The aging process can be slowed -- or even reversed. But you must develop a concern for strength and muscle. If health, vitality and a long life free from serious disability are what you want you must consider what I'm about to say.

The most common disease of aging

The most prevalent condition to occur with age is sarcopenia, or what is better known as frailty. Sarcopenia is the medical term for "muscle weakening" or "body thinning." It is basically the muscle equivalent of osteopenia (bone thinning), or osteoporosis. Unfortunately, this condition has received little attention, even though its prevention is at the very heart of living a functional, independent life into older age.

The danger of neglect and inactivity

Even a young person, if you confine him to bed or a chair, will biologically age in fitness by almost two decades in just 21 days. This was actually demonstrated in the 1960s by Swedish physiologist Bengt Saltin. Since older people's bodies are already predisposed to losing muscle tissue and strength ("Use it or lose it," remember?), if we put them in a bed or easy chair for 21 days we can cripple them for the rest of their lives.

The real fountain of youth

Life extension and anti-aging have been pursued with increasing interest during the last three decades, so you can imagine my surprise when one of the only documented research studies showing reversal of aging at the cellular, genetic level in humans went largely ignored. In 2007, researchers published work revealing that a very basic weight training program practiced just twice a week improved strength, and actually reversed aging in 179 genetic markers at the cellular level.

These people's bodies were beginning to operate on a level that was many years their junior. A person who is 70 years old can weight train and more than double their strength over time -- easily outdoing a sedentary person two or more decades their junior. Or they can be sedentary and lose muscle and strength to the level of a 90-year-old. Your chronological age has little to do actually with how old you feel, or how old you are biologically. It is much more important to think in terms of healthy function and strength, and that is subject to 50-100 percent improvement or more with training.

The power of strength training

The good news is we have not found an age where the ravages of sarcopenia can't be reversed in a willing participant who can move themselves and maybe need only moderate assistance. In 1990, a study was done with nursing home residents in their 90s (each possessing at least two chronic diseases apiece). The researchers wanted to know if the residents' frailty and low muscle strength could be aided even at their advanced age. Working with the leg extension machine three times a week, these residents showed over a 150 percent increase in strength in just eight weeks. For a few this meant being able to stand unassisted, or walk without a cane. The potential was there all along but had been allowed to wane by neglect.

Don't allow your potential to wane with age.

Thomas Morrison is a fitness coordinator at Bradley Wellness Center.

Excerpt from:

Keeping fit: Overcome aging with strength training - The Daily Citizen

"I need to last longer, the professor tells me. He lets my quizzical look hang for a moment, then quickly explains. Im on my second marriage and my wife is expecting twins.

Soon to be 50, the respected head of an Australian medical institute is contemplating the latest offering from the anti-ageing industry. Its a product that tops up the levels of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+), a commonplace chemical made by our bodies that is crucial for our metabolism.

Hes not alone. Leonard Guarente, a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has been taking NAD+ boosters for years; and in 2015 started a company, Elysium, to market them. There are likely thousands of users by now. Even NASA has been seduced. It hopes to use NAD+ to repair the DNA of astronauts bombarded by cosmic rays during the yearlong tip to Mars. DNA damage is one of the factors linked to ageing.

Something has changed in the anti-ageing field. Eccentrics and gullible-types have always availed themselves of anti-ageing remedies. Dubious supplements from gingko to hormones feed a mushrooming $30 billion industry. But when evidence-clamouring scientists start popping a pill, you sit up and take notice. Like the soon-to-be-50 Australian professor, most arent aiming to extend their lifespan; they are aiming to extend their health span the period of time before the diseases of ageing catch up with them: heart disease, arthritis, cancers, kidney disease and dementia.

This seal of approval from scientifically literate customers reflects a revolution in the science of ageing. Thirty years ago, there was none. Most scientific thinking held that ageing was not amenable to tweaking. No more than preventing wear and tear on your car. Yet animals do age at different rates a lab rat lives for three years, but a mole rat for 40. Rather than a random process of degradation, this surely suggests some underlying program, one that might be hacked.

In the late 1980s, scientists proved that was indeed the case at least in yeast and roundworms. They tinkered with the genes of these creatures and extended their lifespans and healthspans. In the case of roundworms, lifespan could be doubled by altering a single gene!

Suddenly science had some levers to push and in a compelling demonstration of how the fundamentals are conserved through evolution, the same genetic levers were identified in mice and humans. But altering the genes of humans is not on the cards. So for more than a decade now, researchers have searched for drugs to tweak those same genes.

NAD+ boosters have now become the party favourite. In part because theyre not drugs; they are natural products that restore body chemistry to a more youthful state. By age 50, NAD+ levels are half what they were at 20. Top up NAD+ levels in elderly mice and their muscles becomes like those of youngsters, their stem cells get more oomph and they live longer.

So have scientists finally found the fountain of youth? And if its good enough for scientists, should the rest of start taking NAD+ supplements?

I feel a bit like the character Morpheus in the movie The Matrix, in the scene where he offers Neo either the blue pill or the red pill: You take the blue pill the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.

I had a similar experience researching this story. Some researchers I interviewed were in the blue-pill camp: they felt that we probably know enough about ageing to intervene. Others were red-pill types. The rabbit hole was too deep, they didnt think we knew enough to start intervening.

So Ill give you the Morpheus choice here.

The reason some serious scientists are taking NAD+ supplements is because of a series of epiphanies, which have erected a glittering scientific edifice on what just three decades ago was just a swampy backwater.

Just about every university now has a department for ageing research; and its not just academic institutes. Google entered this space in 2015 with its secretive subsidiary Calico, which is bringing big data to bear on the problem. Craig Venter, who pioneered the reading of the human genome, started the company Human Longevity to decode the genes for long life.

Less is more: restricting calorie intake has been shown to increase lifespan in every species studied.

Cosmos Magazine

California-based Alkahest is mining the regenerative factors in youthful blood, and there are plenty more variations on theme from start-ups such as Progenics and Unity.

But roll back 30 years and studying ageing was career suicide for any serious scientist. Meanwhile at the other end of the biological spectrum, the science of embryo development was booming. Just how the mush of an egg turned into an embryo had long been biologys greatest mystery. By the late 1980s, researchers had uncovered a genetic program that ran the process in everything from roundworms to human beings. These lessons from embryos would help propel the study of ageing into the mainstream.

Lesson number one was that the fundamentals of biology are preserved across the species. In the late 1980s Cynthia Kenyon was compelled by this lesson. She was a 30-something slim blonde, possessed of exceptionally youthful features and an infectious enthusiasm for science. Her model organism was the one-millimetre-long, 959-cell-strong roundworm, Caenorhabditis elegans. Kenyon was struck by its very obvious ageing. In two weeks it went from agile slitherer to a decrepit creature barely able to drag itself across the culture dish.

She felt sorry for the worms. She was also intrigued. Perhaps, like development, ageing was also a process under some sort of control. She set out to see if tweaking genes, by bombarding the worms with mutagenic chemicals, might affect their lifespan. Her hunch was rewarded by a remarkable mutant. At four weeks of age it was still slithering like a teenager. Tweaking a single gene more than doubled its lifespan.

In 1993 Kenyon published a paper in Nature revealing the identity of that gene as daf-2, which may not mean all that much to you; but there was a revelation lurking behind the name.

One of the big lessons of the 1980s was that genes dont change all that much during evolution. They acquire some code changes and get repurposed, but its still possible to recognise them. Sort of like the way words change in language you can still pick out the ancient Greek roots.

So it wasnt surprising that mammals turned out to have two genes that resembled daf-2. The surprise lay with their job description. In humans, the counterparts of the worms life-extension gene are the insulin receptor gene and its close relative, the insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor gene (IGF1R).

To understand why this was such a revelation, you need to know a couple of things.

Insulins job is to mobilise the body to respond to food intake. Like a warehouse overseer receiving a stock delivery, the hormone is released into the blood to ensure many systems are quickly mobilised. The insulin receptor conveys these signals to the body tissues so nutrients are used as needed or stored as fat.

Roundworms showed that signals about food availability also had a link to ageing. But even before the worm discovery we knew that.

Back in the Great Depression of the 1930s, many people went hungry. Wondering about the effect on growth and long-term health, Cornell University nutritionist Clive McKay set up rat experiments to mimic calorie restriction. To his surprise the rats, so long as they received adequate nutrients, actually lived longer. The experiment has been repeated in yeast, worms, flies, mice and primates.

The rough rule of thumb is: restrict calorie intake by 30% and see up to a 30% increase in lifespan. The effects are smaller in mice and even smaller in primates. Not many people have the willpower to adhere to a lifelong diet, though occasional fasting mimicking diets developed by Walter Longo at the University of Southern California seem to have beneficial effects. Nevertheless the holy grail has been to find a drug that could mimic fasting.

Kenyons identification of the daf-2 gene provided an entry point into the circuit linking food intake with life extension. In the following years, she and others teased out more key components. Research showed the same components played a role in the ageing of different species. Long-lived dogs and long-lived people showed evidence of tweaks to their IGF1-R gene. Another genetic tweak that doubled a worms lifespan, daf-16, turned up in long-lived men. They were more likely to carry a particular variation in a gene called FOX0-3A, which harboured within it the recognisable code of daf-16.

