All posts by The Silo

2022 And NOT Another Year Closer To Private company Asteroid Mining

July 7, 2022 The Silo 2 Comments

It’s been eight years since an historic landing took place between an European Space Agency drone and a comet.(which looked suspiciously a lot like an asteroid to us!)

At that time a report from Deep Space Industries laid out their business plans up to 2020 and what they had committed to sounded more like science fiction than fact.

But it wasn’t and they’d already secured investors.

A 2019 announcement from NASA stating that it would be the National Space Administration in the lead instead ( NASA will soon begin hunting a nickel laden asteroid ) spoke volumes about not only the possibility of asteroid prospecting- but also to its inevitability in the private sector.

DSI concept of “coming soon” asteroid mining.

And yet, things have changed…..again.

In early 2020 Deep Space Industries (along with the only other asteroid mining company, Planetary Resources) were purchased by Bradford Space Group and ConsenSys Group respectively and all plans for private asteroid mining were shelved indefinitely. Deep Space Industries is now focused on developing space propulsion systems and ConsenSys is now focused on developing blockchain security applications for space technology.

What could have been- Deep Space Industries ambitious plan before the take over

Their plan was to send an entire fleet of prospector spaceships to Near-Earth asteroids in order to harvest them for precious metals and other undisclosed resources. (space rubies anyone?). Starting in 2015, Deep Space Industries were to begin their operation by sending three small spacecraft called FireFlies to selected asteroids near earth for sample taking and photo reconnaissance. One year later, bigger craft called DragonFlies were to leave on four year missions to retrieve asteroid samples and bring them back to Earth. An ambitious project to be sure and not surprisingly, the timeline had been regularly pushed back.

This press release from DSI said a precursor mission was scheduled to launch in 2017: “Recently, Deep Space Industries and its partner, the government of Luxembourg, announced plans to build and fly Prospector-X™, an experimental mission to low-Earth orbit that will test key technologies needed for low-cost exploration spacecraft. This precursor mission is scheduled to launch in 2017. Then, before the end of this decade, Prospector-1 will travel beyond Earth’s orbit to begin the first space mining exploration mission.”

Valuable materials exist in abundance in space and have strong economic potential. Using their tested indicators as investment attractors, Deep Space will move towards securing a commercial space operation and start into the next phase of its business plan. This involves concentrating firstly on processing rocket fuel from asteroid-harvested water.

This fuel, harvested and processed in space will save millions of dollars, since existing communications satellites will no longer be ‘thrown away’ when their fuel supply has been used up. (Satellites that can longer ‘move’ and stay in orbit by using their rocket engines are left to slowly fall towards earth and burn up in the atmosphere ).

Deep Space Industries past-CEO David Gump estimated that a satellite ‘refueled’ and saved from burn up is worth up to $8,000,000 per month. Those figures start to add up when you factor in the number of satellites in use and being launched every year. Another plan during this phase of their business operations is to return precious group metals such as platinum and gold back to earth.

After all, if you’re splitting up asteroids and discover metal commodities, why not bring it back down to earth?

Deep Space believed that other metals harvested from asteroids also have an in-orbit value. They are developing the Microgravity Foundry- a type of 3D printer that will be used to fabricate and machine metal parts in space from pure asteroid metal such as high strength nickel parts.

Deep Space cgi mockup of their planned 3D space printer.

Since this factory will operate in space and in zero gravity and produce parts in space, the idea of permanent space development and human habitation is economically feasible. Stephen Covey co-founder of Deep Space Industries and inventor of the Microgravity Foundry process: “What’s cool about the [3D] printer is that it can take its own parts, grind them up, and recycle them into new parts.”

Stephen Covey- inventor of the Microgravity Foundry process

Deep Space Industries past-CEO David Gump: “Using resources harvested in space is the only way to afford permanent space development. More than 900 new asteroids that pass near Earth are discovered every year. They can be like the Iron Range of Minnesota was for the Detroit car industry last century- a key resource located near where it is needed. In this case, metals and fuel from asteroids can expand the in-space industries of this century. That is our strategy.” Company estimates place a value of 1 ton of raw asteroid material at a worth of $1,000,000 [usd] in orbit.

Buy outs over the last few years have all but ended the dream and it will be the various space agencies such as NASA and ESA that will fulfill Deep Space Industries abandoned plan. For the Silo, Jarrod Barker.

Supplemental: http://www.businessinsider.com/deep-space-industries-asteroid-mining-plans-2013-1#ixzz2Io8Qg8uc

Updates: Deep Space Industries aligns with Luxembourg Government, applauds space commercialization policy.

Mexican commercial space company MXSpace partners with Deep Space Industries.

NASA hunting nickel 16 Psyche asteroid worth quadrillions of dollars.

Culture

Aging, Muscular Neurosurgeon Says Building Muscle Best Protection Against Aging

July 6, 2022 The Silo Leave a comment

If you want good health, a long life and to feel your best well into old age, the No. 1 most important thing you can do is strength-training, says Dr. Brett Osborn, author of “Get Serious, A Neurosurgeon’s Guide to Optimal Health and Fitness,”

“Our ability to fight off disease resides in our muscles,” Dr. Osborn says. “The greatest thing you can do for your body is to build muscle.”

He cites a large, long-term study of nearly 9,000 men ages 20 to 80. After nearly 19 years, the men still living were those with the most muscular strength. (BMJ, formerly British Medical Journal, 2008).

Muscle is all protein – “nothing but good for you,” Dr. Osborn says.

Fat, however, is an endocrine organ, meaning it releases hormones and other chemicals. When a person has excess fat, he or she also has a
disrupted flow of excess biochemicals, which can increase insulin resistance and boost risk factors for stroke and high blood pressure, among other problems.

“Increased cytokines, an immune system chemical, for example, are associated with increased risk for cardiovascular disease,” Dr. Osborn says. “You’re only as old as your arteries!” Strength-training has health benefits for everyone, he adds, no matter their size. “Some fat is visceral fat – it’s stored around the organs and it’s even more dangerous than the fat you can see,” he says. “People who look thin may actually be carrying around a lot of visceral fat.”

So, what’s the workout Dr. Osborn recommends?

“Back to basics,” he says. “These five exercises are the pillars of a solid training regime.”

• The squat is a full-body exercise; it’s the basic movement around which all training should be centered. Heavy squats generate a robust hormonal response as numerous muscular structures are traumatized during the movement (even your biceps). Standing erect with a heavy load on your back and then repeatedly squatting down will stress your body inordinately – in a good way — forcing it to grow more muscle.

• The overhead press primarily activates the shoulders, arm extenders and chest. Lower body musculature is also activated as it counters the downward force of the dumbbell supported by the trainee. From the planted feet into the hands, force is transmitted through the skeletal system, stabilized by numerous muscular structures, most importantly the lower back.

• The deadlift centers on the hamstrings, buttocks, lumbar extensors and quadriceps, essentially the large muscles of your backside and the front of your thighs. As power is transferred from the lower body into the bar through the upper body conduit, upper back muscles are also stressed, contrasting with the squat, which is supported by the hands. Deadlifts are considered by some to be the most complete training exercise.

• The bench press mostly targets the chest, shoulders and triceps; it’s the most popular among weightlifters, and it’s very simple – trainees push the barbell off the lower chest until the arms are straight. This motion stresses not only the entire upper body, but also the lower body, which serves a stabilizing function. This provides a big hormonal response and plenty of bang for your buck.

• The pull-up / chin-up stress upper body musculature into the body. A pull-up is done when hands gripping over the bar; a chin-up is where hands are gripping under the bar. Nine out of 10 people cannot do this exercise because most simply haven’t put in the effort. It’s also been called a “man’s exercise, which is nonsense,” he says. There are no gender-specific exercises. Women, too, should aspire to enjoy the health benefits entailed with this pillar.

“There are no secrets to a strong and healthier body; hard work is required for the body that will remain vital and strong at any age,” Osborn says. “Always practice proper form and safety. Otherwise, the result will be the opposite of your goal, an injury.”

Reviews

The Sentient AI Future is Here And She’s A Lovely Stranger Named Frankie

July 1, 2022 The Silo 1 Comment

Bringing work home can put stress stress on a marriage, especially when that “work” is a beautiful woman who seems too cozy with the husband. But in Bruce Deitrick Price’s genre-busting tragicomedy book “Frankie”, looks are deceiving.

Raymond Mason, an AI genius and college professor, brings Frankie, his latest, most human-like creation, to dinner. Raymond knows his wife will be impressed.

No way! Julia Mason feels competitive and threatened.
Raymond touches Frankie in a romantic way.

Julia is hostile and drinks too much. She passes out as Professor
Mason runs upstairs to find a gun. An hour later, Julia wakes to find
her husband dead and Frankie gone. Julia, semi-hysterical, races into
the night to find the missing masterpiece.

Simon, a grad school drug dealer, falls in love with Frankie. He
realizes he can build a cult around this spiritually evolved woman.
First, he has to hide her.

For different reasons, many people search frantically for Frankie.
Meanwhile, more unexplained deaths are reported. Panic sweeps New Jersey. Some experts think that humanity is dealing with
an alien invasion.

A pathologist says he has never seen so many beautiful corpses. Cause of death: unknown.

“Elon Musk believes that AI will destroy us.

First there will be lots of misunderstandings, confusion, and paranoia,” Price says. “Frankie is a look into the future of AI. The smarter the robots, the more likely that strange, unanticipated things will happen.”

About the Author

Bruce Deitrick Price is a novelist, poet, artist and education
reformer. He wrote his first article about robots around 1990.

Featured image: Historic “Mona Lisa of the Pacific Islands” photograph Mestiza de Sangley, c. 1875

Art

Auction House Making News Today Via Asprey Bugatti NFT And Sculpture

June 30, 2022 The Silo Leave a comment

Today the Phillips auction house will showcase a one-of-a-kind NFT that will certainly appeal to both art and automobile collectors.

As a part of its 20th Century & Contemporary Art Evening Sale in London, Phillips will auction a 1-of-1 Bugatti NFT, with a starting bid of more than 350k. The NFT is paired with a physical, handmade sculpture designed in rose gold by the iconic Asprey brand.

“This is the first masterpiece derived from the Asprey Bugatti partnership, following the hugely successful sell out of the smaller 261 collection, inspired by pop art and the current digital art movement. The NFT enables the artwork to link to two physical sculptures in the blockchain, preserving provenance and authenticity. The NFT is a secondary feature that simply enables the sculpture and artworks to co-exist together in a unique narrative, a moment in history for the art of Asprey and Bugatti.”

