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Hilltown internet coverage is expanding, but affordability is still a concern – The Altamont Enterprise

Posted: February 10, 2021 at 1:21 pm

HILLTOWNS Some Hilltown residents are now able to sign up for satellite internet service provided by the SpaceX program Starlink as part of a massive service expansion subsidized by the Federal Communications Commission, but steep sign-up costs and monthly subscription fees may prevent people from getting online, highlighting the importance of affordability.

Coverage is primarily available in Rensselaerville, while coverage in Knox, Westerlo, and Berne is projected to be available by the end of the year, according to the Starlink website.

SpaceX was founded by Elon Musk in 2002 with the goal of reducing the cost of space transportation so that Mars can be colonized. In 2015, Musk announced the development of Starlink, a satellite constellation, to provide broadband internet service.

When The Enterprise first reported on the FCCs subsidization program in December, all that was known was that companies who secured contracts with the FCC had 10 years to expand their services to areas deemed underserved, or else they would lose the portion of the $20 billion they received and have to pay back whatever amount they used.

These first steps toward service expansion come as frustrations mount in the Hilltowns over the failure of higher levels of government to establish the necessary infrastructure. Internet connection has become more crucial as the COVID-19 pandemic forces some families to work, learn, and attend local government meetings from home.

At its Jan. 20 meeting, the Berne Town Board authorized Supervisor Sean Lyons to write a letter to Governor Andrew Cuomo demanding that the state follow up on promises to enhance rural broadband access.

Lyons suggests in his letter that internet access will be important in combating stereotypes he says have been associated with the Hilltowns since at least his childhood, when his father worked under supervisors at General Electric who claimed employees from the remote Hilltowns were not suited for professional work and instead just laborers.

Every day our youth fall behind the rest of the connected world, Lyons writes in the letter. Will our youth be labeled for labor only without the proper tools and access to make them competitive? The [Berne-Knox-Westerlo] school district has been deploying buses with Wi-Fi hot spots to multiple locations in the Hilltowns to allow our children to connect with their classes and teachers.

The state began subsidizing internet service expansion in 2015, when it launched a three-phase Broadband for All program that would provide nearly $750 million in private and public funds dedicated to coverage.

Lyons told The Enterprise this week that his home on Bradt Hollow Road was meant to be covered in the third phase of the program, the awards for which were announced in 2018, but that hes yet to see any benefit nearly three years later, even though fiber-optic cables were installed last summer.

They call it a success, Lyons said in an email. I say not yet. I live in one of the most rural parts of Berne and Albany county and have had fiber optic broadband service hanging on the pole outside my house since early summer as part of this phase 3, and am still not even being offered connection plans?

In Westerlo, Planning Board Chairwoman Dotty Verch, who also heads the towns broadband committee, said at a town board meeting earlier this month that shed been in contact with state Senator Michelle Hincheys office and indicated that Hinchey would be getting involved in expansion efforts, though Westerlo Supervisor Bill Bichteman voiced some pessimism about the chance of any meaningful progress.

What Im concerned about, Bichteman said, is that were going to get the token response, and whatll end up happening is the next populated area will be a short segment and its never going to be enough to do the total amount we have to do. Anything is better than nothing, but it just seems they dont really want to attack it like a real problem.

Join my frustration, Bill, Verch replied.

Part of the problem in getting money for broadband coverage lies in the way the government measures access, according to Hudson Valley Wireless General Manager Jason Guzzo, who explained to The Enterprise last year that existing coverage is measured by census block. But because census blocks in rural areas are relatively large, whole swaths of a town can be considered covered even if only one household in that block has internet capabilities.

Identifying partially served census blocks is very difficult without local knowledge of the community, Guzzo said at the time. Some homes with long driveways may have cable passing by the mailbox and cant afford to extend service to the house.

In Rensselaerville, the towns broadband committee developed a survey with the help of Boston University to better locate coverage gaps, though the committee has decided to prioritize lobbying on already-available data, which indicates that more than half of the parcels in Rensselaerville are without access, committee Chairman Hans Soderquist told The Enterprise in January.

While SpaceX appears on track to address issues of coverage, affordability is still an obstacle in the Hilltowns, where the poverty rate hovers around 6 percent, according to census data.

According to pre-pandemic 2018 data from the State Education Department, 32 percent of BKW students are eligible for free lunches and 6 percent are eligible for reduced-price lunches, an indicator of poverty.

To use Starlinks satellite service, residents will have to front $500 for the necessary hardware, as well as shipping and tax, which bring the total sign-up cost to nearly $600. Service will cost $99 per month, which is nearly twice as expensive as the cheapest rate advertised by Hudson Valley Wireless.

On Jan. 12, Cuomo announced his intent to propose legislation that would require internet service providers to supply connection to low-income families for $15 per month. However, Cuomo failed to sign legislation state lawmakers passed that would study and map the current state of internet affordability in the state, claiming that the $3 million cost of the project wasnt covered in the 2021 budget although he added it would be part of budget discussions.

Internet affordability at least for those who teach or are in school is also a focus of FCC Acting Chair Jessica Rosenworcel, who is considering an expansion of the commissions E-Rate program.

The E-Rate program currently makes telecommunications and information services more affordable for schools and libraries, according to the FCC website, but some lawmakers have called on the commission to include residential offerings in the program.

Last March, before Rosenworcel was acting chair, she indicated support for E-Rate expansion in a Verge op-ed.

