Category Archives: Life Extension

Recently my laptop started glitching. I backed up 90 gigs of photos, videos, and ideas for a novel, fixed the issue, and moved everything back again. It took three weeks. Managing my digital life is becoming my life. But I dont want to lose the memories attached to these bits and bytes. What can I do?

Curating My life

Dear Curating,

The glitching laptop is a rude awakening, not unlike a brush with death. One day youre blithely opening and saving files as though the device and everything it contained were immortal; the next, the contents of your hard drive are flashing before your eyeswedding photos, videos of your kids, novels or dissertations in various stages of completionand you see, with sudden clarity, the headlong folly of storing so many invaluable items in one place. Im not being facetious. Not entirely. To watch all that information disappear, in one fell swoop, would be devastating, similar to losing all your possessions in a fire or flood, acts of God that have, at least, the compensatory benefit of endowing the victim with an aura of cosmic tragedy. The saga of a dead hard drive, on the other hand, is so commonplace, so lacking in tragic vision, that its unlikely to garner more than a few performative murmurs of condolence, along with the inevitable question: You didnt have backups?

All worldly possessions are prone to attrition and decline. The more you have, the more your life becomes devoted to the vigilant, custodial work of maintenance and repair. This is why so many spiritual traditions advise against becoming attached to material things. When Christ recommended storing up ones treasure in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal, he was drawing on a Jewish tradition that envisioned heaven as an eternal storehouse for spiritual rewards. The teaching also reflects a much deeper strain of Western philosophy, one that goes back to Plato and persists today: the notion that the physical world is inferior to the unchanging realm of the immaterial, that we should not become entranced by the elusive objects here on earth but look instead to the higher, intangible things (virtue, relationships, intellectual pursuits) that are immune to the inexorable wear and tear of time.

If it seems odd to think of files and personal data as possessions, its because they appear to already belong to the spiritual realm. Information has no visible substance. Its not composed of matter or energy, at least not in the same sense as a table or a lump of gold. Our files, photos, and music appear magically across multiple devices, much like the Greek psyche, which could, through the mysterious work of transmigration, manifest in different physical bodies after its host had died. Its easy to believe that data will exist foreveror, at the very least, survive us, carrying our spirit (our voice, our words, our image) into the eternal ether.

This is not a particularly new delusion. Long before the advent of the digital age, information was a vehicle for immortality, the means by which artists and intellectuals attempted to live on after death. Nietzsche pointed out that the thinker who has put the best of himself into his work can rest easy as he watches the erosion of his own body: It is as if he were in a corner watching a thief at his safe, while knowing that it is empty, his treasure being elsewhere. We too sleep soundly knowing that our most valued thoughts and memories reside in the cloud, our own celestial storehouse, where neither flood nor fire, moths nor malware can harm them.

I suppose what Im trying to say, Curating, is that there appears to be a deeper, existential angst lurking within your question, one that extends beyond simple concerns about file management. Your acknowledgment that your memories are attached to these bits and bytes signals an awareness that your identity is mysteriously bound up with those files, that to lose them would be to lose, in a very real sense, an extension of your own mind. Would you be able to remember that trip to Europe without the photos you took? If you can never again read through the folder of journal entries you wrote in college, will you have lost that period of your life?

We are constantly offloading parts of our minds to our tools, blurring the boundaries between ourselves and our devices. The fragility of those externalized memories dawns on you slowly with age, as portions of your former selves get buried with defunct hardware or fade into the digital void from whence they came, casualties of content drift and link rot. The sudden nostalgic impulse that spurs you to Google your undergraduate blog ends at the impasse of a Page not found. Or you sign in to a long-abandoned Yahoo account only to discover that an entire decade of email correspondence has disappeared. Even cloud storage is not immune to the indomitable forces of nature, as Google discovered when one of its data centers in Belgium was hit by a series of lightning strikes.

But Id argue that your angst is even more complex. Its difficult to witness a device on the fritz without thinking about the fragility of your own personal OS (so to speak). Our cultures long-standing dualism endures in the popular notion that the mind is a software program running on the hardware of our physical forms. If the glitching laptop awakens you to the obvious fact that your data is entirely dependent on material processesforcing you to recall the silicon and copper embedded in your SSD, the ghostly blue light of server farms housed in the bowels of corporate facilitiesit also drives home the larger truth that all things, no matter how lofty or transcendent, depend on some kind of material substrate. Just as your data is tethered to so much ungainly hardware, so your own mindperhaps, even, what you think of as your spiritis fastened, as Yeats memorably put it, to a dying animal.

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Do I Really Need to Back Up All My Data? - WIRED

Getting outdoors and gardening can do more than just provide some physical activity and produce food for the table; it can be beneficial to the mind as well.

Although there are many functional benefits of gardening and the inherent ways in which plants improve the quality of life, Texas A&M AgriLife experts say a particularly important aspect is how plants enhance mental health and a persons overall outlook.

As many people already knew and others discovered during the pandemic, plant-related hobbies like gardening offer an opportunity to enjoy nature and give a person a more positive outlook on life, said Charles Hall, Ph.D., professor and Ellison Chair in International Floriculture in the Department of Horticultural Sciences of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Bryan-College Station.

Hall has done extensive research on how plants and gardening can improve both physical and mental health.

Research by Hall, presented in an article published in the Journal of Environmental Horticulture, outlines the numerous psychological benefits of plants and the activity of gardening in a variety of categories. These benefits include:

Hall said the pandemic was partly responsible for an increased interest in gardening as more people were becoming involved in at-home activities.

He said being in naturalized settings and engaging in activities like gardening have a positive impact on peoples feelings of vitality and energy.

Consequently, this has a significant positive effect on a persons overall mental health, Hall said.

He also noted the activities of gardening and plant care help distract the mind and put it into a quieter and more relaxed state.

When young gardeners have the experience of planting and caring for something from seed to harvest, they get a sense of accomplishment, pride and ownership. Its a real esteem-builder for them.

Jayla Fry, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service program coordinator for the agencys Texas Master Gardener volunteer effort, said almost every day she sees gardenings calming effect and ability to improve a persons outlook.

