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Business

Apple Nearing Deal For Michael Lewis’ Book Rights On Wild Story Of Fallen Crypto King Sam Bankman-Fried & FTX: The Dish – Deadline

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EXCLUSIVE: Michael Lewis’ fortunate timing seemingly has paid off.

Deadline is hearing that Apple is near to a deal for the book rights to Lewis’ story about fallen crypto king Sam Bankman-Fried and his FTX empire.

The author behind Moneyball, The Big Short and The Blind Side spent six months with the embattled entrepreneur, before the stuff hit the fan.

When the deal closes at what sources peg at mid-seven figures, the streamer will have beaten out considerable competition from the likes of Netflix and Amazon for the project.

It is expected to be turned into a feature film. Word in town is an expectation that Adam McKay might become involved, but if so that would be down the road. He adapted Lewis’ book The Big Short. A lot of this is happening in real time, as sources said they didn’t believe there was much to pitch other than the subject and the promise of a proper deep dive by a writer who is the master of turning complicated financial matters into A-list entertainment.

Bankman-Fried, who was understood to be worth up to $26B in paper holdings at one point, ran the cryptocurrency company before it collapsed earlier this month, with Bankman-Fried resigning as CEO of the company, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

RELATED: Tom Brady, Giselle Bündchen, Larry David & Steph Curry Caught In FTX Crypto Fallout With Class Action Suit

Lewis’ book will attempt to explain what went down at the company and with Bankman-Fried, who was forced to put his rich Bahamas resort up for sale and deal with the fallout that also saw a number of celebrities including Tom Brady and Larry David sued for their part in promoting it. With revelations, billion-dollar loans, money grabbed by Bankman-Fried and his girlfriend, and other shenanigans being reported by the day, and FTX’s favorable position coming from political donations to Democrats, you get the feeling that a lot more will play out here.

We heard last week that others circling the project included Amazon Studios, David Heyman, writer Wells Tower and David Yates, Netflix with David Fincher and Sugar23 with Josh Gad.

Lewis’ book is one of a number of projects on the topic.

Scott Burns and Jonathan Glickman’s Panoramic have a project with The New York Times’ Andrew Ross Sorkin, who has closely covered the FTX debacle, and Graham Moore, the Oscar-winning writer behind Benedict Cumberbatch film The Imitation Game, also has thrown his hat in the ring with plans to write direct an adaptation of New York Magazine’s deep dive into the subject.

There will undoubtedly be more to come on this one.



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Health

Weight Loss Stats Don’t Tell The Full Story. Experts Explain Why That Matters : ScienceAlert

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It is often said that 95 percent of weight-loss measures don’t work. Only, it’s not true. Advances in behavioural treatments (such as cognitive behavioural therapy) for obesity and weight-loss drugs mean there are lots of approaches that help people lose weight.

In fact, weight loss is the easy part (relatively speaking). The problem is that when you come off a diet or stop taking a weight-loss drug, the weight will invariably creep back up.

To be clear, this does not mean that diets and other obesity treatments are useless. Far from it.

In a recent study, published in Lancet Public Health, researchers checked in on participants five years after they took part in a 12- or 52-week WW programme (formerly called Weight Watchers).

Although, on average, people’s weight had crept back up, some weight loss – about 2 kilograms, on average – was sustained for up to five years.

Even this short time at a lower weight can substantially reduce a person’s lifetime risk of developing diabetes, heart disease and other weight-related diseases. But for people with obesity, and their healthcare providers, weight regain can be demoralising.

The stigma surrounding obesity, which views a person’s weight as their responsibility, means that this ‘failure’ of treatment is often felt as a personal failing. This is not true. So why does the weight come back on?

Your brain doesn’t want you to lose weight

There are a few reasons why the weight creeps back on. First, our brain hates it when we lose weight. It considers this a reduction in our chances of survival, so it does everything in its power to drag your weight back up.

As you lose weight, your brain reduces your metabolic rate (the rate at which your body burns calories), making you subtly more efficient. The reality is, if there are two people of identical weight, one weight stable and the other having just lost weight, the latter will have to eat less food to remain the same weight.

It turns out that a hormone secreted from fat called leptin is largely responsible for this. One of leptin’s key roles is to let the brain know how much fat you are carrying. The more fat you have, the more leptin is produced. So when you lose weight, your brain senses the corresponding drop in leptin.

What is exciting is that scientists have shown that if you administer just enough leptin to fool your brain into thinking you haven’t lost any weight, then many of these weight-loss-related changes are mitigated. There is no treatment based on these findings yet – but watch this space.

As well as these biological causes, each person with obesity has their own combination of psychological, social, environmental and economic factors that have contributed to them gaining weight. Most of these will not resolve during a weight-loss treatment.

People with obesity who have lost weight still live in an environment where energy-dense, nutritionally poor food is widely available, heavily promoted, cheaper and more convenient. Social activities often centre around food. We celebrate with food, commiserate with food, and use food as both comfort and reward. Eating less requires continuous thought and considerable effort.