With schools closing and learning migrating online, Rosenworcel wrote, this is the right moment to adjust FCC rules to expand how we think about internet access and the traditional classroom.

When asked last month whether he felt it was affordability or infrastructure that prevented Rensselaerville residents from securing access, Soderquist said that while coverage is a massive issue, affordability is absolutely a concern not solved merely by improving coverage.

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Cybernauts Called to PLANETXXI to Save Planet Earth – Send2Press Newswire

Posted: at 1:21 pm

CHICAGO, Ill., Feb. 8, 2021 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) PLANETXXI, an exoplanet and mirror to Earth, has recently picked up chatter and cries for help to save planet Earth. Their voices were heard in CyberCity, PLANETXXIs satellite communications center saying that planet Earth is in trouble. Sandra Snowden, Founder of PLANETXXI LLC and newly launched online entertainment broadcasting website, PLANETXXITV.com, says she and her company are ready to help save planet earth.

PHOTO CAPTION: Celestina Xi at PLANETXXI CyberCity.

Through her cosmic character aka Celestina Xi, Ambassador from PLANETXXI, she is sending out an SOS to recruit a new generation of futurists and visionaries Cybernauts. Together, they will work to solve Earths environmental crisis and save the planet.

Concerned students are afraid that the future of the planet is grim and they are looking for ways to help. Becoming a PLANETXXI Cybernaut is one way to be a catalyst for change.

While NASA has astronauts travel the universe on space missions, PLANETXXI Cybernauts zoom at warp speed into cyberspace from CyberCity and connect with their counterparts in a Think Tank of Tomorrow where theyre challenged to create The First Eco City of the Future on PLANETXXI.

Using a blank canvas, students can Dare to Dream Big on their vision quest and design the kind of sustainable, and eco-friendly world they would like to live in and inherit. This eco-city will be their future. Through their illustrations, inventions, and innovation, PLANETXXI Cybernauts can change the paradigm and the course of history. They can also showcase their ideas and videos for all the world to see on PLANETXXI TVs YouTube Channel.

This is no time to stand on the sidelines and watch others take control of your future. Space greats already have plans to build cities on Mars and to create colonized habitats in space so people will have a safe place to live as Earth becomes more and more uninhabitable, Celestina says.

Celestina agrees that as the climate clock ticks, planet Earth may cease to exist by 2100 and believes that together, a sustainable future can be achieved on Earth and PLANETXXI.

Shes calling all futurists and visionaries, especially Generation Zers, to become part of the mission. In addition, teachers and classrooms are also invited to join PLANETXXI Cyber Schools of the Future in helping to create a new eco-friendly planet at: http://www.planetxxitv.com/.

Cybernauts will receive membership to Club PLANETXXI, along with a virtual passport giving them access to participate in all cyber events and virtual activities in CyberCity. Cyber Kids of the Future can also become a Cyber Pal to planet Earth and PLANETXXI. (PLANETXXI is COPPA compliant)

For more information:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PLANETxxi-104345174620968

VIDEO YouTube: https://youtu.be/X7ryR8X0xOM

GoFundMe page: https://www.gofundme.com/f/planetxxi-cyber-school-of-future

*PHOTO link for media: https://www.Send2Press.com/300dpi/21-0208s2p-celestinaxi-300dpi.jpg

*Caption: Celestina Xi at PLANETXXI CyberCity.

News Source: PLANETXXI LLC

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‘Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045’s Exploration of Transhumanism and a Post-Human Future – LIVING LIFE FEARLESS

Posted: at 1:00 pm

In the year 2045, a post-cyberpunk Japan has emerged in an increasingly de-centralized, globalized world. Yet despite a host of breakthrough innovations and technical advancements, many of these have developed out of necessity. In a future time period where the countrys national security has become increasingly volatile, the government and its people are faced with organized high-stake crimes, rebel opportunists, cyberbrain hackers and meddling foreign government operations invested in securing military secrets. To combat these growing threats to public security, Motoko Kusanagi and her team of Ghosts are pulled from their mercenary work with the private military company Obsidian and are re-activated as government-hired specialists of Section 9: an anti-crime, counter-cyberterrorism task force. In this Netflix Original series, Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045, the world is bleak and the stakes are high: economies have fallen, cities lie empty and war has become big business.

Advanced robot AIs capable of emotion, bio-tech enhancements, and cybernetic neural-linking: these are some of whats possible in future Japan. Every aspect of the show seeks to explore our relationship with technology, but it also touches on the concept of our own social and human evolution. What would it look like if we could upgrade our bodies and minds, expanding our abilities beyond our known and accepted limitations? How would the creation of superhuman transhuman cyborgs affect social attitudes and are we to think of them as separate to or beyond human definition?

Unit members of Section 9 define these future realities in their bio-technological augmentation. For example, Batou (Kisanganis second in command) has replaced his eyes with artificial ones allowing him to track and scan easier. A sniper has implanted a targeting device with satellite feed in his left eye which increases his deadly accuracy. Meanwhile all team members have the ability to remotely sync their cyborg brains, enabling them to brain dive and connect to each other regardless of distance. This technical harmonization of coherent thought processing gives them an edge and creates a more effective fighting unit. But despite all these flashy advances, Motoko Kusanagi possesses something entirely unique that separates her from her counterparts: a full-body prosthesis. Major, as she is also known, possesses a body that is a completely fabricated android shell. This shell houses her cyberbrain which contains or expresses the electrical code of her conscious self or ghost. This is the real conceptual lynch pin on which the show is based and compels viewers to think a little deeper about the questions surrounding cyborgism and its links to artificial or enhanced consciousness. Thinking further, we quickly find ourselves in a dimensional quagmire and identity paradox: who is Major Motoko Kusanagi if her body is a technological recreation? Is she still human despite the fact that her brain (which is itself cyber-enhanced) is the only human part of her left?

