In order to solve the most complex problems facing our society we have to address which of those problems we are to prioritize and I would argue from a human rights perspective that we need to focus on privacy and privacy in as much as how do we preserve freedoms in the way that we build our increasingly transforming societies. When we talk about smart cities, when we talk about contactless payments, when we talk about using the metro in a way where you just have to tap something instead of paying with cash. We are trading off our privacy and freedoms for convenience so it may be more convenient to live in a smart city where you can just kind of float through your day without taking anything out of your wallet but in that kind of sense you're reviewing everything about you to third parties whether they be governments, corporations etc. When we're at this frontier of the cashless society we have to think really carefully about what these new transformative technologies will do to our rights and freedoms.


Good morning. I'm standing here in the Museum of the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences at Penn State University. In 2013 there have been a number of very severe weather events in the United States such as the large tornadoes that hit the south-central part of the country early this spring. Meteorologists and climatologists still don't fully understand whether climate change will lead to an increase and an intensification of these large events. The reason for this is Earth's climate is extremely complex. And in this module you're going to learn about this complexity. Please don't be fazed by all of the equations and the relationships. What we really want you to come away with is a strong grasp of the physical relationships between the different parameters. Energy, heat, weather and climate. So without further ado I'm going to show you how a tornado works and then you can get busy. We need moisture at the bottom of the tank and then we need an updraft provided by fronts in the Earth's weather systems. We need some rotation and bingo we have a tornado.


And I'm talking about micro algae. That's right, almost invisible to the eye. Micro algae are one of the most potent, extraordinary sources of bioactives on the planet. And today we're gonna share with what it can do for you. All right, welcome back. And Vincent, great to be here. Thank you so much for hosting us. This is gonna be an exciting hour. So, let's dive right in.  So algae and micro algae specifically are a single cell plant that are living in aquatic environments, in different environments. You can find them in the seawater, in freshwater, but also in some specific environment such as tundra, arctic tundra as well, and in the desert as well. So pretty much everywhere. So they are on earth for a billion years. Actually, they are the origin of the oxygen that we breathe in the atmosphere. They are also the origin of the fuel that we put in our cars because as a fossilized biomasses, they have generated oil that we are producing today. Naturally, so that's extremely interesting to think of those benefits for the humankind that the micro algae have delivered. So, that's what our micro algae.  A lot of people can think of a bacteria as a single-cell organism, but they're kind of like bacteria, but they can have photosynthesis. They can use sunlight and CO2 to produce oxygen. Exactly, that's the process that we call photosynthesis. And micro algae are plants, so they are plant-based, meaning that they are able to use the light, after the light from the sun, to convert this energy from the light and the CO2 and some minerals into biomass and oxygen. So, in this biomass specifically, there is different bioactives, very amazing diversity of bioactive that those different spaces can deliver.  Yes, exactly. That's a bigger form of micro algae. Actually, micro algae are the foundation of all plants from Earth. Some become seaweed and sustain the aquatic environment. Some different spaces become the, specifically the green micro algae, become the terrestrial plant that we know and that surrounding us on a daily basis. So, micro algae are the foundation of all plants from Earth. Hence, you can find pretty much everything that is in the plants, in the seaweed, is also in the micro algae at the origin from the, at the starting point, I would say. So, how would micro algae be used in our everyday life? How would I be interacting with it without my knowledge? So, as I say, first, you breathe every day. So, you use the air that, which by almost one third of the earth, of the oxygen which is present in the atmosphere, is produced by the natural micro algae, which are everywhere. So, that's the first benefit, as I said. But on your daily life, micro algae products are increasingly used in food cosmetic products. So, you have some natural colorants that are made from micro algae. You have some antioxidants, natural antioxidants that are used in different food supplements, dietary supplements worldwide. And that's something which is gaining some interest because there are plenty of biological properties that are scientifically demonstrated now. So, can we use these as fuel? Yeah, you could, actually, that's possible because micro algae are extremely rich in oil. So, you could extract oil from those biomasses and turn them into biofuels. Obviously, this is not what we are doing here. What we do is really specific ingredients, speciality ingredients. But by essence, yes, you can really use micro algae to produce oil at the time. And there are some companies that are actually looking into that. Yes, indeed. So, you need really, it requires a lot of space, of volume, and also to be cost effective because obviously the fuel that you put in your tank has to be at a lower price, even though at current time the price is kind of going up, but still producing it by micro algae is still a little bit expensive. So, I think in my opinion, at least, we have 10 to 15 years of research to have some reliable source of biofuels for micro algae. So, a lot of my listeners know about spirulina and florelle. Yes. And people associate spirulina and florelle with health benefits. Is that just scratching the surface of what you're doing? Yes, exactly. I think spirulina and florelle are great products, really great products. They are rich in protein, rich in vitamins and minerals. But that's just two spaces among the 100,000 of spaces that are rich in other compounds, new compounds that are delivering new and innovative benefits for nutrition and cosmetic. So, spirulina and florelle are, yes, the two most known spaces in the micro algae world, an extremely good product, but they are just really the tip of the ice dial, I would say. So, yeah. So, in fact, you and I are sitting in front of one of your bio reactors and people, I hope they're seeing this in the camera, this is not what most of us think of as algae. It's not green. In fact, it's reddish brown, I guess is a nice way of saying it. And you're actually growing algae here that are different colors. And tell me, why would you be interested in a red brown algae instead of a green florelle? Yeah, the color is just a vision that you have and we relate the color to a specific bioactive, of course, because the color of the micro algae are made by the photosynthetic pigment that they are featuring. And those photosynthetic pigments are really unique and are really dependent on the condition where the micro algae is living. So, as you know, obviously the green micro algae are in a specific environment that you can find in the sea, in the pond, in the lakes, et cetera, in the rivers. Whereas you have in the sea, in the oceans, some different layers of water to which the light from the sun can go through to a certain wavelength and that will trigger on the micro algae a specific photosynthetic pigment that will absorb the specific color related to this pigment. So what you see here, the red brown micro algae is the ability of this micro algae to live in a specific environment and to develop specific compounds thanks to this environment. So we are really interested in those micro algae, green, brown, diatoms, any kind of spaces that can deliver those bioactives. And they do that thanks to the ability of producing, adapting themselves to their environments thanks to the metabolic pathway that they will implement. So on a segue to that, a lot of people now know that we can genetically engineer bacteria to produce compounds. Many people know that most insulin is produced by bacteria who've been genetically engineered. There's nothing genetically engineered behind you, right?  No, we don't need that. Actually, we learn from them how to extract naturally the bioactives. So we are just at the start of the domestication of the micro algae. That's a new industry which is arriving now. And that's something that we learn from the algae, from the environment in which they live. And what we try to do here, we try to apply the culture conditions that are mimicking the natural condition where they live in order to maximize the biological potential of each micro algae. So we don't need to use any genetic modification. We just have to use and to understand how the micro algae naturally develop their bioactive. So does your company, and I asked this off camera, does your company go out and find an algae that maybe wasn't known about what it did and you grow it here, and then you extract the bioactive compounds and you go, oh my gosh, look, this is an exciting compound. You know about this compound where we have no idea it was in this, is that what you're doing? Yeah, we do that, but we do, actually we do both things. We are able to screen the natural environment, some new environments, we did some screening in Corsica, in French Rihiana, in other places in the world as well. But we do that with the universities. With academic partners that are accessing some new strains, some new environment. And we are more there just to identify the strain, to clean it up from the other single cells that are around it, and to make sure to fully characterize it and to make it grow. So our job is more to really to make sure that from one cell that we have identified, we are able to develop a process that can make a real quantity of biomass to develop those ingredients. So yes, we can work from nature, identify in nature in new environments, some specific strain. But we do also work with some strain collection that are owned by university everywhere in the world. You have a one in Texas University which was a famous one in the States, but you have a different strain collection in Europe, in Japan, from which we source different microalgae, and we will screen 10, 15 different microalgae