
Pokimane roasts trolls volunteering to make babies with her in response to 'want cat, dog or kid' tweet: 'I plan to reproduce asexually'
Pokimane discussed her thoughts on Twitter about welcoming another member into her household, be it another cat, a dog, or even a child
2023-09-23 19:08

First lady Jill Biden tests positive for Covid-19
First lady Jill Biden tested positive for Covid-19 Monday, the White House announced.
2023-09-05 09:01

Nike misses quarterly sales estimates as demand tapers
Nike missed Wall Street estimates for first-quarter sales on Thursday, fanning fears that demand for its sneakers is
2023-09-29 04:19

Little-known but efficient, a different way to heat and cool your house
More than one third of all U.S. energy consumption, and thus a significant source of climate change, is from heating and cooling homes and buildings
2023-07-13 20:00

Heather Dubrow calls out Tamra Judge for turning fellow casts against her in 'RHOC' Season 17 Reunion
Heather Dubrow claimed that Tamra Judge said 'something unkind' about her in every episode of Season 17
2023-10-05 10:36

Ben Davies: Wales go into Croatia clash believing anything’s possible
Ben Davies has urged Wales to summon up the spirit of reaching the World Cup to beat Croatia and keep their European Championship qualification hopes alive. Turkey’s shock win in Croatia on Thursday night damaged Welsh prospects of claiming a top-two place in Group D. Wales must now realistically beat top seeds Croatia in Cardiff on Sunday and finish with wins over Armenia and Turkey next month to qualify for Euro 2024. By doing so, Wales would qualify for a third successive major tournament – two European Championships either side of the 2022 World Cup. “We know the situation we’re in and it’s definitely going to be challenging,” said Tottenham defender Davies, who will be wearing the Wales armband in the absence of injured captain Aaron Ramsey. “We’ve shown in the past at Cardiff that against good teams we can win games. It’s the same mentality again that we go into it believing anything’s possible. “The two World Cup qualifiers (play-offs against Austria and Ukraine) were big pressure moments for this team. We've shown in the past at Cardiff that against good teams we can win games Ben Davies “Arguably people would say they were better sides than us, but we showed that we’re more than capable of making our home in Cardiff a fortress and making it difficult for the opposition. “We’ve played some of the best teams in Europe there – like Belgium and the Netherlands – and we’ve put good performances in. Playing at home gives us that something special.” Wales have not beaten Croatia in seven games between the two nations. There have been three 1-1 draws, including the March meeting in Split when Nathan Broadhead equalised with virtually the last kick of the match to get Wales’ Euro campaign off to a promising start. Davies said: “They’re a great footballing nation that have had great results over the last 10, 15, 20 years. “They’re a team stacked with quality players playing at the highest level. We know it’s going to be a hard game, but we believe it’s one we can get something out of. “It’s a huge opportunity playing at home. If we can get three points, then it will put us in a better situation going into next month.” Wales warmed up for their Croatia task by sweeping aside friendly opponents Gibraltar 4-0 in Wrexham on Wednesday. It was Wales’ third consecutive clean sheet following shut-outs against South Korea and Latvia last month, the first time the Dragons have achieved that for nearly three years. Number one goalkeeper Danny Ward said: “We got back to what we do best in the last camp, being defensively sound. “That was vital after the summer we had (4-2 and 2-0 defeats to Armenia and Turkey) and we’ve taken that into this camp.” Ward has yet to play for Leicester this season after losing his first-team place at the Sky Bet Championship club, but the 30-year-old insists that is not an issue while he is on Wales duty. He said: “It’s different for a goalkeeper as opposed to an outfield player. “It’s not so much about rhythm, more about bearings, knowing where you are on the pitch, distances, getting up to speed if you like. “That normally doesn’t take too long for our position thankfully.” Read More Matty Jones says late Wales Under-21s draw in Czech Republic ‘feels like a win’ Stephen Kenny under pressure as Ireland’s qualification hopes come to end England and Australia observe silence for those killed in Israel and Gaza Simon Raiwalui ‘in no doubt’ grieving Sam Matavesi will be ready to face England Shubman Gill could return to top of India order against Pakistan Sam Tomkins says Grand Final farewell will only be a fairytale if Catalans win
2023-10-14 05:30

Richard Linklater fears for the future of indie cinema
Richard Linklater fears independent cinema is 'gone with the wind' because Hollywood has changed so much over the last few years
2023-09-06 15:00

