One of the essential, if often unstated, job requirements of an American president is to provide stability, order and predictability in a world that tends toward chaos, disarray and entropy. When our political leaders ignore this — and certainly when they delight in disruption — the consequences can be severe. Stability is easy to take for granted, but impossible to live without.

Projecting clear convictions is important for preventing adversaries from misreading America’s intentions and will. Our allies also depend on our predictability and reassuring steadiness. Their actions in trade and economics, in alliances with other nations and in the military sphere are often influenced by how much they believe they can rely on American support.

Order and stability in the executive branch are also linked to the health of our system of government. Chaos in the West Wing can be crippling, as White House aides — in a constant state of uncertainty, distrustful of colleagues, fearful that they might be excoriated or fired — find it nearly impossible to do their jobs. This emanates throughout the entire federal government. Devoid of steadfast leadership, executive agencies easily become dysfunctional themselves.

Worse yet, if key pillars of our system, like our intelligence and law enforcement agencies, are denigrated by the president, they can be destabilized, and Americans’ trust in them can be undermined. Without a reliable chief executive, Congress, an inherently unruly institution, will also find it difficult to do its job, since our constitutional system relies on its various branches to constantly engage with one another in governing.

But that’s hardly the whole of it. Particularly in this social media era, a president who thrives on disruption and chaos is impossible to escape. Every shocking statement and act is given intense coverage. As a result, the president is omnipresent, the subject of endless coast-to-coast conversations among family and friends, never far from our thoughts. As Andrew Sullivan has observed, “A free society means being free of those who rule over you — to do the things you care about, your passions, your pastimes, your loves — to exult in that blessed space where politics doesn’t intervene.”

A presidency characterized by pandemonium invades and infects that space, leaving people unsettled and on edge. And this, in turn, leads to greater polarization, to feelings of alienation and anger, to unrest and even to violence.

A spirit of instability in government will cause Americans to lose confidence in our public institutions. When citizens lose that basic faith in their government, it leads to corrosive cynicism and the acceptance of conspiracy theories. Movements and individuals once considered fringe become mainstream, while previously responsible figures decamp to the fever swamps. One result is that the informal and unwritten rules of political and human interaction, which are at the core of civilization, are undone. There is such a thing as democratic etiquette; when it is lost, the common assumptions that allow for compromise and progress erode.

In short, chaotic leadership can inflict real trauma on political and civic culture.

All of which brings us to Donald Trump, arguably the most disruptive and transgressive president in American history. He thrives on creating turbulence in every conceivable sphere. The blast radius of his tumultuous acts and chaotic temperament is vast.
Mr. Trump acts as if order is easy to achieve and needs to be overturned while disruption and disorder are what we need. But the opposite is true. “Rage and frenzy will pull down more in half an hour,” Edmund Burke wrote, “than prudence, deliberation and foresight can build up in a hundred years.”

Mr. Trump and his supporters don’t seem to agree, or don’t seem to care. And here’s the truly worrisome thing: The disruption is only going to increase, both because he’s facing criticism that seems to trigger him psychologically and because his theory of management involves the cultivation of chaos. He has shown throughout his life a defiant refusal to be disciplined. His disordered personality thrives on mayhem and upheaval, on vicious personal attacks and ceaseless conflict. As we’re seeing, his malignant character is emboldening some, while it’s causing others — the Republican leadership comes to mind — to briefly speak out (at best) before returning to silence and acquiescence. The effect on the rest of us? We cannot help losing our capacity to be shocked and alarmed.

We have as president the closest thing to a nihilist in our history — a man who believes in little or nothing, who has the impulse to burn down rather than to build up. When the president eventually faces a genuine crisis, his ignorance and inflammatory instincts will make everything worse.

Republican voters and politicians rallied around Mr. Trump in 2016, believing he was anti-establishment when in fact he was anti-order. He turns out to be an institutional arsonist. It is an irony of American history that the Republican Party, which has historically valued order and institutions, has become the conduit of chaos.


lamborghini urus original carbon fiber accessories

VW Group Allegedly Receives Offer To Sell Lamborghini For $9.2 Billion

The buyer would get everything, including Lambo's headquarters.

The investment groupQuantum Group AG has submitted a€7.5 billion ($9.2 billion at current exchange rates) offer to purchase Lamborghini from Volkswagen Group, Autocar reports. There's no info yet about whether VW intends to accept the offer or further negotiate the deal.

Quantum Group is a holding company based in Zurich, Switzerland, and it might have a tangential relationship with the Porsche family.Rea Stark is representing Quantum in the Lamborghini purchase offer. He is also a co-founder of PiëchAutomotive along with Anton Piëch who is the son of former VW Group boss Ferdinand Piëch and the great-grandson of Ferdinand Porsche. Although, it's not clear if Anton Piëch has any role in this attempt to buy Lamborghini, according to Autocar.

Quantum Group wants to purchase more than just the Lamborghini name. The deal would include buying the entire facility inSant’Agata, Italy, and the firm's motorsport operations. There would also be a five-year supplier agreement with Audi, which likely would allow Lambo to continue to produce the current models while preparing new ones. Quantum wants to shape the brand to "spearhead for innovation by consistently implementing new clean drivetrain technologies," according to a document obtained by Autocar.

There have been rumors for years about VW Group selling Lamborghini. However, in late 2020, the automaker's supervisory board voted not to sell Lambo, Bentley, and Ducati. The company was doing an internal examination to see if the resources were available to develop EVs and autonomous technology while also investing in these premium marques."Brands must be measured against new requirements," VW Group Chief Executive Herbert Diess said at the time.


management factors influencing open innovation div c ac dd

The agriculture sector as the main source of income for the most countries of the world in economic activities is very important. The sector due to its high contribution in GNP and export incomes play the critical role in directing and positioning the economic development process especially in third world countries. The agriculture development cannot be fulfilled only by injection of capital and technology to agriculture sector but this is a multidimensional process that many factors intervene on it. The optimization and reinforcement of human resource in agriculture development is undeniable. A kind of investment that today is unavoidable for public and private sector from the expert point of views is to reinforce and develop the entrepreneurship in agriculture sector [6]. Nowadays the agriculture is considered as a sector for complementing the economy and entrepreneurship activities as response to recession and problems in agriculture sector and survival strategy for rural family. One of the suitable options toward competition and commercializing the agriculture sector and active involvement in global markets is to develop the trade units for greenhouse usage [3]. The greenhouse town is a set of greenhouses that is focused in a common space, this is an incorporated and coordinated cultivation and for avoidance from breaking apart the lands and lead to reduction of production costs, enhancement of production productivity, and as a result increasing the farmers income. The greenhouse town of Hashtgerd is the first and biggest hydroponic greenhouse town of Iran by an area amounted 170 hectares that after completing, 1300 skilled and non-skilled person will be employed there. Raman et al. (2008) in a researched titled motivational factors influencing on entrepreneurship decision making believes that the motivation and environmental conditions play the important role in entrepreneurship [8]. Hindle (2006) in his research considered the job satisfaction and age as the most important variables influencing on entrepreneurship [4]. Royer (2003) considered the job satisfaction and age as the most important variable influencing on entrepreneurship too [9]. Lashgarara et al. (2011) concluded that there is a positive relationship between education in high levels and entrepreneurship activities development [5]. Farajolah Hosseini and Mcelwee (2011) in their research found that 67 percent of variance of rural women about the influencing factors on entrepreneurship activates are explained by education, motivation, economic factors and psychological factors [2]. In a research that has been done by Ghonchi et al (2010) the economical, technical and technology individual, professional and infrastructure has been considered as the most important avoiding factors for development of greenhouse units [3]. Sharifi et al (2009) in their paper express that the attitude of the most greenhouse holders toward development and spread of greenhouse is in intermediate and good level and on the other hand there is a positive and significant relationship between communicative channels, performance level, technical knowledge level, net income, green house background, education [10]. Morad nejadi et al (2007) concluded that the economic environment is the most important factor for entrepreneurship in Iran and after them the entrepreneur’s psychological attributes, marketing skills and access to resources, environmental dynamic, and interest toward agriculture are known as other main factors [6]. The town has high problems including inefficiency of major infrastructure like water, electricity and gas, bank lending problems, lack of education, input financing problems like fuel, water price calculation based on industry and not agriculture and some other problems that preclude suitable using from town advantages. Therefore perhaps we can claim that the town could not achieve to one the most important aim toward creating jobs for unemployed graduates of agriculture. Due to cited items the greenhouse cultivation is considered as a novel phenomenon that has not been in Iran for a long time. Despite quantitative growth of greenhouse units in the country, this productive units deal with some multiple problems that make their qualitative development difficult. The current research is aimed to explore the influencing factors on entrepreneurship development of Hashtgerd greenhouse town in order to provide some approaches for entrepreneurship development in this town. The current research is done for Hastgerd greenhouse town located in Savejbolagh in Alborz province. The duration of research is 2011 -2012.

