Heaven is merely a mouse click away in the new Amazon Prime series called Upload.

The problem is, this particularversion of heaven is not altogether heavenly. And that might be because it is not positioned specifically in the marketing materials as heaven per se, even if it does offer prospective customers anattractive vision of a deluxe digital afterlife.

But heaven? Not exactly, learns this shows protagonist, a young man named Nathan (played by RobbieAmell).

Nathan becomes a somewhat reluctant new resident of digital heaven after he suddenly dies in theultimate tech-era mishap -- a fatal smash-up following a software glitch in the operating system of the driverless car in which he is riding.

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While beingrolled down a hospital hallway on a gurney, and being told he will die at any moment, Nathan is more or less forced to sign a bunch of papers full of words that he will have no opportunity to read. Inthis way, he rather carelessly signs his afterlife away. The large print giveth and the small print taketh away, right?

The place where he ends up might bepurgatory. Or you might call it heaven lite. The ad copy positions it this way: The best years of your life could be when its over.

This is part of the advertising and promotional materials for a virtual posthumous destination called Lakeview,one of a variety of such places managed by a tech company called Horizen.

Thats Nathan in the photoabove taking in the view from the balcony of his new home in this sprawling mountain facility. In a nice touch, the producers have used the very real Mohonk Mountain House in New Paltz, N.Y. as theirexterior stand-in for the fictional Lakeview.

The marketing is not unlike the kind of effort you would see in the real world for a retirement community --only this is a place for post-retirement where one is supposed to live forever.

Although the time frame of Upload is notspecified, it appears to be in the reasonably near future -- perhaps the mid- to late-2020s. This near-future world is rendered with great care. It seems as if it has evolved seamlessly from our own.We recognize it instantly, and then again, we do not.

The prime mover behind Upload is Greg Daniels, a show creator and executive producerassociated with top-of-the-line comedy hits such as The Office (the U.S. version), Parks & Recreation and perhaps most notably, King of the Hill, one ofthe smartest TV comedies ever made.

Although Upload takes a decidedly lighthearted look at its subject matter, this show somehow manages tomake a number of serious observations about our high-tech world and where it is going.

Uploadraises intriguing questions about immortality and life (both real and virtual). In this show, a persons soul is really the sum total of the data that has been collected by othersabout him.

It is from this data pile that Horizen rebuilds each person into a virtual version of his- or herself. In this way, the virtual afterlife thecompany promises is not that much different from the life each person was living in real life in the first place.

Among other things, before he perishes inthat car crash, Nathan is seen in a supermarket where he is bombarded by advertising messages tailored especially for him, since everything he has ever done or bought in his life has been collected ina huge database that appears to be entirely available to anyone who wishes to use it to sell him things.

In fact, this is one of the aspects of Lakeview thatis less than heavenly: Marketers of well-known brands still want his money -- from the man peddling Orbit chewing gum in the Lakeview lobby to the sodas and salty snacks he has to pay for in hisrooms minibar.

Upload is streaming now on Amazon Prime Video.

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Digital Afterlife Is Less Than Heavenly In Amazon's 'Upload' 05/05/2020 - MediaPost Communications

Fifty years later, Sinden thinks of Eddie Westfall.

What I was worried about was not so much what great play Derek and Bobby were going to make, said Sinden, who turns 88 in September. It was who was going to cover up for Bobby when he went in.

That was Westfall, the right winger, who saw Orr breaking and dutifully cycled back to the right point, ready to thwart a potential St. Louis breakout in the first minute of overtime. Sinden, moments before Orr made history, was able to relax.

The next thing you know, he said, were all out on the ice and all hell broke loose.

Sinden, who teleconferenced with Boston reporters Monday in advance of Sundays 50th anniversary of Orrs goal, has been arguably the largest and most vocal figure in the Hub of Hockey this half-century. When asked to describe his tenure in Black and Gold, he was direct.

The only word I can think of is wonderful, he said.

Sinden arrived as head coach in 1966-67, the same season Orr and Gerry Cheevers debuted and then-general manager Milt Schmidt robbed Chicago of Phil Esposito, Ken Hodge and Fred Stanfield. Along with Derek Sanderson next year (One of the great rookies ever to break into this league, noted Sinden), to go with the existing core of John Pie McKenzie and once-and-future captain Johnny Bucyk, the Bruins golden era had begun.

It created a nucleus of a future great team, and its been going on ever since. I used to live in fear we might lose the attitude or the personality of that group of players, he said. But then along came Terry OReilly and Cam Neely.

Sinden, who had the Bruins in the playoffs for an NHL-record 29 consecutive years, regrets the lean years of the late 90s, when he was nearing the end of his run as GM, and the lack of Stanley Cups between the Big, Bad Bs and the 2011 squad. But he sees similar traits across the eras.

I just think what the team and players establish as an example for the way you have to play in Boston, has never gone away, he said. The fans wont let it go away. You guys [media) certainly wont let it go away. Theyve bought into it big-time. It has a lot to do with [President] Cam [Neely] and [GM] Don [Sweeney] and [coach] Bruce [Cassidy].

We had a couple players who were really good players who we got in drafts or trades, and they were good goal-scorers, but I never thought of them as Bruins, and I couldnt. But as long as we can keep that alive, were going to be challenging for the Stanley Cup forever.

Other thoughts from Sinden:

Any similarity between Orrs Bruins and the way they play now?

Very, very comparable, he said. And every bit as good.

In Sindens mind, this is one of the best-checking Bruins teams in history. The stats bear that out. The Bruins have ranked near or at the top of the league in key defensive and puck-possession stats over the last decade. Sinden likes how the Bruins third and fourth lines carry just as much load as the top scoring units.

We used to score a lot of goals back in the years were talking about, but we always had one of the best goals-against averages, too, he said. In todays game, its particularly important.

Sinden had high praise for Bucyk, who has been with the Bruins going on 63 years.

He was one of the three great left wingers of his era, with only Bobby Hull and Frank Mahovlich ahead of him, but not by much, Sinden said of Bucyk, who played here for 21 years (1957-78) and spent two decades as a color commentator before moving onto other roles. He is currently a team ambassador.

Bucyk delivered many of his 545 goals, still a franchise record, from close range.

He knew how to stop at the edge of the crease and take the pass and score like no one I knew before him, and like no one since, Sinden said. I see [Brad] Marchand do it today in much the same manner.

Sinden referenced the ill-fated 2015 draft, when the Bs took Jakub Zboril, Jake DeBrusk and Zach Senyshyn with successive picks in the middle of the first round, while professing his trust in the current Bruins leadership.

They came in here with a few problems, Sinden said of the current leadership. Don Sweeneys first draft, he had never seen any of the players play. He spent all his time in Providence. He had nothing to do with the three draft [picks] we had in the first round. He had never really seen them play at all. He had to live with who they are. We came out of it pretty good, but weve done better since.

He spoke of how badly he wanted Neely back in the organization, after the passionate No. 8 retired for good in 1998.

No one no one that I dealt with in all my years was so in love with the game of hockey as Cam Neely. He took a terrific blow to one of the spectacular careers that could have been, and was, and took a few years off and just could not stay away from it, Sinden said.

We always had a great relationship. We fought a lot certainly not on the ice, because you wouldnt be talking to me today over certain things. He wanted to be back in the game. He wanted to do what he always wanted to do, which is be involved in hockey.

They couldnt give him some title like head of Northwest scouting or something stupid." He had to be a high-level executive.

The 1986 trade Sinden made with Vancouver worked out good, but those trades are always lucky or not lucky, he mused. But his presence in this city has been spectacular.

He praised Cassidy for being a players coach who is in charge, and for leading the Bruins back from the danger of missing the playoffs for a third year in a row.

The job that he was doing in Providence was never unnoticed by Don and Cam, and certainly never by me, Sinden said. I thought we had a gem here . . . I cant say enough about him.

He said he counts no greater career victory than the 1970 Cup, considering it as even greater than the 1972 Team Canada Summit Series win over the Soviet Union.

One interesting cross-generational comparison: Sinden likened late defenseman Gary Doak to shot-blocking center Gregory Campbell: He really would sacrifice himself to win a hockey game.

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Harry Sinden on the game Bobby Orr took flight and other thoughts on the Bruins - The Boston Globe

Starring Charlize Theron, KiKi Layne, Marwan Kenzari, Luca Marinelli, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Harry Melling

Directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood

Most of you have probably seen The Old Guard by now, as Netflix wasted no time boasting about how it became one of their most watched original films of all time. Which is why were pleased to say that we found it to be so much more than a corporate cash grab, with director Gina Prince-Bythewood instead having created something which will truly stand the test of time.

Charlize Theron stars as Andromeda of Scythia (otherwise known as Andy), who leads a team of immortal warriors with Wolverine-style healing powers. Andy rarely smiles, and while its clear she seems cold and detached, we learn she loves her team more than anything. She would even be willing to die for them, which she demonstrates time and again, although her immortality prevents each death from being permanent. Theron was perfectly cast as Andy, bringing both a tough exterior and a sense of sadness to the role of a woman who has lived for centuries and witnessed both the best and the worst humanity has to offer. Andy also serves as a kind of mentor to Nile (KiKi Layne), a newly discovered immortal who initially views her powers as a curse rather than a gift, with the characters internal struggle being perfectly captured by Layne.

We also learn that one of the other immortal warriors was entrapped in a holed iron coffin which was then thrown into the depths of the sea, where she would spend century after century drowning over and over again. Even for hardcore horror fans like us, just the thought of that gives us chills. Anyone who dreams of immortality will probably have second thoughts after watching this.

Because it was never intended to receive a theatrical release, The Old Guard did not have to worry about securing a lower age rating, and as a result, the action sequences are satisfyingly visceral and unhinged. We have to applaud Netflix for not holding back on the bloodshed in such a mainstream and commercial film, and with any luck, the inevitable sequel will end up being just as violent.