Another entry point into the ageing circuitry came from the yeast Saccaromyces cerevisiae. It might seem absurd to go looking for the secrets of ageing in a single-celled yeast, but this cell resembles one of our own in that it has multiple chromosomes housed in a nucleus. Remarkably the yeast also possesses many recognisable features of ageing. A single yeast cell will eventually age and die after a couple of days. If coaxed to bud off daughters, it will undergo a kind of menopause; spawning so many daughter cells and no more. It also demonstrates the universal feature of ageing: deprive yeast of calories and it lives longer.

Just as with roundworms, the search for mutants delivered. In 2000, Leonard Guarentes lab at MIT found yeast mutants that continued to spawn for about about 30% longer than normal. The gene responsible was named Sirtuin 2 (Sir 2). It was a completely different component of the ageing circuit to anything unearthed in the worm. It made parts of the DNA code inaccessible or silent the prefix Sir stands for silent information regulator.

Sirtuins work by increasing the stickiness of the histone proteins that wrap up DNA. Worms, flies, mice and humans all have them and experiments with worms, flies and mice indicates that increasing sirtuin activity modestly extends lifespan.

Yeast studies also delivered another windfall. Like other organisms, yeast lifespan increases when calories are restricted. As yeast doesnt have insulin or IGF1 receptors, some other genetic components must be responsible for sensing calories. In 2005 researchers found that role was played by a curious gene known as the target of rapamycin or TOR (in mammals the gene is called mTOR). When the TOR gene senses low levels of calories, it responds by slowing down protein synthesis. It also stimulates recycling of a cells components, a process known as autophagy.

It seemed to make sense. Calorie restriction flips a metabolic switch from abundance to austerity. Like when you get a big salary cut, you dont go adding extensions to the house; you hunker down, live modestly, recycle your old things and delay your plans to have babies. Somehow responding to this stress also lengthens lifespan.

These days researchers think autophagy plays a big part in the lengthening. For instance, Walter Longos recent studies on mice and humans shows that fasting accelerates the refurbishing of tissues, clearing away damaged senescent cells while turning on renewing stem cells.

The name target of rapamycin is an accident of history. Rapamycin was discovered in a bacterium that grows in the soils of Rapa Nui, better known as Easter Island. Rapamycins ability to flip the TOR lever makes it a drug with profound effects. Until now, its major medical use has been to stop the rejection of foreign tissues in transplant patients by toning down their immune systems. But it was destined for greater things.

Enter Sydney-born David Sinclair. He had long been compelled by the lessons of ageing learnt from yeast. In 1997at Lenny Guarentes lab he had found a mutant yeast that aged faster. The faulty gene, SGS1, was related to one causing Werner syndrome. Just like yeast, affected people age faster. But it was yeasts Sir 2 gene that captivated him. It appeared to be a lever that flipped during calorie restriction. Perhaps chemicals could do the same thing. In 2003 he hit pay dirt with a plant-derived compound called resveratrol. To everyones delight, it was found in red wine though youd have to imbibe litres to get an active dose. Soon after, he spun off the company Sirtris to commercialise compounds like resveratrol; it was bought by GlaxoSmithKline in 2008.

Sinclair, who now heads labs both at the University of NSW and Harvard Medical School, says GSK has a whole stable of sirtuin-activating compounds in testing, some of which are 1,000 times stronger than resveratrol.

His attention, in any event, has shifted to NAD+. The chemical had been hiding in plain sight since 2000, when sirtuins were identified as an anti-ageing lever in yeast. It was clear NAD+ acted like a grease for the sirtuin mechanism. Since its discovery some 100 years earlier as a yeast co-factor that stimulated fermentation, NAD+ had been found to grease a multitude of metabolic reactions but few thought of it offered a potential treatment. It was, as Sinclair put it, the most boring molecule in biochemistry. How could raising the levels of such a commonplace substance have any effect?

Furthermore, it was also not clear how to raise its levels: NAD+ itself is very unstable, and cant actually get inside cells where it is needed.

Two things changed the game. One was that researchers discovered NAD+ levels decline with age but are raised by calorie restriction and exercise. The other was identifying several natural precursors of NAD+ nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN) and nicotinamide riboside (NR) that were much more stable, could enter cells and raised NAD+ levels when given to animals.

Johan Auwerxs laboratory at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne showed in 2016 that NR boosted the multiplication of skin, brain and muscle stem cells, and slightly increased the longevity of mice, even when given in middle age.

Sinclairs lab showed in 2013 that mice treated with NMN boosters had improved muscle strength, and earlier this year that mice treated with NMN had superior ability to repair their DNA the reason NASA is now engaged in talks with Sinclairs lab.

Which brings us back to NAD+ boosters. The excitement is that NAD+ boosters are not drugs. So you neednt wait; there are companies willing to oblige by providing NR supplements, such as Guarentes startup, Elysium. It has some cred no less than five Nobel prize winners on its advisory board. In lieu of a trial, Guarente says the company will follow up results with clients over time. There are concerns as to whether NAD+ levels are truly raised by the supplement but, for what its worth, have a google and youll find anecdotal testimonials from people saying they feel peppier for taking it.

So what do you do? Just because something is a natural compound doesnt guarantee that boosting its levels in middle age is a safe thing to do. As Sinclair reported at a recent conference in Sydney, NMN not only helped aged mice develop stronger muscles but also triggered the growth of tiny blood vessels. That might flag a risk, since cancer cells rely on newly formed blood vessels to spread.

On the other hand, its pretty clear what the effects of ageing are a dramatically increased likelihood of developing all sorts of diseases.

Depends if youre the punting type.

ELSEVIER INC

You might think with all the epiphanies of the past 30 years, surely we know enough about ageing to go full speed ahead with interventions? All the candidate compounds, so far, seem to hack into the same pathway triggered by calorie restriction.

Well, yes but this rabbit hole goes very deep. Take calorie restriction, the supposedly iron-clad way to trigger lifespan extension. In fact, studies in mice show very different effects, depending on their breed, gender and even what they are fed. Rafael da Cabo, who runs the long-term calorie restriction study on rhesus monkeys at the US National Institute of Ageing, told me some breeds of mice actually live shorter lifespans when calorie-restricted; and females may respond better than males or vice versa. Nor is it just about calories: sorry paleo dieters but high-protein diets shorten lifespan in mice. So go figure where you as an individual, endowed with a specific gender and a unique set of genes, fit into all this.

Over the years, one compelling theory has been that it controls the integrity of mitochondria, the engines of our cells which clearly degenerate as we age. According to the theory, the corrosive by-products of cellular combustion free radicals cause ongoing damage as an inevitable consequence of being alive. But numerous recent experiments show that slowing the generation of free radicals in mice or flies, doesnt actually slow the ageing process. In fact, it seems to have the opposite effect. Nowadays the paradigm shift is that stress signals like those from free radicals, fasting or exercise trigger an adaptive anti-ageing response.

It doesnt mean past theories are entirely wrong. As da Cabo says: Nothing has been disproven. Its just that there is a lot of other stuff going on in ageing as well. At least nine targets appear to be controlled by the ageing circuitry, ranging from the fraying of telomeres on the tips of chromosome to epigenetic disturbances that change how the DNA code is read.

Kenyons epiphanies with worms suggested for a while that tweaking the controls for ageing might be simple. Indeed these days its possible to extend the lifespan of worms ten-fold. But mammals are complex. Da Cabo offers the metaphor of a Model T Ford compared to a modern Tesla. Back in the 1920s you could tune the engine with a few tweaks from a spanner. Good luck trying that with a Tesla!

Luckily, just like todays car mechanics, researchers now have mind-boggling tools to deal with mindboggling complexity they can monitor the activity of every gene and the output of metabolism with socalled omics technologies and leave it to machinelearning algorithms to figure out whats going on. This is the sort of big data approach that Googles subsidiary Calico is applying to the biology of ageing.

The companys chief scientific officer: Cynthia Kenyon. None of this means the era of anti-ageing medicine has to wait for us to explore every blind alley of the rabbit hole. Indeed, most of the researchers I spoke with passionately believe they are more than ready to start testing the plethora of promising new compounds in their pipelines.

Whats needed is the faucet at the end the regulatory framework that will incorporate ageing as a medical indication. So that people who need to last longer dont have to be punters.

This article appeared in Cosmos 75 - Winter 2017 under the headline "Time to pop an anti-ageing pill"

Read the original post:

Time to pop an anti-ageing pill - Cosmos

Rapunzel-length locks are taking over Hollywood, so women everywhere are shelling out dough to get a luscious mane. After trying Keratin bond extensions and clip-ins, heres why clip-ins are now my fave!

Theres something about long, cascading locks that just feels so dang good! As a beauty and hair-trend lover, Ive tried out all sorts of fads over the years from black streaks under my bangs to platinum blonde locks. After all the color switch-ups, my hair became extremely damaged especially when bleach was left on my hair for too long (so take caution ladies). When it was at its worst, I used Keratin bond extensions to add volume and Ill tell you: It rocked. I mean, Simba would have been jealous of my fierce mane. Now that my tresses are in good condition and restored back to health, Im all about the clip-ins! Just a snap here and there, and youve instantly added several inches of length without spending 6 or more hours in your hairstylists chair. Ill share my experience, so you can decide what option is the best for you!