Through the Department of Horticultural Sciences, AgriLife Extension oversees thousands of adult Master Gardener volunteers throughout the state, she said. These Master Gardeners support agency horticultural programs and reach tens of thousands of people annually through their educational and community beautification efforts. These volunteers can attest to the positive psychological benefits gardening provides for them and for those they work with in the community.

Further commenting on the intersection of plants, gardens and mental health was Joseph Johnson, manager of The Gardens at Texas A&M University, Bryan-College Station.

We think of The Gardens area as the Central Park for the Texas A&M University campus, he said.

The Gardens is a 27-acre public teaching garden on campus that serves as a living classroom for educational, inspirational and recreational experiences. Primarily a peaceful retreat away from the activity of campus and the surrounding community, students and visitors alike visit to enjoy and learn from the nature that surrounds them.

The Gardens helps enrich their lives by connecting them with the living world of horticulture, Johnson said. Students and community members can more easily relax being in such a beautiful and tranquil place. It makes them feel more peaceful in their minds and souls.

Hall said when young people, particularly students, have a view of green spaces during school, they exhibit significantly better performance on attention tests and stress recovery.

They get even greater psychological benefits if theres a classroom or teaching garden on their campus, he said. These gardens provide opportunities for young people to improve their social, physical, psychological, cognitive, environmental and spiritual well-being.

Randy Seagraves, AgriLife Extension specialist and curriculum coordinator for its Junior Master Gardener program in the Department of Horticultural Sciences, said it is common to see a childs demeanor and attitude improve as soon as he or she steps into a garden.

We see them slow down, pause and smile, he said. For many of these kids, being a part of a school garden project will be their very first garden connection. When young gardeners have the experience of planting and caring for something from seed to harvest, they get a sense of accomplishment, pride and ownership. Its a real esteem-builder for them.

Hall said in addition to improved concentration and attention, children in schools with classroom gardens have been shown to have fewer instances of interpersonal conflict and bullying.

Gardening is conducive to generating a positive learning environment, reducing childrens tendency towards distraction and helping them better concentrate on schoolwork, he said. Children engaged in classroom gardens get to be outside, be physically active and work together toward a common goal. Maybe most importantly, they also get to understand how patience and persistence are needed for them to literally see the fruits of their labor.

Hall said another psychological benefit of gardening is its ability to bring people together socially, especially in the case of a community garden.

Neighborhoods with a community garden are often more friendly and inviting, he said. And a community garden helps break down certain social barriers in that you will often see people of different backgrounds, ethnicities and economic levels collaborating on them. This sense of community is really the glue that makes a neighborhood special and allows people a chance to really get to know and understand one another.

Miquela Smith, AgriLife Extension program specialist-health, Lubbock, with AgriLife Extensions Family and Community Health unit, said studies show people at lower economic levels experience greater average net benefits from home gardening compared to medium- and high-income respondents.

One reason is likely that low-income families often live in food deserts and experience greater food insecurity from limited access to fresh produce, she said. Home or community gardening allows them to grow their own nutritious food, which provides some measure of control over their food security and has a positive impact on their physical and mental well-being.

Smith also noted gardening is one of the ways people can improve their mindfulness as a means of supporting their mental health.

Gardening is an excellent activity for practicing mindfulness, which is beneficial to overall well-being, she said. The ability to use our hands, coupled with being outside, makes it less likely to be distracted by phones or other technology. This helps you focus and distract your mind from those things that would worry you.

She also reiterated Halls point that gardening can also be a family or community activity that promotes togetherness and provides the opportunity for making personal connections.

This ability to make and sustain personal connections is something that is beneficial to all people, regardless of demographics, she said.

-30-

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The positive effects of gardening on mental health - AgriLife Today

Pronovias Atelier Unveils 2023 Bridal Collection In First Runway Show In 2 Years

After a long pause of 2 years, Pronovias makes its return to physical runway on April 22, marking the official start of a booming season for the bridal giant.

The new 2023 Versailles Collection by Pronovias Atelier, the high end couture brand of Pronovias Group, showcased a series of stunning bridal gowns in front of 1,800 guests on the final day of Barcelona Bridal Fashion Week. The event was broadcasted on a number of social media channels including Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Twitch. Each and every dress that carries the Pronovias Atelier label is handmade by expert seamstresses in Barcelona using the finest fabrics and laces imported from France and Italy.

Alessandra Rinaudo, Artistic Director of Pronovias, says: Versailles has come to define luxury and beauty, which to me fits perfectly with Haute Couture bridal. This collection stands out for attention to detail and head-to-to exquisiteness. Its a modern, innovative interpretation of one of the most lavish periods in fashion history.

Rosa Crespo (left) and Sarah Mikaela (right), attending as UK VIPs wearing Vera Wang Bride ... [+] collection for Pronovias

Comprising 44 exquisite and opulent designs, the new Versailles Collection emanates a sense of royal luxury whilst staying true to the feminine beauty the brand is known for. Inspired by the glittering character of Versailles, the collections intricate embellishments and plush fabrics are complimented by extravagant veils, elegant elbow-length gloves, bustle-up capes and detachable, oversized sleeves. The casting is decidedly inclusive, with models of all age, body shape, ethnicity and gender diversity walking the runway and iconic supermodel Esther Canadas closing the show.

Marking Pronovias Groups commitment to cutting edge digital innovation in product design and technology and the first of its kind in the bridal industry Rinaudo has also helped create three NFTs, each reproducing the patterns, textures, beading of three dresses from the Versailles Collection. The three NFTs are uploaded to the OpenSea platform and can be viewed on the Pronovias website.

Pronovias Atelier debuts "Versailles Collection" at Barcelona Bridal Fashion Week

Speaking to Amandine Ohayon, the CEO of Pronovias Group, it is clear that the international bridal maison is looking into the future with Metaverse, sustainability as well as social responsibility on its mind.

My aim hasnt changed, says Ohayon in Barcelona a few days ahead of the show, referring to her goal of significantly accelerating the Groups international development when she first joined in 2018. And with the opening of the our Shanghai and New York flagship stores, we will continue with the expansion. The focus for the next 2-3 years will also be servicing the rising demand due to cancelled weddings over the pandemic.