Behavioural treatments for obesity, such as commercial group programmes or cognitive behavioural therapy, teach us strategies that can help us to manage this, but they don’t stop it from being difficult. They also can’t make our lives easier.

Daily stressors and life events can disrupt the healthy habits and routines that people establish when trying to lose weight, while drugs that work to target biological drivers only work while they are being taken. Surgery also works to address biological drivers, but biology fights back.

Chronic treatments

It is unrealistic to expect that a one-off intervention will lead to permanent weight loss. If we take the example of high blood pressure medication, which is very effective, no one is countenancing stopping the treatment once your blood pressure has normalised. It would simply come back up again. The same is true for weight-loss treatment.

Obesity is perhaps best thought of as a chronic relapsing condition. People with obesity need lifelong access to treatment and support. Rather than dismissing effective treatment options because of weight regain, we should be honest with people about what treatments can achieve and the likelihood of needing ongoing support. After all, chronic conditions require chronic treatments.

The prevailing view of society is that obesity is a simple problem: simply eat less and move more. Thus, people with obesity just need to be “fat shamed” into becoming thin. However, people with obesity are not bad, lazy or morally bereft; they are fighting both their biology and their environment. Obesity is not a choice.

Amy Ahern, Principal Research Associate, MRC Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridge and Giles Yeo, Professor of Molecular Neuroendocrinology, MRC Metabolic Diseases Unit, University of Cambridge, University of Cambridge

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Technology

Splinter Cell remake concept art, gameplay, and story changes revealed

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Ubisoft’s upcoming remake of the original Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell is still in its early production and prototyping phase, creative director Chris Auty said in a newly released video celebrating the Splinter Cell franchise’s 20th anniversary, but its creators offered a taste of what’s to come on Thursday, in terms of new features and concept art for the game.

As previously discussed by the Splinter Cell remake team, Ubisoft Toronto is “look[ing] back at the plot, the characters, and the overall story of the original game,” Auty said, and making some improvements to “things that may not have aged particularly well,” but pledged that “the core of the story, the core of the experience will remain as it was the original game.”

Christian Carriere, technical director, touched on the technical innovations planned for the Splinter Cell remake, highlighting advancements in AI that will simulate different kind of behaviors and reactions from enemies. “Obviously a special forces soldier will be better trained,” Carriere said, “[and] they’re going to breach differently or enter rooms differently to something like a regular security guard would.”

“We can really improve AI engagement, how they’re reacting and what they’re reacting to,” added Andy Schmoll, senior game designer. “And with all of that we can make improvements to the cat-and-mouse gameplay between Sam and the enemies, especially with our enemies behaving like trained professionals.”

Carriere also touted audiovisual updates like ray-traced global illumination for much more realistic lighting effects and better audio simulations, that will help “create some really, really, really compelling and detailed settings.”

The Splinter Cell remake team said they’re “going dark” for a while to focus on making the game, offering only a few glimpses of what players can expect in the form of early artwork. You can see some of that in the gallery below.


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Technology

Apple Sued Over iPhone Privacy Settings After Gizmodo Story

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Photo: LOIC VENANCE / Contributor (Getty Images)

Apple is facing a class action lawsuit for allegedly harvesting iPhone user data even when the company’s own privacy settings promise not to. The suit, filed Thursday in California federal court, comes days after Gizmodo exclusively reported on research into how multiple iPhone apps send Apple analytics data, regardless of whether the iPhone Analytics privacy setting is turned on or off.

The problem was spotted by two independent researchers at the software company Mysk, who found that the Apple App Store sends the company exhaustive information about nearly everything a user does in the app, despite a privacy setting, iPhone Analytics, which claims to “disable the sharing of Device Analytics altogether” when switched off. Gizmodo asked the researchers to run additional tests on other iPhone apps, including Apple Music, Apple TV, Books, and Stocks. The researchers found that the problem persists across most of Apple’s suite of built-in iPhone apps.

The lawsuit accuses Apple of violating the California Invasion of Privacy Act. “Privacy is one of the main issues that Apple uses to set its products apart from competitors,” the plaintiff, Elliot Libman, said in the suit, which can be read on Bloomberg Law. “But Apple’s privacy guarantees are completely illusory.” The company has plastered billboards across the country with the slogan “Privacy. That’s iPhone.”

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

As seen in a video posted to the Mysk YouTube Channel, the App Store appears to harvest information about your activity in real time, including what you tap on, which apps you search for, what ads you see, how you found a given app and how long you looked at the app’s page.

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*lightsaber hum*

SabersPro

For the Star Wars fan with everything.
These lightsabers powered by Neopixels, LED strips that run inside the blade shape that allow for adjustable colors, interactive sounds, and changing animation effects when dueling.

Apple’s privacy settings make explicit promises about shut off that kind of tracking. But in the tests, turning the iPhone Analytics setting off had no evident effect on the data collection, nor did any of the iPhone’s other built-in settings meant to protect your privacy from Apple’s data collection.

Mysk’s tests on the App Store found that Apple receives that data along with details that can identify you and your device, including ID numbers, what kind of phone you’re using, your screen resolution, your keyboard languages and how you’re connected to the internet—the kind of information commonly used for device fingerprinting.

