The legendary Diahann Carroll introduces Phylicia Rashad.

Keshia Knight-Pulliam educates us on Dr. Cole’s legacy.

The Bermuda Credit Union Co-op. Society announced that Ryan Robinson Perinchief was appointed Chief Executive Officer and General Manager. A spokesperson said, “The Bermuda Credit Union Co-op. Society today announced that Ryan Robinson Perinchief was appointed Chief Executive Officer & General Manager of the Credit Union earlier this year, taking over from Micah Davis who […]

A new three-year NASA field expedition gets underway this year to survey more of the world’s coral reefs, with Dr Eric Hochberg from the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences set to be involved in the study. NASA said, “Coral reefs, sometimes called the rainforests of the sea, are home to a quarter of all ocean […]

A report in the UK’s Daily Mail over the weekend highlighted “the swimming pigs of Bermuda” – the only problem being that we don’t have swimming pigs, with the article having confused us with the Bahamas. The headline initially read, “The swimming pigs of Bermuda become YouTube stars,” and the story went on to mention […]

Paramount+ has released the opening credits (and with them, the theme) to the upcoming series, Star...

Ředitel České televize Jan Souček vyrukoval do boje za zvýšení koncesionářských poplatků. Zatím ke zvýšení jejich efektivity nic nepředvedl, naopak chtěl peněz mnohem víc. Jeho plán pro případ neschválení poplatků s rušením televizních kanálů nepočítal. Proč až teď?

Dark Horse Comics has announced a six-volume Madman Omnibus release featuring Michael Allred's classic character, slated for release in 2025.

I had a board game first this summer: I read an entire series of novels in preparation for playing a board game. When Jamey Stegmaier announced he was designing a new game with Alex Schmidt based on the award winning Red Rising  series by Pierce Brown, his excitement was so palpable that I wanted to understand the draw of the saga held for him. I checked my local library and the first book was already reserved, with a long waiting list in line before me. So I took the plunge and purchased the whole series from Amazon, hoping it would captivate me as it seemed to have done for Jamey.

Start with a narrative universe politically ordered by a tightly controlled color coded caste system;  pull in the concept of a boarding school with quirky teachers (like Hogwarts from Harry Potter) but introduce some structural changes to the school so that only the most socioeconomic elite in the caste system are permitted to attend; have the students compete in fight to the death brutal competitions (evocative of The Hunger Games but more violent and rape-y); explore the dynamic of class struggles and the penchant for revolution the lower castes foment; and you’ve got a good understanding of the Red Rising series that details the life and times of our protagonist, Darrow O’Lykos. To be honest, it’s an intense and difficult read due to the graphic nature of the violence (definitely not a story I want to see acted out on the big screen). But it’s well written literature and it makes you think.

Once I finished the book series, I was emotionally charged and ready to play Red Rising. I unboxed my review copy, invited over a few friends, and sat down for my first game. Jacqui Davis, Miles Bensky, and Justin Wong designed the artwork for the game and I’d describe it overall as futuristic, with a cartoonish bent when it comes to the character cards.

Before we get into the mechanics of the game, the components for Red Rising  Collector’s Edition warrant a discussion. I loved the weight of the metal influence cubes and fleet tokens handed out to each player. Likewise, the start player token, sovereign token, central board, and house cards are well constructed. And I appreciated the gold foil on the character cards. However, our first group of players gathered around our game table (and subsequent groups I played with) identified nuisance problems with some of the components. Each player’s set of metal influence cubes is  a different color and the yellow and gold sets are difficult to distinguish from across the table. The card holders included exclusively in the Collector’s edition are a disaster.

Every single person I played with managed to accidentally knock over their holder several times during a game, spilling out their hand for all to see repeatedly. Finally, the character cards reveal some questionable graphic design and font choices. For example, it was very difficult for all of us in the middle age cohort to read “obsidian” printed on the black cards.  None of these issues are significant enough to downvote the game, but I hope to see them corrected in future print runs.    

Onto the mechanics… Red Rising  is a mid-weight board game with a primary focus on cards and hand management. At the start of the game, each player is dealt 5 character cards and a house card (which grants a special ability). One of the primary goals is to build a hand of highly valued character cards (tabulated at the end of the game using the interaction formulas printed on the bottom of each card). To build this hand, players will use most of their turns to discard a character card from their hand to the board (called deploying) and then pick up a character card from a different column of the board. 

