********** XKCD **********
return to top
Software Testing Day
Match ID: 0 Score: 1000.00 source: xkcd.com
qualifiers: 1000.00 xkcd
Earth Formation Site
Match ID: 1 Score: 1000.00 source: xkcd.com
qualifiers: 1000.00 xkcd
Doppler Effect
Match ID: 2 Score: 1000.00 source: xkcd.com
qualifiers: 1000.00 xkcd
Alphabetical Cartogram
Match ID: 3 Score: 1000.00 source: xkcd.com
qualifiers: 1000.00 xkcd
Filter efficiency 99.520 (4 matches/834 results)
********** MUSIC **********
return to top
Filter efficiency 100.000 (0 matches/834 results)
********** TRAVEL **********
return to top
Briefly Noted Book Reviews
Mon, 29 Apr 2024 10:00:00 +0000
âKnife,â âA Travel Guide to the Middle Ages,â âNeighbors and Other Stories,â and âButter.â
Match ID: 0 Score: 45.71 source: www.newyorker.com age: 5 days
qualifiers: 25.71 travel guide(|s), 20.00 travel(|ing)
Climate emissions from air travel 50 per cent higher than reported
2024-05-04T14:27:55+00:00
submitted by /u/Wagamaga [link] [comments] |
Numbers of specialist makers are dwindling but one charity plans to save this vital part of our cultural heritage
Nick Malyon was seduced by neon lighting at the end of the 1980s while travelling in America. He left home after failing his A-levels and doing a disastrous four-year stint as a vintage car salesman in London.
âI was introduced to a sign painter and a neon signmaker, and it seemed like an alternative lifestyle to the one Iâd left behind. On my return to the UK, I was probably attempting to carry on some American dream by training, but I loved the weird alchemy of illuminating a piece of bent glass tubing â the change from nothing to something.â
Continue reading...Pizzas, aperitivos and a big sandy beach add to the offbeat charm of this Adriatic resort town
I hadnât heard of Pesaro before my ex-flatmate sent me there in summer 2018. I was writing a book at the time, and Giulia reckoned the best place for me to do such work was in her grandadâs old flat, a modest unit in a block put up in 1946, during the short reign of Umberto II. It had lain empty since her nonno â Dottor Spinicci â died of liver failure, having failed to take his own medicine.
The flatâs balcony looked on to a hot and dusty courtyard shared with the local police station. When, on my first morning in the flat, I discovered a faded handwritten recipe for ragĂč alla bolognese that didnât involve tomatoes, I was tempted to head down to the cop shop and report it as a thoughtcrime.
Continue reading...The set of folios published by John Gould will be presented at Firsts book fair in London in mid-May
John Gould was one of the most sought-after taxidermists in 19th-century London, commissioned by King George IV to stuff the first giraffe to arrive in England.
But Gouldâs lasting legacy is birds. He travelled the world documenting and cataloguing as many avian species as he could find, many of them never seen before, earning him the nickname the Bird Man and the appointment as official âbird stufferâ to the Zoological Society.
Continue reading...From the Turkish Riviera to the Ăle de RĂ©, we select quiet and unspoilt places to stay for sun, sand, snorkelling â or just snoozing
Thereâs something quite particular about small but perfectly formed Assos â butterscotch and rose-pink houses line a horseshoe bay, with Venetian ruins scattered between the narrow alleys. There are two small beaches, but the real joy is to rent a motor boat and discover the small bays and coves that fringe this part of the Cephalonian coast. Walkers can follow the path out on to the headland to the ruins of Assosâs 16th-century castle; thereâs not a huge amount to see, but the views make the walk worth it. Roi Suites is a bougainvillaea-clad cluster of well-equipped studio flats in a waterfront neoclassical building, with gorgeous sea views from the pool terrace.
Doubles from ÂŁ117 (minimum seven nights), roisuites.com
Palestinian restauranteur speaks from Bethlehem, where food stalls are sparse as farmlands are under attack
Fadi Kattan looked forlornly at the stalls inside the Bethlehem vegetable market bearing small quantities of oranges, watermelons and cauliflowers. âThis stall should be heaped with products, he said. âAnd over there should be piles of aubergines and courgettes.â
The watermelons from Jenin looked too small for the season, while he wasnât sure where the boxes of oranges were from. They would normally be from Gaza. At Um Nabilâs stall in the West Bank market where Kattan is a regular customer, she told him she could no longer afford to bring in the best small local cucumbers or piles of green cherries from her village of Artas.