After the salon trip from hell, I decided to utilize whatever options I had to get my hair back to the length I started with. My friend recommended that I try Keratin bond extensions, since they last for a few months and have a natural appearance. The process is pretty easy, but it does take time so bring your phone and a hot coffee, or whatever tickles your fancy. To start, you select a thin strand of hair using the tail of the comb.Insert the lock of hair in the template circle to protect the scalp andlastly, you use the hot extension iron to heat the pre-tipped extensions to natural hair, according to WikiHow. Im not going to lie, the end result was incredible and so worth the wait, but it will take time getting used to using an extension-friendly hair brush and hiding the bonds in up dos. Its going to cost you though so I dont recommend starting if you arent willing to spend a couple hundred every 4-5 months.

Theyve also come out with Micro Bead hair extensions, which are MUCH easier to take out. So, if youre looking for a long-term hair plan youve got options. For the ladies with long hair already who are just looking to add a bit of volume and length, clip-ins are the bomb! My hair is already pretty long, but its fun to hit the town with a voluminous mane, so Ive been using the 14 inch extensions. Im not a professional and dont have the trick to every hair woe, but this is just what has worked for me! Wherther you buy your hair from Sallys, a salon, or online its all about matching your color flawlessly. In my case, I have bayalaged hair, so I went for two-tone extensions to create a blended look. My favorite part? Taking them out before bed! YAS QUEEN!

HollywoodLifers, have you tried extensions before? Tell us, below!

See the article here:

I Tried Clip-In Extensions & Loved It: Why They're Better Than Keratin Sometimes - Hollywood Life

Karratha Gas Plant, North West Shelf Project

The Federal Government is showing signs of taking a more interventionist role in ensuring the life of the North West Shelf LNG project is extended, according to a research report.

The report by resources consultants Wood Mackenzie said the Government was motivated by an NWS life extension being worth up to $US48 billion in additional taxes.

Industry regulator the National Offshore Petroleum Titles Administrator had written to resource owners in North West waters requesting more information about the viability of prolonging the project, the report said.

There are signs the Government is becoming more proactive in the sector, and has leverage under the retention lease system to push developments forward, a summary said.

There are now real drivers pushing for the projects life extension, and conditions are unlikely to get more favourable than what we have now.

The three-decade-old NWS needs new sources of gas in the 2020s to keep its five production train Karratha Gas Plant going.

Wood Mackenzie said a life extension development should be able to take advantage of lower costs during the construction phase and a tightening energy market once production began.

It said a new industry focus on costs and margins had made resource owners more open to sharing third party infrastructure.

NWS operator Woodside Petroleums preferred option for the Browse joint venture it leads is to pipe the gas to Karratha.

While citing Browse as the leading candidate, other developments the report identified as potential suppliers were the ExxonMobil-led Scarborough field and the Chevron-led Clio and Acme fields and undeveloped Greater Gorgon fields.

Woodside in May said the NWS partners had agreed on a proposed toll for resource owners to process gas through the Karratha plant.

Go here to read the rest:

Government prods producers on extending NWS - The West Australian

TheRecord.com

BWXT Canada lands $48M add-on to Bruce Power deal TheRecord.com Refurbishment of the steam generators will extend the life of six of the reactors in the Bruce B Unit 6 reactor. "BWXT values its contributions to Bruce Power's Life Extension Program, which is critical to ensuring the supply of low-cost, clean and ...

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BWXT Canada lands $48M add-on to Bruce Power deal - TheRecord.com

August 11, 2017 01:31 ET | Source: SBM Offshore N.V.

August 11, 2017

SBM Offshore confirms that a settlement contract has now been executed with an extended group of primary layer insurers further to its announcement on July 17, 2017 that Heads of Terms had been agreed. The final settlement includes one additional primary layer insurer. As a result, SBM Offshore has entered into a binding settlement with 83,6% of the US$500 million primary insurance layer against a cash payment of US$281 million in full and final settlement of its claim against participating insurers.

Upon receipt, the settlement monies will be used first to reimburse legal fees and other claim related expenses incurred to date. The balance of the settlement monies will then be shared equally between SBM Offshore and Repsol in accordance with the terms of their Settlement Agreement of March 11, 2013 which concluded the Yme project.

SBM Offshore continues to pursue its claim against all remaining insurers including the two excess layers, the trial of which is scheduled to commence October 2018.

Further details of this settlement and the claim are confidential.

Corporate Profile

SBM Offshore N.V. is a listed holding company that is headquartered in Amsterdam. It holds direct and indirect interests in other companies that collectively with SBM Offshore N.V. form the SBM Offshore group ("the Company").

SBM Offshore provides floating production solutions to the offshore energy industry, over the full product life-cycle. The Company is market leading in leased floating production systems with multiple units currently in operation and has unrivalled operational experience in this field. The Company's main activities are the design, supply, installation, operation and the life extension of Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessels. These are either owned and operated by SBM Offshore and leased to its clients or supplied on a turnkey sale basis.

As of December 31, 2016, Group companies employ approximately 4,750 people worldwide. Full time company employees totaling c. 4,250 are spread over five regional centers, ten operational shore bases and the offshore fleet of vessels. A further 500 are working for the joint ventures with several construction yards. For further information, please visit our website at http://www.sbmoffshore.com.

The companies in which SBM Offshore N.V. directly and indirectly owns investments are separate entities. In this communication "SBM Offshore" is sometimes used for convenience where references are made to SBM Offshore N.V. and its subsidiaries in general, or where no useful purpose is served by identifying the particular company or companies.

The Management Board

Amsterdam, the Netherlands, August 11, 2017

Note: dates in bold have changed as communicated in SBM Offshore's press release dated 10 July 2017

For further information, please contact:

Investor Relations

Bert-Jaap Dijkstra

Investor Relations Director

Mobile NL: +31 (0) 6 2114 1017

Mobile MC: +33 (0) 6 4391 9302

Telephone: +377 9205 1732

E-mail: bertjaap.dijkstra@sbmoffshore.com

Website: http://www.sbmoffshore.com

Media Relations

Vincent Kempkes

Group Communications Director

Telephone: +31 (0) 20 2363 170

Mobile: +31 (0) 6 25 68 71 67

E-mail: vincent.kempkes@sbmoffshore.com

Website: http://www.sbmoffshore.com

Disclaimer

This press release contains inside information within the meaning of Article 7(1) of the EU Market Abuse Regulation. Some of the statements contained in this release that are not historical facts are statements of future expectations and other forward-looking statements based on management's current views and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance, or events to differ materially from those in such statements. Such forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties, which may cause actual results and performance of the Company's business to differ materially and adversely from the forward-looking statements. Certain such forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward- looking terminology such as "believes", "may", "will", "should", "would be", "expects" or "anticipates" or similar expressions, or the negative thereof, or other variations thereof, or comparable terminology, or by discussions of strategy, plans, or intentions. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in this release as anticipated, believed, or expected. SBM Offshore NV does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update any industry information or forward-looking statements set forth in this release to reflect subsequent events or circumstances. Nothing in this press release shall be deemed an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any securities.

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SBM Offshore Confirms Settlement with Extended Group of Insurers on its Yme Insurance Claim - GlobeNewswire (press release)

It's Aubrey Plaza's 33rd birthday, and she's curled up on a couch in a deafeningly quiet, concrete-walled room at the Line hotel in Koreatown. She hugs her knees to her chest. Her T-shirt features a hyper-realistic image of Nicolas Cage's face, and I can just see his toothy, maniacal smile peeking out from between her legs it's unnerving. Her hands fidget, knotting and unknotting a black string attached to a Santa Muerte charm. The actor hit stardom with her sardonic slacker character April on the NBC show Parks and Recreation and, like many TV stars on long-running shows, she has found it difficult to escape her monster creation. With a recent succession of mold-smashing projects Legion, The Little Hours and Ingrid Goes West she's about to leave April behind. But who will she become?

"If Andy Kaufman is alive, he should come and find me," Plaza tells me.

Kaufman is one of Plaza's greatest influences. The comic actor died from cancer in 1984 but he melted so deeply into his myriad personas that there are people who still believe he is alive and simply playing a long con on his suffering audiences. If you've only ever seen Plaza on the uplifting comedy Parks & Rec, the Kaufman reference may not immediately resonate for you. But to friends and colleagues, she is a Loki trickster who revels in absurdity.

"She's not just playing at being Andy Kaufman," Plaza's Legion director, Noah Hawley, tells me over the phone. "She is Andy Kaufman."

He shares the story of their first meeting: Plaza shows up 30 minutes late, on crutches, and immediately opens up about her quest to be a director on Parks and Recreation and her disappointment that they denied her the chance while letting the men direct.

"I said, 'That is wrong. They should have let you direct,' but then she said, 'Oh no, I just made that up. I didn't want to direct.'" Hawley sounds simultaneously exasperated and impressed when he speaks of Plaza. "There's a sense she's always testing you I didn't even know if she really needed those crutches." She did, but that's another story.

On Legion, a show about a young mutant who's hospitalized for schizophrenia but realizes he may actually have powers (it exists in the X-Men universe), Plaza plays Lenny. She's a projection of the Shadow King, a psychic mutant who is a kind of gender-fluid parasite who possesses the bodies of others. Essentially, Plaza is playing up to four different characters all of whom have varied mannerisms and speech patterns in the same scene. Her performances are as unpredictable from take to take as the multiple characters she plays: Will she embody a power-hungry therapist, or will she break into a sexy, Fosse-style song-and-dance number?

Aubrey Plaza plays the complex Lenny in FX series Legion.

