period of fasting in general. Theres one misconception that people need an optimal mix of protein, carbohydrates and fat, and that thats the most important thing to get right. Id say worry about that less, as long as youre getting nutrients and xenohormetic molecules, which are molecules produced by plants when theyre under stress. As long as youre doing those things, its far more important to skip meals.

One other thing: people claim that there is an optimal intermittent fasting protocol. The truth is, we dont know what the optimal is. Were still learning, and its individual. There are individual differences in all of us. There is a subset of people, myself included, who start producing glucose out of their livers early in the morning, at around 6 a.m. Which means, for me, to start eating breakfast around 7 a.m. makes no sense. Some people, though, have such low blood sugar in the morning that they can barely function. We also dont know the best method. Is it the 16/8 [hours, first on and then off of the fast]? Two days fasting out of every five? We really dont know yet. But we do know that if youre never hungry, if youre eating three meals a day and snacking in between, thats the worst thing you can do. It switches off your bodys defenses. Some fasting is better than none.

Do you eat meat?

I do, but its a gradient. Its mostly plants, then fish, rarely chicken, and almost never red meat.

From an aging perspective, do you recommend that people give up meat?

For the average person, focus on plants. Meat isnt going to kill you if you eat it once in a while, but the reason for the plant-based diet is we know where the hot spots are for longevity. We know what theyre eating. Its not a mystery. Theyre not carnivores. Theyre eating mostly plants, and a little bit of meat maybe, a bit of fish. Theyre consuming olive oil, avocados, red wine and other plants that have xenohormetic molecules. I dont think that thats a coincidence.

Theres been some coverage recently about the rise of wild swimming. In the UK, especially, people have started jumping into freezing cold water and claiming all sorts of health benefits. It reminded me of your points in the book about challenging the thermoneutral zone. Does one need to frequently experience extremely cold temperatures to reap benefits?

Cold baths, cryotherapy I was skeptical. I started out skeptical until proven otherwise. But theres some evidence that making brown fat is good. Adult humans can make brown fat as long as theyre not super old, and cold is a good way to do that. One of my favorite genes, the third of the seven sirtuin genes, boosts brown fat. All of these things that were talking about exercise, fasting, cold therapy, even a sauna its best to mix it up. You dont want to be constantly exercising, constantly hungry, or constantly at one temperature or another. You want to shock the body. Putting a few days of recovery in between makes a lot of sense. As for exposing yourself to cold, a little is still better than nothing. I do it once a week. But Im still trying to figure out when to do these ice baths. There was a study that an ice bath after a workout potentially lowers the benefit of the workout.

Lifespan devotes a ton of pages to metformin, the anti-diabetic medication thats been discovered to activate longevity genes. Are there adverse side effects from taking metformin? It seems a little too good to be true.

As far as drugs go, metformin is very safe. The World Health Organization declared it one of the essential medicines for humanity. One in 10,000 people have an adverse side reaction and have to stop taking it. The majority of complaints are attributed to a queasy stomach feeling until you get used to it. I actually dont mind, because it stops me from getting hungry. [Editors note: Dr. Sinclair takes metformin daily.] It doesnt give you anything like a greater risk of cancer or heart disease. The data actually suggests the opposite. The risk of getting old is pretty high, but the risk of taking metformin is pretty low, based on millions of people taking it.

Youre on the record saying the first person to live to 150 has been born. Would that person need to combine every single practice and innovation that you outline in this book in order to do so?

An important point of clarification: I dont think we have any technology today that would get us to 150. But if youre born today, you can be around until the mid-22nd century. Theres a lot thats going to happen between now and then. Were on a path of technological development. Once you see the trajectory and barriers are broken down, it gives me the license to say someone born today will live far longer than we can imagine. People born today will benefit from technologies that come about after were dead. The big breakthrough is being able to reprogram the body. If we can get that to work, wed be literally able to turn the clock back on cells. Weve done it once we managed to restore vision in mice but you might be able to reset cells twice. Or 100 times. Well just have to see.