on a specific project that we have in mind, which is designed by the marketing and the science team at Microfit. So every, obviously every ingredient that we want to launch, we have a specific idea in mind to deliver a specific nutritional benefit or cosmetic benefit. So I think people want to know, aside from eating algae, what sort of micronutrients, bioactive compounds are in microalgae that we should know about and we should be using? So microalgae are extremely diversified. So there are 20,000, probably more bioactive compounds in microalgae, but there are some specific compounds that you can find only in microalgae, such as probably the most known are omega-3 fatty acids. These are essential lipids, as you know. So microalgae are the only living organism able to produce naturally those omega-3 fatty acids that have a lot of benefits on the cardiovascular health, on the general health, mental health, brain health, et cetera. So that's one example of those specific bioactive. And the second example is specific pigment, such as fucoxantin. Fucoxantin is a specific zephyll, it's a type of pigment that the microalgae use to capture the light on a specific wavelength. And this fucoxantin molecule, you can only find it in the marine environment and originally from the microalgae, specifically diatoms and non-microalgae. So this pigment, fucoxantin, is really something of interest for us at MicroFit. We have developed product out of fucoxantin, specifically in brain fit, but it's something which is really unique and on which we have invested a lot of energy to develop a sustainable process to produce it. And you're also using these compounds in cosmetics. Why would I want to smear algae on my face? That's a good question. It's true that as soon as you are using natural ingredients, you will have to manage color, taste, possibly when you taste it, or order that may be different from what you are using on a daily life. And the idea is for us, of course, as our job is to provide ingredients that are easy to use for customers to develop a formulation that are incorporating our ingredients that are totally odorless, that have a nice color, that are stable also over time, in different conditions, making sure that when you apply the ingredient in a formulated product, in a cosmetic cream, that's extremely nice to apply, and you will test that in our lab later. So algae obviously absorbs sunlight and these pigments absorb sunlight. Yes. So wouldn't it be great to have an algae pigment on my skin when I'm out exposed to the sun? Yeah, that's great. Sounds like a good idea. That's an extremely good idea, and it's actually what we do here at Microfit is that we are extracting specific pigments from this microalgae, by the way, which is a red microalgae. So algae are good for the environment, right? They absorb CO2, and they don't use much water. Is that right? They don't drink a lot? No, they don't drink a lot. Actually, they just use water to live and to develop themselves, but they are not consuming water, such as big cereals, for instance, which are having a large water use or cotton that we are using for textile fibers. What we use here, specifically at Microfit, the way we produce is a control environment where the water and the mineral salt are recycled, so we are not using so much water compared to other crops and other plant productions. And yes, you're right, the way we try to produce microalgae at Microfit is really in a sustainable mode, using the natural light, but also artificial light made from renewable energy, and we are producing... So, thanks to this light, the microalgae will convert the CO2 into biomass and oxygen. At a global scale today, all the microalgae that are present in the environment, in the oceans, in the lakes and rivers are consuming one-third of the total CO2 from all the plants, so this is quite significant. And they have the ability to capture a lot of CO2. Now, you just received a large grant from the EU here at Microfit. Tell us, we saw the building going up as we entered. What was this grant for? What are you doing? The grant was a very nice achievement from the team because it was a recognition by the EU that what we are doing is really what they call the flagship technology for the European industry. So, we get this award last year, which is a 15 million grant, which is one of the most selective processes in Europe to get this grant. And we get it last year with the objective to develop the first-of-in-kind plant, what we call the biorefinery, meaning that we are able to produce a large number of microalgae at Microfit. We are producing between 10 and 15 microalgae, different new microalgae, new to the world. From those microalgae, we are able to develop a specific extraction process, sustainable processes that deliver new product, new ingredients. So, the idea and the concept of this scale program, is to really be able to have a platform of production at scale, which is implementing a sustainable process for nutrition, food, cosmetic, but also animal nutrition. So, we have partners around that and we will develop one of the biggest plants of microalgae, which will have unique properties. I think it's a good point. We can grow algae as food, either for us, but particularly for animals. I think most people don't realize that fish are recipients of eating microalgae.  And feeding either fish or animals, algae may have huge benefits for us, both in it doesn't cost a lot of land mass and a lot of fertilizer to produce biomass with algae. And the benefit then is in all these bioactive compounds. So, is that why the EU is so interested? Because we can't feed ourselves if we keep doing what we're doing. Yes, exactly. The EU was really really interested in this process. Microalgae are the primary producers of essential nutrients. So, we talk about the omega-3 fatty acids, but also some mineral salts, some specific pigments, such as phytoxanthine. And as you said, those are at the basis of the food chain in the natural environment. So, what we are doing here is a kind of shortcut where we are providing directly to the consumers who are partners with food supplements, labs, with cosmetic partners, cosmetic brands. We provide a shortcut through this extraordinary amazing diversity of bioactive that microalgae can deliver. So, yeah, we skip the rest of the food chain, meaning that we save also for the humanity the land which is used, we save a lot of water, a lot of energy, so we try to rationalize everything like that. That's the idea. Now, I know a lot of your products are extracted from the algae. And when people hear extraction in the United States, they worry about harsh chemicals like benzene, like chemicals that are also going to be harmful to us and the environment, but you don't do anything like that here. No, no, no, it's... We made the choice since the inception of microfeed to only use green solvents, meaning water and ethanol, which is a bio-sourced ethanol. And that's those two solvents that we are using. And that's more than enough, actually, because as you have seen in our factory, by playing on the different parameters, the physical properties of the algae, you are able to extract pretty much everything you need without any harsh chemicals, anything that could be harmful to the environment and also to the workers that are there and obviously the consumers. So, no, we are just using green solvents and we are also recycling those solvents right now. So, we are also limiting our environmental impact and the consumption of those products. One of the things we are doing in your lab, your hatchery, your incubator, and one of the interesting things is each algae has its own wants in terms of how much carbon dioxide it likes, how much light it likes. And you actually find out the needs of each algae. So, you're not just pumping red sludge through these tubes. You've found out what this wants to grow. Yes, exactly. It's a little bit more complicated than that. And that's part of our expertise, I would say. That's why, although we are recognized by you and by also some other partners to have this expertise on understanding how the microalgae grows in the best environment possible, making sure that we are extracting out of those biomasses ingredients that are safe, that are effective and that are sustainably produced. So, this is the objective of the microalgae. But you're right, for each of those spaces we need to develop specific processes. And this is an expertise to understand how to grow the algae by combining the mineral salt, the light, the level of CO2 that we will increase. We will add in the hair that the microalgae will use. So, everything, all those parameters are monitored and we develop the processes for each of those microalgae. Yeah, I think it's fantastic. Folks, this is not pond scum that they're pumping around here. This is actually really deep science. And the beauty of what you're doing is you're selecting a species of algae, or multiple algae, for a compound that has either known human benefit or a compound that you suspect is going to have a great human benefit because of what you observe in nature. And now you can grow this at scale rather than just, you know, test it. Exactly. That's always part of the strategy of microfeed to be able to, from what we do at the lab to be able to make it at the industrial scale because ultimately we want to deliver ingredients that are at sufficient volume to be used by our customer, by the food supplement lab, by the cosmetic brands. So that's always part of our R&D development to think in terms of industrialization and scale up of the processes. That's really part of our DMA. But that's the production part, which is really at the center of strategy but also this is not enough. What we do as well is to make sure that what we develop as an ingredient are obviously safe, are regulatory approved but also are effective for our customers and ultimately to the consumer. So we develop also the studies, the science around the ingredients in order to make sure that what we can use is really useful and helpful to the benefit of the consumer. Well, so let's talk about one of your new novel compounds for human nutrition that is called brain fit. Tell me about the key molecules that make up brain fit. So it's a combination of at least three key molecules. The first one, and I already mentioned about it, is fricoxantin, which is a specific bioactive, a specific pigment from the diethyl, a microalgae called phyodactylam, phyodactylam tricornitone. And this microalgae is naturally producing this fricoxantin. So fricoxantin is extremely powerful in terms of its natural antioxidant properties. Another one is an omega-3 fatty acid called PPA which also has some specific