In recent years, Hollywood studios have congratulated themselves for representing LGBTQ characters, although this usually amounts to nothing more than a wink and a nod. Which is why we were so relieved that not only did The Old Guard feature two explicitly gay characters in the forms of Joe and Nicky (who were beautifully played by Marwan Kenzari and Luca Marinelli), but even featured an extended sequence where Joe delivers a speech about how much he loves Nicky. This is the kind of representation of LGBTQ persons which Hollywood should embrace, and we have nothing but praise for The Old Guard in this area.

On the other hand, the question of whether the immortals have a moral responsibility to share their genetic code with the world in the hopes that it could be used for healthcare purposes is certainly a valid topic of discussion, but sadly the film falls here by depicting the healthcare CEO (played by Harry Melling) as a greedy, sadistic, and cowardly weasel who only cares about the bottom line. This undoubtably diluted the serious moral dilemma the film briefly seemed to want to raise, with the villain being presented as such a conventional Hollywood bad guy that any semblance of serious debate was sadly thrown out the window.

If anything, however, The Old Guard was an incredibly quotable movie. That womanhas forgotten more waystokill thanentirearmies will ever learn is bound to be repeated for years to come, while Nothing that lives, lives forever also being a line which most viewers will remember. Greg Rucka, who authored the comic on which the film is based, also wrote the screenplay, and he clearly has a knack for hard-hitting and thoughtful dialogue.

While theres probably not much else we can say about The Old Guard which has not already been said, we found it to be a hugely satisfying action blockbuster which puts its humanity front and centre. And we certainly appreciate an extra dose of humanity in our action movies, so The Old Guard could easily be one of the best comic book adaptations of 2020. On the other hand, Therons performance in itself also makes this a film which demands your immediate attention, which is not something we would say lightly. If humans really did live forever, we expect people would still be talking about The Old Guard at the turn of the next century.

Summary

While it functioned perfectly well as a visceral action blockbuster with great central performances, The Old Guard also reminded us of what it means to be human in the first place, making it one of the best comic book adaptations of the year.

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THE OLD GUARD Review - A Visceral Action Blockbuster with an Extra Dose of Humanity - Dread Central

These daguerreotypes date from the 1840s or 1850s. The closed cover of each measures about 2 by 3 inches.

For a moment, lets forget craftsmanship and design, form and function.

As I travel the world of antiques, there is one thing for which I look history.

Its one of the key components that make an object interesting often, its the only component of interest in something that otherwise would be sadly lacking.

The people involved in an objects creation, the folks who used it, the events that have taken place around it all leave their marks.

Those are part of history.

And, for the most part, the faces that were behind that history long ago were consigned to dust, their names forgotten.

But in one form of collectible, the faces remain, even if the names are lost.

Im referring to the first photographs, Louis Daguerres daguerreotypes, created in the 1830s.

Those 2-inch bits of silver were coated with light-sensitive mercury vapor then exposed, offering ordinary folks a shot at earthly immortality.

That was a first. A portrait drawn or painted by an artist was expensive, available only to the affluent. In comparison, daguerreotypes were inexpensive and provided near-instant results.

PHOTOS BY SCOTT SIMMONS / FLORIDA WEEKLY

So, 180 years later, the anonymous faces stare back, peering from behind the protective glass that shields the precious images.

I was reminded of those faces as I dug through my desk, filled with pencils, stamps, envelopes and thumbtacks, and stumbled across the embossed covers of daguerreotypes I bought some years ago for a few dollars at the West Palm Beach Antiques Festival.

The people tell a story of wearing their Sunday best for a portrait.

A double set of images shows two women wearing matching dresses and white lace collars at their necks. Both wear dark lace mitts on their crossed hands.

In another, a boy looks expectantly into the camera while seated on a straight chair, his arm resting on a table.

And in yet another, a sour-faced woman, her hair parted at the middle, peers at the camera. The early thermoplastic Union Case in which her photograph is mounted, was made between 1855 and 1865, according to The Daguerreian Societys website. That case measuring just over 3 inches by 3 inches is the largest of our trio. Its also the newest and may well be an Ambrotype exposed on glass or a tintype a photograph exposed on a sheet of tin.

This image is an Ambrotype, made between 1855 and 1865. It measures 3 inches by 3 inches.

Was she having a bad day, one wonders, or was she simply dealing with the cumbersome photography process of the day? The subjects of those early photographs often had a brace holding their heads so they didnt move during the long exposure time the image required sometimes as much as a minute.

Regardless, you can look into their eyes and see another world one of horses and buggies and struggles and one of taking great effort to look ones best for a tiny shot at immortality even if immortality means lying at the bottom of my desk drawer, only to be awakened for this brief interlude. Rest well, whoever you were.

Scott SIMMONS

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A look back at the faces of 170 years ago and more - Florida Weekly

In DCeased: Dead Planet, one of the Justice League's most powerful foes is even more dangerous after the end of the world.

WARNING: The following contains spoilers for DCeased: Dead Planet #3 by Tom Taylor, Trevor Hairsine, Gigi Baldassini, and Rain Beredo, on sale now.

One of the Justice League's most dangerous supervillains, Amazo, is back in DCeased: Dead Planet #3. Amazo has plagued the Justice League since the 1960s and proves to be as formidable a foe as ever. In this issue,the surviving members of the Shadowpactenter the Southern Bunker they believe houses more survivors. What they find in the Southern Bunkeris just as terrible as the horrors that lie outside.

After Zatanna kills the infected Plastic Man, who was guarding the Southern Bunker, the remaining survivors enter the fortress and are greetedby Maxwell Lord, the Penguin, and Jason Blood. It's revealed that the Southern Bunker was built by billionaires long ago as a place of refuge after the fall ofcivilization. Jason Blood pulls Constantine aside and takes the form of Etrigan and tellsthe Hellblazer that the souls of the infected and dead are "locked inside the anti-living," and that Hell isn't pleased that it's not getting its fair share of souls. Etrigan tells Constantine that Trigon is planning towipe out everything on earth, both the infected and the living, and plans to start all over again.

Related: DCeased Turns Every DC Hero Into A Stone-Cold Killer

To try and save what is left of this world, the billionaire super villains have been creating an army of Amazo androids. Amazo is a Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky creation and first appeared in The Bold and the Brave #30. After it's debut in 1960, Amazo has gone on to become one of the most fearsome and powerfulJustice Leaguevillains.

Amazo was created by the mad scientist Professor Ivo who was obsessed with immortality. Ivo programmed Amazo to focus on the Justice League in the hopes that their defeat would prove his genius and grant him immortality. Amazo is built using Ivo's Absorption Cell technology, which makes the android able to absorb all the natural skills and super abilities of any hero. When Amazo gets close enough, he can absorb, for example, the superpowers of Superman and the speed of the Flash. Even worse, the android can physically replicate the weapons and equipment of heroes as well. Amazo can simulate Green Lantern's power ring, Harley Quinn's huge hammer, and Wonder Woman's Lasso of Truth.

Related: DCeased Revives A Doomed Fan-Favorite DC Team

Though originally created as a mindless android, Amazo achieved self-awareness over time due to its ability to adapt to any situation. Now able to think on its own, Amazo is constantly upgrading itself, becoming more and more intelligent and powerful. The limits to Amazo's power haven't been reached and it has evolved into being able to use multiple powers at the same time. Amazo has confronted and beaten the Justice League on several occasions.

All these powers are what one Amazo android can do. In DCeased: Dead Planet #3, Ivo has created an army of Amazo droids. One Amazo has proven capable of handily defeating the Justice League. An army of Amazos could easilyconquer the world, which is what it seems Jason Blood, is hoping for. If they are able to save the planet, then Trigon will not interfere, and the villains will then be in control of everything. This is a win-win situation for the super villains and just made the heroes' jobs that much more difficult.

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DCeased Makes the Justice League's Most Powerful Foe More Dangerous Than Ever - CBR - Comic Book Resources

Part II of II parts. (Part I here)

Writers Note This is part two of a story on one-time Valley Center ballplayer Mike Leake.

So began an odyssey that would see Leake do some serious moving around, playing for a total of four teams in as many years.

Leakes stay in the Bay Area proved to be brief and not all that satisfying as he mustered only two wins in seven decisions.

Taking full advantage of his commendable body of work, Leake was able to sign a lucrative five-year $80 million dollar contract in December of 2015 with one of baseballs iconic franchises, the St. Louis Cardinals. Assigned a number 8 jersey like hed donned at ASU, Mike was hoping to replicate some similar good vibes but alas, it didnt work out that way.

During his first season in the River City, Leake struggled somewhat, registering just a 9-12 ledger that wasnt helped by a career high 4.69 ERA. He did manage to experience a meaningful achievement, however, when he fanned 10 batters in consecutive starts.

Better still, it appeared that his fortunes as a Card were definitely trending upward when he got off to a bag-up beginning in 17, carving out a 5-2 record and a spiffy 1.91 ERA in his first nine starts. But then it was as if he ran smack dab into a wall. From May 29 until late August, Leakes level dropped off noticeably and he was destined to lose 10 of his next 12 starts.

And so in a transaction not all that unexpected, the Redbirds swapped Leake to the Seattle Mariners in late August. Perhaps energized by the prospect of pitching for the team that he rooted for as a youngster, Leake bested Oakland in his first start for the Ms and finished the season strong, going 3-1 (2.53 ERA) in five outings with his new club.

For most of the next two campaigns, Leake was what hes almost always been, a tried-and-true performer, making 53 starts and nailing down 19 wins. The 5-10, 165-pound hurler also experienced a very close brush with baseball immortality. On July 19 in a contest against the Los Angeles Angels, Mike took a perfect game into the final frame, a mere three outs from forever etching his name into baseball lore. But alas, leadoff hitter Luis Rengifo pulled a groundball single into right field that ended all the drama and suspense. Leake would go on to pitch a complete game shutout but coming so close to accomplishing something so rare had to have been bittersweet.

Just over a month laterthanks to a deadline tradeLeake was packing his bags once more, this time heading back to Arizona where hed spent half his life. Fulfilling a dream to pitch for what he considered to be his hometown team, Mike was happy to return to the desert, which he claimed had a spirit to it.

