Simon & Garfunkel

A Flock of Seagulls

​Deze week lanceerde webwinkel Bol een campagne met een nieuwe mascotte. Nu de opnames van de commercial zijn afgerond, verblijft mascotte Billie weer de rest van het jaar in een stacaravan in de buurt van een Bol-distributiecentrum, samen met zes arbeidsmigranten.

"De stacaravan van ons allemaal!”, zegt de vrolijke blauwe mascotte terwijl hij over de matrassen in de woonkamer heenstapt. Hij zegt dankbaar te zijn voor de kans die Bol hem heeft gegeven, en werkt de komende maanden weer gewoon als orderpicker. “Effe bollen!”, zegt hij terwijl hij een geretourneerde dildo inspecteert op poepresten. “Effe bollen, effe bollen!” Hij geeft over van vermoeidheid. “Service met een glimlach!”

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Not everyone experiences heat the same way, and studies show aggression, violence and road rage increase on hotter days

Recently, my husband and I embarked on what should have been a pleasant spring errand: a stroll to the local farmer’s market. But a passing heatwave had made it unseasonably hot outside. I cut him off on the sidewalk and he snapped at me, so I snapped at him for snapping at me. We spent the rest of the excursion in sweaty, stony silence. When we were almost home, he said, miserably: “I’m sorry! It’s just so hot.”

Our grouchiness was not simply a weakness of spirit. “Heat doesn’t just affect your body,” said Dr Susan Albers, clinical psychologist at the Cleveland Clinic. “It affects your mood too.”

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Former transport secretary said she was one of several victims of ‘sexist and unpleasant’ press briefs

Louise Haigh has accused Keir Starmer’s allies of briefing “consistently and viciously” against her after she resigned as transport secretary as she spoke openly about her departure from the cabinet in 2024 and her reasons for backing Andy Burnham.

She has helped mastermind Burnham’s likely ascent to power, with the former Greater Manchester mayor expected to be confirmed as prime minister in days.

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Zelden is er zoveel verwantschap geweest tussen twee schrijvers als tussen J.J. (Han) Voskuil en Frida Vogels.

Vrijheid blijheid verliefdheid. Deze zomer zoekt NRC de beste boeken over zomerse liefde. Deze aflevering: Bonjour tristesse.

Op zondag 30 augustus organiseert Rijnmond een loopevenement van 5 kilometer rondom de Kralingse Plas. Geen wedstrijd, maar een gezellige en gezonde samenkomst. Mensen die willen wandelen, joggen of hardlopen kunnen gratis meedoen.

Damherten in de Hoeksche Waard mogen niet meer worden afgeschoten. De provincie Zuid-Holland wilde van de populatie af, maar donderdag heeft de rechtbank besloten dat een eerder besluit tot afschot niet goed genoeg is onderbouwd. Tot grote opluchting van actievoerder Ray de Boon, die vijf jaar lang bezig is geweest om de herten te redden.

GAVARNIE-GÈDRE (ANP) - Tadej Pogačar had veel zin in de Pyreneeënrit in de Tour de France van donderdag, die hij met overtuiging winnend afsloot. Dat zei de Sloveense wereldkampioen na afloop van de etappe in het flashinterview. "Ik was heel enthousiast voor vandaag", zei Pogačar. "We gingen ervoor, niets te verliezen."

Pogačar pakte 2.38 minuten op zijn grote rivaal Jonas Vingegaard, die tweede werd in de etappe naar Gavarnie-Gèdre. "Ik liet alles aan het toeval over", zei de Sloveen. "Ik was niet bezig met het berekenen van seconden of minuten."

De kopman van UAE Team Emirates heroverde donderdag ook de gele trui van de Noor Torstein Træen, die ook nog ten val kwam in de afdaling van de Col du Tourmalet. "Ik dacht niet dat ik de gele trui vandaag zou pakken", zei Pogačar. "Ik hoop dat hij oké is."

AMSTERDAM (ANP) - De AEX-index op de aandelenbeurs in Amsterdam is donderdag met winst de handelsdag uitgegaan. De chipbedrijven ASMI, ASML en Besi waren de koplopers in de hoofdindex op het Damrak. Shell deed een stapje terug door een daling van de olieprijzen. Die stegen eerder deze week nog sterk door het opgelaaide geweld in het Midden-Oosten met Amerikaanse aanvallen op Iran en Iraanse aanvallen op Amerikaanse bases in de Golfregio.

ASML, ASMI en Besi wonnen tot 5,6 procent. Grootste dalers bij de hoofdfondsen waren techinvesteerder Prosus, ijsjesbedrijf Magnum en maritiem oliedienstverlener SBM Offshore met minnen tot meer dan 2 procent. Shell zakte ruim 1 procent na de plussen van de voorgaande dagen. De olieprijzen daalden tot bijna 2 procent.

De AEX eindigde 0,7 procent hoger op 1083,32 punten, na de kleine verliesbeurt op woensdag. De MidKap steeg 0,5 procent tot 1075,00 punten.