To spice things up, each card has a deploy ability that is triggered when the card is deployed (for example, a card might let you banish another card, move a card from one column to another on the board, immediately choose another card on the board to redeploy, etc). And each time you pick up a character card, you get a bonus immediately that edges you closer to victory along the path of one of the other strategic goals established in the game – either the receipt of helium tokens (worth 3 VPs each), forward movement along the fleet track (increasing VPs for each step forward), the possession of the sovereign token (10VPs if held at end of game), or influence cube placement on the influence area of the board (worth 4/2/1 VPs each, depending on your player’s rank in the influence cube area population). Instead of discarding+picking up on your turn,  there’s also an option, called scouting, to simply draw from the deck, place the drawn card on a column on the board, and then gain the bonus for that column. This option might be used when you are completely satisfied with your hand and can’t bear to part with any of it, or when you’re trying to pad the columns with cards of certain colors (some cards give you end game points per card of X color on the board) and crossing your fingers you can draw them.  It should be used sparingly since you miss out on the deploy ability when scouting.

I didn’t encounter a lot of analysis paralysis when playing this game, and it plays in under an hour (maybe 90 minutes for your very first time at higher player counts).  There’s plenty of replayability in the box given the large assortment of cards, but I do wonder if they’re going to eventually release an expansion for Red Rising  to keep things fresh for experienced players with different character card abilities or new point tallying interaction rules.

Jamey and Alex have hit on an accessible and winning combination by supporting a large spectrum of player counts (1-6), providing mid-weight complexity, keeping the gameplay tight enough to finish in under an hour, and selling it for under $60 at launch. And perhaps most importantly for players who worship theme and backstory, playing the game feels incredibly personal after you’ve read the books. I felt connected to the characters as they were revealed from the deck because of my experience reading the series. I was delighted to have the Sevro card in my hand, giddy to be given the House of Mars player role, and I flushed with anger when the Jackal card appeared on the board. I spent a lot of the game explaining the highlights of each character to my friends as new cards were laid down. Pretty sure I had to fight back tears when Eo’s card came up. In one of our games, my friend Malinda played Apollo and probably didn’t understand why I worked so tirelessly to thwart her efforts. Red Rising  is a solid OUI! OUI! OUI! from me for those who have read the series (and a OUI! OUI! for those who haven’t). Get the Red Rising  book series and read it and then get the game and play it. In that order. And consider pairing  the series with the game as a generous present for someone you love who loves board games and great dystopian novels.

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Publisher: Stonemaier Games
Players: 1-6
Actual Playing Time (vs the guideline on the box): About 45 minutes per game
Game type: hand management

Rating:

Jenni’s rating scale:
OUI: I would play this game again; this game is ok. I probably would not buy this game myself but I would play it with those who own it and if someone gave it to me I would keep it.
OUI OUI: I would play this game again; this game is good. I would buy this game.
OUI OUI OUI: I LOVE THIS GAME. I MUST HAVE THIS GAME.
NON: I would not play this game again. I would return this game or give it away if it was given to me.

Expeditions is my favorite game in the Stonemaier Games portfolio to date. The game is a sequel to Scythe, and continues the narrative years in the future. It has taken everything I loved in Scythe and expanded on it, while chucking out everything I didn’t care for (the combat).

Designed by Jamey Stegmaier, Expeditions brings us into an age when a meteorite has crash landed into Siberia and things begin to go sideways for all who encounter it. One team after another sets out to investigate the crash site and they are never heard from again. No one knows what happened to them. Now it’s our turn to find out what’s really going on, each of us leading a competing expedition team into Siberia to bring back desperately needed answers.

During a game of Expeditions, all players are seated around the game board, which is made up of individually placed hex tiles laid out as shown above. At the bottom of the game board is an insert affectionately known as the base camp. The base camp holds the glory scoring track, some reminders for end game scoring, and serves as the physical start point for player mechs. Each player also has a small board – their faction board – in front of them, featuring both a guile (turquoise) and power (orange) marker as well as a track for these markers to move up and down during the game. A player keeps their hand of cards face up to the left of their faction board and plays cards from their hand to their tableau on the right side of their faction board.