Courtesy FX

"With her, you never quite know what's going to happen, and that's really for me very exciting," her co-star Dan Stevens says. "She's always kind of looking for the mischievous choice in the scene," which is hell on continuity folks and editors charged with making sure she picks up the coffee cup the same way in every take that never happens. But Stevens and Hawley say Plaza's spontaneity precisely fits the show's tone.

"I needed someone who could be anything and everything in any moment," Hawley explains to me. "There's a sort of slippery quality this character has, very fast-talking. Part of this character's dance is about manipulating people and tricking them, and yet I really wanted her to be likable."

Plaza's had a lot of practice being abrasive but likable most of the characters she plays fall into this category, from the diehard party girl of Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates to Depressed Debbie in Whit Stillman's Damsels in Distress and perpetually annoyed Julie Powers in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. But Hawley's casting of Plaza (and changing the character from male to female for her) has begun a small avalanche of projects that could finally leave her Parks & Rec charter behind and let Plaza become whoever she wants.

The Little Hours, a heartfelt nunsploitation period piece from Plaza's longtime romantic partner and creative collaborator, Jeff Baena, opened in June to rave reviews. Plaza not only stars in the film alongside Alison Brie and Kate Micucci but also earns her first producing credit.

"A lot of time you see actors getting producer credits, it's just a vanity title for them," Baena says. He describes watching Plaza naturally morph into the nurturing attitude of a producer, even using her day off to take actor Paul Reiser on a Tuscany tour producers have to keep everyone on set happy. "Whatever she does, she takes it seriously. Ultimately, I think she's going to be a filmmaker with that heightened sensitivity."

Plaza describes that "sensitivity" as a manifestation of her tendency to "please" people, which is a double-edged sword: Acting and producing require a person to be highly attuned to others' needs, but what happens if you can't turn that off?

"I'm such a people pleaser that my natural reaction in interviews and things is to give people what they want. It's like I'm a robot," Plaza says. "'Oh, these people want me to say something weird or mean or sarcastic, so I just do that. That'll make them happy.' I'm just now getting better at feeling more comfortable in my own skin, but it can be hard when people are projecting ideas onto you at full speed, constantly."

But Plaza absolutely emphasizes that she knows her life is not achingly difficult. As a young artist who got cast on a popular network series simply by showing up to an informal meeting in shorts and a T-shirt to talk about the meaning of life and suggest that, hey, maybe a character could be a droll slacker, Plaza sometimes can't even believe that they let her on television back then. And if ever she were to get a big head, she says, her real family and her TV family were there to slap her back down to Earth.

"Nick Offerman knew every single person on set's name, [he] was the most generous man to be working with, and if I would have a bad day and be annoyed or acting like a brat or whatever, he would be the first one to say, 'Just remember we're on network television, and our lives are spectacular,'" Plaza says, offering an ace Offerman impression. "And I'd be like, 'Of course! Thank you. Fucking of course our lives are spectacular!'"

Aubrey Plaza in The Little Hours with Dave Franco

Courtesy Gunpowder & Sky Distribution

Still, this doesn't mean the road ahead to reinvent herself from past characters will be necessarily easy, but it seems the secret key to doing so is to expand her role as a producer. After The Little Hours, she read director Matt Spicer and David Branson Smith's script for the Instagram-stalker tragicomedy Ingrid Goes West and saw something special there. "I knew what it could be, and I wanted to make that happen the script is never the final product," she says. Spicer agrees that Plaza's biggest role in production was pushing for "curve ball" casting choices, like O'Shea Jackson Jr., who most famously portrayed his father, Ice Cube, in Straight Outta Compton, as her character's nerdy but confident love interest.

"[The part] was written for a kind of dorky stoner dude, but I recognized that the chemistry I would have with O'Shea would be really different from something you usually see," Plaza explains. She'd met the rapper-turned-actor at a party and relentlessly waved the script in his face until he committed to the project. "I thought if we could capture that on camera, it would just make the movie that much deeper."

Plaza may be a trickster and comedic actor but she craves depth, and those things aren't mutually exclusive. Her entire life has been dictated by the motto: "Take it as far as it can go." The "it" could be anything a character, a bit, a basketball team because whatever Plaza does, it's gonna be sincere, even if it's just sincerely weird.

Along "Cult House Road," deep in the forest on the Delaware-Pennsylvania border, the skeletal trees lining the pavement angle outward, away from the road and their sun source. Through an overgrown path, there is a burned-out abandoned cabin, which is said to have hosted Satanic rituals, pagan animal sacrifices or DuPont incest weddings, depending on whom you ask. Something about this place seems wrong, even if you can't put your finger on exactly why. This is where M. Night Shyamalan shot The Village. It's also where Aubrey Plaza's mother, Bernadette, would drive her late at night on impromptu road trips with her cousins.

"We'd drive down Cult House Road, and she'd turn the lights off, and we'd all be screaming. My mom is kind of mysterious. She would always do weird things with us," Plaza says, taking a moment to think. "Maybe that's why I'm into witches."

Plaza was raised Catholic and attended an all-girls school in Wilmington, Delaware, with her two sisters. "The power of three is real," she says. She loved The Craft and doing silly spells, but she was also a teacher's pet (damn that need to please!) and class president. In true Plaza fashion, she took her presidential campaign as far as it could go, actually convincing a staffer from Republican senator Bill Roth's office to help her.

"He showed up at my school and was flyering and helping me with my posters, and I remember he helped me set up this archway with balloons at 6 a.m., so everyone who showed up that day had to walk through this thing to get into the door." Plaza shrugs. "Really bizarre. I was just a kid. But he helped me win."

What people most often miss about Plaza's sense of humor is that she doesn't enjoy "mean" comedy. Yes, she is deadpan, once showed up to a national TV interview wearing vampire teeth for no reason, and bewildered ESPN viewers with her re-creation of The Decision to announce that she was trading herself from her infamous Pistol Shrimps basketball team to the Spice Squirrels, but she insists she was never what you'd call a "bad" kid. She was and is a "thrill seeker."

In high school, she and her friend Neil Casey (Inside Amy Schumer, Ghostbusters) would stand on the side of the highway, dress in costume and toss a beach ball back and forth, simply to boggle passers-by. Plaza thinks her fascination with absurdity stemmed from growing up in such a conservative area. "It was satisfying to do something weird for weird's sake, with no purpose, to make people stop and laugh."

Her natural trajectory was comedy and New York. She graduated from NYU and went to work as an NBC page around the time that Amy Poehler was staffed on Saturday Night Live. "I like to think that I walked by her wearing an astronaut costume while she was making up lies to a group of tourists," Poehler wrote to me in an email.

By the time Plaza got an audition for Judd Apatow's Funny People in Los Angeles, Poehler had gone West herself and was prepping to lead her own sitcom with the creators of The Office. Plaza got that informal meeting set up with the Parks folks and quickly thereafter got the casting phone call that would change her life. Los Angeles became her home. And the Parks cast and crew became her new weirdo family.

"Leslie Knope was supposed to be April Ludgate's mentor, and so our first couple of seasons felt like that [in real life]," Poehler says. "But Aubrey Plaza, the person, is an old soul. Very wise. Always watching."

Plaza calls Poehler and Rashida Jones her "big sisters" and gushes about every co-star when asked. For a young woman who'd grown up in a tight-knit family with her two real-life sisters, landing in this supportive cast was something of a godsend.

"Looking back, I am blown away still by just that group of people being in one room doing comedy together, and everyone was a genuinely nice and lovable person," Plaza says. Then she picks up her phone that's been buzzing off and on for the duration of our interview. She holds it up to me and scrolls through an endless series of text messages just fast enough that I can't make out any single one. "Literally this morning, I got a text from every single person. We're on a mass texting chain, that whole cast, and someone will write on it at least every other day, and it's been years. I could show you hundreds of hours of texting. Aziz [Ansari] just sent me a ridiculous picture of him for my birthday. Everyone was commenting while we've been talking."

This adorable text chain feels every bit the real-life extension of the TV show. A large part of the appeal of Parks when it aired, and still today, is its earnestness and the feeling of joy amid darkness it evoked, which Plaza attributes to how pleasant things were behind the scene and how Poehler ran her set.

"I think most people at No. 1 on the call sheet, like Amy is, it's really hard for them to keep things in perspective," Plaza says. "It's easy to take on that No. 1 status and just have your ego take over, and Amy was just so always conscious of the vibe on set, and the idea of gratitude, and respect, but also having fun."

As Plaza has stepped into that No. 1 spot herself, she's tried to take to heart what she's learned from her mentors. But the problem with being a talented character actor zig-zagging from persona to persona with no stop in sight is that the self becomes malleable. "My biggest fear is that I lose myself," she says. Nowhere is that challenge more evident than in the endless press junkets and interviews she does to promote her projects. Seeing how fascinated people are with her personal life is deeply uncomfortable for her. People want to know who her celebrity BFF is, and Plaza has no desire to share yet still feels obliged to entertain. She's the kind of person who makes acquaintances easily but keeps her real friends close she still calls her old high school pals on the phone to chat.

Even this interview brings a certain amount of discomfort to Plaza, which makes me want to apologize for even asking any personal questions do I really need to know her favorite saint? (It's Bernadette, obviously.) She's uneasy with too much attention and especially wary of social media. "It's not real. It's just all in your head, so there's something kind of scary about it. I'm having all these interactions in my head. Physically, I'm just sitting in a chair."