This is applied study; from the data collection is the descriptive and based on method is correlation. The statistical population in this research includes 39 users of greenhouse town of Hashtgerd. Due to smallness of statistical population and less numbers of users the census method has been used. The instrument used in this study to gather data was the questionnaire. Due to the nature and objectives of this research study is to evaluate the content validity of the questionnaire, to measure the validity questionnaire, the number of Islamic Azad University professors and experts were conducted to examine the necessary and the collection of comments reform of the questionnaire was obtained. In order to determine the reliability of the data collected through questionnaires, Cronbach's alpha test was used for overall Cronbach's alpha of the questionnaire was between 0.914 to 0.972. Independent variables included psychological, economic, and technical support- social- cultural, educational and policy. The dependent variable in this research is the development of entrepreneurial farmers in Hashtgerd Town greenhouse. In order to measure the dependent variable in the form of a Likert questionnaire item 5 is used. In this study, data were collected in two ways: a library research and field studies. After collecting and sorting data, the analysis the data in two stages, using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics were taken. All data processing and statistical analysis was performed using the software SPSS18.

Considering the results obtained in this study, the average age is 31.89 years. Most beneficiaries that is 38.5 percent have a bachelor's degree. Average exploiters of record service have 6.74 years. 43.6% of farmers produce strawberries product that has accounted for the highest percentage. In order to evaluate the development of entrepreneurship in the town of greenhouse Hashtgerd the form of a five-item Likert 5 option is used. The findings of the study indicate that the majority of the subjects (41 percent) believe entrepreneurship development in the Town of greenhouse Hashtgerd is too much (Table 1). Table 1. Rate of entrepreneurship development of Hashtgerd greenhouse (n=39) Influence

The Influencing Factors on Entrepreneurship Development of Users in Greenhouse Town of Hashtgerd Agriculture Science Developments Vol(3), No (10), October, 2014.

Factors influencing the choice of family planning among couples in ...

Factors and Perceptions Influencing the Implementation ... - Euromesco
Oct 1, 2006 - events, including 9/11 and the fight against terrorism, have accelerated EU efforts in this ... http://www.euractiv.com/en/justice/illegal- .... This, of course, has led to doubts ... however, in the degree of influence that these posit

management factors influencing open innovation ... - DiVA portal
With innovation becoming the source of growth for major businesses, there .... companies such as Apple, Microsoft etc (Pisano, 2006). ...... idea in that website.

An Analysis of the Factors Influencing ITS Technology Adoption and ...
new technology may evolve and what types of Federal programs would be best suited to promote diffusion. ...... West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Delray. 1999.

Factors influencing the choice of family planning among couples in ...
Jun 17, 2011 - timing of pregnancy, also known as spacing of children ... powerful that they can obscure the line between ..... gee.org/guide/ islamic.html.


Henry Repeating Arms is proud to announce this Guns For Great Causes benefit for 8-year-old Kalel Hamilton and his family. Kalel is currently battling Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, a rare and terminal genetic disease with no known cure.

Each one of the 50 rifles in the “Flex For Kalel” series is a donation from Henry Repeating Arms President and Owner, Anthony Imperato, to help raise funds for a treatment that could potentially save Kalel’s life. The engraving and painting embellishments are graciously donated by our friends and partners at Baron Engraving of Trumbull, CT.

100% of the proceeds go to Kalel’s family who will be donating the funds to the non-profit organization, Cure Rare Diseases, to secure Kalel’s eligibility for an experimental gene therapy treatment.

The “Flex For Kalel” edition rifles feature a superhero motif as a symbol of Kalel’s endurance and a nod to his name, which is inspired by Kal-El, the birth name of Clark Kent, AKA Superman. Built on Henry’s award-winning Golden Boy platform, the rifles are chambered in .22 S/L/LR and feature a Brasslite receiver cover, blued steel octagon barrel, and genuine American walnut furniture with laser engraving and hand painted accents. A lime green muscular dystrophy awareness ribbon drapes through the overall design. Each rifle in the series is marked with a unique serial number ranging from “FLEXFORKAL01” through “FLEXFORKAL50.”

All of the rifles are available for purchase directly from Henry Repeating Arms with the exception of the first and last in the series, which are up for auction on Gunbroker.com. Thank you to everyone who chooses to support this ‘Guns For Great Causes’ campaign on behalf of Kalel and his family.

ALL ‘FLEX FOR KALEL’ RIFLES ARE CURRENTLY SOLD OUT. PLEASE VISIT THE AUCTIONS FOR SERIAL #1 AND SERIAL #50 USING THE LINKS ABOVE.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT OF KALEL, HIS FAMILY, AND GUNS FOR GREAT CAUSES!


Sinaloa.- The low tourism that has been registered in the port of Mazatlán is due to the requirement of the Covid-19 vaccination certificate, said Julio Birrueta, director of the Association of Hotels and Tourism Companies.

He ruled out that the decrease is due to the return to classes, because in 2019, the children were in school and they did not have that low percentage.

“Many people keep asking when are we going to remove the vaccination certificate. One of the reasons is that some have not been vaccinated, and those who are already do not want the hassle, and as in other tourist destinations they do not ask for it, because they go where there is less hassle, “said Birrueta.

According to the hotel businessman, since the measures were announced in late July and early August, especially that it would be essential to carry the Covid-19 vaccination card, they immediately had cancellations of all kinds, but most were of group.

Thanks to the long weekend, the influx in hotels increased to 50 percent. They hope to go as high as 60 percent.
Julio Birrueta indicated that in the month of August a 51 percent was registered.

The tourism servers commented that the month of August was not profitable and the activity fell by up to 30 percent.

After the considerable drop, just yesterday an increase in visitors began to be noticed in the city. The most frequented places were Playa Norte and the Golden Zone.

The tourist leader asserted that from the beginning of the requirement, they estimated that it could affect the influx of tourism. He said that in this month of September and October it could still go lower.

He asks the authorities to evaluate this requirement, because although they are aware of the health situation, there are losses not only in the hotel sector, but for the thousands of families that depend on this activity in Mazatlán.


According to the analyst, these AR contact lenses are “unlikely to have independent computing power and storage.” It’s possible they would be connected to an owner’s iPhone to get data.

In addition, Kuo said that Apple has several prototypes of its headset that weigh 200-300 grams but the final weight could be reduced to 100-200 grams if it can solve some technical problems.

This would make them significantly lighter than existing VR devices.

Apple is reportedly working on the most advanced and powerful chips for its unannounced VR headset, with some chips reportedly beating its own M1 Mac processors.

The iPhone maker may use a fabric exterior to reduce the headset weight, but the company is also using a fan — an unusual move for Apple given its emphasis on fan-less design.


The Patriots opened as massive betting favorites over the Dolphins entering their AFC East divisional matchup on Sunday, and the spread has only continued to climb since then.

New England, coming off of a dominant 33–3 win over the Steelers to open their season, opened as 14.5-point road favorites before their number jumped to -19 at William Hill as of Tuesday afternoon.

If the spread holds, it will be one of the five largest point spreads in an NFL game in the past decade, and the Patriots will be the biggest road favorite over that stretch too.

The Jaguars started the season 0–5, while Peyton Manning’s Broncos were 5–0. Manning and the Broncos won the game 35–19, but fell well short of covering the 26.5-point spread.

The Colts were 0–11 heading into this matchup, as they had lost Peyton Manning for the season. The Patriots led 31–3 at the end of the third quarter, but the Colts came through with the cover, scoring 21 unanswered points in the fourth for a final score of 31–24.

The Seahawks took a 24–0 halftime lead and didn’t look back, as they won and covered 45–17 behind Russell Wilson and Co.

An ugly start to the 2018 season got uglier for the Vikings at home against Buffalo last year. The Bills took an early 17–0 lead in the first quarter before making it 27–10 at halftime. Minnesota lost outright, 27–6.

It was Tom Brady against Bryce Petty on Christmas Eve, and it’s not hard to figure out how this one ended. The Patriots took a 27–0 lead at halftime thanks to touchdowns on three of their first four drives before finishing the Jets off 41–3 for the cover.


The thing that most people fear most about cab driving is the possibility of being robbed at gunpoint or even murdered by a customer. Thank God I haven’t been robbed. I know it has happened to some of our other drivers over the years but contrary to popular belief, it’s not an everyday occurrence. There is however, another thing that happens much more frequently that’s not nearly as dramatic but can still put you in a bad mood and mess up your day. It’s when you don’t get paid for your services. Most drivers call it “getting stiffed”.

As with most cities, at least in the working class and poorer areas, the check cashing, payday loan and title loan business is big business in Birmingham. These places are everywhere you look in

certain parts of town. I had just dropped off a customer in Fairfield and was heading back toward downtown. I booked into the 200 zone as I approached the Arkadelphia Road exit. I immediately recieved a call to an address I knew to be in the Elyton project.

The cell phone seemed to be a permanant attachment to her body. She didn’t take it down from her ear until we had reached our destination. She was young, I’d say about 20. She was thin and dressed cheaply, a red bandana covered her hair. She quickly told me where she wanted to go, a payday/title loan place on Greensprings Highway. She was talking with someone who was obviously selling her something. I overheard talk of shipping options, dates of arrival ect…Whatever it was, I guess she really wanted it. So much so that she would call a cab to take her to get a loan to buy a money order in order to buy it, whatever it was.

She didn’t stay in the place very long, she was turned down quickly. It seems the only payday she had was a government check for a little more than two hundred dollars a month. She had no car to pawn the title to, she was S.O.L and so was I. She already owed me more than $20 by this time. Once it became clear that she had no means of paying the fare I just turned the meter off and told her I would take her home but let her know in no uncertain terms that I didn’t have to. I could have, and probably should have, just left her ass stranded there.