Continue reading...Siblings Callum and Jake Robinson and US citizen Jack Carter Rhoad were travelling on a surfing holiday when they were reported missing
Three bodies have been found in an area of northern Mexico where two Australian brothers and an American friend are missing.
Perth siblings Callum and Jake Robinson, both in their 30s, were travelling in the region on a surfing holiday, with their friend Jack Carter Rhoad, a US citizen. The trio was reported missing when they failed to check into pre-arranged accommodation near the city of Ensenada last weekend.
Continue reading...Sydney airport is auctioning off more than 2,500 unclaimed items, including a wedding dress, an electric scooter and a collection of lightsabers
A jaffle maker, a leaf blower and a Darth Vader helmet are just some of the items left behind by passengers at Sydney airport that are up for auction in the airportâs annual charity event.
Millions of passengers pass through Sydney airport each month, and sometimes items go missing. Those left unclaimed are donated to local charities or sold at auction, with the proceeds going to charity.
Continue reading...Nahla Al-Arian lost more than 200 relatives in Israel's attacks on Gaza. Then Eric Adams said she was the reason police raided Columbia.
The post NYC Mayor Smeared a Grandmother as an âOutside Agitatorâ to Justify NYPD Assault on Columbia appeared first on The Intercept.
Readers were inspired by Hilary Bradtâs experiences and recall their own
As I recuperated from surgery, my spirits were much lifted by the memories evoked by Hilary Bradtâs article (Confessions of an 82-year-old hitchhiker, 27 April).
As a hitchhiker in the 1960s and early 70s, I, like Bradt, experienced wholly positive interactions with those willing to offer a lift: interesting conversations over the course of a few miles, company over a shared meal in otherwise soulless service stations, occasional overnight hospitality with the driverâs family, and even offers to set up my first lift of the next day with a âfriend of a friendâ who was heading in my direction.
Continue reading...Stateâs fall as the last bastion of access to the procedure in the deep south means women will have to travel farther for care
Rose hadnât even missed her period when the thought hit her: âI need to take a test.â
The Florida resident, who has two kids, had given birth just three months ago. She thought that she and her husband were being careful. But the pregnancy test confirmed her suspicion: she was pregnant and, she realized, didnât want to be.
Continue reading...Failure of Manchester venue to open has angered those who paid for travel and hotels for cancelled events
The repeated failure of the new Co-op live venue to open in Manchester has led to shows being cancelled at the last moment, gigs rescheduled, and has caused huge inconvenience to people who had booked non-refundable travel and hotels to enjoy events they had been looking forward to.
It has, of course, though, allowed the British public to also enjoy one of its greatest pastimes â hilarious schadenfreude on social media. Not least because its general manager, Gary Roden, was forced to resign over the issues, not long after he hadnât exactly endeared himself to organisations such as the Music Venue Trust by suggesting that many grassroots music venues are often âpoorly runâ and that was a factor in the new venue not wanting to take part in a levy scheme to help keep smaller venues open.
Continue reading...We would like to hear from people who have been affected by postponements and cancellations at the Co-op Live arena
The Co-op Live arena has postponed or cancelled several of its music and comedy shows in recent weeks due to technical problems at the venue. Olivia Rodrigo, Peter Kay and A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie are among the performers whose gigs have been disrupted.
We would like to hear from people who have been affected by the disruptions at the Co-op Live arena. Had you planned to travel to see the show? Will you make it to a rescheduled show?
Continue reading...The far right are on the march in Germany and the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany has become the most popular party in several states. Immigration and a sense of being economically left behind have been driving factors in the rise in popularity but the Green party and the federal governmentâs climate policies have also borne the brunt of public anger. The Guardian travelled to Görlitz, on the German border with Poland, to find out to what extent Germanyâs green policies are fuelling the far right
âą How climate policies are becoming focus for far-right attacks in Germany
Continue reading...For years, the political establishment opportunistically railed against sex trafficking. Then came Pizzagate.
The post QAnon Was Born Out of the Sex Ad Moral Panic That Took Down Backpage.com appeared first on The Intercept.
A measure passed by the House seeks to block Americans from traveling to Iran on U.S. passports.