Human consciousness and its evolution, location AND definition, still have managed to largely escape understanding

These questions tie into two relevant topics. Firstly it relates to the real-world applications of cybernetics. Already we can see through current research that we are on the cusp of becoming cyborgs ourselves through the following ways: neural linking the brain to mind-controlled robotic prosthetics, theoretical thought messaging or technical telepathy, brain and heart implants designed to monitor or support regulatory systems, and inserting sub-cutaneious chips, the mass-commercialization of which will allow people to control features in their Smart Homes. Secondly, human consciousness and its evolution, location AND definition, still have managed to largely escape understanding by even our most advanced minds. It is what Brian Cox and other physicists call the hard problem in that they cannot agree on what consciousness is, where it resides or if its just an epiphenomenon. This idea has been expanded upon by Rupert Sheldrake who outlines these problems:

Consciousness itself is problematic. It ought not to exist, we ought not to be conscious. Its an embarrassment for materialism that we are.

Right at the outset, Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045 pulls no punches. It begins laying out the contextual groundwork that details how warfare as an industry began. In the year AD 2042, the following transpired:

The Great 4 (American Empire, China, Russia, and EU) sought economic sustainability for its members. Using AI code 1A84, the American Empire initiated war as an industry. The world dubbed it sustainable war.'

This speculative cyberpunk paradigm is alluring as it leans straight into the style of cognitive dissonance that George Orwell popularized in 1984. The term sustainable war, is itself fascinating primarily because it fits two ideologies together that are diametrically opposed in that they are not, in any way, possibly sustainable at all. The widespread violence and threat escalation between powers or rival military companies would eventually wipe everyone out. This volatile industry, created by a future American government, reveals a hard truth: that its symptomatic of an unstable, autocratic control system that is bringing the entire social order into further collapse.

This speculative cyberpunk paradigm is alluring as it leans straight into the style of cognitive dissonance thatGeorge Orwellpopularized in1984

This is most relevant as Major Kusanagi and her team of mercs operate in the aftermath of the aforementioned destabilization of the four superblock powers which happened when each nation power sought their own interests. If there is anything familiar about this, there are some real world/Orwellian parallels that add plausibility to Ghost in the Shell. Beside the post-war connotations, a cataclysmic collapse of all society has rocked the world. This involved a major global default of all transactions (akin to financial depressions of the past and present) where paper money has become useless (as it did in the Second World War) and digital currencies, both saved and indebted, have all been wiped clean (a growing concern as monetary systems shift towards a cashless society). Further to this, the real 1984 moment comes when viewers learn that anyone with a cyberbrain can be infiltrated, fed false memories or can be possessed/controlled in Manchurian Candidate like fashion. This is war on the final frontier: that of the mind.

Also it shows how warlike civilization still is. This is totally believable when viewers consider that, after endless decades of military engagements, people are still fighting with and in foreign countries now. So in 2045, the ongoing warring between nations is not just a continuation of modern political divisions, social unrest and human misery, but some go so far as to claim that this is a reflection of the war machine propagated by the military-industrial complex which President Eisenhower warned us about:

All of these combined realities have pushed many people to the brink and has triggered a rapid escalation of war as an industry. Every nation, even the more advanced ones, now suffer from both internal and external threats such as widespread rioting, cyberterrorism, and civil war. One only needs to look at the pages of recent history to know that these things are prodromic (in that theyre a symptomatic representation of the current era of global expansion).

As highly trained as Section 9 is, their battle experience and cyber skills are nevertheless challenged with the advent of a new enemy: the post-human. After their first chilling encounter with such an inhuman entity, the Major and her team later discover that the government has captured one of them in a secure facility. They soon are briefed on a sergeant major who began life as a normal citizen. Then some radical shift in his psyche occurred, which began as a mysterious fever and progressed into a catatonic state where he ceased to be able to move independently or communicate. When this sickness had abated, the soldier had changed dramatically, losing his personality, his capacity for empathy and acquiring superhuman abilities that enabled him perform multiple cyberbrain hacks simultaneously as well as predetermine bullet trajectories before guns have been fired.

What we could be seeing is the dawn of a new intelligence

This concept brings viewers back to Major Motoko Kusanagi and the paradox of the ghost that inhabits her manufactured shell. Yet here the idea takes on a more insidious tone: the cyberbrain itself has evolved, taking over the human mind. What we could be seeing is the dawn of a new intelligence. Not just of artificial consciousness, but one where the post-human cyber mind has become the dominant mental force of its host organism. As the character, John Smith, explains: it is now in control and operates on its own agenda. If this is true, then who are post-humans and what do they want? What will happen to a society overrun with something that looks human but is without feeling? Could the characteristics of this intelligence, including its thought processing, be simply adaptive in that they have merely copied and internalized human traits such as aggression and a war-like nature?

Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045s high-concepts of transhumanism, sustainable war, and post-humans paint a bleak picture of our future, but its a future that we could very well be headed towards.