The App Store on your iPhone is watching your every move

When the researchers looked at other iPhone apps at Gizmodo’s request, they found that many behaved similarly. While the Health and Wallet apps didn’t collect analytics data, Apple Music, Apple TV, Books, the iTunes Store, and Stocks all did. The Stocks app shared data including your list of watched stocks, the names of stocks you viewed or searched for and time stamps for when you did it, as well as a record of any news articles you saw in the app.

“The level of detail is shocking for a company like Apple,” Tommy Mysk previously told Gizmodo.

This data can be sensitive, especially when you consider that merely searching for apps related to topics such as religion, LGBTQ issues, health and addiction can reveal details about a person’s life.

“Through its pervasive and unlawful data tracking and collection business, Apple knows even the most intimate and potentially embarrassing aspects of the user’s app usage—regardless of whether the user accepts Apple’s illusory offer to keep such activities private,” the lawsuit said.

Apple is under increased scrutiny for its privacy practices as the company expands into digital advertising. Apple recently introduced new ads in the App Store, reportedly plans to ads to Apple TV, and seems focused on poaching small business advertisers from Meta, Facebook’s parent company. While Apple’s company literature loudly declares that “Privacy is a human right,” it remains to be seen how much the iPhone manufacturer is willing to compromise that right as it develops new data-driven business ventures.

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Entertainment

Tulsa King is an undercooked fish-out-of-water mob story

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Sylvester Stallone as Dwight “The General” Manfredi
Photo: Brian Douglas/Paramount+

When the trailer for Tulsa King premiered during the NFL’s week six broadcast of the Buffalo Bills vs. the Kansas City Chiefs, the league’s early season heavyweight title bout, it seemed more than apt: The show promised a punchy, swaggering, sporting choice of violence, featuring the television debut of Sylvester Stallone, and offering the most stout shoulder and jutted jaw this side of the gridiron. Sly’s goateed jaw protrudes as if chiseled out of mossy stone, his voice tumbling throatily almost through marbles, eyes half shut, part tough-guy disinterest and part brawny boxer brain damage, his biceps prominently featuring an unnatural highway system of veins. The series poster promises one star at the top, one name needed: “Stallone.”

As he ships a package the man behind the counter asks, “Any flammable liquids or firearms?” and the audience is supposed to feel a collective guffaw, a notion of, “Dude, this is Rambo!” We are all in on the joke, in on all of the pedestrian one liners from the trailer: “If I stopped eating every time somebody tried to hurt me I’d be a skeleton.” He is coy and he is rugged, he is out of place but unto himself, he is only a gray hair in a suit, but, in the words of Mickey, he is still very much a “greasy, fast, 200-pound Italian tank.”

For all the noise and bravado, though, the Red Bull and fist pumping vibes that seem to frame the energy of hungover Saturday afternoon frat house fare, what is easy to miss, aside from the promise of “From the Creator of Yellowstone,” is that the show was helmed by one of the most original and promising writers in Hollywood. Taylor Sheridan wrote Sicario in 2015, a twisty, criss-crossing, paranoid, and depraved look at the war on drugs, at machismo, at shady government dealings, at, well, shady personal dealings, in a picture as confounding and fractured and dark as could be expected of a major release. He was then nominated for Best Original Screenplay for 2016’s Hell Or High Water, an impeccably structured bit of neo-Western crime noir that would make the Coen brothers jealous. It’d be almost easy to overlook Wind River, a windswept and chilly and chilling thriller much more hopeless than Hell. In just a few years, as a writer, the man originally known as playing David on Sons Of Anarchy seemed to have channeled and repackaged a special modern blend of Cormac McCarthy and Larry McMurtry, with a sprinkling of Sam Peckinpah and the spirit of early Warren Zevon. His voice is lean and unsentimental, accompanied by a vision full of menace and the darkness just beyond the reaches of a prairie campfire.

Here Sheridan pulled a different type of trick, penning the original story of Tulsa in just three days, supposedly, before handing the project off entirely to Terence Winter, the writer and producer known for work on The Wolf Of Wall Street, Boardwalk Empire, and, yes, The Sopranos. Winter acts as surrogate showrunner and seems grateful for such an entirely new entree for a mafia story. “Mobster in cowboy country,” is how he describes it, specifying this particular variance of fish out of water, yet we are comfortable miles from Steven Van Zandt repurposing Silvio Dante for Lilyhammer.

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Charge up your devices.
The Lumicharge 6-in-1 has a universal phone dock, compatible with Micro-USB and USB-C type phones.