biological properties. And a third family of compounds is called phycoprostane. Phycoprostane are really specific molecules that you can only find in brain fit. That's a derivative from the omega-3 fatty acids that are also delivering specific benefits. So the combination of those three molecules in brain fit deliver the scientific results that we have demonstrated on brain health. I think these are very important points for my viewers that plants, particularly algae, as strange as this may seem, have to have sunlight. But sunlight, the photons in sunlight, are damaging to the cellular process of algae, to their mitochondria, which are called chloroplasts. So they produce these compounds to stop that damage from sunlight. And to me, the exciting thing is that when we eat those compounds or you produce these compounds in a supplement that we know from my last book Unlocking the Keto Code that those phenols, those polyphenols that the plants have produced to protect their mitochondria, we then get the benefit by protecting our mitochondria when we eat these plants. It all comes around in a full circle, you're right. As much as we don't realize, we're dependent on these processes. So good for you. The other thing I want to talk about, we were talking off camera, we're beginning to realize how little we know about the nutritional aspects of algae. And then I brought up an experiment in dolphins in the United States. The United States has dolphin colonies for the U.S. Navy, and I won't go into why. But there's a part of dolphins in the Atlantic Ocean and a part of dolphins in the Pacific Ocean. And they're the same species, but the Pacific dolphins age quite rapidly and the Pacific dolphins get all the diseases of the West, they get diabetes, they get old age, they don't think very clearly. But the Atlantic dolphins don't, they don't acquire these. And yet they're the same breed, they live essentially the same saltwater. And these researchers realize that the dolphins on the Atlantic were eating totally different fish than the dolphins in the West Coast in the Pacific. And when they broke down the compounds in these fish, they actually found some odd-chain fatty acids that were very prevalent in the diet of the Atlantic dolphins, but not in the Pacific dolphins. And it's like, oh my gosh, you're on the right track. We need to identify those compounds. Speaking of which, we know the Japanese who eat a lot of seaweed and a lot of seafood have much higher levels of hukuzantin in them than we do. And they're very smart, so I need hukuzantin, right? We all need it. We all need it. And it's just this compound in algae. That's really an interesting situation there. This is true that you can really, from the diet that you have, really understand also the environment in which you live. So that's important to be connected to this environment, of course, and to understand what you can get from the food that you have. So part of the strategy, of course, from the dietary supplement industry is also to bring some additional bioactive to the food to help people to kind of get what they have to do from what they have to get from the food in case it's not available in the natural food that they are using every day. Yeah, I mean, we all cannot move to Japan or to the south of France and eat the fish that you eat. I'd love to, and I do. But yeah, for me, as a supplement company, we all can't do that. And so if we can deliver the active ingredients that we now know are why the health benefit of a Mediterranean diet, for instance, or an Okinawan diet in Japan in something that people can take as a supplement, then we all benefit. And obviously, that's what you want to do. Exactly. So what else... So all right, you're going to feed the world, you're going to take care of us and our brains. What other exciting product are you doing here? We have plenty of new products in the pipeline. At the moment, we are working on 35 different new ingredients, both for nutrition and cosmetics. So we have plenty of things that could be launched over the next few years. And the next one in nutrition will target... We'll have an holistic approach on the sport nutrition because we are understanding that sport nutrition is just not sport. It's also the way that we feel, we react, we interact with other people. So we have a product which is called FICO-Active that will be launched next year, I hope, that will, under development at the moment, at microfeeds, that will target this category of holistic sport nutrition. That's a new product after brain feed. But we have also a range of skin care ingredients that are in development. And we launched last month a Luteana, which is an ingredient targeting the sensitive skin, which is obviously a huge issue in the world. So that's an ingredient that we see also from a world, from a cosmetic industry. And it's really, really promising. And the first ingredient that we add in cosmetic is called a renouvelance. And renouvelance is targeting what we call the urban stress protection. So that's one of those examples of ingredients that protect the skin from the effect of UVs and pollution together. So that's the new ingredient that we have launched just this year. Can you get too much of a good thing? Can I eat too much microalgae? Do you go home for dinner and have a big plate of microalgae, I guess I'm asking? I would not recommend so. But I think the idea for, of course, what we do at microfeeds is we develop ingredients that have to be used at a specific dose. And the efficacy of those ingredients are developed on a specific dose age, which is scientifically established. So you have to follow the instruction of use that the food supplement company are providing on the labels. So that's something which is quite straightforward. And it's really recommended to use that at the level of which we benefit from obviously a full safety, but also the efficacy of the ingredients. All right, so we're about out of time, but we have an audience question on every one of our podcasts. And this one I want you to answer as well, and I'll give my opinion. So the audience question comes from Jeanette Janky on YouTube. Dr. Joe TV, there is such a thing, says, Spirulina contains Pseudo vitamin B12, which is bad. It competes with real vitamin B12 and blocks it to enter the cell. Let's say you. All right, Vincent, what do you think? I would agree. I know that from my knowledge at least, I know that the vitamin B12 in Spirulina is this Pseudo vitamin B12. So I think it's probably not really useful to consume Spirulina in case you would like to get some vitamin B12. But Micrology, you may find some B12, a natural source of B12 that are not Pseudo B12 that we need to, we can use, yes. Great answer. Yeah, it was actually thought by vegans for many years, up until about the year 2000, that the B12 in Spirulina was available and was B12 and it's not. The good news is about half of us, or bad news is about half of us, have a genetic mutation that prevents us from taking vitamin B12 and converting it into methyl B12, which is an active form. So all of my patients, I have them take a methyl B12, a sublingually put it under their tongue. But no, you can have the Spirulina, but please supplement with methyl B12. And we can measure this in everybody's blood and it's amazing how many people are deficient in methyl B12, even among those who are taking B12. So just supplement for the easiest way. Well, this has been great. Where can listeners learn more about you in Microfit? Well, so the idea of course is to get in touch and to check out our website and to subscribe on our LinkedIn page, LinkedIn page, you have also a newsletter so you can get a lot of information on our new product development and new product launches that will come in the next few months and years. And obviously you can meet us in any industry head show, in the US and in Europe. More amazing episodes just like this one. Watch now. So those of you who are using your soda makers at home, please get rid of that. That's not a health benefit.


Tied at two in the third quarter of the ACC championship. North Carolina trying to beat number one seed Louisville. They get a great chance here on a miss play, and then we got a wide open shot. But here comes Carolina. And the horn sounds here. The clock was running. Buzzers just going off. We got no control of the sound board, I guess. They look up. They're like, what's going on up there? We don't know, so they just play through. They said this one is called like that face off.  I don't really know what it means. They said it's very rare. It doesn't happen anymore. They were surprised that people even knew how. Now North Carolina's got a great breakout. Passes across up the middle.  We're going to keep playing it. At this point, it's like, what's going on? The bench coach can't believe it.  Head coach is like, hey, calm down now. I mean, let's not overreact here. You don't want the buzzer? You want the buzzer off? Okay, this guy's looking at the scoreboard and like, I'm going to try this button. I'm going to be honest with you. I got no idea how to work this thing. I mean, I try this button and I try that. I don't think I'm ever going to figure it out. I mean, I'm not going to figure this out. So I don't, I'm kind of at a loss here. So they're like, let's just turn the buzzer off. Okay, if the buzzer happens, just keep playing. Just keep playing, playing, playing. Louisville coach is all over it. Great instruction. So now they start again.  Instantly stolen by North Carolina. She's going to come down the sideline. Then she's going to cut to the middle. She's going to have the backdoor pass wide open. Look at this lifts it up, pokes it in. North Carolina takes the lead. Great pass. Great finish. Love it. Field hockey kind of looks like if you were to go take mini golf equipment and play later on in the fourth quarter, they get a corner. The goalie's pulled for Louisville. Great save by the defenseman there. But then she waxed that one home. It's a celebration. That seals the deal. North Carolina's winning the ACC championship. They tackle themselves to the ground. Bunch of bros in the crowd. Green shirt's actually trying to high five gray shirt but white shirt gets in the middle and he just like, that's not good contact at all.  This is how you high five solid contact right there. And then we got a dad in the stands and he's going to collect all his fives up and down. Like, let's get excited. We just won ACC championship. Go North Carolina, go. I knew they had it in them. Once they beat Syracuse in the semifinal, I was like, Louisville is screwed. This breakdown was brought to you by a show called Watching Baggots. It's a show, it comes out every Friday.  Check it out.