All players perform their expedition work using mechs and meeples. The mechs are used to venture out from the basecamp, traveling from hex to hex (the move action) to gain access to the benefits printed on the tiles (the gather action). Mechs also provide asymmetrical powers for each player.  The meeples are used in conjunction with laying down cards in your tableau (the play action); most cards have a special ability that can be activated by placing a meeple of the matching color on the card when it is played. As with Scythe, players must select a different group of actions (choosing from move, gather, play, and refresh) to complete each turn. For example, if you moved and gathered last turn you cannot do so again this turn, but you could move and play, or gather and play, or refresh (this is where you pull all your cards from your tableau back into your hand and all your meeples back onto your player mat). A nice bonus is that on the turn after each refresh turn, you may do three actions instead of two.

The play action is the most complex action in Expeditions as it involves so many different abilities. You play a card from your hand to your tableau, gain the card’s core value (bump up your power and/or guile by moving your token up the track), and then optionally activate the card’s ability using a corresponding meeple from your available pool. Both the core value and the ability of a card may be enhanced if you meet certain conditions as specified on the card. As detailed in the rulebook, the card abilities can be instant or ongoing and include:

Rescue: take a card from your tableau and put it back into your hand and return any meeple to your available pool.

Gain: take a card from the indicated location (either one of the faceup cards between the hexes or the draw pile) and place it in your tableau; do not gain the core value or activate its abilities.

Discard: discard a card from your hand to your tableau; do not gain the core value or activate its abilities.

Trash: return the indicated component (card or token) from your player area to the box; it is out of the game.

Activate: activate another card’s ability without placing a worker on it.

Solve: pay the indicated solve cost on the card, gain the benefit shown below the solve cost on the card, and tuck the card under the top of your mat in the solved quests area; you must be on the indicated numbered hex to do this action and you can only solve 4 quests during the game unless otherwise indicated. The number of quests you complete is a factor in your end game scoring.

Vanquish: spend your power or guile (moving your token down the track on your faction board) to take the topmost corruption tile on the hex your mech is on; spend power to vanquish power corruption tiles (orange) and guile to to vanquish guile corruption tiles (turquoise). These corruption tiles are drawn blind from a bag and placed when the hex tile is first flipped.

The move action is pretty straightforward and most of the spicy adventure here is moving onto unexplored hex tiles to flip them over and see what benefits they offer and how much corruption someone will need to vanquish in order for everyone to gain access to all the benefits on the hex tile.   Because most of the game tiles are shuffled randomly and placed facedown, there is always variability in the layout and you never know what is going to be on the other side of an unflipped tile you’ve moved onto. Maybe the hex tile has the benefits you’ve been searching for, or maybe it’s no help to you at all right now.

The gather action is also pretty straightforward. You simply collect the benefits visible on the hex tile where your mech is located. These benefits are varied and include options like gaining more cards into your hand, gaining new meeples, and playing cards from your hand.  There are three special benefits that can be gathered: upgrade, meld, and boast, but these benefits only become available once all corruption on the tile is vanquished. Upgrading a card lets you pull an item card from your hand or tableau and tuck it under your player mat so that only the ongoing ability is visible. Now the item’s ability is permanently activated for you and at the end of the game each upgraded card is also worth victory points (coins). Melding a card is almost the same as upgrading one except you meld meteorites instead of items and when you tuck them under your mat you get a meld bonus as specified on the card, plus you receive all your previous meld bonuses again. Boasting is the action of putting one of your scoring stars on the basecamp boasting track, selecting one of the glory categories for which you have met or exceeded the goal. Once a player puts down their 4th scoring star, the end game is triggered and each player gets just one more turn. If you’ve played Scythe, or other Stegmaier designed games, this end game triggering mechanism and scoring is very familiar to you.

It’s easy to outline and teach the basics of how to play Expeditions, as I’ve done above, but solving the puzzle aspect of the game more efficiently than your opponents is hard to master and the answer to winning the game. It’s also what makes the game so enjoyable. The artwork is pleasant, the components are well made (as with all Stonemaier games), but the reason to buy this game is for the logic puzzle at the heart of it. You’ve got to take into consideration your mech special ability and how to leverage that to improve the efficiency of your process flow. You’ve got to time your refreshes just right in order to extract maximum value from your play, move, and gather activities. You’ve got to balance your work toward solving quests, upgrading items, and melding meteorites so that you’re in a position to place glory tokens for meeting the goals in these areas. And the unique aspect of this game wherein your hand is always laid down in front of you on the left of your player board means your possible play action choices are laid out for all to see, so you’ve got to keep a close eye on what your opponents are doing and how close they are to meeting the glory token goals and ending the game before you can complete everything you want to. And unlike in Scythe, nobody is coming to steal your resources, so it’s all thinking and no fighting.