Allen Coulter directs the first two episodes, in an act of full commitment to the David Chase antihero oeuvre. (Max Casella shows up too, in a seeming winking nod to Sopranos acolytes.) As we open, Stallone’s Dwight Manfredi is found leaving prison, scoffing at the new Manhattan of Apple stores and VR headsets, on a path to rectify the sins of his past, build a new life, accrue something of a new crew. “I married this life, I’m gonna see if it married me back.” At his welcome home party, he comes in hot, though. “Don’t stand behind my fucking back,” he barks, wasting no time getting down to the ludicrous business, his fists cathartically going thwack and pffff, mixing it up with the beefy men at the head of the family (led by Domenick Lombardozzi), those responsible for his 25-year residence in “college,” as they might call it. All of them are near caricature-level quick to the draw on the chest-puff snarls and the finger-pointing and spittle-inducing toughie platitudes, the pissing contests of former football players in business casual residing in tasteless McMansions. He eventually accepts his “banishment,” that there is “nothing left for me here,” and provides some mild exposition about an ex-wife and a daughter who “hates me.” “Why not?” he asks, and if you’re hungry for more explanation he might tell you he’s in “the none of your fucking business kind of business.”

Sylvester Stallone as Dwight Manfredi and Martin Starr as Bodhi
Photo: Brian Douglas/Paramount+

Either way, he lands in Tulsa with vague assignations dealing with “horse races,” immediately hires a driver (an endearing Jay Will as Tyson), strong arms his way into the medical-marijuana business (fronted by a stoned, deadpan Martin Starr), and bounds the realms between mountainous stoicism and semi-comic violence. Yes, Dwight might use a canteen, thrown like a shortstop turning two, no less, to combat a security guard, but he also might deadpan lament prison’s tiramisu. He uses the threat of a foot stomp, but it’s cooked with a base affability, as he explains “we’re partners,” and persuades with a “don’t make me be an asshole about this.” He is the buddy you like going places with, the one who can befriend any bartender (sad-boy supreme Garrett Hedlund), who throws 100s around like he’s paying off penance for a “lifetime of bad choices,” but can also wax on the finitude of “crossing the Rubicon,” or, say, Arthur Miller versus Henry Miller.

Like Sheridan’s best stuff, Tulsa is a story driven by a character with baggage. It is a familiar against-the-world trope of redemption and second chances and also a geriatric take on the blockhead underdog tale we’ve all known and loved Stallone for since those earliest rounds and those charmingly awkward dalliances with Adrian. Still, the vibe is of much lower stakes, like a medium-burn cruise along with an old friend who’s found new perspective. From the backseat, Dwight ponders the brave new world: “GM’s gone electric, Dylan’s gone public, a phone is a camera, coffee is five bucks, the Stones, god bless ‘em, are still on tour.” Such minor-key riffing and some stoner hijinks fill the long slow Oklahoma drives—wanna see Mickey Mantle’s childhood home?—that themselves buffer the contemplative scene-setting preparing for a glut of preordained violence.

Tulsa King | Official Trailer | Paramount+

But most of the early going is a long way from Winter or Sheridan’s most inspired work and more like something indeed cooked up in a short amount of time, say, in a stir-crazy pandemic weekend, something less apt to get married to than to pass along to a colleague while you go back to your Kevin Costner project (Yellowstone season five premieres the same day as Tulsa King), or your Jeremy Renner project (Mayor Of Kingstown season two premieres in less than two months). It helps if said colleague might overlook the cliche daddy issues that seem borrowed from Rocky V, or the it’s-a-small-world storyline lent directly by one of the most beloved episodes of Sopranos season one.

Still, Tulsa ranks as another sturdy chapter in the volume of prestigious, showy 21st century antiheroism. “Go West, Old Man” is the name of episode one, making thematic motives clear. Here we are, actor and character re-polishing, reawakening in a new background. There is not too far of a line to be drawn to Jeff Bridges’ recent work in The Old Man, another story of a, yes, old man, crafting a new career bookend before our eyes, another leading dog doing it now with gray in the beard, revisiting old tools and tricks while learning some new ones. Stallone, for his part, is actually quite funny, quite often. “If I can change, and you can change…” indeed. It’s a reminder of an American icon so known it’s easy to take him for granted, so one-hue it’s nice to see a flex of different muscles, so undeniably charismatic he’s welcome to take a country ride with.

Tulsa King premieres November 13 on Paramount+.

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Entertainment

The Al Yankovic Story Cast Vs Real People

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Here’s “Weird Al” Yankovic in real life.

And here’s a side-by-side of Daniel Radcliffe in the movie and “Weird Al” Yankovic.

2.

This is Evan Rachel Wood as Madonna, who’s an iconic singer-songwriter and often referred to as the “Queen of Pop.”

Here’s Madonna in real life.

And here’s a side-by-side of Evan Rachel Wood in the movie and Madonna.

3.

This is Quinta Brunson as Oprah Winfrey, who’s best known for being a talk show host and, well, for being Oprah.

Here’s Oprah Winfrey in real life.

And here’s a side-by-side of Quinta in the movie and Oprah Winfrey.

4.

This is Rainn Wilson as Dr. Demento, who’s best known as a radio broadcaster that specialized in novelty songs and comedy.

Here’s Dr. Demento in real life.

And here’s a side-by-side of Rainn Wilson in the movie and Dr. Demento.

5.

Here’s Jack Black as Wolfman Jack, who was a famous DJ during the ’60s and ’70s.

Here’s Wolfman Jack in real life.

And here’s a side-by-side of Jack Black in the movie and Wolfman Jack.

6.