But with all this in mind, it is absolutely no wonder that Plaza was drawn to her most recent project, Ingrid Goes West. The film taps into these fears she has about sharing personal information. Ironically, the actress delivers her most intimate, raw performance yet. Watching this film feels as if you finally know her. But, really, who the hell is Aubrey Plaza?

Actor Chris Pratt may know the real Aubrey Plaza.

"Aubrey is a survivor and alchemist. Her on-screen (and off-screen) personas are equal parts defense mechanism and performance art. She's tough and surprisingly complicated. The very best parts of her are yet to be discovered by audiences and most people. She would deny it, but beneath her signature eye rolls (and accessible to only the luckiest people in her life) is softness, kindness, pathos, creativity and vulnerability."

That's the heartbreakingly sweet assessment Pratt sent via email about his longtime Parks and Recreation co-star. And Pratt's right, because "most people" never will know Plaza. But audiences are now about to see a few new sides to her.

Aubrey Plaza in Ingrid Goes West

Courtesy Neon Distribution

In Ingrid Goes West, Plaza plays a bereft woman with a bag of cash she inherited from her recently deceased mother. Her woeful social ineptitude renders her helpless, unable to reach out to others without becoming too attached to them; think Single White Female "lite" in the age of Instagram. Ingrid stumbles onto the candid photos of lifestyle influencer Taylor Sloane (Elizabeth Olsen) and maneuvers her way into the stranger's life, forging a "friendship."

"I think the movie could have easily veered into the direction of being an indictment on social media, but I wanted it to be rooted in a human story about human connection," Plaza says. "It's about someone who really wants to have a connection, and they feel lonely and misunderstood, and that's a universal feeling for human beings."

Though Plaza jokes the trailers for the film suggest it is "a crazy, nonstop laugh express train to nowhere," viewers likely will be shocked by how emotional the story gets, or, rather, how emotional Plaza gets. Ingrid walks a tightrope of anxiety, juggling lies; when they catch up to her, her denial and subsequent breakdown turns this comedy into a tearjerker. The success of this film hinges on Plaza's ability to sell drama. And she does.

"There were times when she was in an emotional scene, and we did 20, 25 takes, and she would want to do more," Ingriddirector Matt Spicer says. "I know a lot of people see her as [Parks & Rec's] April Ludgate, but I hope the takeaway from this film is that she's a real-deal actress."

Being a producer on Ingrid, Plaza was forced to watch herself in the dailies, poring over the footage. She says she never watches her own movies or interviews, so this was a little circle of hell for her, but she realized that through watching herself on screen, she was able to overcome her insecurities and simply judge a take on whether it accomplished a goal, not on whether she succeeded or failed. Spicer says she was a dream producer a person who can deliver the impossible again and again, on and off the set.

"Making good movies is sooo hard. That should be the title of this article," Plaza laughs. But however difficult it is, Plaza seems energized by having creative control over her own projects. She tells me that she's never been in a place to be picky. Every role she takes is for a reason. ("Did I think Dirty Grandpa was going to be the best movie in the world? No. But you're telling me I've got a shot to play Robert De Niro's love interest? I'm in.") But more than anything, Plaza is excited to age; she's tired of playing a 20-year-old.

"In Dirty Grandpa, I played a college senior, and I was 30," she says. "I've always thought, 'God, when I'm in my 40s, I think I'm going to get some meaty parts.' But everyone is so obsessed with youth, so every movie is about 19-year-olds. I used to watch movies that had adults who were wearing blazers and high heels and going to work and dropping off their kid. Where did those characters go?"

Today, on Aubrey Plaza's 33rd birthday, she tells me she wants to bring the adult woman back into style. She wants to make action films. She wants to make funny films. She wants to revive the screwball romantic comedies of the 1980s, like her personal favorite, Romancing the Stone, maybe with Chris Pratt. (She cites Michael Douglas as another inspiration for producing that film when no one else wanted to make it.) She wants to be and do everything yet, she tells me, if she ends up like Adam Sandler's character in Funny People "where I'm all alone and lost all my personal relationships" well, it's not worth it.

Next up for her is a bizarro comedy called An Evening With Beverly Luff Linn, from Greasy Strangler director Jim Hosking. The script was so out-there that her agents had put it in their trash pile before she told them she thought it was genius. It's impossible to nail down exactly what Plaza will think or what she will like. Or who she is.

At the end of our interview, she gives me a hug. She's been candid and forthright with me in this brutalist hotel room for an hour and a half, and I'm surprised by how normal it all seemed.

An hour later, I'm at home, listening to my recording of our conversation, when I hear myself leave Plaza's hotel room momentarily. I left the recorder on while I was gone. Before I can speed through what I expected to be ambient sounds of shuffling, I hear a demonic voice growl coming from the recorder. "Satan-Satan-Satan-Satan!" it yelled. It was Plaza pulling another trick. Then I hear her deadpan voice emerge from the recorder again: "Hello? Hello? ... Huh, wow, that was weird."

Yes, Aubrey. Yes, it was.

Original post:

Why Aubrey Plaza Is a Modern-Day Andy Kaufman - L.A. Weekly

Motherboard

Mutant Yippies, LSD, and Cyberpunks: The Story of the Space Age Newspaper 'High Frontiers' Motherboard There are ads for nonsensical inventions straight out of an episode of Rick and Morty. There are comics making fun of Yuppies, talk of early nootropic brain enhancement and life-extension, and the assertion that 'science without feminism is apocalypse.'.

See the article here:

Mutant Yippies, LSD, and Cyberpunks: The Story of the Space Age Newspaper 'High Frontiers' - Motherboard

Bad news from the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency: North Korea has developed a miniaturized nuclear warhead that can fit inside its missiles.

The Hermit Kingdom is not alone in its nuclear pursuits. Russia and China have also committed to exploring new weapons capabilities, and Iran still harbors nuclear aspirations. In the United States, however, attempts to modernize our nuclear arsenal face tremendous resistance.

The scale, scope and capacity of the Russian and Chinese nuclear modernization programs far outstrip current U.S. efforts. Failing to modernize our aging warheads and platforms carries tremendous risk that goes well beyond those posed by not keeping up with the Joneses.

B-52 bombers, introduced in the 1950s, are so old that occasionally a grandson jockeys the same tail number that his grandfather flew. Even our newest systems, the Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines and B-2 bombers, are more than two decades old.

The nuclear triad is the bedrock of U.S. strategic deterrence and a core component of U.S. security assurances to over 30 allies around the world. It must be modernized regardless of the fate of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, also known as New START. The centerpiece of the Obama administrations failed Russian reset policy, New START has not served the strategic security interests of the United States.

It called for and delivered disproportionate reductions to the U.S. nuclear weapons arsenal. Moreover, the Russians have flagrantly violated the spirit of the treaty, deploying more than 200 nuclear warheads more than the treaty permits. (Nothing new there. Russia is also violating several other arms control agreements, including the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.)

Former officials of the Obama administration, who had a hand in the 2010 Nuclear Posture Review, now recognize that the strategic environment has become significantly more dangerous since that review was concluded. The review was based on two questionable assumptions: that Russia was no longer a threat and that Russia (or any other country, for that matter) would not be a major adversary in the future.

But much has changed since those calculations were made. Russia, for example, has annexed Crimea, sent troops into Ukraine and propped up Bashar Assad in Syria. China has become more aggressive and belligerent in the South China Sea. And then theres North Korea. No one can know the future, of course. International developments have a way of taking the United States by surprise. And this unpredictability is precisely why the U.S. must maintain a credible, viable and robust nuclear deterrent.

Modernization is essential because the determined efforts of Russia, China and even North Korea leave the United States at risk of losing its competitive edge and thus its strategic deterrent. Both Moscow and Beijing reportedly include nuclear warhead testing as components of their modernization programs. And both are likely pursuing innovative design and development work to create warheads capable of generating special effects, such as enhanced radiation or electromagnetic pulse.Robust modernization programs also mean that their warhead workforce and production facilities remain skilled, capable and agile.

This is another area where the United States risks falling behind.U.S. scientists and nuclear engineers primarily focus their work (and thinking) on warhead maintenance and life extension programs a different set of skills than actually designing and building new warheads. The former attempts to sustain what is already known, while the latter explores new possibilities and leads to new designs and potential uses critical things to know if only to know what to defend against.

At present, the U.S. national laboratories are doing little to improve their understanding of foreign nuclear weapon designs. Those limited efforts should be expanded. Not only would it educate the current and upcoming generation of nuclear weapon designers, it would help ensure that the next generation tasked to certify our nuclear stockpile reliable has the experience and know-how of designing, building and testing actual warheads.

It made no sense for the French, British and Americans to remain committed to horse cavalry while the Germans were developing mobile tank warfare. So, today, it makes no sense for the U.S. to remain committed to merely certifying vintage nuclear weapons while our competitors race forward with new research and development efforts.

U.S. nuclear weapons policy must evolve as the nuclear threat evolves. Making changes to the U.S. nuclear posture as the threat environment grows more challenging will ultimately put the United States and its allies in a better strategic position. Congress and the Trump administration must not waver in their support for the U.S. nuclear modernization program.

Michaela Dodge is a senior policy analyst specializing in missile defense and arms control in the Center for National Defense at The Heritage Foundation.

The views expressed by contributors are their own and are not the views of The Hill.

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America desperately needs to modernize its nuclear weapons - The Hill (blog)

FAIRBANKS What did it cost you last time you went to the doctor or dentist? I mean before insurance, Medicare or Medicaid kicked in to bring down the cost. And that may have been just for a routine checkup or work/school annual physical. What if you needed treatment for lung cancer?