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The Chronicles of Covid, or why we must kill the Great Reset Witch – The Conservative Woman

Posted: at 1:00 pm

A snowy scene, Narnia

We must go as quietly as we can, said Mr Tumnus. The whole wood is full ofherspies. Even some of the trees are on her side.

Another snowy scene, a popular hillside in Somerset, January 2021

Its a Sunday and families living under lockdown are having fun near a remote car park, parents building snowmen with their children. Then a police car arrives and parks for a while. Similar scenes happen elsewhere in Britain. Why?

Since the end of the first lockdown in March 2020, this Somerset hillside has never been busier. It has become the go-to place to find some sort of normality.

The local hunt, for example, held a memorial gathering in one of the hills car parks before Christmas for a young lad killed in a car accident. They knew that such a gathering would not be allowed elsewhere.

Why are we all being forced to live like this? Why is the constabulary now becoming such a powerful presence throughout the land? (We couldnt summon any police when we needed them to stop an illegal rave on the same hillside years ago.)

Is it because there is a realisation that the public is losing respect for authority and more coercion will be needed to implement the global Build Back Better agenda?

Maybe the penny has begun to drop that there is insufficient support for fascism, even if it is re-labelled stakeholder capitalism?

Certainly in continental Europe there is growing resistance to Planet Lockdown, often of a violent nature. In Europe they have a better understanding of the nature of fascism, unlike in Britain where we lack historical experience of mass arrests, deportations and arbitrary shootings.

The parallels with the 1930s are, however, becoming obvious to the extent that the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, used his contribution to the World Economic Forums annual Davos meeting last month to warn the world. In his view, the situation could develop in an unpredictable and uncontrolled manner and risks a fight of all against all.

Meanwhile, the WEF is trying to distance itself from any accusations that its Great Reset is a conspiracy that is masking some nefarious plan for world domination (?!)

But then its plans are hardly nefarious, given that the WEF is so blatant about its role in bringing together global leaders and mega-corporations to rebuild the world along sustainable lines.

Sadly for the WEF, its own benign belief in its motives is not shared universally. Of the 200,000-plus views of its latest YouTube video, it could muster only 1,500 likes compared with 19,000 dislikes and openly hostile messages in the comments below. Not exactly a good indicator of widespread support. The UK government would do well to take note.

While there might not be agreement about return to pre-Covid ways of living were it possible or whether change is necessary, neither is there any consensus on what form that change should take.

In particular, there is increasing cynicism about an elite group of globalists lecturing us on how to collectively improve life on the planet without destroying it. It does not sit well with the public that the same billionaires who form the WEF are those who have profiteered from their misery during the pandemic.

Mega-corporations and their supporters politicians, financiers, non-governmental organisations, etc also have zero credibility as eco-warriors.

They are more closely associated in the public mind with creating problems rather than solving them. Pollution and destructive business as usual have continued unabated under a cover story of environmentalism.

The examples of cobalt and lithium alone reveal the empty virtue-signalling in the pious rush for the windmills and solar panels that are the basis for the WEFs Build Back Better campaign.

Cobalt and lithium are widely used in electronics for energy storage, whether a solar panel or a mobile phone. Yet the way cobalt is mined (using child labour) is never discussed, nor is the damage to Chiles Atacama desert, where lithium extraction displaces the flamingos. The billionaires have failed so far to provide viable alternatives.

There is also nothing remotely sustainable about increasing our reliance on electricity. It would take only a coronal mass ejection a gigantic release of plasma and magnetic field from the sun to wipe out the National Grid, as Sir Oliver Letwin so eloquently pointed out in his March 2020 bookApocalypse How?It makes no sense that a British government continues to take us on the doomed path that WEF promotes.

History will not judge kindly a government that abandons its people in favour of the diktats of a foreign entity. Our government needs to learn the lesson of Brexit. The British people want their independence. It is the reason we as a nation have been willing to fight wars.

Now is the time for the Government to abandon Build Back Better, and focus instead on building back without the WEFs fake sustainability and its Fourth Industrial Revolution, which is synonymous only with yet more unemployment and misery.

A useful first step would be for the Government to restore hope, at the very least, to the lost generation. The traumatising of the young, and their consequent despair, is one of the most distressing aspects of the mishandling of the pandemic.

The lack of support for the most disadvantaged white working-class boys is nothing short of a scandal. The Government is sending a clear message that these children have no future in the technocratic world.

This attitude toward the disadvantaged speaks to C S Lewiss grim prophecies of the 1940s. In his novelThat Hideous Strength,he blames advances in technology for the reductions in industrial and agricultural workforces, with no mention of retraining.

Instead, a large, unintelligent population is now a deadweight. In his view the masses are therefore to disappear the human race is to become all technology.

In 1945, George Orwell wrote a review in theManchester Guardianof Lewiss novel. The title of the review was The Scientists Take Over.

He believed that Lewiss dystopian vision was realisable and that there could be a time when the common people are to be used as slaves and vivisection subjects by the ruling caste of scientists Man, in short, is to storm the heavens and overthrow the gods, or even become a god himself.In effect, he was predicting transhumanism, artificial intelligence and genetic engineering.

At some point it will become obvious in the UK if the oppression we currently face is about keeping us safe from a virus, or about preparing us for life under the WEF reset.

The pandemic itself is likely to fade. Covid has now replaced seasonal flu in the official statistics, thus suggesting that it is no more deadly than a flu. Cases are on the decline. With Covid gone, what will be the excuse to bully us?