Ali Walker, Asprey Studio’s Chief Creative Officer

Raising fascinating questions around ownership and the object, NFTs and blockchain technology have become increasingly prominent aspects of our contemporary landscape.

You can read more about the the auction, which will take place around 2 p.m. ET today by clicking here.

The auction has drawn so much attention that an online sportsbook BetOnline.ag has even created odds for the highest bid, setting the “over/under” at 500k.

Asprey and Bugatti began its digital and physical collaboration more than three months ago when it announced an NFT collection in partnership with Exclusible. That collection consisted of 261 unique tokens with different color combinations.

Like today’s auction, each of the 261 NFTs from the “La Voiture Noire” collection were paired with handmade sculptures redeemable by the holder at a future date. The sterling silver sculptures were handcrafted at Asprey’s London workshop by master silversmiths so no two pieces will be identical.

From the Philips auction page: THIS LOT IS A “NON-FUNGIBLE TOKEN” (NFT)
35
Asprey Bugatti
La Voiture Noire
Token ID: 1
Contract Address: 0x9250…F0c4
Non-Fungible Token: ERC-721
PNG: 1.49 MB (1,565,152 bytes), 2835 x 6803 pixels
Minted on 27 April 2022, this work is unique.

Please note the buyer of this NFT will have the option of ordering up to two physical sculptures, to be created by Asprey London Limited following the Auction.

“This exclusive partnership with Asprey will enable Bugatti customers and enthusiasts to enjoy our design values from a new perspective through this stunning Masterpiece. Featuring a Bugatti masterpiece at a prestigious contemporary art auction using NFT technology to fuse the art and the sculptures, embodies the spirt of innovation at Bugatti”

Wiebke Stahl, Managing Director of Bugatti International

Today’s physical item will be linked to the corresponding NFT via a QR code, serial number and color combination (unique base), and it will also include the Asprey and Bugatti logos. The physicals are expected to be redeemable in three months.

The current floor price on OpenSea is 12 ETH (At time of article, 1 ETHERIUM = $1,312.62 cad / $1,019.75 usd). The sales volume is 693 ETH, with an average sale of 10 ETH.

Asprey Bugatti NFT owners will be whitelisted for the Asprey Studio Club (ASC) Genesis membership in July. Genesis members will receive a physical gold signet ring with a founder edition engraving, along with special benefits such digital airdrops, whitelist for future drops, exclusive event/gallery invitations and more.

ASC members will also be able to display and offer for purchase their Asprey Bugatti NFT/sculpture on the first floor of the Asprey Studio showroom in the affluent Mayfair district of London.

Travel

Wear USB Condoms- Hackers Are Poised To Attack Tourists This Travel Season

June 29, 2022 The Silo Leave a comment

As the 2022 school year comes to an end, the surge of summer travel plans begins. With an estimated 60% of Canadians and Americans planning at least one trip over the next 3 months, hackers have roughly 200,000,000 projected tourists to prey on.

Lookout’s Cyber Security Expert, Hank Schless, shares how these cyber-attacks usually capitalize on travelers who are often overwhelmed or distracted when in unfamiliar environments, like airports and cafes.

>> Public Wifi Connections

“Although many airports offer free Wi-Fi connectivity, you should make sure that you join the official airport network and not a similar network that is configured to trick travelers into giving up their usernames and passwords”

Attackers have been known to set up fake networks – with obvious but convincing names like ‘Starbucks_Guest_WiFi’.
Once you connect, they’ll gain access to sensitive information, including your login credentials, emails, and messages.
In order to protect yourself from wifi threats, alter your device’s settings so that it does not automatically connect to nearby networks, which the Lookout app does automatically.

>> Social Awareness & Juice Jacking

While on the go, travelers rely on power outlets and USB cords to keep their mobile device’s battery charged. Attackers can exploit USB chargers by loading malware onto them that infects your device the second you plug it in – Always be aware of your surroundings.

The “USB condom” works by physically disconnecting the data pins of a USB device and only allowing the power pins to make contact.

If someone approaches you and offers their USB charging cord, it is best to decline.

Always travel with your personal USB cords, and plug your charger directly into an electrical socket (vs USB port) if possible.
The easiest place for a scammer to steal or hack your phone is in crowded areas – so never leave your phone or device unattended and only let people you know “borrow” your devices.

>> SMS and Email Travel Updates

“It’s important to be on guard for travel-related email, text, and social media scams as well. Attackers may try to steal a traveler’s credentials through phishing campaigns that pretend to be an airline, credit card company, or TSA”

The Lookout App by Google is now available in Canada.

Here’s how it works: A scammer will send a message telling the recipient that their TSA PreCheck needs to be renewed, but the link in the renewal email leads to a fake site where hackers can accept payment and steal a victim’s personal information.

Although the TSA sends renewal reminder texts and emails, travelers should always go directly to the TSA website for information on their existing accounts.
For added protection, consumers can also download security – Security protection, like the Lookout app, will automatically monitor and identify scam URLs in email, text messages, and on the web and block you from threats that can do harm.

Fashion

Lingerie From Colombia Combats Industry Control

June 28, 2022 The Silo Leave a comment

Building a business is one of the hardest things to do, especially when one is trying to build a business bigger than Victoria’s Secret, who owns 50 percent of the lingerie industry.

But, Catalina Girald, founder of Naja Lingerie is setting out to do just that.

Going for Soul Not Sex - changing the lingerie industry one pair at a time : Inside Naja Lingerie by Catalina Girald — Going for Soul Not Sex – changing the lingerie industry one pair at a time : Inside Naja Lingerie by Catalina Girald

Headquartered in Medellin, Colombia, with offices in San Francisco and New York, Catalina found a niche in the already dominated lingerie industry. Having worn Victoria’s Secret for most of her life it was when she became a professional that she started to see that the highly popular brand overly sexualized women. As a business woman, Catalina no longer felt comfortable wearing such lingerie and decided to design her own. “My aim is beyond making high-quality bras and panties. I want to create a lifestyle brand. I see it as the Athleta of what happens in your bedroom and bath.”

Her mission to create an alternative lingerie brand for women has a long journey ahead, but Catalina remains focused.

Seeing beyond the needs of women and staying in tune with the digital force of today’s society, Ms. Girald’s small yet powerful brand, Naja Lingerie is changing the game in more ways than one. With quotes printed inside each of the panties, designed to empower women and the brand going completely e commerce, Naja lingerie is for women who want to be radically different. Never forgetting the core of her mission, the company’s Underwear for Hope program donates a percentage of purchases to the Golondrinas Foundation in Medellin, where Girald was born. The foundation teaches impoverished women, skills such as sewing which allows them to support their families. They sew the wash-bags that come with each Naja purchase.

Each collection is inspired by the founder’s travels around the world.

From living with nomads in Mongolia to learning about the weaving process in Indonesia and living among the Hmong people in Vietnam, Catalina’s 18 month spiritual journey throughout Asia brought ideas and life to Naja lingerie. It wasn’t always that way for Catalina who was once at the top of her career as an attorney over at Skadden Arps, one of the most prestigious law firms in the country. Looking to create something greater, Catalina Girald started attending the acclaimed New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology–literally sneaking off to classes in between meetings at Skadden. Ultimately, she left Skadden to pursue her MBA at Stanford University where the Colombian born entrepreneur founded one of the first venture-funded fashion sites (MOXSIE) for independent designers which was later acquired.

Introducing Naja, the inventive online lingerie brand that speaks volumes

Naja, a digitally driven, forward-thinking innovator in the lingerie industry, has officially launched to rave reviews. Naja, billed as the “radically different, thoughtful lingerie brand for smart, courageous and sexy women”, was pioneered by Colombian-born CEO, Catalina Girald. No stranger to the fashion and technology industries, Catalina founded MOXSIE, one of the first venture-funded fashion sites for independent designers which was later sold to Fab.com. Naja is a breath of fresh air in an industry that hasn’t changed appreciably in decades. When asked about the direction of the new firm, Founder Catalina Girald answered, “We celebrate strong women. We’ve done away with fans blowing fake wind into our models’ hair, and old, dated lingerie designs. Our fresh designs, pricing and mission to empower women are challenging the industry, and we’re building the first billion-dollar online lingerie brand for the next generation woman.”

Today, women looking for fashionable bras under $80USD [$103CAD] have limited choices, including Victoria’s Secret.

However, a growing number of shoppers have expressed dissatisfaction with the mass retailer, citing a lack of innovative designs, low construction quality, and environmental impact amongst their concerns. Naja changes all of that. The company offers exclusive designs paired with the highest quality of fabrics, placing significant focus on structural changes and better product design. Features reserved almost exclusively for luxury lingerie, such as breathable memory foam cups and ultrasonic sealed straps, are now being brought to consumers at fair prices.

Naja uses Peruvian sourced Pima cotton for the softest feel and intelligent fabrics with odor and sweat wicking properties for real women with performance needs, all while remaining health and eco-conscious by using no phthalate materials and water based dyes.

The capsule collection, inspired by Tattoos and Japanese Shunga, consists of a basic line and three groups including “The Secret Lives of Sparrows”, “One Night in Cashmere”, and “Miyoko Loves a Dragon”. The collection is characterized by innovative and surprising prints on the interior of all the bra cups, so that every woman can carry her own little secret. All of the fabrics are exclusively designed for Naja by a local San Francisco Tattoo artist and are individually hand printed making each piece slightly unique. In keeping with Catalina’s vision of making great design accessible, the collection is fairly priced with bras ranging from $45USD to $70USD [$56CAD to $90CAD] and panties ranging from $12USD to $22USD [$15CAD to $28CAD].

Perhaps the most interesting thing about Naja is the company’s dedication to changing women’s lives.

Through Naja’s Underwear for Hope program, the company donates a percentage of profits to training women in the poorest and most violent areas of the world to sew. Naja then employs them so that they can help themselves and their children. With each purchase of Naja, consumers can feel good knowing that they are contributing to changing a woman’s life. To learn more about the company’s lingerie, social mission or what sets Naja apart from others in the industry, visit http://www.Naja.co .

Sci-Tech

Battery Show Europe Showcasing Latest Batteries, Exotic Racers And Cars

June 27, 2022 The Silo Leave a comment

Grove, Oxfordshire, England. June/July 2022 Williams Advanced Engineering (WAE) showcases industry-leading high performance battery technology at The Battery Show Europe

Innovative Adaptive Multi-Chem technology on display at Stuttgart show alongside first real-world application: Triumph Motorcycles’ TE-1 electric motorbike prototype
Adaptive Multi-Chem combines power and energy in one advanced battery system and can be tailored for individual customer requirements
Technology delivers step-change in performance, efficiency, range and charging time when applied to the TE-1 prototype demonstrator
Deus Vayanne EV hypercar, a collaboration between Deus Automobiles, Italdesign and WAE also on display at the event
The Battery Show Europe, Stuttgart, Germany will be held from 28-30 June 2022, with WAE located in Hall 8 on stand F50.