Pronovias Atelier debuts "Versailles Collection" at Barcelona Bridal Fashion Week

Despite the difficulties posed by the closed shop floors and restrictions in personal contact during the past two years, Ohayon made sure each clients wishes were catered to, even if it meant shipping a gown across from Malaga to Houston for final alteration before sending it to the happy bride.

People want to party like they never partied before, Ohayon says with a smile as we discuss the trends for weddings. I see two major trends one being people wanting to have two or more dresses, as an increasing number of weddings consist of not just the big day itself, but also an event for the day before and another for the day after.

Pronovias Atelier debuts "Versailles Collection" at Barcelona Bridal Fashion Week

The second trend is the increasing appetite for more couture dresses. Ohayon tells me, Brides want things that are more dramatic and special, and we are seeing double digit growth in sales of the bridal accessories veil, cape, gloves, with lots of styling.

Coming from a background of beauty where the focus on sustainability is a lot more advanced than other areas of fashion and retail, especially the bridal industry, Ohayon was keen to identify and incorporate eco-friendly fabrics in the brands designs, as well as establish a sustainable practice within the Group. She and Rinaudo has since launched the EDEN collection, featuring a selection of sustainable #WeDoEco gowns.

Pronovias after party guests

In January this year, Ohayon furthered her sustainability initiative by launching Second Life at Pronovias, the wardrobe life extension initiative, releasing dresses designed specifically to be altered after the wedding and thus encouraging more wears and the longevity of wardrobe items. Rinaudo has designed a collection which can be transformed free of charge into a new style after the wedding, with the first launch consists of over 50 carefully selected bridal gowns that can be converted by altering the length, eliminating sleeves, or by adding belts, straps, sashes and other details to create a totally new look. The number of dresses that can be given a Second Life will increase with each new bridal collection launched by the brand.

The pandemic was the reason we did all these, Ohayon says, stating that the uncertain and at times dark experience in fact brought some great things and taught her, and the brand, to be agile and adaptive. We signed the deal with Vera Wang in 2020 over Zoom calls we now do business and develop relationships in a whole new way.

The Pronovias Atelier Versailles Collection will be available in store in September 2022.

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Pronovias Unveils 2023 Bridal Collection With First Runway Show In 2 Years - Forbes

Excerpted from The Price of Immortality: The Race to Live Forever, written by Peter Ward and published by Melville House.

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Since the 1980s, wave after wave of technological change originating from Silicon Valley has crashed over the world. Each jump in progress has spawned new industries, fortunes, and even universes. A growing band of geeks steadily grew wealthier, and their influence expanded alongwith their bank balances. Behind each multibillion-dollar company was a flock of venturecapitalists who readied their checkbooks when young startups needed them most and reaped therewards when they grew into the monoliths that now prop up the American economy. Since the birth of the personal computer, the moment when high-technology made its way into the home,Silicon Valley has swallowed industries whole, one by one. The internet changed commerce forever, enabling all-conquering profit machines like Jeff Bezos Amazon. Ride-hailing apps likeUber and Lyft quickly engulfed the transportation industry, while Airbnb and Seamlessrevolutionized hospitality. Technology transformed finance, logistics, media, and entertainment.It was only a matter of time before Silicon Valley turned its now all-seeing eye to the health care industry, Americas most broken, and profitable, institution. Biotech companies have always fitsnugly into the startup template. They begin as cash-hungry long shots, and when theirtreatments are approved, they pay gigantic dividends. When the men with the money sensed aquickening in anti-aging, they fell over each other to pump cash into young companiesaddressing just the kinds of fields that make immortalists so hopeful.

And so the world of immortalism crashed headlong into Silicon Valley and all its billions, guided by the man who has done more for the cause of immortality than anyone else.Aubrey de Grey, already mentioned in previous chapters, enjoys god-like status in theimmortalist community. Over time hes publicized the goal of defeating aging and even made itsomewhat fashionable. His rejuvenation theories, once scoffed at, were slowly accepted as fact by the scientific community, and he now sits at the center of a network patiently built overdecades, in the middle of the science, the money, and the immortalists, his adoring fans.

De Grey has always appreciated the value of the media in his quest and has been interviewed for magazines, newspapers, websites, and documentaries countless times. He makes for a great spokesperson for such an eccentric community. Past articles noted his Rasputin-like beard, wild auburn hair, and tendency to crack open a beer at all times of the day. When wespoke on a video call, de Grey dialing in from his Silicon Valley base, I was relieved to see helived up to all the hype. His beard was suitably wizardly, his red hair graying but still untamed, and not long into our call I heard the sound of a beer bottle hissing open at midday, Californiatime. He talked like an idiosyncratic member of the old English aristocracy, rapidly and withoutpause, and at times I got the sense Id signed up for a lecture rather than an interview.

When de Grey was between eight and nine years old, his mother pressured him to practice the piano. The young Englishman resisted, and even at that tender age that instinct intrigued him and warranted further introspection. He concluded he didnt want to practice thepiano because he wanted to improve the quality of life for the whole of humanity. He still doesnt know where that urge comes from, but it has driven him his whole life. It led me to bevery sure I never wanted to have kids, because for sure thats a very time-consuming thing that prevents you from doing other stuff, he told me.

After deciding scientists were the people who made the biggest difference to the world inthe long run, de Grey began learning computer programming when he was fifteen and quicklyfound he was extremely adept at it. He went to the University of Cambridge to study computerscience in the early 1980s, then worked for six or seven years in artificial intelligence research.De Grey always considered aging to be the greatest challenge of humanity but was contentknowing it was covered by the worlds biologists, and he began fixing another issue, the fact that people had to spend so much of their time doing stuff they wouldnt do unless they werebeing paid for it.

But at a graduate party in Cambridge, de Grey met the fruit fly geneticist AdelaideCarpenter, who he later married. His relationship took him into the world of biology academia,and he was shocked when he discovered aging was way down the list of priorities in thediscipline. It took me a couple of years to come to terms with that, really, but once I did Irealized I had no choice, I just had to switch fields, he recalled.

De Grey first gained notoriety when he published his 1999 book The Mitochondrial Free Radical Theory of Aging, in which he argued immortality was theoretically possible for humans.At the center of his thinking was a concept called strategies for engineered negligible senescence, abbreviated to SENS. In 2005, MIT Technology Review announced a $20,000 prizefor anyone who could successfully argue that de Greys theories were more fantasy than science.To claim the prize, the entrants had to prove that SENS was so wrong it was unworthy oflearned debate. There were five submissions, of which three met the terms of the challenge. But the judges decided none of them met the criteria for victory and disproved SENS.