I’ve a half dozen or more games of Expeditions under my belt, and some very close to winning scores, but I’ve yet to win a game. Still, I keep coming back for more, and I know that someday I might finally crack the puzzle wide open and figure out how to make every step of the process work together for my win.

Please note, for all you solo players out there, Expeditions comes with a robust automa mode.

--------------------------------------------------

Rating:

Jenni’s rating scale:
OUI: I would play this game again; this game is ok. I probably would not buy this game myself but I would play it with those who own it and if someone gave it to me I would keep it.
OUI OUI: I would play this game again; this game is good. I would buy this game.
OUI OUI OUI: I LOVE THIS GAME. I MUST HAVE THIS GAME.
NON: I would not play this game again. I would return this game or give it away if it was given to me.

Last year I reviewed Expeditions and ranked it #1 among all Stonemaier games on account of the challenging intellectual puzzle it presents. This year I have played my way through the new expansion, Gears of Corruption, and I’m delighted to let you know that it makes the base game even better. That the expansion so cohesively builds on the base game should not be a surprise to anyone who closely examines the original box for Expeditions. All expansion components perfectly fit in that box including the 2 new mechs that nestle in the placeholder cubbies clearly made for them.  That can’t be coincidence. There might a few features rolled into Corruption of Gears that were developed as a result of consumer feedback on the base game (I’m looking at you, wild meeple), but my theory is that Stonemaier did a Lord of the Rings maneuver with this game and its expansions, designing the entire game with most of the additions integrated up front, and then breaking it into base + expansions for marketing and distribution.

Here’s a detailed breakdown of the components and features in Gears of Corruption:

• 2 new mechs
• Both new mechs use map tokens as discards to gain a benefit. The Scarecrow adds an extra action to your refresh turn while the Mole lets you access hex actions covered with corruption tokens. The Mole felt especially powerful in play.
• Replacement mech mats for the original mechs + 2 new mech mats for the new mechs
• The new mech mats are GREAT. They have inset spaces for the guile, strength, and action tokens to prevent player components from sliding off the mat during player.
• Hero worker meeples
• These meeples function as wildcards, and everyone is given one at the start of the game. This speeds up play and helps avoid the heavy disadvantage for the 3rd player and after who can’t get to the gain worker hex on their first turn.
• Replacement discovery card for one of the original cards in the base game + 5 new discovery cards
• The cards are all items and most if not all of them provide ongoing benefits in the form of when you do X also do Y
• 7 mech cards
• These cards are used for drafting/assigning a mech mat to each player and they also provide a list of starting resources to shorten the length of the game
• 12 corruption cards
• These cards are used both to control an additional mech on the main board (representing a malicious presence among us) that inflicts penalties on players whose mechs it would otherwise bump into AND to provide additional corruption targets for vanquishing by players. If all the corruption cards are vanquished, the corrupted mech wandering the board returns to the box, the threat eliminated. Three cheers to the player who accomplishes that!
• 4 pairs of new starting cards (character + companion)
• The new character/companion combos are pretty standard but one of the pairs (Baaliahon & Zephon) plays off the corruption card scoring added with this expansion. I played as this fellow and was competitive in all my games. A+ would recommend! ***Interesting side note: While I was researching the origin of the name Baaliahon (turns out to be a Phoenician name that means so that Baal will favor), I came across the website for the artist and worldbuilder on Expeditions, Jakub Rozalski. He’s got fantastic stories and lore for the game as well as additional artwork on the site and I encourage you to check it out at https://jrozalski.com/projects/JvAvPZ
• 6 new corruption tiles in lower values that the base game
• These tiles have a strength of only 2, making it easier to remove them.
• 6th player capacity
• Playing with an additional player DOES increase the game length, but this is well balanced by the time saved thanks to the new hero worker meeples and mech cards
• Additional coins & map tokens