Williams Advanced Engineering (WAE) will showcase its industry-leading high performance battery technology at The Battery Show Europe from 28-30 June, in Stuttgart.

Visitors to the WAE stand in Hall 8, stand F50, will have the opportunity to examine an example of the company’s innovative Adaptive Multi-Chem advanced battery pack, together with the Triumph Motorcycles TE-1 prototype demonstrator.

Combining power and energy in one advanced battery system, Adaptive Multi-Chem sets new standards for performance and efficiency, with the advantage of being totally customizable for individual customer requirements.

Triumph’s first zero emission prototype demonstrator motorcycle – the battery pack for which delivers a peak power of 130kW and continuous power of 90kW, with a capacity of 15kWh – will also be on display. With the optimum balance of power and energy, TE-1’s battery gives the rider access to greater electric power for longer, regardless of battery charge, and matches exhilarating acceleration with exceptional range. The 360-volt system also enables a fast-charging time of under 20mins (0-80%).

WAE developed the technology to support the TE-1 prototype demonstrator, a unique collaboration between Triumph Motorcycles, Integral Powertrain Ltd, and WMG at the University of Warwick funded by the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles through Innovate UK.

In addition, the stunning 2200 horsepower Deus Vayanne electric hypercar, brought to life by WAE’s collaboration with Deus Automobiles and Italdesign, is on display on the Deus Automobiles stand Hall 8, Stand D-30.

This customer project demonstrates WAE’s sector-leading partnership with ItalDesign, which sees WAE provide a highly sophisticated composite EV platform and powertrain, with ItalDesign contributing the body design, safety systems and electric architecture.

The partnership provides a unique offering for established car companies and start-ups who want a luxury, high-performance EV, without having to spend many years – and billions of dollars – developing a proprietary EV skateboard and associated technology.

Taking place from 28 – 30 June 2022 in Stuttgart, Germany, The Battery Show Europe is Europe’s largest battery technology showcase and conference. With more than 480 suppliers in attendance, The Battery Show Europe provides an ideal opportunity for WAE to showcase its motorsport-derived, zero-emission mobility solutions.

On day one of the conference, Tim Engstrom, WAE Manager – Advanced Battery Technologies, will also deliver the keynote presentation, ‘Examining the Role of Motorsport as a Platform to Accelerate Battery Technology, And Why It Matters’.

Dyrr Ardash, Head of Strategic Partnerships, WAE said: “The Battery Show Europe is an ideal event for WAE to showcase its high-performance battery and EV platform technology. As the world electrifies, motorsport developments act as a springboard to bring world-class technical innovation for a decarbonised and sustainable future. WAE’s role in electric motorsport has significantly accelerated the development of the lightweight battery and e-powertrain technology we can offer our customers today. We continue to learn valuable lessons from our motorsport involvement that will deliver further transformative benefits to the users of EVs in terms of power, performance, efficiency, and sustainability.”

For the Silo, by Ben Lewis.

Sci-Tech

Cellular Therapy In Mice Means Aging Reversal In Humans Possible

June 24, 2022 The Silo Leave a comment

Salk researchers treated mice with anti-aging regimen beginning in middle age and found no increase in cancer or other health problems later on

LA JOLLA—Age may be just a number, but it’s a number that often carries unwanted side effects, from brittle bones and weaker muscles to increased risks of cardiovascular disease and cancer. Now, scientists at the Salk Institute, in collaboration with Genentech, a member of the Roche group, have shown that they can safely and effectively reverse the aging process in middle-aged and elderly mice by partially resetting their cells to more youthful states.

“We are elated that we can use this approach across the life span to slow down aging in normal animals. The technique is both safe and effective in mice,” says co-corresponding author Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte, professor in Salk’s Gene Expression Laboratory and holder of the Roger Guillemin Chair.

“In addition to tackling age-related diseases, this approach may provide the biomedical community with a new tool to restore tissue and organismal health by improving cell function and resilience in different disease situations, such as neurodegenerative diseases.”

As organisms age, it is not just their outward appearances and health that change; every cell in their bodies carries a molecular clock that records the passage of time.

Cells isolated from older people or animals have different patterns of chemicals along their DNA—called epigenetic markers—compared to younger people or animals.

Scientists know that adding a mixture of four reprogramming molecules—Oct4, Sox2, Klf4 and cMyc, also known as “Yamanaka factors“—to cells can reset these epigenetic marks to their original patterns. This approach is how researchers can dial back adult cells, developmentally speaking, into stem cells.

In 2016, Izpisua Belmonte’s lab reported for the first time that they could use the Yamanaka factors to counter the signs of aging and increase life span in mice with a premature aging disease. More recently, the team found that, even in young mice, the Yamanaka factors can accelerate muscle regeneration. Following these initial observations, other scientists have used the same approach to improve the function of other tissues like the heart, brain and optic nerve, which is involved in vision.

In the new study, Izpisua Belmonte and his colleagues tested variations of the cellular rejuvenation approach in healthy animals as they aged. One group of mice received regular doses of the Yamanaka factors from the time they were 15 months old until 22 months, approximately equivalent to age 50 through 70 in humans. Another group was treated from 12 through 22 months, approximately age 35 to 70 in humans. And a third group was treated for just one month at age 25 months, similar to age 80 in humans.

“What we really wanted to establish was that using this approach for a longer time span is safe,” says Pradeep Reddy, a Salk staff scientist and co-first author of the new paper. “Indeed, we did not see any negative effects on the health, behavior or body weight of these animals.”

Compared to control animals, there were no blood cell alterations or neurological changes in the mice that had received the Yamanaka factors. Moreover, the team found no cancers in any of the groups of animals.

When the researchers looked at normal signs of aging in the animals that had undergone the treatment, they found that the mice, in many ways, resembled younger animals. In both the kidneys and skin, the epigenetics of treated animals more closely resembled epigenetic patterns seen in younger animals. When injured, the skin cells of treated animals had a greater ability to proliferate and were less likely to form permanent scars—older animals usually show less skin cell proliferation and more scarring. Moreover, metabolic molecules in the blood of treated animals did not show normal age-related changes.

This youthfulness was observed in the animals treated for seven or 10 months with the Yamanaka factors, but not the animals treated for just one month. What’s more, when the treated animals were analyzed midway through their treatment, the effects were not yet as evident. This suggests that the treatment is not simply pausing aging, but actively turning it backwards—although more research is needed to differentiate between the two.

The team is now planning future research to analyze how specific molecules and genes are changed by long-term treatment with the Yamanaka factors. They are also developing new ways of delivering the factors.”

At the end of the day, we want to bring resilience and function back to older cells so that they are more resistant to stress, injury and disease,” says Reddy. “This study shows that, at least in mice, there’s a path forward to achieving that.”

Belmonte is currently an Institute Director at Altos Labs, Inc., in addition to being a professor at the Salk Institute.Other authors included Mako Yamamoto, Isabel Guillen Guillen, Sanjeeb Sahu, Chao Wang, Yosu Luque, Javier Prieto, Lei Shi, Kensaku Shojima, Tomoaki Hishida and Concepcion Rodriguez Esteban of Salk; Kristen Browder, Zijuan Lai, Qingling Li, Feroza Choudhury, Weng Wong, Yuxin Liang, Dewakar Sangaraju, Wendy Sandoval, Michal Pawlak, Jason Vander Heiden and Heinrich Jasper of Genentech, Inc.; Amin Haghani and Steve Horvath of UCLA; Estrella Nuñez Delicado of Universidad Católica San Antonio de Murcia; and Pedro Guillen Garcia of Clínica CEMTRO.The study was supported by Universidad Católica San Antonio de Murcia (UCAM), and Fundación Dr. Pedro Guillén.

DOI: 10.1038/s43587-022-00183-2

About the Salk Institute for Biological Studies:
Every cure has a starting point. The Salk Institute embodies Jonas Salk’s mission to dare to make dreams into reality. Its internationally renowned and award-winning scientists explore the very foundations of life, seeking new understandings in neuroscience, genetics, immunology, plant biology and more. The Institute is an independent nonprofit organization and architectural landmark: small by choice, intimate by nature and fearless in the face of any challenge. Be it cancer or Alzheimer’s, aging or diabetes, Salk is where cures begin.

Shinya Yamanaka, MD, PhD, a senior investigator at the Gladstone Institutes — which is affiliated with UCSF — won the 2012 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of how to transform ordinary adult skin cells into cells that, like embryonic stem cells, are capable of developing into any cell in the human body. Yamanaka shared the prize with John B. Gurdon of the Gurdon Institute in Cambridge, England.

Reviews

Three Thousand Dollar Cartridge Reveals All That Vinyl Records Offer

June 23, 2022 The Silo Leave a comment

Audio-Technica Introduces Its ART Series AT-ART20 High-End Phono Cartridge

STOW, OH, June, 2022 — Audio-Technica recently reached out to The Silo and announced the introduction of its AT-ART20 Dual Moving Coil Stereo Cartridge, the latest in A-T’s ART Series of high-end phono cartridges. The AT-ART20 utilizes Audio-Technica’s magnetic-core design to achieve extraordinary musical realism. Complementing its superlative vinyl playback performance, the AT-ART20 has a striking, distinctive contoured appearance.

“Our goal in creating the new AT-ART20 was to capture the full expressiveness of the original recording,” said Bob Peet, Audio-Technica Global Product Manager – Analog Products. “

To that end, the AT-ART20 embodies technologies and know-how that are the result of our 60 years of experience in phono cartridge design and manufacturing.”

The AT-ART20 (SRP: US$2,900 / CAD$3,760) delivers expansive, detailed sound with unmatched imaging and dynamics. The AT-ART20 utilizes the advanced manufacturing and polishing techniques that have been developed in the eyeglass industry of Sabae City in Japan’s Fukui Prefecture. The cartridge’s body features graceful curves with a flowing, organic design that has never been previously achieved. The body is made of precision-machined titanium combined with an aluminum cartridge base and an elastomer under cover, a selection of materials that provides significant resonance reduction along with lower mass. The cartridge body has threaded mounting holes to facilitate installation.