The scientific process requires evidence through independent experimentation orobservation in order to accord credibility to a hypothesis. SENS is a collection of hypotheses thathave mostly not been subjected to that process and thus cannot rise to the level of beingscientifically verified. However, by the same token, the ideas of SENS have not beenconclusively disproved. SENS exists in a middle ground of yet-to-be-tested ideas that somepeople may find intriguing but which others are free to doubt, Nathan Myhrvold, one of thejudges and cofounder of Intellectual Ventures and former chief technology officer of Microsoft,wrote.

In 2009, de Grey set up the SENS Foundation, a nonprofit and the worlds first organization dedicated to curing aging. Through the charity, de Grey was able to place himself ina position to link the scientists working on rejuvenation who could prove him right with sources of investment. None of the labs that received money were required to declare they were workingtoward immortality, or even extended life, and some of the most respected scientists in thegerontology field received funding.

SENS is based in Silicon Valley, where the billionaires have deep pockets and dont shy away from a difficult challenge. De Grey thinks the Valleys forgiving attitude toward failure is the secret to its success. That made Silicon Valley what it is today in IT, and more recently inbiotech, he said. And it continues to be an absolutely essential ingredient for anything whereyoure in the real vanguard. Anything that isnt really a thing yet but is on the way to becoming athing. Of course, longevity is very, very much that.

It does help to have money, as well. More and more of Silicon Valleys billionaires havedeveloped a personal passion in health and extended life over the past decade. Tad Friends 2017 New Yorker article titled Silicon Valleys Quest to Live Forever most notably described theobsession through Friends reporting from a symposium held in an aging experts living room inLos Angeles, where celebrities and Silicon Valley elites gathered to grill the biologists on theirchances of making death optional. Some of the wealthiest people in the technology industry have spent huge sums of money on projects attempting to defeat aging. Some see this as analtruistic endeavor which can help the whole of humanity, others as the quickest route to living longer themselves, while some see it merely as a profitable industry of the future. The technology industrys participation in the field of aging, both in a personal and professional capacity, has been relentlessly mocked the world over. The HBO comedy dramaSilicon Valley featured moguls pumping the blood of the young into their veins to extend theirlifespan, one of the many practices touted as the next big thing in life extension.

One of the characters who is heavily rumored to have invested in this field is Peter Thiel. Thiel cofounded the payment giant PayPal and several other successful startups but is perhapsbest known for his litigiousness and pseudo-libertarianism. He bankrolled the former wrestlerHulk Hogans lawsuit that bankrupted the publisher of Gawker in revenge for an article written about Thiel years earlier that outed him as a homosexual. A self-declared libertarian and asupporter of the Libertarian Party, he migrated quickly in 2016 to feed off Donald Trumps bare faced nationalism and xenophobia. In recent times, his name has been repeatedly linked tostartups offering young blood transfusions similar to those seen on TV, which has only bolsteredhis reputation of having something of the night about him. In short, if ever there was a powerful reason to abandon life extension research, it might be the thought of Peter Thiel living forever.

Experiments in young blood transfusions have shown early promise. In tests on mice, older subjects injected with youthful blood were found to be more active, although any testing inhumans has been less encouraging. That hasnt stopped people profiting from the practice. California-based startup Ambrosia captures the most attention in this field. The company,founded in 2016 by CEO Jesse Karmazin, began by charging patients $8,000 for one liter ofyouthful plasma. Karmazin leaned heavily on the prospect of immortality to sell its services. Thestartup is named after the mythical food that made Greek gods immortal, and the founder said ininterviews the treatment comes pretty close to immortality.

In February 2019, the FDA weighed in on young blood transfusions, declaring the benefits unproven and side effects potentially harmful. Were alerting consumers and healthcare providers that treatments using plasma from young donors have not gone through therigorous testing that the FDA normally requires in order to confirm the therapeutic benefit of a product and to ensure its safety, DA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb and Peter Marks, Director ofFDAs Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, wrote in a statement. Were concerned that some patients are being preyed upon by unscrupulous actors touting treatments of plasmafrom young donors as cures and remedies.

Karmazin said the FDA did not contact him directly before or after issuing the statement and didnt take any action against Ambrosia. Regardless, he put his business on hold almostimmediately after the statement was issued under an abundance of caution. In August thatyear, it was reported the company had shut down entirely and Karmazin had moved on toanother business, Ivy Plasma. The website for the new company suggested it would be offeringthe same services as Ambrosia, but the plasma would not be sourced specifically from youngerpeople. Karmazin later said the Ivy Plasma website was part of an effort to rebrand, but he soondecided customers wanted to buy their blood from Ambrosia, not Ivy Plasma. By October, theold website was operational again, and Ambrosia began to offer its services once more. Despite graduating from Stanford Medical School, Karmazin is not licensed to practice medicine and so cant perform the transfusions himself, so instead he contracts doctors to carry out the procedures. As of 2021, the Ambrosia website is still accepting customers, although the priceshave dropped, and one liter of young blood now costs only $5,000.

Young blood transfusions, despite apparently finding a consumer base in Silicon Valley, remain on the fringes of longevity offerings, and as of now can be safely considered similar to snake oil. But the technology industrys march into life extension is not limited to crazedopportunists; some of the biggest names in the world are involved. Like Google.

The founders of the search engine giant, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, announced theirintention to cure death in 2013, when they created Calico. Bill Maris, the CEO of Googles venture capital arm, did the initial legwork. His father died of a brain tumor when Maris wastwenty-six, an event that forced him to confront the finality of death. Maris built a reputation asa shrewd investor in young technology companies that went on to be massive like Uber and thesmart thermostat startup Nest. When he made the decision to build a company that would tackledeath, he consulted Ray Kurzweil, one of the most revered figures in the immortalist community.