The narrative has already begun to change in the US. No sooner was it clear that Donald Trump would leave the White House, than theNew York Timesran an article suggesting that coronavirus will come to resemble the common cold and be no more than a minor annoyance,and the most draconian governors in California, New York and elsewhere began to lift restrictions.

It would seem that the pandemic had done its job: it left Trumps economy in ruins, and provided the perfect pretext for mail-in ballots and for keeping poll watchers at bay during the election count.

So, when can we expect a similar shift in the UK? Liberation cannot come quickly enough. We are fast turning into a nation of zombies. Nothing is working properly. People cant think straight. They demand vaccines in the hope of a return to normality, but fail to hear the Government telling them that nothing will change. The sunny uplands continue to recede.

We are now facing an unholy mess with a shrunken economy, no shiny new Fourth Industrial Revolution to fill the gap, and the potential for hordes of disaffected and disturbed masses to threaten us all.

Is this what is anticipated for us? We can only hope that there is no significance in the evidence coming from one part of Somerset, where an abandoned quarry is used for training police marksmen.

Locals tell me that the police have recently increased their use of the quarry and the barrage of shots can be heard more frequently over a wide distance. What hope is there?

Maybe, once it has sorted itself out, the US will once again help rescue us from fascism, as it did in the 1940s. My great-grandfather certainly believed in June 1940 that the US would rise to the occasion when he wrote to my grandmother from his hotel in Liverpool before setting sail for the States.

We were pleased to see the Americans when they did finally arrive. But more than 80 years later, perhaps such thoughts of rescue are more fiction than fact. Like Mr Tumnus, we may have to wait instead for The Last Battle for freedom to return, and who knows when that will be?

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Study examines why college education leads to healthier and longer lives – William & Mary News

Posted: February 8, 2021 at 11:33 am

Healthy lifestyle: Physical activities abound on college campuses like William & Mary. These healthy habits are among the benefits of college education that contribute to health and longevity, according to a study led by W&M Assistant Professor of Economics Peter Savelyev. Photo by Jim Agnew

by Nathan Warters | February 4, 2021

A study led by William & Mary Assistant Professor of Economics Peter Savelyev and funded by the National Science Foundation argues that college education leads to healthier and longer lives.

The study, Understanding the Mechanisms Linking College Education with Longevity, was published in September in Journal of Human Capital.

Researchers around the world still debate whether education affects health. Savelyev and his team support the claim that education improves heath by demonstrating the mechanisms behind this effect while using state-of-the art statistical analysis.

In our paper, we show that education increases health and longevity though healthier lifestyles, superior earnings and better work conditions, he said.

Savelyev and his co-authors examined data obtained from men and women who graduated from high school in Wisconsin in 1957. This specific timeframe was important to allow for data collection on at least a partially deceased U.S. cohort.

William & Mary News recently spoke to Savelyev about this study. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Variables related to healthy lifestyles that proved to be important are participating in physical exercise, maintaining a healthy body weight and abstaining from smoking tobacco. We also study the role of extremely dangerous work conditions, such as cutting trees or being exposed to infectious diseases. Educated people are less likely to face such jobs. The work conditions mechanism does not necessarily imply diminishing job-related risks for the general population, but it is a personal benefit for those who study hard and receive advanced degrees.

It is well known that many essential life determinants emerge early in life. Later in life, things are harder to change. College education is a powerful contributor to human development that increases health and longevity, among many other good effects, and it should be supported in situations when free market solutions do not work well enough.

Our simulations demonstrate that major health differences created by college education are hard to close later in life, even by strong hypothetical policy interventions, such as greatly increasing taxation of cigarettes.

Partly, this is because the effect of education is strong, and it works through many different mechanisms. It is not easy for an intervention that targets just one specific mechanism to overcome a strong effect created through dozens of mechanisms. Also, some policies, such as taxation of cigarettes, affect behavior of both the college-educated and those who did not go to college, so the effect on the difference between these two groups is small.

We find that obtaining a bachelors degree leads to about three additional years of life for men. However, we could not find any effect of college education for women, who live longer than men regardless of their education status. We identified from our data two mechanisms that partly explain the gender difference. One is that men tend to take more dangerous jobs than women. Another is that educated women of this historic cohort born in late 1930s in Wisconsin were less likely to be married, which created a negative contribution to their longevity that masked a positive contribution related to higher income. Marriage is good for your longevity. Since a negative effect of college education on marriage no longer takes place for more recent cohorts of women, we can expect a stronger effect of college on their longevity, as confirmed by our simulations.

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Turn Biotechnologies Expands the Potential of its mRNA Platform by Licensing Unique Artificial Niche Technology – PRNewswire

Posted: at 11:33 am

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Feb. 3, 2021 /PRNewswire/ --Turn Biotechnologies, a company developing medicines for currently untreatable age-related conditions, announced that it has acquired the global rights for new artificial niche (AN) technology that can be used to restore muscle stem cells damaged by aging.

The company licensed its AN technology from Stanford University, where it was developed by a researcher who serves as an advisor to Turn. AN technology is used to create a microenvironment that maintains stem cells in a quiescent state to repair or replace specific types of damaged tissue. The stem cell niche provides structural and trophic support and the appropriate homeostasis to regulate stem cell function.

Turn will use the niche technology in combination with its mRNA-based epigenetic reprogramming of age (ERA) technology to restore specific cells' youthful functionality, to trigger the body's ability to fight age-related diseases.

