Category Archives: Human Immortality

Honkai: Star Rail presents plenty of puzzles to solve, including several that require players to manipulate The Abacus Circuitry boards into the correct position. Comprised of hex panels, these boards must be maneuvered a certain way for players to progress in missions that include these puzzles. The first one encountered may be a bit confusing to understand, but the ones that follow are even more complex throughout the game.

The first mission where players will inevitably find an Abacus Circuitry puzzle is Venom Brews, Immortality Looms. Each of these has several individual hexes that must be rotated correctly by moving an "S" module to the correct spot. Unlike easy dialogue "puzzles" that come from other quests, such as The Survival Wisdom mission, players are taken to a separate screen that shows the layout of a circuitry board that doesn't move on until they get the right answer.

Related: How To Complete The Survival Wisdom Quest In Honkai: Star Rail

The first step in solving the first Abacus Circuitry puzzle comes from selecting the green hex module right below the "S" one. Next, players will want to move the "S" hex clockwise twice to reach the green module at the bottom of the circuit board. Finally, choosing the green module again and rotating the "S" hex until it matches up with the bottom S computing module completes the puzzle.

Players have to manipulate the green hex module along with the "S" hex in order to match up the "S" with the bottom computing module to solve the first Abacus Circuitry puzzle.

The puzzles players find in later missions are infinitely more complicated than the first, with more "S" hexes and green modules to interact with. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the Omniscient Inquiry of Arcana quest, which helps tie into the player building their Equilibrium Level in Honkai: Star Rail. This circuitry board has a diagonal layout but follows the same strategy as any other iteration of this puzzle.

Whether it relates to a side mission or the main story, players must get past these puzzles to progress further into whatever goals are left. Learning how to solve the Abacus Circuitry puzzles in Honkai: Star Rail is a skill that comes up often, so players should become familiar with the mechanics early on.

Platform: PC, iOS, Android, Microsoft Windows

Developer: HoYoverse

Publisher: HoYoverse

Genre: Turn-Based Strategy, RPG, Adventure

Multiplayer: Online Multiplayer

ESRB: Not Yet Rated

Summary: Set after the events of the ongoing game Honkai Impact 3rd, Honkai: Star Rail is a turn-based online RPG from developer Hoyoverse. Two members of the Astral Express, March 7th and Dan Heng, are on their way to the Herta Space Station with precious cargo when ambushed by members of a group known as the Antimatter Legion. Chaos ensues as among them is the god of destruction known as Aeon, who steals a seed known as a Stellaron, which they implant in an artificial human known as the "Trailblazer." Players will assume the role of this character as they try to avoid their fate and save all of civilization. Similar to gacha-style games, players can acquire more characters to add to their party by summoning and engaging in fast-paced turn-based battles in this epic Sci-fi online RPG.

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How To Solve The Abacus Circuitry Puzzle In Honkai: Star Rail - Screen Rant

Flowers make excellent gifts for our friends and loved ones and play significant parts in our lives from birth to death, with various purposes such as decoration, weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, funerals and hospital visits.

However, because there are many different types of flowers, it's important to be careful which flower you choose when giving them as a gift or using them as decorations. For example, the red rose represents love, while the white lily symbolizes purity and innocence. The daisy represents innocence as well as love.

When giving flowers as gifts, you must know the meaning of the flower you choose. You can add a more personal touch to your gift by adding cards and notes on special occasions.

Flowers are also used for decoration purposes in our homes. The different colors and shapes of the flowers add a natural color to your home while simultaneously changing the atmosphere, creating a more cheerful and lively environment. Flowers are also straightforward to care for and can be a relaxing activity for many people.

Flowers play a vital role in nature too. They function as pollinators through natural pollination and fertilization. Pollens carry the genetic material necessary for the fertilization of other plants. Therefore, the presence of flowers is essential for the reproduction of plants and the preservation of genetic diversity.

Some insects use the nectar and pollen of flowers as a food source. In particular, bees collect nectar from flowers to make honey. Therefore, the absence of flowers can lead to reduced food sources for insects and the extinction of these species.

Flowers are one of the beauties of nature. They attract people with their colors and smells and remind us that we are a part of nature.

They are a part of natural life and are essential for ecological balance. Vegetation helps protect habitats, which other living things need to survive.

Flowers can reproduce naturally through pollination and fertilization. Pollination is when the pollen of flowers reaches the female organ of another flower. In this way, pollen fertilizes the ovary inside the female organ, forming seeds. Seeds carry the genetic material necessary for the growth of new plants.

Besides, flowers can also be propagated by humans. This process is known as the plant propagation technique. Plant propagation techniques include dividing seeds, cuttings, tubers, roots, leaves and flowers. Some plants can also reproduce by root shoots.

The reproduction of flowers, in addition to increasing the diversity of plants, also plays a vital role in agricultural production and horticulture. Therefore, plant propagation techniques have been developed over the years, making the propagation process easier.

Spring blooms, in particular, have many different meanings and symbolic values. Although they differ in many cultures, they usually express positive emotions such as love, friendship, happiness, hope, peace and joy. Let's take a look at some flowers and their meanings.

The rose is the most familiar symbol of love. It is also considered a symbol of beauty, romance, loyalty and passion.

Tulips are one of the most well-known flowers of spring. They are considered a symbol of love and passion. They also represent wealth, fertility and prosperity. It is one of the symbolic flowers of Trkiye, especially Istanbul. Tulips grown in the gardens of Topkap Palace in Istanbul are known worldwide.

Violets are a symbol of love, loyalty and longing. It is also a flower thought to bring peace and joy.

Daisies are considered a symbol of loyalty and friendship. They also express pure and natural beauty.

Orchids represent exotic beauty and wealth. Yet, they are also symbols of grace and tenderness.

Lilies are symbols of cleanliness, purity and innocence. They are also a flower that is thought to represent immortality.

Wallflowers are a symbol of happiness and hope. It also expresses positive emotions such as renewal and change.

Chrysanthemums are symbols of death and mourning. However, in some cultures, chrysanthemums are also considered a symbol of happiness and longevity.

Many more meanings are attached to different flowers, some of which are rare. Because even flowers can go extinct, many rare flower species worldwide are threatened by losing natural habitats and human activities, but those rare gems may be for another time.

I wish you days full of flowers, without forgetting that we are a part of nature.

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In life and death: Colorful world of flowers and their meanings | Daily Sabah - Daily Sabah

This sport has seen some legendary drivers. But to our recent memory, Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen stick out. While Verstappen has only just embarked on his journey towards Formula 1 immortality, 7x champion Hamilton has been there and done that. On the flip side of the coin, its always fair to spare a thought for the men who have gone toe-to-toe against them in equal machinery and held their own ground. George Russell is on a similar mission.