This is Nina West as Divine, who was the drag queen best known for her roles in Hairspray and Pink Flamingos.

Here’s Divine in real life.

And here’s a side-by-side of Nina West in the movie and Divine in real life.

7.

This is Jorma Taccone as Pee-wee Herman, who is a famous children’s entertainer, comedian, and TV personality.

Here’s Pee-wee Herman in real life.

And here’s a side-by-side of Jorma Taccone in the movie and Pee-wee Herman.

8.

This is Conan O’Brien as Andy Warhol, who was best known as the leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art.

Here’s Andy Warhol in real life.

And here’s a side-by-side of Conan O’Brien in the movie and Andy Warhol in real life.

9.

This is Paul F. Tompkins as Gallagher, who was a famous prop comedian.

Here’s Gallagher in real life.

And here’s a side-by-side of Paul F. Tompkins in the movie and Gallagher.

10.

This is David Dastmalchian as John Deacon, who is Queen’s bassist.

Here’s John Deacon in real life.

And here’s a side-by-side of David Dastmalchian in the movie and John Deacon.

11.

This is Arturo Castro as Pablo Escobar, who was a Colombian drug lord and leader of the Medellín Cartel.

Here’s Pablo Escobar in real life.

And here’s a side-by-side of Arturo Castro in the movie and Pablo Escobar.

12.

This is “Weird Al” Yankovic as Tony Scotti, Scotti Brothers Records executive.

Here’s Tony Scotti in real life.

And here’s a side-by-side of “Weird Al” Yankovic in the movie and Tony Scotti.

13.

This is Toby Huss as Nick Yankovic, Al’s father.

Here’s Nick Yankovic in real life.

And here’s a side-by-side of Toby Huss in the movie and Nick Yankovic.

14.

This is Julianne Nicholson as Mary Yankovic, Al’s mother.

Here’s Mary Yankovic in real life.

And here’s a side-by-side of Julianne Nicholson in the movie and Mary Yankovic.

15.

This is Demetri Martin as Tiny Tim, who was best known as a singer and ukulele player.

Here’s Tiny Tim in real life.

And here’s a side-by-side of Demetri Martin in the film and Tiny Tim.

16.

This is Emo Philips as Salvador Dalí, who was a Spanish surrealist artist.

Here’s Salvador Dalí in real life.

And here’s a side-by-side of Emo Philips in the film and Salvador Dalí.

17.

This is Akiva Schaffer as Alice Cooper, who is a rock singer and frontman of the band Alice Cooper.

Here’s Alice Cooper in real life.

And here’s a side-by-side of Akiva Schaffer in the film and Alice Cooper.

18.

This is James Preston Rogers as Hulk Hogan, a professional wrestler.

Here’s Hulk Hogan in real life.

And here’s a side-by-side of James Preston Rogers in the movie and Hulk Hogan.

19.

Finally, this is Trenyce Cobbins as Diana Ross, who is an iconic vocalist and was the lead singer of The Supremes.

Here’s Diana Ross in real life.

And here’s a side-by-side of Trenyce Cobbins in the film and Diana Ross.

Be sure to watch Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, which is streaming now on the Roku Channel.

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Health

The doctors prescribing ‘blue therapy’

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But many experts now believe blue spaces, such as lakes and rivers, could be even more beneficial than green ones.

“Blue spaces provide us with distractions that take our mind away from the day-to-day hassles of life,” says Kate Campbell, a health psychology researcher at Te Herenga Waka-Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. “The sound of the crashing waves, the smell of salty air, the crunching of sand beneath our toes…The sensations relax our bodies and tell our minds to switch off.”

Campbell believes humans have “an innate predisposition” towards natural environments that once benefitted us as an evolving species. Natural spaces that provided pre-modern humans with food, comfort and safety are likely to provide a similar sense of ease even in today’s urban world. Spending time in blue spaces, says Campbell, can feel like “returning home”.

The concept of blue health emerged almost 10 years ago when researchers at the University of Sussex asked 20,000 people to record their feelings at random times. They collected over a million responses and found that people were by far the happiest when they were in blue spaces.

More recently, experts from Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) have found that spending time in blue spaces lowers the risk of stress, anxiety, obesity, cardiovascular disease and premature death.

Niamh Smith, a researcher at GCU and co-author of the study, says the team found an impact on both mental and general health from spending time in blue spaces. The research also linked time spent in blue space to a reduction in body mass index (BMI) and a lower risk of mortality.

“People really value the therapeutic space,” says Smith. “They love the sound of running water, having a reflective space to quietly sit, a place to clear your head away from the busy-ness of daily life.

“We know there are four main ways that blue spaces benefit health – through physical activity, stress reduction, providing a space for socialisation [and finally the] environmental factors that have a knock on impact on our health. For example, if a river is tree-lined, you have shade.”

In fact, blue spaces are so good for your health they can be now prescribed by your doctor.

Blue prescribing

“My depression comes in cycles,” says Harune Akthar, speaking from his West London home.

Around ten years ago, the 27-year-old was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, ADHD, depression and anxiety.