The day my father died my mother became a different kind of woman He was the conservative one the cover your hair or you'll be rape type that I'll choose who you marry kind He had the I can't shake a woman's hand because it's in decent way of thinking To him the cloth that we wrapped around ourselves was always more important than who we were It was a heart attack sudden and without warning not the kind of death I think he would have wanted for himself He probably would have wanted to drag it out and make everyone suffer right there with him Two months later. We won the green card lottery and my sister Fadernac my mother and I moved from Tehran to San Francisco in a matter of two weeks I couldn't blame my mother, but I also missed her I missed the smiling singing woman who snapped her fingers loudly and Complained my whole life about how we were forced to cover ourselves when it was so hot outside and how it made life feel So stuffy and unnatural Why did God give her a beautiful head of hair if he wanted her to cover it all the time? And if they'd raised their daughters right couldn't they just trust us to find our own husbands? But now she adorned herself in black and prayed five times a day and insisted I find a decent Iranian husband to wed what about her friend Patty's son He worked at Google and liked obscure movies and tacos too My sister was no help she followed my mother around like a nervous intern Trying to learn how to cook and clean and present herself when a suitor did come along I had this horrible feeling that although the point of us coming here was to start fresh and take advantage of new Opportunities the two of them were just dying to keep things how they'd always been When we first came to San Francisco, I was 19 and started working at Foot Locker and going to art school full-time I wore the head job for no other reason than to make my mother happy My sister who was taking classes at City College so she could transfer to SF State didn't mind hers at all It makes me feel at home Fadar next said this place is so different. It's nice to have one thing that reminds me of Iran I hate wearing it. I said although at that point. I couldn't imagine myself roaming these hilly Unfamiliar streets without covering myself. I'm only doing it for mom on I hate how everyone looks up at us like we're from another planet Without it, I'd feel invisible Fadar next said as if that was a bad thing There are things I miss but I try not to think about those things. I can't talk to my friends in Iran anymore I can't watch movies that are set there and I try really hard to speak as much English as possible I'm not trying to fit in but I feel like you're either here or you're not and I'd rather be here than pretend The life in Iran we had was so perfect I'd go to Ocean Beach often even though the Sun was rarely out I actually preferred to go around five or six when the fog would really roll in and I'd sit there and let myself Get taken over by it the first day of summer after my first year of school I decided that I didn't want to work at foot walker anymore And that I wouldn't take summer school and that I just spend the summer exploring and having fun I didn't tell my mother or my sister. I made all these big decisions on my own for once and it felt really good I sat on the beach and it was so cold But I took my head job off anyway and used it as a blanket I sat there and looked ahead even though the ocean had been taken over by the fog and everything was covered in it And I laughed there were two people on the beach and I could barely see them It felt good knowing that if they did see me They wouldn't look at me in a strange way inspecting me and making assumptions about me and my family that were Conservative terrorists backward ignorant that we don't speak English that we're oppressed by men that we don't fuck and scream like every other woman in the world Someone could have passed by me right then and believed I was from this place not a stranger at all But someone who belonged it was a lie, but I was the only one who knew it so it didn't feel so wrong On my 21st birthday my mother wanted to take my sister and meet at dinner She insisted on taking us to a new Persian restaurant, but I told her I was tired of Persian food They have warm as absy like home. She insisted. I thought leaving was a good thing You make it sound like someone took your home away from you. Let's eat Italian food I said at the restaurant in North Beach We each ordered our own pasta dish and shared a pizza our waiter with his long slick back hair hairy arms and cloud of cologne was Charming he had a very manly vibe and I liked that and he didn't look at us like we were different But like we were beautiful like everyone else I wanted to ask him what part of Italy he was from whether his parents were still there whether he missed home at all He was so charming. He convinced my mother to get dessert, which never happened a Terima sue for her because it is her birthday. Can you bring a candle so we can sing please? No candle I said come on a beautiful beautiful girl like you should make the wish the waiter said and it's thick Italian Accent and he smiled like he meant it.  I said because I knew it's what my mother and sister wanted for me more than anything else When I went to the bathroom after dessert. I saw the waiter standing by the kitchen on his phone He couldn't see me But I could see him and hear him on the phone And I had to stand there for a moment and listen harder because I couldn't believe I was hearing things right He was speaking Farsi just like I did with no American accent at all He was an immigrant like me who'd created a false identity for himself as a sleazy Italian server He was flirting with some girl over the phone in Farsi asking her to come over later after his shift No one would leave a good tip for the Iranian waiter at the Italian restaurant But he made good money this way and I admired him and his commitment to being something He wasn't and feeling no remorse for it at all My last year at art school an online app recruited me to work on their design team It was a dating app where only women were allowed to initiate Conversations and they were trying to hire more women. So even though I look like I wasn't the dating type They didn't care as long as I was a woman I was studying graphic design and I thought it was okay at it But when they saw my portfolio they immediately offered me a job and a salary that was enough to rent my own studio in San Francisco So that was all I needed to know. I don't know why I thought my mother would actually let me move out though She herself wasn't working and since Farinac was still in school full-time. She told me the whole family needed the money You can't be so selfish all the time. She said we might live in America, but we don't do things that American way It's not the American way a lot of young people in Iran have their own places Those are loose girls with no morals You can't leave us until you go to your husband's home and is it so bad living with us? She protested as she stuffed grape leaves with ground meat and raisins in our tiny kitchen And Iran our kitchen was the center of our home where everyone ended up during parties to mix and mingle Here it was a narrow space with barely enough room for Farinac and my mother to stand in and cook What would your father say may his spirit be happy? He would dive embarrassment. He's already dead I wanted to say but I knew she wouldn't take it well. So instead I said did you really love him? She stopped what she was doing and looked up at me in hesitation. You're always speaking English, ma'am June You'll forget your farsi. She said because she was an expert at changing the subject. Did you really love him? I asked her again in Farsi. Love is a complicated word She said and then she listed off a bunch of things she needed me to do before dinner and that was that For six months, do I have time to do a little bit more? Okay a little bit more Okay for six months I wore my hedge up to the office and for six months Everyone was really nice to me but never invited me out for drinks after work or to Giants games as it turns out Even when you try to make an effort to hire more female employees you end up hiring mostly men My co-worker Ashley who worked on the marketing team was blonde and beautiful and offered me dark chocolate every day because she Thought it was healthier than regular chocolate except she ate at least two bars a day There were a few guys who said hi to me every so often But they didn't look at me the way they looked at Ashley and they were too afraid to ask me anything about myself Probably because they thought either they looked dumb or they'd embarrass me One day I showed up went to the buffet to get my free breakfast sat down on my desk and took my hedge up off It wasn't a conscious choice. I hadn't planned it or thought about it ahead of time It wasn't too hot I just needed air and I didn't and I didn't think about what everyone would think or say or even asked myself Whether I was really ready to stop wearing it Ashley was the first to say something about it and it took her only two whole days So you like don't always wear that thing she asked me in the break room It was make your own Sunday day and I was eating three scoops with a mountain of syrup Ashley had found a bar of dark chocolate I didn't know what to say. I Mean, I just thought it was a part of your religion. I didn't realize you could take it off whenever My mother wants me to wear it. I told her I don't think it's necessary though I said because I couldn't talk to Ashley about the tearing that was happening inside of me I couldn't ask her she knew how to fix it. Ashley was one person one thing Nothing was broken and jagged inside of her. Thank you