Related: The Healthiest Blue Zone in Every State, Mapped

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We are beginning to see the early economic impact of the Coronavirus outbreak in the U.S. and globally. Beyond the human healthcare aspect, it is clear that the outbreak will disrupt the global supply of goods, making it harder for U.S. firms to fill orders. But as events get cancelled, schools and offices close, and social withdrawal becomes the norm, the demand for products and services will decrease, workers will lose jobs and some businesses may shut their doors forever.

With the virus that causes COVID-19 spreading to significantly more communities around the country, its becoming clear that the epidemic is the biggest threat to the global economy since the financial crisis almost a dozen years ago. In a startlingly short period of time, spending and confidence that until recently underpinned the economy and supported a record-breaking job market for more than a decade appear to be coming to a screeching halt.

For consumers, the impact of being sent home because demand for their services are not needed at this time (or the need to stay home to care for a sick loved one or a child without a school to attend) differs depending on the specific circumstances. There is far less impact for a middle income worker telecommuting from home than one who is out of a job without unemployment benefits or a safety net of funds available for emergencies.

If the health crisis continues for an extended period, the impact on income and future employment becomes less certain and more at risk. The impact is even more uncertain when we consider the impact of global supply chains potentially drying up.

Eleven states and the District of Columbia require employers to offer workers paid leave, but none of these states guarantee paid leave to healthy workers if a virus outbreak requires everyone to stay home. Because of this gap, 14 Democratic senators wrote to leaders of the Business Roundtable, the Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers tourge their member companies not to penalize workersfor going home during the outbreak, according to Politico.

It is clear that we are entering completely uncharted waters.

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According to Alex Johnson, Director of Portfolio Marketing for FICO, Most of the time, consumers dont think about banking at all. They just expect it to work. The only times they really think about banking is when there is a financial need or when theyre facing a crisis. Johnson continues, Delivering solutions, tailored to each individual customer, is what builds trust and brand loyalty in these moments.

This need has not gone unnoticed by the regulators. A joint statement from the Federal Reserve, CFPB, FDIC, NCUA, OCC and Conference of State Bank Supervisors stated, Regulators note that financial institutions should work constructively with borrowers and other customers in affected communities. The statement continued, Prudent efforts that are consistent with safe and sound lending practices should not be subject to examiner criticism.

To stimulate the economy, the central bank also cut its benchmark short-term lending rate by half a percentage point, with the rate expected to go even lower soon. The President also indicated the potential for additional stimuli, including a possible direct payment to consumers, a cut in payroll taxes and other options.

These are extraordinary times and they require extraordinary thinking and actions, states Bryan Clagett, Director of Strategic Initiatives for StrategyCorps. From a tactical level, financial institutions can do a lot to reduce consumer and business stress. For years Ive seen and heard bankers preach advocacy. Its put up or shut up time.

While some consumer relief strategies can be offered unilaterally (such as reductions in lending rates or elimination of penalty fees), now is a perfect time to leverage both personalized strategies as well as the use of advanced analytics to deliver contextual solutions.

Some examples that should be considered on a case-by-case basis include:

One of the most impactful offerings may be the availability of short-term, small-dollar personal lines of credit that can provide relief for consumers needing funds until an upcoming employment or benefit check is received. Similar to the high-rate payday loan offered by third party vendors, a much lower rate offering from a traditional or fintech organization can create tremendous positive impact on a consumer experiencing financial stress.

This type of small dollar personal loan offering should be offered on a pre-approved basis (and for varying amounts) directly on a banks or credit unions mobile app. With instant access, and the ability to repay the borrowed funds automatically when a deposit is made, this service should take into account the longevity of the relationship, utility and rent bill payment history as well as other non-traditional credit criteria.

To provide people with more financial instruments during Black Swan events like the Coronavirus outbreak, financial institutions should look for more ways to help their customers and members tap into their credit, their savings, and other sources of income to sustain them when they are unable to work, states Bradley Leimer, co-founder of Unconventional Ventures. More innovation has to come from within banking and from our friends in fintech.