"Our artificial niche technology expands the applicability of our ERA technology to a variety of diseases involving tissue that requires a microenvironment to maintain cell quiescence," said Anja Krammer, Turn CEO. "By enveloping our ERA technology in the protective matrix of an artificial niche, we can reactivate muscle stem cells, as well as stem cells in tissues where quiescence is necessary to maintain stem cell functions."

The combined use of Turn's AN and ERA technologies may be able to restore function in hematopoietic, liver, brain, certain mesenchymal stem cells across different tissues and within the hair follicle.

This is Turn's second licensing announcement since the start of the year. Earlier, the company revealed that it acquired the global rights for its ERA technology from Stanford University, where it was developed by three researchers who founded Turn. It is the first technology to maintain cellular identity while restoring specific cells' youthful functionality, to trigger the body's ability to fight age-related diseases.

As with ERA, the company announced that it has filed for patents to protect its AN technology in major-market nations on six continents.

"This is significant for our pipeline because the combination of AN with our ERA technology in murine models shows increased potency," said Jay Sarkar, Turn's chief technology officer and a company founder who helped to develop the ERA technology. "The studies show that aged muscle stem cells treated with this combination therapy fully regenerate age-related muscle dysfunctions."

Turn's technology uses messenger RNA to produce instructions that induce cells to treat or prevent disease. Use of mRNA, which led to the quick development of two COVID-19 vaccines, promises to revolutionize the development of therapeutics by making that development safer, faster, more efficient and extremely tunable to patient need.

Turn is currently completing pre-clinical research on tailored therapies targeting indications in dermatology, ophthalmology, osteo-arthritis and cartilage damage and musculature.

ABOUT TURN BIOTECHNOLOGIES

Turn is a pre-clinical-stage company focused on repairing tissue at the cellular level. Our proprietary mRNA technology combats the effects of aging in the epigenome, thus restoring optimal gene expression and enabling cells to function as vigorously as when they were younger. Our technology provides a platform from which to attack a variety of diseases related to age. The company has the financial backing of Methuselah Fund, which focuses its investments to extend the healthy human lifespan; Formic Ventures, which invests in biotech start-ups focused on human longevity; and Shanda Group, a private global investment firm. For more information, see http://www.turn.bio.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:Jim Martinez, rightstorygroup[emailprotected] or (312) 543-9026

SOURCE Turn Biotechnologies

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Turn Biotechnologies Expands the Potential of its mRNA Platform by Licensing Unique Artificial Niche Technology - PRNewswire

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Tropical Smoothie Cafe to open five more locations, including three in Acadiana – The Advocate

Posted: at 11:33 am

So how do you build a brand in the quick serve restaurant industry? Sure, you need a good product, and it has to be delivered efficiently.

But its that word of mouth, organic growth that may what cements your place in the industry, one that took a punch to the gut in 2020 from the coronavirus pandemic.

Thats been a key for BJ Crist and Gus Rezende with Social Entertainment, owners of the local Tropical Smoothie Caf franchises. Last month marked 11 years since Crist and Claire Foret opened the first location in Lafayette in the Oil Center, and he and Rezende have since opened four more across Acadiana.

Now they are starting another round of expansion with five more planned for south Louisiana. They will open a location on Johnston Street near E Broussard Road possibly in the fall and are looking to open in the Broussard/Youngsville area, the Scott area, the Lake Charles area and the Houma/Thibodaux area, Crist said.

Weve spent the time and effort to build the brand over 11 years, Crist said. Word of mouth is key to anything. Its what really drives longevity. Its not entirely the thing that will be the quick success story, but word of mouth is what builds a brand. Thats what weve been trying to do in trying to saturate the Acadiana area.

The expansion comes as Tropical Smoothie has emerged as one of the hotter brands in the country. Entrepreneur Magazine ranked Tropical Smoothie Caf 18th in its top 500 franchises for 2021, and last month the company reported its ninth straight year of same-store sales growth despite the turmoil many restaurants experienced when the pandemic severely limited what restaurants could do.

Tropical Smoothie Caf opened 99 new locations last year, including its 900th that opened in Georgia. It also has 254 new franchise agreements, 70% of which came from existing franchisees, and expects to open 1,000 new locations this year.

CEO Charles Watson credited the franchisees and crews for the growth despite the odds.

I'm incredibly proud of how this brand thrived during difficult circumstances and times, Watson said. Our focus on serving our guests drove us to develop new and exciting menu items and create multiple delivery methods for guests to experience all we have to offer all while heightening our dedication to safety and our commitment to the communities we serve.

The company has developed a model thats become popular by offering fruit smoothies and lighter, healthier menu items with an emphasis on customer experience, but it was the response to the pandemic that may have been the difference.

It shifted quickly at the start of the pandemic, adjusting quickly to offer curbside and delivery options and relaunching its mobile app, according to a report in QSR Magazine. It also offered franchisees 50% royalty relief for eight weeks and helped them secure PPP funding and negotiate rent relief.

The growth continued last year despite the obstacles, said Crist, who was named Multi-Unit Franchisee of the Year in August.

Its grown quite substantially in the last decade, he said. I feel like were really kind of catching our wind and the recognition. A little over a year ago they opened up on in Baton Rouge. It took a little while, but within six months it was doing some great numbers. When youre going into a new market that has no brand awareness, it usually takes a little time.