An effort by European parliamentarians to block the reintroduction of an interim rule allowing tech companies to scan chats for evidence of child sexual abuse failed today, despite securing more votes than the MEPs who want to keep it alive. Commonly referred to by critics as Chat Control, or Chat Control 1.0, the interim rule acts as a derogation from the ePrivacy Directive, allowing online communications platforms to voluntarily detect, report, and remove child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Chat Control expired on April 3, 2026, after first being introduced in August 2021. Today, however, MEPs did not reach the required threshold to prevent it from moving toward reintroduction. Although 314 politicians voted to scrap Chat Control, while 276 voted to keep it, the vote required 360 MEPs to reject the Council of the European Union's position. As a result, the attempt to abolish the interim rule failed, despite more voting MEPs opposing it than supporting it. A separate, but related vote, which sought to limit scanning to accounts belonging only to individuals identified by the judiciary, also failed to reach the necessary majority, effectively permitting the scanning of all accounts without a warrant. MEPs did manage to secure a majority for excluding end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) platforms from Chat Control's scanning provisions, although the practical effect of that change may be limited, since providers should not be able to inspect message contents in transit. What's left is essentially the same legislation as introduced in 2021 – Chat Control 1.0, but without legal permission to scan E2EE messages. The European Parliament's amended position will now be sent back to the Council of the European Union, which has three months to approve or reject the legislation. Chat Control could be reintroduced in the EU in that time frame. If the Council cannot accept all the amendments, a conciliation committee will be convened to reach a resolution. If approved, it will be valid until 2028, or until a permanent solution is passed. One of the movement's more outspoken campaigners, former MEP Patrick Breyer, called Chat Control a vehicle for "suspicionless mass surveillance," and said it serves as a smokescreen to delay real action against the spread of CSAM online. "The fact that Chat Control is moving forward against the will of the majority of voting MEPs is a farce and damages democracy," he said. "Our children are the real losers in this undemocratic process. The passage of a genuine, permanent child protection regulation is now in serious jeopardy. The Council will never agree to a desperately needed paradigm shift as long as they can simply stick to the old approach of suspicionless scanning at the whim of the tech industry." At the heart of the Chat Control debate is the long-running conflict between the public's right to privacy and law enforcement's need to access evidence that could help prosecute those who create, possess, or distribute CSAM. Chat Control 1.0 is the interim measure the EU introduced to give tech companies legal permission to voluntarily scan user chats for signs of child sexual abuse. Tech companies are not required to scan messages, but may do so if they wish. It was introduced under the assumption that the Child Sexual Abuse Regulation (CSAR), aka Chat Control 2.0, would not take so long to pass. The CSAR is intended as the EU's permanent framework for detecting and tackling online child sexual abuse. Unlike the interim measure, it would create lasting obligations for platforms to assess and mitigate the risk of their services being used to spread CSAM or facilitate grooming. The Council wants laws that preserve E2EE while allowing client-side scanning for harmful material. Many say those two goals cannot coexist. Client-side scanning remains highly controversial. While technically feasible, client-side scanning breaks the principle of fully encrypted communications without exposing message contents in transit. Those on the other side of the argument, such as lawmakers and law enforcement officials, argue it is the best balance on offer: preserving user privacy by keeping analysis on the device while allowing authorities to protect children from serious online harms. Privacy campaigners, however, say the same technology could be repurposed by governments as a mass surveillance tool. Signal has previously said that the same scanning mechanisms could theoretically be used to block certain communications, such as negative expressions related to the state. Chat Control 2.0, or the CSAR, is still being discussed in trilogue negotiations between the European Parliament, the Council, and member states. Five rounds of negotiations, including what was supposed to be the final round on June 29, have passed without agreement on the legislation's shape. ®

Darren Schiller has added a photo to the pool:

An attractive single-storey Mid-Victorian bluestone corner shop and residence with hipped roof and concave front verandah. Notable for its simple design and typical corner shop character. Appears to be well built and in good condition for its age.

History: A butcher’s shop has been on this site since the l 850’s. This is the second shop and dates from the 1870’s. Now known as Sexton’s Meat Store. Mr P. Sexton, second generation member of this family, was still operating there in 1983.

Streetscape Contribution: This prominent corner shop is located on the corner of College Road and Rundle Street, the old “village centre” of Kent Town. Being opposite the pub, it was a key building in the area. It forms part of an important group of Victorian buildings located on and around this intersection and contributes significantly to the attractive Victorian streetscape in the immediate area.

Significance: This building is a good example of a Mid-Victorian corner shop and residence. It is associated with the growth of Kent Town in the 1850’s-1870’s and marks the old “village centre” of Kent Town. It illustrates the central role of the Butcher shop in daily life in Kent Town at that time which has continued unbroken to today*. It is an attractive building and an important corner building which contributes significantly to the streetscape of Rundle St and Kent Town.

* Now a cafe/restaurant.

Darren Schiller has added a photo to the pool:

Little Rundle Street, Kent Town, South Australia

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