Russell has been strapped into the Mercedes alongside the 38-year-old since 2022. While currently, he has been getting the better of Hamilton, he only has Valtteri Bottas to look toward, to understand the eternal pains of going up against a seasoned challenger such as Hamilton.

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When Valtteri Bottas came out of his Mercedes contract to join Alfa Romeo, he was a changed and happier man. This is testament enough of the trials and tribulations the Finn faced while being teammates with arguably the greatest driver this sport has seen. So much so that he eventually got the boot at the Silver Arrows.

via Imago

63 George Russell GBR, Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team, F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain at Bahrain International Circuit on March 5, 2023 in Sakhir, Bahrain. Photo by HOCH ZWEI Sakhir Bahrain *** 63 George Russell GBR, Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team , F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain at Bahrain International Circuit on March 5, 2023 in Sakhir, Bahrain Photo by HOCH ZWEI Sakhir Bahrain

Sky Sports F1 pundit, Karun Chandhok chronicled Bottas troubled time at Mercedes recently. He said, He [Bottas] just got more and more angry and frustrated and bitter about it, as quoted by Express UK.

Chandhok added, I think its a poisoned chalice if your team-mate to Max [Verstappen], Lewis, [Michael] Schumacher, etc. It is quite good because it means youre inevitably in one of the best cars on the grid or one of the top three, but the downside is youre always compared to the genius in the other car.

But while Bottas went through hell and back with Hamilton, he has an accolade to show for it.

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Its no secret that Hamilton is a generational talent. His racing acumen is second to none. Naturally, if a driver of his caliber acknowledges you pushing him to the very limit of his capabilities and still extracting the maximum from him and the team, then that must surely mean something.

via Imago

FORMULA 1 ARAMCO MAGYAR NAGYDIJ, 31 07 2022 Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas during the FORMULA 1 ARAMCO MAGYAR NAGYDIJ at the Hungaroring, Mogyorod, Hungary on 31 July 2022 Editorial Use Only

Back in 2021, Hamilton hailed the Finn as his best teammate ever. ESPN quoted him as saying, He has been the best teammate Ive had the pleasure of working with. Your speed and resilience has been impressive, but where you truly stand out to me is the human being you are. You are greater than you know, and I know theres a bright future ahead for you.

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Watch This Story | How is Sergio Perez So Good at Street Tracks in F1?

Can George Russell be the first one to outclass Lewis Hamilton completely?

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Despite Terming Bottas as His Best Team Mate, Lewis Hamilton Became the Primary Reason Behind Valtteri Leaving Mercedes - EssentiallySports

Like most horror monsters, the Gremlins have long been a part of pop culture since their on-screen debut forty years ago. The rules of what not to do with the furry little creatures are baked into most movie buffs minds even if they havent seen the film I joked about not feeding myself after midnight long before I ever watched the Joe Dante original. Theyre as essential to 80s cinema as Freddy Krueger or the Deadites, and now theyre back, as the mischievous critters invade Max with their new animated series, Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai.

The new series, from showrunner Tze Chun, seeks to explain just how and why the adorable Mogwai Gizmo ended up in a Chinatown antique store, taking audiences all the way back to 1920s Shanghai and a young version of antique dealer Mr. Wing. Far from the Midwestern chaos of the original film, Secrets of the Mogwai follows young Sam Wing (voiced by Izaac Wang) as he encounters Gizmo, whos been stolen from his ancestral home and must find his way back. Trouble lies around every corner, however, as Sam finds himself chased by those who want the precious creature for themselves.

I will admit, I have a certain fondness for Gizmo, the kind that probably also explains why I took such a liking to The Mandalorians baby Grogu. Theyre of the same ilk, and its clear that Max is leaning into the big-eared similarities, making our adventurous little hero (voiced by A.J. LoCascio) TVs next adorable icon. (As someone who frequently professes that Gizmos never done anything wrong in his entire life, I cant say Im all that bothered about it.) Despite a visual style that often highlights the failings of 3D animation, its easy to get lost in the fun of the curious and iconic creature, whether youre already familiar with him or not.

RELATED: First 'Gremlins: Secrets of Mogwai' Trailer Delivers a Kung-Fu Fighting Gizmo

That cute-but-deadly energy is amplified tenfold by Wangs voice work, playing a young boy whose only confidence comes from his ability to mix remedies in his familys medicine shop. With a handful of major studio releases already under his belt including Raya and the Last Dragon, Clifford the Big Red Dog, and The Santa Clauses its clear the young star has a bright future in front of him, particularly in voice work. Rarely do I find myself as engaged with a child protagonist as I am with Sam, whose humor and charm are spot on, especially alongside Gabrielle Neveah Greens snarky-but-lovable street urchin, Elle.

The series isnt pulling any punches with the rest of its cast, either. Filling out the tale of how Gizmo made it to the Wing family is a star-studded lineup that includes a Mulan reunion, with Ming-Na Wen and BD Wong playing Sams parents, as well as the legendary James Hong, Sandra Oh, and George Takei, playing what might be the standout guest role of the season. I wont reveal who Zach Galligan returning to the franchise after playing Billy Peltzer forty years ago voices, but hes a delight as well, and in a world where A-list actors don't bother doing voices other than their own for animated work (looking at you, Seth Rogen), the lineup here is immense fun, with actors often voicing zany background roles in their episodes as well.

The standout, though, is Matthew Rhys, whos clearly having the time of his life as Riley Greene, the malicious villain with a penchant for unhinging his own jaw. A childrens story is nothing without a dramatic villain, and Greene is exactly that a magic-wielding, selfish monster whose only desire is immortality which happens to come in the form of eating the adorable, innocent Mogwai. Totally normal fare for a show marketed to families, right?

But, at the heart of it, thats what makes Secrets of the Mogwai such a great watch its willingness to lean into what made the original film well, scary. Despite the fact that its animated, and clearly geared towards children given its protagonists, Secrets of the Mogwai has no qualms about slicing off limbs, melting Mogwai in the sun, or all manner of other gnarly set pieces. Its Babys Guide to Body Horror, and while its certainly not trying to be an animated David Cronenberg piece, its refreshing to watch the series lean into the franchises signature destruction. Just because Gizmos cute doesnt mean death isnt lurking around every corner.