In the last couple of modules we have talked about how one can study how the bond breaks. So we talked about what is called snapshots of bond breaking today and also we have talked about an important excited state process twisted intermolecular charge transfer. Today we will discuss another process solvation dynamics and the reason why one is interested in solvation dynamics is this even in class 11 or so everybody is familiar with this diagram right. So what this diagram tells us is why is it that polar molecules are soluble in polar liquids sometimes you talk about why ions are soluble in polar liquids. So the reason why polar molecule is soluble in polar liquid is that the energy is minimized due to favorable solute dipole solvent dipole interaction this is something that everybody knows why is it that non-polar solutes are not soluble in polar liquids yes so generally we say they are hydrophobic right. So some people say that this term hydrophobic is not right because it is not as if there is any repulsion between these non-polar solutes and polar solvents it is just that if you put it in a terms of a little more general interactions the cohesive force of the solvent in that case is much more than the adhesive force between the solute and solvent it is just that the solute molecules like each other very much. So they do not care about the solute molecule that is why they do not dissolve because after all the same non-polar solvent solute does dissolve in non-polar solvents okay but we do not have to get into that for the moment here we are going to concern ourselves only with solution of polar solvents polar solutes in polar solvents. Now the question that one asks in solvation dynamics is how much time does it take for solvation to take place and the reason why this question is interesting fundamentally is that solvation of polar transition states transition states are polar more often than not we have seen an example of such a polar transition state in case of say DMABN in the last module. So solvation of these steps is often the rate determining step so if you know solvation dynamics in principle you should be able to tell how much time a reaction takes place so this would be a very important step this is a very important step in understanding reactions that take place in solutions. So there is a lot of literature this one for example published in 1991 where it says that activation of transition state this has been studied for reactant and solvent energy flow for a model SN2 reaction in water. This reaction is chloride reacting with CH2Cl forming Cl CH3 plus chloride it might look trivial actually it is not how do you know that this chloride is going in that chloride is going out you can do it easily by using different isotopes of chlorine and the good thing about this is that what kind of potential well would this reaction have if I think of reactant energy of product it would be a symmetric double well potential right. So it turns out that for this thing this kind of reaction the rate determining step is solvation. Another Jax paper published in 1985 by another stalwart Kosovar this was on mechanism of fast intermolecular electron transfer reaction there he made a comment solvent motion controls the rate of fast intermolecular electron transfer and then in solvation is slow if it is too slow then it may not be actually complete before that the reaction might take place if that is the case then you can have barrier crossing not only in the forward direction but also in the backward direction. So how fast solvation is often determines the dynamics of reactions involving polar intermediates polar transition states. So before we get into the question of how much time it takes for solvation and how we determine it experimentally. Let us remind ourselves of something that is very fundamental in this field not dynamics really but how do you get some quantitative measure of solvation experimentally. Of course experiment here starts with some theoretical model and the theoretical model one uses here is Onsega reaction field model. This is discussed in detail in Lakovic's principle of fluorescence textbook and it provides reference to the original papers for those who are interested to put it very qualitatively the model is like this in this model the solvent is modeled as a dielectric continuum a block with the same dielectric constant everywhere alright. Now to consider the solute in the solution first of all we know once again from maybe class 6 class 7 physical science we know that one of the properties of matter is that two different things cannot occupy the same space. So if you are going to put solute inside the same inside the solvent you have to create space for it. So what Onsega did was that first of all to consider the solution he considered a spherical cavity the diameter of which is exactly the molecular diameter of the solute. So you have this dielectric continuum some dielectric constant epsilon and you have a cavity in it what is the meaning of cavity epsilon you can consider it to be 0 there is nothing in it cavity means vacuum and the size of the cavity is that the molecule can just fit in that cavity. So that is how solvent is modeled. The solute is modeled once again without considering the chemical structure. So if you see this is a physical model right. If you look at other physical models if you think of things like say bond charging bond charging is another process that takes place that is considered for solvation. In all these physical models there is no molecular structure because if you consider molecular structure you have to use quantum mechanics. So these are models that are actually formulated using classical mechanics and it does almost all the work. So in this case the solute is modeled as a dipole moment which fits exactly inside this cavity that we have created okay. So see if I take water and if I take some apoptic solvent which has the same dipole moment they would be modeled in a similar fashion right dipole moment of that same diameter provided the diameter of the molecules are also same. So what you would miss out on in this model is specific intermolecular interaction like hydrogen bonding alright. So that is something that this model cannot accommodate. So this model would work only when the interaction is purely electrostatic okay. Now when I say purely electrostatic why am I saying that? I am saying that because all the interaction that arises henceforth is because of the presence of this dipole moment inside the cavity until now whatever we said epsilon is same everywhere. Now the moment you put this dipole moment inside the cavity what will happen? Let us say the dipole moment is placed in such a way you see this minus sign here can you see yeah minus sign inside the spherical cavity let us say that is the negative end of the dipole this plus sign let us say there is a positive end of the dipole that is how the dipole is aligned let us say. What will happen? This plus charge here is going to polarize the dielectric in its nearest vicinity so that the dielectric now develops a minus sign here. The minus sign of the solute dipole on this side is going to polarize the dielectric around it so that the dielectric in immediate vicinity has a plus sign. So what we generate even without considering molecular structure is micro heterogeneity in the solution micro heterogeneity around the solute molecule solute dipole let us say alright. So now what is the situation you have a solute dipole and the solute dipole is contained in a cavity one side of which is minus one side is plus so one side minus one side plus what does that remind you of one side minus one side plus what do you create that way? Capacitor yes you create an electric field right plus and minus of course a field will be created. Now this field is created as a result or as a reaction to the introduction of the solute molecule in the cavity is that right? So this is called on-segar reaction field. I am skipping the entire mathematics here I am trying to build the physical justification mathematics you read Lacovitch's book you will understand it is not very difficult but sometimes what happens is when we do just the math we do not even think of the physical insight that is more important. So what you have here is you have on-segar reaction field produced as a result of introduction of this solute dipole into the solvent which is a structure less continuum alright. Now the dipole is subjected to this reaction field right so what will happen and the good thing is that the dipole is nicely aligned with the reaction field also because the reaction field is produced as a result of the dipole. So minus side of the reaction field is near the plus side of the dipole moment and dipole and the plus side of the electric field is near the minus side of the solute dipole. So what kind of interaction will you have you will only have stabilization yeah if you had a fixed field let us say I have 2 plates and I apply an electric field there one side one plate is positively charged one plate is negatively charged inside that I forcibly turn the dipole around then you can have repulsive interaction as well not in this case. In this case the interaction is intrinsically an attractive stabilizing interaction because the field is produced as a result of the field is produced in reaction to the solute dipole and so the solute dipole is nicely aligned to it okay. So this field is going to stabilize the dipole right you are going to have stabilization as a result of interaction of this dipole with the reaction field okay. So this is what the story is