Interestingly, Leake had been on the verge of signing with the Diamondbacks as a free agent in 2015 even though he wouldnt have collected near the cash he eventually received from the Cardinals. But a potential agreement with parameters already in place got scuttled when Arizona ownership balked and wouldnt pull the trigger on a deal.

So despite the fact that it had taken awhile, Leake was finally making his way back to the Valley of the Sun. From a family standpoint it couldnt have been a cozier arrangement since Leake resided in Paradise Valley with his wife and two children while both his parents and in-laws also had residences in Arizona.

As for the D-Backs, they valued Leakes consistency, durability, knack for throwing strikes and pitching to contact. And in his brief 10-game audition with Arizona, he demonstrated an adequate sampling of those skills while posting a 3-3 mark.

Going into the 2020 campaign, the veteran Leake was expected to compete for a back-end spot in the D-Backs rotation. But that never happened because Mike created a bit of a stir by becoming the first major leaguer to announce that he would be bypassing the shortened season due to concerns over COVID-19. After many heartfelt discussions and taking numerous factors into consideration, Leake decided to opt out. The facts suggest that this difficult decision was made primarily out of worry about the health and well-being of his close proximity family members and not himself.

Leake has indicated through his agent that he plans to return next season and looks forward to getting back on the mound in 2021, be that with the Diamondbacks or as a free agent if he is given a $5 million dollar buyout.

Over the years and throughout his career, Leake has often displayed varying looks, whether he was wearing a goatee or beard, was clean shaven, had closely cropped hair or favored long flowing locks that made him appear as if he were more surfer or radical than ballplayer. But one thing never changed. The guy always seemed to know what he was doing on the mound.

When Mike Leake first burst upon the prep baseball scene as an exceptionally promising and versatile athlete for the VC Jaguars, those that saw him knew he had the goods to standout but no one could be sure where it all might lead.

But Leakes path turned out to be a continuum from high school star, to collegiate great to consummate big league professional. And what a sturdy pro hes been. Over his lengthy career he has started 296 games, pitched 1,829 innings, won 105 contests and registered 1,231 strikeouts. Those are notable statistics not to be taken lightly. They reflect a pitcher whose rubber arm allowed him to answer the bell when called upon and regularly got results. They also speak to his uber dependability, staying power and competitiveness.

No matter the locale, wherever Mike Leake has pitched, he has generally done that place proud. Consider Valley Center lucky enough to be included among that fortunate group.

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Productive MLB pitcher Mike Leake has VC ties (Part 2 of 2) - Valley Roadrunner

ALAMEDA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AgeX Therapeutics, Inc. (AgeX; NYSE American: AGE), a biotechnology company developing therapeutics for human aging and regeneration, reported financial and operating results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2020.

AgeX made strides with respect to its newly established licensing and collaboration model, which aims to embed its technology platforms across the cell therapy industry. AgeX has entered into a research license for the use of its immunotolerance UniverCyteTM technology by Sernova Corp. (Sernova), a publicly-listed Canadian regenerative medicine therapeutics company. It also entered a Manufacturing, Marketing, and Distribution Agreement with Pluristyx, Inc. (Pluristyx), an advanced therapy tools and services company serving customers in the fields of regenerative medicine and cellular and gene therapies. In addition, AgeX signed a letter of intent with ImStem Biotechnology (ImStem), for ImStem to utilize AgeXs ESI-brand pluripotent stem cells to derive a cell therapy product for potential use in the treatment of COVID-19 and as well acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) from non-COVID-19 causes.

We are working diligently to position our subsidiary Reverse Bioengineering to optimize the potential of induced tissue regeneration (iTR) technology, said Michael West, CEO of AgeX. We believe this technology offers a powerful new modality to treat age-related degenerative diseases by reversing developmental aging in a tissue, thereby unlocking an innate capacity of tissues to regenerate scarlessly.

AgeX completed its restructuring to streamline its operations to allow efficient usage of capital in the current pandemic environment as well to meet near-term strategic company priorities of deriving value and generating preclinical and ultimately clinical data from our technology platforms through external licensing and collaboration agreements. In the longer-term, AgeX remains committed to in-house product development of AgeX-BAT1 and AgeX-VASC1. AgeX is considering options to bring capital into the company.

AgeX has made excellent progress in terms of its collaboration and licensing model, closing five deals since the beginning of the year so far, said Greg Bailey M.D., Chairman of AgeX. The deals have spanned all three of our technology platforms of UniverCyte for the generation of universal cells, PureStem for the derivation and manufacturing of therapeutic cells, and AgeX ESI pluripotent stem cells to act as a source material for cellular therapies. All these deals show the value industry and academia see in our offerings.

Q2 Highlights

Liquidity and Capital Resources

AgeX is in need of additional capital to finance its operations. On March 30, 2020, AgeX entered into a Secured Convertible Facility Agreement (the New Loan Agreement) with Juvenescence Limited pursuant to which AgeX may borrow funds from time to time. As of August 14, 2020, AgeX has borrowed $3.5 million and may draw additional funds from time to time subject to Juvenescences discretion, prior to the contractual repayment date on March 30, 2023. AgeX may not draw down more than $1.0 million in any single draw. More information about the New Loan Agreement can be found in AgeXs Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the periods ended March 31, 2020 and June 30, 2020 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 30, 2020, May 14, 2020, and August 14, 2020 respectively.

On April 13, 2020, AgeX obtained a loan in the amount of $432,952 from Axos Bank under the Paycheck Protection Program (the PPP Loan). The PPP Loan bears interest at a rate of 1% per annum. No payments will be due on the PPP Loan during a six month deferral period commencing on the date of the promissory note. Commencing one month after the expiration of the deferral period, and continuing on the same day of each month thereafter until the maturity date of the PPP Loan, monthly payments of principal and interest will be due, in an amount required to fully amortize the principal amount outstanding on the PPP Loan by the maturity date. The maturity date is April 13, 2022. The principal amount of the PPP Loan is subject to forgiveness under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) to the extent that PPP Loan proceeds are used to pay expense permitted by the PPP, including payroll, rent, and utilities (collectively, Qualifying Expenses), during the time frame permitted by the PPP. AgeX believes that it has used the PPP Loan amount for Qualifying Expenses. However, no assurance is provided that AgeX will obtain forgiveness of the PPP Loan in whole or in part.

Staff Reductions

In May 2020, AgeX laid off 11 research and development personnel and consequently paid approximately $105,000 in accrued payroll and unused paid time off and other benefits and recognized approximately $194,800 in restructuring charges in connection with the reduction in staffing, consisting of contractual severance and other employee termination benefits, substantially all of which have been settled in cash. The staff reductions followed AgeXs strategic review of its operations, giving consideration to the status of its product development programs, human resources, capital needs and resources, and current conditions in the capital markets resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Going Concern Considerations

As required under Accounting Standards Update 2014-15, Presentation of Financial Statements-Going Concern (ASC 205-40), AgeX evaluates whether conditions and/or events raise substantial doubt about its ability to meet its future financial obligations as they become due within one year after the date its financial statements are issued. Based on AgeXs most recent projected cash flows, and considering that loans from Juvenescence under the New Loan Agreement will be subject to Juvenescences discretion, AgeX believes that its cash and cash equivalents, the remaining $5.5 million available under the New Loan Agreement and reduction in staff in May 2020 would not be sufficient to satisfy its anticipated operating and other funding requirements for the twelve months following the filing of AgeXs Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the three and six months ended June 30, 2020. These factors raise substantial doubt regarding the ability of AgeX to continue as a going concern.

Second Quarter 2020 Operating Results

Revenues: Total revenues for the second quarter of 2020 were $414,000 as compared with $380,000 for the second quarter of 2019. AgeX revenues are primarily generated from subscription and advertising revenues from the GeneCards online database through its subsidiary LifeMap Sciences, Inc. Revenues in 2020 also included approximately $36,000 of allowable expenses under its research grant from the NIH as compared with $47,000 in the same period in 2019.

Operating expenses: Operating expenses for the three months ended June 30, 2020 were $3.0 million as compared to $3.8 million for the same period in 2019. On an as-adjusted basis, operating expenses for the three months ended June 30, 2020 were $2.5 million as compared to $3.1 million for the same period in 2019.

The reconciliation between GAAP and non-GAAP operating expenses is provided in the financial tables included with this earnings release.

Research and development expenses decreased by $0.3 million to $1.4 million during the three months ended June 30, 2020 from $1.7 million during the same period in 2019. The decrease was primarily attributable to the layoff of 11 research and development personnel in May 2020 and decrease in shared services from Lineage Cell Therapeutics, Inc. (Lineage) with the termination of our Shared Facilities and Services Agreement on September 30, 2019.

General and administrative expenses decreased by $0.4 million to $1.7 million during the three months ended June 30, 2020 from $2.1 million during the same period in 2019 despite an increase in head count with the employment of AgeXs own finance team since October 1, 2019. These increases were offset by a decrease in travel and related expenses with the shelter in place mandates since March 15, 2020 resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, and the elimination of shared facilities and services fees from Lineage following the termination of the Shared Facilities and Services Agreement on September 30, 2019.

About AgeX Therapeutics

AgeX Therapeutics, Inc. (NYSE American: AGE) is focused on developing and commercializing innovative therapeutics for human aging. Its PureStem and UniverCyte manufacturing and immunotolerance technologies are designed to work together to generate highly defined, universal, allogeneic, off-the-shelf pluripotent stem cell-derived young cells of any type for application in a variety of diseases with a high unmet medical need. AgeX has two preclinical cell therapy programs: AGEX-VASC1 (vascular progenitor cells) for tissue ischemia and AGEX-BAT1 (brown fat cells) for Type II diabetes. AgeXs revolutionary longevity platform induced Tissue Regeneration (iTR) aims to unlock cellular immortality and regenerative capacity to reverse age-related changes within tissues. AGEX-iTR1547 is an iTR-based formulation in preclinical development. HyStem is AgeXs delivery technology to stably engraft PureStem cell therapies in the body. AgeXs core product pipeline is intended to extend human healthspan. AgeX is seeking opportunities to establish licensing and collaboration arrangements around its broad IP estate and proprietary technology platforms and therapy product candidates.