That mindset is bolstered by the world the creators have dreamed up to fit the Mogwai into. No longer is Gizmo a lone supernatural creature invading the human world, but simply one of many in a magical world, drawn from Chinese folklore and built out with evil innkeepers, trickster spirits, and literal ghost towns. While the need to explain the Mogwais quirks away including the iconic rules isnt strictly necessary, it never feels like soulless backstory for a movie that didnt need one to begin with. The China of Secrets of the Mogwai is imaginative and colorful and entertaining, going far beyond being just a toned-down version of Dantes original film. In fact, its the opposite, with evil Mogwais and creation gods ramping the chaos up to eleven, all the while never forgetting where it came from.

Its rare that a prequel especially one premiering nearly forty years after the original manages to live up to the original, so much so that I foster the exact same feelings for it. Normally, its a case of close but no cigar, with prequel properties failing to understand the kind of magic that made their predecessor so special to audiences, beyond just aping its characters and plot points for a shallow rehash. But even as Secrets of the Mogwai pays homage to Gremlins iconic bar scene, its never a retread, instead using the film as a starting point for a whole new and exciting story. Id say you could hand that cigar straight to Gizmo to celebrate, but well, youve seen what happens when we let Mogwai loose in the past.

Rating: A

Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai premieres on Max on May 23.

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'Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai' Review: An Adorable Expansion of ... - Collider

Victory City

Salman Rushdies latest novel, Victory City has been eagerly awaited, given that this publication follows the horrific attack which he survived in Chautauqua, New York, on August 12, 2022, by a twenty-four-year-old young man Hadi Matar.

Rushdie had lived for many years in hiding after the Iranian religious leader Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa or death edict against him in 1989, for the publication of The Satanic Verses, a novel which offended many Muslims, even while it was hailed by many as a celebration of migrant lives and the hybrid cultures migrants create in countries like Britain.

While Rushdie continued to write and work under the protection of the British police, his Italian translator was beaten and attacked with a knife and his Japanese translator was stabbed to death in 1991. This attack on Rushdie in 2022 came several decades after these events, at a time when he was resuming a more normal life with public appearances and lectures. The attack in Chautauqua was apparently an attempt to carry out the fatwa issued so long ago. The attack has been described as colossal and had left Rushdie with multiple injuries. Fortunately, he survived the attack even though he has lost vision in one eye and is struggling to regain sensation in his hand to be able to write.

Victory City was already in the press when Rushdie was attacked. However, it proves to be a prophetic tale. The protagonist Pampa Kampana is the creator of a medieval kingdom in south India, modeled after the Vijayanagar Empire. More than being a mythical founder of the kingdom and its queen more than once, Pampa is the author of the epic Jayaparajaya, in which she records the rise and fall of this kingdom. The novel is a paean to the act of writing and the endurance of the written word. After several centuries, the kingdom is decisively defeated, but what survives for posterity is Pampas epic.

The saga of the kingdom of Victory City is based on well-known historical facts. The Vijayanagar kingdom began with the Sangama dynasty whose first kings were cowherds. It reached its glorious golden age under Krishnadeva Raya, and eventually lost it power when the Muslim rulers of the Deccan unified and fought against it.

Rushdie layers this historical framework with elements of magic and fantasy. Pampa is a woman who has lost her mother in her childhood and has faced abuse at the hands of a holy priest, but the goddess of the city rewards her with many gifts, the power of prophecy, the gift of near eternal youth and immortality for more than two centuries.

In a medieval patriarchal world, Pampa embodies the power of creativity, wisdom, and feminine power. Her arch-enemy is Vidysasgar, the old priest who had abused her and who believes in a narrow religious dogma and intolerance of other faiths. Pampa, although blessed by the goddess, values the human imagination over the workings of any religious institution.

Throughout her long life, she witnesses and participates in many waves of history, many movements veering towards religious authoritarianism as well as peoples resistance to these in the form of popular uprisings. Pampa is instrumental in whispering and instigating some of these changes. However, Pampa does not have unlimited powers and she too falls victim to courtly intrigue and has to pay the price by being blinded by King Krishnadeva Raya.

This is almost prophetic of Rushdies own predicament as the blind artist. It is a trope that has surfaced in his wrings before. The figure of the artist arousing the ire of religious authorities is a continuing presence in Rushdies novels.

In The Satanic Verses, Baal is the satiric poet who goes into hiding in a brothel and is later found and executed. In The Moors Last Sigh, Aurora the secular artist and her work provokes scandal and protests by a character who is a thinly veiled portrait of Bal Thackeray. Both The Satanic Verses and The Moors Last Sigh have been banned because of charges of blasphemy and unfavorable depiction of political figures, respectively.

In Victory City, the opposition between religious leaders and artists, and intellectuals is just as strong as ever. However, because of choosing to dramatize this conflict in a medieval setting, this novel is unlikely to offend any present-day political figures. Moreover, this novel seems to be offering a long view of the fate of religious authoritarianism and political dictatorships.

Rushdie seems to be suggesting that no reign or ideology is forever. Beyond a certain point, people will rise up to challenge and overthrow arcane institutions and practices. The greater danger, Rushdie suggests is our tendency to forget history and be selective in what we remember and record.

One of the most resonant comments about history in the novel is when Pampa reflects History is the consequence not only of peoples actions but also of their forgetfulness (153).

At a time when the recording and teaching of Indian history are mired in varied controversies, Rushdie is still advocating for the writing of Indias palimpsestic and multicultural past. Victory City achieves the stature of Rushdies finest works and instills in readers a sense of gratitude that this author is still living and writing.

Victory City : A NovelBy Salman RushdieRandom House, February, 2023

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Salman Rushdie's Victory City Is A Prophetic Tale Of A Disruptor - India Currents

The sky above the farm is the color of static, tuned to the thoughts of a dead man. Fox Mulder clings to a telephone pole, examining a nondescript grey box labeled OPTIC FIBER CONNECTION before following a thick rope of cables to a trailer parked out back. Hes about to meet an online artificial consciousness hiding in a dimly lit nest of wires and ports and monitors. Its been using a secret government T3 network the gold standard of high-bandwidth internet connections to commit 32 flavors of crime and mayhem. Im watching The X-Files Kill Switch, one of the greatest episodes of 90s television about the internet, written by William Gibson and Tom Maddox.

The most striking thing about watching old internet and cyberculture-themed shows is that going online, from the 70s through the 90s, was a conscious, deliberate decision made by firing up the modem and logging on something that became easier and far more intuitive and taken for granted after ethernet became a standard that would drive our relationship with computers. The internet became fuel for the Hollywood imagination, from the 1983 classic WarGames to dystopian horrors like Mindwarp, where people were permanently plugged into VR and ruled over by a supercomputer. Last year, Alissa Wilkinson examined how Videodrome was one of the earliest films to really anticipate the way we withdraw from the kind of connectivity that we now associate with the experience of Being Online.