The AT-ART20 features dual moving coils aligned in an inverted “V” shape which provides optimal channel separation for superior stereo imaging and wide dynamics. The front yoke of the magnetic circuit is 0.6 mm thicker than previous designs, to improve magnetic flux density and increase the output efficiency by more than 15 percent to 0.55 mV.

The cartridge employs a nude special line-contact stylus with a solid boron cantilever just 0.011 inches (0.28 mm) in diameter, to extract a remarkable amount of information from the record groove. The boron cantilever is connected to the armature utilizing a stepped-pipe construction, which provides increased rigidity and improved strength with decreased resonance for a purer audio signal with clearer, more detailed sound.

The AT-ART20’s tip reinforcement plate is made of titanium, which reduces overall mass and improves the cartridge’s high-frequency performance, which extends to 50,000 Hz.

The Audio-Technica AT-ART20 Dual Moving Coil Stereo Cartridge is now available. Contact us on where and how to place your order.

Art

New Divers Watch Is Art As Functional Timepiece

June 22, 2022 The Silo 1 Comment

Modeled with forms borrowed from water itself, ArtyA’s newest divers watch will look amazing on your wrist…..above and below the waves.

At time of publication, 12,900 Swiss Francs= $17,338 cad or $13,357 usd.

Sci-Tech

Disruptive Drone Franchise Opportunity

June 17, 2022 The Silo 2 Comments

Aquiline Drones (AD) has now combined the fast-paced drone industry with the demand for external property care services and developed a revolutionary drone franchise business model. Specifically, the Hartford, Connecticut based drone manufacturer offers budding entrepreneurs and those with existing property maintenance companies the power of drone technology to fulfill various exterior cleaning and improvement services safely, quickly and cost-effectively.

https://youtu.be/4jF9GvBCUys

“Franchising has contributed greatly to the overall North American economy since 1731 and has proven to be a lucrative avenue for those who seek both work freedom and financial stability,” said Barry Alexander, Founder and CEO of Aquiline Drones. “There are thousands of franchises across hundreds of industries, but none like ours in the drone sector, so it’s perfect timing for those wanting to grow their business from the ground floor up.”

Franchises offer the independence of small business ownership supported by the benefits of extensive business networks.

In fact, according to Dr. Franchise’s website, there are more than 792,000 franchising companies in the United States with a projected $826.6 billion usd/ $1.07 trillion cad in revenues for 2022.

In Canada, a report from franchise101.net indicates that there are about 1,250 franchise companies operating 76,000 franchises.

According to a recent survey by Franchise Business Review, the average annual income of an American franchise owner is approximately $80,000 usd/ $104,000 cad ( According to glassdoor.ca the average income of a Canadian franchise owner is approximately $40,480 cad) ; however, this number varies based on the motivation of the owner, and the particular business industry. “Clearly, the sky is the limit and with a drone franchise given the rapidly evolving and lucrative drone services market, a new franchisee can literally dominate an entire region in a very short period,” adds Alexander. “In fact, we are already seeing substantial interest since we announced this unique and creative franchise model with customers already purchasing our equipment.”

Besides its high earning potential, other advantages of AD’s drone franchise include: direct training, easy-to-secure financing, lower investment costs, piggybacking off an established corporate brand, proven management and work practices, and ongoing support – all creating a higher rate of success than other start-up companies in the same business category.

Similarly, AD’s drone services franchise will offer the prospective franchisee in-depth training through its well-established Flight to the Future (F2F) commercial drone pilot training program.

The franchisee receives in-person flight training for many commercial applications, including total exterior property care, through the program.

In addition, AD’s proprietary Drone-On-Demand (DoD) mobile app, downloadable on Google Play Store (Apple iOS in July), will match customer service requests nationwide with drone service providers within proximity to the requested jobs.

Flexible financing and insurance options are currently being organized through AD and its subsidiary, Aquiline Drones Indemnity Corporation for new franchisees and established businesses alike.

Individuals can purchase various commercial, American-made drone models through AD’s manufacturing department depending on their desired business scale and goals.

“There is a distinct fascination with drone technology supporting ordinary and dangerous business operations,” adds Alexander.

“We founded our company on the underlying mission that drones should enhance, preserve and save human lives, and certainly many of those in the outdoor property care industry put themselves at risk every day.”

Specific exterior maintenance services supported by AD’s unique franchise model include:

Roof washing and gutter cleaning
Solar panel washing
Roof and home inspections
Ice melting and removal with steam
Window washing for both residential and commercial structures
Spraying and fumigating pesticides for ticks, mosquitoes, wasp nests, etc.
Seeding and fertilizing lawns, farms and golf courses
Sterilization of stadiums, streets, and other outdoor facilities

Alexander also highlights that specific drone use cases can create direct cost-savings for the consumer.

For example, solar energy has been taking the world by storm and homeowners have been using it to save money on their electricity bills, add value to their property, and sometimes make a little money from the utility company. According to Sunbadger.com, 16.4 million American homes currently use solar panels as their primary electricity source and regular cleaning ensures that they are working more efficiently, hence allowing for maximum tax credits, rebates and other federal and state incentives.

According to the Canadian Renewable Energy Association, Canada has more than 43,000 solar (PV) energy installations on residential, commercial and industrial rooftops, providing power directly to those homes and businesses.

“Cleaning solar panels with a drone is much safer than traditional methods and could viably save a homeowner money by increasing its efficiency by 15-25%, a welcomed bonus with today’s economic inflation,” said Alexander.

AD is offering its innovative franchise system as a 3-tiered business opportunity:

All-inclusive package – drone pilot training, business registration as an LLC, drone and associated hardware (hoses and pumps for low and high-pressure spray washing), ratio-ed territory exclusivity, job leads through the AD DoD, marketing, branding and support services.
Standard Package – for those already managing exterior maintenance or spray washing companies – drone pilot training, drone hardware, specs for equipment and pumps, access to the AD DoD job or mission requests, support services.
F2F Graduates – for those already certified through AD’s Flight to the Future program , some discounting will apply. Other items include hoses and pumps for low and high-pressure spraying, ratio-ed territory exclusivity, job leads through the AD DoD, company marketing, branding and support services.

Other benefits of the AD franchise model as compared to a traditional franchise company include, a modest start-up cost without needing an expensive, fixed building lease since all drone missions take place outdoors, single proprietor ownership vs. needing multiple employees up front, affordable drone insurance offered by AD’s insurance subsidiary instead of requiring pricy market liability insurance, flexible and accessible AD lines of credit for the initial investment vs. having to incur market loans.

“Whether one is seeking a career change in a burgeoning industry or a company looking to expand its book of business, the AD drone franchise represents a viable revenue stream and scalable fee structure for both new entrants and experienced business owners alike.” For the Silo, Alisa Picerno.

Sci-Tech

Automation Key To Future Of Work Under Great Reset

June 16, 2022 The Silo Leave a comment

LOS ANGELES—Automation is no longer an option, automation is the key to surviving the Great Reset.

In 2021, more than 47 million American workers resigned, an annual record. In Canada numbers are harder to determine since accurate resignation numbers are not readily available. However, Statistics Canada has published the results of a survey pitched towards Canadian workers.

With no sense of the number of people surveyed and the accuracy of the data gathering the results should perhaps be best taken at face value: “In January, respondents were asked whether they were planning to leave their current job, and whether quality of employment considerations were among the reasons for doing so. Fewer than 1 in 10 Canadian workers aged 15 to 69 (7.3%) were planning to leave their current job within the next 12 months, compared with 16.1% in 2016, when respondents to the General Social Survey were asked the same question (not seasonally adjusted). When January 2022 LFS respondents were asked to report their main reason for planning to leave their job, preliminary results show that at least 1 in 5 of those planning to leave (22.2%) reported reasons related to quality of employment, including low pay (15.7%), heavy workload (4.3%) and inability to do their current job from home (2.2%). The trend is continuing. Surveys and data show that 6 in 10 young professionals have changed jobs or plan to and that 4.5 million workers quit their jobs in March.”

Businesses face continuously evolving markets and societal pressures that are transforming the way employees and employers put in exchange with each other to provide value to consumers and clients.

Staffing agencies especially have been under pressure during the pandemic and navigating the Great Reset.

Bilflo automates back-office tasks and helps staffing manage hundreds of contractors and direct hires on a single, simple platform. This allows organizations to conserve time and labor while expanding business operations and profits. The ability to pull in live performance metrics makes it easy for businesses and teams to track their progress on goals.

“The pandemic was a catalyst for development and expansion, springing from a strong foundation. We spent the past decade developing Bilflo to provide value to clients, especially during a turbulent time,” said Bilflo CEO Barrett Kuethen. “Bilflo was built by staffing industry experts to specifically serve the industry and address the unique operational pains to bridge process gaps.”

As of 2022, Bilflo has an extensive integration roadmap that has started with ATS platforms: Bullhorn and Jobadder along with accounting systems like Quickbooks. The company is expanding with key offerings such as Importing External Time, which will support staffing companies by eliminating redundancy and manual errors from VMS tools and other client time portals. Bilfo’s developers and leadership update the platform responsively to customers to provide optimized results.

Bilflo is outcome-driven and their case studies with leading companies bring to life their platform and services. Amtec, a 60-year-old staffing company which employs over 1,000 contractors every year, provides talent to industries like health care, IT, aerospace and more. After adopting Bilflo the company reduced back-office labor by 75 percent, doubled capacity and achieved 49 percent annual cost savings. Extension, a 20-year-old full recruitment and staffing company handles up to hundreds of employees per week, and similarly achieved success through Bilflo, saving more than $20,000 usd a year and eliminating 16 hours a week in manual workload.

Bilflo founders held a webinar, in association with Staffing Industry Analysts (SIA), to discuss why and how to automate staffing companies’ back-office processes. Bilflo has already seen success after emerging in the market early this year and has received 3^rd party validation from industry leaders like G2.com. Bilflo received recognition as a high performer for 2022 including generally, and for small business, mid-market, “easiest to use,” “easiest to do business with” and for “best support.” G2 features Bilflo reviews and case studies here on back office management, and tech stacks.

Bilflo’s APIs (application program interface) communicate with organizations’ ATS to retrieve information. This eliminates the need for someone to spend hours manually entering data.

Bilflo makes it so that companies can store contract job information such as rates, burdens, timecard types, overtime rules, job site addresses, workers’ comp codes and rates, and more.

In the era of remote work and asynchronous collaboration, companies need systems in place to handle timecard and expense management.

Compliance is more difficult to manage than ever. Bilflo solves these problems by calculating overtime in all states and provinces. Payroll integration and automated invoicing rapidly handle complex payment terms, billing addresses, line item information, and real-time reports.