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Expeditions Gears of Corruption is a fantastic (although not absolutely mandatory) expansion for players who love the base game, like me. But this is not one of those expansions that fundamentally alters the overall feel or play of the game so if you’re among those that didn’t go gaga for the base, this will do nothing to change your mind. Yep, I see some of you over there complaining about the solitaire racing aspect of Expeditions and lack of strong player interaction, and to you ladies and gents I say go back to Scythe where you belong.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Publisher: Stonemaier
Designer: Jamey Stegmaier
Artist and Worldbuilder: Jakub Rozalski
Players: 1-6 (We played with 3, 4, and 6)
Actual Playing Time (vs the guideline on the box): About 90 minutes per game
Game type: worker placement, hand management
Retail Price: varies; direct from the publisher https://stonemaiergames.com/games/expeditions/gears-of-corruption/

Rating:

I’m thrilled to announce new ebook editions of my Hugo Award-winning novel Hominids, its Hugo Award-nominated sequel Humans, and the bestselling final volume Hybrids. Together, they are the Neanderthal Parallax trilogy, which won the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Award (“the Aurora”) for best work of the entire decade. The trilogy tells of a parallel […]

Since our inception as a division of the National Geographic Society in 1915, National Geographic Maps (originally the Cartographic Division) has routinely published maps that illustrate the news of the world. Our first supplement map, which appeared in the May 1918 issue of NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC, titled the Western Theatre of War, served as a useful reference for overseas military personnel and soldier's families alike. Similarly our February 1967 map of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, and recently, our Iraq and the Heart of the Middle East titles filled similar roles.

Maps are an excellent tool for the newshound, providing an accurate sense of place to issues local and abroad. To assist those that are interested in further understanding global news stories through good maps - we're pleased to announce a new monthly feature here on Contours that will highlight maps pertinent to today's news stories.

:: December 2009, Maps of the News ::

Afghanistan and Pakistan. Revised in Fall of 2009, this political map of the region contains thousands of place names, ideal for following news stories and deployed family members. Like all National Geographic cartography, our new Afghanistan and Pakistan map was carefully researched and edited and contains thousands of place names.

Iraq, Iran and the Middle East. This region dominates daily news stories. Our Middle East wall map covers over 18 nations in the region including: Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, Jordan, and more.

Philippines. Follow the recent eruption of the Mayon volcano in the Philippines, with our Asia classic and executive style wall maps for the continent.

Vancouver and the Winter Olympics. A detailed city guide, perfect for global travelers attending the 2010 Winter Olympics.

January has been a big month for global news. From the devastating earthquake in Haiti to the damaging storms throughout the US which brought mudslides to California and snow to Florida.

On a more positive side, the Winter Olympics in Vancouver start in just 16 days, with opening ceremonies taking place on February 12th.

To illustrate these stories and more - here are this month's suggested National Geographic Maps:

Haiti::
West Indies Two-Sided Wall Map:: Has a political map of the Caribbean, including Haiti. For a historical perspective on the region, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC published three different supplement maps in 1913, 1922, and 1947 which specifically detailed the Caribbean region. These maps are available via our NG Map Collection Website - simply search for "caribbean".

US Weather::
National Geographic has a wide variety of US wall maps. Our most popular two titles are our US Clasic and US Executive editions. Both maps come in a variety of sizes and formats including enlarged and laminated. Additionally we started publishing a new series of State specific wall maps last year, and have released 8 States so far, including California.

Winter Olympics::
For those lucky enough to be heading to Vancouver to attend the 2010 Winter Olympics, be sure to carry along our Destination Vancouver city travel map. Updated in 2009, the Vancouver city map contains a detailed and easy to read street map with the locations of points of interest, hotels, public transportation and more.

Check back in a few weeks for our February installment of "Maps of the News". Additionally, we love your questions and comments. If you have a place or news story that you're looking for a map of, feel free to post a comment below, or connect with us on twitter @NatGeoMaps.

Nesia Daily Afternoon Edition  ABC News

Emergency funding deal would give struggling water company £3bn lifeline Thames Water has been teetering on the brink of collapse since being described as “uninvestible” in March when shareholders refused to pour in more cash. The government has been on standby for nationalisation through a…

Steam Deck OLED: Limited Edition White will be available worldwide on November 18th, 2024 at 3PM PST. This model will cost $679 USD, and will be available in all Steam Deck shipping regions, including Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong via Komodo.

The post Steam Deck OLED: Limited Edition White, Launching Worldwide on November 18 appeared first on ThinkComputers.org.