“When I had a bad day, it would take three to four days for me to come out of it,” he says. “I slept and ignored everyone including my family – and I love my family. I wouldn’t eat. You’d rarely see me.”

For years, Akthar tried a range of different therapies but didn’t find any that helped him. Then, in June this year, his doctor referred him to the Blue Prescribing scheme run by the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT), a charity.

After the first day, he didn’t think it was for him. By the end of the second, he couldn’t wait to go back.

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Technology

God of War Ragnarok’s recap video makes the game’s story more confusing

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This is just a wild guess, but I don’t think I’ll be the only person whose first God of War game will be God of War Ragnarök. Luckily for me, the developers already anticipated players who didn’t play God of War (2018). As you boot up Ragnarök a very convenient option appears on top of the main menu, titled “God of War recap.”

At first, I thought it would help folks like me go into Ragnarök knowing confidently what happened in the previous game and what to expect in this game. However, after watching it, I’m more convinced that it’s actually intended for those who just haven’t played God of War in a while. That’s because the minute-and-a-half-long video incoherently jumps from scene to scene, and it gets delivered without context and or any actual direct plot summary of the first game. Even though I watched it, I have no clue what happened. So I decided it would be funny to write a post about what I think happened in God of War based on the official recap in Ragnarök’s main menu.

Let’s begin.

There’s a big, strong bearded guy named Kratos and a little child named Atreus. I can figure at least this much out because, surprise, I knew who they were already. The game starts because Atreus’ mother passes away and he and his father want to spread her ashes on a mountain peak.

Image: SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment

It seems like a pretty difficult task because a random lady says that the region is a realm of the gods. I don’t know if that’s the region of the mountain they have to go to, but I’m going to assume that it is, because why on Earth would they want to go there otherwise. Kratos tells someone they are a god; however, I can’t tell if it’s being addressed to Atreus or to this lady, Freya. I’m assuming it’s Freya, because the recap shows her using magical powers that can make plants grow, and she refers to being the leader of the Vanir.

Kratos cuts the head off a guy named Mimir and then promptly presents it to a giant dragon thing. I don’t know why Mimir would invite Kratos to cut off his head, but the clip shows Kratos lifting a head up, so I think Kratos did the thing. Mimir mentions Kratos killing the children of Odin, who I’m guessing are gods. Then Kratos gives a li’l hot gossip about himself. Apparently he chose to become a man, but actually he’s a god. So I don’t know if he’s a god or a man or just a really strong man now.

Atreus learns he’s a god. He says he’s a giant but he looks to be a normal height to me. That leads Atreus to think he can do whatever he wants as a god, so then he goes and kills another god. (This god doesn’t appear to put up a fight against a child, somehow.) Kratos seems very upset because he shouts and tells Atreus that there are consequences if you kill a god.

Image: SIE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment

At this point, the story gets extra dramatic. Some other dude named Baldur enters the picture. He doesn’t seem to like Kratos or Freya. And I’m assuming that Kratos and Freya linked up again, so I suppose Freya serves as a guide to Kratos. But now everything seems bad because this Baldur guy gets pissed, and Kratos twists his head and kills him. I don’t really know why he’s pissed, but it might be because Atreus literally killed a god. Meanwhile Freya mourns Baldur’s passing and calls him her boy, so I’m assuming that’s her son.

Then Atreus mentions that someone called him Loki and he asks about that. Kratos doesn’t seem to care about explaining anything! He deflects Atreus’ question. So I’m assuming Atreus isn’t just a god but an extra-special god because Loki is a pretty important Marvel character.

In the end, we see them high up in the clouds and somewhat at peace, so it seems like they completed their goal of spreading the ashes. (Although once again, I wish I knew why that was important.) The recap doesn’t say if Atreus is directly related to Kratos, which seems pretty dang important. Overall, it looks like there are a whole lot of unresolved plot points from the first game that will get developed in Ragnarök. The recap wasn’t amazing, but you know what? I’ve just resigned myself to looking up wikis when I need some extra background.

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Health

As RSV surges in Minnesota, journalist Jana Shortal shares her son’s story

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MELISSA TOWNSEND: Jana Shortal is a journalist and a host of the show Breaking the News on KARE 11. But she had to call in sick this week because her son Zeke came down with RSV. That stands for respiratory syncytial virus. The number of kids in Minnesota with RSV tripled during the month of October.

Most of the time, it causes mild, cold-like symptoms, but the CDC says two out of every 100 cases can become severe. It’s tough on these very young children. It’s putting a strain on families and on the health care system. Jana Shortal joins me now to talk about her experience. Welcome to Minnesota Now.

JANA SHORTAL: Thank you so much. It’s great to be here.

MELISSA TOWNSEND: Yeah. It’s good to have you here. Thanks. So I said RSV stands for respiratory syncytial virus. But in your Twitter post yesterday, you said the RS stands for, “really sucks.”

JANA SHORTAL: I’m not the wordsmith of a family. My wife is. But that’s what I felt yesterday in the waiting room at Children’s. We were at the end of like three days of really debating, should we tax our health care system? And yesterday morning, I just hit this wall– part of it being just sadness for my kid.

