Isaac Asimov's 1980 review of 1984. Thomas Pynchon's introduction to a 2003 edition of 1984.
De marathon brengt Rotterdam vandaag in beweging. Zo'n 18 duizend toppers en recreanten verschijnen aan de start en hopen na 42.195 meter zwoegen de finish op de Coolsingel te bereiken. Rijnmond is er uiteraard de hele dag bij en houdt je via al onze kanalen op de hoogte.
Turn your attention to your internal landscape rather than the next building project. Make your next project yourself
My wife and I are in our late 60s. The past 20 years have felt like treading water, as all my funds are tied up in a property that, for complex reasons, I am unable to sell. We are both creative. Over the past year or so I’ve made some improvements to our house, things that make people say wow. I enjoy seeing their pleasure, but their praise isn’t hugely important to me. In fact, I am somewhat reclusive. I do not enjoy being part of a wider community and I’m content with a handful of close friends.
Last year my father died, and after a period of despair, during which I found myself contemplating suicide (I did not share this with my wife), I turned first to Samaritans, then a therapist.
Continue reading...A multimillion-pound industry has sprung up promising it can detect sensitivities to certain ingredients with a simple remote finger prick test. But the results can be misleading – and even dangerous
My kitchen table is littered with tiny test tubes, envelopes and plastic lancets. At one end of the table, I have a parcel containing everything I need to take a food intolerance blood test, sold by one of the best-known companies in this market, as well as one of their food and environmental allergy tests, a package deal that cost me just over £200.
At the other end, I’ve arranged everything I need to do a top-of-the-range ALEX2 allergy blood test, which I got from the allergy clinic run by Dr Helen Evans-Howells, a GP and allergy specialist who runs clinics in Hampshire, Belfast and online. This costs £295 and comprises two lancets, which I will soon be using to puncture tiny holes in several of my fingertips; a blood tube; disinfecting wipes; and a return envelope. In the middle of the table, I have a large bowl of hot water, in which my left hand is soaking. I’ve also cut off a lock of my hair, which is now in a sandwich bag ready to be sent to a lab tomorrow for bioresonance testing. My plan is to compare the three sets of results, all from samples taken on the very same day. Given that I don’t have any food or environmental allergies or intolerances, all three tests should show exactly the same thing: nothing.
Continue reading...Rosemary Adaser, 70, would lose £1,000 a month in benefits, while her twin brother in Ireland got full amount with no penalty
A twin sister and brother were separated from their parents in Ireland’s mother and baby home scandal – but only one of them can be compensated without being penalised.
Rosemary Adaser, 70, of Ealing, west London, was among tens of thousands of children placed in abusive institutions for being born out of marriage in Ireland.
Continue reading...Industry experts say booking of controversial US rapper was calculated risk that has implications for all festivals
The fallout over Wireless announcing Ye (formerly known as Kanye West) as its 2026 headliner was both swift and considerable.
Last Sunday, major sponsors of the three-day festival, including Pepsi and Diageo, began to withdraw their involvement in the face of a significant backlash to Ye’s shocking pronouncements on the Jewish community and the Holocaust. UK Jewish groups threatened to protest if the shows went ahead. Keir Starmer called the decision to book the rapper who wrote a song titled Heil Hitler “deeply concerning”.
Continue reading...US and Iranian delegations fail to reach common ground after 21 hours of negotiations, with both sides blaming the other for unreasonable demands
A spokesperson for the Iranian foreign ministry has commented on the negotiations in Islamabad, saying the talks were conducted in an atmosphere of mistrust, and it was unrealistic to believe an agreement could be reached in one session, Reuters reports.
Contact and consultation between Iran, Pakistan and other allies in the region would continue going forward, the spokesperson said.
Pakistan has been and will continue to play its role to facilitate engagement and dialogue between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States of America in the days to come.
Continue reading...
Arizona state prosecutors allege Kalshi is running an illegal gambling operation, charging the prediction market with 20 "wagering" misdemeanors. But Friday a federal judge "temporarily barred Arizona from enforcing its gambling laws against predictive market operators," reports the Associated Press, "and put the brakes on a criminal wagering case that the state has filed against Kalshi.
"U.S. District Judge Michael Liburdi's ruling means a Monday arraignment hearing for Kalshi has been called off."