Sleeping Dogs™ Definitive Edition (Xbox Series/One) 

Middle-Earth Shadow of War: Definitive Edition PC

NBA 2K24 Kobe Bryant Edition for Xbox Series X|S Account

https://cag.vg/odyssey57

Pre-orders between September 18 and October 1 will receive a gift of $500 Samsung instant credit.

Need for Speed Heat Deluxe Edition XBOX-$6.99

There are few stores have game account, they have Xbox account price compare on allkeyshop,

this is I find on their website.

EA SPORTS FC 24 Standard Edition for PS4 PS5 Account $42.21

$50 off
https://cag.vg/X2Et

From 11/17 until 12/14, get $25 off future grocery purchase when you buy $150+ in gift cards. Includes PSN, xbox, gamestop, and other random retailers.

16.6% discount on gaming credit if you were getting groceries anyway. Promos are usually valid at all regional Albertson affiliates. Star Market, Acme, Vons, etc.

As part of their ongoing 3 day sale Meijer is giving 20k Mperks points, aka $20, when you buy at least $50 of certain gift cards.  If you buy the "One4All" gift card you can redeem it for Xbox or Playstation credit, or a bunch of other brands. 

I had the mperks points in my account within an hour, and just redeemed my $50 gc for PSN credit with no issues.  If you shop at Meijer anyway, this is 40% off Sony or MS credit if you do the minimum $50 gift card purchase.  If you put $70 on it that would be a new full price game for $50.  I believe this can only be used once per Mperks account.

This has been trotted out for years, mostly about Afghanistan, and which "Left" are you talking about? There is no "Left" in the NYT (Bouie but it isn't really his beat), the Washington Post, CNN... MSNBC has Hayes and he did!

If you want credit from this unnamed Left, you'd better empower them. The Chapo guys gave you a lot of credit! Then they criticized you for other things! That's how it works!

In today's edition of FAFO (F*ck Around and Find Out) we have Nikki Haley (with an assist by Mike Pompeo) who is learning the hard way that MAGA loyalty only goes one way. They want your vote and your support, but won't do anything to make your life better. Once you kiss the ring and show your soft underbelly of weakness, you are no longer useful.

Nikki Haley threw her support behind Donald Trump, after running a fairly solid anti-Trump Republican campaign against him. But even after she gave up, he never forgave her. And on Saturday he put the knife in and twisted it even harder, publicly FIRING her (and Mike Pompeo) before he even takes office.

Her response was pathetic.

The post How to Use a Graphics Tablet to Edit Photos: 10 Powerful Tips appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by John McIntire.

Photo editing is simpler than ever thanks to the power of a graphics tablet! Explore our top 10 tips to level up your skills. If you’re just getting started with post-processing and retouching, you’re probably using a mouse and keyboard combo. You can get by with this setup, sure. But when the tasks become more […]

The post How to Use a Graphics Tablet to Edit Photos: 10 Powerful Tips appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by John McIntire.

I was one of the outside readers1 for a volume in Cambridge University Press’s enormous “Elements” series, The New Witches of the West, by Ethan Doyle White. (Link is to Amazon US) To find that title, go to the main … Continue reading →

This is me, preparing for an evening of copyediting articles for The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies. There is in fact a small shrine within arm’s length of my desktop computer, but I usually don’t have so many … Continue reading →

"When the first notes of [the music] threaded their way into my consciousness, they seemed to come from inside me…music wound its way through me as sound turned pure sensation." —The New York Times on PUC's Live Music Meditation About the Event Breathe in sound and silence through guided meditation as you listen to music more viscerally than ever before, meditating to the playing of the Isidore String Quartet, guided by Matthew Weiner, Associate Dean in the Princeton University Office of Religious Life. This is a FREE, unticketed opportunity to indulge in attentive, focused, and mindful listening. No prior experience with meditation necessary. Capacity is limited, and we advise participants to arrive early—although the event officially begins at 12:30PM, doors to the hall will open and meditation instruction will begin at 12:00PM (noon). The event will conclude by 1:30PM. If desired, attendees may bring floor seating (mat/cushion/etc); seating will be on stage, with chairs provided. For more information about the Live Music Meditation experience, check out this New York Times feature and Performance Today segment. About the Musicians: Winners of a 2023 Avery Fisher Career Grant, and the 14th Banff International String Quartet Competition in 2022, the New York City-based Isidore String Quartet was formed in 2019 with a vision to revisit, rediscover, and reinvigorate the repertory. The quartet is heavily influenced by the Juilliard String Quartet and the idea of ‘approaching the established as if it were brand new, and the new as if it were firmly established.’ The quartet began as an ensemble at the Juilliard School. They are currently completing their final year as Peak Fellowship Ensemble-in-Residence at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Additional Evening Concerts: The Isidore Quartet will also perform in the evening as part of the Performances Up Close series at 6PM & 9PM, with audience seated onstage. Concert info & tickets This event is presented by Princeton University Concerts. For a full event listing and tickets, please visit this link.