Culture

Toronto Martinis Are All About The Garnish

June 15, 2022 The Silo Leave a comment

TORONTO, Ont. — In a quiet, backlit corner, cozied up to a bar or amid the flashing lights on the dance floor, the distinctive silhouette is striking.

Ahhhh martinis.

1969's 007- George Lazenby — 1969’s 007- George Lazenby

Slender where it needs to be, but flared in the right spots, the martini has an iconic image that exemplifies class and sophistication, which is perhaps why it is the drink of choice for the fictional British spy James Bond. And as the tuxedo is central to the image of 007, how you dress your martini is key to its image — a skewer of olives resting along the angle of the chilled cocktail glass, submerged in the clear mixture of vermouth and gin (or vodka, as your personal taste may dictate).

“The martini is drink for the refined, elegant individual, not unlike the fictional British spy James Bond,” says Desiree Sardo, head of communications and public relations at Sardo Foods. “Vodka or gin.

Shaken or stirred. The beauty of the drink is its versatility, and that applies to the olives as well. The question that must be asked is, what’s in your martini?”

With the future of the next Bond movie still up in the air (will we see a new actor taking on the 007 role?) , Desiree suggests shaking up a few martinis and settling in for a contemplative James Bond marathon.

[Here’s Radiohead’s superior and unused theme song for the opening of Spectre]

For a classic martini like Bond would enjoy, pour ½ oz. vermouth and 3 oz. of gin over ice in a mixing glass. Stir well, then strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with several green olives (martini enthusiasts insist on a minimum of three olives) and enjoy.

Up the Martini ante with Sardo Gourmet stuffed Olives.

Most people like a traditional pimento stuffed olive in their martini, but experimenting with garlic and red pepper stuffed olives, or jalapeno and red pepper, will add a little zest to your drink.

To complete the martini experience — and give you a healthy snack while watching a Bond film — pair it with an incredibly easy-to-make but classy antipasto skewer.

Start with a cured, salted meat — prosciutto is a good choice — as the base, then add on an artichoke heart, cherry tomato, a leaf of basil or mint and a bocconcini. The presentation is beautiful and the skewer makes it easy to eat while still holding your martini glass.

“Everybody has their favourite Bond actor and their favourite Bond film, but to get a true taste of the character I recommend a marathon that includes a good variety of Bond movies with a different Bond in each,” says Desiree. “Your James Bond martini and a viewing of Spectre with Daniel Craig would go well with GoldFinger starring Sean Connery, For Your Eyes Only with Roger Moore and Die Another Day with Pierce Brosnan. A martini or two with your marathon is a great way to spend a James Bond day.”

For more information, email [email protected] or visit sardofoods.ca. Join the conversation on Instagram @sardofoods and Like on Facebook.

About Sardo Foods:

Family owned and operated in Canada, Sardo Foods is world renowned for bringing all the unique flavours of the Mediterranean to your family’s table. Specializing in olives, antipasti, pesto, spreads, bruschetta and more, Sardo Foods aims to make gourmet cooking and entertaining easy.

Based in Bolton, Ont., Sardo Foods employs 150 people and boasts more than 200 product lines.

Culture

World’s Largest Swapping Network Even Lets You Trade Your House

June 14, 2022 The Silo 1 Comment

LOS ANGELES. HomeExchange – the world’s largest home exchange network with over 65,000 active listings in 150 countries – has launched HomeExchange Gold, an extension of its offering that caters to the luxury segment with a set of premium, personalized services.

“HomeExchange has always offered top-notch member support. As exchangers, we have it in our DNA,” said Jim Pickell, President of HomeExchange. “The depth of experience across our regionalized Support Team has been a signature of our commitment to the concept of sharing since we launched 24 years ago. We are excited to push the standard of service even higher, unparalleled in the industry, through HomeExchange Gold. This launch is about offering a Gold level of support to help ensure members find the right fit, not just a five-star home.”

HomeExchange Gold membership is ideal for home exchangers who have multiple homes or are looking for more personalized service through a dedicated Gold Exchange Specialist, reachable by phone, email or chat at anytime, from anywhere. The standard HomeExchange guarantee still holds of unlimited exchanges worldwide with no extra fees.

Even sailboat listings! Like this one in Greece.

HomeExchange Gold premium services include the Gold Exchange Specialist’s real-time assistance in optimizing profiles and listings for maximum exposure; and on-demand, personally curated listings – the best possible options – based on travel preferences like dates and destinations, number of bedrooms required, amenities (pool, beach, wi-fi, car…) and any special needs.

HomeExchange Gold members have a choice between connecting exclusively with fellow Gold members or making their listing visible to the entire community.

“Luxury today is about personalization, on-demand service, flexibility and freedom of choice,” explained Peter Anton, Director of Global Marketing. “HomeExchange Gold aggregates these four components as a first-class facilitator ensuring a great home exchange vacation.”

The higher level of service was added in response to demand by the growing segment of owners with second homes seeking to connect with others like them. However, based on the principle of flexibility and freedom of choice, all HomeExchange members will continue to be able to choose between traditional membership or upgrade to the more personalized level of service through HomeExchange Gold.

“We are very excited to launch this inclusive offer of premium services, available to all in our current community, as well as future members. Travelers have different needs and we now have different levels of service to enhance their home exchange experience,” concluded Anton. For the Silo, Alexandra Origet du Cluzea

At the time of writing, “HomeExchangeGold” annual membership is $560 Cdn and regular “HomeExchangeRegular” annual membership is $170 Cdn.

About HomeExchange

Founded by Ed Kushins, a pioneer of the “collaborative consumption” movement, HomeExchange has facilitated over one million home swaps since 1992. It was featured in 2006 in the cult movie “The Holiday” starring Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet and Jude Law. In 2015, 65,000 HomeExchange members made 130,000 home swaps across 150 countries. HomeExchange makes it easy to plan and enjoy a home exchange vacation and offers travelers a memorable, authentic experience. It was voted in November 2015 “Best Site for Booking Your Stay” by readers of USA TODAY and 10Best.

Gaming

JUMANJI GAME LAUNCHES ON NINTENDO SWITCH

June 13, 2022 The Silo Leave a comment

Mobile game sees 384% increase in downloads after its major update
Fans’ demands are answered as JUMANJI launches on Nintendo Switch
Play local co-op, private or open online co-op, with cross-platform play

Marmalade Game Studio has announced that its mobile game JUMANJI: The Curse Returns, is now available on the Nintendo America eShop for Nintendo Switch^TM, making it available to millions more gamers. GamesIndustry.biz data shows Nintendo Switch is Nintendo’s best-selling console of all time, with over 103.54 million units sold. This exciting launch is predicted to build on the recent 384% mobile growth.

In March, Marmalade Game Studio released a major update to the mobile version of JUMANJI: The Curse Returns, introducing a new level of card and deck building tactics.

This evolution of card gameplay added another dimension to every encounter in the game. Since this landmark update, weekly downloads of the game on iOS and Android have increased by 31% on average, compared to previous weeks.

Drawing from a selection of ever-changing Attack and Assist cards, players must work together and strategize to defeat invading jungle wildlife. Every encounter brings with it fast-paced, card-based gameplay, for which quick thinking, deck management and teamwork are key. What’s more, when players buy the game on Nintendo Switch, they’ll get 2 Maps including Brantford and the Winter Resort.

Michael Willis, Co-CEO of Marmalade Game Studio, said: “Nintendo Switch is one of the most popular game consoles in the world. Making JUMANJI: The Curse Returns available on this platform means millions more people can now enjoy playing our game in the way they want to.”

“We recently unveiled a major upgrade of the game which we consider our best version yet, as proven to be hugely popular with a massive increase in downloads on mobile. We’re happy to be launching on Nintendo Switch at this time, bringing our latest update to a whole new audience and maintaining our momentum of success.”

JUMANJI: The Curse Returns captures fans’ nostalgia for the 1995 classic film.

Players visit iconic locations where they will be rolling the dice, reading riddles and facing dangerous creatures and plants from the mysterious jungle. Playing on their own or within a team, players face multiple threats including giant mosquitos, raging stampedes and monsoons, right through to the hunter, Van Pelt. The gameplay is simple to pick up, fast-paced and comes with tactical and deck building features. This combines to put the team under pressure as they work together to save the town.

All Marmalade Game Studio games support cross-platform multiplayer.

This means that those on Nintendo Switch can join their friends on iOS and Android. There are multiple ways to play JUMANJI: The Curse Returns. Play at home with 2 players in Local Co-Op or tackle the jungle in single player mode with AI characters. Bring friends and family together to vanquish Jumanji in online 4-player co-op.

JUMANJI: The Curse Returns is one of Marmalade Game Studio’s collection of highly successful digital board game adaptations, including MONOPOLY, CLUE/CLUEDO, THE GAME OF LIFE, THE GAME OF LIFE 2 and BATTLESHIP.

JUMANJI: The Curse Returns is available on the Nintendo America eShop for Nintendo Switch, priced $18.99 usd ($24.42 cad) / £14.99 / €17.99.

Fans of JUMANI should also watch out for new downloadable content that is coming soon based on the movies ‘JUMANJI: Welcome to the Jungle’, and ‘JUMANJI: The Next Level.’

About Marmalade Games Studio

London-based Marmalade Game Studio is one of the most successful publishers in the digital board games markets on Steam, Nintendo Switch and mobile. Notable successes include MONOPOLY, THE GAME OF LIFE 2 and CLUE/CLUEDO, all highly polished and innovative games that constantly top the charts on the App Store and Google Play.

For more information about Marmalade Game Studio, please visit the website: https://marmaladegamestudio.com/, and follow us on Twitter (@MarmaladeGames), Facebook (@MarmaladeGameStudio), and Instagram (@MarmaladeGames)

About Sony Pictures Consumer Products

Sony Pictures Consumer Products (SPCP) is the licensing and merchandising division of Sony Pictures’ Motion Picture Group and Sony Pictures Television for Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE), a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Sony Group Corporation. SPE’s global operations encompass motion picture production, acquisition, and distribution; television production, acquisition, and distribution; television networks; digital content creation and distribution; operation of studio facilities; and development of new entertainment products, services, and technologies. Sony Pictures Television operates dozens of wholly owned or joint-venture production companies around the world. SPE’s Motion Picture Group production organizations include Columbia Pictures, Screen Gems, TriStar Pictures, 3000 Pictures, Sony Pictures Animation, Stage 6 Films, AFFIRM Films, Sony Pictures International Productions, and Sony Pictures Classics.