The National Cancer Institute reports the cost for the initial treatment of lung cancer in 2010 was $60,553 for women and $60,885 for men. Subsequent annual continued treatment was $8,130 and $7,591 respectively. The problem with this cancer is not only treatment expenditures, but also of survival. According to the America Cancer Society, most lung cancers have spread widely and are in advanced stages when they are first found.

But what if a simple test could alert you to the presence of the second leading cause of lung cancer radon? Certified professionals will give you a detailed hourly average of radon levels in your home with sophisticated machinery for a couple hundred dollars.

You also can test the radon levels in your home with a readily available test kit containing activated charcoal, which is no different than what is used in common shoe deodorizers. The kit will give you an overall average of what the concentration of radon gas is in your home duringa 48-hour period. Though the lab fee varies, the kits generally cost around $15 to $20. Kits that include the analysis are available from extension district offices or by ordering one at 1-877-520-5211.

And then what? If you have radon in your home, what would the cost be to fix it? If it means merely filling in cracks in your cement floor or wall, you have some sweat equity and possibly $25 in patch materials. If you have a crawl space without secure covering, you may run into a solid day and possibly $100 of materials, with the possibility of a sore back from leaning over.

If you invested either of those, and then spend a couple more hundred dollars to get a furnace repair man to balance your furnace and heat recovery ventilator (HRV) and are still experiencing high radon levels, you can put in a PVC pipe chimney. This will evacuate the radon by depressurizing the soil under the floor. That will cost you as much as$4,000 locally to have it professionally installed. Or you could buy 4-inch PVC pipe, rent a pile driver and spend $150 for a fan for a total around $600. You may then throw in a $125 monitor to make sure it works continually.

If you are building a new house and havent put in the foundation yet, you might have PVC or ABS piping put in under plastic sheeting and the cement slab for around $1,000-$1,500. Given the scattered uranium throughout the state, it will be all the more important for contractors to utilize radon-resistant construction so that from the get-go, there is not only protective vapor barrier secured on the ground but also semipermeable membrane material such as Bituthene adhered to pony walls before backfilling soils.

Remember, no matter where you are living, the only way youll know whether you have a radioactive radon problem is to test for it.

Art Nash is the energy specialist for the UAF Cooperative Extension Service. Contact him at 474-6366 or by email at alnashjr@alaska.edu.

Originally posted here:

Test your home for radon to save money, your life | Cooperative ... - Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

A sleeping brain can form fresh memories, according to a team of neuroscientists.The researchers played complex sounds to people while they were sleeping, and afterward the sleepers could recognizethose sounds when they wereawake.

The idea that humans canlearn while asleep, a concept sometimes called hypnopedia, has a long and odd history. It hit a particularly strange note in 1927, when New York inventor A. B. Saliger debuted thePsycho-phone. He billed the device as anautomatic suggestion machine. The Psycho-phone was a phonograph connected to a clock. It playedwax cylinder records, which Saliger made and sold.The records hadnames like Life Extension, Normal Weight orMating. That last one went: I desire a mate. I radiate love My conversation is interesting. My company is delightful. I have a strong sex appeal.

Thousands of sleepers bought the devices, Saligertold theNew Yorkerin 1933. (Those included Hollywood actors,he said, though he declined to name names.) Despite his enthusiasm for the machine Saligerhimself dozed off to Inspiration and Health the device was a bust.

But the idea that we can learn while unconscious holds more meritthan gizmos namedPsycho-phone suggest. In the new study, published Tuesday in the journalNature Communications, neuroscientistsdemonstrated that it is possible to teach acoustic lessons to sleeping people.

We proved that you can learn during sleep, which has been a topic debated for years, said Thomas Andrillon, an author of the study and a neuroscientist at PSL Research University in Paris.Just don't expect Andrillon's experiments to make anyonefluent in French.

Researchersin the 1950s dismantled hypnopedia's more outlandish claims. Sleepers cannot wake up with brains filled withnew meaning or facts, Rand Corp. researchers reported in 1956. Instead, test subjectswho listened to trivia at night woke up with non-recall. (Still, the Psycho-phone spirit endures, at least in the app store, where hypnopedia software claims to promoteforeign languages, material wealth andmartial artsmastery.)

Yet success is possible, if you're not trying to learn dictionary definitions or kung fu. In recent years, scientists have trained sleepers to make subconscious associations. In a 2014 study, Israeli neuroscientists had 66 people smell cigarette smoke coupled with foul odorswhile they were asleep. The test subjects avoided smoking for two weeks after theexperiment.

In the new research, Andrillon and his colleagues moved beyondassociation into pattern learning. While a group of20 subjects was sleeping, the neuroscientists played clips of white noise. Most of the audio was purely random, Andrillon said. There is no predictability. But there were patterns occasionally embedded within the complex noise: sequences of a single clip of white noise, 200 milliseconds long, repeated five times.

The subjects remembered the patterns. The lack ofmeaning worked in their favor; sleepers can neither focus on what they're hearing nor make explicit connections, the scientist said. This is why nocturnal language tapes don't quite work thebrain needs to register sound and semantics.But memorizing acoustic patterns like white noise happens automatically. The sleeping brain is including a lot of information that is happening outside, Andrillon said, and processing it to quite an impressive degree of complexity.

Once the sleepersawoke, the scientists played back the white-noise recordings. The researchers asked the test subjects to identify patterns within the noise. It's not an easy task,Andrillon said, and one that you or I would struggle with. Unless you happened to rememberthe repetitions from a previous night's sleep. The test subjects successfullydetected the patterns far better than random chance would predict.

What's more, the scientists discovered that memories of white-noise pattern formed only during certain sleep stages. When the authors played the sounds during REM and light sleep, the test subjects could remember the pattern the next morning. Duringthe deeper non-REM sleep, playing the recording hampered recall. Patternspresented during non-REM sleep led to worse performance,as if there were a negative form of learning, Andrillon said.

This marked the first time that researchers had evidence for the sleep stages involved in the formation of completely new memories, said Jan Born, a neuroscientist at the Universityof Tbingen in Germany, who was not involved with the study.

In Andrillon's view, the experiment helps to reconcile two competing theories about the role of sleep in new memories: In one idea,our sleeping brains replay memories from our waking lives. Asthey're played back, the memories consolidate and grow stronger, written more firmly into our synapses. In the other hypothesis, sleep instead cuts away at older, weaker memories. But the ones that remain stand out, like lonely trees in a field.

The study indicates that the sleeping brain can do both,Andrillon said. They might simply occur at separatemoments in the sleep cycle, strengthening fresh memories followed by culling.

A separate team of neuroscientists had suspected that the two hypotheses might be complementary. But until now they did not have any explicit experimental support. It is a delight to see these results, since we proposed already, quite a few years ago, that the different sleep stages may have a different impact on memory, said Lisa Genzel,aneuroscientist atRadboud University in the Netherlands. And here they are the first to provide direct evidence for this idea.

Not all neuroscientists were so convinced. Born, an early proponent of the idea that sleep strengthens andconsolidates memories, said this study showed what happens when we form memories while asleep. The average memorya recollection from a waking experience might not work in the same way, he said. I would be skeptical about inferring from this type of approach to what happens during normal sleep.

Andrillon acknowledged the limitations ofthis research, including thatthe scientists did not directly measure synapses. We interpret our results in the light of cellular mechanisms, he said, meaning strengthening or weakening of synapses, that we could not directly measure, since they require invasive recording methods that cannot be applied in humans.

When asked whether understanding the roles of sleep cycles and memory could lead to future sleep-hacks, a la thePsycho-phone,Andrillonsaid, We are in the big unknown. But, he noted, sleep is not just about memory. Trying to hijack the recommended seven-plus hours of sleep could disrupt normal brain function. Which is to say, even if you could learn French while asleep, it mightultimately do more harm than good. I would be very cautious about the interest in this kind of learning, he said, whether this is detrimental to the other functions of sleeping.

Read more:

Climate change is keeping Americans awake at night. Literally.

Meet the scientist who dreams of fixing your sleep

Dear Science: How do I stop snoring?

See the original post:

Your brain can form new memories while you are asleep ... - Washington Post

The Doppler radar located in Blacksburg, Virginia was shut down August 1st for a nation wide project called the Service Life Extension Program, or SLEP.

The WSR-88D or NEXRAD radars were built with a service life of 20 years. The program started over 20 years ago and the purpose of the SLEP program is to bring the radar up to date with the newest technology. This upgrade would extend the life of the radar into the 2030s.

After installation of the new hardware and software, engineers ran test on the radar before placing it into operation and found a larger problem -- a cracked bearing on the main gear that moves the radar. The unit was immediately turned off.

To repair the bearing and the bull gear the entire dome and 28 foot radar dish will need to be removed. This will require a 6 person team and heavy equipment to make the repairs. The team is currently doing the same repair in Ohio and will make their way to Blacksburg next week. The work is schedule to be complete by August 30.

In the meantime, multiple radar sites can cover our area and will be unnoticeable to app or website users. The NWS can attempt to run the radar in a time of need is a tornadic storm or a tropical system were to impact the region before the engineering team starts the repair work.

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Local Doppler radar down through end of August - WDBJ7

Reprinted with the kind permission of Life Extension.