now think of a situation where I have a molecule whose ground state is more or less non-polar excited state is polar can you think of any such molecule yeah ground state is non-polar excited state is polar dipolar. So in charge transfer takes place of course one side of the molecule will become positively charged one side will be negatively charged so DMABN could be an example on Nile rate could be an example ANH, TNS all these things could be examples. So when that happens according to one secret reaction field this would be the situation now we bring in the structure of the solvent dipoles here we are still not considering molecular structure but we are at least recognizing the fact that the solvent molecules are dipolar in nature. So in the ground state the solvent dipoles are oriented in whatever way they are because ground state dipole moment of the solute is well let us say less not 0 may be less here it is said it is I think mu G mu G is the dipole moment of the ground state. In the excited state you have a different dipole moment mu E in this case let us say mu E is greater than mu G now what will happen you will have stabilization due to consider reaction field if you go through the reaction you will see that the this picture is only to recognize the molecular nature the derivation is completely based on dipole and field no molecular structure at all. But since we know that solutes the dipole moments we can think that this dipole moments will reorient so that you have on the minus side of the solute dipole you have solvent molecules pointing the plus sides and on the other side you have the solvent molecules pointing the minus side and that causes the stabilization okay. So this is the molecular picture on cigarette reaction field is the gross physical derivation. So then what happens to the corresponding ground state should we have here in this diagram it shows that the ground state of this solvated species has a higher energy compared to the ground state of the unsolvated species why is that so ground state means the dipole moment is gone dipole moment is back to mu G. So why is it that this arrangement has a higher energy than this arrangement because yes you are right in this case the it was this structure because it is not only solute solvent interaction. So if you read say book this book on electrochemistry part 1 you will see that while considering solution of a polar solute in polar solvent you consider not only solute solvent interaction but also solute solvent interaction because let us not forget that solvent molecules are present in very large number what is the concentration of water in water 55 molar. So the millions of solvent molecules compared to egg 1 solute molecule. So solvent-solvent interaction also contributes very strongly to the energy of this solution. So here the thing is in the excited state you go from this unorganized solvent situation to organized solvent situation or what is called the solvent-bark situation because of strongly favorable solute solvent interaction however if the dipole moment is restored from the high value of mu e to the low value of mu g then that favorable solute solvent interaction is gone and when that is gone what is lacking in this structure is the favorable solvent-solvent interaction that is present here. So this is actually more unstable than this so you can draw an energy cycle like this. So what will happen if you look at absorption spectrum and emission spectrum you record absorption spectrum and you record emission spectrum. If you go to a more polar solvent then stabilization will be greater. So the stroke shift between absorption and emission is going to be larger right. So here stroke shift provides a way of telling how polar the solvent is and of course it will work only when mu e is greater than mu g. So this is some data using ANS and you can see how emission spectra are getting redshifted and if you go through this Onsega reaction field model derivation you will arrive at something that is equally well known that is called Lippard-Motterga equation and Lippard-Motterga equation is something like this where it says Hc delta nu delta nu means nu A minus nu F where usually these are written in terms of wave number. The stroke shift in wave number is equal to 2 delta F by A cube mu e minus mu g whole square plus some constant. What is mu e minus mu g the difference in the dipole moment created upon excitation. The dipole well difference between the dipole moment created upon excitation and dipole moment of the ground state. What is delta F? Delta F is this we are referred to delta F in one of the earlier modules epsilon minus 1 by 2 epsilon plus 1 minus n square minus 1 by 2 n square plus 1 this is a measure of what is called orientation polarizability of the solvent. So the idea is that if you make this plot of nu A minus nu F stroke shift against delta F then you are going to get a slope which is proportional to square of mu e minus mu g. So greater the charge separation in the excited state steeper will be the curve. And here we have an example of ANS versus TNS you see that in this case delta mu turns out to be 9 dy in this case delta nu turns out to be 46 dy. So of course this has a much more polar excited state compared to ground state so this will be a better marker of polarity compared to this one okay. So what we have presented so far is the effect of solvation on steady state spectrum we have not talked about dynamics yet. So the question is how do we study the dynamics of the excited state going from unsolvated one to a solvated one right that is what we want to discuss. Now in this case theory preceded experiment and lots of theoretical approaches homogeneous dielectric model, inhomogeneous dielectric model, dynamic exchange model and molecular theories you can see that in the order that they are written you are actually going from a coarser theory to a finer theory to start with a model where the dielectric is homogeneous as we have said already on second model. Then you have to consider that dielectric may not be homogeneous so after all once again if you go back and read some basic physical chemistry text book like book recent read this electric chemistry book what is said is that see in the immediate vicinity of an ionic solute what is the dielectric constant of bulk water 80 or something like that right. What is the dielectric constant of water around say sodium ion yeah much less it is about 5 it is about 5 because the natural order orientation of the water dipole molecules is disrupted in the immediate vicinity of sodium their solute solvent interaction takes place. So now just around the solute it is 5 in the bulk it is 80 so it is impossible that there is a step jump from 5 to 80 right so it goes in steps. So first solvation shell, second solvation shell, third solvation shell that way you have a gradual change from 5 to 80 well when I say gradual it is not really very gradual it is quite steep. But inhomogeneity of dielectric is an important factor that has to be accounted for and that has been done in theoretical approaches. Then when you consider the molecular well even before that the third thing that you have to consider and we are going to harp upon this a little later as well is dynamic exchange. See this is not a static picture you have a solvent bulk model fine you have some of the solvent dipoles oriented nicely around the solute dipole but it is not as if that the solvent dipole that is there present in the first solvation shell is going to be there forever. It is not as if the solvent dipoles that are not bound by the solute are going to be there forever there is an exchange between the two and as it turns out that this exchange between bound and free dipole solvent dipoles actually has an important role to play in the dynamics because when you talk about dynamics what do you have to do you have to write a lot of differential equations right what do we do in kinetics first order process second order process what happens when we talk about some complex process if there are several steps you have to write differential equation for each and every step right. Here since dynamic exchange is a reality one needs to account for it while building the model and finally you have to consider the solvent molecules as solvent molecules not just dipoles the problem with that is that how many solvent molecules do you have Avogadro number let us say yeah if you are going to consider all of them to have some particular structure and you are going to use quantum mechanics for all of them that is not going to work right. Then what is used mostly here is statistical mechanical models statistical mechanical models with explicit solvent structure okay. So this is how the theory has evolved and you can get a an overview of this different kinds of theories from this very informative review by Prof. Bhivan Bakshi and now Prof. Bhivanjana solution dynamics and dipolar liquids published in 2010 there are many other reviews as well. Now one thing that has been referred to constantly while talking about solvation dynamics or otherwise is dielectric relaxation dielectric relaxation measurements are actually important here because the longitudinal relaxation time in simple liquids the solvation time. So lot of dielectric relaxation experiments have also been done in this context but that again gives a bulk picture dielectric relaxation measurement does not have the capability of going near a solute and looking at it for that one has to use spectroscopy. So this module was an introduction to the process of solvation itself in the next module we are going to discuss how one can use ultrafast spectroscopy to study the dynamics of solvation.