Reviews

This Kick Scooter Converts From Backpack To Longboard

June 10, 2022 The Silo Leave a comment

Kick scooter, pronounced ‘geek scooter.’

Kick scooters are gaining popularity in many populous urban and suburban areas worldwide. As Europe leans toward sustainable mobility, more and more creative ideas are addressing the issue of daily commuting. Designed and engineered in a home garage in Ljubljana, Slovenia, the OLAF Kick Scooter is one such attempt to alleviate the ‘last-mile’ problem.

Engineer Bostjan Zagar and his father developed an open platform kick scooter, OLAF Urban, that can carry any bag or backpack.

A unique feature is that if used with the provided OLAF backpack, the scooter itself is a backpack, and if the handle is folded, also a longboard.

Jure Lozic, designer of Musguard – rollable bike fender, calls the folding mechanism “an engineering marvel, simple and effective”. Bostjan owns a patent and hopes it will take him from A to B, where B is mass production. Slovenia has ample production capabilities, so an eventual goal would be global manufacture.

After almost three years of research and development, Zagar was confident enough to start crowd funding at Kickstarter.

To broaden the odds of success, he implemented the same folding mechanism to an existing concept of carry-on kick scooter, OLAF Business. Now you really can cross the Atlantic with a kick scooter. “It’s the coolest carry-on!”

Art

How UNESCO Supports Exiled Ukrainian Women Artists

June 9, 2022 The Silo 1 Comment

Paris, 9 June 2022 – UNESCO is launching a scheme to support Ukrainian women artists who have had to flee their country because of the war, in partnership with the NGO Perpetuum Mobile. It will enable them and their children to be hosted and cared for by a cultural institution in the country where they have found refuge.

“The war has driven millions of Ukrainians into exile, the vast majority of whom are women and children. Among these people, women artists who have been forced to suspend their creative activities often lack material and financial resources to resume their work in their host country,” says Audrey Azoulay, UNESCO’s Director-General.

For this reason, UNESCO decided to launch a programme dedicated to Ukrainian women artists in exile, born of a partnership with the NGO Perpetuum Mobile, initiator of the Artists at Risk platform, which brings together cultural institutions in over 15 countries.

The artists concerned will be supported for a minimum of three months by a cultural institution in their host country.

They will be taken care of with their children in artistic residencies, and will benefit from support in terms of networking, visibility and the conception of new cultural projects.

(Left) Ukraine electro-pop duo Bloom Twins: “It has really affected us,” said singer Anna Kuprienko. “We’re talking to our family, we have a lot of friends and our second manager living there. We go back to the Ukraine quite a lot. We were only there two months ago. We were hopeful that this situation with Russia wouldn’t go where it has and that it would resolve.” (Right) Ukraine singer Khrystyna Soloviy : “We are a generation that has never seen the Soviet Union and was born in a free Ukraine. Ukrainians are not Russians, as said by the Russian government. We have a difficult, depressed history of Russian colonisation.”

The scheme will aim to provide them with the means to become autonomous by the end of their hosting period, whether they then choose to return to live in Ukraine or to settle permanently in their host country. UNESCO has already set aside $140,000 usd (about $177,000 cad at time of this publication) to finance the scheme, which should initially benefit some 30 artists and their children.

A new link in UNESCO’s emergency response

The programme complements the range of emergency measures already deployed by UNESCO since the beginning of the war to safeguard tangible and intangible cultural heritage, secure museum collections and combat illicit trafficking in cultural property.

Moreover, since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, UNESCO has been monitoring the situation of artists in close consultation with artists’ networks and cultural actors in the country. This work is also carried out in coordination with international organizations involved in supporting artists at risk: PEN America’s Artists at Risk Connection, Perpetuum Mobile/Artists at Risk, ICORN, Freemuse, Prince Claus Fund and the PAUSE programme. For the Silo, Lucía Iglesias Kuntz, UNESCO Press Service.

Featured image: Face of War (Putin in bullets) co-created by Daria Marchenko, 35 now exiled Ukraine woman artist.

Culture

Quirky Doc About One Man’s Quest For Supreme Tea

June 6, 2022 The Silo Leave a comment

2all_in_this_tea_movieposter — The movie poster says it all

Invest a little over an hour watching this documentary about tea and you might find yourself contemplating a new connection between rural farming communities and the tea farmers of China. That’s because All in this Tea deals with all aspects of Chinese tea production, but takes a special interest in how a new demand for high quality, organic Chinese tea is creating new opportunities for Chinese rural farmers.

The story begins by focusing on David Lee Hoffman’s elusive quest for rare and perfect teas.

David is a renowned tea importer and to say that he loves tea is an understatement. Based on the passion and knowledge shown in this doc, he seems to live for the stuff. Hoffman sees himself as a cultural zealot, promoting the rich history of simple Chinese farming practices and educating the western world on the merits of drinking pure, organic tea produced in the “Chinese way”.

He makes the act of producing tea seem like the ultimate expression of agricultural art.

His journey takes him to remote, obscure farms where he begins the process of encouraging the Chinese tea board to end mass farming practices and belligerent pesticide uses. His goal is to create a new tea farming economy, one where quality takes precedence over quantity. If you like tea or if you want to learn more about Chinese tea farming practices, If you’re a tea drinker or know someone who is (don’t we all?) then All in this Tea is the right documentary for you. For the Silo, Jarrod Barker.

Culture

WHY Meditation Is Science Approved Medicine

June 4, 2022 The Silo Leave a comment

There have been countless anecdotal claims about the benefits of practicing meditation since the Eastern tradition has become more popular in the West.

 Now, there’s plenty of Western-based scientific evidence to support them, says Dr. Matt Mumber, a radiation oncologist and co-director of a non-profit integrative oncology program.

“Meditation is to the brain what physical activity is to the body. We’ve found meditation to be an important facet of health care, both for prevention and maintenance as well as in the treatment of disease, including cancer,” says Dr. Mumber, co-author with colleague and Yoga instructor Heather Reed of “Sustainable Wellness: An Integrative Approach to Transform Your Mind, Body, and Spirit,” (www.sustainablewellnessonline.com).

Mumber and Reed, who are co-facilitators of non-profit residential retreats for cancer patients, say one can experience sustainable wellness by developing a life practice grounded in the cultivation of awareness. This awareness is paying attention without attachment. The ability to be aware can be increased by a meditation tool called mindfulness.

“Life is a constant series of adjustments, matching your inner being with your outer doing,” Reed says. “One way to heighten your awareness is through practicing meditation.”

Mumber and Reed say there’s plenty of new evidence that the resulting sense of balance and peace is not just a psychological effect:

• Mindfulness meditation leads to increases in regional brain gray matter density: Recently published in Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, shows that measurable changes in gray-matter density in parts of the brain associated with memory, sense of self, empathy, and stress occurred with study participants who meditated for 30 minutes a day for eight weeks.

• Meditation practitioners have longer attention spans: Published by the journal PloS Biology, a study analyzed people with three months of rigorous training and found that they gained a drastically improved attention span – not only longer, but less susceptible to internal or external distraction. They also showed improved memory and enhanced performance in several tasks, from driving a car to playing piano.

• Reduces stress and blood pressure: Presented to the American Heart Association by researchers at the at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee and the Institute for Natural Medicine and Prevention, a study including 200 high-risk patients for heart attack found that meditation reduced their chances for heart attack by 50 percent.

Oncologist Matt Mumber co-author of Sustainable Wellness

“Studies involving people seeking to reduce stress and other problems in their lives via meditation will continue, as well as for those who want to enhance performance of various duties,” Mumber says.

“For those skeptical of the medical benefits of this Eastern practice, there’s now plenty of Western proof.” Matt Mumber, MD

Matt Mumber, MD, is a practicing board-certified radiation oncologist with the Harbin Clinic in Rome, Ga. He completed his radiation oncology residency at Wake Forest University Bowman Gray School of Medicine and graduated from the Associate Fellowship Program in Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona. Dr. Mumber is past president of the Georgia Society of Clinical Oncology. He founded Cancer Navigators Inc, a non-profit organization offering cancer patients access to nurse navigation, social services and educational programs to support and augment the clinical care they receive. Dr. Mumber received the Hamilton Jordan Founders Award for involvement in statewide oncology activities and in 2008 he was named a Health Care Hero by Georgia Trend magazine. He serves on the editorial board for the journals Current Oncology and Journal of Oncology Practice and is on the board for the Society of Integrative Oncology.

Yoga instructor Heather Reed of “Sustainable Wellness: An Integrative Approach to Transform Your Mind, Body, and Spirit

Heather Reed has been teaching Yoga since 1996. She expresses an integrative, adaptive approach and specializes in using Yoga and meditation techniques for people living with cancer, post-polio syndrome and other chronic illnesses. Heather received an Experienced Teacher Certification from Esther Myers Yoga Teacher Training Program and has had extensive training with senior staff of the Commonweal Cancer Help program and Dr. Dean Ornish’s Program for Reversing Heart Disease. She developed Yoga classes for cancer patients at The Wellness Community, Atlanta. Since 2008, she has been Yoga teacher and co-facilitator for the Residential Retreat Program for Cancer Navigators of Rome, Ga. For the Silo, Ginny Grimsley

Supplemental- http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/28/how-meditation-may-change-the-brain/

Gaming

Retro FPS Action In Next Year’s Warhammer 40,000: Bolton

June 3, 2022 The Silo Leave a comment

Visceral retro FPS action to the Warhammer 40,000 flavor

Load up your Boltgun and plunge into battle headfirst! Experience a perfect blend of Warhammer 40,000, classic, frenetic FPS gameplay and the stylish visuals of your favourite 90’s retro shooters.

Play a battle-hardened Space Marine on a perilous mission across the galaxy, as they battle against the Chaos Space Marines and daemons of Chaos.

In glorious boomer shooter style, unleash your devastating Space Marine arsenal as you blast through an explosion of sprites, pixels and blood. Run, jump and charge across huge levels to shoot, shred and slice the worst heretics across the galaxy!

“We are delighted to be working on this fast-paced indie FPS alongside the talented Auroch Digital studio, and our long standing partner Games Workshop,” announces Dessil Basmadjian, Chief Creative Officer at Focus Entertainment.

“We are excited by Boltgun’s skillful combination of iconic 90s style, the Warhammer 40,000 universe, and thrilling gameplay that is sure to delight all kinds of players.”“Auroch Digital is proud to be working with Games Workshop again and Focus Entertainment on Boltgun. As a team of massive Warhammer 40,000 fans, this game has been brewing since 2018 and we’re so excited we can FINALLY shout about it from the rooftops! We can’t wait for players to get their hands on it and to see their reactions” says Nina Adams, Operations Director at Auroch Digital.