I gave her a lecture on the way home about why she should make sure she had money before she called a cab. I told her that I could have called the cops and that most drivers would have called them. “Fo’ real?” she asked. “Fo’ what?” She had no idea that stiffing a cab driver could possibly be against the law. I told her it was called theft of service, which is similar to theft of property, like shoplifting from a store.”Naw it ain’t” she said. It seemed to me that this young woman had grown to adulthood without a clue as to how to function in society. Pitiful, I thought. At least she did offer a “thank you” as she got out of the car back at home.

It was fairly early in the morning, after sunrise but before 8am. I had been working the going to work business in the 400 and 500 zones. It had been raining off and on and was a very gray morning. Norwood is one of Birmingham’s grand old neighborhoods that fell into decline and disrepair after the white flight. Big houses that were once elegant mansions line some of the streets. A few of them, a very few, have been bought in recent years and renovated back to their former glory. Most are still in sad shape, some repairable with a major effort. Others that are burned out or literally falling down are beyond repair. This call wasn’t to an old mansion but to a decent home in good shape.

She was sitting on the front porch when I drove up. A young girl, no doubt a teenager, jumped up and immediately got in the back seat. “How much will it cost to take me to Bessemer?” she asked. i said probably about $40, maybe more, depending on where it is in Bessemer. At first I didn’t worry about getting stiffed because most passengers that intend to stiff you don’t ask for an estimate. That’s because they’re not planning on paying you anyway.

On the way to Bessemer I learned that she was 16 and she had been out all night with boys that her mother didn’t like. She anticipated a big fight with her mother when she got home and was clearly anxious about it. She didn’t tell me but I instinctively knew that my fare would depend on an angry, possibly hysterical mother paying me. I started to worry. When we arrived at the house the meter was at $42 and mom was nowhere to be found. My customer’s brother said that he thought she had been called to work but he wasn’t sure. The girl made no attempt to call her mom. Maybe she couldn’t take calls at work or maybe it was just out of fear, I don’t know.

The girl was about to panic. “I don’t know how I’m going to pay you” she said. I had just been stiffed by the payday loan girl about a week earlier and I wasn’t in the mood to get stiffed again. I had already decided that I would call the cops if it became necessary. She approached the car window and said “I’ve got this little bracelet, it’s made of silver and gold. If I can pawn it I’ll pay you.” She saw that the meter was at $42 already and was able to reason that by the time she got to the pawn shop and took the necessary time to pawn it, the fare would be much higher. She asked if I could just charge her a flat rate. I told her that if she didn’t mess around and take too much of my time I would turn the meter off and just charge her the $42, she agreed.

The first place turned her down cold. The second place had a sign out front that said “We Buy Gold”. She stayed in this place for about ten minutes. She came out accompanied by a bling wearing heavyweight dude that reminded me of Biggie Smalls. The rain had started to fall steadily as the big guy knocked on my window. He had a $100 bill in his hand. He asked “you got fifty eight dollars?” I dug around in my pockets and found that I did indeed have fifty eight dollars. Just as we made the transaction my customer said “you don’t have to worry about taking me back home.” She and Biggie walked back into the office. I got paid and I don’t know how the story ended with her mom.


The 2-floor Utah property was formerly an independent property. Each of the hotel's 30 guest rooms is outfitted with queen or king bed. Parking, high-speed WiFi, and hot breakfast (served daily) are complimentary at the Vagabond Inn Cedar City.

Scott Pokorny, Director of Franchising to Vagabond Inn Corporation, said, “I'm excited—we're all excited—to be expanding into Utah. It's huge."

In signing the Cedar City, Utah hotel, Vagabond Inn brand has officially grown more than 15 percent in 2017. Vagabond Inns can also be found in Arizona, California, Nevada, and Texas.

"It's great to have the chance to bring our brand of west coast hospitality to a new community," Pokorny said. "Right now, we're surprising ourselves in terms of growth."


Issues, over use of the word issue in the media

No, I’m not talking about any particular issue with the media! My moan is about the overuse of the word "issue" in the media, in politics and by corporate high fliers.  Everything these days, instead of being a problem, or a difficulty or even a discussion, is now an ISSUE!

Media issues, they keep using that "I" word!

I assume that this has crossed the Atlantic at some stage, just like "I hear what you're saying" or "Say again".  These phrases seem to have gone out of fashion and I for one, wish people would think about what they are saying, rather than blindly going with the flow and spouting out nonsense phrases.

Is it just me that perceives this, or has anyone noticed the overuse of the word "ISSUE" in the media?

I would like to bet that any interviews recorded more than a couple of years ago would be less likely to contain “issues”.  These days however “issues” are all over the place and you can pretty much guarantee the word will be used several times in a single interview broadcast.

I sent a text to Five Live the other day to congratulate John Hutton, the Minister for Work and Pensions, who somehow managed to do a 10-minute interview, without using the word once! Funnily enough my comments were not read out on the air.  Presumably this was because the presenter had “issues” and used the word regularly himself!

Totally agree . I have serious “ issues “ with that word and I the overuse of it. It’s” politicospeak”. If I am allowed a neologism?
23/06 Fastdoc
0

I hate the word issue. At least half of our communications in the workplace contain it. It's the white bread of vocabulary. I challenge myself to find ways of never using that word.
17/11/17 Nancy
4

I notice that when Microsoft offer a software update they write " this update is to solve an issue with". I think they should state " we have issued this update to solve a potential problem with" etc.
07/09/16 Thig
0

I have noticed the "issue" word is increasingly being used in the workplace. However, when somebody voices their "issue" an " issue" is found against them. Soon things get so that everybody has some kind of "issue".
19/09/13 sideWALK
1

How pathetic is this, from the Daily Fail :

'We have now completed our internal investigation with our long term sales associate, who was involved in the EDL issue, and he will be back at work in due course.'

An issue is either :

A child, as in : "John Smith, issue of Bill Smith and Mary Jones"
or
an instance of a publication, as in : "The September 25th. issue of the New Scientist."

Three cheers for this observationI The overuse of the word "issue" is something that's irritated me ever since it emerged on this side of the Atlantic. Indeed, instead of "problem", "difficulty", "complaint", "enquiry" and so on, everything in the world of business, government and so many organisations of all colours these days, is an "issue". In particular when it comes to contacting a company to make a complaint there is a subtle psychology at work here when instead of admitting incompetence, shortcomings, inefficiency etc., it's all referred to as being "an issue": the reason for this is that the use of the word "issue" in this context is an attempt to neutralise any potential admission of guilt or wrong doing; e.g. I contacted my internet service provider once to complain about the slowness of their rectifying a fault and was told "we have looked into your account and have not found any issues there". Give me strength! The overuse of "issue" however is only but one example of ghastly corporate-speak which is all part of Amercan degrading of the English language.
18/09/13 Simon
2

What gets me going is all the hand flapping and arm waving by tv presenters , do we really need these affected gestures to emphasise every word some of the experts on antique road show , among others are awful ,it's very distracting
12/08/13 nell
-2

Get back to work

Micheal, it's nit picking twots like you that really pee people off. If you what to make a spectacle of yourself go and play with the traffic on a motorway. I suppose you are another public sector worker with nothing better to do.
16/07/13 Get back to work
-1

Why is it that those involved in the media, be it in newspapers, on TV or on radio
choose to use the term 'ahead of' when the perfectly good preposition 'before'
will do ? I've just managed to write this comment ahead of my lunch !!!!!
16/07/13 Michael
-4

Shakespeare is overrated tosh in my opinion


You could say our team here at Heavenly Tea Leaves has a thing for Japanese culture, and of course, Japanese tea. Japan is a country that is revered for its ancient history, rich traditions, and pride in quality and care for every product they grow or create. Because among our team members we've visited Japan a number of times, we've developed a special interest in all types of teas from this Pacific nation--and we don't just mean matcha!

Originally sought after as medicine, tea was first brought to Japan by Chinese monks in the 8th century and was first consumed by the upper class (Samurai) and priests in Japan. The archipelago proved to have the right climate and terrain for growing tea; to this day, tea is cultivated in almost all regions of the country. Access to tea by the greater public did not come around until the Middle Ages. Influenced by Zen Buddhism, the Japanese tea ceremony (known as chanoyu or chado) developed as a unique practice with its own specialty teas and clean esthetics.

Japan focuses mostly on green tea, which serves the benefit of lively and deep flavor, a plethora of healthy properties, and a steady stream of energy. Not all Japanese green teas are made the same, however. Here, we will take a closer look at the various tea types, both popular and rare, that you'll need to add to your South Pacific tea repertoire!

We always love to start off with a bang; in this case, that bang is a cup of rejuvenating Gyokuro green tea. Gyokuro is a green tea for those looking for umami flavor (perfect for the AM hours). Thanks to a unique processing method at the final stages of this tea plant's growth, it is shaded, leading to a higher chlorophyll content than the typical green tea, as well as a deep, rich green color and grassy, vegetal flavor.

For a nuttier variation, try Genmaicha Japan. Also a green tea, this one is known as the "people's tea" in Japan because it was economical to include toasted rice in the home blend; this tea doubles down on your umami senses thanks to the presence of popcorn and fire-roasted rice alongside a classic, rich green tea. The result? A party in your mouth that won't be ending any time soon.