And I don’t have any other children, so just nervousness of, “Am I not checking a box here? Am I not making sure he’s OK?” And then trying again to protect our health care workers because I know they’re overwhelmed with so many families that need help right now.

When I was sitting in that waiting room and he was wheezing and trying to fall asleep on my chest and all these kids were in there coughing– RS, really sucks.

MELISSA TOWNSEND: I bet every parent out there right now is like, uh huh. What were the symptoms you saw in your son that made you concerned?

JANA SHORTAL: I think that the way you described it is really accurate. My child goes to daycare so his parents can work, so we just figured it was the daycare sniffle cold. And that was almost a week ago. And then Friday night, we noticed this kind of wet cough, and I would say that’s the thing that changed it.

And then Saturday, Sunday when he started not eating very much, if at all– he would eat formula, but not food, and he’s a very healthy eater. His eyes got red and watery, and then that wet coughing. He couldn’t sleep. So at that point, you know it’s crossed the threshold into cold, into something else.

And again, because of the work I do, I was like, this is absolutely adding up to RSV. But the thing about RSV is you can go to the doctor, you can go to the hospital. And unless your kid is one of those two that has to be admitted, there’s nothing that can be done. They just have to go through it, which then enters into the, “How do we take care of ourselves as a family? How do we as middle-aged parents parenting for the first time– how do we figure out how to stay well?”

As you can tell, my voice is a little off. It’s hard because you have that secondary effect of then you get sick. I think it just goes around. I’ve heard from families who have been dealing with this for weeks and weeks, especially if they have more than one child.

MELISSA TOWNSEND: Yeah. How old is Zeke, if you don’t mind me asking?

JANA SHORTAL: 10 and 1/2 months, so right in the age range of RSV.

MELISSA TOWNSEND: Tiny. He’s tiny. Had you heard it was going around? You said you heard it probably through work.

JANA SHORTAL: Oh, yeah. We’ve done so many RSV stories. And honestly, all of us for the last couple of years have just been conditioned to fear and react and understand when COVID is a threat, and then RSV jumps into center stage here this fall really early. And it just felt like a wave crashing.

It happened so fast here in Minnesota. I mean, as I said, my son is in daycare, and it’s so contagious. And it’s kind of like a disease came from behind you that you weren’t expecting until the winter because you were still being so mindful about COVID.

MELISSA TOWNSEND: So tell me about the emergency room. You waited. What did the doctors say to you when you come in? How do how do they check him out?

JANA SHORTAL: Yeah. So I didn’t go to the emergency room. Children’s Minneapolis has one of the few– at least that I knew of– walk-in clinic where you could get a same-day for sure appointment. And it was so early in the morning I couldn’t call a pediatrician. And we’re still figuring all that out as first time parents.

So a dear, dear friend of mine, Dr. Angela [INAUDIBLE] said, go to this place at Children’s. And so I did, and I was probably the first or second person there. And just in the time I was waiting– because they take appointments first– I’m going to guess at least 200 people came through.

Like parents, kids, either with appointments, or trying to get through– at least twice the waiting room was completely full while he and I were still waiting. It took about an hour and 45 minutes to get seen. The care was tremendous. I mean, think about it.

I don’t know how many doctors or nurses were back there, but that many people are in their waiting room. They just can’t keep up. But the care was tremendous, and they were so, so kind. They immediately tested him for RSV, COVID, and flu. And within an hour, they had a positive test for RSV.

MELISSA TOWNSEND: Oh, wow. So now, what is the treatment? What do you do?

JANA SHORTAL: I mean, hope. Go on Twitter and ask people for advice. Basically like any trick– you really find yourself open to anything at this point because he’s so little. He can’t take Benadryl or NyQuil. I mean, you just can’t do that to a baby.

So we’ve done everything from going the bathroom, shut the door, turn on the water really hot, and try and ease out his chest cough. Stick them over a humidifier and try to get the snot to drip out. Rock him. Love him. Take him on really long walks to get fresh air, and you just try to get through it.

As you mentioned, I wasn’t able to go to KARE 11 yesterday just because my wife has, in my opinion, hit a wall. Because she’s up with him more at night than I am, because we try to preserve a few hours for me so I can be healthy enough to go report. But that just– all bets were off for the last five days.

MELISSA TOWNSEND: What did the doctors say about how long this might last?

JANA SHORTAL: I mean, I don’t even want to say it out loud.

MELISSA TOWNSEND: Really?

JANA SHORTAL: Yeah. I mean, they said some kids– I mean, if you’re like a miracle baby, five days, but he’s at day six now. And he’s better than he was two days ago. The weekend was the worst, and yesterday it was pretty bad. But it can go up to two weeks in terms of them being contagious and/or seeing that after effect.

MELISSA TOWNSEND: So what will you and your wife do about work?

JANA SHORTAL: Luckily, she is on sabbatical right now from her work as a professor. And I really don’t like missing work because I think I have never been able to escape the part of culture that tells a parent they can do it all. And I worry even missing one day that I’ll be replaced.