The post House Responds to Israeli-Iranian Missile Exchange by Taking Rights Away From Americans appeared first on The Intercept.
The web has become so interwoven with everyday life that it is easy to forget what an extraordinary accomplishment and treasure it is. In just a few decades, much of human knowledge has been collectively written up and made available to anyone with an internet connection.
But all of this is coming to an end. The advent of AI threatens to destroy the complex online ecosystem that allows writers, artists, and other creators to reach human audiences.
To understand why, you must understand publishing. Its core task is to connect writers to an audience. Publishers work as gatekeepers, filtering candidates and then amplifying the chosen ones. Hoping to be selected, writers shape their work in various ways. This article might be written very differently in an academic publication, for example, and publishing it here entailed pitching an editor, revising multiple drafts for style and focus, and so on...
The White House brushes off accusations of hypocrisy, courting TikTok while seeking to ban it.
The post As Biden Cheers TikTok Ban, White House Embraces TikTok Influencers appeared first on The Intercept.
From biking adventures to city breaks, get inspiration for your next break â whether in the UK or further afield â with twice-weekly emails from the Guardianâs travel editors. Youâll also receive handpicked offers from Guardian Holidays.
From biking adventures to city breaks, get inspiration for your next break â whether in the UK or further afield â with twice-weekly emails from the Guardianâs travel editors.
Youâll also receive handpicked offers from Guardian Holidays.
Continue reading...Chinaâs president arrives as EU anti-subsidy investigations and tensions over espionage, Ukraine and Taiwan continue
Chinaâs president, Xi Jinping, is to visit Europe next week for the first time in five years, in a tour that will take in the unlikely trifecta of France, Hungary and Serbia.
The visit comes as China pushes to avoid a trade war with the EU, while attitudes towards Beijing in the bloc are hardening after multiple spying scandals and Chinaâs ongoing support for Russia in the war in Ukraine.
Continue reading...University faculty have put their bodies and livelihoods on the line amid a brutal, violent response to student protests for Gaza.
The post From UCLA to Columbia, Professors Nationwide Defend Students as Politicians and Police Attack appeared first on The Intercept.
The theatre adaptation of Studio Ghibliâs beloved animation sold out in Japan in four minutes. As it comes to the UK, we meet the international team of creatives bringing its giant dragons and tiny soot sprites to life
The dragon stirs to life as Toby OliĂ© plucks it up by its tail. He spirals it through the air and, quick as ripping off a plaster, tears the creature in two. âEven when he was curled up on the floor,â the puppet designer says, undoing another of the dragonâs joints, âhe took up too much space.â OliĂ© sticks the body back together, a little shorter but more malleable now, and the tail wriggles back into being.
Best known for his work on War Horse, OliĂ© is holding a miniature prototype for Haku, a boy who transforms into an enormous serpentine dragon. Haku is one of the leading characters in Hayao Miyazakiâs exquisite animation Spirited Away, which has been adapted into a major stage production. For the last four years, the creative team have been conjuring, tweaking and perfecting Miyazakiâs world of gods and monsters in three dimensions. The full-sized dragon, for whom OliĂ© took inspiration from fan art as well as close studies of the film, is now more than four metres long, with 4,000 hairs inserted individually down his spine, ears that pin back when heâs scared, and a body powerful enough to carry a child on his back as he flies.
Continue reading...Covid vaccines, chemtrails, the Great Reset ⊠Why do people invent false conspiracies when there are so many real ones to worry about? Thereâs only one way to find out: ask a believer
I am a conspiracy theorist. I believe that groups of people conspire secretly against our interests to line their pockets, cover their backs or achieve political goals. By this definition I suspect you are, too. We see evidence of these conspiracies every day. We see them in the Horizon scandal, in which the Post Office kept prosecuting innocent operators. We see them in the governmentâs use of a âVIPâ lane for procuring PPE from friends and donors at extortionate prices. We see them in the Windrush scandal, in which people were denied their legal rights and unlawfully deported by the UK government. In the Cambridge Analytica scandal: a secretive micro-targeting campaign likely to have influenced the Brexit vote. In the Panama Papers and the Pandora Papers, showing how the ultra-rich hide their money from taxes and legal scrutiny.
All these are conspiracies in the true sense: hidden machinations that advance particular interests while causing harm to others. A theory is a rational explanation, subject to disproof. If you accept these scandals are the result of hidden machinations, which they evidently are, you are a conspiracy theorist.