Stay tuned FPS gamers- Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun will be coming to PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PCs in 2023. For the Silo, Clemence Bigeon.

Culture

How Improper Tiling Will Wreak Havoc On Home Value & Your Health

June 1, 2022 The Silo Leave a comment

ICYMI: Poorly installed tile can cause serious health issues due to mold, and significantly decrease home values. Gregory Norman, founder of BathMasters, highlights the advantages of hiring a professional for tiling projects and encourages homeowners to resist cutting corners.

(Clearwater, FL) —The homeowner improvement and repair market reached $317 billion USD in 2017 alone and continued to hover around that mark right up to this year-even when factoring in Covid, (1) and the number of homeowners utilizing DIY and unlicensed contractors for renovations is also on the rise.

13% of all households undertook a bathroom remodel or replacement project in the past 5 years, and of those, 42% failed to use a licensed contractor.(2)

The risks associated with improper renovations—especially tiling—can not only slash a home’s value, but also prove hazardous for homeowners’ health, warns bathroom renovation company BathMasters.

When it comes to bathroom overhauls, homeowners are generally unprepared for surprises, such as mold or leaks that can be hiding inside walls and beneath floors.(3) Improper tiling performed by a homeowner or unlicensed contractor can inadvertently allow water to seep in, facilitating accumulation of mold spores and thereby causing serious damage to a homeowner’s house and personal health.(4) Per BathMasters founder, Greg Norman, statistics show that in all remodeling projects, tile showers are the number one botched renovation.

Norman says the room for error is vast; if the underside of the shower pan is not waterproofed, or the membrane going to the drain is improperly installed, costly leaks and mold can – and likely will – occur.

(3) And the risks are alarming: mold and water damage under shoddily-installed tiles can cause heightened asthma problems, skin rashes and even autoimmune diseases.(4) Per Norman, preserving health and the value of the home are invaluable to cutting corners on a renovation project.

“No home renovation project in the world is worth putting one’s health at risk,” said Norman. “Additionally, home renovations are intended to increase the value of a home; DIY projects or renovations done by unlicensed contractors run completely contrary to that.”

Although it may seem like homeowners can save money by not using a licensed contractor, even a small defect can significantly devalue a property. Most cities require homeowners to tear out walls, along with any ceramic wall tiles, if the renovation project wasn’t inspected by the city beforehand. Also, a home appraiser may not include a non permitted addition in the square footage for the home value, which could cost homeowners thousands of dollars.

When considering home renovation projects that include electrical work, plumbing jobs, tiling or knocking down walls, hiring a licensed contractor is key.” Norman went on to say that when hiring a contractor, homeowners need to do their homework by checking reviews and ensuring that permits are being pulled consistently.

“BathMasters regularly replaces showers that have been done incorrectly by unlicensed contractors, generally within five years of installation.

The company is dedicated to providing the highest quality work; as such, its team is equipped with specialized training from the Tile Council of North America in South Carolina, enabling its contractors to offer customers the highest standard of work for all bathroom renovations. For the Silo, Ashley Richardson.

About BathMasters:

BathMasters is a Virginia plumbing, electrical and building contractor with showrooms and warehouses in Northern Virginia and the Tampa Bay Area (Florida). BathMasters is rapidly expanding to meet the demand of its customers for high-quality, full-service bathroom renovations and tub-to-shower conversions built to withstand the test of time. With thousands of custom bathroom remodel jobs under its belt, BathMasters has become the premier choice for all bathroom renovation needs.

Co-founders and brothers Gregory and David Norman grew up in a family of masters: their father was a master plumber, and their uncles worked as a master electrician, master carpenter, and class A home builder. The Norman family legacy has always been about high-quality work, never cutting corners, and an unparalleled commitment to communication, honesty and integrity in their dealings with homeowners. It is this legacy that Gregory and David carry forward at BathMasters. Their mission is to improve the skill level of bathroom installers through their extensive workforce training programs, to the benefit of homeowners and the industry itself. Visit BathMastersVirginia.com and BathMastersFlorida.com.

Donahue, Kerry. “STRONG AND STABLE GROWTH PREDICTED FOR HOME IMPROVEMENT AND REPAIR MARKET IN 2017.” Joint Center for Housing Studies. N.p., 19 Jan. 2017. Web.
Webb, Craig. “Homeowners Hired Pros to Remodel 66% of Kitchens, 58% of Baths, NKBA Survey Finds.” Remodeling. N.p., 11 Jan. 2017. Web. 09 Mar. 2017.
LaPonsie, Maryalene. “7 Reasons to Back Away From DIY Home Improvement Projects.” Money Talks News. N.p., 22 Apr. 2015. Web. 28 Feb. 2017.
Is Your Home a Death Trap? How Mold Affects Your Health and Your Home’s Value. N.p., n.d. Web.

Earth

Will Ontario’s Poison Caterpillar Return This Summer?

May 31, 2022 The Silo 5 Comments

The Hickory Tussock Moth Caterpillar as found on Prospect Street, Port Dover, Ontario — This Hickory Tussock Moth Caterpillar was found on Prospect Street, Port Dover, Ontario

Important safety tip: if you see a caterpillar that has hypodermic-like needles poking out from its body DON’T TOUCH.

That might seem like common sense but Summer 2014 had Ontarians reporting to emergency rooms and to family doctors with symptoms ranging from swelling and rashes to vomiting and intense pain. All this from a seemingly harmless caterpillar sting.

Nature has a way with defense mechanisms and the hickory tussock moth caterpillar is no exception.

During mid to late Summer this caterpillar has one thing on its mind: time to cocoon. In order to accomplish that task, it needs to crawl around out in the open to discover the best places to begin its transformation. So it’s easy pickings if you’re a hungry bird. That explains the caterpillars needle like barbs and the poisonous toxin that they deliver.

Other signals to predators that say “stay away” are black dots on the belly of the caterpillar .

If you see one of these critters the best way to handle them is to use a leaf or a stick to gently encourage the caterpillar to hop on board. That way you will remain safe when you transport them somewhere else- away from those areas that your family and pets enjoy. For the Silo, Jarrod Barker.

Culture

Creativity Espoused By Mainstream Media Is Sadly About Machine Creativity

May 26, 2022 The Silo Leave a comment

[You may know him from the movies “What The Bleep Do We Know” and “Down The Rabbit Hole” – Two great introductory documentaries on Quantum Physics you really owe it to yourself to see. Let the Silo introduce you to a welcomed, new contributor- Dr. Amit Goswami – Author, Speaker and Scientist. Ed.]

“I am very excited about one of my recent books- Quantum Creativity. The main message of this book is this: If you are interested in creativity and in thinking quantum, you have the basics of what it takes to be creative, in fact, to be extraordinary in your creativity.

Quantum physics is the physics of possibilities. Quantum physics says reality is both possibility and actuality.

The objects of the universe are possibilities, quantum possibilities; they become objects of actuality in our experience when we observe because we have chosen actuality from the possibilities proffered. This two-level complementary reality is an important aspect of our consciousness. The unmanifest, (psychologists call it the unconscious, spiritual traditions call it the transcendent) is the realm where consciousness processes possibilities (unconscious processing) but without awareness, without subject-object separation.

The manifest (psychologists call it the conscious, spiritual traditions call it the immanent) is the domain of actualities that consciousness processes with awareness, with subject-object split.

Quantum thinking consists of this two-level processing—both unconscious and conscious. Quantum thinking understood in this way liberates you, anyone, from any assumed ordinariness. With its help, anyone can be creative.

Creativity was difficult for people of the olden days because they had to pursue it blindly, they did not know how human creativity works; they assumed it is all mystery, all arts. And today, lots of people shortchange their creativity because of their faulty mechanistic worldview.

The truth is, we cannot discuss the relevant issues of human creativity without a lot of make-belief within our current mechanistic worldview based on the metaphysics of scientific materialism—everything is matter moving in space-time and material interaction.

The science of creativity that the protagonists of a mechanistic worldview talk about, and which today you read about in the media, is about machine creativity. To a large extent it is sophistry, about how determined machines can somehow appear to be creative.

It is self-evident that human creativity requires consciousness as a causal entity with free will, freedom to choose.

It is self-evident that human creativity requires the capacity to process meaning, that human creativity involves affects (agony and ecstasy), and that human creativity begins with intuition.

Dealing with human creativity requires a worldview in which consciousness is causally potent, in which not only our physical experiences but also our experiences of thinking, feeling and intuition are validated. Quantum physics, properly interpreted, gives us that worldview. Engaging the two level complementary reality of quantum physics gives human creativity all its wonderful and mysterious attributes that material machines moving in a one-level space-time reality cannot possibly simulate.” For the Silo, Dr. Amit Goswami.

Culture

How Cardiovascular Disease Connects To Inflammation

May 25, 2022 The Silo 3 Comments

I bet we all have someone near and dear to our heart, who has been touched by cardiovascular disease.

Public health and agencies such as Heart and Stroke Society have done an excellent job highlighting some of the key factors that are risk factors to cardiovascular disease. These risk factors can include hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol, obesity, alcohol, smoking, and stress.

An overarching factor that exists within all of these risk factors is; inflammation.

Inflammation can be defined as “the body’s attempt at self-protection; the aim being to remove harmful stimuli, including damaged cells, irritants, or pathogens – and begin the healing process.” The symptoms of inflammation are represented as heat, redness, swelling and pain.

There have been links made between chronic inflammation and some cancers, rheumatoid arthritis, atherosclerosis, periodontitis and hay fever.

One of the key modifiable factors affecting inflammation that has been researched is diet. Meals that are contain excess calories and inflammatory fats have been linked to causing spikes in c-reactive protein, a measureable maker of inflammation. The Standard American Diet has been linked to higher inflammation rates due to the higher intake of omega 6 fatty acids compared to omega 3. In contrast the Mediterranean Diet has been linked to lower inflammation levels due to higher content of omega 3 fatty acids, low glycemic foods, higher amounts of carotenoids and flavonoids found abundantly in fruits and vegetables.

Excess body fat is also a component of inflammation as it a factory for inflammatory cytokines within the body, resulting in higher levels of inflammation. A study of postmenopausal women who where overweight or obese who lost 5% or more of their body weight had measurable decreases to their inflammation levels.