Sometimes, though, we like to climb the green tea ladder. One of the more lavish Japanese tea experiences you can have is with our Kukicha. What makes this one special is that it contains stems and stalks left over from sencha and matcha tea production, so it utilizes the entire plant. Once considered peasant's tea, this variety is now known as a delicacy in Japan because of its natural sweetness and laundry list of health benefits.

Looking for yet another Japanese green? Our well-rounded Zen Super Green is the answer for those looking for the consistency of regular tea but the potency of matcha (which in turn is made from first-flush spring Gyokuro). This blend of organic sencha and matcha green tea powder is the perfect balance between strong and delicate and finishes with a velvety, umami, vegetal mouthfeel. Be careful not to brew this and other delicate green teas at higher than 170 degrees, as you may burn the tea and extract unwanted bitterness!

As you may know, we're total matcha lovers. In fact, we've written an ode to matcha already--check it out! Matcha is a fine green tea powder that's super-concentrated in flavor, texture, and health benefits. It's made by simply whisking the powder into boiling water (and perhaps adding frothed milk and sugar if you're going for a matcha latte!). Our ceremonial-grade 30-gram matcha tin contains hand-picked and stone-ground green tea and come ready to brew.

Hojicha, which has a distinct roasted taste, is another signature Japanese blend carried by Heavenly Tea Leaves. So, what's the conclusion? Japan is definitely a tea destination worth learning about (and visiting), and its green teas are quite varied and totally spectacular. Japan's rich and detail-oriented culture shines brightly through their ability to manufacture some of the world's most premium green teas. Which one will you get your hands on this spring?

P.S. Stay tuned to our Instagram page (@heavenlytea) for some photos of our latest trip to the majestic tea fields of Wazuka, Japan!


This photo, taken Sunday, shows Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong preparing to depart for London at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. (Yonhap)
The top diplomats of South Korea, the United States and Japan will hold trilateral talks on the margins of a Group of Seven (G-7) gathering in London later this week, a source said Tuesday, as Washington eyes a thaw in strained ties between its Asian allies.

The meeting between Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong, and his US and Japanese counterparts, Antony Blinken and Toshimitsu Motegi, respectively, is set to take place Wednesday, as they gathered in the British capital for the session of G-7 foreign and development ministers.

The meeting will mark the first direct engagement between Chung and Motegi, as Chung's overtures for dialogue with the Japanese minister had fallen on deaf ears amid tensions over Tokyo's wartime forced labor, sexual slavery and export curbs.

On Monday, Chung said he may also meet with Motegi bilaterally after the trilateral meeting, but it still remains uncertain if their talks will take place.

The three-way meeting has been arranged amid concerns that prolonged spats between South Korea and Japan would undercut America's efforts to revitalize its regional democratic alliance network in the face of China's growing assertiveness and North Korea's nuclear threats.

Relations between Seoul and Tokyo have shown no signs of improvement due to historical spats stemming from Japan's 1910-45 colonization of the Korean Peninsula, as well as its recent decision to discharge radioactive water from its crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant.

At their talks, Chung, Blinken and Motegi are expected to discuss a coordinated strategy on North Korea.

Last week, the White House said that the Joe Biden administration had completed its review of policy toward Pyongyang, and that it will seek a "calibrated, practical" approach toward the goal of the complete denuclearization of the peninsula.

The three sides could also discuss pending global issues, such as the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, distribution of vaccines and climate change.

South Korea, the US and Japan held their last trilateral foreign ministerial meeting on the sidelines of an international security forum in Germany in February last year.

Though not party to the G-7 grouping, South Korea, Australia, India, South Africa and Brunei, the chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, have been invited to the forum as guests. (Yonhap)


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Police operatives in Enugu state have smashed a six man gang armed robbery suspects that specialized in the blocking of highways, hijacking of buses with passengers and taking them to a secluded portion of bushes off from the road and robbing passengers of money, valuables and belongings.

During the operations carried out, four of the gang dressed in a suspected police uniform were promptly arrested after a gun duel with the operatives that took them off guard and which left them fatally injured while two of the gang members believed also to have been touched by bullets of the operatives escaped with the injuries.

It was gathered that suspects had allegedly in the early hours of 24/12/17 , while dressed in suspected police uniform along 9thmile/Nsukka Expressway by Egede in Udi Local Government Area Enugu state – had stopped two Hiace commuter buses of a commercial bus company believed to be coming from Lagos and heading to Otukpo Benue state, diverted the buses to another bush road where they were allegedly robbing their victims before the operatives swooped on them.

Meanwhile,the operatives have intensified manhunt on the fleeing injured members of the gang while members of the public particularly hospital operators are to watch out for any one with injury/injuries suspected to be that of gun shots and report promptly to a nearby police station for prompt necessary action.
source:toptipz.com.ng


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Breaking Down the Offensive Line

When Shawn Elliott was named the head coach at Georgia State, South Carolina head coach Will Muschamp turned to a familiar face for Gamecock fans, selecting Eric Wolford to lead the offensive line in 2017. Wolford previously served as the Gamecocks’ offensive line coach for one season during the Steve Spurrier Era, before taking a head coaching position of his own. He returns to Columbia after spending the past two years working with NFL offensive lineman as part of the San Francisco 49ers organization.

Wolford will be tasked with developing a formidable line that can create holes for the backs and provide enough protection for quarterback Jack Bentley that he is able to get the ball in the hands of the talented array of playmakers.

Wolford is blessed to have an offensive line that boasts a wealth of experience. Cory Helms (36 starts) and Alan Knott (29) have logged the most starting assignments on the squad. Zack Bailey (18), Malik Young (9), D.J. Park (3) and Donell Stanley (1) also have gained starting experience, as the unit has totaled 96 combined starts.

Seniors Helms (6-4, 309) and Knott (6-4, 290) figure to hold down the right guard and center positions respectively in their final campaign. Both played through injuries during the 2016 campaign, but begin 2017 healthy and poised to have their best seasons in the Garnet & Black.

All-SEC candidate Zack Bailey (6-6, 311) transitioned from left guard to right tackle in the spring and figures to be the starter at that position, although the junior from Summerville, S.C., could certainly move back inside if the situation dictated that move.

The left side of the line entered fall camp a little more unsettled. Junior Donell Stanley (6-4, 317) looks to have nailed down the starting left guard job, while junior Malik Young (6-3, 303) and junior college transfer Dennis Daley (6-6, 330) continue to battle it out for the left tackle spot. Young has been the more consistent performer in fall camp but Daley has made this position battle one of the more interesting ones to watch as the season progresses.

Coach Wolford would like to find at least eight offensive linemen he feels the Gamecocks can win with if they are put in the game. The second-team unit in fall camp has consisted of redshirt freshman Sadarius Hutcherson (6-4, 316) at left guard, redshirt freshman Chandler Farrell (6-2, 292) at center, senior D.J. Park (6-4, 337) at right guard and junior Blake Camper (6-8, 310) at right tackle, although Wolford likes to cross-train his linemen to be versatile enough to play more than one position. Park is especially versatile and is likely the first man in should a change be made at any of the spots other than left tackle.

Redshirt sophomores Trey Derouen (6-3, 305) and Christian Pellage (6-6, 296) have each earned a letter since their arrival on campus and figure to provide additional depth. They are joined by returnees Ryan Green, Cameron Johnson and Will Putnam, who are all in their second year in the program.

Four true freshmen scholarship players are on campus and getting their first taste of a fall camp. While it would appear that all four are likely headed for a redshirt season, a common occurrence among offensive linemen, the quartet of Summie Carlay, Jordon Carty, Eric Douglas and Jordan Rhodes all hope that the year spent on the practice fields and in the weight room with head strength & conditioning coach Jeff Dillman and his staff, will begin to pay dividends with playing time, possibly as early as 2018.


“‘Gauguin: Metamorphoses,’ which opens on Friday at MoMA in New York, recasts the artist as an altogether darker figure, closer to Edvard Munch and the dark pre-Freudians of Northern Europe than the post-impressionist confraternity of Van Gogh, Seurat and Cézanne,” Jason Farago wrote in his review (“Gauguin: Metamorphoses review – ‘Forceful, disturbing, obscene’,” Guardian, 6 March 2014) of the blockbuster exhibition that I was lucky enough to see before it closed, and it was indeed a revelation that shifted my view of this seminal artist.

There is on the one hand the exoticization & objectification of Tahitian women, which is objectionable particularly in relation to the relationships he had with them; but on the other hand, there is also his primitivism, which is not simply an exoticization of a foreign culture by a colonial tourist, but is in fact the expression of a longing for & even reconstruction of a lost pagan culture that had already nearly disappeared when Gauguin arrived in Tahiti. In his rejection of what he saw as the hypocrisy & culturally destructive colonialism of French Catholicism in Tahiti, Gauguin was very much on target, and a balanced assessment of his art — as this exhibition gave us — needs to take that into account as well as the objectionable aspects of it as well. I will never look on Gauguin’s languorous Tahitian women again without also thinking of his invocations of Oviri~!


The hike is a 5-day hike through wild and pure ocean fronts and tropical forests. There are parts of the National Park with seals and penguins, and always a ton of birds. You can choose to kayak, boat, hike through the inland trails, or do a little bit of everything.

The trail is tagged as “easy/moderate,” but I am sure they did not put into consideration having a giant pack on your back. That factor seems to change how steep a hill is and how long a stretch of hiking is. Luckily both Luca and I are both young and relatively fit.