The order was issued in a lawsuit filed by the Trump administration. The judge's order said the federal Commodity Futures Trading Commission had sufficiently shown that "event contracts" fall within the Commodity Exchange Act's definition of "swaps," and that it had demonstrated a reasonable chance of success in showing that the act preempts Arizona law... The commission had sued Arizona in response to cease-and-desist letters sent to Kalshi from state gambling regulators and the criminal charges filed against the prediction market operator. The commission argued Arizona is intruding on its exclusive federal power to regulate national swaps markets...
Earlier this month, the federal government filed lawsuits against Connecticut, Arizona and Illinois challenging their efforts to regulate prediction market operators. The Trump administration has so far backed the platforms. President Donald Trump's eldest son is an adviser for both Kalshi and Polymarket and an investor in the latter. Trump's social media platform Truth Social is also launching its own cryptocurrency-based prediction market called Truth Predict.
Federal and state judges in Nevada and Massachusetts have now issued early rulings in favor of states looking to ban Kalshi and its competitor Polymarket from offering sports being in their states, according to the article, "while federal judges in New Jersey and Tennessee have ruled in favor of Kalshi."
And Arizona's attorney general's office said it disagrees with the court's ruling and "will evaluate our next steps."
"U.S. District Judge Michael Liburdi's ruling means a Monday arraignment hearing for Kalshi has been called off."
The order was issued in a lawsuit filed by the Trump administration. The judge's order said the federal Commodity Futures Trading Commission had sufficiently shown that "event contracts" fall within the Commodity Exchange Act's definition of "swaps," and that it had demonstrated a reasonable chance of success in showing that the act preempts Arizona law... The commission had sued Arizona in response to cease-and-desist letters sent to Kalshi from state gambling regulators and the criminal charges filed against the prediction market operator. The commission argued Arizona is intruding on its exclusive federal power to regulate national swaps markets...
Earlier this month, the federal government filed lawsuits against Connecticut, Arizona and Illinois challenging their efforts to regulate prediction market operators. The Trump administration has so far backed the platforms. President Donald Trump's eldest son is an adviser for both Kalshi and Polymarket and an investor in the latter. Trump's social media platform Truth Social is also launching its own cryptocurrency-based prediction market called Truth Predict.
Federal and state judges in Nevada and Massachusetts have now issued early rulings in favor of states looking to ban Kalshi and its competitor Polymarket from offering sports being in their states, according to the article, "while federal judges in New Jersey and Tennessee have ruled in favor of Kalshi."
And Arizona's attorney general's office said it disagrees with the court's ruling and "will evaluate our next steps."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
21 uur onderhandelen – maar uiteindelijk geen akkoord. De VS en Iran zijn er niet in geslaagd een overeenkomst te bereiken tijdens hun gesprekken, zo maakte de Amerikaanse vicepresident JD Vance bekend. Ze keren nu terug naar de VS.
Er was weinig vooruitgang geboekt in de gesprekken en de leiding in Teheran had de Amerikaanse voorwaarden niet geaccepteerd , aldus Vance in de Pakistaanse hoofdstad Islamabad, waar sinds het weekend onderhandelingen plaatsvonden. Hij voegde eraan toe dat de VS zich uiterst flexibel hadden getoond en een zeer eenvoudig voorstel voor een oplossing hadden gedaan, wat Washingtons beste en definitieve aanbod was.
De vicepresident zei dat hij de afgelopen 21 uur "vele malen" met de Amerikaanse president Donald Trump had gesproken , evenals met minister van Buitenlandse Zaken Marco Rubio, minister van Financiën Scott Bessent en admiraal Brad Cooper, het hoofd van het Centraal Commando van de Verenigde Staten.
banzainetsurfer has added a photo to the pool:
Naruto, Tokushima, Shikoku, Japan
日本四国地方徳島県鳴門町
The Ōnaruto Bridge (大鳴門橋, Ōnaruto-kyō; lit. "Great Naruto Bridge") is a suspension bridge that carries 4 lanes of the Kobe-Awaji-Naruto Expressway connecting Minamiawaji, Hyogo on Awaji Island with Naruto, Tokushima on Ōge Island, Japan. Completed in 1985, it has a main span of 876 metres (2,874 ft).
Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%8Cnaruto_Bridge