Kurzweil first popularized the concept of the technological singularity, a single moment whereprogress explodes and artificial intelligence surpasses that of humans, leading to us merging with computers to become superpowered immortals. He is a renowned inventor and technologist whohas produced many best-selling books. In 2012, Page personally hired Kurzweil to work atGoogle. Kurzweil is also a registered member of Alcor and will be cryopreserved if he diesbefore the singularity. He predicted in the year 2000 that cryonics would figure out how toreanimate patients within forty to fifty years.

Kurzweil approved of the idea, but Andy Conrad, a geneticist who led Verily, the lifesciences division of Alphabet, Googles parent company, told Maris how difficult his task wouldbe to execute. Unperturbed, Maris pitched his idea to one of Googles top investors, John Doerr,in 2011, asking the billionaire why hed ever want to die if he was so wealthy. Of course, Doerrlapped it up and took the pitch to Googles founders, Brin and Page. The duo soon declared the plan would be executed in-house at Google.

Calico, which is short for the California Life Company, launched shortly after with $1 billion in funding. Anti-aging advocates, gerontologists, immortalists, and other groups grew excited at the thought of such a gigantic company entering into this field of work. Calico addeda tremendous amount of validation to aging research, George Vlasuk, the head of a biotechstartup called Navitor, told The New Yorker.

But their hopes were soon dashed when it became clear Calico intended to keep almost all of its progress completely secret. The company vacuumed up a lot of talent from labs all over the world but has released barely any details about its work.

And even for those with the inside track on what was going on, the company has turnedout to be a bitter disappointment. They have totally fucked it up. I mean, they have royallyfucked it up, de Grey told me. Basically, just by not listening to me and deciding that I wasactually a bit too crazy for their taste. And theyve ended up completely blowing it.

De Grey insisted it would be an extremely unlikely accident if Calico ever contributedanything significant to the quest to end aging, simply because of the way its organized. He said the company is set up to conduct discovery-based research, where researchers find things out for the sake of finding things out, the way people do in academia, and then develop the meansto turn proof of concept into a product at the end. But the middle section, where concept isconverted to proof of concept, is completely missing. De Grey is clearly furious at how the company turned out. Its fucked up. Its absolutely unforgivable, and its all Larry and Sergeysfault, he fumed.

Read the rest here:

The Price of Immortality: Silicon Valley's obsession with living forever - Big Think

Physical activity is important for health, but not only is it good for your heart and muscles. It is also good for your cognitive health as well. Regular physical activity can help you think, learn, problem-solve, and enjoy and emotional balance as well. It can improve and reduce anxiety and depression as well.

You dont have to be a fitness pro to get the benefits. Any amount of exercise can help no matter your age or fitness level, physical activity can improve sleep, brain health and quality of life.

Regular physical activity can also reduce your risk of cognitive decline, including dementia. One study showed that people who are inactive have a great risk of cognitive decline.

Most adults need 150 minutes of moderate physical activity weekly. This can be broken in to 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week. In addition to improving your brain health it can help you sleep and feel better, lose weight reduce your risks for chronic disease conditions and add years to your life.

So how can you be active? It is not hard you can do a variety of exercises throughout the week.

You can dance. Turn on the music at home and dance. Twisting and turning will burn calories. Without even feeling like you are exercising.

Be physically active while watching television. Look for ways to reduce sitting time and increase active time. For example, keep a list of activities such as squats, or marching in place, near the remote so that you can be active during commercials.

Add physical activity into your day. Walking is a good way to start being active. When you are shopping, increase your activity by parking at the end of the parking lot and walking. Use the stairs instead of the elevator if they are available.

Walk the dog. Dogs are great walking companions and can help you be active. One study found that dog owners on average walk 22 minutes more everyday compared to people who dont own a dog.

Every little bit counts. Even some chores such as yard work including mowing, raking and working in the garden can help.

Still think it is too hard to be more active? Keep track of your daily activities for one week. Think about times throughout the day you could be physically active and make those times a regular part of your daily or weekly schedule.

Source: CDC.gov.

Kathy Smith is a Texas A&M AgriLife extension agent in Parker County.

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EXTENSION NEWS: Physical activity good for the brain - Weatherford Democrat

Cabernet Sauvignon grapes growing in a vineyard near Lubbock.

Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Daniel Hillin

The Texas High Plains is home to 80% of the grapes that fuel a burgeoning Texas wine industry. But the High Plains is also home to some formidable obstacles to grape growing, which is whyTexas A&M AgriLifehas focused research initiatives to help growers find solutions.

The viticulture and enology programs are based in theDepartment of Horticultural Scienceswithin the Texas A&MCollege of Agriculture and Life Sciences. The programs include nine experts working across the state with theTexas A&M AgriLife Extension Service. Together, these experts generate and disseminate the critical science-based knowledge needed to grow grapes for Texas burgeoning wine industry, particularly in the High Plains.

The mission of the Department of Horticultural Sciences at Texas A&M University is to address the needs of the states horticulture industry, said department head Amit Dhingra. Viticulture in the entire state is a priority area for us, and we are committed to supporting the growth of the Texas wine industry.

One of the people supporting that industry is Pierre Helwi, an assistant professor in the horticulture department and AgriLife Extension viticulture specialist based in Lubbock. Helwi came from Cognac, France, six years ago and has helped build a program concentrating on applied research to meet growers needs.

People are looking for science-driven data and real results from research projects, Helwi said. They trust us, and they want to hear more from us.

That trust was evident, he said, after more than 200 people attended the Viticulture and Enology Research Symposium hosted by the department on the Texas A&M campus this past December.

This was our first year, and we were surprised by the number of people who came to this symposium. It was amazing.

Helwi is returning to France, but Dhingra said the departments team of viticulturists are dedicated to the High Plains, the research driven by producer needs, and the Texas industry. And that wont change.

In his six years in the Lubbock area, Dr. Helwi established a vibrant applied research program, and the department is committed to continuing on his work and develop new research-driven solutions for the needs of our wine industry, Dhingra said.

A thriving vineyard on the High Plains of Texas.

Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Daniel Hillin

Larry Stein, Department of HorticulturalSciences associate department head and AgriLife Extension horticulturist stationed in Uvalde, said Helwi overcame many challenges when he moved to Texas.

I would say adjusting to the Texas High Plains American Viticulture Area (AVA) was probably the hardest, as one day it is freezing and the next day it is hailing, Stein said. Pierre came in as a program specialist and quickly interacted with the growers to determine their needs. He formed great relationships with the growers, and they appreciated his efforts.