July 28 2017.A review published on May 16, 2017 inFrontiers in Nutritionconcludes that Through a variety of direct and indirect biological actions, in part still speculative, cocoa and cocoa-derived food have been suggested to possess the potential to counteract cognitive decline and sustain cognitive abilities, particularly among patients at risk.

Valentina Socci and colleagues at Italys University of LAquila examined a number of studies that assessed the effect of cocoa flavanols (a type of flavonoid) on human cognition. They document improvements in general cognition, attention, processing speed and working memory, among other benefits. While healthy aged individuals benefitted from cocoa, effects such as these were pronounced among older adults whose memory and cognition was beginning to decline.

"This result suggests the potential of cocoa flavanols to protect cognition in vulnerable populations over time by improving cognitive performance, commented Dr Socci and Michele Ferrara, of the University of LAquilas Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences. If you look at the underlying mechanism, the cocoa flavanols have beneficial effects for cardiovascular health and can increase cerebral blood volume in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus. This structure is particularly affected by aging and therefore the potential source of age-related memory decline in humans."

Among women, cocoa consumption following a night of wakefulness has been found to counteract the impairment in cognition that would typically result. The effect led to improvement in working memory accuracy. This suggests a mental benefit for female shift workers or those withinsomnia.

"Regular intake of cocoa and chocolate could indeed provide beneficial effects on cognitive functioning over time, Drs Socci and Ferrara conclude. "Dark chocolate is a rich source of flavanols. So we always eat some dark chocolate. Every day."

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Cocoa flavanols: new nutraceutical? - ProHealth

Victor Moses

It was symmetrically fitting that Victor Moses claimed redemption from inside the same penalty box where he had earned disgrace just under three months ago.

With Chelsea ascendant after going behind, the Nigerian drive into the box, took one skip past Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, then went down under his own steam. There was no question about the second yellow card and the red card that followed, and Chelsea ultimately lost the FA Cup Final to Arsenal on a 2-1 score.

Vilification followed for the player who, under the tutelage of of Antonio Conte, had emerged as one of Chelsea's best performers in their blistering, if not emphatic run to the Premier League title. There were even some who questioned his future at Chelsea in the wake of that, even though he had only recently just signed a contract extension.

Overlooked by previous Chelsea managers and loaned out at every turn, Moses found himself a player reborn under Conte, with his eclectic mix of bounding attack combined with energetic defending finding favour in the sight of the Italian.

But his FA Cup Final setback set raised questions anew. Questions about his suitability and his durability for Conte's second season.

Those questions have been decisively by the Nigerian, and not just because of the goal he scored. Moses, as he had been for the best part of last season, was one of Chelsea's best players on the day. His direct running and quick feet a constant and worrying source of headache for Arsenal's defence.

It was from one of those that he shot the Blues in front. Hovering just between two defenders, Moses anticipated Gary Cahill's header, peeled away from the blindsided Gunners defence and took one sublime touch before lashing home from close range.

It was typical Moses. His best qualities on full display. But even more telling, it showed he had recovered fully from the toe surgery which kept him out of the Nigeria squad in June.

Pedro's red card signalled a Chelsea capitulation as Kolasinac headed Arsenal level and the Gunners went on to win 4-1 on penalty shootouts. But Moses can take comfort that some semblance of order can now be said to have been restored to his mini-world.

If there is one thing Moses has shown during the course of both life and career, it is that setbacks only serve to make him stronger. On the basis of his Community Shield showing, it would seem to appear that the box of tricks still has a few more tricks waiting to pop up.

More here:

There's life in Moses after FA Cup disgrace - ESPN FC

Floyd is a horticulturist with Texas AgriLife Extension Service. He can be reached at 498-4071 in Ector County or 686-4700 in Midland County or by email at Jeff.Floyd@ag.tamu.edu

Floyd is an Agri-Life Extension agent for Ector and Midland counties. To learn more, call the Ector County Extension office at 432-498-4072, or the Midland County Extension office at 432-686-4700, or email jeff.floyd@ag.tamu.edu.

Posted: Sunday, August 6, 2017 3:00 am

GARDENING: Grass is greener after a storm By Jeff Floyd Odessa American

What is it about thunderstorms that make the green in plants pop? The answer is nitrogen. Only a minuscule fraction of soil is made up of nitrogen while the atmosphere contains a whopping seventy-eight percent of the stuff.

Unfortunately, like the mythological Tantalus whose eternal punishment included standing in a pool of water from which he couldnt sip, plants have absolutely no access to atmospheric nitrogen; at least not in its standard dinitrogen form.

Plants only take up ionic forms of nitrogen from the soil. Plants are autotrophs, meaning they feed themselves. One way they do this is by using special cellular machines to connect nitrogen ions with other elements inside the plant body, building life-giving proteins. Nearly all metabolic processes carried out by plants require nitrogen rich proteins. Rain carries nitrogen compounds. However, energy is required to convert atmospheric nitrogen into a structure that plants can take advantage of.

Theres enough energy in a typical lightning bolt to keep your smartphone glowing for nearly seven-hundred years. Lightening is essentially static electricity with just a tad more power than a freshly laundered faux cashmere blouse. Lightening breaks up atmospheric nitrogen allowing it to hitch a ride back to earth within raindrops. Once in the soil, plants can snatch up dissolved nitrogen pretty quickly.

So its not your imagination; your lawn really is greener after a thunderstorm. However, soil microbes use nitrogen too. Depending on conditions, microbes convert nitrogen into the atmospheric gas from whence it came. This is part of the reason plants return to their normal appearance not long after things dry up.

You cant see it, smell it or taste nitrogen, but you can learn more about how plants use it by calling the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension office at 498-4071 or email jeff.floyd@ag.tamu.edu.

Posted in Gardening on Sunday, August 6, 2017 3:00 am. | Tags: Texas A&m Agrilife Extension Office, Jeff Floyd, Pecans, Pruning, Prune, Soft Landscape Materials, Landscape, Gardening, Gardener, Food, Integra, Repeat Applications, West Texas

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GARDENING: Grass is greener after a storm - Odessa American

Over the past several years, Bedford Town Council has committed to spending millions of dollars on Bedfords hydroelectric plant, Snowden, which is located on the James River in Big Island and has been in operation since 1911.

Councilmembersagree the plant is environmentally friendly and a good source of energy for the town,and so they have committed more money to its upkeep for the next few fiscal year budgets. Prior to 2016, enough funding was allocated to the plant to keep it operational, and only small amounts were spent on capital improvements.

Once council decided to extend the life of the plant, capital spending grew to more than $1 million. Annual capital spending will stay in the $1 million range for the next few years.

To learn that we have been using this facility for 100 years to get renewable energy might surprise people, council member Bruce Johannessen said. This is really a gem that we have there.

Snowden is known as arun of riverplant, meaning it only can run when there is enough water in the river. The plant, which serves about 7,000 customers, generated about 16.8 million kilowatts in 2016.The energy generated by the plant is an amount equal to about 8 percent of the electric department's sales in fiscal year 2016.

All of the energy is clean, and it serves everyone in the towns utility service going from Big Island to about five miles south of the town of Bedford.

Its clean energy and a competitive cost supplier for energy, said John Wagner, director of the towns electric department. Those two things are important to the town.

There are numerous smallrun-of-riverhydro plants along theJames River.

For fiscal year 2018, council has budgeted$1.3 million for capital improvement projects and new equipment for the plant and $1.04 million for fiscal year 2019.

Part of those improvements included a new speed increaser that was delivered to the plant July 14. A speed increaser steps up the speed produced by the water driven in the James River.

There are two generating systems within the plant, and each has independent speed increasers. In January last year, one of the speed increasers began degrading and was unable to produce at the same capacity that it normally would, which is 2.5 megawatts.

We analyzed the system and ordered a replacement so that the unit could return to full service, Wagner said.

Theincreasercost $1 million and weighs 15 tons.

Its a low-cost energy for our customers, he said.

The costs to operate the plant are about1centper kilowatt of production. The town has contracts with other hydro resources that cost about5 centsper kilowatt.

Because much of the large equipment is located in the water, it must be maintained constantly, Wagner said.

The James River can be a nasty place to be at times, so it takes ongoing maintenance to keep the plant in running condition, he said. Currently a contractor maintains and operates the plant in conjunction with the electric department.

The contractor has one full-time senior operator and maintenancetechnicianand one part-time operator.

The electric department supplements them with skilled workers andspecializedcontractorsas needed, Wagner said. The total budget this year for the entire electric department is $22 million.

Most of the operating equipment was replaced in 1985. The key components of the plant will last another 20 to 30 years, including the speed increaser.

The town entered into a life-extension projectagreementwith Snowden.The life-extension project is part of the ongoing maintenance that will extend the useful life of the infrastructure indefinitely.

Other upcoming approved projects that are part of the towns capital improvement plan are roof and water leak repairs, upgrades to lighting and security systems, a new dump cart system that can be used to transport debris away from the plant inlet area and an upgrade of the trash rake which is used to remove debris from the turbine inlet ports.

Projects in the proposed 2019 budget include rebuilding turbines, cleaning and refurbishing a generator and drainage system and another speed increaser.The next project is to update and modernize the computer control system. Wagner said it should be online and running by the end of the year.

All of this work will be done as it fits into the budget, he said. We have to balance that against our available budget funds.

Council member Jim Vest was on the board when the plant was refurbished in 1985 and serves as the chair of the electric committee.

Its a huge investment for the town, Vest said of Snowden. When we get everything fixed, it will stabilize the cost of electricity for citizens.