Welcome to Game of the Year 2021. It has not been the best year for games for me. I have seen better years. Like for example 2017, nothing can beat that year still. Also I feel like last year was really good. But however, there were also good games in 2021. Don't get me wrong. So this is an annual thing on Esha gaming and I have two lists. That is in total 10 games. Five of them are not released this year, but I played them this year. Five of them are both released this year and played this year by me. So in total two lists and 10 games. Let's start with the games that were not released this year. I know for a fact that we are all playing backlog games several years after the initial release year. And that is just the way of life. Let's start with the first game. Okay, so I have played Atelier, a mysterious trilogy a lot this year. And for the first time I feel like I really really delved deep into Atelier theories. I made a review of this trilogy on my channel this year. I just ended up playing theories way more than I intended to. I mean I played it originally on PS4 way back. But now it ended up being re-released on the Switch. And I played much more theories on the Switch now than I did back in the day on the PS4. But I still haven't completed it. Atelier games they are so long and so big. But I feel like I had a really good time in this game. So that is just a game that I enjoyed a lot this year. Now the next game not released this year. I did play it a lot with my friend Katrine Beata. And she hasn't been on this channel for a long while. But we are talking about Elder Scrolls Online. It is a game that is now like a friendship game with my friend Katrine. I love her. She's so wonderful. I actually have my Xbox series, Serious X. Over at her place currently. Because we recently played again Destiny 2 together. But we have played Elder Scrolls Online a lot this year. And I even had ESO Plus. And we got to max level. And we did a lot of dungeons. And we really delved the deep into this game. It's an MMO. And yeah I play MMOs if I have someone to play with. And that is the case with my friend Katrine. So that is a PC game. I play that on the PC. And I also modded it really good. So I'm never uninstalling that to lose all the mod progress that I spent an entire day modding. Anyways. That was Happy Times. Good Times. Font memories. Always font memories to play with her. She's such a lovely girl. I want to have her more on my channel soon. I'm gonna force her someday, you know. Now the next game not released this year. But I have such fun with them. They are actually three games. I'm combining three games into one because I can because I can. Okay. I'm talking about Mary Skelter. It's not a new series by any chance or any means. But one of the games in the Mary Skelter series. They are new. This game came out this year. Mary Skelter finale. Or as Tarx Gauntlet says. Mary Skelter finally. Go watch Tarx Gauntlet everyone. Shout out to him. So I have enjoyed a lot of Mary Skelter. Now I am not very familiar with the first person Dungeon Crawler RPG genre. But this one has really made me love this genre. It's very addicting. Once you get into it. Very unputdownable. I can play that for several, several hours. And have really long play sessions with Mary Skelter. I have been playing the first one. The second one and the third one. Jumping between all of them. Because I know the rough story within each of them. So it's not gonna mess up my story progression in my head of how I think about what's happening in the games. Because I know what's happening in the games. But I'm playing them for the gameplay. Also the cuteness and the art style is out of this world. So good. ID Factory games. I love the ID Factory. Mary Skelter 2 is on the Switch. Mary Skelter finally is finale I mean. Is also out on the Switch. So all those games that you're seeing right now. They are on the Switch. And I have had a great time in them. Can confirm. Yes. Very good games. The next game. Not released this year. I actually had a very fun time in Kingdoms of Amalur Re-Recording. And I made a video about this game earlier this year. And it is called This Game Surprised Me. A bit of clickbait there. But it did surprise me. So it wasn't totally untrue. I was very surprised that this game passed me by. Since it's an old game. And it is now out on the Switch. Remastered. It's called Re-Recording. But I call the Kingdoms of Amalur. Very nice RPG game. Like Fantasy. Old school. But 3D. Action combat. Quest driven. Lore heavy. Open world-ish. Almost open world. RPG game. It's a very nice game. I very much recommend it. And I also recommend that you watch my video about that game. I have had such fun times in that game. And I'm still feeling not done in the game. I'm gonna go back to it. So that is also something that I highly recommend that you check out. Because it passed me by. So it can pass by anyone. Okay. Best played this year. Not released this year. I have to say Immortal's Phoenix Rising. It is an actual open world this time. A lot of things to do. Chests to collect. And I just enjoy a big map.  And I can roam around and do whatever I want. And collect and clear everything. Every single chest marker and things and walls. And also I got really into collecting all the rarer mounts in the game. Yeah you can tame mounts out in the wild. And if you cheat, like me, look up a map online. With where the more rarer mounts are. That is something that I did. And I did everything in the game. I had such a fun good time in this game. I know I have mentioned this game several times in this year. But it is a very strong and good memory. It is one of the highlights that I have played this year. But it wasn't released this year. So that is why it is on the first list. Now we are getting to the actual release as Outriders. Now that is a third person shooter. And it is also the first game that I played on my Xbox Series X. For that reason maybe that influenced my opinions or feelings on it. But it was that new console excitement feeling. The game is also very satisfying. Like the shooting feels very good. Very good indeed. And I played it all the way through. Completed everything. I think I did or at least came very close to doing all of the side quests as well in Outriders. It is on Game Pass. And I knew that after I bought the actual physical copy. But I don't mind. It was a good game. So I'm happy to have that. Also I can lend that out to friends when they get their Series X. I mean that is the probe with having physical covers of game. I mean physical games. Not digital. That is like you can lend it out when you're done with the game. Lend it out to friends and stuff like that. So that was Outriders. I recommend it. Very good. Now the next game. Tales of Arise. It is entire on the list. And it pains me to say this. I didn't get that magical Tales of feeling from Tales of Arise. Now I am an old school Tales of a fan. I am coming from Symphonia, Exilias. Okay so the thing I'm gonna try and explain it.  It doesn't suck. I take that back. When I was playing Tales of Arise I was actually thinking to myself this may actually be the prettiest looking game that I've ever played. Like really pretty. High contrast. Bunch of wonderful beautiful colors. It looks so crisp and sharp and good and it looks so freaking beautiful. And I'm playing it on the Series X. I'm gonna say that forever now. Series X I mean. I mean I get the story. Story is fine. It's very Tales story wise. But the humor is gone. Okay I'm just gonna say it like this. The humor is gone. There's nothing humorous or funny in the game. They're very serious. Very on to the story and it's such a serious setting. They're all super serious. What I'm missing is just the humor that I originally loved from the Tales of Serious. There's so much humor in yeah let's say Symphonia and Exilias 1 and 2. There's always something funny. Not even to mention Tales of the Abyss. Such a funny game. Like all the skits they were jokes. They were based on jokes and when you entered a skit you knew that now we're going to hear a joke. But that is not the case with Tales of the Rise. All the skits they are very serious and just explaining the story once again. But it is on the list because it is a good game. It's nothing very special. Maybe I had higher expectations. I'm just missing the humor. Blue Reflection Second Light. I have had a wonderful time in this game as well. That is what I say about all the games. I had a wonderful time. But I really did have a wonderful time. I have the best times in video games and we can all relate. Now this is a game that is made by Gust, the Atelier people. It was something about the setting that I felt was unique. At least I haven't played anything similar or that reminded me of this game. And it caught me by surprise and Gust even sent this to me. It is the Blue Reflection Second Light Premium box. I almost forgot about it. Yeah, they sent me this as an appreciation for talking about their game I think. And it is from my good friend Nathan over at Koei Techno. We talk. So yeah, package for you and from Nathan, Irene. Very happy about that.  And inside of this there is the official soundtrack and an art book in Japanese. So that was Blue Reflection. Also made a video about Blue Reflection. You can check that out if you want to listen to more about that game. So the next game released this year. And it is officially my most played Nintendo Switch game for 2021. Can you guess what it is? It is Story of Seasons Pioneers of Olive Town. Because it is a farming game. It is a live simulator game. You can really delve into this game and put a ton of hours into it. And the time is just gonna fly by because there are so many things to do. Micro-managing. Managing your farm. And all the machines that are creating all of these materials. That you can then, you know, it's collecting and crafting. Collecting and crafting. Racing your livestock. Growing crops. Befriending the townspeople. Getting cats. I mean, upgrade your house. So many things, you know. So yeah, that is my most played game on the Switch. You can actually check your year. If you log into Nintendo.com I think. You can see which games you play the most. How many titles you started this year. It is a fun thing. Just gonna mention that. So yeah, that is a game that was very good. It does have some struggles. And I go more into that in my review and you can check that out. If you want to listen to more about Story of Seasons Pioneers of Olive Town. Now my game of the year. And it just is. It just is.  You're just interested in hearing what I played and enjoyed the most this year I guess. That is Atelier Ryza 2. Such a fun game. Such a cozy fun game. So many things to do in the game. I don't know, it's just my type of game. Atelier Ryza 2 is a anime style colorful RPG game. Actually RPG. It's not a shallow game by any means. It's very complex. There's a ton of things to keep track of and learn and discover. It is also a rather long game. It's gonna take you some time to complete it and find all the recipes and do all of the quests. So it's gonna last you for quite a time. I highly recommend that this is the game that you pick up if you have never played a game in the Atelier series. Ryza 2 is the best one. By far because it's the newest. It's the best looking one. I also have Ryza on PS4. I'm gonna replay that game on PS4. But you know, I have my big save file on the Switch. But it looks of course sharper on the PS4 which all games does. We all know that. Atelier Ryza 2 has been my game of the year in 2021. Very happy to say that. That was my highlight of the entire year. Now I know some games are missing from this list and I'm gonna explain why. I am currently right now playing Shin Megami Tensei 5. That is why I didn't make it into the list because I haven't played it enough. I'm like 15 hours in which is nothing. It's such a big game. I've heard people can play that game for 100 hours. Or more. There's so many things to collect and do. And I'm currently just fusing my way through the game. Like collecting all of the demons. Fusing them to even stronger demons. Collecting all of the mimins on the maps. It's such a fun game and I can very much see how this is a game of the year for a lot of people. Such fun games. I recommend it. I talked about it in my last video on this channel. So yeah, Shin Megami Tensei 5. I'm so happy that I have that in physical because I know I'm gonna lend that out to my friends when I'm done with it. Push it on to my friends and make them play it. Very good game. Now we have some bonus lists and that are games that I played this year. That's it. They don't win any awards. I just played them. Trials of Mana. Played that this year. Spiritfarer. It is worth a mention because it is farming at sea. Such a cozy game. Now actually I... Yeah, wow. It says World of Warcraft in here. Because I started a bit of World of Warcraft. Wait tiny heads because she talked me into it. Of course she did. Pokemon Brilliant Diamond. Review coming. Actually coming. I'm gonna be the last one to review that game. I'm always the last one. I always say that too. Scarlet Nexus was released this year. But I didn't enjoy it. It was not how I wanted it to be. Metroid Dread was also released this year. I have something in my eye. And for PC I played a game called New World. That was also released this year. But I didn't play it for a long time. It was like the hype was really big. And I played it all day every day for some days. And then I left the game. Jesus. So all the games that are released in 2021. Worth mentioning. But I didn't play any of these. Not played. Didn't play. Resident Evil Village came out this year. Fire Cry 6. Death Loop. It takes two. Which actually won the official awards. Psychonauts 2. Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart. And yeah that is it. I didn't play any of those. Now I hope you have a wonderful Christmas. I'm gonna enjoy Christmas with my family. And my cats. And my video games. I am going to play a lot of IUD Factory games this Christmas. I'm gonna continue playing Mary Skelter finally. Just jump between the games that I feel like playing. Which is how I like to do things. Now thank you so much for watching. And I will see you later. Bye. If you hit like on this video I would be very happy.