Scientists say monthly visits from family and friends can help you live longer
Scientists have found that visiting friends and family at least once a month can help you live longer. According to a recent study published by the University of Glasgow in BioMed Central Medicine, researchers discovered that there was a correlation between how often a person was visited by their family and friends with their life expectancy. Those who were never visited by their family reportedly had a higher risk of dying. Amid the ongoing loneliness epidemic, social isolation has previously been linked by researchers to a shorter life expectancy. This latest study sought to understand the effect that different types of social interaction have on our quality of life, with visits from friends and family, participating in a weekly group activity, and not living alone reportedly making the biggest difference among a group of 458,146 participants in the United Kingdom. Participants were between the ages of 37 and 73, with the average age being 56 years old, and data was collected between 2006 and 2010. Researchers asked the participants questions about the five different forms of social interaction: how often they were able to confide in someone close to them, how often they felt lonely, how often friends and family visited, how often they participated in a weekly group activity, and whether or not they lived alone. “We also tried to take into account lots of other factors that could explain the findings — like how old people were, their gender, their socioeconomic status, whether they were a smoker and more,” Dr Hamish Foster, a clinical research fellow at the University of Glasgow and the lead study author, explained to Insider. “And even after removing those factors from the equation it still showed that these social connections were important for risk of death.” Depending on when the participants were recruited, researchers would revisit the questions with the participants an estimated 12.6 years later to follow up. They reportedly found that, within those years, 33,135 or 7.2 per cent of participants died, with 5112 or 1.1 per cent passing from cardiovascular-related deaths. Strikingly, the study also found that “regardless of weekly group activity or functional components,” those who never had friends or family visit while also living alone were 77 per cent more likely to have a higher risk of death. However, Dr Foster cautions that the study is unable to take into account both the complexity and the quality of human social interactions. “Humans are really complicated and so are our connections and our measures in this study are pretty crude compared with what humans are capable of, but this study is still very detailed and is starting to drill down into how different types of connection are important,” Foster said to the outlet. He added that the study cannot prove that less socialisation causes death, but it does prove that loneliness and isolation can lead to not only poorer mental health but also poorer physical health. “We need to see more society-level interventions and support that make social connections easier, more likely, and of higher quality,” Foster added. “For example, community centers, parks, places, and activities that make it easy for people to meet and connect for high-quality relationships.” Dr Foster and his team of researchers aren’t the first to connect the dots between longer life spans and active social lives, with Netflix recently shining the spotlight on the famed blue zones - places with notably high populations of centenarians - in the docuseries, Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue. Within blue zones like Ikaria, Greece, or Okinawa, Japan, social interaction is prioritised within the community rather than being left on the backburner in favour of economic or individualistic pursuits. As the digital age and the pandemic have brought on an increase in social isolation, Dr Foster stressed that it’s important for young people to nurture their social lives and participate in their communities. Read More Blake Shelton opens up about parenting style with Gwen Stefani To shave or not to shave: How women can participate in No-Shave November Game of Thrones actor announces ‘unbearable loss’ of baby after stillbirth
2023-11-11 05:31