It was also full of cables: big beautiful bundles on The X-Files, slender ribbons of phone cords on Murder, She Wrote. In the J. Michael Straczynski-written Lines of Excellence, after holding out on technology for seven seasons, Jessica Fletcher finally rejects tradition and embraces modernity in the form of computer lessons. She learns the hard way that being connected to the internet can also mean getting hacked. A year later came Sneakers, the understated 1992 comedy / techno-thriller that brought penetration testing and phreaking to mainstream audiences in a pre-Hackers world. David Strathairn, as blind phreaker Whistler, is the center of the films most iconic scene, where he hacks into the federal reserve system using a dynamic Braille display (theres also just a fantastic ensemble cast of A-listers like Sidney Poitier, Robert Redford, and Dan Aykroyd).

Then came Hackers a pure jolt of adrenaline that zhuzhed up an oft-misunderstood hobbyist subculture into a cult classic with hormonal teens dripping in Hot Topic and infectiously manic energy. Audiences back then perhaps didnt recognize the power of a feature-length shitpost when they saw one, but Hackers was hot and young, had a killer soundtrack, and pushed hacking and phreaking and cyberculture and the values of The Hacker Manifesto into cinematic immortality.

Beyond the spectacle of slick high-school seniors feeding their technolust, theres something special about revisiting the dial-up and early broadband eras through perfectly mundane shows like Murder, She Wrote, Seinfeld, and even occasionally Law and Order (the SVU portrayals of cybercrimes are hilariously bad and deserve constant mockery). In The Serenity Now, George, trying to cheer up Jerry, says he can check porn and stock quotes if he buys a computer, which is frankly what I assumed my dad was doing whenever I heard the fuzzy shriek of the modem from the back of our house in 1995.

Audiences back then perhaps didnt recognize the power of a feature-length shitpost when they saw one

But its Kill Switch and the vision of Mulders limp body cradled in coils of cable, restrained by scraps of hardware, that really imbued the internet with power for a whole generation of young viewers. It wasnt a service that your parents signed up for or a thing that nice old ladies like Jessica Fletcher paid to get set up for them. It was, through the eyes of the hackers on the show, a transcendent future that lived on the fringes of suburbia and corporate America and in the very best tradition of Cronenbergian body horror, a new and malleable infrastructural entity that we readily invited into the skeletons of our homes, businesses, and public places (the internet is now largely considered a modern utility and by some, a human right).

Who could have predicted the future, Bill, that the computers you and I only dreamed of would someday be home appliances capable of the most technical espionage? says the Smoking Man at the end of season 2. In retrospect, the dull limitations of his imagination make perfect sense now even though I didnt fully understand at the time if only hed read even a little bit of early cyberpunk fiction that fueled so much social and technological paranoia in the early 80s.

George Costanza would like to sell you a computer. Image: NBC

In season 5, we learn the origin story of the Lone Gunmen, the iconic trio of hackers who worked with Mulder and Scully and even had a short-lived spinoff show of their own. At a 1989 electronics trade convention, we meet Byers as a straight-and-narrow FCC officer who clashes with competing bootleg cable salesmen Frohike and Langly. The latter presides over backdoor games of D&D as Lord Manhammer, and theres a lot of easy comic relief in the sheer naivete of these stereotypes. Byers hacks into ARPANET to help a mysterious woman, and the rest, as they say, is history the three band together in a touchingly altruistic effort to do the right thing, and the Gunmen become radical conspiracy theorists, government watchdogs, and necessary guides to a then-bewildering frontier of virtual reality and new technologies.

It was, for better or for worse, the Lone Gunmen who made sincere feats of dorkery really fucking cool at an exceedingly awkward time for so many kids growing up around early home computers when logging on was still a distinct mechanical, physical process that led to untold riches in the ether (while logging off and avoiding the phone system was repeatedly hammered home as a way to avoid the feds).

The Halt and Catch Fire episode 10BROAD36. Image: AMC

No single piece of television nails the fear of being shunted offline better than the second season of Halt and Catch Fires 10BROAD36, named after a long-dead ethernet standard developed for IEEE 802.3b-1985. The year is 1985, and fledgling online game company Mutiny is facing a cutthroat hike in data rates from a massive oil company, Westgroup Energy. The Mutiny house is the evolving heart of the season as well as the growing cultural fixation on Being Online the coders are literally drilling into walls (and studs) and laying anarchic ropes of cable along every available surface. Their only shot is to meet Westgroups new benchmarks, the biggest one being to port their code to Unix overnight. Taking a page from their bootleg HBO efforts (naturally, to catch half a boob on Cat People), the punks at Mutiny disguise a Commodore 64 as a functioning AT&T Unix computer, complete with their own local broadband setup to simulate external internet access.

Cables and wires are no longer inviting threads to be pulled and played with

Of course, their working demo falls apart. Theres a pure, simple clarity in how the show links data with empowerment, at least through an idealists eyes; theres much more to unpack, as well, in the episodes time-sharing and network-sharing plot points that drive home the importance of data control. Its startling to realize that getting elbow-deep in computer guts and stray wires isnt part of the PC experience anymore: cables and wires are no longer inviting threads to be pulled and played with.

Toward the end of season three of Halt and Catch Fire, a new era dawns: the World Wide Web proper and the evolution of internet ontology and early indexing. In NeXT, we see power-marketing lunatic Joe MacMillan in peak form, talking about how they need to tackle the tower of Babel that is the internet according to Tim Berners-Lee. Its pointless, he explains, to figure out what the web will become because we cant and wont know. All we have to do is build a door, he says, recalling a childhood memory of his mother taking him through the Holland Tunnel and the explosion of sunlight at the end, with all of Manhattan ripe for exploration. His pitch lands perfectly, and suddenly, theres a clear purpose to the end of every cord: a portal.

For all the effort we made to embed them in our private spaces, cables are now unsightly, outdated things to be made obsolete in the name of convenience. Its perhaps too fitting a metaphor for basic technological literacy today and certainly a crappier version of a hands-on past when users were forced to learn how their machines generally worked. The cyberpunk dystopia we read about as kids a much edgier delight in 80s fiction has been retconned into a shapeless mainstream aesthetic that, more often than not, forgets the pliable copper threads from whence it came.

Theres something lost in the way weve left those all-important, all-consuming cables behind

Dont get me wrong: there are tremendous films and shows about the internet being put out today, albeit reflecting very different preoccupations with different types of technological experiences. Were All Going To The Worlds Fair, for instance, is a brilliantly discomforting time spent bathed in the light of social media. 2018s Searching was a tale told entirely through screens, and prestige dramas (hey, Succession) routinely use text message visuals on screen.