For more information, please visit http://www.agexinc.com or connect with the company on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this release are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any statements that are not historical fact including, but not limited to statements that contain words such as will, believes, plans, anticipates, expects, estimates should also be considered forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from the results anticipated in these forward-looking statements and as such should be evaluated together with the many uncertainties that affect the business of AgeX Therapeutics, Inc. and its subsidiaries, particularly those mentioned in the cautionary statements found in more detail in the Risk Factors section of AgeXs most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commissions (copies of which may be obtained at http://www.sec.gov). Subsequent events and developments may cause these forward-looking statements to change. In addition, with respect to AgeXs Manufacturing, Marketing and Distribution Agreement with Pluristyx there is no assurance that (i) Pluristyx will generate significant sales of AgeX ESI hESC lines, or (ii) AgeX will derive significant revenue from sales of ESI hESC lines by Pluristyx. AgeX specifically disclaims any obligation or intention to update or revise these forward-looking statements as a result of changed events or circumstances that occur after the date of this release, except as required by applicable law.

AGEX THERAPEUTICS, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

(IN THOUSANDS, EXCEPT PAR VALUE AMOUNTS)

June 30,2020

December 31,2019

(Unaudited)

ASSETS

CURRENT ASSETS

Cash and cash equivalents

$

1,033

$

2,352

Accounts and grants receivable, net

235

363

Prepaid expenses and other current assets

836

1,339

Total current assets

2,104

4,054

Excerpt from:
AgeX Therapeutics Reports Second Quarter 2020 Financial Results and Provides Business Update - Business Wire

Doctor Who season 12 revealed the true origin story of the Time Lords - but just how does Rassilon, founder of Gallifrey, fit into this?

The Timeless Child is the biggest retcon in the history ofDoctor Who - but how does Rassilon, founder of Time Lord civilization, fit into this?Doctor Who showrunner Chris Chibnall promised that season 12 would change everything, and he wasn't understating the case. TheDoctor Who season 12 finale, "The Timeless Children," revealed the Doctor's true history has been concealed all this time."They lied to us," the Master revealed. "Everything we were told was a lie. We are not who we think. You or I. The whole existence of our species - built on the lie of the Timeless Child."

The Doctor is the Timeless Child, a mysterious being found at the foot of a Boundary into another universe. She was discovered by a Gallifreyan explorer named Tecteun, who took the Timeless Child as her own. Then, one day, tragedy struck. The Timeless Child suffered what should have been a fatal accident, but instead of dying she regenerated. Tecteun was astounded at what she had seen, and she set about trying to understand the Timeless Child's powers. The Timeless Child thus became thebase genetic code for all Gallifreyans within the Citadel, and the Time Lords were born. This is easily the biggest retcon in the history ofDoctor Who; in general it's foreshadowed fairly well by classicDoctor Who,thoughit sits uncomfortably with the post-2005 relaunched series.

Related:Former Doctor Who Showrunner Changes Regeneration Rules

There is one curious omission, however: Rassilon. Generally regarded as the founder of Time Lord civilization, Rassilon was an explorer who longed to see more of the universe than any man could in one lifetime. According to classicDoctor Who, and countless previous tie-ins, under Rassilon's reign the Gallifreyans discovered the secret of regeneration and became Lords of Time. Rassilon himself is immortal, although he believed no other Time Lords were worthy of this, and left the Game of Rassilon behind as a trap for any successor who would seek immortality. The Time Lords brought Rassilon back to lead them in the Time War, and he was opposed byDavid Tennant's Tenth Doctor in "The End of Time."

Rassilon is apparently entirely absent in "The Timeless Children," which seems odd given that Chibnall is an old-schoolDoctor Who fan. It is important to note, however, that "The Timeless Children" confirms Gallifreyan history has been deliberately obscured; that leaves a lot of wriggle-room. The most likely solution is that Tecteun, the scientist who discovered the Timeless Child and unlocked the secret of resurrection, was in fact Rassilon. Both have been portrayed as explorers who sought immortality; Tecteun gained the power of unlimited regenerations but chose to limit other Time Lords, just as Rassilon believed he alone should be functionally immortal. It's true that Tecteun was female while Rassilon was male, but that is hardly an issue given that regeneration allows a Time Lord to change biological sex.

This is a simple retcon, and it fits rather well. If this is the case, then during the Time War the Doctor found himself going up against the one being who truly understood what he was capable of. Little wonder Rassilon was so shocked and surprised in "The Day of the Doctor," when he realized how many incarnations of the Doctor were in play. It is ironic that Rassilon, the explorer who sought immortality to explore the cosmos, ultimately led Gallifrey to a pocket dimension where his people lived on in isolation, unable to return.

More:Doctor Who Already Has The Perfect 15th Doctor Actor

Warrior Nun Theory: The Angels and Demons Are Actually Aliens

Tom Bacon is one of Screen Rant's staff writers, and he's frankly amused that his childhood is back - and this time it's cool. Tom's focus tends to be on the various superhero franchises, as well as Star Wars, Doctor Who, and Star Trek; he's also an avid comic book reader. Over the years, Tom has built a strong relationship with aspects of the various fan communities, and is a Moderator on some of Facebook's largest MCU and X-Men groups. Previously, he's written entertainment news and articles for Movie Pilot.A graduate of Edge Hill University in the United Kingdom, Tom is still strongly connected with his alma mater; in fact, in his spare time he's a voluntary chaplain there. He's heavily involved with his local church, and anyone who checks him out on Twitter will quickly learn that he's interested in British politics as well.

Visit link:
Doctor Who Theory: How Rassilon Fits Into The Timeless Child Retcon - Screen Rant

The Srimad Bhagvat Maha Purana is one of the 18 great Puranas of Hindu philosophy and Kshir Sagar Manthan (churning of the sea of milk) is one of its best known episodes of it.

After the Devas (gods) were defeated by the Asuras (demons) in a battle for the universe, Lord Vishnu suggested a diplomatic coalition between the two to bring out the coveted Amrit (nectar for immortality). Churning brought out the nectar but a battle ensued between the gods and the demons.

Lord Vishnu took form of an enchanting female "Mohini" and lured away the demons. The gods aided by the Amrit thus became immortals and defeated the demons. But the Churn had also produced "Halahala", the deadly poison. Lord Shiva stepped forward and gulped down the deadly fluid and earned the title of "Neelkanth" (blue throated god).

Among the Hindus, Lord Shiva's act of consuming the vish (poison) is considered as an unsurmountable example of selflessness and sacrifice, narrated by grannies to kids in bedtime stories.

If one goes by the Puranas and granny tales, what signal was the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan recently handing out while replying to a question about his "failure" to induct more of his loyalists in the state council of ministers?

Chouhan had cryptically said, "Sagar manthan se amrit nikalta hai. Vish to Shiv pee jaate hain (Nectar of immortality is produced when the seas are churned, Lord Shiva drinks up the poison)."

Chouhan is a deeply religious man and knows the Puranas and vedas. So, his analogy can only be interpreted as an admission that he had to accept an expansion of his council, which was dictated and didn't have his stamp of authority.

Earlier on Thursday last week, standing between his newly minted council of ministers, Chauhan had offered muted smiles.

Now, I have watched Chouhan take oath with ministers in 2005, 2008 and 2013. Compared to the last three occasions, the smile on his face had a grudging character to it. And, that's because unlike the last two times, he had not "earned" the chief ministership and ensuing council of ministers. It was rather manufactured and it had a "made by BJP top brass in collaboration with Jyotiraditya Scindia" stamp on it.

The Scindia factor is a party spoiler for Chouhan. The relatively younger Scindia, by bringing crucial numerical support to the state government, has been negotiating directly with the BJPs top brass in Delhi.

No, he is not creating a direct confrontation. But in the current context, he is leaving subtle "pug marks" of his ambition. In Bhopal after the induction ceremony of 28 MLAs to the council of ministers, Rahul Gandhi-confidante-turned BJP man Jyotiraditya Scindia was asked about his "success" in getting 12 ministerial berths for his loyalists as a reward for ditching the Congress and bringing down Kamal Nath.

Scindia signed off his statement to the media teams with a triumphant "Tiger abhi zinda hai" (tiger Is still alive) comment.

Those who have followed politics in the land of tiger reserves-over the last few months discussed Scindia's remarks in adda chats as Chouhan on the day he lost the election in December 2019 had said -- "Tiger abhi zinda hai".

Scindia's "salmanesque" comment may be directed at his past detractors in the Congress but I am sure it must have made Chouhan realise that Scindia is not merely borrowing much his punch lines, rather he may be eying his thunder.

In his earlier terms, Chouhan has displayed deft footwork to edge out competition from the likes of Uma Bharti and Narendra Singh Tomar, now a key minister in Modi cabinet. But Scindia is not like Shivraj challengers in the BJP, or even many other turncoats who joined the party ranks in the past.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan with BJP leader Jyotiraditya Scindia at state cabinet expansion ceremony. (Photo: PTI)

Though leaders in the state BJP unit remain opposed to Scindia, the central leadership is lending its ears to him, and he seems to be making his weight felt in each decision taken in the state.

Fifteen months after the electoral loss, the BJP engineered defections by 22 congress MLAs. While the top brass held negotiated a deal with Scindia, Chauhan had to hang around in Delhi for long durations.

Then on March 10, while Holi celebrations were on, Scindia had his first public meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Home minister Amit shah had personally taken him to the PM's Lok Kalyan Marg home. Shivraj could take oath on 23 March.

Shivraj had to wait till April 21 to induct first five ministers. Two of these were his loyalists while Narottam Mishra emerged as a new power centre in the state BJP. Remaining two were Congress turncoats or Scindia men.

Round-2 of cabinet expansion took place on July 2. That's over 70 days after the first.

Jyotiraditya had bargained hard and managed to grab 14 ministerial berths (12 loyalists and 2 Congress turncoats). Worse, of the remaining 16 who took oath, only a dozen-odd belong to the Chouhan camp. That means in the final 33 member strong council, Shivraj has only 14 loyalists and 14 are Scindia's men.