Type 2 diabetes, the result of insulin resistance also has its roots deep in inflammation. Again research has shown that more fat cells in the body result in a cascade of cellular signalling within the immune cells that results in inflammation.

In the case of acute inflammation such a healing cut finger, physical symptoms would be typical; heat, swelling, redness and pain. Chronic inflammation does not display these same symptoms, instead havoc on the cardiovascular system can go undetected. The process of atherosclerosis, the origin of cardiovascular disease is a result of the activation of the immune system during inflammation leading deposition and accumulation of cholesterol and tissue along the cardiovascular system.

From a preventative health standpoint it is important to combine the current treatment of cardiovascular health treatment with strategies to reduce inflammation.

Naturopathic Medicine as a preventative form of treatment has many options available to decrease overall inflammation within the body and can be used alongside conventional medical treatments. For the Silo, Ashley Beeton.

Finance

Should You Take Out a Second Mortgage?

May 25, 2022 The Silo Leave a comment

With housing prices cooling off a bit but still generally soaring in cities across Canada, many homeowners are asking themselves how they can cash in on the market without actually having to sell their property. For many, a second mortgage will be the ideal way to do so.

Second mortgages are one of the perfect mortgage solutions for homeowners who want to tap into their home equity to get lump-sum cash payments at low rates of interest. If you want to know if a second mortgage is right for you, here are three questions you should ask yourself.

1. How Much Home Equity Do I Have?

Before you start approaching mortgage brokers about a second mortgage, it’s a good idea to do some calculations around home equity, as the amount of money available to you through a second mortgage is determined by how much home equity you have.

Fortunately, home equity is easy to calculate: simply subtract your existing mortgage from the current market value of your property. The difference is your home equity — the amount of your home value that you own outright.

If you don’t know how much your home is worth, you can use a free calculator like this one to get a general estimate based on the going rate for properties in your neighbourhood.

2. Should I Get a Home Equity Loan or Refinance?

Generally speaking, there are two ways a homeowner can cash out a percentage of their equity: through refinancing or through a second mortgage. Both can be good ways to unlock capital, but which option you go for will depend in part on your financial situation.

Refinancing: When you refinance your home, you replace an existing mortgage loan with a new mortgage loan. This new loan can be negotiated to include a cash payout based on your home equity, and while cashing out will likely extend the time it takes to pay off your mortgage, you will still only be dealing with a single mortgage loan.
Second Mortgage: A second mortgage is an additional mortgage loan taken on against your home equity. Because it is an additional loan, it will usually come at a higher interest rate.

In Canada, most mortgages are refinanced every five years, but they can also be refinanced more frequently. But if you already have a low interest rate on your existing mortgage and rates are increasing, a second mortgage may be the cheapest way to turn equity into cash.

3. Will this Loan Save Me Money?

A second mortgage can be a powerful financial tool, but it isn’t free money: you will still need to pay it back with interest, so you should be careful about how you use it.

Taking out a second mortgage to consolidate debt, or to build an addition on your house, are smart investments because they put your money to work by reducing your interest payments or enhancing the value of your property. This puts you in a better financial position than you would have been if you didn’t borrow the money.

Doing a cost/benefit analysis and working out how much money borrowing against home equity will save you is the key to making a strategic decision.

Given how much real estate values have gone up over the past few years, figuring out how you can use your newfound wealth to improve your financial situation is essential for good money management. If you want to know more about whether a second mortgage is right for you, get in touch with a local mortgage broker to explore interest rates and options.

Feautured image: Precondo CA Via Unsplash/ Silo Content Production

Earth

Crickets And Grasshoppers Relaxing Sounds For Your Mind

May 21, 2022 The Silo Leave a comment

If you didn’t know already, crickets and grasshoppers are not the same insect- though they do share a distant common ancestor from somewhere back in time.

How can you tell them apart?

For one thing, grasshoppers have short antennae whereas crickets have long antennae. Considering that crickets are active at night, in the dark- it makes sense for them to have “supercharged” antennae.

Oh but the sound.

It’s amazing to know that together and in unison, thousands upon thousands of orthopterans (the common order that is shared by crickets and katydids, grasshoppers and locusts) can create a huge amount of sound from nothing more than, in the case of grasshoppers: rubbing their hind legs against their forelimbs or in the case of crickets: rubbing their fore wings together. Judging by the number of nature recordings ready for streaming, many of us are enjoying these sounds as a soothing treatment to help us unwind, relax and fall asleep. For the Silo, Jarrod Barker.

Cricket or grasshopper? What do you think? photo: Dixie Greenwood

From the nature recordist NeCubFlyer:

“I’ve been recording high quality nature sounds for over 26 years for my own personal use. When I first started, nature recordings didn’t exist and when these types of recordings finally hit the market, they were so overly compressed & attenuated it didn’t even remotely sound natural!

Throughout some recordings you may find sounds that are man made.

All of my recordings are captured in nature as it happens. None of my recordings have been “Computer Generated” or are short segments looped together. I have traveled to some of the most remote areas of the US to capture my nature sounds only to find jets flying overhead or a train off in the distance blowing its horn. It is virtually impossible to capture a clean recording without the “Hand of Man” being heard. To remove these sounds would take some serious computer manipulation and destroy the integrally of the recording! Being a purest… what you hear is what you get… just like the real world.

If you enjoy these soothing sounds, please visit my site and help show your support…I hope you enjoy this beautiful recording as much as I have!!!”

Culture

Former Russian President Medvedev Said Off Air That Aliens Visit Our Planet

May 17, 2022 The Silo Leave a comment

A few years ago, Dimitry Anatolyevich Medvedev was the tenth Prime Minister of Russia- the incumbent since 2012.

Before that, he previously served as the third President of Russia, from 2008 to 2012. The Russian Prime Minister has the second highest position in the government, after President Vladimir Putin. Medvedev, the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation comment confirms aliens are here.

After the recording of a 2015 television program, in off-air comments, he was less guarded.

He did not realize that his microphone was still open and stated: “I believe in Father Frost. But not too deeply.” he said in a jovial reply to a question about Russia’s equivalent of Santa Claus.

A journalist asked whether the president is handed secret files on aliens when receiving the briefcase needed to activate Russia’s nuclear arsenal.

Medvedev the former Russian President stated, “Along with the briefcase with nuclear codes, the president of the country is given a special ‘top secret’ folder. This folder in its entirety contains information about aliens who visited our planet,” Mr. Medvedev answered playfully.

“Along with this, you are given a report of the absolutely secret special service that exercises control over aliens on the territory of our country … More detailed information on this topic you can get from a well-known movie called ‘Men In Black’ … I will not tell you how many of them are among us because it may cause panic,” he says.

https://youtu.be/dYXlXCq9QTk

None of the television stations that interviewed Mr. Medvedev broadcast the off-air comments, but they were delivered to Reuters as a pool signal and some were shown on YouTube.

Mr. Medvedev worked closely with Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg in the 1990s and it was Mr. Putin who ushered Mr. Medvedev, now 47, into power in 2008. In case of President’s Putin’s death, resignation or impeachment, the Prime Minister becomes the temporary president until new presidential elections are held. http://beforeitsnews.com/beyond-science/2012/12/breaking-russian-prime-minister-confirms-aliens-are-here-2440158.html For the Silo, via Major (ret.) George A. Filer -Filer’s Files 49-2015

Travel

Travel To Sustainability Pioneer Tongsai Bay

May 13, 2022 The Silo 1 Comment

On a regular basis The Silo informs you about companies who do their part in changing our world to a better place.

Green Pearls® Unique Places is dedicated to the Tongsai Bay in Thailand and recognizes the amazing work that created a sustainable tourism industry there nearly four decades ago.

How it all began

In 1986, Khun Akorn Hoontrakul was on a boat trip with his twelve year old son Thanakorn and they spotted the bay from the sea. Khun Akorn immediately felt passionate about it – something Thanakorn did not understand back then. “My 12 year old mind didn’t really appreciate its beauty at that time. The sand was coarse and the water was dark blue because of its depth. It was my Dad who saw the potential and later said to me: ‘It was love at first sight'”, recounts Thanakorn.

Sleeping under the stars

Within one week Khun Akorn bought the land and started building the hotel. At a time when nobody thought about sustainable tourism, he believed in the responsibility to protect nature. To ensure that no tree was felled and the impact on nature was kept as low as possible, he slept at the beach for three months.

Setting a good example

Today, the hotel is led by Thanakorn and his wife Saisiri. They share the same passion about sustainable tourism believing that everyone is responsible for the protection of the environment. Their deep belief is that every little step makes a difference. They set a good example for everybody in their private and professional life: “It’s a way of life, to not destroy the environment. It’s a constant thought to make sure habits don’t contribute to waste. If we forget our water bottle, we won’t drink, as we do not drink from plastic”.

Acting sustainable is a holistic approach

Leading the hotel in a sustainable way does not only mean to take green aspects into account. Furthermore it involves a holistic approach, taking into account environmental as well as social aspects, like fair salary, staff training and education. Just as in their private life they focus on waste prevention: kitchen waste for example is composted and reused as fertilizer in the own garden.

Open for everyone: the organic garden

The hotel’s own horticulturist and gardeners are responsible for the organic garden which provides the vegetables and herbs for the kitchen. They developed a fermenting process from oranges and limes using different kinds of micro organisms for an efficient cleaning process. The garden and its plants are open for guests, who can use for example the aloe vera to treat sun burned skin. Additionally there is natural mosquito repellent made by locals, glass cleaner made out of pineapples as well as natural toothpaste.

What has changed since the opening (or in a good way not changed)

Many trees have been planted along the walkway leading to the Cottages providing more shade and in the space of ten+ years there will be a tree tunnel with shade all day long which makes walking much easier in the heat. This is to say that Tongsai is even greener than it used to be. There are 66 kinds of birds spotted in Tongsai in the past 12 years. The star resident bird is the colorful Pink-Necked Pigeon, and even a slow Loris had been spotted near NangGong Villa by Gob and Goya back in 2002. There is still a lot of natural space left in the territory but instead of building more man-made structures the business is not being expanded and natural areas are left untouched.

The German Green Pearls GmbH ( based in Darmstadt, Germany ) unifies international tourism companies that support environmental protection and demonstrate social commitment. Thereby, Green Pearls is the first holding company worldwide that consolidates sustainable hotels, destinations and restaurants in a global data source.

Among the criteria of admission to Green Pearls® Unique Places, are a sustainability plan on management level, sustainable architecture, comprehensive water, energy saving and waste recovery measures, the use of seasonal and regional ingredients in the kitchen, as well as a large commitment for the social balance in each of the vacation regions.