A big key, he noted, has been the customer experience. Much like Chick-Fil-A and emphasis on customer service, employees have high expectations for how they treat the customer.

Each location employs up to 25 people, many of which have gone through a screening process, Crist said. They look for employees with personality, who can hold a conversation with the customer and possibly change their day a little bit with just a little human interaction.

In turn, the company offers frequent pay raises to build continuity.

We really have high expectations on how we treat people from a hospitality standpoint, Crist said. We try to instill hospitality in the kids who work for us. I think what truly drives the success is the experience, the human factor and making people feel like, Thats my spot. Thats where I go.

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REVIEW: ‘The Dig’ is captivating, beautiful exploration of past The Daily Free Press – Daily Free Press

Posted: at 11:33 am

Combining the directorial skills of Simon Stone, the screenplay adaptation by Moira Buffini and the cinematography of Mike Eley, The Dig portrays a dynamic, true story intertwining themes of history and modern existential longing with dramatic scenes concerning life, death, love and family.

The Netflix film, released Jan. 29, is an adaptation of John Prestons 2007 novel of the same name and is based on a true story. Taking place in the rustic countryside of Suffolk, England on the eve of World War II, self-taught archaeologist Basil Brown, played by Ralph Fiennes, embarks on a dig to uncover whats believed to be ancient Anglo-Saxon ruins potentially dating as far back as the Vikings or further.

The site lies on the vast estate owned by Edith Pretty, played by 2013s The Great Gatsby star Carey Mulligan. Pretty is a widow left with one son and a dream to dig up three large, grassy, hill-like mounds located in the fields. Though the archaeologist is unconvinced theres anything significant to be found, attempted grave robberies have convinced Pretty theres something extremely valuable hidden within.

Brown, a local archaeologist with the Ipswich Museum, leads the Sutton Hoo excavation, with Peggy Piggott, played by Lily James. Hes portrayed as a modest working man with vast knowledge of the land. His soil expertise is what leads Pretty to hire him in the first place.

Given the politics of the time period, the dig site is seen as an area of national interest as Britain was preparing to protect the countrys ancient ruins from German air raids.

The story shifts toward a more intimate focus, concerned with family and belonging, when Prettys young son Robert, played by Archie Barnes, grows increasingly fond of Brown. The two are portrayed almost as father and son, bringing the narrative closer to one of community rather than national glory.

The Dig captures a unique perspective of existentialism, with the story taking place during Britains mobilization before wartime. It keeps audiences reflecting on the significance of human legacy, wondering what will be left of us after we are gone.

As the characters on screen are forced to come to terms with their own mortality in an age of destruction and uncertainty, we get a better understanding of the significance of these ancient runes that are still standing a testament of humanitys longevity.

Aside from matters of historical and ancestral significance, The Dig is a nod to the struggles that affect ordinary people of today, with overtones of love, lust and heartbreak.

What keeps viewers satisfied throughout the film is the unchanging and breathtaking scenery of the Suffolk countryside. Eley yields cinematographic mastery by capturing the lush wheat fields of eastern England, combined with enticing pan shots of the site to emphasize how massive this project is, yet also how seemingly small of a role it plays in the full history of the nation.

Stone keeps audiences holding their breaths by turning a story of national history into a heartfelt drama that so accurately touches on struggles that afflict people of all backgrounds.

Its worth mentioning the film has received some criticism for sexist portrayal of characters, for ageism despite the whimsical setting and for fictionalizing some of the truth.

Be that as it may, it was worth the watch.

At surface level, The Dig seems like a story of historical drama, but it takes audiences into deep-cutting, emotionally luring instances of love, loss, triumph and human connection.

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Appointments, honors and activities – Purdue News Service

Posted: at 11:33 am

Thanos Tzempelikos, professor in the Lyles School of Civil Engineering, has received the prestigious Leon Gaster Award from the Society of Light and Lighting as a co-author of the paper "Cross-validation and Robustness of Daylight Glare Metrics." This award is presented annually, naming the best paper of the year concerned with lighting applications. The award was presented at the societys Annual Awards evening in December in London.

Dr. David Waters is the recipient of the Center on Aging and the Life Course's (CALC) Outstanding Professor Award.Waters is professor emeritus in the College of Veterinary Medicine and a CALC faculty associate. Waters teaches biology of aging and received numerous student nominations for the award, which recognizesexceptional teaching and mentoring of emerging scholars in aging. He is director of the Center for Exceptional Longevity Studies at the Gerald P. Murphy Cancer Foundation.

* * * * *

Orr Fellowship, a postgraduate professional development program based in Indianapolis, has recently selected four Purdue seniors as Orr fellows. The Orr Fellowship is one of Indianas most celebrated nonprofit talent programs. The students Miguel Diaz, Sean ODell, Eleanor Hamilton and Hannah Vanderbosch were chosen out of nearly 1,300 applicants and will begin at one of 46 Orr Fellowship partner companies upon graduating in May. They also will participate in Orr Fellowship programming dedicated to nurturing entrepreneurship and developing strong leadership skills.

Christine McCall, a graduate research and teaching assistant in the College of Health and Human Sciences, earned a top honor from the National Council on Family Relations for a paper. McCall won the Outstanding Student and New Professional Paper Award for her paper titled A Part of Our Family? Effects of Psychiatric Service Dogs on Quality of Life and Relationship Functioning in Military-Connected Couples.