The mommy tax that all of us have gone through that if we aren’t there, somebody else is going to be able to take our position that doesn’t have a child that they need to care for. That may be unrealistic, but it’s a very big anxiety I have. And historically, it’s been true.

MELISSA TOWNSEND: Yeah. You’re not making that up.

JANA SHORTAL: No, it’s not made up.

MELISSA TOWNSEND: So do you have advice for other parents right now going through this also? There’s plenty of parents in these shoes.

JANA SHORTAL: One of the things– because they can’t prescribe any medicine or predict how it will go, but one of the last things the medical team at Children’s said to me before Zeke and I left the exam room was, find any iota of grace you have inside yourself for how hard this could be and emotionally prepare yourself for this to last longer than you think it should.

That does not mean it will happen, but that was advice I’d never gotten from a doctor is that I should emotionally prepare myself for something. I mean, I guess in our lived experience, I’m the first to say that this has been much harder on my wife than me because she’s at home as more primary to him than I am at this point in his life. And so he just needs to be held.

But I think just pay attention to your kid. Just because my kid didn’t get admitted doesn’t mean yours doesn’t need to be. Urgent care and walk in clinics– albeit crowded– are there for a reason.

I’m grateful that I went, even though I may not have had to. I just needed that for myself as a first time parent. Practical advice– for myself, I went to the walk in clinic at Children’s.

Go first thing in the morning the minute they open. Don’t wait, because oftentimes, that happens at urgent cares, too. If you have the opportunity to, go first in the morning because they sometimes are closing late morning because they have so many people. They have enough people in their waiting room by 9:30 to be done for the day.

Don’t worry about– like I was told for my kid, just make sure they’re drinking. If they’re not eating, that’s OK. Sometimes, we don’t like to eat either when we’re sick. It’ll get better. It just takes a while.

MELISSA TOWNSEND: Well, we are wishing you and Zeke and your wife all the best and good health and a speedy recovery.

JANA SHORTAL: Thanks.

MELISSA TOWNSEND: And thank you for coming on today. Appreciate it.

JANA SHORTAL: Thank you. Zeke is a big MPR fan. He wakes with Cathy in the morning. He’s got Minnesota Now at noon. I mean, he’s dialed in.

MELISSA TOWNSEND: She’ll be back next week. Let him know. She’ll be back.

JANA SHORTAL: OK, sounds good.

MELISSA TOWNSEND: Jana Shortal is a journalist at KARE 11.

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Health

Unravelling the mystery of autobrewery syndrome

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In a recent paper, Dinis-Oliveira outlined his own theory for what creates the optimal conditions for ABS to develop. He describes it as a “perfect metabolic storm” where the pH of the stomach increases and combines with food stagnation and the backflow of food into the stomach from the intestines, as seen in certain medical conditions.

Carson, the 64-year-old ABS patient from the UK, recently discovered he suffers from a genetically inherited disorder that affects the connective tissues in his body, known as hypermobile Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (hEDS). These connective tissues are primarily composed of the protein collagen and tend to provide support to other tissues in the skin, tendons, ligaments and blood vessels, as well as in some internal organs. Patients with hEDS can have hyper-flexible joints, but it also affects the digestive tract, where it can cause abnormal movements of the involuntary muscles that control digestion. This can make a patient’s gut more sluggish, leading to a delayed emptying of the stomach contents into the small intestine. (Read more about the effects of Ehlers Danlos Syndrome.)

No link has been studied yet between hEDS and ABS, but Carson believes this delayed emptying of his stomach could have contributed to his own ABS. Around one in 5,000-20,000 people suffer from hEDS, so more research is needed to determine if there is a link.

Cordell believes there could be other causes too. “We’ve also learned much more about dietary triggers and external triggers such as solvents/chemicals, pollution, stress, and trauma in causing ‘flares’ of endogenous alcohol production,” she says. 

Solvents are something Carson has associated with his own ABS – one of his early experiences with ABS occurred shortly after he had re-sealed a wooden floor using products containing volatile organic compounds. However, as solvents themselves can cause intoxication if inhaled, this relationship requires more research.

Following a strict diet guided by nutritionists, combined with antifungal treatments and multivitamins has allowed Carson to get his own ABS under control. “It is like a tightrope walk still,” he adds. “I am constantly saying: ‘Am I ok, am I alright?’ When I am feeling a bit tired, we do a breath-analyser.”

For Carson the most upsetting part of his experience with ABS has been the effect it has had on his mental health. He uses the “mind palace” memory technique made famous by the TV series Sherlock as an analogy. In the TV show, the Sherlock Holmes describes how he recalls information by keeping it stored in imagined rooms inside a large building – as an analogy.

“When I am in that blackout state, I no longer have access to the mental rooms of these events,” says Carson. “This is extremely unsettling and you end up doubting yourself.”

Carson says while he knows these episodes have taken place from his family, his own memories of them frustratingly out of reach. “There are several rooms where I cannot get into, as those rooms are locked and I have to accept that I will never get to them,” he says. “It is not that the memories are not there, it is just that in your conscious state you cannot access them.”

But as Carson has learned more about his condition, and what might be causing it, he and his wife hope fewer of those rooms will be locked in the future. 

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