Continue reading... submitted by /u/Lvexr [link] [comments] |
CEO is making a surprise exit after successfully slimming down the global bank and winning over its tough chair
HSBCâs chief executive, Noel Quinn, is seen by many as ending his five-year tenure on a high note. The 62-year-old stunned the banking world this week by saying he planned to retire after an âintenseâ five years in the role to get a better work-life balance.
Quinn has slimmed down a sprawling global bank, paid out $19bn (ÂŁ15bn) to shareholders last year and successfully staved off calls to break up the lender.
Continue reading...Researchers find many countries unprepared for influx of new species and will be vulnerable to bites
Climate breakdown is likely to lead to the large-scale migration of venomous snake species into new regions and unprepared countries, according to a study.
The researchers forecast that Nepal, Niger, Namibia, China, and Myanmar will gain the most venomous snake species from neighbouring countries under a heating climate.
Continue reading...Former NSW premierâs threat to sue comes amid debate about whether New Zealand should join pillar two of Aukus pact
Australiaâs former foreign minister and New South Wales premier, Bob Carr, says he intends to sue New Zealandâs deputy prime minister, Winston Peters, for allegations made about Carrâs closeness to China as debate about Aukus ramps up.
Peters called Carr ânothing more than a Chinese puppetâ on the national broadcaster RNZ on Thursday morning.
Continue reading...Move seen as continuation of Pacific countryâs policy of growing closer to Beijing
Solomon Islands lawmakers have elected as their new prime minister Jeremiah Manele, a former foreign minister who has pledged to continue the Pacific countryâs policy of embracing China.
Manele said outside parliament on Thursday âthe people have spokenâ and called for calm.
Continue reading...Congress partyâs Arun Reddy held over fake video of interior minister Amit Shah
Indian police have said they have arrested the social media chief of the countryâs main opposition party over a doctored video widely shared during the ongoing national election.
Arun Reddy of the Congress party was detained late on Friday in connection with the edited footage, which falsely shows Indiaâs powerful interior minister, Amit Shah, vowing in a campaign speech to end affirmative action policies for millions of poor and low-caste Indians.
Continue reading...Inadvertent poisoning of scavengers across Indian subcontinent is forcing some communities to give up ancient custom
Traditional Zoroastrian burial rites are becoming increasingly impossible to perform because of the precipitous decline of vultures in India, Iran and Pakistan.
For millennia, Parsi communities have traditionally disposed of their dead in structures called dakhma, or âtowers of silenceâ. These circular, elevated edifices are designed to prevent the soil, and the sacred elements of earth, fire and water, from being contaminated by corpses.
Continue reading...Prime minister said there were âcredible allegationsâ that India was behind killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar
Canadian police have charged three members of an alleged hit team for their role in the assassination of the Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the first arrests in a high-profile killing that officials believe was masterminded by India.
The arrests come nearly a year after the prominent activist was killed in the parking lot of the Guru Nanak Sikh gurdwara on the evening of 18 June in the city of Surrey, British Columbia. In what investigators previously described as a carefully orchestrated operation, two assailants fired about 50 bullets at Nijjar and escaped the area in a grey car.
Continue reading...Freedom to Write index says there are 107 people in prison for published content in China, with many accused of âpicking quarrelsâ
The number of writers jailed in China has surpassed 100, with nearly half imprisoned for online expression.
The grim milestone is revealed in the 2023 Freedom to Write index, a report compiled by Pen America, published on Wednesday.
Continue reading...The famed scholar on why reducing Hamas to a terrorist label sanctions Israelâs war on Palestinians.
The post Judith Butler Will Not Co-Sign Israelâs Alibi for Genocide appeared first on The Intercept.
Officials say a landslide hit Luwu regency in South Sulawesi on Friday after torrential rain pounded the area
A flood and a landslide have hit Indonesiaâs Sulawesi island, killing at least 14 people, according to officials.
The landslide hit Luwu regency in South Sulawesi on Friday just after 1am local time, Abdul Muhari, spokesperson of Indonesiaâs disaster mitigation agency (BNPB), said in a statement.
Continue reading...UN humanitarian office spokesman says hundreds of thousands of lives could be at risk and there would be a huge impact on aid operations
Daniel Hurst is Guardian Australiaâs foreign affairs and defence correspondent.