Before leaving, Luca and I kept arguing about what we should pack. I was very worried about keeping the weight down and was doing everything possible to get rid of weight. On the other hand, Luca the Italian was very worried about what we were going to eat. Luca is always very worried about what we are going to eat. In the morning the first thing he usually asks me is “So, what should we have for dinner?” “I don’t know. I haven’t even had breakfast” is normally my response. I was fine with eating Ramen Noodles, but Luca insisted we had a gourmet meal every night with heavy vegetables such as broccoli and canned beans (Note: They insisted everywhere on the internet during my research to NOT bring canned food on a hike). While we were making our pile of things to pack, Luca kept throwing things in the pile such as a whole bottle of soy sauce. Did we really need that much soy sauce? Nope. Eventually I just stopped arguing with him and let him pack what he wanted as long as he was the one carrying it.

Our hike on the first day was absolutely beautiful. It ran along the coast and every 10 minutes or so there would be a path that led you down to the coast. Some of the coves the paths led you to had caves made out of sand stone. The water was as blue as can be and the weather was perfect (well, maybe a little on the hot side for hiking with a gigantic pack on your back, but no complaining here).

The first day was shorter and easier than the rest of the days. I was grateful for this because it took some getting used to our packs and hiking boots. My backpack fit perfectly and was as comfortable as can be (thanks to the parentals for an awesome birthday gift). Luca, on the other hand, was suffering from his pack being too heavy (SURPRISE!). I let him suffer for a short amount of time and then decided to help him a bit by taking some of the weight off of his load. Don’t worry; I did not miss the opportunity to say, “I told you so!”

Our campsite at Te Pukatea Bay that evening was located in a gorgeous little beach. There were only a handful of other people at the campsite and we basically felt like we were along on the beach together. Abel Tasman is the definition of paradise. I think it is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to in my life.

Some of the hike is dependent on tidal times. When crossing Torrent Bay, I knew that we would have to take the high tide route because the low tide was very early in the morning. What I didn’t realize was that it went up a very steep hill and would take an extra hour and a half. The first climb killed us. It was blazing hot with lack of shade and seemed to go on forever. We saw a sign for Cleopatra’s pool and thought that sounded like a great place to go for a swim to cool off after our climb. About five minutes from the pool we heard screaming children and came to find out that the pool was infested with kids. There was a group of kids from a day camp and they were visiting the pool that day. We decided to go to a swimming hole further down the river that another couple called “The Adult Pool.”

The swim felt exhilarating, but when we tried to eat lunch the bees kept swarming around us and annoying us. I couldn’t relax, so we got up and left to find another place to have lunch. Then of course the next place we tried to have lunch at also had bees swarming around us. We were very irritated by them at this point. They are relentless at Abel Tasman. They do not fear you and swarm around your face. You constantly hear a buuuuuuuzzzzzzzzz.

By this time in the day, my scorching headache proceeded to get worse and Luca was developing blisters on his feet. We had 4 hours of the hardest part of the Abel Tasman 5 day hike in front of us and were in no mood to tackle it. We checked in to taking a water taxi to our next campsite, but it was too late in the day and all of the water taxis were done doing their rounds.

I decided at that moment that it would be a lot easier to hike in a better spirit, and to make the best out of a bad situation. To help turn things around, I started playing fun dancing music on our portable speaker. It helped me to keep a good pace and tackle the climbing. Other hikers seemed to enjoy it too. I made sure to focus on the beauty of the trail and not my physical pain. Luca was getting bitter from his blisters and weight of his pack, but I kept cheering him on.

After the longest and steepest hill of the whole hike, we managed to make it to our next camp just in time to set up camp and cook dinner before it got dark. We made it! It was such a relief. Hiking is about pushing your body further than its comfort and seeing how far you can go. It is amazing what you can do when you put your mind to it. Never give up.

We slept in the next day because we only had a short hike to do to get to our next campsite. The next part of our journey was also dependent on a low tide that wasn’t happening until between 4:00pm and 7:00pm. After breakfast we went to a fresh water pool where I soaked my bug bitten feet and Luca soaked his blisters. We then hung out on the beach at our campsite at Onetahuti Bay.

The only hard part about that leg of the hike was the low tide crossing at Awaroa Inlet where there was no shade and we had to take off our shoes to cross the water. The Waiharakeke Bay campsite was our least favorite because it was swarming with mosquitos. By that point of the hike, I was so over bugs. I had bug bites everywhere and I was so sick of hearing them. Because of Benedril to stop me from waking up and scratching, I dreamed well that night of a roof over my head that sheltered me from bugs.

The next morning I woke up refreshed as ever and we packed up camp and began our final long hike of our journey. I enjoyed myself along the way and swam at every spot I could. The hike was easy, with the exception of the two giant hills. It was helpful to be rooted on by fellow hikers who were traveling the other way.

When we reached our final camp at Mutton Cove we found 2 people that we met at the camp the night before. They had travelled the world and were from New Zealand. One of their journeys was biking from Canada to Mexico and back for 6 years straight. They were an older couple, but were extremely fit. I told Luca that I aspired to be them when we were old.

Apparently they managed to fund their travels by collecting several rental properties in New Zealand through their life. They can now afford to hire a property manager to look over the properties while they are away. That definitely planted a seed in Luca’s head….

The couple told us to look for muscles on the rocks close to our camp during low tide and cook them for dinner. We had a blast searching through the little eco systems among the corral. We saw a bunch of starfish and sea urchins. The muscles were delicious.

I woke up the last day of our hike and took a swim in the ocean – a refreshing way to start a hike. The highlight of our 2 hour hike to where we would pick up a water taxi back to our car was tackling the last hill. I was so tired and my legs were so sore, but it was the last hill and I was going to own it. And so I did. I even did a dance when I reached the top.

We were so excited to eat anything but what we packed in our bags for our journey. We ended up finding a gourmet burger place called The Fat Tui. Food had never tasted so good in my life.


MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – Authorities say nobody was hurt but two dogs had to be rescued from a house fire in New Brighton Monday morning.

Authorities received a 911 call at about 9:43 a.m. of a dwelling fire. When firefighters arrived to the scene, heavy fire was showing from the back of a single-family home, and it was extending to the attic.

Fire crews were able to stop the fire from spreading throughout the home, and spent about two hours on scene. Nobody was hurt in the fire, but two dogs were rescued after employees with The Garage of New Brighton went to the area to investigate smoke and saw the home on fire. They got the two dogs out before fire crews arrived.

The cause of the fire is under investigation. Authorities say it does not appear to be suspicious in nature.


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When you think of dinosaurs, you are imagining them as envisioned by the artist Charles R. Knight 100 years ago.

American wildlife artist Charles R. Knight (1874–1953) spent a lifetime creating scientifically accurate and spectacularly beautiful images of Earth’s ancient past, from dinosaurs and mammoths to saber-toothed cats and early humans. For generations, his groundbreaking work has inspired scientists, artists, and filmmakers all over the world and shaped the way prehistoric times are imagined today.
This stunning volume gathers together both iconic and never-before-seen works from Knight’s days of sketching animals in the newly opened Bronx Zoo, to the decades spent creating murals of prehistoric species for the American Museum of Natural History and the Field Museum.

This month, Abrams published the beautiful art book, Charles R. Knight: The Artist Who Saw Through Time, by Richard Milner. Abrams has kindly given permission for me to run a selection of images from the book. Enjoy!

Knight’s iconic painting of a tyrannosaur and triceratops facing off is a large mural in the Field Museum in Chicago.

Knight’s finished oil painting of the tyrant lizard highlights its monstrous head with a splash of sunlight.

One of Knight’s renditions of the tar pits as they appeared ten thousand years ago features a saber-toothed cat and vulturelike Tetratornis, which was twice the size of a California condor. This painting was done for the American Museum of Natural History.

This classic Knight mural (first painted in 1920, and restored 1994) from the American Museum of Natural History depicts a Cro-Magnon artist painting mammoths near the entrance of Font-de-Gaume. It was done before Knight’s visit to the cave, or he would have known that the frieze actually showed European bison, not woolly mammoths.

Knight’s superb pencil drawings, from life, of an African elephant.


Special replay from Red Pill Radio. Theodore L. Gunderson (7 November 1928 – 31 July 2011) was an American Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent In Charge and head of the Los Angeles FBI. According to his son, he worked the case of Marilyn Monroe and the John F. Kennedy cases. In a 1995 conference in Dallas, Gunderson warned about the proliferation of secret occultist groups, and the danger posed by the New World Order, an alleged shadow government that would be controlling the United States government.[8] He also claimed that a "slave auction" in which children were sold by Saudi Arabian agents to men had been held in Las Vegas, that four thousand ritual human sacrifices are performed in New York City every year, and that the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City was carried out by the US government. Gunderson believed that in the United States there is a secret widespread network of groups who kidnap children and infants, and subject them to ritual abuse and subsequent human sacrifice. DelmarvaStudios.Net
Email: [email protected] Twitter: @DelmarvaStudios


#RHOBH’s Erika Jayne & Tom Girardi Accused Of Embezzling Money From Plane Crash Victims

Dua Lipa Opens Up About The Pressures Of Being A Female In Pop Music: ‘We’re Met With So Much More Criticism’

Its A Sin- Who Is Actor Omari Douglas? His Age, Instagram And Wiki

23 hints on 'WandaVision' that tease what's really happening on the Marvel show

The cast of “Lord Of The Rings” are coming together for J.R.R. Tolkien.