But theres something lost in the way weve left those all-important, all-consuming cables behind ethernet is still at the heart of our lives today, even if we dont think about it much. If the best movies about the internet and hacking are spectacles of a barely recognizable near future, its normcore television that offers more to chew on about the technology of the characters present; perhaps weve crossed a paradigmatic Rubicon where playing with the guts of the internet will never matter as much again.

I, for one, am happy to return to old primetime television, when the camera still lingered curiously on ports and connections, when most of us were swept up in the thrill of Web 1.0, and when the idea of pulling the plug still felt like a painless option.

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Plugged in and logged on: a history of the internet on film and TV - The Verge

ALAMEDA - AgeX Therapeutics, Inc. ('AgeX'; NYSE American: AGE), a biotechnology company developing therapeutics for human aging and regeneration, reported its financial and operating results for quarter ended March 31, 2023.

Balance Sheet Information

Cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash totaled $0.3 million as of March 31, 2023. As of March 31, 2023, AgeX owed Juvenescence Limited $33.6 million in principal and origination fees on account of loans extended to AgeX.

Increase in Secured Note Line of Credit

On May 9, 2023, AgeX and Juvenescence entered into a second amendment to an Amended and Restated Secured Convertible Promissory Note (the 'Secured Note') to increase the amount of the line of credit available to AgeX by $4,000,000, subject to the terms of the Secured Note and Juvenescence's discretion to approve and fund each of AgeX's future draws of that additional amount of credit.

First Quarter 2023 Operating Results

Revenues: Total Revenues for the first quarter of 2023 were $10,000 as compared with $5,000 in the same period in 2022. Revenues are entirely comprised of sales of research products including stem cell products.

Operating expenses: Operating expenses for the three months ended March 31, 2023 were $2.2 million, as compared with $2.1 million for the same period in 2022.

Research and development expenses for the three months ended March 31, 2023 decreased by approximately $0.2 million to $0.2 million from $0.4 million during the same period in 2022. The net decrease was primarily attributable to reductions of $0.1 million in salaries to employees and related payroll related expenses, including noncash stock-based compensation expense, and general laboratory supplies and expenses, and $0.1 million in outside research and services allocable to research and development expenses.

General and administrative expenses for the three months ended March 31, 2023 increased by $0.3 million to $2.0 million as compared to $1.7 million during the same period in 2022. The net increase is attributable to increases of $0.5 million in professional fees for legal services and consulting expenses incurred in connection with due diligence and other expenses related to the possible merger between AgeX and Serina Therapeutics Inc., an Alabama corporation ('Serina'), and $0.1 million in professional fees for other non-recurring legal services. These increases were offset to some extent by a $0.2 million decrease in noncash stock-based compensation to employees, consultants and directors, and $0.1 million in patent and license maintenance related fees.

Other expense, net: Net other expense for the three months ended March 31, 2023 is comprised of $1.1 million amortization of deferred debt issuance costs and other debt related expenses included in interest expense and $30,000 unrealized loss on change in fair value of warrants issued to Juvenescence in connection with borrowings under loans from Juvenescence.

Net loss attributable to AgeX: The net loss attributable to AgeX for the three months ended March 31, 2023 was $3.3 million, or ($0.09) per share (basic and diluted) compared to $2.7 million, or ($0.07) per share (basic and diluted), for 2022. Increased net loss attributable to AgeX for the three months ended March 31, 2023 as compared to 2022 is largely attributable to expenses related to the possible merger between AgeX and Serina incurred in 2023 and increased amortization of deferred debt costs on loans from Juvenescence.

Going Concern Considerations

As required under Accounting Standards Update 2014-15, Presentation of Financial Statements-Going Concern (ASC 205-40), AgeX evaluates whether conditions and/or events raise substantial doubt about its ability to meet its future financial obligations as they become due within one year after the date its financial statements are issued. Based on AgeX's most recent projected cash flows, AgeX believes that its cash and cash equivalents and available sources of debt and equity capital including the loan facilities provided by Juvenescence to advance up to an additional $4 million to AgeX as of May 9, 2023 would not be sufficient to satisfy AgeX's anticipated operating and other funding requirements for the twelve months following the filing of AgeX's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the three months ended March 31, 2023. These factors raise substantial doubt regarding the ability of AgeX to continue as a going concern.

About AgeX Therapeutics

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

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this release are 'forward-looking statements' within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any statements that are not historical fact including, but not limited to statements that contain words such as 'will,' 'believes,' 'plans,' 'anticipates,' 'expects,' 'estimates' should also be considered forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from the results anticipated in these forward-looking statements and as such should be evaluated together with the many uncertainties that affect the business of AgeX Therapeutics, Inc. and its subsidiaries, particularly those mentioned in the cautionary statements found in more detail in the 'Risk Factors' section of AgeX's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (copies of which may be obtained at http://www.sec.gov). Subsequent events and developments may cause these forward-looking statements to change. AgeX specifically disclaims any obligation or intention to update or revise these forward-looking statements as a result of changed events or circumstances that occur after the date of this release, except as required by applicable law.

Contact:

Andrea E. Park

Email: apark@agexinc.com

Tel: (510) 671-8620

(C) 2023 Electronic News Publishing, source ENP Newswire

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AgeX Therapeutics Reports First Quarter 2023 Financial Results - Marketscreener.com

Movies are great when they take you out of your comfort zone and challenge your senses by twisting your perception of reality. The subversion of expectations is always good, especially when a competent filmmaker handles it. The best films with great plot twists do not always have an extensive profile. Many of them are underrated gems that hide one solid script that goes unnoticed for lack of support from the studio or poor marketing.

The following offerings are underrated gems that came and went without gathering the critical acclaim they deserved. Many are beloved cult classics among niche fandoms, while others are the best entry points for the cinematic offering from foreign nations. One thing is assured: these films are designed to churn your insides with impactful revelations that will keep you at the edge of your seat, wanting more.

We hope you enjoy our ranking of the most underrated movies with massive plot twists.

Sisters is an early classic from the mind of Brian De Palma. Aspiring actress Danielle Brenton hooks up with a man named Phillip; after spending the night together, she informs him about a visit from her twin sister and asks him to run an errand. Written and directed by him, the movie includes the talents of Margot Kidder, Jennifer Salt, Charles Durning, and Bill Finley.

By the time Phillip returns home, he's stabbed to death by an unseen assailant. The police won't pay attention to the case since Phillip is a black man, but a reporter decides to dig deeper and find out the truth behind Danielle's sister and why we never get to see her. Its a great story with a ton of social commentary.