The Australian government faces a decision next week on whether to support admitting Palestine as a full member of the UN and is swapping notes with allies including South Korea and Germany.
Continue reading...Meta has threatened to pull WhatsApp out of India if the courts try to force it to break its end-to-end encryption.
Sheâs set to depose Taylor Swift from No 1 and has the most-streamed song in the world this week â the culmination of a decade of slow-burn success
Capped with one of the most brilliantly nonsensical chorus lines in pop history â âThatâs that me, espressoâ â Sabrina Carpenterâs Espresso is the most streamed song in the world this week, deposed Taylor Swift as the UKâs No 1 single yesterday and is shaping up to be the criticsâ pick for the song you wonât be able to escape this summer.
Since its release in mid-April, this irresistible shot of nu-disco has been steadily climbing the charts to become one of the only tracks holding its own against the tidal wave of songs from Taylor Swiftâs double-disc The Tortured Poets Department. Carpenter was recently released from Swiftâs Eras tour juggernaut, having supported the superstar on her dates in Latin America, Australia and Singapore. Anointed by Swift as a âsweet angel princessâ, she is now rising through the ranks to become pop royalty in her own right.
Continue reading...After a long spell of intense heat and little rain, water levels have fallen to reveal parts of a sunken church, tombstones and foundations at Pantabangan
Ruins of a centuries-old town have emerged at a dam parched by drought in the northern Philippines.
After a prolonged spell of intense heat and little rain, water levels in the dam have fallen to reveal parts of a sunken church, tombstones and the foundations of structures from the 300-year-old town in Nueva Ecija province.
Continue reading...When police attacked student protesters, a lone trash can was the only damaged property I saw around City College of New York.
The post Iâve Covered Violent Crackdowns on Protests for 15 Years. This Police Overreaction Was Unhinged. appeared first on The Intercept.
Warnings of dangerous temperatures across parts of Philippines, Thailand, Bangladesh and India as hottest months of the year are made worse by El Niño
Millions of people across South and Southeast Asia are facing sweltering temperatures, with unusually hot weather forcing schools to close and threatening public health.
Thousands of schools across the Philippines, including in the capital region Metro Manila, have suspended in-person classes. Half of the countryâs 82 provinces are experiencing drought, and nearly 31 others are facing dry spells or dry conditions, according to the UN, which has called for greater support to help the country prepare for similar weather events in the future. The countryâs upcoming harvest will probably be below average, the UN said.
Continue reading...Parties clash over communal issues in increasingly charged campaign amid concerns unseasonably hot weather affecting voter numbers
India has held the second phase of the worldâs biggest election, with prime minister Narendra Modi and his rivals hurling accusations of religious discrimination and threats to democracy amid flagging voter turnout.
Almost 1 billion people are eligible to vote in the seven-phase general election that began on 19 April and concludes on 1 June, with votes set to be counted on 4 June.
Continue reading...The White House brushes off accusations of hypocrisy, courting TikTok while seeking to ban it.
The post As Biden Cheers TikTok Ban, White House Embraces TikTok Influencers appeared first on The Intercept.
Evidence points to Absolute Standards as the source of a lethal drug the Trump administration used to restart federal executions after 17 years.
The post âLittle Home Marketâ: The Connecticut Company Accused of Fueling an Execution Spree appeared first on The Intercept.
Supporters worry Khanâs life is in danger and with good reason: The military has a long history of killing deposed leaders.
The post Chuck Schumer Privately Warns Pakistan: Don’t Kill Imran Khan in Prison appeared first on The Intercept.
Despite eventual visa backflip by authorities, ABCâs south-Asia correspondent Avani Dias left after being made to âfeel so uncomfortableâ
The south-Asia correspondent for Australiaâs national broadcaster, Avani Dias, has been forced out of India after her reporting fell foul of the Indian government, in a sign of the increasing pressure on journalists in the country under Narendra Modi.
Dias, who has been based in Delhi for the ABC since January 2022, said she felt the government had made it âtoo difficultâ for her to continue to do her job, claiming it blocked her from accessing events, issued takedown notices to YouTube for her news stories, and then refused her a standard visa renewal.
Continue reading...RSS Rabbit links users to publicly available RSS entries.
Vet every link before clicking! The creators accept no responsibility for the contents of these entries.
Relevant
Fresh
Convenient
Agile
We're not prepared to take user feedback yet. Check back soon!