just does unfortunately we're not gonna see like the double effect because I can't get them down to like half health without without killing them because they've all like 33% of their health but we'll see what it looks like it's all that really matters um that's cool don't worry yeah but roses with me today she is joining me on my quest yeah which is great great friends content content content um hello so that's not very good about that bug that we've already encountered I mean I'm assuming people have um mass reported yeah I'm assuming people have okay well there's a second of death let's just put up a how many pips we need we've got two four six this is actually a lot of the pips that we need like a lot of pips it would have been so much better if it was a living purpose because that's the one we need next anyway you're gonna do some life-questing trying to get all six to dragon spy before your member ends nice good work you can do it I believe in you I believe in you we got a shadow pip before we got it that's cute that's cool how many blades does Brent have to do before you can cast his new spell a lot yeah obviously I didn't even know we could get up to 12 pips so you know I can cast all of my blades before I get up to 12 pips that's great good job good work there Brent good work super wow 36 you're bad well there's four blades let's see how much this does and what it looks like I think we can cast it now right yeah we can well here we go first time casting I didn't actually see the accuracy so it could be kind of low but we'll see I don't think I'll fizzle I'm pretty sure I shouldn't even if it's like the same accuracy as Kisma I shouldn't fizzle okay I might try again oh my gosh hello he's a beast mortis is a beast he's a big boy he's a big boy holy moly oh someone's a wee little bloodbath that's cute out of his mouth that's a bit weird but it's actually quite a cool spell that is actually a really really cool spell not gonna lie that's a really cool spell I'm definitely using that that's a cool spell it's not really useful but that's a cool spell that's a it's 80% accuracy is that the same as other ones that's a good question not slightly lower but that's really cool I like that spell I like it okay so let's do a headless right off the bat that should take him down hopefully a lot I don't know if this is a hundred percent gonna work we'll see I really really hope this does if we crit it should do a lot getting it down to 33% health all this is actually quite difficult like we'll see if we can do this I'm not a hundred percent sure oh crap yes thank goodness fuel fuel 30 30% crit chance is good okay there we go we can actually see it yes we can see it I just need to wait a whole bunch hopefully he doesn't death shield that would be so annoying if he death shields right now but yeah just tell me when you're at the defeating collect quest that's where I've stopped I'm waiting for to you okay we got a shadow pip that's cute what should break and ruin everything hopefully not well we'll be able to see the second death animation right now which is cool really really cool luckily I had the thought of going to Jade only please don't you dare death shield don't dare death shield don't do it okay that's oh no he's gonna heal up to over 33% that's not good that's not cool I do not approve of that do not approve of that at all 2 4 6 8 okay luckily it's only doing 90 hopefully he doesn't do this hopefully he doesn't do it hopefully he doesn't do it oh luckily we did that geez hello okay we'll put up a blade please don't heal over 33% that'd be ridiculous that'd be so cheap of you you would do that you just don't want me seeing my new spell do you don't you dare here again okay that's fine I will accept that I will accept that can we do it we can okay here we go let's see let us see please don't be over 33% does that look over 33% I think it does I think it does is around 2000 I think he does pretend that's a hundred I'm not math a couple zero I don't math I don't math I'm not good we'll see if this we'll see if this is if it's a different animation then we know it is can I create that'll be kind of cool as well oh it is we did it we did it holy that did 10,000 with one blade and no crit that's really cool I prefer the second one the second one so cool so that's the second animation for the death spell


Russell says, I would appreciate if you could give comment suggestions regarding my concern in Outlook. Is there a possible way to create a rule to move a message box automatically to a specific folder for multiple users? For instance, 10 users receiving an email from test at test.com. And I want to move all the email messages coming from this email to a specific folder in Outlook. I know how to create a rule for a specific user individually. My concern is for the group without touching their mailboxes individually. You can't create a rule for somebody else that is individual. It's also machine specific, unless you create it in the cloud and then it would be available in any device. So I get that conflict all the time because I love the rules and I have different machines and they're like, this one doesn't coincide with what's on the web. So that's the first thing you can't create one for somebody else. But my question is, why aren't they using shared mailboxes? That's the perfect intent for shared mailboxes, right?  Oh, no, I was absolutely agreeing with you. That's exactly what the shared mailboxes for. Why they haven't set that up is kind of a good question. Notwithstanding that, sharing wouldn't a flow work in any case like this? I don't know. I haven't gotten that far into Outlook. But it seems like to me that's not sustainable. If anybody in that group changes, you've got to go back and re-engineer. And that's just not sustainable over time. So I think absolutely. Yeah. We just created it. Now there's the problem, right? That's good. Well, just thinking that you have the ability with SharePoint, with teams elsewhere to go in and create, you know, templates for a team or a team site, things like that. I mean, is there anything similar? Like as you're deploying, you know, new users that you by default set up, you know, folders and rules as part of that building out that person's profile? Or do they need to go in and build all those automations in place? I'm not the scripter. So I don't know. Yeah. So I don't know that that would be their approach. I mean, my first thought reading the question too was, you know, that's what the shared mailbox is for. Yeah. You can automate. You can automate just about anything, Christian. Yeah. Yeah. I think that there is probably a way that you can do that with Flow. But I have to go with Sherry.  I know a couple of the people in the place I consult for, some email flows set up on dealing with ticket handling. It's an MSP firm so that everybody is on board with what tickets are where. So like I say, that that sounds like something that might actually work. But I haven't gone into it far enough to be sure. It might be something they could explore. However, Michael built yourself a shared mailbox. Save the trouble. Well, and the nice thing about the share mailbox is too, once somebody's assigned to it, it just automatically shows up. They don't have to like open it, create a shared, you know, if somebody creates a mailbox and then shares it with other people, then, you know, they, again, it's on them to maintain that where the membership in a shared mailbox is what determines whether it's visible or not. Exactly. I had a question. You guys will get a kick out of this. I actually had a question a couple of weeks ago where they were asking something similar, but they were talking about calendars.  I guess one of the higher level executives that was having in this conversation said, well, why don't we just use public folders? That actually works. I know, but I was like, nobody uses public folders anymore. You know, they're not supposed to use those anymore.   Yeah.