According to best-selling author, speaker and founder of Moven, Brett King, After years of continuous growth, banks and lenders should be seeking to alleviate some of the stress of Coronavirus with mortgage holidays and temporary rate reductions on credit lines for effected individuals. Its time for banks to show their social and community commitment.

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Unfortunately, the challenge for many traditional financial institutions is a combination of a lack of simple digital product offerings as well as an inability to deliver highly personalized financial solutions seamlessly.

According to Ron Shevlin, Director of Research at Cornerstone Advisors and senior contributor to Forbes, Nearly every financial institution Ive surveyed or spoken to says that personalization is important to their customer relationship building efforts. But when it comes to personalizing a product like offering flexible payment terms on mortgage payments, or allowing someone to skip a payment its oh no, we cant do that.

We found the same to be true in research conducted by the Digital Banking Report. As would be expected, the largest financial institutions had the highest self-assessment around the ability to provide real-time contextual guidance. That said, less than 20% of the large national and regional banks considered themselves Advanced in this capability.

While it was somewhat encouraging that almost 60% of financial organizations in all asset ranges considered themselves as Emerging (10% higher than in 2016), the overall percentage of institutions believing they were Advanced is dismal. Bottom line, 94% of financial institutions are still unable to deliver on the personalization promise.

Unfortunately, most responses to the Coronavirus outbreak have consisted of email messages to customers and members, discussing a commitment to the community and willingness to help, with close to zero specifics beyond phone numbers to call. In the case of my primary business bank, they also offered links to digital bill payment solutions and their overdraft solutions page. (#epicfail)

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Obviously, if the Coronavirus epidemic gets much worse, branch banks may be forced to limit operations or potentially close some branches if there are not adequate employees to support the office. In China many banks needed to close hundreds of offices during the height of the epidemic. Many banks and credit unions in the U.S. are developing contingency plans, but how does the consumer and small business get impacted if a local branch needs to close?

Government agencies understand that financial institutions may face staffing and other challenges. Regulators stated that they will expedite, as appropriate, any request to provide alternative availability of services in affected communities. In these situations, it becomes clear the importance of digital banking solutions across the organization, from opening accounts and applying for loans to disbursement of funds.

Consumers, small businesses and bank employees are looking for relief during these unusual times. While some may be forced out of work or may simply just be emotionally impacted by the current inundation of stressful economic messages, everyone will be looking to their local financial institution for a calming influence and financial solutions that will help.

What is the culture of your organization? Can you deliver on your promise of delivering a positive customer experience? Can you illustrate your support for your employees?

One example of how an organization put their corporate culture to the test was WeLab in Shenzhen China. When the Chinese fintech reopened their offices, employees received Welcome Bank Packs that included hand sanitizer, anti-bacterial wipes, face masks and additional goodies. Most importantly, these Welcome Back Packs were assembled by the senior management team at WeLab.

At times of crisis, how you treat your employees and your customers speak volumes about your values, shared Theodora Lau, founder of Unconventional Ventures. From allowing interest-only payments for mortgages, to suspending debt repayments, to extending relief loans for small businesses, we must ensure that the societys most vulnerable citizens have access to a safety net. How our financial institutions choose to act will have a long lasting impact in the lives of their customers and beyond.

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Banking Must Provide Financial Relief In Times Of Economic Stress - The Financial Brand

Written by Catherine Opie

Beauty is often thought of in relation to fashion and femininity. Its construct in pop culture is something that I've always tried to work with in different ways in relation to my work as a photographer. Beauty is complicated; it's an individual response to how we live our lives -- but it can also encompass kindness and compassion.

I don't think that real beauty is easily defined, otherwise it's cliched. I'm a self-identified butch dyke, I'm a big woman, and even though I might struggle with my body, I still find it really beautiful in terms of what it can do. Artists who challenge the idea that only a certain type of person or body can be valued are showing that what's considered "the other" can be beautiful too.