Now five days after the expansion, Chouhan has not been able to allocate portfolios to his council. Reason -- Scindia wants plum portfolios for his men.

This alters the power equation in the state and BJP matrix for Chouhan. He has three and half years remaining in this term. Scindia is younger and ambitious. He has a large number of men in the council, a Rajya Sabha seat under his belt and is tipped to get a berth in the Union cabinet in an expansion that PM Modi is likely to go for.

He will be in Delhi close to the BJP's top two who seem to have accorded a lot of significance to Scindia. With most of his loyalists from the Gwalior-Chambal belt, he is a regional warlord -- a parallel power centre.

So, Chouhan may have got a fourth term -- but his weight in the state he lorded over once has diminished. In simple words, he is being cut to size.

BJP insiders say that the party leadership may be heating up the race for Shivraj but the leader with royal roots has to pass the bypoll test. The common refrain in MP and BJP circles is that if Scindia succeeds, it may not be all so good news for Chouhan. But here, I add that the BJP is inviting bad news by its actions in not so distant future.

SCINDIA HAS ANOTHER TEST TO PASS

Scindia may have won the round of negotiations. But another with big hurdle looms ahead of him. Twenty-four assembly seats lie vacant. Of these, the congress turncoats would have to get elected to the assembly before six months are over. That is, by the first week of new year 2021.

To prove his mettle in the bjp and emerge as a prospect for tomorrow, Scindia has to bring the 22 or majority of the defectors back to the assembly. If he fails, some ministers may have to quit the council.

The number game in the state assembly is such that there would be more pressure on Scindia to do better than Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

Currently, in the 230-member house, the BJP has the backing of 113 MLAs (107 BJP, 3 Independent, 2 BSP, 1 SP). The Congress has 93 MLAs (including 1 independent). There are 24 vacant seats.

The gap between the two formations currently is 20 MLAs.

Hypothetically, it would be a game on only if the Congress wins 22 seats and BJP two. The final tally in the assembly would be BJP+ 115 and Cong+ 115. To dethrone Chouhan, the Congress has to win 23 of the 24 bypoll seats.

The 24 seats for which bypoll would be held are spread over three regions in MP- Gwalior-Chambal, Malwa-Nimar and Bundelkhand. Of the 24 assembly seats, 16 are in Scindia stronghold Gwalior-Chambal region.

Victory at eight seats -- outside the Gwalior Chambal region -- alone will push the BJP tally to 121. The Congress would be out of contention and Chouhan will feel safe. The oft-repeated question in Bhopal now-a-days is, "Will the old tiger who swallowed poison figuratively help the new tiger?"

The task ahead for Scindia gets tougher as majority of the Scindia loyalist MLAs had won in 2018 by defeating the BJP rivals in the Gwalior-Chambal belt. The losing BJP candidates, if denied ticket, would contest as rebels in the bypolls. That would aid the Congress.

Already in MP, the state BJP unit is facing protests by workers in several districts. The party's cadres are agitated over the rise and rise of Scindia and decline of those who have grown in BJP stables.

In Sagar, supporters of BJP MLA Shailendra Jain protested by observing a "jal samadhi" last week. Supporters of BJP MLA Gayatri Raje Pawar in Devas, those of Kailash Vijayvargiya-backed MLA Ramesh Bindola in Indore, and of MLA Yashpal Bhadoria in Mansore have been staging protests after these leaders weren't made ministers.

Uma Bharti has protested the absence of ministers from her Lodh community and Bundelkhand region in the council.

So, the BJP in MP has multiple power centres, cut-to-size chief minister constantly looking over his shoulder, dissent in the ranks and a high-command driving the decisions. A senior old-timer in the BJP quipped, "This is what used to happen in the Congress. The party took away power from Congress and has inherited that party's habits. That's why I will say the Congress culture BJP mein zinda hai (Congress culture is thriving in the BJP)"

BJP EMULATES CONGRESS

Many in the BJP admit that the Congress's yesterday is BJP's today all over again when it comes to dealing with its state warlords. Reacting to the situation Shivraj Chouhan finds himself in, during closed door conversations, leaders indicate that BJP's state-level leadership's dependence on the central leadership has gone up.

In 2017, BJP ruled almost 70 per cent of India's landmass. By 2020, it came down to almost 40 per cent. But the real problem for the BJP is not just sheer loss of territory.

During 2014-17, the BJP lost chief ministers who impacted polls like regional satraps. Narendra Modi was Gujarat chief minister till 2014 polls. The BJP won all 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat.

Under Vasundhra Raje in Rajasthan, the BJP had won all 25. Under Shivraj, the BJP won 26 of the 29, 10 of 11 in Chhattisgarh under Raman Singh. Manohar Parikar helped BJP win both Goa seats, plus he rose as a state strongman.

THE BJP STOCK

Let's have a quick look at India's political map since 2014. It shows that the BJP has also been witnessing a weight loss by its chief ministers.

First, the powerful CMs like Vasundhara Raje, Raman Singh and Chouhan have had an uncomfortable relationship with the top bosses. All three of the BJP state satraps lost elections. Another budding state-level leader Devendra Fadnavis in Maharashtra also lost the last election in 2019. Today, he awaits a split in the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance and central assistance to gain power.

The Raje-Chouhan-Singh trio of regional chieftains suffered more loss in stature when in 2019 polls, riding on the Modi phenomenon, the BJP did well in their states despite opposition Congress ruling the states. Today, Chauhan is the lone old BJP war horse in the CM's chair. Barring Yediyurappa and ML Khattar most are first timers.

In other states too, one way or the other, the CMs aren't Virat Kohli kind of match-winners. Today, the BJP has 12 CMs. Arunachal CM Pema Khandu is an ex-Congressman who chose BJP colours four years ago. Assam CM Sarbananda Sonowal is over shadowed by his minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. Manipur CM N Biren Singh is an ex-Congressman.

Tripura CM Biplab Kumar Deb a giant-killer and Goa CM are inexperienced. Himachal Pradesh CM Jai Ram Thakur is a five-term MLA but wasn't the face of the party in last election.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has emerged as the strongest BJP leader holding this position. (Photo: PTI)

The Uttarakhand CM Trivendra Rawat, an ex-RSS cadre, is known more for being a strong organisational man. Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani continues to live under the shadow of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah. Haryana CM Khattar is known for fumbles and has strong challengers. Karnataka CM BS Yediyurappa has shed a lot of political clout.

One of the lone exceptions is UP CM Yogi Adityanath. The RSS and the BJP top team escorted him to the CM chair but he has used the last three years to emerge stronger as an administrator and also a hindutva mascot.

THE CONGRESS RESEMLANCE

This is what happened to the Congress over the last few decades before its decline. The high command culture, perceived threat that CMs May grow and challenge the Congress's first family and vested interests of weak leaders and lateral entrants who were close to the dynasty led to dwarfing of its chief ministers. Once its CMs lost weight, party lost state assemblies and then Lok Sabha seats.

There are 38 chief ministers in India who have occupied the CM's post in different states for more than 10 years. Congress may have ruled most states for a long time since Independence but only 14 of the 38 long haul CMs are Congressmen. Six are pre-Rajiv Gandhi era leaders.

The rot started during Indira Gandhi's time and worsened as dynastic order deepened and Rajiv Gandhi took charge as congress general secretary. In 1982, on a private visit to Andhra Pradesh, he publicly admonished Tantuguri Anjaiah, the then chief minister for bringing party men and a band party playing drums to the tarmac of Hyderabad's Begumpet airport. In front of his supporters, Rajiv called Anjaiah a "buffoon". The CM was later sacked.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot is one of the few old-timers in the Congress to retain his regional satrap status.

On 23 July 1983, Congress's Bihar CM Jagannath Mishra in a two-hour statement in the state assembly criticized the Centre. He said Bihar (undivided Bihar included mineral rich Jharkhand) mined 40 per cent of the country's minerals but only got 14 per cent of the royalty earned. Soon Jagannath was summoned to Delhi and he was forced to resign by 14 August 1983.

In the mid-1980s, the Congress high command inducted a breed of leaders who in their anxiety to display their obsequiousness to Rajiv Gandhi, wounded leaders like Kamlapati Tripathi, who had been CM of India's most dominant state -- UP. Appointing "Darbari" leaders from Delhi as state incharges to create multiple power centres in states became a standard operating procedure.

After the 1984 landslide victory, Rajiv Gandhi entered the PMO with his Doon School chums in tow. Leaders like Tripathi, who had worked with four generations of the Nehru-Gandhi family, were sidelined by the then yuppie leadership.

Lalthahawla had been a CM in Mizoram for 21 years till 2018, Virbhadra Singh in Himachal Pradesh for 21 years till 2017 and Pratap Singh Rane in Goa for 15 years till 2007, started their innings in the Rajiv era.

Meanwhile, Shiela Dixit was CM in Delhi till 2013 for 15 years, Tarun Gogoi for 15 years in Assam till 2016, and Okram Ibobi Singh for 15 years in Manipur till 2017 emerged as powerful state leaders and became CMs around the time Sonia Gandhi took over reins of the party.

Ashok Gehlot, the present CM of Rajasthan is the lone old-timer who has spent 11 years in the hot seat and is still around in the Congress's Sonia Gandhi era.

CONGRESS LESSON FOR BJP

Isn't the BJP doing something similar? Many of its current CMs are central command appointees. Someone like Chouhan battles parallel power centres. Out of power, ex-CMs have little role in decision-making. In some states, green shoots of leadership are emerging but they will take more than usual time as the elbow room to flourish is not vast. In Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Delhi, Bihar, West Bengal, Odisha, AP, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, the BJP either has no prominent state leaders or is totally dependent on allies.

The decline of the state-level leaders in the two major parties stands in sharp contrast to the rise of regional party leaders like Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal, K Chandrashekhar Rao in Telangana, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy in Andhra Pradesh, Naveen Patnaik in Odisha and Hemant Soren in Jharkhand.