Ever wanted to try a sound healing meditation? Come join GSG and CPS for a mindfulness hour, guided by a certified sound healer.

Now in Feeds Box you can change feeds title, add tags to your feeds, and, most remarkable, you can edit feeds' settings. We have also fine-tuned feeds search in your Feeds Box.

The post Feeds Editing And Better Search appeared first on RSSground.com.

Two minute video looks at the differences between Repeat Signage Standard edition and the Standalone edition. The former has full features and is ideal for displaying engaging content on any display screen anywhere in the world, whilst the latter is ideal for any application where the Internet is not possible, for example, military, army manoevers, evacuation, outdoor events, etc.

A UK law allowing gene-edited food has been paused and some British scientists fear being overtaken.

Countries at the UN COP29 climate summit in Azerbaijan will attempt to agree to rules for a global system for trading carbon offset credits.

Video: Merlin Mann - "Time & Attention Talk (improvised)"

Audio (mp3): "Merlin Mann - 'Rutgers Time & Attention Talk'"

This is a talk I did at Rutgers earlier this month. I kinda like it, but for a weird reason. Something something, perfect storm of technology Ragnarok, and yadda yadda, I had to start the talk 20 minutes late with no slides. Nothing.

So, I riffed.

And, I ended up talking about a lot of the new stuff you can expect to see in the Inbox Zero book—work culture, managing expectations, the 3 deadly qualities of email, and one surprising reason email's not as much fun as Project Runway.

Some people liked it. I think. I liked it. I hope you do, too.

Here's the slides I would have shown. ;-)

Many thanks, again, to my great pal, Dr. Donald Schaffner, for bringing me in for this visit. I had a great time and met some fantastic, passionate people. Much appreciated.

update 2010-04-27_13-50-00

Apologies—my friends at Rutgers (inexplicably) have placed this video under lock and key. Fortunately, I have a lock-picker called Firefox. Samizdat video available soon...

update 2010-04-27_14-42-24

Yay, fixed! Many thanks to my hero, Jesse Schibilia.

President-elect Donald Trump has chosen the next director of the CIA. Trump tapped former Texas congressman and director of national intelligence John Ratcliffe for the job. According to a statement […]

The post 'Warrior for Truth': Trump Has Chosen His Next CIA Director, Crediting Pick for 'Exposing Russian Collusion' Hoax appeared first on The Western Journal.

In their comment (1) on our publication (2), the authors make two points: (i) they raise concerns about the possible effect of residual NONOate in our study, and (ii) they promote nitrosylcobalamin (NOCbl) supplied by their own company. Both points lack merit for the following reasons. The authors make the astonishing claim that the spectra of nitric oxide (NO•) and cobalamins overlap. Unlike NO•, cobalamin absorbs in the visible region, permitting unequivocal spectral assignment of NOCbl as reported (3). We demonstrated that whereas NOCbl is highly unstable in solution, it is stabilized by the B12 trafficking protein CblC. So even if present, residual NONOate (which is unstable at neutral pH and is removed during the work-up (3)) could not account for the observed difference.The authors then misrepresent our synthetic method, claiming that anaerobic conditions were used to generate nitrocobalamin (NO2Cbl), which results in the transient formation of NOCbl. We synthesized NO2Cbl aerobically using nitrite as described (4); NOCbl is not an intermediate in this ligand exchange reaction. The aerobic instability of NOCbl has been rigorously described by inorganic chemists (3, 5) and raises obvious questions about its purported biological effects as exemplified by the authors' own 2003 JBC publication, which was later withdrawn.As to promoting NOCbl from their company, the authors refer to a synthetic route from a mixture of NO• gas and aquocobalamin. The authors' method (6) has been described as “dubious” by chemists (5). Whereas DEAE NONOate used in our method is widely known as an NO• donor,...