Helwi said he started his research project mainly to answer some big questions related to the wine industry in West Texas and the High Plains. Thats how I chose what research projects to focus on what issues were growers facing?

Daniel Hillin, also a member of the departments viticulture staff and an AgriLife Extension viticulture program specialist stationed in Lubbock, said the wine industry is growing fast in Texas, as is the demand for High Plains grapes used in Texas wines.

The amount and type of research we do are all based on grower needs in this region, Hillin said. The industry is definitely driving our research and educational programs.

A major issue in the Texas High Plains is winter injury. The labor shortage is another problem. Theres also variability of the crop within a single vineyard. Throughout the year, challenging weather brings problems, including issues related to winter freeze, spring frost and summer hailstorms.

To battle against the relentless hail that falls in spring and summer storms, Helwi teamed up with colleagues to determine if hail-preventive netting affected the leaf gas exchange, fruit ripening and fruit quality. On this project, Helwi collaborated with Thayne Montague, Ph.D., Texas Tech University associate professor of horticulture with a joint appointment to Texas A&M AgriLife Research, and Kenneth Ruland, also at Texas Tech.

After all the testing, he said they found no differences at harvest on fruit production or quality between vines covered with hail netting and those not covered, thus allowing producers an effective means to combat hail damage in the High Plains.

Buds of grape varieties are tested to see which ones are most sensitive to cold temperatures.

Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Pierre Helwi

Monitoring bud cold hardiness in real time was another big research project Helwi started in 2019 in collaboration with the High Plains Winegrowers Association. The association funded half of the equipment, and the Department of Horticultural Sciences funded the rest.

This project will allow us to determine which varieties are tolerant to winter cold temperatures and which are sensitive, allowing a better cultivar selection by the growers, Helwi said. The winter of 2021/2022 was the first year of data collection, and that needs to be continued and fine-tuned during the upcoming years.

Hillin said they used differential thermal analysis to determine the lethal temperature for the bud tissue of each variety tested. Those temperatures were then cross-referenced with real-time weather data. In this way, the team was able to give the most accurate information to growers about which varieties may be more susceptible to upcoming freezing conditions. Five bud varieties were sampled every week between December 2020 and May 2021.

We were able to provide real-time data to the growers that two varieties sampled had indeed shown a higher degree of possible bud damage, which was later confirmed by sampling multiple vineyards across the High Plains AVA, Hillin said.

In 2021, that number was increased to 15 varieties, sampling every two weeks to allow for the increase in the number of varieties. Overall, the data demonstrated a lower degree of possible bud damage across all of the varieties sampled.

We plan to continue this project and further increase the number of sampled varieties to provide more information to growers about possible winter injury in the future, Hillin said.

All of this data is currently published on theTexas Viticulture and Enology Facebookpage.

Another project looked at the use of verjus, or green juice, from grapes that are still unripe at harvest, caused by an uneven growing pattern across vineyards. Helwi said instead of throwing these grapes away, the Texas A&M AgriLife team determined those grapes could be used to make verjus and used as an acidifier for the Texas wine, which can have too-low levels of acid, or high pH.

Green grapes are captured from area vineyards to make verjus, which is used as an acidifier for Texas wines.

Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Pierre Helwi

We are always working on a tactic or techniques to correct the wine pH or acidity, he said. Growers or winemakers use tartaric acids typically. So, we said, why dont we produce verjus instead of letting those grapes be wasted? Why would we throw them away when we can produce something that we can use as an acidifier for the final wine instead of tartaric acid?

The Texas Department of Agriculture funded the project and Helwi was joined by Andreea Botezatu, AgriLife Extension enology specialist, Bryan-College Station; Justin Scheiner, AgriLife Extension state viticulturist, Bryan-College Station; and Hillin. Hillin, Botezatu and Scheiner will continue that work for the next few years. Collaborating on the project are Charlie Hall, professor in the Department of Horticultural Sciences, Bryan-College Station, and Xiaofen Du, Texas Womans University assistant professor and flavor chemist.

We found that vines with the lowest crop load had a faster berry-ripening rate and wines with higher alcohol and pH, Helwi said.

So, Helwi led research that studied the effects of fruit thinning reducing the number of grapes on a vine using a mechanical harvester 30 days post-bloom. The project was initiated to determine if the mechanical fruit thinning affected vine crop load that, in consequence, influenced berry and wine quality.

This time- and cost-friendly technique appeared to be a tool for grape growers to manipulate yield to achieve desired berry and wine chemistry, he said.

Helwi and Hillin said when it comes to educational programs, they are aiming at a knowledgeable crowd. The growth of the wine industry in the High Plains region is primarily driven by people who are already experienced with viticulture or are established and seasoned vineyard owners who are expanding.

The growers in these regions are a tight-knit group, and they network and share information and experiences, Hillin said. We have some of the best growers in the state. They meet and exceed some of the greatest challenges every year.

As with everything in todays market, the cost of planting a new acre of grapes is significantly increased, he said, and AgriLife Extension provides an educational role on science-based best management practices for this region to help with efficiencies and offer potential new growers a realistic idea of what to expect.

We offer educational material in multiple forms, from in-person workshops to virtual events, to hands-on demonstrations to research projects across the entire state, Hillin said. We also interact with industry personnel to provide up-to-date, science-based, educational presentations. We give industry updates to lawmakers and interact with other Extension personnel at the national level.

We also offer onsite visits; we are the only university in Texas that offers this service, he said.

Many of the AgriLife Extension projects are highlighted at the annual Newsome Grape Day. This years event is set for 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 29 in Plains. The event draws growers, wineries and industry professionals from all over Texas and the country.

The grape-growing industry has a bright future in the Texas High Plains and Texas A&M AgriLife is working to ensure science-based information is provided to address grower issues.

Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Daniel Hillin

Theres big potential for Texas wines, Helwi said, especially now that they are more present on the world market.

Texas wine is getting a lot of attention and gaining a lot of gold medals in international competition, he said. This is because of the improvement of the quality and how we grow grapes. At Texas A&M, we are offering a lot of great educational programs and onsite visits to help growers produce better grapes and better wines. We are also conducting the research needed to answer their questions.