Another incredible neo-noir psychological thriller, with a few horror elements sliding in for good measure. Written and directed by Alan Parker, Angel Heart features Micky Rourke, Lisa Bonet, and Robert De Niro. The story begins in New York when a private eye named Harry Angle is hired by an eccentric man named Louis Cyphre to track down a crooner named John Liebling. Harry manages to track down the last location of Liebling and must travel to New Orleans.

The story has a sudden change of pace as the New Orleans background fills the ambiance with mystery and intoxicating visuals related to sorcery and black magic. Each time Harry gets close to a lead, the person who reveals anything to him dies violently. He meets a girl named Epiphany Proudfoot, who might prove crucial to crack the case. The big twist revealed in the end is that Cyphre is the devil himself coming to collect Liebling's soul, but theres more o this claim than we are led to believe.

David Fincher knows how to tell a good mystery. The Game is one of his early works, written by John Bracanto and Michael Ferris and starring Michael Douglas, Sean Penn, and Deborah Kara Unger. The story seems simple enough as Nicholas Van Otto gets gifted by his brother an entry into a game that affects his everyday actions. Against his better judgment, Nicholas accepts to participate in the Game by visiting the so-called quarters of the CRS.

Immediately after signing on, Nicholas's life turns for the worst in every aspect. His brother abandons him as he's being pursued. His bank accounts are drained. Nicholas is left to die by a cab driver. Seeking a safe place, he tracks down the waitress from the restaurant where he accepted his brother's gift to find out she's on the payroll of the people directing the Game; Nicholas forces himself into the agency conducting the Game, only to find out everything that has happened to him has been indeed part of the Game he signed on for.

Based on the novel A Very Private Gentleman, Rowan Joff adapted this excellent spy thriller with Anton Corbijn directing. The American stars George Clooney and Violante Placido. A dormant operative named Jack lives quietly in the Sweden wilderness with a girl. When hired guns come looking for him, Jack quickly dispatches them, but he also kills the girl he is with.

After a quick escape to Rome, Jack contacts his handler, a man named Pavel. Pavel sends him to Castelvecchio and hands him his last assignment. Jack is reluctant, but the pay is excellent, so he accepts the offer. It's a straightforward operation where he must build a custom-made weapon and train another operative to use it. Pavel is setting up Jack to be killed by his replacement, but Jack knows how to stay one step ahead of the game.

Related: 10 Comedy Movie Plot Twists That Came Out of Nowhere

Space stories have a unique appeal when they are surrounded by mystery. Such is the case of Moon. The sole cast member you need to care about is Sam Rockwell, who plays Sam Bell, a lone worker for Lunar Industries, a company solving the problem of depleted energy on EarthEarth by mining a compound named helium-3 on the Moon. This underappreciated film was written by Nathan Parker and directed by Duncan Jones.

Sam's days are uneventful, and he sticks to a daily routine until something happens and he finds a crashed rover on the lunar surface. He rescues the pilot only to find out it's himself. An AI named GERTY reveals Sam is a clone with a three-year lifespan (the duration of his contract). Once he dies, he's replaced by a new one. After doing his best to evade the measures to keep in place, Sam must escape to Earth and reveal the truth to the world.

Inside Man looks like your standard police heist drama, but it's much more once you get past the initial setup. Written by Russell Gewirtz and directed by Spike Lee, this is one of the most overlooked films in his works. He brings along his perpetual partner in crime, Denzel Washington, and heavy hitters such as Clive Owen, Jodie Foster, Willem Dafoe, and Christopher Plummer.

A group of four robbers devises the perfect plan to rob a bank, but no one has a single idea of what they are doing or how they manage to make their way out of the bank without getting shot. Detective Keith Frazer deduces the man is stalling for time to make his move, but the leader of the robbers, Dalton Russel, has always been one step ahead of him. It's an incredible film, full of twists and turns and multiple satisfying endings.

Based on a story written by Stephen King, The Mist is a horror film with science fiction elements that touch upon many themes, such as fear of the unknown, proselytization, faith, and survival. It all begins in a convenience store located in rural America. The ensemble cast includes familiar faces such as Thomas Jane, Marcia Gay Harden, and Laurie Holden. The adaptation was written and directed by Frank Darabont.

A deranged man enters the store, signaling the coming of a mysterious mist covering the town. The people inside have to fend off with the resources they have. While some choose to hold on to their religious belief hoping to be saved, others take action by fighting the horde of creatures. After multiple attempts at survival, the last remaining few of the group decide to take their own lives instead of being slaughtered by the invading creatures, with a very unexpected outcome after most of them have parted this world.

Koren cinema has been elevated to an art form in the past 20 years, A Tale Of Two Sisters. It's an early offering written and directed by Kim Jee-woon in 2003. It's a classic folk tale in the country that has been romanticized and adapted into a modern story. The story begins with a girl named Su-Mi being treated in a mental institution; she's released and allowed to return home. Once settled, her rude stepmom mistreats her and her sister Su-Yeon.

Strange occurrences occur as the family photos are altered to replace her mother's face with her stepmom's. Su-Yeon also claims his father is blind to the actions of her stepmom. The big reveal comes when the father tells her daughter she's imagining everything. Her stepmom and her sisters are only fractions of her imagination. The big twist, however, comes after Su-yeon is institutionalized again.

Predestination is one of those films you must pay close attention to lest you get lost in the plot. It's a time travel story about three different characters whose destiny is dictated by an agency named Temporal Bureau. Written and directed by The Spierig Brothers and starring Ethan Hawke, Sarah Snook, and Noah Taylor, the movie is based on the novel All You Zombies by Robert Heinlein.

Without dwelling too much on the plot details, the story touches upon intersex people and the nuances of time-traveling paradoxes. The three actors play a singular role after the agency places the same person in specific timelines to encounter himself and exist. It also offers a slight nod to roman catholic mythology by making our main character mother, father, and son in a single spirit.

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European talent always delivers when it comes to shocking thrillers. Buried is a film written by Chris Sparlin and directed by Rodrigo Cortes. It's a daunting story taking place in a coffin. The film's sole star is Ryan Reynolds, who had to endure long hours in a confined space to make this movie rollercoaster. The film opens with a man named Paul buried with a few items in a coffin in the middle of nowhere in the Middle East.

A cell phone rings, and the plot begins to unfold. Paul has been kidnapped by a group of terrorists who make a series of demands. It's up to Paul to do everything he can to ensure he gets out of this situation alive. The emotions conveyed in this film are exasperating. This movie is made to make you feel desperate by design. The betrayals and double-crosses experienced by someone already in the hot seat are only surpassed by the crushing ending of this story.

M. Night Shyamalan's movies may showcase he's a one-trick pony, but he's relatively competent as a writer. Devil is a film taking place in a stuck elevator. With a screenplay by Brian Nelson and directed by John Erick Dowdle, this movie is an absolute claustrophobic ride where five people get trapped. At the same time, a security guard witnesses everything that happens via a camera feed.

