Northern Irishman pulled out before third round
‘I felt a twinge in my back, it became muscle spasms’
Rory McIlroy is confident of defending his Players Championship title from Thursday despite withdrawing from the Arnold Palmer Invitational 35 minutes before his third round. McIlroy suffered back spasms, with the Northern Irishman unwilling to potentially put appearances at the Players and next month’s Masters at risk by taking to the course at Bay Hill. McIlroy will also be defending the crown at Augusta National.
“While warming up in the gym this morning, I felt a small twinge in my back,” McIlroy said. “As I started hitting balls on the range before the round, it worsened and developed into muscle spasms in my lower back. Unfortunately, I’m not able to continue and have to withdraw. I was excited to compete this weekend. I wish the Arnold Palmer Invitational a great finish and look forward to being back next year.”
Continue reading...Paul Heath knew the rice-cooking David McLean was his sort of guy. Then one humid morning, he reached for the camera to capture a post-shower moment
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We met in 1998, at a health and relationship course run back then by the Gay Men’s Health Centre in Melbourne. I saw David across the crowded room at a drinks session afterwards and slowly made my way around to talking with him. We were both in our mid-30s, and I’ve always gone for those tall skinny guys. We chatted easily and before he left I scribbled down my number.
He rang a few weeks later on a Saturday night, apparently figuring I wouldn’t be home and that he’d just leave a message. When I picked up, I think he was a little thrown. He said something like: “Hi, um, hang on a sec, oh fuck, I’ve gotta turn the rice down!” And I thought, this is my sort of guy – Saturday night at home cooking rice, what’s not to love.
Continue reading...Dr Hannah Gould on eco-funerals, being ‘the death person’ and the one thing everyone should know before they die
Around 2040, Australia will reach peak death. A silver tsunami of boomers are predicted to propel the annual death rate to double that of today, putting immense strain on the healthcare and deathcare systems.
Dr Hannah Gould – a death scholar and author of the book How to Die in the 21st Century – calls it “boomergeddon”, and says it brings with it a certain range of ideas about what a good death looks like.
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Continue reading...Amera last saw Ali in 2014, the day IS arrived at their village in northern Iraq. Now living in Australia, she’s published years of unsent letters
When Islamic State militants arrived at their family’s home in northern Iraq, Amera and her brother were sitting under their grandmother’s fig tree.
The 11-year-old girl had been watching a ripening fig for days but needed her older brother Ali’s height to reach it. Now, with IS beginning an assault on their town’s Yazidi people, she thought this may be her only chance.
Continue reading...Steeds meer festivalgangers willen liever een luxe glamping dan met een simpel tentje op een groot veld. Dat blijkt uit een grote rondgang onder festivals. Een festival in Brabant biedt daarom vanaf nu op de glamping ook villa’s met zwembad, oprijlaan en helikopterlandplaats aan.
“Ja, het is mijn manier van festival vieren ook niet. Maar je springt in op wat mensen willen, hè”, zegt een woordvoerder van het festival. “Daarom hebben we nu grote villa’s, die wel van tentdoek zijn, maar voorzien zijn van alle luxe. Denk aan een zwembad, sauna, een oprijlaan, maar ook een helikopterstandplaats. Daarnaast heeft elke slaapcabine ook zijn eigen bioscoop en is er een fitness beneden.”
Het is een bijzondere trend, omdat er ook klachten zijn over de stijgende prijzen van festivaltickets. Dat ziet ook festivalexpert Bert Bokhoven: “Maar blijkbaar kiezen mensen er nu gewoon voor om er even een keer goed uit te gaan met een groepje vrienden. Waar je vroeger nog naar twee of drie weekenders ging, gaan ze nu luxer en naar één.”
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Hier en nu (*) – daar gebeurt het….
‘As We Speak’ door Béla Fleck (banjo), Zakir Hussain †2024 (tabla’s), Edgar Meyer (bas) en Rakesh Chaurasia (bamboe fluiten)
(*) As we speak” is an idiomatic phrase used to emphasize that an action is happening at the exact, current moment.