The author’s former residence at 20 Northmoor Road in Oxford, England is about to hit the market. Sir Ian McKellen, Martin Freeman and John Rhys-Davies, who starred in the hit film franchise based on Tolkien’s work, are kickstarting a campaign to purchase the house and turn it into a literary centre dedicated to the iconic writer’s life.

Project Northmoor has started a fundraising campaign to raise $6 million.

RELATED: Hugo Weaving On If He Would Reprise His Role For ‘Lord Of The Rings’, ‘The Matrix’

Unlike other writers of his stature, there is no centre devoted to J.R.R. Tolkien anywhere in the world. Yet. @ProjNorthmoor https://t.co/pzMg8Yk2t2 pic.twitter.com/jx2r5MVbcw

In a statement, the cast wrote, “We cannot achieve this without the support of the worldwide community of Tolkien fans, our fellowship of funders.”

RELATED: Orlando Bloom Shares What He Knows About Amazon’s ‘Lord Of The Rings’ Series: ‘It’s Not A Remake’

Rhys-Davies, who played Gimli, added, “If people are still reading in 1,000 years, Tolkien will be regarded as one of the great myth-makers of Britain and it will be evident within a matter of years that not to secure this place would have been such an act of arrogance and ignorance and folly on our part.”

They hope to turn the home “into a literary hub that will inspire new generations of writers, artists and filmmakers for many years to come.”

According to People magazine, Tolkien and his family moved into the home in the 1930s and stayed there for 17 years. It was during that time that Tolkien wrote The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. Tolkien is also rumoured to have hosted C.S. Lewis there.

Dua Lipa Opens Up About The Pressures Of Being...


Fujifilm X-T200 Body Champagne Gold (Kit Box, Body Only)

The Fujifilm X-T200 is a low-to-midrange mirrorless camera that uses the company's X-mount. It features a 24MP APS-C CMOS sensor (non X-Trans) with on-sensor phase detection. Despite its relatively compact size, Fujifilm still found a way to give the X-T200 a fully articulating 3.5" touchscreen display, plus an electronic viewfinder. The camera can shoot bursts with continuous AF at up to 8 fps, though the buffer fills quickly. Uncropped, oversampled 4K footage can be captured at up to 30p, with a 15 minute limit. The camera has a built-in mic jack and supports headphones via an included adapter. Connectivity options include Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.


James Webb: The most powerful Space telescope ever built blast into orbit

The $10bn James Webb telescope has left Earth on its mission to show the first stars to light up the Universe.

The observatory was lifted skyward by an Ariane rocket from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana.

Its flight to orbit was expected to last just under half an hour, with a signal confirming a successful outcome due to be picked up in Kenya.

Live coverage of the launch is available on NASA’s TV channel and website starting at 6 a.m. ET. Launch is expected at 7:20 a.m. ET.
The telescope has endured years of delays, including a combination of factors brought on by the pandemic and technical challenges. But the world’s most powerful complex space observatory will answer questions about our solar system, study exoplanets in new ways and look deeper into the universe than we’ve ever been able to.

It’s a project that has taken 30 years to design and build and is regarded as one of the grand scientific endeavours of the 21st Century.

Webb’s goal will be to try to show the very first stars and galaxies to shine in the Universe.

It will also have the power to probe the atmospheres of distant planets to look for gases that might hint at the presence of life.

The anticipation is high, but so too is the level of anxiety.

To get to space, Webb must first survive a 27-minute ascent on what is, in effect, a controlled explosion.

The telescope then has to unfold itself in a series of complex deployments, all of which must be completed flawlessly or the observatory as a whole won’t work.

“It’s a shining example of what we can accomplish when we dream big. We’ve always known that this project would be a risky endeavour. But, of course, when you want a big reward, you have to usually take a big risk.”

The James Webb telescope is named after one of the architects of the Apollo Moon programme, and the space agencies of the US, Europe and Canada, who are all partners on the project, regard it as a science flagship of no less importance.

Webb’s mission is to build on the discoveries of the Hubble Space Telescope, which, after 31 years in orbit, is nearing the end of operations.

Webb will look deeper into the cosmos and, as a consequence, much further back in time.

At the core of the new facility’s capabilities is its 6.5m-wide golden mirror.

This remarkable reflecting surface, allied to four super-sensitive instruments, should enable Webb to detect the light from the pioneer stars. These objects are theorised to have ignited more than 13.5 billion years ago.

“We think there should be stars, or galaxies, or black holes maybe beginning at 100 million years after the Big Bang. There won’t be many of them to find at that time but the Webb telescope can see them if they’re there, and we’re lucky,” he told BBC News.

The pioneer stars are more than a mere curiosity. They began the process of seeding the cosmos with the first heavy chemical elements.

The calcium in our bones, the phosphorus in our DNA and the iron in our blood – all these atoms had to be “manufactured” in the nuclear reactions that make stars shine, and in the mighty explosions that end their existence.

In this sense, Webb will be charting our origins.

“One of my favourite things about astronomy in general is that it really gets right down to our big questions: Where do we come from? How did we get here? Are we alone? These questions are more than just arcane science questions; they’re questions that get to the heart of what it means to be human,” said Nasa deputy project scientist Dr Amber Straughn.

Saturday’s flight to orbit involves one of the most dependable rockets in the business. The Ariane-5 has a greater than 98% record of success. Its last outright failure was in 2002.

The less-than-2% rate reflects the hazards that inevitably come with handling such an extreme vehicle.

People will naturally focus on it – there are no guarantees in the rocket business – but it’s fair to say that few Ariane missions have been subjected to the same level of detailed scrutiny as this one.

Engineers have reviewed every aspect of the vehicle’s performance. All questions have been answered.

The Ariane will fly east from Kourou, out over the Atlantic towards Africa.

A signal confirming Webb is in space and safe should be picked up by a ground antenna in Malindi, Kenya.

This will mark the start then of a month-long journey for the telescope as it moves out to its planned observing station 1.5 million km from Earth.

Charles Igbinidu is a Public Relations practitioner in Lagos, Nigeria
@https://twitter.com/ionigeria
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Police: Man charged with OWI told an officer boozy smell must have been his spearmint gum

The Wausau man's 4-year-old daughter was in the car at the time of the traffic stop, according to court records.

Police: Man charged with OWI told an officer boozy smell must have been his spearmint gum

ROTHSCHILD - Police say a man charged with OWI said the smell of alcohol an officer detected during a traffic stop must have been his spearmint gum.

Mark Pierzchalski of Wausau was charged Monday with a felony count of a fifth or sixth OWI with a passenger who is under 16 years old, according to Marathon County court records. He was also charged with felony bail jumping as a repeat offender and two misdemeanors — possessing an illegally obtained prescription and operating a vehicle while his license was revoked.

During a traffic stop Sunday, Pierzchalski denied having been drinking that day, according to court records. The officer wrote that Pierzchalski was slurring his speech and that his eyes were bloodshot and glassy with constricted pupils.

When an officer asked him about the smell of alcohol he detected, Pierzchalski said that it was his gum causing the odor, according to court records. He then pulled a piece of spearmint gum out of his mouth.

The officer told Pierzchalski that spearmint gum does not smell like booze, according to court records.

The traffic stop took place on Highway 29 in Rothschild, east of Highway 51. Pierzchalski was in the car with his 4-year-old daughter, according to court records.

Pierzchalski denied a breath test and instead asked for a blood draw. He then refused to consent to a legal blood draw, court records show. He was later taken to Aspirus Hospital in Wausau after the officer received a search warrant for the blood draw.

Pierzchalski has a preliminary hearing scheduled at 9:15 a.m. May 8 at the Marathon County Courthouse.


The Insider's Guide to Ibérico Ham

King of ham, Brindisa's own James Robinson shares why Ibérico is the most highly prized air-dried ham and what you need to know when shopping and eating this delicious Spanish ham!

by James Robinson | Head of Product Training at Brindisa

What is so special about Ibérico ham?

Ibérico is the most highly prized air-dried ham, from animals of an ancient breed of semi-wild black Ibérico pig. The Ibérico pig has characteristically long slender legs, a sensitive snout to forage with, and dark skin to help protect it in the sun. The ham it produces is popularly known as pata negra, referring to the black hoof which stays on the slim leg throughout the curing process. and makes it look very different from other hams.

How to buy Ibérico ham

Buying Ibérico ham can be confusing, particularly if you are not familiar with the descriptions used; the one thing everyone knows is that it is expensive, but how much should it cost?

It was in an attempt to bring some clarity to the consumer that the Spanish government introduced a law in April, 2014 to clarify and standardise the descriptions of different types of Iberico ham.

The four grades of Ibérico Ham

Simply put, the legislation sets out four different grades of Ibérico ham. It is based on the pigs' diet and the purity of breed. By simply looking at the official description the consumer can make an educated choice about the quality, and hence the price, of their ham.

The four grades that were created are indicated on any Ibérico ham or paleta (cured shoulder) on the bone by a tag (precinto)around the ankle, or on any boneless Ibérico ham, paleta or cured loin by a tag attached to the sealed piece. These tags are essentially legal indicators of how the Ibérico pigs were raised and fattened and what the minimum curing time of the ham was.