As the plot unfolds, we discover all the people in the elevator have a shady past or criminal records. Someone suspects the devil is behind the events as outages affect the elevator. Many attempts are made to rescue the group to no avail. Each time the lights go out, someone dies. The big reveal at the end will catch you out of the left field since it's truly unexpected.

A Cure for Wellness is a psychological thriller written by Justin Haythe and directed by Gore Verbinski. The film stars Dane DeHaan, Jason Isaacs, and Mia Goth. This slow-burn story certainly knows how to take you for a ride with the multiple twists thrown at you as the story develops. A man named Lockhart is tasked by the board of directors of the company he works for to retrieve the CEO from a wellness center located in the Swiss Alps.

Lockhart makes the trip but notices the weird ambiance of the place. After failing to find the man he's looking for, he suffers an accident and finds himself trapped in the spa center. He learns the hideous story behind the spa and the horrors committed by the castle's former occupants from interns and other people. Lockhart must face a grand conspiracy to hide the secrets to immortality and the deranged wishes of a father looking to preserve his legacy with a purebred progeny.

Chinatown is one of the most influential films ever made in 1974; it's a neo-noir mystery full of political drama with an impactful revelation that can twist your stomach. The story begins when a woman named Evelyn hires private eye Jake Gittes to locate her husband. Written by Robert Towne and directed by the ever-polemic Roman Polansky. The film has an all-star cast headlined by Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway.

After doing some digging, Jake finds the man denying access to publicly funded utilities and having an affair. His findings make it to the press, which brings heat to Jake, who realizes he's been had by someone posing as Evelyn. As he digs deeper, he uncovers a plot from real state moguls buying land for cheap and building gentrified urbanisms, but not before finding out the woman he's working for is both mother and sister to his own progeny.

Now this film will keep you guessing! Identity is an early offering by James Mangold, written by Michael Cooney; this mystery thriller goes back and forth between two narratives that seem disconnected from the start. On one side, we have a convict named Malcolm Rivers being subject to in-depth physiological evaluation after a mass murder case that took place in an apartment complex.

Meanwhile, ten strangers gather in a remote Nevada motel while a storm holds them all in place, as there is no way to go without finding blocked roads. The all-star cast includes John Cusack, Ray Liotta, Alfred Molina, and Amanda Peet. One by one, each of the guests in the motel is killed by an unseen assailant. The final revelation connecting both stories will make you wonder what exactly you witnessed in the end.

Written and directed by James Ward Byrkit, the surreal thriller Coherence it's unlike anything you've ever seen. The passing of a comet near the orbit of planet Earth triggers an unlikely situation that would put the concept of multiversal realities being explored by Marvel Studios right now to shame. A group of eight people is attending a dinner party when a sudden blackout impacts the neighborhood.

Two guests go out to check what has happened, but they return with a box containing various items, among them photos of the party attending the dinner taken that very night. The group realizes they are dealing with alternate versions of themselves as the comet has altered reality by creating a quantum decoherence phenomenon. From then on, no one can trust anybody, and the group must do everything possible to stay alive.

Related: 15 Slow-Paced Action Movies With Explosive Endings

Cinema rarely explores Surrealism, given how much this artistic expression relies on visuals to get the point across. However, Sorry to Bother You, written and directed by Boots Riley, tells a story that goes above and beyond the surreal tropes. The cast includes working actors like LaKeith Stanfield, Tessa Thompson, Jermaine Fowler, Patton Oswald, and Danny Glover.

The story is about a black man named Cassius Green who struggles to pay the bills as an artist. He's forced to take a job as a telemarketer but fails to achieve much success until a coworker suggests he starts using a "white voice" to seal the deal. He follows the advice to become the most successful employee of the company, which drives him away from his lofty idealistic goals and turns him into a corporate monster until he finds out the actual dealings of the company he's working for.

Pedro Almodovar is famous for his impactful melodramas, but this time he's taking us through a thrilling ride with the movie The Skin I Live in (or La Piel que Habito). With the help of frequent collaborators Antonio Banderas and Elena Anaya, the story explores the achievements of a plastic surgeon called Robert Ledgard, who has created artificial grafts of human skin resistant to burns and insect bites using very illegal means.

After being chastised by the medical community, we learn he's keeping a patient named Vera captive in his state. The surgeon runs a house full of secrets, and the most loyal servant is his mother. Vera, on the other hand, is not what it seems to be, as she's not exactly what we have been told from the start. The brutal revelations either keep you on the edge of your seat or are revoltingly disgusted.

Lars Von Trier is no stranger to physiological horror; as a matter of fact, you could make a case that all his films explore human nature. It's kind of worrisome, however, that he only focuses on exploring the worst in all of us. The House that Jack Built is no different. The solid cast includes Matt Dillon, Bruno Ganz, and Uma Thurman. This slasher follows the story of Jack, a failed architect with an obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Jack is compulsive to kill and find the best materials to build the perfect house. Both quests become entangled in the final act of the film. We find ourselves digging deeper into Jack's thought process and how he becomes complacent as he gets away with more killings throughout the film. Ultimately, he achieves the goal of building a great home that leads him to the only place someone like him deserves.

Bill Paxton was a great talent taken too soon from us. One of his two directing credits includes a mystery thriller called Frailty. The story begins when an FBI agent named Wesley Doyle kills himself after his brother, a man named Adam, is revealed to be the serial killer known as God's Hand. The movie includes the acting talents of Matthew McConaughey, Powers Boothe, and Luke Askew.

The movie is a complex mix of religious zealotry and mysterious visions revealing the events leading to the killings of multiple young boys and the people who cover up the conspiracy. The shocking twist is more impactful after realizing who is the unreliable narrator depicting all the events we have seen for the film's duration.

The top spot couldn't go to any other film in this ranking. Oldboy is not as popular as it should be, yet it is probably the most influential Korean film ever made and the best entry point to Korean cinema for the uninitiated. The movie tells the story of a man who gets kidnapped out of nowhere after missing the birth of her daughter and kept in seclusion for nearly 20 years. This violent thriller is written and directed by Park Chan-Wook.

While in captivity, he learns his wife was murdered, and he's the prime suspect in the homicide. He's doused with sleeping gas every day, and any attempt to end his life is fixed in his sleep. After being released, he must put together the pieces that led to his entrapment with the help of a girl named Mi-Do. The twists and turns of this movie keep hitting you like speeding bricks, but it's a damn solid story that only gets better with time.