I find an enormous amount of beauty in being political and intellectual. Beauty isn't necessarily surface-level; it can also be about one's personal life and contain conflicting ideologies. You can create a certain aesthetic around those ideas, draw someone in with an element of beauty, and then push those boundaries by posing questions.

"Self-Portrait/Nursing" (2004) Credit: Catherine Opie

It's also important to make photographs that inspire one to really look, to be drawn in, instead of just glancing at something quickly. For me, beauty is also about being held.

I've experienced that captivating feeling in a series of three portraits taken by Dutch photographer Rineke Dijkstra in 1994. They feature three different women in the hospital, just after giving birth. They stand, nude, holding their newborns, and at times you see a trail of blood running down a leg, or the marking of a caesarean scar. I find beauty in the honesty of these images, and I'm moved by how they show a mother's protective nature.

People in my community were shocked when I became pregnant. It didn't seem like butch women like me birthed children.

But, I knew I always wanted to be a mom. When I gave birth to Oliver in 2002 , I took a self-portrait while nursing, recalling the forms of Madonna and child.

"Self-Portrait/Cutting" (1993) Credit: Catherine Opie

"Self-Portrait/Nursing" became the third in what could be considered a trilogy of photographs, with my earlier photographs "Self-Portrait/Cutting" and "Self-Portrait/Pervert" from the 1990s. The photograph with "pervert" cut into my chest, when I participated in Los Angeles's queer BDSM community, is a little too extreme for me now. It was important for me to make it, but there's some work that you don't necessarily want to live with every single day. I was talking about beauty in it, though, and the formality of a photograph. It engages you; it's very well-designed. For a large queer body to both hold space, and to seduce you, was a radical concept.

For me, it was perfect to complete this trilogy with the nursing image, which fulfilled my own longing to be a mother. I love the photograph because he was such a beautiful baby -- and he still is. At my last opening, Oliver sat on my lap and told me how proud he was of me as an artist. The fact that my 18-year-old son will still come and cuddle in my lap, mirroring the moment I photographed him while nursing, is incredibly touching to me.

"Rusty" (2008) Credit: Catherine Opie

I try to show that kind of vulnerability when photographing male beauty. In the 2000s, I took tender photographs of high school football players that show both their vulnerability as well as their performance of masculinity. Some of those images are hung now for the "Masculinities" show at the Barbican in London.

Chicken from "Being and Having" (1991) Credit: Catherine Opie

The show also includes images from "Being and Having," which I hung in 1991, of my queer friends and I acting out exaggerated masculinity in moustaches and beards. The show included portraits of my longtime friend Pig Pen. Pig Pen is beautiful to me -- it's in their butchness, the way they hold their body. I'm drawn to the slippage of identity. We met in Los Angeles, running in the same circles, hanging out in queer clubs and being a part of grassroots organizations like Act Up and Queer Nation. The presence of our friendship, which spans decades and multiple bodies of work, is also really important to me. Sentimentality and nostalgia can also shape our perceptions of beauty.

"Pig Pen (Tattoos)" (2009) Credit: Catherine Opie

Today I think we're getting around to understanding that it's also important to show people who are aging. There's something beautiful to that. I think about portraits of John Baldessari, David Hockney or Edith Windsor, all taken in their 80s, and what it means to kind of sit with somebody and photograph them when they're of that age. It's another way of talking about the beauty of longevity. Youth culture isn't the only important area to explore in beauty and fashion. It's important to represent the transitions of a person's body throughout their life.

"David" (2017) Credit: Catherine Opie

We have to question the norm. And if we question the norm, then we question ideas that surround beauty. For me, beauty has to encompass more about the human condition and the times we are living in. I see just an enormous amount of hatred these days. It's troubling; I didn't think that we would return to this level of bigotry. In response, we have to figure out how to really support one another -- to treat people with decency. It's important to realize that beauty is actually tied to ideas around happiness. How do we become fulfilled in that way? And can we fulfill it through acts of kindness?

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Catherine Opie: 'Beauty has to encompass more about the human condition' - CNN