The BJP has Modi, who has turned Lok Sabha elections into a virtual presidential contest. This is making glory depart from state level politics but BJP should take Congress history to the post-mortem table and realise state-level leaders are leaders of tomorrow at the Centre and force multipliers on their turf.

More here:
With Shivraj Chouhan cut to size, era of powerful CMs over in BJP as party goes Congress way - India Today

Netflix announced on social media Tuesday morning that Lucifer will get a 6th season. The show's upcoming 5th season, which debuts August 21, 2020, was originally set to be its 'final' season, when it was announced last year. This is the second time that Netflix has renewed the show for an upcoming' final' season. In announcing this 6th season pick-up, the show referenced its seeming immortality by noting that this season 6 will be the 'FINAL final' season.

Tom Ellis plays Lucifer, the devil, having fallen from grace (and heaven), banished to serve as the Lord of Hell. Having tired of managing purgatory, he ascends to Los Angeles where he owns a nightclub, leads an active nightlife replete with booze and women and moonlights as a consultant to the LAPD, helping to cleanse Earth of its criminals. Lucifer is partnered with LAPD detective Chloe Decker played by Lauren German, with whom he shares the requisite emotional tension throughout the series.

The show's 6th season return had been expected after Tom Ellis finalized a deal in May to return as Lucifer. The series' executive producers, Ildy Modrovich and Joe Henderson both closed new 6th season deals even earlier than Ellis. The rest of the cast had already signed-on, leaving Ellis as the show's only holdout. Other returning players include Lauren German as Chloe Decker, Kevin Alejandro as Detective Dan Espinoza, D.B. Woodside as Amendadiel, Lesley-Ann Brandt as Maze, Aimee Garcia as Ella Lopez and Rachel Harris as Dr. Linda Martin. Inbar Lavi, who played Eve in season 4 is also set to return in season 5.

With season 5 premiering on Netflix starting August 21st, the plan had been for season 6 to start production in September. Before the 6th season can start production, though, season 5 still needs to be wrapped-up, as its production had been suspended due to the global health crisis, leaving only a few days of work remaining on season 5 when production was suspended in March. When season 5 was set to be the final season, the streamer envisioned a 2-part season, with 8 episodes released first, followed by another 8 episodes in a second half release. No word has yet been released on when the 2nd 8 episodes of season 5 will be released. Netflix teased 5th season.

Lucifer originally aired on Fox, until the network canceled the show after 3 seasons. Netflix then picked up the series, extending its run. The 4th season dropped on Netflix almost a year after it was picked up by the streamer, in May 2019. The 5th season was announced only 1 month after the 4th season hit. The show has been a strong performer on the streaming platform, with 77 episodes spanning 5 seasons, making the show one of the longest-running Netflix series with total episode counts similar to those of Orange Is the New Black and House of Cards.

Topics: Lucifer, Netflix, Streaming

Justin Case

Originally posted here:
Lucifer Renewed for Season 6, Netflix Confirms These Are the Final Episodes - TVweb

Hear what she has to say. I only knew what Pancham (R D Burman) told me. He rang me up and said, Didi theres one final song in 1942: A Love Story which (director) Vidhu Vinod Chopra is very keen that you sing. Will you do it?. Pancham and I shared a very warm and close relationship. He confided all his joys and sorrow in me. I said of course Id sing the song for him. Then I left for my concerts in the US. When I returned Pancham was gone.

The song was recorded posthumously by Vidhu Vinod Chopra and his team.

A musician who was present at the recording remembers, Vinod Chopra wanted that one song to be sung by Lata Didi. He had consulted Panchamda about it and Panchamda was all for it. He asked Lata Didi to sing Kuch na kaho. But before the song could be recorded Panchamda passed away. We recorded the song without Panchamda.We were so excited .History was being made. I remember Vinodji kept asking Lata Didi to do one more take. Finally Didi turned around and told him, Ab rehne dijiye. Ho gaya. And she walked off.

See the original post here:
Remembering RD Burman: The true story behind Kuch Na Kaho.. - National Herald

All you need to know about Svarbhanu and Chandra Grahan 

There lived a demon named Svarbhanu, a disciple of Daitya Guru Shukracharya and a close associate ofHiranyakashipu. He played a pivotal role in the churning (Samudra Manthan) of the cosmic ocean (Kshirasagara), a task jointly undertaken by the Danavas and the Devas. This incident mentioned in the sacred ancient Indian texts is related to the Grahan (eclipse), the celestial phenomenon that takes place every year. Read on to know more about Svarbhanu and why he is associated with the Lunar (Chandra Grahan) and Solar Eclipse (Surya Grahan).

Svarbhanu finds a mention in the sacred Vedas. According to the holy scripture, Svarbhanu is a powerful demon who attacked Surya.

The demon was more powerful than the Sun God and had abducted him. Indra waged war against Svarbhanu, and subsequently, Sage Atri found Surya Dev and freed him from the clutches of the demon.

Svarbhanu is also mentioned in the Yajur Veda. He is considered as the enemy of Surya and Chandra. The sages would often use their powers to free the deities from him.

According to another legend, Svarbhanu is believed to be the son of Simhika, the sister of Hiranyakashipu.

The demon aided the Daityas and the Danavas during the Samudra Manthan by snatching the pot of nectar of immortality (Amrit) from Lord Dhanavantri's hands soon after he emerged from the Kshirasagara. Subsequently, Lord Vishnu appeared as Mohini (a beautiful woman) to lure the Danavas and take the pot of nectar away from them. However, as Mohini continued to mesmerize the Daityas, Svarbhanu sat among the Devas as one of them to grab a portion of the nectar.

However, soon after Chandra and Surya caught Svarbhanu red-handed, they complained to Mohini (Lord Vishnu) about him. Eventually, Lord Vishnu severed Svarbhanu's head with the Sudarshana Chakra to punish him. But since Svarbhanu had already consumed the nectar of immortality, he continued to survive in two parts - Rahu and Ketu.

His head is known as Rahu, while the body is referred to as Ketu.Click here to know more about Rahu and Ketu. Therefore to avenge Surya and Chandra, Rahu temporarily swallows them, and Ketu releases them.

More:
Chandra Grahan July 5, 2020: Know who was Svarbhanu and the story associated with grahan - Times Now

ALAMEDA, Calif. & SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- AgeX Therapeutics, Inc.. (AgeX: NYSE American: AGE), a biotechnology company developing therapeutics for human aging and regeneration, and Pluristyx, Inc. (Seattle, WA), an advanced therapy tools and services company serving customers in the rapidly growing fields of regenerative medicine and cellular and gene therapies, today announced they have entered into a Manufacturing, Marketing, and Distribution Agreement through which Pluristyx will undertake these activities on behalf of AgeX with respect to AgeXs research- and clinical-grade ESI brand human embryonic stem cells, sometimes referred to as hESCs.

The agreement builds on Pluristyxs strategy to manufacture, market, and distribute high-quality standardized Ready-to-Use and Ready-to-Differentiate pluripotent stem cells to industry and academic scientists intent on developing therapeutic products to treat human disease. AgeXs ESI hESC lines are distinguished for being the first clinical-grade hESC lines created under current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP). The AgeX ESI hESC lines are listed on the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Stem Cell Registry and are among the best characterized and documented stem cell lines available worldwide.

The agreement is a key step in AgeXs licensing and collaboration strategy to facilitate industry and academic access to its hESC lines, its PureStem cell derivation and manufacturing platform, and its UniverCyte immunotolerance technology in order to generate near- and long-term revenues.

A recent FDA IND clearance for a biotech company to begin a human trial for a cell therapy candidate derived from an AgeX ESI hESC line has amplified interest from industry and academia to utilize our cells in regenerative medicine. It is AgeXs goal to make its cell lines the gold standard when it comes to therapeutic products derived from pluripotent stem cells. We are delighted to be working with the Pluristyx team given their extensive cGMP manufacturing experience with pluripotent stem cells, said Dr. Nafees Malik, Chief Operating Officer of AgeX.

Pluristyx is excited to be working with AgeX and their ESI hESC lines. As AgeX intends to make their cell lines the gold standard, our aim is to disrupt and redefine stem cell therapy manufacturing with our proprietary, high-density format, Ready-to-Use and Ready-to-Differentiate hESC lines, which will dramatically reduce both cost and time in translating revolutionary therapies from bench to bedside, said Dr. Benjamin Fryer, CEO of Pluristyx.

Academic and biopharma organizations will need to obtain separate commercial licenses from AgeX in order to advance their cellular product candidates generated from AgeX hESC lines into human clinical trials and commercialization. AgeX retains all rights to manufacture its own in-house cellular products as well as to extend license rights to other third parties.

About AgeX Therapeutics

AgeX Therapeutics, Inc. (NYSE American: AGE) is focused on developing and commercializing innovative therapeutics for human aging. Its PureStem and UniverCyte manufacturing and immunotolerance technologies are designed to work together to generate highly defined, universal, allogeneic, off-the-shelf pluripotent stem cell-derived young cells of any type for application in a variety of diseases with a high unmet medical need. AgeX has two preclinical cell therapy programs: AGEX-VASC1 (vascular progenitor cells) for tissue ischemia and AGEX-BAT1 (brown fat cells) for Type II diabetes. AgeXs revolutionary longevity platform induced Tissue Regeneration (iTR) aims to unlock cellular immortality and regenerative capacity to reverse age-related changes within tissues. AGEX-iTR1547 is an iTR-based formulation in preclinical development. HyStem is AgeXs delivery technology to stably engraft PureStem cell therapies in the body. AgeXs core product pipeline is intended to extend human healthspan. AgeX is seeking opportunities to establish licensing and collaboration arrangements around its broad IP estate and proprietary technology platforms and therapy product candidates.

For more information, please visit http://www.agexinc.com or connect with the company on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube.