Helwi said that in the past six years, I think the quality of our education programs and presence with the growers in the vineyards helped a lot, mainly in their selection of varieties, disease identification and best management practices.

It did help, he said, that the team was working with experienced growers who found the AgriLife Extension specialists very helpful, mainly because they were conducting important research for this region and delivering science-based data.

This was very appreciated, Helwi said. Everything we say is science based, and we were also present next to prospective growers and new growers to guide them through the establishment of the vineyards. I think growers really appreciate that.

Helwi estimates that the number of wineries in the High Plains has doubled in the last few years. And, of course, theres also more demand for High Plains grapes for the growing Texas industry.

Why?

Because theres good potential here, Helwi said. The grapes are great quality, and consumers ask for Texas wine.

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Meeting Grape Producers In The Vineyard - Texas A&M University Today

343 Industries have finally detailed the long-promised roadmap for Halo Infinite ahead of the arrival of Season 2 in May, and its not great reading. The roadmap sets out new maps, modes and two batches of story events for Season 2. So far, so good. Yet it also hints vaguely at whats coming in Season 3 now starting all the way off on November 8th, with the open beta for Forge from September. 343 cite quality of life lessons from Season 1, along with the sensible goal of maintaining team health, for the extension.

Halo Infinites roadmap for multiplayer, the introduction of co-op and info about Forge were all supposed to be out in January, but 343s Joseph Staten tweeted back at the very start of February that the company would share details when they were ready. It didnt help either that there were significant teething troubles like the matchmaking issues with Big Team Battle that many players faced for months, and no campaign co-op at launch. At least the latter, along with campaign mission replay, is now dated for the end of summer. 343 insist that more info about Season 2 and its introduction of story events will drop at a livestream at 1pm PST/9pm BST on April 27th, broadcast on its Twitch and YouTube channels.

It can only hurt the games variety that even a beta for Forge is still such a long way off. Kaan Serin spoke to Halo Infinite content creators at the start of this month about why theyre flooding away from multiplayer. Engagement for Infinite is abnormally low for a live service-game at the beginning of its multi-year journey, especially for a franchise as big as this, he said, and felt that it was really crying out for the arrival of Forge. Ed pointed out that the multiplayer is really stable at least, but still wished it had battle royale.

Brendan said Big John Halo and crew were a finely tuned mechanism for delivering explosions and dopamine in his Halo Infinite multiplayer first impressions shortly after its surprise release in November. From the perspective of a man who lost his teen years failing to capture flags on Halo 2's Zanzibar, and who likes Mister Chief's idiot oo-rah universe enough to have read actual Halo novels, the multiplayer is as sound and sturdy as a big meaty man in a big metal suit, he added.

Halo Infinite multiplayer is free-to-play on Steam and lets your Spartan wear cat ears. Season 2 launches on May 3rd and runs through November 7th.

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Halo Infinite's roadmap flips the Warthog by extending Season 2 to six months - Rock Paper Shotgun

Photo: Rob Emslie/Jalopnik

Whether youve been working on cars your whole life or are just jumping into the wrenching game, there are some good habits to culture. Some of those habits are so simple that some of us might have simply forgotten them.

Ive been working on cars pretty much my entire life, starting out when I was a wee sprout helping my dad do minor work like changing a battery or flushing a radiator. My dad passed away when I was 13 years old, and his guidance was sorely missed when I bought my first car a year later a tatty 1961 Chevy Corvair 700 turtle-top that my brother helped me nurse home. I learned how to wrench on that car and boy did it need a lot of work by way of two factors: a kindly Corvair mechanic who helped me immeasurably, and the Goodheart-Willcox book, The Automotive Encyclopedia, which taught me the basics on how things like suspensions and alternators work.

Since then, Ive gone through a cavalcade of cars and seeing as I seem to have built a rudimentary level of automotive knowledge, Ive tried to keep them all up on my own as much as I can. Over the years and all that work so many black-rimmed fingernails! I have amassed a few habits and processes that have helped me along the way. As Im a giver, I thought that you all might benefit from some of the very basic ones, since some are so simple that they might have slipped by.

To that end, here are five dumb tips to keep your wrenching from becoming too well, wrenching.

Photo: Rob Emslie/Jalopnik

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In control This smart speaker can be used to play music, listen to podcasts, do research with Alexa, and also control your other smart devices too.

Youve likely at one time or another tried to pick up the stand by the ratcheting post only to have that pull out of the base entirely. If you picked it up at an angle, that slip may occur at a great enough height to have the base drop on your toes. Ouch!

Photo: Rob Emslie/Jalopnik

If you have the standard style of jack stand you know, like the ones Harbor Freight had to recall a couple of times then theres a quick solution to this potentially toe-amputating occurrence. Just push in the little tab on the base that keeps the center column captured and youll never have to worry about it slipping out again.

Photo: Rob Emslie/Jalopnik

I just want to start this one out with the assurance that I am not scared of the dark. Clowns, yes. The dark, not so much. Still, I dont like working in the dark and that means that I have amassed a collection of different styles of work lamps for various jobs. I even have one of those lights that mount around the head with elastic straps that makes me look like Im wearing an illuminated jockstrap.

As appealing as that mental image might be, my go-to wrenching light is actually an old-school trouble light. I like this one because it has a metal age that blocks the light from getting in my eyes and an electrical outlet in the handle that also makes it a convenient extension cord.

Photo: Rob Emslie/Jalopnik

What I dont like about it is that when used with a traditional incandescent bulb it tends to become an unwieldy branding iron from the bulbs heat. That traditional incandescent bulb also represents a significant hazard should the lamp be dropped and the bulb break.

To solve both of these shortcomings, I replaced the old-school bulb in my trouble light with a fancy new LED bulb. Its both cooler and, owing to its mostly plastic construction, a whole lot more shatter-proof. The LED bulbs are no longer that expensive either I get mine from the 99-Cent Store. As a side benefit, LED bulbs use less electricity than incandescents, so Im saving myself money and the planet at the same time.