We are planning on spending a lot of money in the next several years to maximize its capability and provide a clean source of energy.

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Bedford's hydroelectric plant gets improvements - Lynchburg News and Advance

(CBS) The expiration dates onover-the-counterandprescription medicationsseem pretty black and white, but theres some question about whether drugs last even longer.

Expiration dates typically range from 12 to 60 months after production. But manufacturers arent required to determine how long theyll remain potent after that, enabling them to set their own expiration dates and possibly shortchange consumers.

Testing reported inJAMA Internal Medicineshowed that eight medications with 15 different active ingredients were still potent decades beyond their expiration dates.

The U.S. governments own Shelf Life Extension Program extends the dates on some drugs in federal stockpiles to save the military from the cost of replacing them. Its own study found that 90 percent of more than 100 drugs were perfectly good even 15 years after expiration.

But what about the medications in your home?

A lot depends on how carefully you store them you probably dont do as good a job as the U.S. Army. Thats why the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommends never taking drugs beyond their expiration date its just too risky. In particular, nitroglycerin,insulinand liquidantibioticsshouldnt be used after their expiration dates.

To safeguard all medications, protect them from heat, light and humidity by keeping them in a cool, dry, dark place. A steamy bathroom isnt a good environment.

Know, too, that some drugs can lose their potency more quickly than others, includingaspirin. If you take aspirin for heart health, be sure to replace it as needed.

Read more here:

Can you take medications past their expiration date? - WBTW - Myrtle Beach and Florence SC

He played his last game more than five decades ago, and has been dead (or at least frozen) for 15 years, but Ted Williams is still very much alive in the minds of baseball fans.

Producers of the American Masters series announced that the Splendid Splinter will be the subject of an upcoming documentary the first baseball player to be so profiled.

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A major American cultural figure whose story has never been properly told, Ted Williams is a fitting first, Michael Kantor, American Masters series executive producer, said in a statement. This film will reveal the man behind the legendary .406 batting average: complex, misunderstood and profoundly human.

Its not exactly true that Williamss story has never been properly told. In recent years, the Hall of Famer was the subject of not one but two excellent biographies, both written by former reporters at the Boston Globe: Ted Williams: The Biography of an American Hero by Leigh Montville and Ben Bradlee Jr.s The Kid: The Immortal Life of Ted Williams.

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The American Masters doc, slated to premiere next summer on PBS in honor of Williamss centennial, is being co-produced with Major League Baseball and David Ortizs Big Papi Productions, among others. The film will look at Williamss incredible baseball career and his service as a decorated combat pilot in the Korean War. Its not clear if the doc will discuss at all the bizarre and troubling disposition of Williams after he died, when his head was removed and frozen at the Arizona-based Alcor Life Extension Foundation, which deep-freezes bodies (or just heads) in the hope that scientific advances will allow them to be revived in the future.

In addition to Williams, the new season of American Masters will feature documentaries about filmmaker Richard Linklater, artist Tyrus Wong, writer Edgar Allan Poe, and entertainer Bob Hope.

More:

Ted Williams will be first baseball player to get 'American Masters' treatment - The Boston Globe

FRIDAY, Aug. 4, 2017 (HealthDay News) -- The expiration dates on over-the-counter and prescription medications seem pretty black and white, but there's some question about whether drugs last even longer.

Expiration dates typically range from 12 to 60 months after production. But manufacturers aren't required to determine how long they'll remain potent after that, enabling them to set their own expiration dates.

Testing reported in JAMA Internal Medicine showed that eight medications with 15 different active ingredients were still potent decades beyond their expiration dates.

The U.S. government's own Shelf Life Extension Program extends the dates on some drugs in federal stockpiles to save the military from the cost of replacing them. Its own study found that 90 percent of more than 100 drugs were perfectly good even 15 years after expiration.

But what about the meds in your home? A lot depends on how carefully you store them -- you probably don't do as good a job as the U.S. Army. That's why the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommends never taking drugs beyond their expiration date -- it's just too risky. In particular, nitroglycerin, insulin and liquid antibiotics shouldn't be used after their expiration dates.

To safeguard all medications, protect them from heat, light and humidity by keeping them in a cool, dry, dark place. A steamy bathroom isn't a good environment.

Know, too, that some drugs can lose their potency more quickly than others, including aspirin. If you take aspirin for heart health, be sure to replace it as needed.

Read the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's position on the hazards of taking expired drugs, as well as safe ways to dispose of them.

View original post here:

The Fine Print on Medication Expiration Dates - Sioux City Journal

Smiles, laughter and life lessons at the fair Appreciate the adults and the roles they fill at fair.

Posted on August 4, 2017 by Jennifer Weichel, Michigan State University Extension

MSU Extension educator Katie Ockert and youth exhibitor Kassidy at the Berrien County Fair. Photo by Sheila Smith, MSU Extension.

Fair is an event that requires effort on the part of countless parents, volunteers and leaders, but yields great rewards for those who can appreciate the smiles, laughter and life lessons it offers our young people. In The magic of fair, I talked about what I see when I observe youth exhibitors at fairs and the magic I feel the moment I step onto a fairgrounds. The magic is real because it is my heart and soul as a 4-H alumni, parent, volunteer and staff member. I invite you to take a moment and consider the following when you visit the next fair and look into the eyes of the adults who surround the exhibitors.

Adults serve in some important roles and these are just a few of them.

Supporter. Parents, volunteers and leaders support the exhibitors and their families as they compete and participate. They offer kind, encouraging words to help them understand defeat and be humble when they win. They celebrate success and handle defeat, processing what may be done differently to improve for the future when the time is right, not necessarily right away. Support comes is a variety of forms: a smile, an encouraging word or a handshake.

Cheerleader. They are in the stands and on the sidelines cheering on youth exhibitors, anxiously awaiting the results and watching the judge to see how they place the class. Adults need to be careful to not interfere with officials or distract members while they are competing. Coaching takes place before the event, not during the event. The best coaches know when to step back and let their players perform; exhibitors are performing their skills learned when they are in the ring or presenting their project to the judge. Give them the time to shine.

Teacher. Sometimes the teacher presents the most important lessons when they are silent and allow the student to learn for themselves. At other times, the teacher helps the student process all that has happened by listening, reflecting back and conversing with the young person. A good teacher knows to adjust their techniques to fit the situation and the student. Adjust as necessary.

Role model. Be the example. It sounds simple but it is really hard, especially when you are tired, hot, on day five of the fair, and did I mention stressed out? Be the person you were meant to bethe kids are watching! We need you to be the role model who inspires them to be their best. When you are not up to the task, take a timeout and defer to another adult. You expect the best from your members, so expect the best from yourself.

Helper. Hold the halter, carry supplies, walk alongside and fetch more projects from the car so the child can stand in line to be interviewed and judged. This is the week when some of us need to step aside and assist because it is their project, not ours. We ask what they need help with because we know they have it under control; we are simply there to be the driver and helper. The bonus is we get to take it all in and smile as we look on. This is your que to beam like a proud parent or volunteer.

You may see parents, family members, leaders and volunteers in these roles and more. You may see them display signs of being nervous, proud, overwhelmed or filled with a lot of emotion; after all, this is their childs moment in the spotlight, regardless if they are holding a rabbit, pillowcase, cake or the halter of a steer. They are waiting to hear the name of their child, the ribbon and the look on their face. They know how hard their child has worked on that project and hope the stars will align for them in this moment when the judge decides what their rating will be.

The adults are trying to find the balance between helping too much and guiding just enough. This is a delicate balance and they might not get it right the first time, so be kind and lead by example if you have the chance. Support the new fair families in your club and appreciate those who are carrying on the tradition of mentoring the next generation.

Being an adult with an exhibitor at the fair means you experience endless joy as your exhibitors exchange smiles, laughter and tools for the project area. However, you may also find that tears come easy because you are sleep deprived after the camper or tent experience, eating elephant ears, corn dogs and cotton candy, and swelling with a pride that comes from knowing you taught your members valuable skills in the last year. Skills that helped them achieve the goals they set at the beginning of the year.

Buyers who show their support for our exhibitors send an important message to our young people and help them develop skills as sellers. Learning how to approach a potential buyer, market your product and thank a buyer are important skills members learn in the process.

Superintendents, fair board members, clerks, judges and volunteers of all types help make our fairs the success they are by serving in roles that are essential to getting the projects, people, programs and shows in place. It is this teamwork and dedication that creates the magic that we enjoy as fair.

Yes, I know it is not all cotton candy and blue ribbons, but when the year is done and we step back to truly reflect, we can all admit lessons are learned. If we grow through those lessons, we look forward, set new goals and move forward.

Life is better than a box of chocolates; it is ferris wheel ride with your best friends, you just need to climb aboard. So the next time you visit a fair, think about all of the people who have made it possible and consider the lessons learned, the journeys traveled and appreciate the value for members, volunteers, leaders, parents and families.

To begin your journey in 4-H, contact yourMichigan State University Extensioncounty office and find out how you can become a 4-H member or 4-H volunteer.

This article was published by Michigan State University Extension. For more information, visit http://www.msue.msu.edu. To have a digest of information delivered straight to your email inbox, visit http://www.msue.msu.edu/newsletters. To contact an expert in your area, visit http://expert.msue.msu.edu, or call 888-MSUE4MI (888-678-3464).

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Smiles, laughter and life lessons at the fair | MSU Extension - Michigan State University Extension