After a thorough read of this paper (1), we wish to clarify that the authors' anaerobic method of synthesis for the production of nitrocobalamin results in the transient formation of nitrosylcobalamin, an unstable intermediate upon exposure to air. We concur that the authors' method results in the production of nitrocobalamin based on the UV-visible data as shown. The authors' adapted anaerobic method consists of mixing hydroxocobalamin hydrochloride with diethylamine NONOate diethylammonium salt in aqueous solution. Of concern, the UV spectrum of nitric oxide overlaps that of all cobalamin species under anaerobic conditions, making any assignments of the binding of nitric oxide to hydroxocobalamin suspect (2). Additionally, the use of acetone to precipitate the authors' product causes precipitation of diethylamine NONOate, resulting in an impure product. As a result, its utility for drawing experimental conclusions is faulty.The product from the authors' anaerobic synthetic method has not been assessed for purity, and the synthetic method itself has not been validated using a stability-indicating method as required by the International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) (ICH Q2B, Validation of Analytical Procedures) methodology, which is a hallmark for analytical characterization. Our nitrosylcobalamin synthesis involves reacting nitric oxide gas with hydroxocobalamin acetate as a heterogeneous mixture in a non-electron-donating solvent followed by rotary evaporation. Our nitrosylcobalamin product is stable in air, releases nitric oxide gas in situ (3), and meets ICH stability guidelines (4). Additionally, our nitrosylcobalamin product demonstrates biological activity, which has not been observed for nitrocobalamin (3, 5).

We are extremely excited to announce on behalf of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) that the Journal of Biological Chemistry (JBC), Molecular & Cellular Proteomics (MCP), and the Journal of Lipid Research (JLR) will be published as fully open-access journals beginning in January 2021. This is a landmark decision that will have huge impact for readers and authors. As many of you know, many researchers have called for journals to become open access to facilitate scientific progress, and many funding agencies across the globe are either already requiring or considering a requirement that all scientific publications based on research they support be published in open-access journals. The ASBMB journals have long supported open access, making the accepted author versions of manuscripts immediately and permanently available, allowing authors to opt in to the immediate open publication of the final version of their paper, and endorsing the goals of the larger open-access movement (1). However, we are no longer satisfied with these measures. To live up to our goals as a scientific society, we want to freely distribute the scientific advances published in JBC, MCP, and JLR as widely and quickly as possible to support the scientific community. How better can we facilitate the dissemination of new information than to make our scientific content freely open to all?For ASBMB journals and others who have contemplated or made the transition to publishing all content open access, achieving this milestone generally requires new financial mechanisms. In the case of the...

Long hailed as dancehall's most controversial figure, Vybz Kartel has always commanded the spotlight with his edgy lyrics and unfiltered persona. But since his release from prison in July, Kartel has begun to show a surprising transformation that'...

Post-transcriptional modifications of pre-mRNAs expand the diversity of proteomes in higher eukaryotes. In the brain, these modifications diversify the functional output of many critical neuronal signal molecules. In this study, we identified a brain-specific A-to-I RNA editing that changed glutamine to arginine (Q/R) at exon 20 and an alternative splicing of exon 4 in Tmem63b, which encodes a ubiquitously expressed osmosensitive cation channel. The channel isoforms lacking exon 4 occurred in ∼80% of Tmem63b mRNAs in the brain but were not detected in other tissues, suggesting a brain-specific splicing. We found that the Q/R editing was catalyzed by Adar2 (Adarb1) and required an editing site complementary sequence located in the proximal 5' end of intron 20. Moreover, the Q/R editing was almost exclusively identified in the splicing isoform lacking exon 4, indicating a coupling between the editing and the splicing. Elimination of the Q/R editing in brain-specific Adar2 knockout mice did not affect the splicing efficiency of exon 4. Furthermore, transfection with the splicing isoform containing exon 4 suppressed the Q/R editing in primary cultured cerebellar granule neurons. Thus, our study revealed a coupling between an RNA editing and a distant alternative splicing in the Tmem63b pre-mRNA, in which the splicing plays a dominant role. Finally, physiological analysis showed that the splicing and the editing coordinately regulate Ca2+ permeability and osmosensitivity of channel proteins, which may contribute to their functions in the brain.