Photo: Rob Emslie/Jalopnik

One thing that Ive taken to do, and which I think might be of benefit to all your future selves, is to set my socket wrenches to undo at the end of each project. Its most likely that at the start of the next project Ill be taking things apart, only to find out that the ratchet is in righty-tighty rather than lefty-loosey after snaking it into an awkward position. Its a bad way to start the day. So, Ive started checking and setting them to the undo position before putting them away. This of course doesnt apply to my torque wrenches which are always in tightening mode. In fact. I dont think Ive ever flipped a torque wrench the other way even once.

Photo: Rob Emslie/Jalopnik

I love getting big stuff delivered to my house in cardboard boxes. I especially enjoy it when those boxes are tall and wide while comparably skinny. Those are the best for opening up into a flat, reasonably clean work floor under your car. Also, who doesnt enjoy that rich, satisfying cardboard aroma?

Not only will the cardboard work floor keep your garage floor or driveway free from any spilled oils or other fluids something I woefully learned far too late changing the oil on my Porsche but it also makes for an easily slidable surface to retrieve any dropped nuts and bolts or that 10mm socket thats always trying to get away.

On a related note about those 10mm tools that always seem to get misplaced

Photo: Rob Emslie/Jalopnik

Dont ask me why the 10mm hex is seemingly one of the most common bolt sizes on cars and trucks these days. Thats way above my pay grade. Still, our vehicles seem to be festooned with the dang things and thats why were more often than not reaching for that 10mm socket or a 10mm wrench. Doesnt it suck when either one of those goes missing? No lie, my decade or more old Craftsman-brand 3/8-inch socket set has all of its original six-point sockets in it with the exception of the 10mm. I do know what happened to it, I dropped the little bugger down one of the dark recesses of my old Audi A6s engine bay and the car decided to keep it.

Photo: Rob Emslie/Jalopnik

Being in the middle of a job and suddenly being without the most necessary tool in your arsenal can really mess up your mojo. After all, who wants to get as cleaned up as needed to make an emergency trip down to the parts store or home center just to get a replacement socket?

Instead, pay yourself forward and buy a few of these tools to keep on hand just in case. Not only will you thank yourself later for having such amazing foresight, but youll be set in those auspicious occasions when you might actually need two 10mm sockets, at the same time!

There you go. Five basic tips. They may be really elementary in appearance, but hopefully, you found at least a couple of them helpful and not totally obvious. Now that Ive shared, what about you? What are your go-to wrenching habits that you think the rest of us should know?

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Here Are Five Really Basic Wrenching Tips To Make Your Life Easier - Jalopnik

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Speaking toCanal Football Club, Paris Saint-Germain captain Marquinhos discussed his future, insisting that his wish was to stay at the club for as long as possible.

The centre-back, who has been in Paris since 2013, sees his current contract run until 2024, with ongoing discussions for another extension.

Right now, no, I dont want to leave. At the start, there was a time when I was interested in doing so, but since then my minds always been here at PSG. My desire is to stay. We know how it goes in football as long as youre performing and playing well, you can have a desire to stay.

But sometimes, things can change or the club can no longer want you, as weve seen in the past. If possible, Id like to stay for life here in Paris. That would very much suit me and I would be happy with it.

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Marquinhos on his future: I'd like to stay for life here in Paris. - Get French Football News

De Havilland Canada is offering a second life extension program for the Dash 8-100, its smallest turboprop. Why would airlines want this?

De Havilland Canada has bought the rights to the Dash 8 family from Bombardier. The fate of the Dash 8-400 (Q400), the newest, largest member of this turboprop family, is still uncertain. The company would need to invest in restarting the production of the plane. And this seems difficult because the availability of stored used examples is seriously limiting the demand for new planes.

Image: de Havilland

But curiously perhaps, some airlines really like their existing, older planes. Last week, De Havilland announced that it has a launch customer for its Extended Service Program PLUS (ESP PLUS). This program involves the Dash 8-100. Widere, a Norwegian regional carrier, signed on to incorporate ESP PLUS on ten planes in its fleet. The airline also has options to incorporate the program on ten more aircraft.

The purpose of ESP PLUS is to increase the service life of these planes to 160,000 cycles. A cycle is a take-off and a landing. Originally, this model had a service life of 80,000 hours. The first Extended Service Program increased this to 120,000 hours. So the ESP PLUS is an additional step, practically doubling the original life of the Dash 8-100 fleet.

What makes this noteworthy, is the age of these turboprops. On average, Wideres Dash 8-100s are about 27 and a half years old with a fairly narrow spread. Only one of them is just under 20 years old. Another is 22 and a half, with the rest of them being 25 and over. Some are over 30! We sometimes see airlines investing heavily on freighters that have over twenty years on their wings. But why would Widere invest in such a program for small turboprops?

What makes the Dash 8-100 worthy of such care and attention, is its niche: size. As aircraft sizes go, airlines have a variety of choices for 19-seaters. This is a key number because planes with 20 or more passengers require a cabin crew member. Going bigger, there are some choices for planes with 45-50 seats.

But as Leeham News points out, there are really no choices out there for an aircraft with around 30 seats. Apart from the Dash 8-100, that is. Obviously, demand for such an aircraft isnt very strong. Airlines could eventually see a new design, perhaps incorporating an interesting means of propulsion. But such designs (or even conversions) arent around the corner. Astonishingly, Wideres 27-year-old planes may well stay in service for another 27 years, or more!

According to de Havilland, the ESP PLUS could add another 30 to 40 years to the life of the Dash 8-100. The ESP and ESP PLUS programs exist thanks to the larger turboprops in the family. Service improvements on the bigger, heavier Q400 are enabling such life extension programs for the smaller models. De Havilland also offers the ESP (not PLUS) for the intermediate Dash 8-300.

Finally, as the smallest variant of a bigger turboprop family, the Dash 8-100 is also a good systems testbed. As we have seen previously, de Havilland and Pratt & Whitney Canada will use such a plane for their testing of a Hybrid-electric propulsion conversion. This program includes investment from the governments of Canada and Quebec. Widere is its own electric propulsion project, with a smaller aircraft.

Source

Spyros Georgilidakis has degrees in Business Enterprise and Management. He has 14 years of experience in the hospitality and travel industries, along with a passion for all-things-aviation and travel logistics. He is also an experienced writer and editor for on-line publications, and a licensed professional drone pilot.

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Dash 8-100: Why Extend The Life Of Such Old Planes? - Mentour Pilot