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Kantaro and Atrys Health Partnership Expand Global Footprint of Quantitative COVID-19 Antibody Tests in Europe and South America – BioSpace

Posted: at 11:33 am

NEW YORK, Feb. 8, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Kantaro Biosciences, LLC, a joint venture between the Mount Sinai Health System and RenalytixAI (LSE:RENX / NASDAQ: RNLX), and manufacturing partner Bio-Techne Corporation (NASDAQ: TECH), entered into a marketing and distribution agreement with Atrys Health (BME: ATRY), a biomedical company dedicated to providing diagnostic services and medical treatments of excellence. Atrys Health will offer COVID-SeroKlir and COVID-SeroIndex, Kantaro's quantitative SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibody test kits, in select European and South American territories, including Spain, Portugal, Colombia, Brazil, Peru and Chile.

Atrys Health is a distributor for Kantaro quantitative antibody tests in select European and South American territories.

The Kantaro tests have received a CE Mark for detectingthe presence and precise level of neutralizingIgG antibodiesthat areproduced as part of the immune response to COVID-19 virus exposure. The Kantaro testsare also the first and only quantitative antibody tests that do not require proprietary equipment, meaning they can be run easily in anyapproved clinical laboratory.Quantitative testing for neutralizing antibodiescaninform healthcare decision-makingandpublic health policiesworldwide.

"Atrys Health is the latest in a growing list of high-qualitydistributionpartners. This agreement represents another critical step forward in bringing the Kantaro quantitative antibody tests to doctors, patients and researchers in regions affected by COVID-19," said Sara Barrington, Kantaro's chief commercial officer. "We believe this type of antibody testing is increasingly relevant at this point in the pandemic to provide peace of mindand answer important questions about vaccine response, longevityand immunity."

Isabel Lozano, CEOof Atrys Health, said: "Our partnership with Kantaro diversifies and widens our portfolio of diagnostics at the forefront of innovation. We humbly embrace the opportunity to make the Kantaro quantitative antibody testsavailableto our customers in Europe and South America and bepart of the globaleffort to increase testing and begin to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic."

COVID-SeroKlirand COVID-SeroIndexareenzyme-linked immunosorbent assays(ELISA)that havedemonstrated 97.8% sensitivityand 99.6% specificityfor detecting COVID-19 IgG antibodies, making them highly accurate with low potential for false results.The high precision results froma two-step process that utilizes two virus antigens: the receptor-binding domain(RBD)and the full-length spike protein.

Theunderlying technology in theKantaro quantitative antibody test is based on research performed attheIcahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City.The Mount Sinai technologyhasalreadybeen used in a highly diverse population of over 86,000 patient samples to screen for convalescent plasma donors anddetermine past infections in the clinical assessment of potentially life-threatening complications from COVID-19, including lung, kidney and cardiovascular disease. This technology has been utilized extensivelyin peer-reviewed research published in ScienceandNature.

About Kantaro Biosciences

Kantaro Biosciences, a joint venture between the Mount Sinai Health System and RenalytixAI plc, is dedicated to ensuring that high-quality diagnostic tests for critical health challenges are accessible. The company provides rigorous, results-driven and reproducible diagnostics to advance the care and well-being of people, communities and society. Kantaro specializes in the rapid scale-up of groundbreaking diagnostic innovations and the creation of partnerships to bring these crucial technologies to market. For more information, visitwww.kantarobio.comand follow Kantaro on Twitter @kantarobio.

About Bio-Techne Corporation

Bio-Techne Corporation (NASDAQ: TECH) is a global life sciences company providing innovative tools and bioactive reagents for the research and clinical diagnostic communities. Bio-Techne products assist scientific investigations into biological processes and the nature and progress of specific diseases. They aid in drug discovery efforts and provide the means for accurate clinical tests and diagnoses. With thousands of products in its portfolio, Bio-Techne generated approximately $739 million in net sales in fiscal 2020 and has over 2,300 employees worldwide. For more information on Bio-Techne and its brands, please visit http://www.bio-techne.com.

About the Mount Sinai Health System

The Mount Sinai Health System is New York City's largest academic medical system, encompassing eight hospitals, a leading medical school, and a vast network of ambulatory practices throughout the greater New York region. Mount Sinai is a national and international source of unrivaled education, translational research and discovery, and collaborative clinical leadership ensuring that we deliver the highest quality carefrom prevention to treatment of the most serious and complex human diseases. The Health System includes more than 7,200 physicians and features a robust and continually expanding network of multispecialty services, including more than 400 ambulatory practice locations throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, and Long Island. The Mount Sinai Hospital is ranked No. 14 on U.S. News & World Report's "Honor Roll" of the Top 20 Best Hospitals in the country and the Icahn School of Medicine as one of the Top 20 Best Medical Schools in country. Mount Sinai Health System hospitals are consistently ranked regionally by specialty and our physicians are in the top 1% of all physicians nationally by U.S. News & World Report.

For more information, visit https://www.mountsinai.orgor find Mount Sinai on Facebook, Twitterand YouTube.

About Renalytix AI plc

RenalytixAI is a developer of artificial intelligence-enabled clinical in vitro diagnostic solutions for kidney disease, one of the most common and costly chronic medical conditions globally. The Company's products are being designed to make significant improvements in kidney disease diagnosis, transplant management, clinical care, patient stratification for drug clinical trials, and drug target discovery. For more information, visit renalytixai.com.

1 Intended uses of COVID-SeroKlir may vary by country.

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