About Pluristyx

Established in 2018, Pluristyx Inc. is a privately held, early-stage company providing a complete cell manufacturing solution. As an advanced therapy tools company, Pluristyx helps companies and researchers solve manufacturing challenges in the field of drug development, regenerative medicine, and cell and gene therapy. Pluristyx is led by a team with decades of industry experience each with specific expertise in key areas needed to develop and manufacture pluripotent stem cells. Pluristyx provides know how in every stage of the process from cell banking through scale-up of clinical grade material as well as all aspects of process development and manufacturing.

For more information, please visit http://www.pluristyx.com or connect with the company on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Forward-Looking Statements for AgeX

Certain statements contained in this release are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any statements that are not historical fact including, but not limited to statements that contain words such as will, believes, plans, anticipates, expects, estimates should also be considered forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from the results anticipated in these forward-looking statements and as such should be evaluated together with the many uncertainties that affect the business of AgeX Therapeutics, Inc. and its subsidiaries, particularly those mentioned in the cautionary statements found in more detail in the Risk Factors section of AgeXs most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commissions (copies of which may be obtained at http://www.sec.gov). Subsequent events and developments may cause these forward-looking statements to change. In addition, with respect to AgeXs Manufacturing, Marketing and Distribution Agreement with Pluristyx there is no assurance that (i) Pluristyx will generate significant sales of AgeX ESI hESC lines, or (ii) AgeX will derive significant revenue from sales of ESI hESC lines by Pluristyx. AgeX specifically disclaims any obligation or intention to update or revise these forward-looking statements as a result of changed events or circumstances that occur after the date of this release, except as required by applicable law.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200616005377/en/

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AgeX Therapeutics and Pluristyx Announce Manufacturing, Marketing, and Distribution Agreement to Expand Access to Clinical-Grade Human Pluripotent...

While they may bug some people, insects and arachnids are a vital part of the world. Its true that some can be super antsy or as mad as a hornet. But others have heroic hearts as big as a house(fly). The following games showcase these unlikely heroes and the wondrous worlds they live in.

Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling

Bug Fables is an adventure RPG following three heroes, Vi, Kabbu, and Leif, as they embark on an epic quest in Bugaria in search of treasure and immortality. The game combines colorful platforming with the heroes' unique abilities as they explore a wide variety of areas in the kingdom.

Yoku's Island Express

Use a blend of pinball mechanics, platforming, and open world exploration to unlock the secrets of Mokumana Island. Youll help the locals, awaken ancient deities, and gain new abilities in this tropical adventure!

Hollow Knight

Brave the depths of a forgotten kingdom in this side-scrolling action adventure. Youll explore a vast, interconnected world with twisting caverns, ancient cities and deadly wastes. Can you unravel the ancient mysteries at the kingdom's heart?

Bug Academy

Overcome challenges based on logic and physics. In this puzzler, youll take control of insects and teach them various activities that have so far been reserved for people; activities such as delivering parcels, repairing damaged installations, building bridges, extinguishing fire, flying into space, and more!

Worms W.M.D.

Ok, worms are technically annelids and not bugs. However, that doesnt make these Worms any less deadly! Lock and load as you wield a deadly arsenal in all-out tactical worm warfare. Youll need to think carefully about how you want to fight your opponents to win the day.

Killer Queen Black

Protect your hive in this strategic team platformer! Will you claim your victory by hopping on the snail, hoarding berries, or wiping out the enemy's queen?

Shadow Bug

Adventure through beautiful and twisted landscapes full of action and adventure. Shadow Bug is out to save his home forest from the evil factory. Oh, and did we mention that hes also a skilled ninja?

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Be the bee's knees with these heroic bug games on Switch - GoNintendo

When it comes to mythology, every country in the world has its own fair share of stories. In India, epics like Mahabharata and Ramayana provide us with Hindu mythology. One such tale is from the Mahabharata, which tells about the great warrior Ashwatthama, who was cursed to live a life full of sorrow and misery till the end of time. It brings up the question, is he alive even today? Also Read - 'During COVID-19, it Can Teach us How to Strengthen Ourselves': JNU V-C Defends Webinar on Ramayana

Before dwelling on the topic of whether he is alive even today, lets take a look at how the curse came about in the first place for Ashwatthama. Son of Guru Dronacharya and the grandson of the sage Bharadwaja, Ashwatthama was one of the seven Chiranjeevis, immortals, who had been granted a boon of immortality from Lord Shiva. Also Read - With Copy Of Mahabharata & Few Clothes, Engineer Found Living in a Cave in MP Jungle

Along with being granted immortality, Ashwatthama, at his birth, also received a gemstone that was placed at the centre of his forehead. The gemstone gave him the power over all living beings lower than humans, and it also protected him from hunger, thirst and fatigue. Also Read - Chanakya TV Serial to Join The List of Reruns on Doordarshan- Check Details

Ashwatthamas curse came about when during the battle of Kurukshetra, his father Dronacharya was killed by Dhristadyumna, who was the commander-in-chief of the Pandava army.

The Pandavas and the Kauravas had enrolled in Dronacharyas gurukul, and Ashwatthama became friends with the eldest Kaurava, Duryodhan. When the Kurukshetra war, which lasted for 18 days, started, Ashwatthama sided with the Kauravas and managed to kill a good number of people. Dronacharya was named the supreme commander of the armies after Bhishma falls in battle.

Krishna, who knew it was not possible to defeat an armed Drona, hatched a plan to kill him by lying to him about the death of his son Ashwatthama. The plan worked and the grieving sage was beheaded by Dhristadyumna, which in turn led to Ashwatthama becoming filled with rage at the deceptive way his father was killed. He decided to avenge his fathers death by killing all the Pandavas.

Ashwatthama infiltrated the camp of the Pandavas at night and killed five of Draupadis children in their sleep along with Dhrishtadyumna. On returning to camp, the Pandavas and Krishna were left devastated by the killings, and rushed to avenge the deaths caused by Ashwatthama.

When both the forces came face to face, Ashwatthama invoked the Brahmastra, a weapon of immense destruction, to fulfill his oath of killing all the Pandavas. Krishna in turn asked Arjuna to use the Pashupatastra, another lethal weapon, to protect them. The gods asked them to take their weapons back, as they could destroy the entire universe.

While Arjun knew how to recall his weapon, Ashwatthama did not and when Krishna suggested that he redirect the weapon to an uninhabited place, he instead aimed it towards the womb of the pregnant Uttara in an attempt to end the lineage of the Pandavas. Uttara was pregnant with Abhimanyus son, the grandson of Arjun.

Krishna intervened and revived the stillborn baby, and Ashwatthama was made to give up his source of power the gemstone in the middle of his forehead. Due to his immortality, he was cursed to live forever till the end of time with the gaping wound on his forehead.

Considering the beliefs that people hold about mythology, many have stated to have seen a man with such a gaping wound on his forehead and a doctor has even revealed that he tried to heal him without success. Reports have been doing rounds, that a man fitting the description of Ashwatthama has been visiting Shiva temples all over India, praying it seems to be released from the curse.

As per the Mumbai Mirror, a doctor from Madhya Pradesh had revealed that a man had come to him for treatment of an unusual wound on his forehead. The doctor said that no matter the treatment, with medicines or stitching up the wound, it just did not heal. So during one such treatment, the doctor jokingly asked the patient if he was Ashwatthama. As he turned around to address the man, the doctor said that he was nowhere to be seen and nobody outside his cabin had seen him either.

The doctor also gave a description of the wound, saying it looked so horrific that it was as if his brain had been pulled out from the front of of his head.

Whether the stories are true or not, most seem to think that Ashwatthama is still very much alive.

More:
Mahabharat Mythology: Is Ashwatthama Still Alive Even After so Many Years? - India.com

With the May 15 release of their M-Theory Audio debut, Path To Immortality, fast approaching, the Southern California-based melodic death metal quintet, Voices Of Ruin, have unveiled a music video for their new track "Reach Toward The Sky", premiered exclusively through BraveWords.

The band comments: We wanted to release a song that shows how dynamic Path To Immortality really is. Reach Toward The Sky is one of its longer songs, and it has a few different tempos and melodies while holding to some heavy riffs and blasting drums. In this world, many people are forced into a religion, and in some places incarcerated or killed for lack of or different beliefs. This song explains the fact that no god can save you from this vicious world and that all will die eventually. You can reach toward the sky to your god until there is nothing left to reach for. There are plenty of surprises left on the album that will have you listening to it on repeat. It is an adventure if you play it from start to finish, and it almost feels like an epic novel. For now, enjoy this single, and get ready for May 15!

Pre-order the album - which was produced by former Machine Head guitarist Logan Mader (Gojira, SepticFlesh) and features cover artwork by Par Olofsson (Exodus, Immortal, Revocation) - in various formats here.

Tracklisting:

"Other Side""Carved Out""Path To Immortality""Suffering Silence""Reach Toward The Sky""I Am God""Into The Aether""Whispers""The Undoing""Everlong"

"Carved Out" video:

"I Am A God" lyric video:

Voices Of Ruin is:

Dave Barrett - vocalsTom Barrett - lead guitarSteve Calton - rhythm guitarWally Myers - bassLonnie Van Horn - drums

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Exclusive: VOICES OF RUIN Premiere Reach Toward The Sky Single - bravewords.com

Q: In the last column, you wrote about what Jesus did after he died. Was he a person or a spirit?

Answer: Christians have been thinking about the life, death and resurrection of Jesus since the beginning of Lent. The accounts of his post-resurrection activities are important to the question asked by the reader. What was the nature of the resurrected Jesus?

We have scriptural evidence that the resurrected Jesus was involved in human activities. They gave Jesus a piece of fish and some honeycomb, and He ate it, Luke 24:4243, says. According to Luke 24:39, Jesus said, Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have. And John 20:27, he said to doubting Thomas, Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe. When Jesus appeared and disappeared in several places, He baffled people and seemed to be a spirit. In some situations, it was strange that he was not recognizable by his disciples and Mary Magdalene. The faithful are led to believe that he maintained his physical body with spiritual powers or as Thomas Aquinas said, Christs body, though real, was glorified.

Paul believed that faithful humans could be born again with a spiritual body like Christ. He writes about the different kinds of bodies in 1 Corinthians 15:45-47, The first man Adam became a living being; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven.