The top grade of Ibérico ham goes by the full description of “Jamon de bellota, 100% Ibérico, ‘pata negra’”. Jamon de bellota signifies that the Ibérico pig fattened up on acorns (bellotas) on the autumn “montanera” when the animals are put to forage on the dehesa, the oak covered savannah that makes up several million hectares of the south west of the Iberian peninsula. 100% Ibérico means that it is a pure-bred animal, and pata Negra is a term that used to be used generically for any Ibérico ham, but now can only be used to describe this top grade of ham. Hams and paletas will have a black tag around the ankle, issued by the relevant regional body.

The second grade is described as “Jamon de bellota, 50/75% Ibérico”, which means that the animal has undergone the montanera, but that either one parent, or one grandparent was of non-Ibérico origin. When cross-breeding does occur the mother will always be 100% Iberico and the boar must be of the Duroc breed. This cross-breeding has two functions, firstly to prevent continual inbreeding, never a good idea, and also, to breed animals which will have more progeny and, frequently, larger back legs. Hams and paletas from these animals will have a red tag around the ankle.

These are the only grades of Ibérico ham made from animals that have fattened up on acorns and they account for about 20% of all Ibérico hams.

The third grade is called “Jamon de cebo de campo, 50/75/100% Ibérico” which indicates that the animal lived outdoors but fattened up on cereals and natural feed before slaughter. This means that the quality of the meat will excellent, but lacking the deep, sweet intensity of the acorn-fed hams. This accounts for a further 20% of Ibérico hams.

The fourth grade is the one that tends to cause confusion; “Jamon de cebo, 50/75/100% Ibérico” indicates, in essence that the ham will almost certainly have been intensively reared. Where the minimum space required per animal for the top three grades during the fattening period is 1 hectare (100m²), the minimum required for this grade is 2m²! Simply put, this is the grade that can be made from intensively reared animals, and thus significantly more cheaply than the other grades of Ibérico ham. This grade accounts for 60% of all Ibérico ham production.

Why the Ibérico grades are so important

This information can help you understand the welfare standards of the pig rearing and the pricing of Ibérico hams. However, it also shows something more fundamental; it offers you the opportunity to make a choice about being part of a continuum that extends back 3,000 years. The dehesa is a unique environment that has been shaped by the indigenous animals of the region, and has shaped them too. This huge area has more endangered species of bird and animal life than anywhere else in Western Europe due to this slow evolution. By choosing a ham made from an animal that has followed innumerable generations of its ancestors living and feeding on the dehesa, you are helping to maintain an ecosystem whose environmental value is immense.

The bellota and cebo de campo animals have a symbolic relationship with their environment, and one which does wonders for the quality of meat. The jamon de cebo is essentially a commercial construct and it is a means by which the larger, more industrial ham producers can produce and sell a premium priced product under the cloak of respectability created by the origins of the higher grades of ham. This is not to say that there may not be some good jamon de cebo Ibérico hams, but that those produced to the minimum requirements are unlikely to be among them.

When buying Ibérico ham, you can certainly make an ethical choice. You can choose to buy a product made from a free ranging animal that forages on the foods that they have evolved to consume over many thousands of years, and is arguably the most magnificent ham in the world, or whether you want a very decent ham at a cheaper price whose provenance does not concern you.

by Monika Linton | Founder of Brindisa

When we first started bringing in de bellota Ibérico ham, before there was any real acceptance or understanding of it in Britain, I gave a wonderful ham to chef Simon Hopkinson, then at Bibendum, who was very excited by the arrival of this delicacy. His instincts were right; he simply sliced it and sent it out to diners, but the plates came back with the fat trimmed off and customers wanting to know why it was there. I was duly called over to the restaurant to confirm that the ratio of fat to lean was perfectly normal and exactly as it should be.

It was an absurd misunderstanding of a fine product that seemed so characteristic of modern meat production and consumption, which has all fat marked out by many people as almost criminal. Simon did, however, have one customer who genuinely appreciated and understood fine fat; the late great artist Francis Bacon. Simon saved up all of the trimmings that the other customers had eschewed and offered them to him to top-up his own slices of the ham, and they were enjoyed with great gusto.

As incompatible as these semi-industrial hams felt alongside the farm-made Churra sheep's milk cheeses and other artisan produce that we were bringing in from Spain, I badly wanted to sell Spanish ham. And although those early examples from Large White pigs crossed with Durocs may not have been as specialist as those we can source today, they were still a delightful, novel experience for most British people; a rich red colour, with a more pronounced flavour than their Italian equivalents.

Once the market opened up, we were able to become properly selective and begin forging real relationships with favourite producers. Ultimately there is no substitute for this. Only through getting to know the farming, husbandry and curing processes can you understand what makes a truly great ham.

You can find out more about the Borough Market deli here.


Scottie picked Hamburg High School where he played as a point guard for the basketball team. Despite his successful high school career when Pippen made it to the state playoffs and achieved all-conference honors as a senior, he received zero college offers.

Eventually in 1983, Scottie enrolled himself at the University of Central Arkansas from where he graduated in 1987.

Scottie Pippen’s body specifications may be –

Scottie’s religious beliefs are not known.

He is also known for winning two Olympic gold medals with USA’s national team in Barcelona in 1992 and Atlanta in 1996.

Scottie played his first NBA match on November 7, 1987, when as a member of the Chicago Bulls he faced the Philadelphia 76ers and their star Charles Barkley.

Pippen came off the bench and for a total of 23 minutes spent on the court, he managed to achieve 10 points, 4 assists, 2 steals, and 1 rebound. In the end, the Bulls grabbed the W by winning 104-94.

Player had no significant weaknesses.

In 1996, Pippen acted in the movie Space Jam alongside his fellow teammate from the Chicago Bulls, legendary Michael Jordan. Scottie’s role was uncredited in the movie.

Other than basketball matches itself, Scottie appeared in the episode called Baby Shower of the TV series ER in 1996 as Scottie Pippen.

Despite we know that Scottie’s athletic abilities didn’t come over night, but he worked really hard to become what he did become (One of the best all-time NBA defensive players), we still didn’t manage to find a lead on his workout regime while he was an active basketball player.

Scottie’s favorite things are not known.


Kabul terror attack: Multiple explosions as gunfire rings out with deaths feared – World News

Multiple explosions have been heard along with gunfire at a Sikh temple in the Afghanistan capital Kabul, with many feared dead in what is being reported as a possible terror attack by ISIS.

Four consecutive blasts have been reported coming from the Gurdwara Karte Parwan, a Sikh place of worship, in Kabul, and shooting is ongoing on Saturday morning.

Armed attackers are believed to have entered the building and a siege is taking place, reported tribuneindia.com.

There are reports that there could be up to 15 hostages being held on the second floor of the temple.

Eye witness accounts have claimed that there are many dead and people are being taken to hospital.

The front door of the building is on fire and Taliban forces are preparing to attack the gunman inside who are thought to be from ISIS, it is reported.

Manjinder Singh Sirsa, of India's BJP political party, reportedly spoke to the Gurdwara Karte Parwan President Gurnam Singh, who confirmed that the attack started at 6am local time when the first prayers of the day were underway.

Mr Singh Sirsa posted a video on Twitter showing large plumes of black smoke and the sounds of gunfire.

He wrote: "Video of terrorist attack on Karte Parwan Gurdwara Sahib in Kabul at 6am today. At present the Gurudwara is in the possession of terrorists. This is the main gurdwara of minority Sikhs in Afghanistan."

In a follow up tweet he said: Sikh Sangat (approx 10-15 in number) stuck in Gurdwara Karte Parwan in Kabul which was attacked by terrorists today morning. One person has been reported dead in this attack."

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What Will Elon Musk Do With Twitter? Here is a 6-Point Guide

Barring a messy, last-minute divorce, Elon Musk is on track to own Twitter (and yes, mea culpa). The mercurial, brilliant entrepreneur offloaded around $8.5 billion of Tesla stock this week as he prepared to pay for his $44 billion side project. And soon, he’ll be free to change the service as he pleases.

Musk hasn’t yet presented a comprehensive plan for Twitter — he may never — but he’s proposed several significant changes worth evaluating. Musk’s ideas include lengthening character limits, open sourcing the algorithm, and effectively putting an end to content moderation. A debate is raging about the latter, but all have tradeoffs.

Alex Roetter, Twitter’s former head of engineering, joined Big Technology Podcast this week to discuss Musk’s proposals, examining both their feasibility and advisability. Here’s a look at the most significant potential changes, along with his commentary:

Upon announcing the deal, Musk said he wanted to “authenticate all humans.” Twitter has long weighed this idea internally, wondering whether making people confirm their email or phone number could help reduce harassment and spam. The company never acted, perhaps because authentication could drop its user numbers and anger Wall Street. But it should’ve. Pure anonymity, Roetter said, “fosters the worst parts of speech online.” So he loves Musk’s authentication idea. As a private company, Twitter could afford to take a user number hit, a benefit of Musk’s ownership. This idea is feasible and advisable.

Musk hates the spambots. “We will defeat the spam bots or die trying!” he said last week. Roetter likes this idea, but it’s not that simple. To defeat the spambots, he said, you’d build a classifier that looks for characteristics of bots and then bans them. You’d then tune the classifier to either be really aggressive, where you’d eliminate bots but also ban a bunch of human “false positives,” or be less aggressive, where you’d let some bots slide and ban fewer humans. “I think you should do it,’ Roetter said. “But everyone should be prepared, there is no perfect spam bot classifier.” This idea is feasible, though not perfect, and advisable.