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20 Underrated Movies with Huge Plot Twists - MovieWeb

Ranking of Kings: The Treasure Chest of Courage episode 5 was released on May 12, 2023, marking another milestone in the series' story progression. This episode was a unique blend of suspense, humor, and emotional depth, serving as a testament to the show's storytelling prowess. The narrative was divided into three parts, each focusing on a different character and their respective journeys.

In the previous episode, viewers were introduced to the underworld King Satun, whose obsession with immortality led him to conduct horrific experiments on his sons Desha, Despa, and Ouken, and terrorize his people. Desha eventually overthrows his father, ending his tyranny, but not before Ouken, who has inherited healing superpowers, spirals down a similar dark path.

Despite his brothers' attempts to save him, Ouken succumbs to his inner evil, mirroring their father's trajectory. The episode ends with Despa investigating a demon mentioned in a mysterious book, hinting at upcoming challenges in their quest to right the wrongs of their father's rule.

The first part of Ranking of Kings: The Treasure Chest of Courage episode 5 continues from the end of the previous episode. This episode followed a thrilling narrative centered around Fren, the second in command of the Order of the Underworld. Fren's decision to break the law of the Underworld to save Ouken was a testament to his loyalty and courage. Despite knowing the consequences, he willingly chose to risk his life for the sake of his indebted friend.

When the news of Fren's execution reached his friends, it sparked a rebellion against Desha's order. The ensuing chaos and the Captain of the Order's staged plot to save Fren added layers of suspense and excitement to the narrative. The plot's culmination, revealing Fren's banishment rather than execution for saving Ouken, served as a poignant conclusion to his courageous saga.

The second part of the episode offered a much-needed respite from the intense drama of the first segment. It centered on the amusing journey of Whiteking, Despa's horse, who, after being neglected, had gained a significant amount of weight. The Captain of the Order of the Underworld's attempts to help Whiteking regain her former fitness were filled with comedic moments, balancing the episode's overall tone.

The Captain's motivation technique, using Whiteking's affection for another horse, was a clever narrative that provided further depth to the storyline. However, the revelation that the horse she admired had a family led her to revert to her old habits, showing a touching, human-like emotional response.

The third segment of Ranking of Kings: The Treasure Chest of Courage episode 5 focused on the heartwarming backstory of Hokuro. Stricken with grief over his mother's death, Hokuro found solace in Prince Bojji's comforting words. This interaction sparked a deep devotion in Hokuro, leading him to pledge his service to Bojji.

Hokuro's commitment to Bojji was so profound that he learned sign language to communicate with him. Despite Domas' initial reservations about Hokuro's lack of fighting skills, his ability to communicate with Bojji and his dedication to serving him convinced Queen Hilling to assign him as Bojji's escort.

This segment of Ranking of Kings: The Treasure Chest of Courage episode 5 was a beautiful exploration of friendship, loyalty, and the lengths one can go to to protect those they care about.

Ranking of Kings: The Treasure Chest of Courage episode 5 was a compelling blend of drama, humor, and emotional depth. The individual stories of Fren, Whiteking, and Hokuro added layers to their characters, enriching the series' overall narrative.

The creators' ability to depict the characters' diverse personalities and struggles, from Fren's rebellion and Whiteking's transformation, to Hokuro's devotion, was truly commendable. Ranking of Kings: The Treasure Chest of Courage episode 5 further cements its status as a series that goes beyond the surface, delving deep into the hearts and minds of its characters, and offering a truly immersive viewing experience.

Edited byAdelle Fernandes

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Ranking of Kings: The Treasure Chest of Courage episode 5: Fren's rebellion to save Ouken, Whiteking's transformation, and Hokuro's devotion to Bojji...

The quest for immortality is as old as recorded history. In recent years, there have been breathtaking breakthroughs in the field of human longevity research that offer the potential to significantly extend human lifespan. Some futurists even predict that at some point science will discover how to make humans immortal.

Scientists have been studying the mechanisms behind aging for decades, and recent advancements are bringing us closer to understanding how we can slow, and even reverse, the aging process and live healthier, longer lives. Aging is not an inevitable decline of the human body but is plastic and subject to intervention said Dr. David Sinclair, Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School and co-director of the Paul F. Glenn Center for the Biology of Aging Research.

Among the most promising areas of research is cellular senescence. Cellular senescence is the process by which cells stop dividing and contribute to the aging process. In 2021, the US-based company BioAge Labs raised $90 million in funding to continue developing their drug pipeline that targets aging-related diseases. The company has already identified a handful of promising compounds that could dramatically increase human lifespans by targeting cellular senescence.

BioAge Labs isnt the only company exploring this approach. Another company, Unity Biotechnology, reported in 2021 promising results from a clinical trial of a drug that targets senescent cells. The drug, called UBX0101, was also shown to significantly reduce pain and improve joint function in patients with osteoarthritis.

A promising approach to extending human lifespans is the use of gene editing technologies like CRISPR. Researchers are using CRISPR to remove genetic mutations that lead to diseases and aging-related conditions. In 2022, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley used CRISPR to extend the lifespan of fruit flies by up to 60%. While the technology is still in its infancy, the results are promising and could eventually lead to similar advancements in human longevity.

In addition to these approaches, there is growing interest in the role of epigenetics in aging. Epigenetics is the study of changes in gene expression that do not involve changes to the underlying DNA sequence. Scientists believe that changes in epigenetic markers play a key role in the aging process.

The ultimate goal of aging research is to improve health span, not just lifespan said Dr. Nir Barzilai, Director of the Institute for Aging Research at Albert Einstein College of Medicine when asked about the tension between longevity and quality of life.

Researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in California have discovered a way to rejuvenate aging cells by resetting their epigenetic markers. The researchers were able to take skin cells from elderly individuals and revert them back to a more youthful state.

While these advancements in human longevity research are exciting, they raise a number of ethical questions. For example, who will have access to these treatments, and at what cost? Will these treatments be available to everyone, or only to the fabulously wealthy? Will these treatments lead to a two-tiered society with an elite class outliving everyone else?

The impact that longer lifespans could have on the economy and healthcare system are just beginning to

be studied. With people living longer, there will be a greater demand for expensive healthcare services and an increased burden of retirement programs, like Social Security, on the young.

How society will adjust to a world when people are living longer. Its possible that we could see a shift in the way people approach their careers and retirement, with individuals needing to work well into their later years.

Despite these concerns, there is little doubt that advancements in human longevity research have the potential to transform our lives and civilization in unknown ways. With longer, healthier lives, we may be able to spend more time with loved ones, pursue our passions, and contribute more to society. The biggest concern is that the human imperative to avoid death will overtake our planets carrying capacity.

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The Quest for Human Immortality - Innovation & Tech Today