Luis Rubiales is just the latest crisis in Spanish FA’s dark history
As of Wednesday afternoon, Luis Rubiales was completely isolated and yet still officially the singular head of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (Rfef). It is an absurd situation that symbolises so much about a story that is at once so serious and also utterly farcical, not least regarding the organisation itself. The regional chiefs that form the Rfef’s assembly finally turned on Rubiales by requesting his resignation on Monday, but they don’t actually have the power to force it. The 46-year-old still has to take the decision, which would come just days after he repeatedly announced: “I am not resigning!”. In the meantime, he is suspended from all football-related activities by Fifa, which could take it even further once its investigation concludes. So much of this story has developed from Rubiales’ distinctive personality, to put it generously. And yet the very fact such a personality is so difficult to remove from the role is a reflection of something much bigger that has also provoked even more discussions about what Spanish football has been and where it is going. A common sentiment is that this shouldn’t stop at Rubiales’ resignation – whenever that may come. The vociferous applause he received for that speech at the federation base was an illustration of why, even as so many of those pictured clapping his words have now turned on him too, right up to the controversial Spain manager Jorge Vilda. “The whole incident has proven how weak the federation’s government and oversight structures are,” one involved source stated. It is why the word “structural” has now been used so many times in the days since. “We want to state this is a structural problem,” said Amanda Gutierrez, president of the FutPro organisation that represents Jenni Hermoso. “It is something football players suffer every day of their career, they have to face these discriminations.” Joan Soteras, president of the Catalan Football Federation which is one of the regional organisations that make up the Spanish federation, echoed those words. “We need structural change in women’s football. Maybe Vilda leaving should be part of that change.” It is why this is about so much more than “a peck”, as Rubiales so provocatively put it. Rubiales’ unwanted kiss on Hermoso was initially explained away as “euphoria” amid the World Cup victory but it came out of a strikingly triumphalist attitude, that had already seen him grab his crotch. That attitude actually preceded the final and went back to Spain’s semi-final win over Sweden, when Rubiales became the first person from the team camp to break an uneasy truce and mention the player rebellion (when a number of Spanish stars boycotted the teamn in September 2022) for the first time. Even the language there was provocative, as he spoke of “people with resentments”. Those so-called “resentments” were actually profound concern about how the Spanish squad were managed and how sub-standard preparations were, right up to complaints about how they were made to leave their hotel doors open at night. The federation did listen to some complaints during the World Cup itself, moving the team’s base, but Rubiales made it stridently clear where he stood by fully backing Vilda. It was impossible not to put his triumphalism from the semi-final into that context, as if this was personal vindication for him and Vilda. It may yet bring the downfall of Rubiales and the departure of Vilda. The calls are already growing for the latter to be forced out too. Other related controversies have followed Rubiales, such as they way he speaks to people. That included a development from 2016 when Tamara Ramos – a staff member for the Spanish Players’ Association, where Rubiales had previously been president – commented on her underwear and joked: “You’ve come here to put on your kneepads.” This has all framed the frequent commentary now that the triumph of a women’s team has been completely dominated by a man, who had sought to put himself and his manager at the centre almost immediately. But there’s a wider context to that, too. One reason that Vilda even got the job is because his predecessor as Spain women’s manager, Ignacio Quereda, was finally forced out in 2015 after 27 years. The details that led to that have echoes with now, but are of an even more concerning nature. It is no coincidence that a 2021 documentary that covers Quereda’s time titled Breaking the Silence has been widely shared on social media in the last few days. The former manager had complete authority over an underfunded team, and was accused of bullying his players and reducing them to tears in a “culture of fear”. He would stand in a circle at training and tell one player “you’re fat” and another that “you need an alpha male” as a partner. The documentary cites homophobic language as well as a racist attitude towards Catalans, calling them “polacas”. Players would seek to avoid him off the pitch, although that was difficult when he demanded total control in camp. Quereda would demand to see what was in shopping bags, according to former player Mar Prieto, and go around each hotel room every night before shutting the door. Such apparent attention to detail in this area was not matched with football preparation, as there was negligible video analysis or tactical preparation. These were not the circumstances to even get the players performing to par, and they were duly knocked out in the first round of their first World Cup in 2015. Players had complained to the federation before, but then president Angel Maria Villar never seemed to heed their concerns. The squad instead saw him as enabling Quereda, and eventually wrote a joint letter demanding change. Villar is reported as dismissing this, describing it as “nonsense from the girls”, which forced them to go public. Vilda, whose father is a prominent federation employee, eventually replaced Quereda. Villar himself was replaced by Rubiales in 2018, after a suspension that followed a detention on allegations of collusion, embezzlement and falsifying documents. It was in December 2017, coincidentally, that there were echoes of the Spanish federation’s absurd request to Uefa that the organisation get expelled for state interference. Villar warned that Fifa could ban Spain from the 2018 World Cup, as he said the move by the sports council (CSD) to suspend him was “arbitrary” and an “injustice” without giving him the “possibility of presumption of innocence”. “The only ones responsible for the possibility that the national team could miss out on the World Cup is the current government,” Villar said. It is the CSD which received the four official complaints against Rubiales. Prominent sources within football politics say the Spanish federation was always seen as a “basket case” for years, that was all the more surprising given how its coaching infrastructure genuinely revolutionised world football. The top level beyond that was seen as made up of conservative white men, though, with little influence from women or minority groups. That was interpreted as crucial to some of the most jaw-dropping developments of the past few days, where the federation seemed completely in thrall to Rubiales, with a series of statements that defied belief. The reality of public opinion eventually intervened. All of this has informed the current situation, and particularly the Se Acabo slogan – “it’s over” – which is really saying enough is enough. Victor Francos, the president of the CSD, has already described this as a MeToo moment for Spanish football. It has been so profound, leading all bulletins, that the hope, is now that it brings deep change. That might be a legacy from these players as valuable as the World Cup itself. "Our generation wants to make a legacy for the future,” star player Alexia Putellas said. “We need executives and institutions to fight for our fight so players have what they deserve.” “A change is taking place,” Irene Paredes said on the eve of the final in Sydney. Little did she know the potential extent of it.
2023-08-30 21:20

All New Slimes in Slime Rancher 2
Slime Rancher 2 has five new slimes for players to farm and breed.
1970-01-01 08:00

When PewDiePie slammed Dream for cheating in 'Minecraft' speedrun: 'Want people to think you're good'
'It just takes out all the fun in the game,' PewDiePie said about Dream's cheating incident
2023-06-05 15:24

Irish domestic economy returns to growth in first quarter
DUBLIN Ireland's domestic economy returned to growth in the first three months of the year after a shallow
2023-06-02 19:52
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