Allowing for free speech is core to Musk’s Twitter takeover. “Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square,” he said. There may be technical challenges to Musk’s vision, including how that victory against spambots could ensnare human speech as well, said Roetter. “I really don’t think there’s an answer that’s going to make everybody happy,” he said. Still, Musk could relax the current moderation rules and see how things play out. This move is somewhat feasible and its advisability is TBD.

Musk is interested in Twitter’s subscription product and could expand it. Making people pay for Twitter — or certain premium features — could help reduce spam and create a revenue stream if Twitter’s advertisers bail over its new speech rules. “It’s a really interesting idea,” Roetter said. “If you don’t want a bunch of what you think of as low-value activity to happen, if you charge more than the value that you think people are extracting from it, it should go away.” Subscription fees could be normalized and scaled per location. This idea is feasible and advisable if implemented right.

To build trust in Twitter, Musk wants to open-source its algorithms. “This one is a head-scratcher to me,” Roetter said. The algorithms themselves, he said, won’t tell you very much. To figure out what to show you, Twitter’s ranking algorithms essentially look at billions of examples of content, try to predict how you’ll react to tweets and ads, and then use those scores to optimize what to show you. “It doesn’t say, if you are Republican, then you’re banned,” Roetter said. “There’s just nothing like that.” Open sourcing the algorithms is feasible and perhaps advisable, but only to dispel the conspiracy theories.

Musk has mused about adding an edit button and allowing lengthier tweets. Both ideas are technically straightforward, though they’ll probably do little for everyday users who can already thread tweets together and delete and resend tweets with typos. “I don’t think it’s going to change any of the main things that everyone is upset about,” Roetter said. “But yeah, sure, why not?” These ideas are feasible and, well, it’s up to you Elon.


In a long-awaited decision, a federal court in Virginia ruled in United States v. Chatrie that a geofence warrant violated the Fourth Amendment, but that the fruits of the unconstitutional search could nevertheless be used against the defendant under the good faith exception to the warrant requirement. The Court found that the warrant at issue lacked particularized probable cause to search all nineteen Google users within the geofence. Because most geofence warrants inherently suffer from the same defect, the Chatrie decision calls into question law enforcement’s ability to pursue this form of search warrant in the future. However, the Court stopped short of finding that geofence warrants are categorically unconstitutional and declined to resolve several important questions at this thorny intersection of law and technology. This ruling leaves law enforcement, providers, and the public with continuing uncertainty about whether and under what circumstances geofence warrants pass constitutional muster, but suggests that they must be used more narrowly and with greater judicial oversight than they have been in recent years.

In Chatrie, law enforcement employed a geofiltered data search, more commonly referred to as a geofence search warrant, to identify a suspect in a bank robbery. Contrary to what the term suggests, the use of a geofence does not limit law enforcement’s search authority to a particular time and place. Instead, this process empowers law enforcement to demand that a provider comb through its records, dragnet-style, to determine which devices, and consequently which associated individuals, entered the designated geofence.

Like another geofence search warrant that was found to violate the Fourth Amendment, the warrant at issue in this case involved a three-step process:

The geofence zone in Chatrie was a circle 300 meters in diameter, covering a portion of Richmond, Virginia, that included a church, a parking lot, and the bank that had been robbed. The warrant covered a time frame of one hour, and it allowed law enforcement, in executing the warrant’s second step, to direct Google to provide further location data for an additional thirty minutes before and after that hour.

In executing Step 1 of the search, Google found nineteen mobile devices with Location History enabled had been within the geofence zone during the designated hour. Law enforcement then directed Google to provide additional data for all nineteen devices in Step 2, though it narrowed its request to just nine devices after getting pushback from Google. In Step 3, law enforcement required Google to provide identifying information for three individuals associated with devices of interest. The agent did not explain—to Google or to the court that issued the warrant—any basis for selecting nine devices in Step 2 or three of them in Step 3.

The information that Google provided under the warrant led police to identify Chatrie as a suspect and ultimately prosecute him in connection with the robbery. Chatrie then moved to suppress the evidence the search produced.

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia found that the warrant “plainly” violated the Fourth Amendment because law enforcement lacked probable cause to search each of the nineteen users whose devices were identified in Step 1 of the warrant execution process as having location history data responsive to the search parameters. The Court nevertheless denied suppression based on law enforcement’s good faith reliance on the warrant.

In its lengthy ruling, the Court considered some of the complex legal questions that geofence warrants raise. Though not addressed explicitly, the decision grapples with the question of whether a Fourth Amendment “search” occurs through the use of a geofence. No court has yet ruled on whether the use of such technology constitutes a search requiring a warrant under the Fourth Amendment. Like other courts that have evaluated the constitutionality of geofence warrants, the Court here assumed for the sake of argument—and because law enforcement applied for a warrant—that a search occurred. In sidestepping this issue, the Court avoided a fundamental underlying question: At what point in the geofence process does a search occur?

Chatrie argued that the search occurs when Google examines the location data of all mobile device users with Location History enabled in order to identify devices that were present in the geofence. The review of millions of users’ location data in Step 1 to identify the nineteen potentially relevant accounts was clearly something Google did only as a result of the warrant’s compulsion. If this initial review constituted a Fourth Amendment search, then law enforcement searched the data of millions of people—which would almost certainly fail to pass muster under the Fourth Amendment’s probable cause requirement.

But the Court did not address whether ordering that initial step was itself a Fourth Amendment search that required a showing of probable cause. Instead, the Chatrie opinion’s probable cause analysis focuses only on whether probable cause existed to subject the nineteen accounts identified in Step 1 to a further search in Step 2. Under this analytical framework, however, it is impossible to determine who, or even how many people, will be searched until Step 1 of the search execution is completed—which does not neatly square with the Fourth Amendment requirements that a warrant be sufficiently particular as to the persons to be searched and be predicated on probable cause as to each of them.

In addition to finding a lack of individualized probable cause for each of the nineteen devices located in Step 1 of the search, the Court found that Steps 2 and 3 impermissibly gave unbridled discretion to law enforcement to determine which of the nineteen devices to subject to further scrutiny. The Court held that such unchecked authority violated the Fourth Amendment’s particularity requirement. However, it explicitly left open the possibility that the problem could be addressed by requiring law enforcement to return to court for judicial approval of the selections made in each of Steps 2 and 3.

Finally, as to the third-party doctrine, the Court considered whether Chatrie waived any expectation of privacy he might have had in his location data by sharing it with Google, but concluded that the third-party doctrine likely should not apply. The Court also doubted that an individual waives all privacy interests in his location data and assumes the risk that Google would share such data with law enforcement merely by opting in to a location service and suggested that the adequacy of the provider’s consumer-facing privacy disclosures plays some role in whether privacy interests have been waived. However, the Court stopped short of ruling on this issue.

This decision adds to what is now a handful of rulings addressing the constitutionality of geofiltered data search warrants under the Fourth Amendment. However, there are still significant open questions that courts have not addressed—either because these questions have not been squarely presented before courts in a manner requiring courts to rule on them or because courts have avoided the issues in deciding the cases before them. Some of those questions may be answered by state legislatures like New York’s, which is considering a bill to ban geofence warrants. But more likely the answers will come from federal and state courts addressing suppression motions and warrant applications arising from the explosive use of this still nascent investigative technique.


Apple dominated the news cycle yesterday with its iPhone 12 press event. While Apple was unveiling new phones and a smart speaker, its subsidiary Beats took the wraps off the Beats Flex, the company’s latest wireless headphones.

The Beats Flex turns heads, but mostly because of the sub-$100 price tag.Â

Unlike the AirPods, which are “true” wireless headphones, the Beat Flex uses a small wire to connect two earphones together.

The wire is meant to lay across the back of your neck when you are wearing them. This wire does more than just help secure the earphones, it also contains a microphone and call/music playback controls.Â

Beats is promoting the sound quality of its Beat Flex headphones, noting that they have greater clarity and improved sound thanks to a redesigned driver.

The new headphones also are eight percent lighter than the previous BeatsX model.

Like the older the BeatsX, the new Beats Flex can connect magnetically, making them easy to store when in use. They also now have an automatic play and pause function that’ll pause your music when you take out the earbuds and resume playing when you put them back on.Â

Though lighter, the new Beats Flex boasts 12 hours of battery life compared to 8 hours for the older BeatsX.

Keeping with Apple’s trend, Beats replaced Lightning on the BeatsX with USB-C in the Flex model. The USB-C connector is a welcome addition for Android and iPad Pro owners who already use that cable type.Â

Adopting Apple’s technology, the Beats Flex has the company’s W1 wireless chipset that allows it to seamlessly switch between devices linked to the same Apple ID. It also supports Apple’s new Audio Sharing feature that lets two people listen to an audio stream from a single iPhone.

Perhaps the most compelling feature of the Beats Flex is its price. At $49.99, it is about $100 less than the BeatsX, which debuted at $150. It’s also significantly less expensive than Apple’s AirPods, which retail at $159 for the model with a standard charging case.

Pre-ordering for the Beats Flex is underway, with orders shipping as soon as October 21.Â