Noted here are a few verses from 1 Corinthians 15:3554 to present a broader view of the question: How are the dead raised and with what kind of body? What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed. God gives it a body as he has determined. It is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. The dead will be raised imperishable. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true, Death has been swallowed up in victory. For Paul, the resurrection was the foundation of the faith.

Q: Could you write more about the soul?

Answer: This answer will be a brief overview. The soul has been defined in several ways. Some people believe that it is the living being. Others belief that it is the part of a person that guides behavior, and it lives after the body dies. The concept of the soul could be 200,000 years old. Some Hindus and Buddhists believed in the immortal soul. In Jesus time, people believed in a resurrection after death not the immortality of the soul. In Genesis 2:7, we find, And God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. The word soul in some passages in the Bible simply meant life; however, did this verse mean that God gave man a soul?

The doctrine of a separate soul was a Greek concept. Socrates believed in the immortality of the soul of a virtuous person. He thought that the soul brings life and is imperishable. Plato believed in the immortality of the soul which had existed before the body. Later, Augustine thought the soul acknowledged truth; therefore, it was immortal. Some of the early Christians accepted the Greek idea that the soul was created by God and placed in the body at conception. Presently, Judaism, Christianity and Islam proclaim that immortality is achieved by the resurrection of the body on the day of judgment.

The immortality of the soul is a matter which is of so great consequence to us and which touches us so profoundly that we must have lost all feeling to be indifferent about it.

Pray that we understand our need to support and protect each other with guidance from God, health professionals and good common sense.

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Everyday Religion: What was the nature of the resurrected Jesus? - Winston-Salem Journal

In The History Of The Peloponnesian War, Greek historian Thucydides provides a contemporary account of the plague that struck Athens in 430BC.

The outbreak, which killed nearly a third of the population, stripped society down to biology. Belief in the gods evaporated, fear of the law vanished, and the desire for property became laughable.

It made little difference whether people prayed or not because both believers and disbelievers perished. Human laws became irrelevant because no one expected to live long enough to be brought to trial for crimes. People spent while they could as they saw the posthumous estates of the rich passing to those who had nothing.

By rejecting religion, law and property, Athenians broke irreverently with the expectation of continuity which orders society by extrapolating a felt past and a lived present into an expected future. From inheriting faith to observing laws to accumulating possessions, most Athenians had lived to leave something received, learnt or owned for their descendants.

That expectation disappeared with the plague. Witnessing the dying gasps of neighbours and strangers, Athenians sought to live before it was their turn to receive the death sentence passed on all. Reinventing existence as an accidentally provisional gift, they invoked a helplessly defiant sense of living and invited it to take their dying moments hostage.

Lucretius helped import the Greek memory of faithless time into the Roman world. On The Nature Of Things employs the Thucydidean depiction of the plague as empirical evidence for philosopher Epicurus' rejection of religion and belief in the gods. The Epicurean claim is that humans can be happy like the gods if they stop fearing death and the gods themselves.

Epicurus proclaims that the "most terrible evil, death, is nothing for us, since when we exist, death does not exist, and when death exists, we do not exist". His radical epistemology mocked efforts by vagabond time to domesticate fellow sojourning humans on the pastures of promised immortality.

The coronavirus pandemic has revived the insurgent spirit of those ages, if only up to a point.

Atheists and agnostics are rejoicing at how places of worship, citadels of eternal faith, are asking the devout to stay away, while hospitals, those secular sanctuaries of medicine, are inviting the diseased to come in.

Stoicism, too, is coming in - in the form of hospital staff who carry the sick into hospitals on stretchers that bear their passing weight. The Stoic reading of virtue, not as a means to pleasure but as an end embedded in the natural course of things whose final destination is unknown, complements the Epicurean discovery that death is nothing more than the fear of it. Hence, the cloying companionship of existence is preferable to the coy fidelity of immortality. Overworked doctors worldwide, trying to save patients, realise this bitter truth better than others do.

However, most mortals are clinging to faith more closely than ever. Religious gatherings of thousands in the midst of an infectious outbreak are astonishing. Other mortals are reverting to the gods of leisure and sports. Hedonists have thronged beaches and parks in defiance of social distancing advisories, although their delinquent abandon does not approximate to the abandonment of law in stricken Greece.

Then, again, markets, those ancestral preserves of private property, are crying like little children, beseeching governments to protect them. Private property stands revealed as little more than a personal claim on collective transience. Yet companies are intent still on buying other companies.

Evidently, unlike the victims of the Athenian plague, the inhabitants of the coronaviral world expect time to continue in familiar shape, form and norm.

This is so because the limits of pagan religiosity have been breached since that plague. The advent of revealed religion overran boundaries between the known meanings of life and death.

The notion of salvation gathered the wayward movements of the self - its birth, its growth and flowering, its insatiable desires and loss of direction, its redemptive capacity for self-recognition and suffering - into a singular promise of eternal life. But at the same time, the law came to be sanctioned not by the hereafter but by the present. Unlike the Athenian state, which lay at the mercy of querulous gods, today's state generally is secular.

Populist as well, it can deploy its democratic prowess to nationalise private property in an emergency. That way, the burden of economic existence is lifted from the lonely individual and placed on the gregarious shoulders of society.

The state has taken over the role played by chance in Thucydidean Greece. In that transfer lies the possibility of hope.

Fatalism is not impossible. Descent to barbarism would follow should the state abrogate its responsibilities. Civil society might step in, but it would not possess the financial, regulatory and punitive clout of the state. It is only massive and sustained state intervention in the economy that can rescue nations.

Looking down from his perch in the afterlife, Thucydides might draw a long breath and say to his companions that the world is a better place today than even his Athens was.

Two-thirds of Athens survived.

Asad Latif is a former Straits Times journalist.

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Keeping faith in the state, Opinion News & Top Stories - The Straits Times

The Marvel and DC Universe are filled with all kinds of magical weapons, many of which hold potent, powerful supernatural elements. While all of these weapons can be lethal when wielded by the right heroes or villains, Katana of DC's Outsiders and Suicide Squad and Magik from the X-Men and the New Mutants.

Now, we're taking a closer look at the bloody histories of Magik's Soulsword and Katana's Soultaker to see which supernatural blade reigns supreme.

RELATED:X-Men: Prof. X Only Lets Resurrection 'Fix' Mutants for One MESSED-UP Reason

The Soulsword was created by Magik while the young mutant was trapped in Limbo. Using her own life force to empower the spell, Illyana was able to manifest the sword from her own spirit. While the sword was introduced as a simple blade, the design of the weapon shifts and becomes more intricate and powerful with each use. The blade will also sometimes create a magical armor around the user when they need it.

The sword also technically comes with sovereignty over the demonic realm, Limbo. The sword can be used as a typical weapon, but it can also be used to sever and destroy magical spells. After the death of Illyana, the sword traded hands multiple times -- ending up briefly in the respective hands of Shadowcat, Nightcrawler and Amanda Sefton -- before Illyana was restored to life following the events of X-Infernus and reclaimed it.

RELATED: Suicide Squad Director Admits to Harley Quinn Mistakes

Katana is a gifted warrior in many respects, and she's accordingly adept with numerous weapons. However, her greatest skills like with the Soultaker Sword. In the Post-CrisisDC Universe, the blade was forged by the 14th-century swordmaster, Muramasa. The sword is exceptionally sharp, capable of even slicing through otherwise durable substances. However, the most fearsome aspect of the Soul Sword is its capability to absorb the souls of the people it kills and traps them within itself.

The wielder of the blade can then force the spirits to serve them, even against their will. In the post-Flashpoint version of the DC Universe, this includes Katana's dead husband, and Katana speaks to his spirit through the blade. The sword is also suggested to be the Sword Totem, which means the blade can also potentially give the wielder immortality.

RELATED: X-Men: The Omega-Level Mutants Who STILL Aren't On Krakoa

Both the Soulsword and the Soultaker come with unique attributes that make them fearsome tools in the right hands. But they also come with unique powers that make them specifically more potent against other specific foes. Both blades are shown being capable of slicing through most elements, which makes them useful in most situations. However, the Soultaker is better suited to contend with enemies who possess souls, thus allowing Katana to kill them and use their spirits as her servants. Meanwhile, the Soulsword is shown to be more versatile in slicing through magical enchantments and spells. This means the Soulsword could be used in more intense moments, especially when confronted with magical threats.

Another element that makes the Soulsword particularly powerful is the power it gives the user over the realm of Limbo. Once taking the blade, owners are able to use the sword to command the various beings of the hellish realm. This gives the owner a veritable army of demonic figures at their beck and call. Even villains like Doctor Doom have done everything they could to claim the sword and take control of Limbo for themselves, which hints at the potential power that control could afford. So while the Soulsword might be an effective tool to bring down human foes, the pure power and versatility of the Soulsword make it a considerably more impressive weapon.

KEEP READING: Black Lightning's Deadly Alliance May Doom The Outsiders

One-Punch Man: This Theory Explains Saitamas Power - and Its Brilliant

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Katana's Soultaker vs. Magik's Soulsword: Which is the Better Blade? - CBR - Comic Book Resources

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West coast melodic death metal act Voices of Ruin have posted a new live video for their track titled The Undoing, which appears on their new LP on M-Theory Audio, Path to Immortality (due May 15th). The clip was filmed at Wacken Open Air last year.

Says vocalist David Barrett:

The Undoing was the first song that was written for our new album, and its been part of our setlist for some time now. It has evolved a little from when we first wrote it, and the crushing production brought the song to the next level! Rafael (Ortega of Ecliptic Visions Productions) did a great job blending the footage of us performing the song to make a cool music/live video. There are also some audio clips in the beginning and at the end, including Eric Dow (Wacken Metal Battle USA, Helsott) announcing us as we began our set. Wacken was a dream come true, and to be able to release the live footage along with the premiere of The Undoing at the same time is perfect! We cant wait for fans to hear the rest of the new album!

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Voices of Ruin post new live video for "The Undoing" - Next Mosh